"Well, that's about it, isn't it? Goodbye walking," Rhodey sighed as the doctor left the room.
"I'm sure we'll find a solution, Uncle Rhodey," said Peter, sitting on his left. Pepper, on the other hand, was sitting across from him.
"Peter's right, you've always been a warrior, perhaps you won't give up now," Pepper said with a small smile.
"I don't know if you missed the fact that I have almost no feeling in my legs because it's hard to fix."
"Yeah, but it's not impossible. We won't give up on you, and when Dad gets back, we'll start working on something."
"You're my favorite nephew, you know that?" Rhodey laughed.
"I mean, I'm kind of your only nephew, so it's really not that hard," he snorted. Rhodey just rolled his eyes at him.
"So, where is everyone? Do you know what happened after I fell?" he asked, turning to Pepper because he was expecting an answer from her, but before she could say anything, Peter spoke.
"From what Natasha said, Captain America and his friend ran away. She's here, my dad has gone somewhere, and I don't know anything about the rest," he replied, and Rhodey gently frowned at the boy's address to Natasha. He rarely addressed her by her full name. Mostly it was Nat or Aunt Nat. He looked at Pepper again with a question in his eyes.
"They had a fight," she murmured, and he nodded.
"About what?"
"She confessed to letting them escape," he snapped.
"Well, that makes sense," he said, and Peter looked at him in confusion. Rhodey wasn't very close to Natasha, but he knew that the Accords didn't quite suit her, and he was actually quite surprised that she had signed.
"How can you be so calm about it?! She is responsible for what happened to you!" he cried, earning two surprised looks.
"Peter!" Pepper said in shock. She didn't know what he and Nat had argued about, but she noticed that it hurt Natasha. And if Peter accused her of what had happened, she understood her feelings.
"Nothing like that, kid! What happened was an accident and Nat didn't play a part in it. Just letting them escape doesn't mean they wouldn't escape anyway. We all fought for something there. I signed and I don't regret it. And I don't want to hear any accusations from you anymore, okay?"
"But-"
"I made myself clear, Peter. And I expect you to apologize to Aunt Nat. I'm sure your dad will support me when he gets back."
"I just don't get it, Uncle Rhodey!" he said desperately. He could understand why his dad had been out of energy the last day. This was really a mess.
"Pete, honey, what do you not understand? Natasha made the decision that seemed right to her, and couldn't have guessed how it would develop. And as Rhodey said, just letting them escape doesn't mean they wouldn't escape anyway. It's the same as if your dad makes a mistake. It's like when Bruce and he decided to create Ultron. They did not plan to make him a murderous robot, but they did. You've never been so angry about it, so why don't you tell me what's really bothering you?" Pepper asked gently.
"It's just... Everything is different from that bite. I only really learned to use my new skills a few days ago. It was pretty difficult, but you all supported me and helped me. But then something happened with the Avengers and Aunt Nat and Uncle Rhodey had to go upstate. Then you left. For the first few days, I believed you had a lot of work to do, but then I knew it wasn't just for work. My dad was so stressed out and Thaddeus Ross kept calling him and asking for something. Then he finally told me the truth that you took a break and that he had to go upstate. So I told him to stick to Aunt Nat because I knew he needed more than Uncle Rhodey. I thought he would be fine with her, but then it all went wrong. You saw what he looked like! And now he's God knows where," he tried to explain his feelings.
"I know it wasn't easy lately, but it will be over soon. When your father shows up, we'll all return to the Tower. Me, Tony, you, Rhodey and Natasha. We decided that the pause would benefit all of us. What do you think?"
"I think it sounds really great, mom," he said with a small smile. After all, it was all he had wished for the last few days. Be together as a family. Like before.
"Wait a minute, how long have I been out, again?" Rhodey asked, whose presence had been forgotten for a moment.
"Just a few hours, why?" Peter replied.
"What do you mean why? You just called Pepper a mom. It wasn't a thing before all this happened," he explained.
"Actually, it was, we just didn't tell anyone.
"Maybe we should let you rest," Pepper suggested, and Rhodey began to argue, but Peter wasn't listening. Something else caught his attention
"Something's wrong with the boss."
"Show me, Friday," Natasha said.
"He seems to be in distress and his levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline are very high," Friday said.
"What does that mean? Is he angry or something?"
"Probably yes. In the case of a fight, the activity of the sympathetic nervous system activates the organism, concentrates the blood in the skeletal muscles (thereby accelerating and strengthening possible muscle performance), and moves the currently unforgettable experiences to the periphery of consciousness. At the same time, the adrenal glands increasingly release the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, which also stimulate psychomotor activity."
"But in that case it's normal, isn't it?"
"It should be, but compared to statistics from other fights, these are different."
"Different how?"
"They're very strong. As one of the solutions, I suggest the fight is personal."
"Oh, Tony, what's going on there?" Natasha muttered to herself.
Peter had to admit it was a bit weird, but as Natasha said in the fight, there is a natural elevated level of adrenaline. So it didn't have to mean anything at all.
"Can you show me his current stats?"
"Unfortunately I can not."
