Emergency

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Tony sat at the lab table, AC/DC blasting through the speakers as he worked. He had oil smudges across his forehead and right cheek, and his hair was a mess.

He'd been working on this for a while now, but he wasn't any closer to getting the new suit finished. After the first 4 accidents during testing, Tony had started to realize it might have been something in the coding, so that's what he'd been focused on for the last 37 hours. The coding.

The exhausted billionaire reached for his StarkPad, but recoiled when the whole table started shaking. At first, he thought it was somehow related to his own doing, but he quickly realized it was just his phone.

He flipped it over, checking the caller ID.

Underoos calling...

Tony sighed, feeling conflicted. On the one hand, Peter. On the other, he was so close to cracking this thing, and then he'd have his newest suit perfect.

Tony swiped the call away, pushing the pang of guilt that shot through him. I'll call him as soon as I finish this,Tony reasoned. He's not out patrolling, otherwise the call would have gone through Karen and FRIDAY. He's fine.

Just as quickly as the first call came, a second one followed. Tony pursed his lips, thinking about this one for a little longer before wringing his hands and swiping it away.

Grabbing his StarkPad, the man ran a hand through his hair before opening a tab on his project manager and jotting down some notes. Every now and then, he would glance up at the code on the desktops around him, then mark something down and keep scrolling through the code.

Tony phone buzzed, catching his attention. It was a text.

Peter: Emergency.

Peter: Can I come to the Tower? You don't need to come get me if you're busy.

Tony panicked, grabbing the phone and fumbling it through the air.

Tony: Not busy, in the lab. I can come in the Iron Suit, or Happy can come get you.

Peter: I can swing, its fast and I'm almost there now. Clear some space for me.

With those 5 words, Tony felt the world spin for a moment. "FRIDAY, get Bruce and Cho up to the med bay, make sure there's a bed for Peter. Get vitals from Karen. Call May and Pepper."

"Sir," FRIDAY said. "It would appear that Dr. Cho is upstate at a conference, but Bruce is on his way. May has her phone off and is on duty at the hospital, but Pepper is on her way to you now. Karen just transmitted the vitals."

Tony gathered up his stuff, waiting for FRIDAY to continue. "And?"

"Peter's heart rate is up to 134 beats per minute, and his breathing is significantly slowed. He is crying, but I'm not getting any reports of injury. As far as I can tell, he's physically fine."

Tony slowed his pace. If the kid wasn't hurt, why was he crying like that?

"Tony!"

The billionaire turned to see his fiancee running towards him, her pajama pants and messy bun indicating that she'd been getting ready for bed when Tony called her.

"What's wrong with Peter? FRIDAY said he was coming in and it was an emergency!"

"I'm honestly not sure, Karen isn't reporting any injuries, but he's crying," Tony said, getting back into his parental worry mode. "I'm having Bruce get a bed ready for him just in case."

The two sped off towards the med bay, where a panicking and sleepy Bruce Banner was rushing around getting the bed ready.

"How far is he?" Before Tony could answer his friend, FRIDAY piped up.

"Peter Parker has just entered the building on Tony's floor. He is asking for you."

All three adults took off towards the elevator, waiting impatiently to be let out in Tony's lab. When the doors finally opened, they were met with a red cheeked, teary eyed Peter, who was clutching his bag.

"Tony!" The teen ran forward, crashing into his mentor and nearly knocking him over.

"Peter! Oh, my God, what happened? Are you okay?" Pepper pulled Tony away from the boy, checking him over for any injuries.

Peter stopped crying suddenly, tilting his head to the side. His breathing was still quite erratic, and he huffed a few times before speaking. "What? Nothing happened, why would you think I wasn't okay?"

"Tony said it was an emergency, we got a bed ready int he med bay and everything!"

Peter's face suddenly split into a grin and he let out a laugh. "Oh, no! I'm fine, guys, I just needed Tony's help! I was asking him to clear space in the lab for me!"

Bruce and Pepper both dropped their looks of worry and shot Tony a glare.

"I'm going back to bed," Bruce sighed, turning back around and heading to the elevator.

"Yeah, hold the elevator for me," Pepper called. "Next time you two decide to have an emergency lab night, don't freak the rest of us out. And be in bed by the time I get up in the morning, you two both need sleep." With that, she turned on her heels and followed Bruce to the elevator.

Tony turned to Peter, the adrenaline of the situation dying away and his tiredness seeping back into his face.

"Alright, so you're not dying. What's the emergency, then?"

Peter's eyes filled with tears again, and he clutched at his bag. "Its Zoomi! I went to turn him on and give him some crumbs like I always do after school but he wasn't turning on! I tried everything, Tony, I checked his dock and the wall socket and even cleaned off all his insides! He won't turn on!"

The teary teen pulled a Roomba out of his bag, gently lying it on the lab table. Tony took a deep breath, following the robot with his eyes. There was a beat of silence, and neither Tony nor Peter moved.

"A... Roomba?"

"No, not a Roomba! My Zoomi!"

"Zoomi?" Peter ignored the snicker behind the older man's words.

"I named him Zoomi. May says we can't have pets because the landlord is kind strict about it, but I was lonely during the day, so I saved up and got Zoomi. Ned and I have been repairing him whenever something happens, but we can't figure this out and Ned had to go home and I can't do it alone, I need help!"

The tears were threatening to spill over again, and Tony couldn't stand to watch his kid cry again. "Why can't I just get you a new-"

"No!" Peter's eyes widened in panic as he instinctively reached for his robot. "I don't want another one, I want him!"

"Okay, okay," Tony raised his hands in surrender. "Let's figure this out, okay?"

Peter nodded, sitting on the lab stool by Tony's. The older man sat on his own stool, grabbing the screwdriver across the table.

"Oh, and kiddo? Let's rank these emergencies from now on, k? This is a level 1, but you dying? That's a level 5."

"Okay, deal."

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