Chapter Twelve

"...What?" Peter asked, having thoroughly expected it to be some kind of ransom situation for him, not anything to do with Ace, who had (as far as Peter knew) no connection to anyone important, other than Mr. Stark.

"One of you Harrison Lyker's kid?" The man in the suit asked again, clearly losing patience.

The man in the lab coat rolled his eyes. "You idiot, that one's Peter Parker!"

"Stark's kid?" Suit blinked, looking closer at Peter. "Damn. Kid's a shrimp."

"That's not the point! Stark? Ironman?! Anything ringing a bell in that empty head of yours?"

Suit's eyes widened. "You mean Ironman's coming for this kid?"

"He better not, or it's your head I'm handing to exec." Lab turned back to the two boys sitting on the floor. "The other one must be Lyker's brat, then. Ajax?"

Ace flinched at the sound of the name he hadn't heard spoken for years, not since he was barely six years old. Lab smiled. "I see the resemblance now. You have the same red hair as your father, the dirty bastard. Let's hope that's not the only thing he left you with, hm?"

Suit started moving in on Ace and Peter, and Peter pulled them both off the floor, standing protectively in front of Ace, prepared to fight their way out of here. The door was open, if he could take down the two men down before Lab managed to close the door, they could- Ace tugged gently on Peter's sleeve, leaning forwards to whisper in his ear.

"They don't know about you," he muttered, so softly Peter's hearing was barely able to pick it up. "Don't let them find out. Tony'll come."

Peter looked at Ace, worry clouding his beautiful brown eyes. "What if they hurt you? I can't protect you from in here."

Ace smiled tightly. "I'll be fine, you know I heal fast." Then he was stepping forwards, facing Suit with a darkly hateful look on his face. "Harrison was my dad. I don't know what you think he gave me, because he died when I was six."

Lab grinned sickly. "Oh, I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out. You might want to say goodbye to your boyfriend, I'm not sure if you'll see him again."

Ace glared at the man before he turned and hugged Peter around the shoulders. "Keep it hidden," he muttered against Peter's ear, and when he pulled away, Peter felt something slip into the front pocket of his jeans. And then Suit had a tight grip on Ace's upper arm and was hauling him out of the room, away from Peter. The shutting of the door between them was like an arrow to Peter's heart.

-

"What do you mean he's not at school? He's not here." Tony wrinkled his brow, currently on the phone with May, who'd called Tony when the school called her to say Peter had never shown up for class, and wasn't answering his phone. Peter always answered his phone, even Tony knew that. "Ace? No, I don't think I've seen him, now that you mention. He should have been here a couple hours ago, but I might've missed him. Alright, May, calm down, I'll ask around– yeah, I can track his phone, I'm Tony fucking Stark. I'll call when I have news. Yeah."

Tony hung up and sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. He had been in the lab most of the morning, it's very possible Peter and Ace had snuck past him. "Hey Friday?"

"Yes, boss?"

"Has Ace arrived yet?" Tony had gotten the boy's message last night that he was staying at Peter's, and Tony had thought it would do him some good. He was nervous about the tests he and Bruce wanted to run, and Peter had been through the process already, so Tony hoped Peter could at least take the edge off of Ace's fear. (And the fact that Tony was not oblivious, thank you, and he did see how Peter looked at Ace and he was nothing if not a good wingman).

"Ace has not returned since leaving for Peter's yesterday."

"Hmm." Tony wandered over to his mainframe computer. "Pull up Peter's tracker."

"Which one, boss?"

"Start with his phone." A map of New York was brought up, a 3D schematic of the entire city, which could extend further if Tony needed it too. He hoped Peter and Ace were still in New York, though. The tracking program scanned the city, from one side to the other, until it pinged an area of Brooklyn, not too far from Peter and May's apartment.

"This is his last known location. Tracker is now offline."

Tony swore colourfully. "Okay, what about his suit?" The tracker searched for a few minutes, before pinging the same spot.

"Last known location. Tracker is now offline."

Tony swore again. There's no way Peter would just let his phone and suit be destroyed, something had happened. "Alright, scan for his other trackers, then. And Ace's too." Tony wasn't a stupid man. He knew that Peter and Ace being affiliated with him put them both automatically in danger, and he wasn't about to let a couple innocent kids get caught up in his business. So it's possible he had attached trackers to Peter's jacket, Ace's jacket, their favourite hoodies, favourite pair of shoes, Peter's sunglasses- probably breaking some sort of law along the way, but he was Tony fucking Stark, and he could do whatever he wanted.

The tracker picked up Ace's hoodie and jacket in the tower, Peter's jacket and glasses at his apartment, but Peter's hoodie, and the two boy's shoes showed up in a very different place. The system pinged, and Friday spoke up. "Trackers P2, A1, and P3 have been located, boss. Would you like me to prepare the ironman suit?"

"Oh yeah," Tony muttered darkly. "Shit's about to go down."