"How come you can't?" she asked, confused.
"The suit is offline."
"That's not possible," Natasha protested.
"The main power source was destroyed."
"Shit. Prepare my flight plan and upload it to autopilot. I'll leave in five minutes."
Peter frowned, trying not to panic. His father was alone somewhere and could be hurt. He glanced at Pepper and Rhodey, who were talking about something and ignoring him. By pressing a button on his very smart watch he connected to Friday and found out that his father was in Siberia. He vaguely examined other files from today and found something in super soldiers. Natasha was great, he never doubted it, but she would never be enough for super soldiers.
"I have to go to the bathroom," he said, disappearing outside the door before anyone could say anything. Pepper gave the door a tormented expression that Rhodey had not missed.
"He'll be fine, Pepper," he said.
"I know he will. He's as strong as Tony, but I wish they didn't have to worry so much."
"Well, you know what they say. Like father, like son," he laughed lightly. Sometimes they were almost frighteningly similar.
"I don't know if that's the case, it's good," she sighed. Rhodey wanted to say something, but before he could do it, an alarm went off in the building.
"Unauthorized takeoff," Friday reported over and over.
"What's happening?" Rhodey asked, and at that moment the hospital room door opened and Natasha ran in.
"Please tell me Peter wasn't on that plane," she blurted.
"What do you mean Peter was on that plane?" Pepper asked, panicking.
"Pepper, this is really bad, but I need you to keep calm. Tony flew to Steve and Bucky to Siberia, and Friday announced his suit was offline a few minutes ago. I let her prepare a flight plan, and as I was about to come to the plane, alarm dropped. Where is Peter?"
"Friday, where Peter?" Pepper asked.
"Peter left the building, and before doing so, hacked my resources and read the boss's files."
"Like father, like son, right?" Rhodey smirked, and Pepper gave him a murderous look.
"I swear to God that someday these two will be my death! Nat, tell me you'll bring my son and fiancé back here."
"I mean, I would like to, but I have a little problem here. Steve stole Quinjet and this was our second and only plane. I have nothing here," she explained.
"Friday prepare the flight plan from Tower to here and load it into Tony's helicopter."
"Done, boss lady."
"Thank you. So, you will have a ride here in five minutes. Please take care of them."
"Always," she said with a small smile and disappeared from the room.
(...)
Peter took his backpack in his room and ran to the plane. If Aunt Nat kept her schedule (and that she would always keep it), he had two minutes left before she appeared on the plane. Natasha set up the autopilot so it wasn't that hard. He just sat down and pressed the start button.
Friday was not connected to the plane, which was good for him, because otherwise, she would have prevented him from departing. Peter took the headphones out of his backpack and put them in his ears before pressing the special button on his watch.
"Good afternoon, Peter."
"Hello, Karen," Peter said, and he didn't resist the little grin regardless of the situation. That's right. With the help of Friday coding, Peter created his own AI. He simply took the written code for Friday and just edited something.
"What can I do for you?"
"Well, we have our first chance to try a suit."
So maybe he agreed to be a hero under the supervision of his dad, but while his dad had to deal with Accords, he was engaged in making his own suit and everything he needed for hero work. He would have liked to test it in a situation other than saving his father, but he has to work with what he has.
"Suit testing in progress," she said as soon as he put on the suit.
"Mainly check the heating. Siberia will probably be very cold."
"Everything okay. The suit is ready for action if you are."
"Like never before," he said, preparing for landing. He checked the statistics of Friday again to find out his dad's last position. If there was a group of super soldiers waiting for him, he would not like to spend more time there than was necessary.
The plane landed and Peter took a deep breath. Here we go. He uploaded the statistics to Karen, so he clung to it and went straight to where his dad was just before his suit turned off. He walked past some cells where there were people who had a bullet in their heads. So he guessed that the super soldiers were no longer dangerous. But what then happened to his dad?
By location, he was almost out again, but then he found him. And the sight wasn't nice.
"Oh my God, Dad!" he yelled and ran to him.
"Pe-te? Is tha-t you?" he rasped.
"Yes, I found you. Karen, identify the wound," he said, examining his suit. There was a line across the arc reactor.
"It looks like a closed pneumothorax," Karen said.
"What does it mean?" he asked, wondering what might have happened here.
"Lung collapse due to breakage of the lung wall, for example with a broken rib," she explained, and Peter's breath caught. Now he had no way to panic.
"Cause?"
"Blunt punch or pressure on the chest wall."
"Like a big shield?" he asked when he finally noticed that there was no one but Captain America's shield beside his father.
"Pete?"
"Yeah, I'm here, Dad. Let me help you," he said, grabbing his arm to help him sit down.
"Wait, wait, wait... I can't move," he said, taking a deep breath before his face twisted in pain.
"It seems you need extra hands," another person said. And Peter almost began to cry with relief.
"Yes, please. He has something with his lungs."
"It's going to be okay. We'll take him on a plane and secure him there before we reach the upstate."
"Okay, and Aunt Nat?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"Always, Pete, always," she said with a small smile, and then they took Tony to the plane together.