Frostbite: The Time In Between// Book 6 of the Frostbite Series

Chapter 9

Okay, so this is harder than I thought.

Cleaning my own room is one thing, cleaning out the storage facility in the basement is another. It made me feel like a hoarder, there were things that I still wanted, but weren't useful to me anymore. Like the first suit that Howard designed for me. I never wear it anymore, but it's a keepsake. I'm pretty sure that Tony keeps all of his old suits, so where is the harm done?

"FRIDAY, how far am I into this?" I asked aloud.

"You've gotten through three boxes this entire day," FRIDAY answered. "It'll be a miracle if you get this done by Moving Day."

"Relax... It's only Wednesday..."

Clearly, I wasn't relaxed about this. This is a big compound, but we have a lot more things coming in from the tower that just might not fit. A lot of it being Tony's old stuff from when it was just him on his own. If I didn't get this finished in time there would be a large plane outside the compound waiting to be unloaded.

I glanced at the one medium box of Avengers records, at the one big box of weapon prototypes, and at the large box of old suits in front of me. I put my old suit to the side, finding Steve's first Cap suit folded neatly. Oh, the nostalgia. My phone buzzed in my back pocket, I pulled it out seeing that it was a text from Tony.

Ferry Docks. Now.

Okay, that's really weird, why does he need me at the Ferry Docks? I unlocked my phone and clicked the call icon for Tony and held the phone up to my ear. He answered right away.

"Did you get my text?" He asked, his voice having some edge to it.

"Yeah, why-" I began.

"Just get in the car and get over here." Tony interrupted. "I need you to take Peter home."

"Is everything ok-" He hung up before I could finish. That was weird.

Putting my phone away, I looked around at the unfinished boxes that I had to go through. I sighed and stood up, leaving a mess behind me.

"I'll be back to finish up, FRIDAY," I called as I walked into the elevator.

"Of course, miss."

~

When I reached the docks the sun was already setting. I parked the car, opened the door and stepped out, wanting to know what was going on. Tony was facing away from me, his hands closing in and out of fists. He didn't have his stress ball. Peter was standing at a distance from him wearing an oversized t-shirt and... Are those Hello Kitty pajama pants? Even in the dim light I could tell he looked bad. Not beat up or hurt, just not okay. Peter saw that I had arrived and began walking towards the car with no intention of talking to me. I began walking too, holding up my hands in question.

"Hey, what happened?" I asked. Without reply, Peter rushed past me and got into the back seat. I looked at Tony, my brows furrowed and I approached him. "Is everything okay?"

"Just take him home," Tony replied, sharply.

"Tony, what happened?" I asked again and before I could even reach him, he spun around, jaw clenched and he was clutching his left hand.

"Eleanor, just take him home!" He barked and I took a step back.

Without further question I turned on my heel and walked back to the car. I got into the drivers seat, turned on the ignition and glanced at Peter through the rearview mirror. He sat staring out the window at a brick wall, his face stiff and his hands folded in his lap.