No Strings Attached

8

Clint grabbed Tony by the collar, lifting him off of the ground. "What the hell was that!?" He demanded.

"What was what? I only told her the truth." He stated as a mater of fact.

"You don't get it, do you?" Clint scoffed. "You just destroyed what little hope she had left! How would you like it if someone told you that you're dad was a criminal and abandoned you at the drop of a hat?"

"Don't." Tony's gaze hardened. "Don't talk about him like that."

"Now you know how she feels."

Clint let Tony go and left the man standing in the hallway, dazed. The billionaire righted himself before reentering the medbay where Peter sat straight up in his bed, arm hooked up to a heart monitor.

"Hey Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah kid?" Tony didn't meet his eyes.

"Where's Angie?"

"She uh... had somewhere to be." Tony lied.

"Is everything okay?" Peter asked, his doe eyes growing in size.

"Yeah. Everything's great kid."

"I don't believe you."

Dammit kid. Tony thought.

Peter may not look it, but he was one of the few people that Tony could no lie to no matter how hard he tried. He swears the boy was a human lie detector. Then again, he did learn from the best. *Cough cough* Black Widow *cough.*

Tony sighed and pulled up a chair. He didn't want to worry the kid, so he kept coming up with story after story, each time Peter called him on his bullshit.

"Where. Is. She." Peter demanded, finally fed up with the excuses.

Tony sighed and leaned forward in his chair. "I may I have said something to her...."

"What did you do?" Peter's brow furrowed.

"I kinda threw her old man under the bus and accused her of using you to get into the tower to steal equipment." Peter's eyes narrowed at his mentor. "Aaand said that her old man abandoned her and wasn't coming back."

"Tony!" Peter shouted in disbelief.

"I'm sorry okay!" Tony apologized. "I was just angry and didn't know what I was saying! I mean come on, you were SHOT!"

"That doesn't give you the right to say those things!" Peter snapped. "Go and apologize before I web you to the ceiling!"

Tony had never seen Peter this angry before. So, not wanting to strain his kid anymore, he left the room and wandered down the hall.

What the hell was wrong with everyone? Why were they all taking her side? What was so special about this girl to make them all turn on him?

One thing was for sure.

He needed to find Angela.

Tony returned to his lab and suited up before flying out the open window and over the city. He didn't know where she would go, so he checked the Parker residence first then the park, but both were empty. Some part of him hoped that if he just flew over the city then she would turn up, but nothing. Not even Friday could find her.

He searched fervently until his AI notified him of a disturbance on Liberty Island. He took a sharp left and flew straight towards the island. It was only when he hovered over the land mass that he felt it, some invisible force trying to push him away.

It slowly grew stronger the closer he got to the island. It got to the point where he needed to use full thrust just to break through and land, even then he risked being thrown off if he took one wrong step.

Tony forced himself forward as he instructed Friday to call for back up if things got too hairy.

"Sir, there is someone on the island." Friday informed him.

"What?" He grunted. "Where are they?" He demanded, worried that someone was caught up in this.

"Dead ahead sir."

Tony's screen zoomed in on the figure hunched over on the ground and the image enhanced itself.

"Angela?" He whispered. "What the hell?"

Angela held her hands on the sides of her head, pulling at her hair as she sobbed.

"Angela!" He called out to her.

She seemed to hear him and her eyes widened as she looked at him, his eyes glowing in the darkness. "Tony?" She muttered. "GET OUT OF HERE!" She shouted.

At first, Tony thought she was threatening him. But he quickly shook the thought out of his head when he saw the panicked expression on her face. The pressure increased and Tony felt himself slipping.

"Angela! Calm down!" He shouted.

"I-I can't c-control it!" She cried.

Tony pressed on, pushing his thrusters past their limit. Slowly but surely he inched towards her. He knelt down next Angela, planting himself firmly on the ground.

"You need to calm down!"

"I-I can't!"

"Yes you can!" Tony grabbed her shoulders and the force doubled, nearly knocking him down. He grunted in pain as his suit threatened to pull him back. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean any of those things I said to you!" He shouted desperately. "Peter wants you to come home!"

"Peter...?"

The doe eyed idiot wants her... home?

Angela closed her eyes, forcing her negative thoughts to the back of her mind and focused solely on Peter. He would never abandon her. He would never betray her. He would never hurt her.

Peter.

Her first friend.

Her best friend.

The wind slowly died down, dwindling to nothing and Tony released Angela, nearly falling backwards into the grass. He looked around for damage, and to his surprise, not a single blade of grass was out of place.

Angela fell forward, exhausted from the energy she exerted. Tony glanced down at her sleeping face and sighed. "Damn kids, gonna give me grey hairs."