The Stark Internship

Part 28

TONY

For a moment I can't function. I can't see straight, can't breathe. Like the time I thought I'd lost Pepper in the fires when I didn't catch her in time.
I clutch my left arm, a dull pins and needle feeling radiating through me. I close my eyes.
I will not lose him. Not Peter.
'FRIDAY, track Peter's suit. Call Shuri.' I say, engaging the thrusters and hovering above the city skyline.
'Tony? Tony, what happened? I lost Peter. He went off my call.' Shuri says, her voice panicking. I remember that she's only seventeen.
'Calm down kid, I need you sharp.' I say, 'I'm tracking his suit now.'
'But that's clearly a trap, they want you. You need to call the others, call Steve. Call Wanda. I don't know. You can't go on your own.' She says.
'We don't know how much time we have. I can't...I...I've got to go for him. And I need you to find out what I'm up against.' I say, realising I'm asking for her to complete an impossible task. But she doesn't question it.
'Alright. Okay. Yeah. Okay.' She says. I can hear her typing away, swiping through images, papers. Anything.
'You have a lot of enemies.' She says under her breathe. I ignore her as I fly full speed towards where my suit says Peter is, 'but they're all accounted for. All in prison or out the country or dead. Or dead. Dead. Hold on.'
'Of those three categories I think the dead ones are the only ones we can cross off the list for sure.' I say, distracted.
'That's only if they're dead.' She says to herself. I don't question it. I understand the state she's in, so caught up in an idea that nothing else is real except this one idea.
'Got anything?' I ask as I near the suit.
'Tony, Wanda started as your enemy didn't she?' Shuri asks. I'm unsure where she's heading with this idea.
'Yeah. Her and her brother.' I say, 'I don't think this is them.'
'No. I mean, you didn't even know who they were. They just...they were collateral damage. So this person, whoever it is...'
'They want revenge.' I finish.
'Just a theory.' She says, quietly, 'but they have Peter and you're not exactly subtle with your friendship with him.'
'I'm here.' I say, as I come to a landing on the roof.
'Tony, they know you're coming.' She says, a slight plea in her voice.
'I know. That's why I called for backup. So all I have to do is stalk for five minutes or so. And not die.' I say, taking a deep breathe as I walk over to the skylight.
'Not dying sounds good.' Shuri says hesitantly, 'be safe. Don't be stupid.'
'Can't help it. It's in my nature.' I say, as I break the skylight and jump straight in.