Irondad and Spiderson

Life Without You Isn't a Life Worth Living

    “He’s on his way.” The man laughs. His eyes are filled with rage and anger, but a taunting grin hasn’t left his face since the second he saw Tony Stark.
    “Don’t… lay a… lay a… fi-finger on him.” Tony’s vision is starting to blur and blacken at the edges. A wave of hysteria is creeping up on him like a lion ready to pounce, and his shoulder is dripping thick, red blood down his shirt and skin. He looks like a wreck, and at this rate, he won’t make it out of here alive.
    “Oh, the blood loss will kill you in about an hour.” The man says, practically reading Tony’s mind. “Who will fill the world with hilariously stupid ideas and idiotic pieces of scrap metal then?”
    “I… helped people.” Tony is struggling. His head feels like every thought in his head is being choked black-and-blue, losing the oxygen needed to keep Tony alive.
    “That’s what you tell yourself!” The man roars, kicking something across the room. The sound of something small and metal hitting the stone walls makes Tony wince, and another waterfall of blood slips from the hole in his shoulder.
    “Peter is coming, and this time I won’t make the same mistake to let you both get off so easily. You are going to die, Tony Stark, whether it be from blood loss or a bullet between the eyes. There’s no Captain America to save you now.”
    A clunking sound echoes from above them. The sound of metal on metal, and someone violently and hurriedly lifting the hatch.
    “Mr. Stark!” Another wave of hysteria blocks Tony’s brain, matching the hysteria in Peter’s voice.
    “I remember, Mr. Stark! I remember everything!” The sound of light footsteps sprinting, then a body being slammed against a door.
    The man places a silent finger to his lips, a gleam of triumph unfolding in his eyes with the same intensity of a blizzard ravaging a town. He cocks the gun, chuckling, and then disappears into the shadows.
    “Mr. Stark, say something!” Peter yells desperately. Truth is, he’s melting inside. If he gets here after Tony’s already dead… well, Peter doesn’t even want to think about what he would do.
    He slams his body against the door again. Again. Again. He can hear the hinges squeal with pain, but nothing seems to be budging. He kicks the door, but all that results in is a shooting pain up the side of his leg. He stands there, out of breath and in pain, but burning with the intensity of the sun. Nothing is going to keep him from saving his dad.
    With a running start, Peter sprints towards the door, and launches himself into the door. The door shudders, the lock bangs, and he flies through the doorway and lands roughly on the ground on the other side. With a cheer and a quick inspection of his aching limbs, Peter starts to search the large room for Tony.
    There are a lot of large things covered with tarps, shielding his vision strategically.
    “Mr. Stark?” Peter whispers the name through the room. He hears the groaning, as quiet as the grass rustling in the wind, but he knows.
    Tony is in this room and he’s alive.
    “Mr. Stark!” Peter can’t help but yell, the excitement swelling his voice and launching it from his throat.
    “Pe-Peter?” Tony’s voice is too quiet, and shuddering. It sounds like he’s vibrating, and his voice shakes with him.
    “Yeah! Mr. Stark, it’s me!” Peter sprints towards the sound of Tony’s fragile voice. He’s alive! He’s alive!
    He reaches Tony, tears gleaming in his eyes as he looks into the eyes of the man in front of him.
    “Oh my gosh, Mr. Stark, I’m so sorry. I was at home, just after I saw you and then I got these super crazy flashes in my head and then-”
    “You shouldn’t be here, Peter.” Tony says. His face is ashen white, and his normally dark veins are starting to recede into the pale, sickly pallor to match his skin.
    “I know. I know. But I just couldn’t leave you here, alone. I can’t let you die.”
    “And I can’t believe you came for me.” Tony shakes his head weakly. Tears brighten the dim light in his eyes, and Peter can see his disbelieving face reflecting back to him.
    “Of course I came for you.” His voice is soft.
    “Of course you did, kid.” Tony takes a breath that hangs in his lungs for too long, and coughs, which makes more blood glide swiftly from the wound in his shoulder.
    “You’re bleeding!” Peter finally sees the several wounds around Tony’s body.
    “Yeah, I had no idea.” Even in extreme pain, Tony musters a small grin.
    “Does it… hurt?” Peter’s voice becomes smaller with each word. He’s never seen this much blood, except for Uncle Ben.
    “I’ve dealt with worse, I’m practically immune to it by now.” Tony lies through his teeth.
    “You’re such a liar.”
    “Maybe, but it was worth a shot.”
    “There has to be something I can do. Wait, just let me-” A loud tearing noise rips through the air as Peter tears a large chunk of his t-shirt off and tightly winds it around Tony’s shoulder. Another piece of the t-shirt is tied around Tony’s leg.
    “You found the suit.” Tony’s eyes are a hair away from drifting closed, and his voice is as light as a soft breeze. Peter worries that he won’t be able to get Tony out of here in time.
    “Yeah. I wasn’t just about to leave the best gift I’ve ever received.”
    “I’m surprised May didn’t destroy it.”
    “If I remember correctly, she tried to. Almost burned down the apartment back in New York. But someone is such a genius engineer that I guess she just decided to bring it along.”
    “Ha, I guess I was.” Tony smiles slightly, leaning his head against the wall behind him. That sentence makes the blood in Peter’s veins stand still, freezing his body and raising goosebumps along every inch of skin.
    “Wh… what?” His voice is as cold as he feels.
    “I guess I was a great engineer.” Tony says, giving Peter a weird look. “Are you okay, kid?”
    “Why are you saying ‘was’?”
    “Kid-”
    “No, Mr. Stark, I refuse to hear it. I refuse to believe that anything bad is going to happen to you. You are not going to die today. I promise you.”
    “Peter-”
    “No. I promise that I will get you out of here, alive. I have to get you back to Pepper, and the Avengers. We have to go back to New York and be a family again.”
