Peter was bored out of his mind.
Not that that was a bad thing, it meant that the area was safe. It was just, he kinda wished he had something to do. A cat to save, someone who needed directions, just something. He waited on the building for a few more minutes before deciding to at least swing around a bit. He noticed he was getting lower on his web fluid than he would like. Making a mental note to make some more when he got home, he shot a web onto the adjacent building and swung. He soon fell into a rhythm, nearly flying across streets and avenues. After a few minutes of that, he realized that he was actually about to run out of fluid, so he quickly jumped onto a nearby rooftop. He waited a moment for his heart to slow down and the adrenaline to wear off before sitting down on the ledge. He was just beginning to try and figure out if he had enough web fluid to head home when he his enhanced senses picked up someone crying. He whipped around in the direction of the noises and ran. Looking down the side, he saw a hooded figure rummaging through a purse and a middle aged woman backed into a corner. Standard mugging. Quickly, Peter propelled down the wall.
"Hey! Don't you know it's mean to steal? That's why we have laws saying that you can't," Peter quipped. As soon as the mugger turned around, Peter webbed the purse and yanked it out of the thug's hands. "Now, are you going to cooperate and hand over what you took from her?" The thug sneered and held his ground. "No? Alright then." He ran over to him and kicked him over, hoping that whatever he had in his hands fell to the ground. Some ten dollar bills fell to the ground, and the woman ran forward to grab them. Peter shot a web onto the guys back as he tried to get up, and attached it to a nearby fire escape, so the guy was hanging from his back a few feet in the air. Peter stopped paying attention to him as he helped the woman with her purse. She thanked him profusely, to which he continuously responded with, "It really was no problem." After making sure she was safe and had all of her belongings, he watched her leave the alley and walk down the street for a second. Finally, he began to turn around to face her attacker. "So, I'm gonna contact the authorities, and..."
BANG
"Boss, the Spider Suit is currently experiencing a malfunction. Would you like for me to run full diagnostics?" The cool voice of FRIDAY filled the room. Tony lifted his welders mask worriedly.
"What kind of malfunction?"
"It appears that part of the primary circuit has been damaged."
"Is the Baby Monitor Protocol still functioning?" Tony asked.
"Yes. And it appears that Mr. Parker was physically active for approximately six minutes before the malfunction. Do you wish to view the feed during this time period?"
"Yeah, pull it up," he said, throwing the mask onto his workbench, leaning on it to watch the hologram. He watched as Peter swung through the city, landed on the rooftop. He watched as he easily took down a grown man about twice his size and help the lady get her purse and money back. He was just about to ask FRIDAY to skip to when the circuit was damaged when he saw Peter turn around and begin to talk to the mugger. Before he was halfway through with his sentence,
BANG
Tony felt his heart stop as the cameras looked at the thug, who had gotten out by taking off the hooded jacket, pointing a gun at Peter. He watched as Peter looked down at his chest, where the bullet had hit, then fall over while the man ran away.
"FRIDAY, get Peter's location plugged into a suit now! And contact Dr. Cho and let her know to prep a room for surgery immediately!" Tony was panicking more than he ever had in his life. And he wasted all that time watching the kid fly around and comfort some lady instead of getting to him right away! Cursing quite loudly at himself as the suit wrapped around his body and launched into the city, Tony hoped the kid was alright with his enhanced healing ability. "FRIDAY, call Peter through the suit!"
"Call unable to go through." Tony cursed again.
"Then call his AI, Karen or whatever he calls it," he barked.
"Unable to contact Spider Suit AI." Tony felt the beginnings of a panic attack flooding him.
"Then go faster!" he practically screamed.
"The suit is currently going at the maximum speed possible," Tony made a mental note to work on making the suit faster after he saved his kid, because he was going to save him. After a few minutes of panic and not one cohesive thought, he finally landed in the alleyway a few feet from where Peter lay. Almost falling out of the suit to get to Peter, Tony ran to the boy. He inspected him, and saw that that he was alive, but only just. His breathing was raspy and there was a very large pool of blood around his heart, where the bullet had obviously hit.
"Miss'er... Misser Sterr..." Peter whispered.
"Shh, kid, shh, don't strain yourself. I'm gonna take you to Dr. Cho, and you'll be fine. You'll be alright." Tony said, more for himself than Peter. To his shock, Peter shook his head.
"I don't.. I don't think I can make it," he wheezed.
"No no, you have to make it. I'm gonna go to the suit and pick you up now." As he turned to get up, he felt a hand grab his own. He turned and looked at Peter, who was white in the face.
"No offense, but I think we both know that I'm not going to make it."
"Don't you dare say that. Don't you dare." Tony's throat was tightening now, his eyes were blurring and his voice was becoming angry. "You have to make it."
Peter looked up at him. "You want to know something I realized a few minutes ago?" Tony, not wanting to delay this any longer, but unable to deny answering the kid, shook his head. "This was the street Uncle Ben died on. Just up the block a little bit." He paused. "I think I would rather die here than up in the air."
"But you won't die up there. You are going to be fine and this will simply be another stupid injury you got that you'll laugh at in a few days and I'll get a few more gray hairs from," Tony said, a tear rolling down his face. Peter's eyes were glazing over, and his breathing was becoming weaker as he shook his head a little. Then, to Tony's horror, his breathing stopped, and his eyes stopped blinking. "No," he murmured, then, "NO!" He grabbed Peter and held him, hoping to find a pulse, a breath, anything to indicate that Peter Parker was alive. Finding nothing, he held out his hand for the gauntlet. He began to charge the defibrillators when FRIDAY interrupted him.
"Boss, a full body scan shows that Mr. Parker's heart was severely damaged by the bullet."
"Yeah, no shit!" he yelled.
"Therefore, a shock by an AED will not be able to bring him back, as the electric shock cannot bring a rhythm to a damaged heart." Tony froze, not wanting to believe her. "Scanning also shows that brain activity has ceased. Mr. Parker is dead. Time of death, 1:24 AM." Maybe it was just Tony's imagination, but FRIDAY sounded sad. Maybe it was just his own grief that made him think that. There were a few moments of silence, then, "Shall I contact Dr. Cho and let her know that her services are no longer required?" Tony didn't say anything, he just nodded. Luckily FRIDAY sensed it and followed the order. There were several minutes of silence, save for the shuddering gasps of Tony Stark as he held the corpse of the best kid he had ever known in his life.
Peter watched from nearby. Seeing Tony so distraught over his death was a little depressing, and he longed to reach out and comfort him. Instead he stood and watched from a few feet away until he felt a hand clap onto his shoulder. Turning to look over his shoulder, he smiled when he saw his Uncle Ben standing there, smiling at him.
"Come on kiddo, it's time to go," he said. Peter looked over at Tony and then turned back to Ben.
"What about Aunt May?" he asked.
"Don't worry, she's a strong woman. She'll be sad of course, but she'll survive." Peter nodded. "Now come on, your folks are waiting for you." He nodded again, but turned to look at Tony one last time, who was now picking up his body. He watched for a moment before turning back to his uncle and following him.
At least now he wouldn't have to worry about refilling his web shooters.