Let's Begin

Ch. 16

Peter looked up from his dangerous spot on the edge of his chair when a door opened. At the sight of his dad standing directly across from him in the stairwell, his eyes widened. In the next room over and only just out of reach was the control room that Mr. Patrick was in, but he doubted his dad knew that. He didn't even seem that interested in investigating either. Instead, his eyes were locked with Peter's and if Peter looked hard enough, he could see that he was worried.

"Glad you could join us, Stark," Mr. Patrick said, his voice echoing around the room.

Tony's head snapped up and he glared at the men in the control room.

"I'm just here to collect my son, Leonard."

Peter's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Leonard? Who was Leonard? Was it Blondie or Scruffy?

"I see you did your research," Mr. Patrick's voice echoed. Tony didn't react, watching through the glass as Mr. Patrick fiddled with the control board. "You want your kid, you give us full access to your bank accounts. Any funny business and we drop the kid."

"You're kidding," Tony said. Mr. Patrick raised an eyebrow at him as if challenging him.

"Am I?" he retorted, "Would you like to test that theory?" He moved to press something and Tony all but lunged towards the control room.

"No!"

His dad's voice echoed around the room and Peter flinched at the loud noise. Nevertheless, Mr. Patrick looked pleased with his reaction.

"Do we have a deal, then?" he asked.

Tony nodded stiffly. A second later, Amos came out with a laptop.

"Remember," Mr. Patrick warned, "Any games and he drops."

Tony nodded, scratching his ear and opening the laptop Amos handed him. Amos didn't move while Tony typed in his bank's web address.

"Dad, don't do it!" Peter exclaimed. Tony glanced up at him briefly before resuming his typing. "Dad! It's not worth it! I can handle the fall. Don't transfer the money."

"Prepare to send Mark XII in for Peter," Tony said in Italian, looking directly at Peter.

Peter frowned. If he hadn't already known that his dad wore a comm-link that was connected FRIDAY, he would have wondered who he was talking to. From where he was perched, he couldn't see the little device, but he knew his dad never went anywhere without FRIDAY, so it had to be her.

Peter's attention was diverted suddenly when Tony threw the laptop at Amos, hitting him in the face and knocking him out instantly.

As Tony stormed into the control room, the Iron Man suit went shooting towards Peter as he was pushed off the ledge. Tony watched as the suit carried Peter out the door and Rhodey came charging in. Once Peter was safely outside, the Iron Man suit returned to Tony and formed around him. Fully suited and also not so happy, Tony punched the door to the control room and it went flying off its hinges. Inside behind the control board, three men were scrambling towards the far exit.

Tony grinned, activating targeting and shooting all of them in the knees before they even reached the door. They dropped to the ground, crying out in pain while Tony shot them again.

"That's for hurting my kid," he said. Instead of finishing them off, he turned and left the room, leaving them to bleed out while Rhodey followed him numbly.

"Dad!" Peter cried, throwing himself at the familiar Iron man suit as soon as it stepped through the door.

Tony carefully picked his son up and gently floated down the stairs.

"It's okay, Peter," Tony assured him as he floated outside. "We're going to go home now."

Peter nodded, wrapping his arms around his dad's neck and burying his face in the cold metal. As soon as they were clear of the warehouse, Tony shot towards the Compound.

It was thirty minutes later that they arrived on the airstrip and Tony hurried Peter down to the medical wing. Just as he expected, Pepper was waiting for them and gasped when she saw the bruises on Peter's arms. Fortunately, he was still hiding his face, so she didn't see the many bruises that had started to blossom there.

"Tony, what happened?" she demanded, following him over to the hospital bed Tony was going to set Peter on. "You were offline and then Peter was in the suit and—"

Tony gently set Peter on the medical bed, allowing Pepper to fully see all his bruises except for the ones on his abdomen.

"He's gonna be okay," Tony told her, watching as the doctors wheeled his unconscious son away. "He's me. He'll be fine."