"That kid can't keep himself out of trouble for five goddamn minutes."
Tony sighs as Happy continues to grumble through the phone, and he ignores the pit in his stomach as he skims through the Queens security footage from the past twenty four hours. He inserts another facial recognition scan, and when Peter's face doesn't show up Tony lets his temper get the best of him. He punches the nearest wall and bites his tongue to prevent screaming on the top of his lungs.
It had been a half hour since Tony had read Peter's message asking for backup, and he can't help but think that the wasted time will cost someone their life. Tony had been careless by ignoring his texts, but he chooses to focus on the anger inside of him rather than the guilt. He's already lost enough minutes as it is.
"Any update on May?"
"Still headed to the apartment, I should be there in ten minutes if traffic would hurry up." Happy says this as he honks the horn multiple times, cursing at some of the drivers who pass him by. Tony can practically see him flipping off some of the bystanders, and in any other situation he would poke fun at the idea of it.
Instead he forces his attention once more on the security logs, and after he reaches yet another dead end Tony doesn't hold anything back when he groans. It was safe to say that both of their nerves were shot at this point, and Tony doesn't know if he should be aggravated with himself or Peter for causing this mess in the first place.
Though the moment he even considers blaming Peter for the chaos is when he immediately ridicules himself. The kid had nothing to do with the kidnapping just how he had nothing to do with the Vulture incident.
It has been a few months since Spider-Man has taken down Adrian Toomes, and since then his relationship with the boy has been tense. In the beginning he assumed it was because Peter was simply an awkward kid, but the moment Tony began to find his mannerisms as endearing instead of uncomfortable was when he realized it was his fault the two were on rocky terms.
Tony has been trying to keep him at an arm's length so as to avoid this exact scenario, but the kid has a way of breaking barriers without even trying. As more time passes by the more he finds himself enjoying Peter's company, and he thinks that might be the most terrifying realization of them all. This is what he worries about at night when he sees Peter patrolling as Spider-Man, and he wishes he could take back the day he first met him.
But that wasn't true either, yet Tony lies to himself anyway.
He doesn't have time to fret now, so he pushes the fear aside and begins to search through another video log. Happy distracts him before he can fully do so.
"Hey Boss, you might want to come to the apartment yourself. There's a lot more men than we expected and I don't know if I'll be able to take them out myself."
"I thought you said you could handle it?" Tony doesn't mean to snap but he can't help himself. The selfish part of him was only concerned about Peter's well-being, and he hates himself for even thinking that way.
Of course he didn't want the aunt to die, which is why he and Happy have decided to divide and conquer. Though at the end of the day Tony's priorities lean towards the kid, and he's certain that May would agree with him if she was given a say.
"There's too many of them to fight without someone getting killed, it's not worth the risk going in alone."
Tony wants to argue, but even he can see the logic in that, "Fine, I'll be there in five."
He sighs as he heads towards his Iron Man suit, and he supposes he should've left with Happy to begin with. Since he read the text from Peter he hasn't been in the right state of mind, and he thinks that it's another factor that will destroy someone's life when all is said and done.
He's furious with himself as he flies past New York City, and he flips off any cameras that take pictures of him when he desperately searches for Peter. He forces himself to take a deep breath when he finally lands on the ground, and he tries to pull himself together for both of the Parkers.
Happy is already there, gun in his hand and ready for action. "Took you long enough."
"I got stuck in traffic," Tony replies with a wink, attempting to hide his anxiousness as they move closer to the building. Of course Happy sees right through his facade, but he graciously chooses to ignore it and simply roll his eyes instead.
"So what's the game plan?"
Tony raises an eyebrow in acknowledgement but still ignores the question. He doesn't stop his stride, and he's slightly embarrassed that he has the path committed to memory at he thoughtlessly makes left and right turns. He only thinks about this for a second before squashing the observation to the back of his mind, and he continues to pass other residents who stare at him in shock. Happy follows close behind before grabbing at his shoulders, forcing him to finally pause on his feet.
"We can't just barge in there, you may have a bulletproof suit but May is screwed if we show up with no plan. We need to play it safe."
"I see you're beginning to worry about the aunt- I don't blame you there, she's definitely a sight to see."
"Tony, we're wasting too much time for you to be making jokes right now."
"You're right, so let me handle this."
