Iron Lightning [ I ] P. PARKER

XVII. GROUNDED

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"grounded"

"What happened?" Iron Man asked, floating in the air.

Peter started to explain what all happened and after about two minutes he had finished, "And then he just, he just, like, swooped down like a monster and he picked me up and, uh, he took me up, like, a thousand feet and just dropped me. How'd you find me? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?"

"I— uh, everything is in your suit. Including this heater," Tony said and suddenly steam came out of Peter's suit.

"Whoa!"

Jade activated her's as well, the suit not as wet anymore.

"Whew, that's better. Thanks," Peter said.

"What were you thinking?" Tony asked. "Both of you?"

"The guy with the wings is obviously the
source of the weapons. I gotta take him down," Peter said.

"Take him down now, huh? Steady, Crockett, there are people who handle this sort of thing,"

"The Avengers?" Peter asked.

"No, no, no. This is a little below their pay grade," Tony said.

"Anyway, Mr. Stark, you didn't have to come all the way out here. I had that. I was fine," Peter said.

"Oh, I'm not here," Tony says and his helmet opens showing an empty suit. "Thank God this place has Wi-Fi or you would be toast right now. Thank Ganesh while you're at it."

"I had it all under control before you got here," Jade spoke up, arms crossed.

"Look, forget the flying vulture guy, please," Tony begged, partly ignoring Jade.

"Why?" Peter asked.

"Why? Because I said so!" Tony shouts, there was a pause. "Sorry, I'm talking to a teenager... Stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping little people, like that lady that bought you the churro. Can't you just be a friendly.. neighborhood Spider-Man?"

"But I'm ready for more than that now," Peter whined.

"No, you are not," Tony said and the empty Iron Man suit opens fully for a body to get in.

"That is not what you thought when I took on Captain America!" Peter whined, throwing his arm out.

"Trust me, kid. If Cap wanted to lay you out, he would've. Listen to me. If you come across these weapons again, call Happy. Lightning, in the suit, now."

"I'm not going," Jade said, her arms still crossed.

"I think it's best if you do," Tony says, his voice radiating anger. Jade huffed quietly and started climbing down the jungle gym. She was actually kind of scared because she didn't want to be face to face with him right now, especially in this state.

Then the sound of a car went off. "Are you driving?" Peter asked.

"You know, it's never too early to start thinking about college. I got some pull at MIT. End call." Tony said and the suit closed around Jade.

"No, I don't need to go to col— Mr. Stark—" Peter tried to get his attention.

"Mr. Stark is no longer connected," FRIDAY said and the Iron Man suit flies off with Jade inside.

"Where are we going?" Jade asked FRIDAY.

"My GPS leads to the compound. Mr. Stark request you stay in your room and wait for him to get there."

"But that's until tomorrow!" Jade exclaimed. "I have to get back to school tomorrow."

"Mr. Stark has contacted Pepper Potts about the situation," FRIDAY added.

"Pepper?" Jade asked in confusion.

"Yes, Miss Stark,"

The flight back to Upstate didn't take long, FRIDAY dropped Jade off at the landing spot and when the suit opened Pepper was standing at the end of the lane with a soft smile and holding her hands like any professional would.

Jade took her mask off and walked up to Pepper with a sad smile. She hadn't seen her in so long and she didn't know she was back.

"Hey," she said softly and Pepper smiled back as a response. She pulled Jade into a hug and they both held on tight. They missed each other.

"Tony called, you're in big trouble but hopefully he'll be cooled down before he gets here," Pepper said, leading them inside.

Jade nodded, she knew she'd be in trouble but she didn't understand why it was such a big deal. She was only doing as Tony asked her to.

"He also said to take away all technology sources so just hand them over." Pepper said holding her hand out.

Jade looked down, she left everything with Michelle; her phone, glasses, clothes. She told Pepper that she had left everything at her apartment and she just needed to change out of her suit. Pepper let her go into her room and she changed quickly, then, the weapon she stole from the dealers van fell out of her pocket.

She quickly picked it up and hid it in a drawer then put the rest of her clothes on. Pepper locked all the labs, having to change the passwords and blocking her fingerprint. She told Jade to just stay in her room for the night and Jade agreed, not really wanting to leave the room anyways. Pepper said goodnight and went back to work.

A few minutes later, the power in Jade's room turned off, leaving on one outlet power that a lamp was plugged up to. She rolled her eyes and groaned knowing it was her fathers idea.

The lamp lit up a small area of her room leaving the rest of the room hard to see. She stood up from her bed and looked at the drawer she put the weapon in. She opened it and pulled the weapon out, with determination, she walked to the lighted area and sat down to examine the thing.

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