Pride Is Not The Word I'm Looking For

Chapter 29

Editing Credit to @PersassyPercyJ

***

-+*+- Peter -+*+-

"Okay, so this is what Nat got from the database," Steve announced, taking a seat at the meeting table.

They were gathered in a meeting room with a high tech screen clad with the SHIELD logo laid out in front of them. They were going over what intel Nat got from the base they raided two days ago and hoped it would shed some light on the mystery. Peter prayed that his screw up wasn't for nothing.

Tony still hadn't talked to the teenager since the rescue and Loki had locked himself in his room, not coming out even to eat. It was stressing Peter out but he didn't voice his opinions to anyone, figuring Tony was mad at him for going AWOL on the mission.

Natasha turned on the screen and the mugshot of a man took up most of the space. He had jet black hair and electric blue eyes that tore into Peter. He looked as if he was staring right at him.

"This is The Blue Death," Natasha said, walking around them, "He's a widely feared and known assassin across the globe. He gets what he wants when he wants, and no one crosses him. He was last seen in Brazil where he took credit for the assassination of a high ranking government member."

Peter felt chills shoot up his spine and he shivered. The man looked so familiar and he could have sworn he'd seen him before, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"It's believed that he's the head of the operation. He's been recruiting the escaped criminals from Asgard and using them to get what he wants," she continued, circling the table like a shark. "What that is? We don't know."

She clicked a button and the screen slid to a different picture.

"We're trying to plan out the best offensive move that will wipe him out before he does anything else but that's not too easy right now," she explained, taking her position in the front, "He's dangerous and we can't risk attacking him now that he knows we know about him."

Peter's face flushed and his shoulders tensed. It wasn't a secret that the team had to reveal their presence to get Peter and Loki out of the base, but that didn't mean he stopped blaming himself. He thought about it ever since and worried over the fact that Tony still wasn't talking to him.

He resolved to try and apologize again after the meeting.

"I'll assemble another small team to return to the base in a week. Stealth and observation only," she said strictly.

Peter's face flushed once more as she dismissed them. They began filing out of the room and Peter was pushed out with Steve and Bucky, not being able to get near Tony. He groaned in frustration and tried wiggling his way to where Tony was.

He caught up to the billionaire and stopped him in the hallway near the elevator. His heart rate sped up and he was suddenly at a loss for words.

"I- uh- Mr. Stark! Wait!" he scrambled after the engineer who had just continued walking, heading in the direction of his lab. "Mr. Stark please!"

His pleas went ignored until they both reached the lab. Tony let out a long sigh and leaned on the side of one of the workbenches, facing Peter with his arms crossed.

"Yes?"

"I'm so- I'm sorry," he said, his chest aching. "I'm sorry for screwing up the mission, I'm sorry for putting myself and the others in danger, and I'm sorry for making you angry with me. I didn't mean to but Loki needed help and you weren't listening to me."

Tony's face softened and he let out another sigh.

"Kid, I'm not mad at you. You know what you did was reckless right?"