He ignores Happy's protests as he finally reaches the apartment, and he doesn't think twice as he breaks down the door with one kick. The commotion makes a grand entrance as all of the men turn his way, and they are clearly shocked to see Iron Man in their vicinity. Tony uses the element of surprise to his advantage as he immediately gets to work, blasting some of the men away that try to fight him and not wasting a second as he makes his way towards May.
There are two guards that are holding her tight, so Tony raises each of his blasters and aims them directly at their heads, "I'll get straight to the point, either kill the woman and I'll blow your heads off, or retreat now and maybe I'll allow you to live."
The two men look at one another then at all of the other unconscious guards laying next to their feet. They don't hesitate when dropping May and running towards the exit as fast as they can, and Tony can't help but feel the least bit prideful. He allows one of them to go but grabs the other by the collar before he can get very far. He the rams the guard against the wall and points the weapon directly at his face, "tell me anything you know about Peter Parker."
The response is instantaneous, and the guard practically squeals his answer. "I don't know, I was just following orders I swear."
He says this with a tremble in his voice, and Tony is absolutely livid with the lack of information. He kicks the abandoned gun on the floor so it lays on the other side of the room before leaning even closer to the man.
"I don't know if I believe you."
"If I knew I would tell you, please don't kill me- I didn't have a choice."
The man continues to beg for his life, but Tony wasn't listening anymore. He looks into his eyes and sees the blind terror that proves that the man was telling the truth, and he can't help but feel disappointed.
He punches the guard square in the face until he's knocked unconscious on the floor, and before Tony turns around he tries to camouflage his new uncertainty with confidence. He faces May who raises an eyebrow at him expectantly, and Tony sees how she is still tied up with the series of ropes and duct tape.
"What happened to playing it safe?" Happy asks from behind him. He has forgotten that he had been standing there to begin with, and he chooses to ignore the glare he receives.
"What can I say, time is precious." Tony doesn't explain more as he removes the duct tape off of May's face with one swipe. Then he immediately gets to work on undoing the ropes so he at least has something to do with all of the nervous energy he holds inside of him.
"If that were true you would have been here earlier."
Tony pauses when trying to untie a knot, staring up at May who doesn't hold back, "Where were you when my kid was taken Stark? For all we know he could be dead right now."
"We're doing everything we can to find him," Tony begins to defend himself but he's interrupted when May cuts him off with a laugh that holds no humor to it.
"Could have fooled me. You said you would keep him safe from this kind of stuff, it was your job to protect him."
Tony doesn't have a true rebuttal, but he attempts to offer one anyway in the hopes that it won't come off as a broken promise. It's a weak attempt for comfort, and both of them know it.
"It's only been an hour since he was taken, and even so, if anyone can survive this it's Peter."
"Don't talk like you know him," May snaps back and her voice shakes at the last word. She looks seconds away from breaking down at this point, and Tony works even faster to on the ropes that are holding her back.
"Peter might worship the ground you step on, but I know exactly how you work Stark- so don't you dare try to tell me how Peter is because if anyone knows it's me."
"I didn't mean to imply otherwise Mrs. Parker."
May is ready to snap again, but she closes her eyes last second and lets out a shaky breath instead. Tony finally finishes in taking the ropes off, and he and Happy both hold out their hands to help her on her feet. She swats both of them away as she gets up on her own, and when she faces them once more there's a forced resignation in her eyes that scares Tony in a way he didn't understand.
"Fighting will get us nowhere if we want to find Peter, so I'll push my feelings of you aside for now."
Tony opens his mouth to say something, though he isn't sure what exactly. Before he can even get a word out, May directs her attention to Happy and jumps into action.
"Have you tracked down his phone yet?"
Happy seems just as taken aback, yet he pulls himself together in an instance, acting once more as the Head of Security that he is.
"That was the first thing we did but someone threw it a couple blocks away from your apartment. It doesn't give us any information of where they could have gone."
May nods as if she had been expecting this answer, and then she begins to walk out of the room, quite literally stepping over the unconscious men and broken furniture that scatters the living room.
"Let's go then, we need a lead and standing here will find us nothing."
"You two go, I'll stay and get all of this cleaned up," Happy says while gesturing towards the floor. The thought of being alone in a room with May is a little bit terrifying, though he supposes he wasn't given an option when she nods again and begins to drag him out of the room as if he were a dog.
For once Tony leaves without a fight, and he can only hope that Peter was still alive when he checks the time.