Spider-Man: Unmasked

Chapter Three

Tony opened the door to Peter's room, needing to talk to their son. Peter had been acting strange lately, and Steve and Tony were worried about their son. "Pete?" He asked slowly. "Can I talk to you?" No answer.

He frowned and opened the door fully. He froze when he saw no one inside.  They hadn't seen him leave his room.  He couldn't have.  Unless...

He cursed and ran out. Steve was still at the table, shocked at his sons' behavior. Steve looked at him, confused as he walked out.

"Went that bad, huh?" Steve asked. "That was quick."

"He's gone," Tony said through gritted teeth. "Peter's gone."

"What?! How?" Steve stood up and walked to his husband. "What do you mean he's gone? We're stories up and aside from the door and the window there's no way out. How could he possibly be gone?"

"Well, Steve, if I knew I would tell you! But unfortunately, I don't!" 

Steve nodded, trying to keep calm, which is hard when your son has just vanished. "Let's see if the security cameras picked anything up."

"J.A.R.V.I.S. pull up the security cameras from the outer north side of the building and start playing them from about 5 minutes ago."  Tony massaging his forehead, trying to stay calm down. 

"I'm sorry sir," J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice said, "but it appears that the security tapes have been tampered with. No footage from the last 5 minutes has been recorded anywhere on the north side of the tower."

Tony froze. "What? How is this possible? Remind me to create you better next time."

"And he didn't come back out here?  Just sneak past us somehow?"  Neither would be surprised about it, Peter was always sneaking around.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?  Are the tower cameras inside working?"  They didn't use them much, obviously.  And there weren't many.  They didn't want to watch anybody or feel like they were being watched, but they were needed for times such as this.

"Yes, sir."  Before Tony could reply, J.A.R.V.I.S. continued with, "Peter doesn't seem to be in the building."

Steve worded the fear that they both shared but didn't want to admit. "Tony, what if he's been kidnapped somehow?"

People had tried to do it before. They never succeeded.  They couldn't have this time... could they?

Tony gritted his teeth, dreading that possibility. He was Tony Stark. No one could clown his tech.  No one could get their son, right?  And Peter could defend himself, right?

"Call Bruce and Natasha. Let's go get our son."

—————

Peter was on the top of a building, looking at the city lit up by the thousands of shining buildings.  He sighed and pulled off his mask.  What was he doing?  He had been swinging around for the past two hours, letting off steam.  He had been mad at his parents, but now he was just mad at himself.  Why did he have to snap like that?  He needed to go back.

He stood up, put on his mask, and was about to shoot a web when he saw two figures on the building next to him - no, four.  He froze when he realized who they were.  It was Tony, Steve, Aunt Natasha, and Uncle Bruce.  He cursed under his breath and tried to act casual, realizing it was too late to swing away without bringing up serious confusion.

Once they arrived in front of him, Tony said, "Ah, Spider-Man, just the person I needed to see."  Peter could hear the distress in his voice and felt a wave of guilt wash over him.  He was the cause of that distress.  Wow, he was a bad kid.