    “I…” Tony looks defeated. There is no possible way that he can tell Peter what he already knows. Peter won’t listen to him, but that means it will only hurt more when Tony actually dies. And if he doesn’t get Peter out of here in a few minutes, they’re both as good as dead.
    “I’m sure he appreciates the sentiment, Spiderman,” the man, who has creepily been waiting in the shadows and listening to their entire conversation, now emerges, the gun gleaming against the dim light of the warehouse.
    Peter takes a protective step in front of Tony, his jaw set and his eyes full of fire. “You will not hurt Mr. Stark any more.” He says.
    “Kid,” Tony desperately tries to pull Peter away from the situation, from putting himself in harm's way. But Peter doesn’t even look back at his parental figure.
    “You’re right. Blood loss will kill him in about…” The man glances at a watch on his wrist, “twenty minutes.”
    “You’re lying.” Peter hisses through his teeth. But one look back at Tony confirms it.
“There is absolutely no way that he is going to get out of here, alive, young Peter.” The man says, bringing an angry growl from Tony’s lips. How dare he say Peter’s name?
“But, I am prepared to offer you a deal.” Every movement in the room stops, and Peter’s world stands still for a second that seems to last forever. A deal? Why in the world would he accept a deal from that murderous liar?
“If you leave, right now, without bringing Tony Stark with you, I will let you walk free. Your Aunt will not try to stop you anymore, and you and Miss Potts can return back to New York and live your lives peacefully and happily.”
“No.” Peter says quickly.
“Peter-” Tony shakily moves forward and grabs onto Peter’s hand. Peter turns around and looks into the sad, broken eyes of Tony Stark.
“I have twenty minutes left. I can barely move, and there’s not a hospital close enough that would save me in time. I’m going to die, Peter.” Peter opens his mouth to protest, but Tony stops him by continuing to talk.
“I’m going to die, and there’s nothing that we can do to stop it. So please, please Peter, just do what I say, for once. I am going to die, but you can save yourself. You can save yourself and live the rest of your life. That’s exactly what you deserve.”
“Mr. Stark-”
“I don’t want to hear an argument. If it makes you feel more guilty, call it my dying wish. There’s no reason that both of us should have to die today.”
Peter stares at Tony, his eyes welling up with tears. Emotion slides into his throat, choking his breath and making it impossible to swallow. He stares at Tony, memorizing every detail of his bleeding, bruised face. The dark blood that has already start to soak through the makeshift bandages. The light that shines behind his eyes only for Peter. In just a few minutes, it’ll be gone completely.
Tony’s eyes match Peter’s, the tears already starting to flow freely from his eyes. Each tear sliding down his face falls in unison with another drop of blood from his shoulder, but he could care less. All that matter is getting Peter out of here, safe.
They stare at each other for what feels like a lifetime, until Tony breaks the silence.
    “I’m going to die today with the knowledge that I was the father to the best kid in the world. I could never ask for a better son than you. I’ll die today, knowing that everything leading up to this moment, no matter how painful, was worth it, because I got to share those moments with you.”
    Peter nods, biting his lip. The tears finally drift lazily from his eyes, soaking his torn t-shirt.
    “I could never ask for a better father than you, Mr. St- dad.” He corrects quickly. “There’s so much I want to say to you, that I wanted to do with you.” His voice cracks and he looks down at the ground, his stomach flipping as he sees the pool of blood has reached his shoes.
    “Tell Pepper that I’m sorry.” Tony winces, his face becoming even more white.
    “I will.” Peter nods quickly. “Of course I will.”
    “And you take care of yourself.” Tony says, not having the strength to wipe the tears from his eyes.
    “You know me,” Peter says, his face breaking with emotion. “I’m just as good as it as you are.”
    “Oh, Lord.” Tony smiles, then sighs. “It’s time for you to go.”
    “I don’t want to.” Peter says, his voice cracking. His throat burns, his lungs squeeze, and his heart feels like he has a trillion knives stabbing every possible centimeter.
    “I know, kid. But you’re the bravest person I’ve ever met. You can do this.” Tony smiles up at Peter, a proud look overtaking the sad look in his eyes.
    “I love you more than anything.” Peter says, sobs racking each word.
    “I love you more.” Tony closes his eyes, and Peter takes that as his sign to leave. He turns around, stares at the triumphant smile of the man, and keeps walking.
    One foot in front of the other. Step. Step. Step. Step. His legs feel like lead and each breath, each movement drives another knife into his heart. Step, knife. Step, knife. He reaches the doorway, and turns, seeing the faint glow of Tony’s arc reactor shining through the room like a beacon of pain, love, and torture.
    “I love you, Dad.” He says quietly, taking one last look and turning from the room. “But a life without you isn’t worth living.” With a dark look and an even darker heart, Peter knows exactly what he needs to do.

/AN/ I know I just published a story the other day, but I was bored and felt like writing so here you go!! After seeing several comments about it, I made an instagram account with the name, allonsypotternerd (same as this account). It's private because of parental rules, but if you ask to follow me  I will definitely allow it! I can't believe I'm so close to 100k reads and 3.5k likes. It really means so freaking much to me! I'm so close to 100 followers too, so if you guys have any friends that you think would like my account, please encourage them to read the story and follow me! I already have the idea for the next story, too... actually ideas for several stories. Anyways, have a fantastic day, and I love you all! /AN/