When The War Dies Down

Chapter 3

A/N: Tony didn't get here surgery to remove his arc reactor btw.

- -

Peter knew it. It didn't matter that his dad had come back ragged and hurt, or that the rooms were strangely silent for once. He knew they weren't coming back. He knew his mom wasn't coming back.

It was Jarvis that gave him the first clue. Jarvis had only welcomed back him. When he asked the AI when Natasha was coming home, the AI didn't respond. Jarvis heard everything. He would know if Natasha wasn't coming back.

His next clue was Vision, who went into all the rogues' rooms and put all their personal stuff into storage. He didn't go into his mom dad's room though.

"Where's Bucky Jarvis?" Peter finally asked.

"Bucky was taken last night mind controlled by the witch" and Jarvis' voice sounded nothing but bitter. "I tried to alert everyone, but Clint shut me down for the three seconds. When I got back up, I was able to have Dum-e put a tracker on him. We now now where the rogues and Bucky are."

"Can you tell dad?"

"I have already done just that. He's on his way back to get a different suit and then he'll go save Bucky from Steve." And Jarvis sounded so happy, Peter questioned if Ultron's code was still mixed in with Jarvis'.

- -

Peter snapped his head to the sound of the elevator coming. In seconds, Tony was emerging and looked awful. Tear stains were clear on his face, and just forming bruises could be seen scattered around his body.

Tony looked up. "I didn't know you were up here."

All Peter did was nod. When he went to speak, his voice broke. "They're not coming back are they?"

Tony took two long strides across the space between them and engulfed him in a bear hug. "Not for now Pete."

Through sobs, Peter managed to croak, "Mom too?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah. She's not going to be here." He put his hands on Peter's shoulders and looked at him. "I'm going to find Bucky. And then, we take one day at a time." Peter just nodded.

He didn't hate the Accords like his dad. He felt they were needed. He wanted the people of New York to trust him, and if that meant signing a paper for 117 countries, then he would do it.

What he did hate was the betrayal. Steve has said he would be with them till the end of the line. This wasn't the end of the line. This was how far Steve was willing to go, not the end of the line. And he had the audacity to bring Uncle Bucky, who made it clear he didn't want to go, come along. All because his "daughter" Wanda, who clearly wasn't a child, didn't want to be held responsible. Uncle Bruce left because of those two. Uncle Thor and Loki left because of her. Rhodey was hurt because of their fight. If he was able to ask Steve one question, it would be this, "Was it worth it? Tearing apart our family?"

It probably wouldn't go through Steve's head, or Wanda's but it would be nice to rub in their face.

But his mom? She was the one who promised she wouldn't leave. She made him Spider-Man. She left them for Rogers, a man who captured his "best friend" because he didn't go along with his plan.

And she left his dad. According to the stories, his dad had been a reckless, foolish man until he met Natasha. Then they met and Tony became less reckless and likely more foolish. But his dad was happy with her. They were his whole world, at least that's what Jarvis told him.

Even though he knew it wasn't true, Peter felt like this was his fault. He didn't know why, because logically, there was no reason to feel this way, but he did. And he hated it. It felt like a combination of drowning and losing yourself in a maze and slowly descending into madness.