~Iron Family~

False Alarm, It's Just a Coffee Machine

Tony swiftly stepped out of the Iron Man suit, his determined steps pounding on the floor.

"Friday, where is Parker?" he demanded firmly as he hopped into the elevator.

"Peter Parker is currently taking a walk outside the tower. He was detected on security cameras twenty-one minutes ago on his way back."

"What?" Tony threw out his arms. "What's he doing on a walk? What if someone tracks the data and steals it?"

"The flash drive containing the data will most likely in Mr. Parker's back pocket, considering his personality traits," Friday said.

"We need that data," Tony sighed. "You said he's heading back now?"

"Affirmative."

"Good." Tony sniffed and righted his suit jacket.

The elevator made a pleasant dinging noise and the doors slid open to the lobby. Tony crossed his arms and stood by, counting five minutes until he caught a glimpse of the kid walking towards the tower outside the glass doors. He seemed to be in a hurry.

"Well, look who it is," Tony declared as the kid stepped inside. He pointed a finger at him and gave his best You're-In-For-It look, one he usually reserved for Harley, Morgan, and Happy. "You're late. You were walking for over an hour and a half, way past the time Pepper said to. What the heck were you doing anyway?"

"Oh. Um..." the kid nervously looked everywhere except Tony's face. "I was just...walking around."

"Yeah, well next time make sure to stay on curfew, you understand?"

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I--I know it's my first day here and I'm already pushing my boundaries. I apologize for that, it--it won't happen again, sir."

"It'd better not," Tony sighed and gestured for him to follow.

"Tell me about this..." he stroked his goatee as they stepped into the elevator. "This flashdrive Spider-Man gave you."

The tension in the elevator tripled. Parker gripped his backpack strap nervously, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Yeah, the thing is..." he cleared his throat. "I was going through that...that tough time, and I didn't have anybody. Spider-Man, the great neighborhood hero, he looked out for me. Even though I'm just a random citizen, he took the time every once in awhile to sniff out my new location and come and check on me. I told him about the Stark Internship because, you know, why wouldn't you tell that to your one friend you have left?"

"And he didn't call the police or anything?" Tony raised his eyebrows. "Seems kinda suspicious. Isn't that guy supposed to be following the law?"

Parker bit his lip. "Yeah...I asked him not to."

"You just asked politely and he said he'd break the law?"

"I...made a deal with him," Parker shrugged. "I said I'd be okay with him calling the police or somebody after six months. In the meantime, I needed some time on my own. He made sure I always had enough food and shelter when he swung by. Once, he even swung around and took my dirty clothes to the laundromat!"

The kid started laughing, which brought a smile to Tony's face. The elevator doors slid open and they started down the hallway to one of the labs.

"D'you think that's why I saw him hanging around the tower today?" Tony asked as they walked.

"What?" Parker sounded surprised. "Is he following me or something?"

Tony shrugged. "Maybe he wanted to check up on you. Make sure you were getting along okay. It is the superhero-plus-friend-ey thing to do."

Parker didn't comment as Tony unlocked the door to a lab and strolled inside. He logged onto a computer and held out his hand for the flash drive, which Parker reluctantly pressed into his palm.

"It's got some pictures on there," he mumbled. "I gave to to Spider-Man before. He didn't have one."

Tony snorted. "I'm not surprised. You kids today have everything digital."

Tony peeped over his shoulder and was glad to see that made the Parker kid smile.

The first thing he opened on the flash drive were the pictures. He didn't want to invade on Parker's privacy, so he quickly closed them out, but not before catching some glimpses. Most of them had been with a young woman and a smaller boy, most likely the Parker kid.

There was a file labeled Saberling Tech. It was a surprisingly small file.

Tony clicked to open it, held his breath, and...was disappointed.

"A coffee machine?" he blurted, staring at the plans. "Are you serious?"

"What?" Parker scrambled over to the screen and scanned the plans, frown deepening.

"This--this doesn't make any sense," he stammered. "Spider-Man said--"

"Well obviously Spider-Man was lying," Tony sighed and began typing furiously on the screen. "Maybe he's working with Saber and put this in our path to throw us off the trail. Maybe it even has a virus in it or something."

"No, no--" Parker pulled at his hair. "This isn't a coffee maker. It's probably just a lock that's hiding the real plans, like the front door of a house. If we just--"

"Nope," Tony shook his head. "I already hacked into it. I'm sorry, kid, but it doesn't have anything else. It's just that--a coffee machine. He lied to us, simple as that."

"He wouldn't..." Parker's voice trailed off. He scooted closer to the screen, fingers flying across the keyboard. Nothing else came up.

"Sorry, kid," Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe it was an accident."

Parker shook his head, tapping his chin thoughtfully, but said no more on the matter.

Spider-Man and I need to have a chat, Tony thought with a scowl.

He didn't trust this new 'hero.' Maybe he wasn't even a hero at all. Spiders were creepy-crawlies, after all. Maybe he was a villain posing as a hero.

They spent the rest of the afternoon working on the Clusterstorm chip. He let Parker work at his own table with one of the computers, which he seemed to know like the back of his hand. He was almost as good as Tony--almost.

They didn't make any progress, and Tony wasn't surprised. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary with the Clusterstorm chip. It just had the programming to communicate with other Saberling appliances. There was nothing about robot legs or blasters

"Well, I've just about had it," Tony grumbled, shaking his head.

"Shouldn't we keep trying, sir?" Parker jumped up from his table, dusting himself off.

"Uh...yeah," Tony gave a small nod and pushed aside his own troubles. This kid went through a lot today. "How about we continue tomorrow, though. I'm sure you've had enough going on."

The kid started to protest, but Tony had made up his mind. He sent Parker down to dinner with an escort, deciding to head up to dinner himself. Maybe Pepper wouldn't bite his head off.