If They Knew All About You

Even Newton Had Bad Days

Things for Tony usually happened in sets of threes. If one thing went terribly wrong he usually didn't have to wait too long for numbers two and three to follow along. In fact, this time number one and two had happened in quick succession of each other. The mission call to Africa, which meant he would be left in charge of things at the Compound and overseeing US operations. He hadn't even started to process what that would mean for his already packed schedule when Natasha had gone ahead and figured out his whole thing with the kid. Well, not the whole thing. Not yet. But she knew enough. The rest would likely only be a matter of time.

The team was always going to find out at some point, but he had really hoped that he'd have more time. More time to get the kid's trust. More time for the dynamics in the team to calm down a bit. More time that Peter could just digest everything that had happened to him in the last few weeks between his less than optimal first encounter with the Avengers and the trauma that followed. The kid had potential, that much was obvious but he'd need training and he had some growing up to do, possibly some turning 18, though it was clear that he was itching to get out and do more and with his strength and superhuman abilities there was little to stop him.

The first time Peter had tried on the suit, that day in the lab just after he had completely fallen apart, Tony had watched with a weird mix of reservation and amazement how the kid's demeanor had changed, his eyes brightened, shoulders squared and head held high after he had swung around the lab for a while and shot some webs for target practice. The purpose was a part of him. Peter was good at this.

Well, Tony still had some time till he'd have to tell the team. That also meant he still had some time till Peter had to know that Tony would have to tell the team. Another week or two for the kid to bask in his ignorance. Then a couple of weeks to give him time to come to terms with the reality of the situation. When the team would come back from the mission Tony would have to bring him to the Compound so they could have their talk.

Peter would be fine. He would be. Probably. Tony might get them to accept the kid's request for his secret identity. Hopefully. The whole thing about Spider-Man being a 14-year-old kid would not go over well. At all. Neither would Tony tolerating an underaged vigilante and arguably supporting him in continuing.

It had been less than a day after the first two things happened when problem number three came around the corner. FRIDAY had forwarded an urgent deadline request from the Stark Industry headquarters in LA. One of their top three clients threatened to walk away from a deal in digital storage capacity, claiming a better offer from HT Solutions - formerly known as Hammer Industries and since bought by a Chinese investor. They were looking for a 7.5% increase in capacity or they would walk their investment all the way to Asia.

7.5% wasn't undoable - with time and research - but the deadline was just a week away. That would have been ambitious even if his team hadn't just left him in charge of the Compound while they went to another continent. It became even more complicated when after the first three days, that had left Tony with only a couple of hours of sleep each, the added data dumps from Africa were coming in steady. The team traveled lightly and analysis of the intel was mostly done by FRIDAY. They uncovered a good portion of data, movements between different camps and messages that needed decrypting from the first few targets in the outskirts of al-Faschir in Sudan.

"Transmission from locations 4 and 5 did not match the signature at all," Tony read off the graphic that was gradually extended by FRIDAY with different data signatures.

"But 4 and 5 do match each other, right?" Roger's voice was booming through the lab and even without the 11th espresso that day, Tony wouldn't have had a problem to follow his words.