Betrayed

Chapter 3: The avengers tower

Tony slowly opened his eyes, frowning at the shrill noise of the alarm he'd set with Friday. "Alright, alright. I'm up." Slowly he sat up, wincing at the loud crack from his back. Rubbing his face, he looked around to see his lab, random pieces of metal littered across the work bench. All junk, until he managed to tie them together with the right programming. Which was not happening without coffee. "Friday, lights on. I need a coffee, and make sure popsicle hasn't stolen the last doughnut. It's too early for me to punch him in his stupid perfect teeth." He walked out of the labs, a quiet whoosh of air from the pneumatic seals on the door sounding behind him. Ever since the fight with Cap, he'd been more cautious about his work. Well, Nat, Pepper and Rhode said paranoid made more sense but... "Mr. Stark, it's 4pm." Shocked, he looked at his watch to confirm that, yes, it was in fact four' o' clock. "Why did you let me sleep that long Fri? I have work to do!" He walked up the stairs to the main common area, ignoring the rest of the Avengers, who were all sitting together for once, and grabbed the prepared cup of coffee from the kitchen, frowning at the empty box of doughnuts. "You have been asleep for five hours Mr.Stark, I only woke you because Miss. Romanov requested it. Tony sighed, leaning against the counter. "Really Romanov, you woke me up and didn't get me doughnuts? Why else am I letting you live here?" Natasha sighed, used to him being so harsh. After the fight with Steve, Tony just didn't seem to care as much anymore. "We're worried about you Tony. This isn't healthy." Stark rolled his eyes, rifling through the cupboards looking for a snack. "Well yeah, fried dough covered in icing isn't gonna be healthy, but it tastes good." Straightening up, he drained the last of his coffee, looking at the Black Widow as the coffee machine worked on a refill. "I'm not sticking around for an intervention, I have work to do." Clint stood, shooting an arrow at the door mechanism, stopping Iron man from leaving. "Well that's just rude, I don't come to your house and start writing quantum mechanics on your walls!" Rolling his eyes, he sat down again. "This isn't about you. Something happened." He just stared at the archer, waiting for him to go on. When he didn't he rolled his eyes, frowning. "Well spit it out Legolas, I haven't got all day." Bruce removed his glasses and cleaned them as he simply pointed at the wide-screen TV, which had an image of a news reporter paused mid-sentence. Pressing play, he sat down on the sofa between Thor and Bruce, watching the report. "Hello Metropolis, this is Minnie Cooper here, reporting live from State Park, where an astonishing scene is taking place." Tony watched as the mercenary in a red and black suit jumped over the reporter and proceeding to kill hundreds of alien bugs with ease. In the background he could see a younger girl leading civilians out of harms way, branches of nearby trees swatting away anything that got too close. But it was the young man in all black, swinging from a web that really caught his attention. He watched as a mass of oily black liquid launched from the figures wrists to an alien, burning the creature until there was nothing left. Natasha paused it again, stopping on a freezeframe of the boy who was mid-way through tearing the bugs in two. "Tony-" He raised his hand, stopping Nat from saying anything else. This wasn't what it looked like, no way. Steve walked over, standing in front of the billionaire. "Stark, I remember that kid, from Germany. He lifted a lorry! If it was just this then we wouldn't worry, but this isn't the first time 'Arachnid' has shown up. There have been reports for weeks now. Criminals tied up and brutalised. Poisoned, skewered, burned, lying in a pool of acid!" Tony shook his head, standing to look out the window. "No, no, no no! He's just stopping crime, friendly neighbourhood spiderman and all that. I'll have Happy call him, we'll sort it out." Natasha sighed, looking at Clint, who appeared equally a worried. " He's killing people, Tony! He doesn't wear your suit, he isn't Spiderman anymore. He fights with mercenaries! Just look at this!" She forwarded to tape to the end of the interview, an image of the black-suited vigilante speaking to the reporter. "We don't just react when something bad happens. We protect people, we save lives rather than causing the death of innocents. We clean up the mess we make rather than destroying half the city! No one gets left behind." Nat paused it again, watching the crestfallen look on Tony's face. She wasn't surprised. The kid he'd dragged into this mess, was saying everything Tony blamed himself for. As if the guilt wasn't already tearing him apart. Tony looked around the room, at the worried and solemn faces watching him. He glared at Loki, who was still watching the screen with a worrying amount of interest. The last thing he needed was Loki getting his hooks in Peter. Thor had brought reindeer games to them a couple of weeks ago, claiming the god of mischief wanted to change. Apparently he thought the Avengers could help with that. Clint spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "Look Tony, none of us want to hurt the kid, okay? But if he's gone rogue, we need to stop him." Tony's face crumpled, cradling his head in his hands. "We don't even know if it is Peter! It could be someone else with similar abilities." The team looked doubtful, exchanging glances with each other. The philanthropist was obviously in denial. "Excuse me for daring to speak to the righteous, but you have that face programme do you not? The one you used to find me." Tony glared as the rest of the team nodded, agreeing with him. "NO! Absolutely not. Since when was Rock of Ages given a say in any of this?" Natasha sighed as he stood to leave, electrocuting him with the upgraded taser he had given her just days ago. Stepping forwards to help Tony up, Steve frowned. "Okay, calm down. Lets just say that this isn't Peter. We should still check them out. They're clearly powerful, and dangerous. We already know of Wilson's reputation. The other two are wild cards, that doesn't help us. Can we just be logical here for a moment?" The others nodded, and Tony watched them for a minute before nodding. He stood, refusing Rogers hand and limping over to the screen. "Friday, zoom in and capture mugshots of the three purportrators."