9:30. Pepper’s ropes had released a sort of acid that burned her skin and left it covered in raw, red splotches.

10:30. Peter had been unlocked from his binds, tied again with normal rope, and been repeatedly dunked under water until he was heaving for air and soaking wet.

11:30. The clock had just changed, and Aunt May’s smug smile loomed over Peter and Pepper’s exhausted, aching bodies. All they wanted was to leave, to be safe and comfortable again, but it appeared that this was the end of the line. That Tony truly wasn’t coming to save them.

That maybe, he just didn’t care.

But that was ridiculous. Because a mere ten miles from where Peter and Pepper were being held stood Tony. Crying, hyperventilating Tony. Slumped over himself on the side of the road, he cried into his hands and attempted to calm his roaring, swirling thoughts. They slammed around inside his head, drowning out the sound of the passing traffic and his racing heart. He had never cared so much about two people in his entire life, and now, he was about to lose them both. And it was his fault.

Another bout of tears racked Tony’s heart. He’s a failure. The word plays over and over again in his head, splitting his thoughts like poison inside his mind.

“Sir?” FRIDAY’s voice calls from the suit mask lying several feet to Tony’s right. He snatches the mask and throws it over his head, staring at the screen through bleary, fuzzy vision.

“What?” His voice is watery with sadness, but the AI doesn’t care.

“There’s a video I found that I think may be of assistance to you.” A video pops up on the screen, showing Peter in his room at Stark Tower. He’s in his bed, tossing and turning, crying in his sleep. He keeps repeating the same word over and over, but it’s indistinguishable to Tony’s ear.

“FRI, what is he saying?”

“Sir, he just keeps repeating ‘the warehouse’ over and over.” With that, the mask goes flying off Tony’s head and he jumps into the air. Gosh, he’s such an idiot. He laughs excitedly, running his hands through his hair.

“We’re in the endgame now, May. You better be ready” He snaps on his mask, and flies the remaining ten miles to the place where Peter was trapped under the rubble after Vulture collapsed the building.

Pepper was being half-dragged, half-carried towards a large tower. It was skinny and tall, with a tiny elevator at the bottom. She could have fought; May was not a physically imposing woman. Angry, she was terrifying, but now she had a smug calmness about her that was even worse. Pepper was tired. She was exhausted out of her mind, and every bump, every movement, every breath threw another fit of excruciating pain across her body. Every heartbeat threatened to be her last, as Pepper watched blood pour from the stab wound in her side.

Peter hadn’t noticed that when Aunt May was using the knife, she had sunk it into Pepper’s side, just above her waist. She had missed all the major organs, but the blood still pooled through it, and Pepper could feel it touching her hands. Warm and sticky. It made her head feel light and her vision grow black at the edges. Her breathing was shallow and ragged, but she kept her eyes open. She kept smiling at Peter as she was dragged away. Because this was it. And she knew it.

Pepper was thrust into the elevator, landing hard on her side. Biting her lip, she blinked quickly, attempting to keep the blackness from invading her vision even more. The elevator was made of a thick metal, with small glass windows at the very top. Even if Pepper had the strength to pull herself up there, she never would have been able to get through the window.

So, instead, Pepper stared through the windows at the sky. She imagined all the times that she and Tony had gone on the roof of the tower and stared up at the blackness of the sky, had traced shapes in the stars. Once, they had stayed up until the sun broke over the horizon, talking about anything and everything. A single tear slips over her cheek, smearing the dried blood caked there.

The elevator shudders, starting to climb. With each passing second, Pepper is closer to death. Closer to the sky. It reaches the top, and the door opens. The wall of the elevator that Pepper rests her back against begins to push out, moving her limp figure to the start of a five foot long walkway with rails on either side. She pulls herself up with one of the rails. She cries with the pain of the movement, the blackness threatening to move across the entirety of her vision. She eventually manages to do it, supporting herself and shakily walking closer to the edge.

Underneath her is a pit of fire.

She closes her eyes, thinking about the one thing that toys viciously with her mind each night: Aldrich Killian and falling to her death into the fire.

She has nightmares about it, and she knows that Tony does, too. She hears him on the nights that she manages to get him to sleep. He talks about how sorry he is that he didn’t catch her, and that he doesn’t know what he’ll do without her. She always holds him close to her, letting him know, even in sleep, that he has someone there with him.

Who will do that for him now?

Peter watches Pepper be dragged away. She’s tired and helpless. He’s never seen such a broken look cross her face. But he catches it, the glimmer of a word across her lips as she is pulled away from him: I’m sorry. And as she disappears out of sight, Peter is sorry, too. He’s sorry that he couldn’t protect her. And that he let his guard down. He’s sorry that he got them into this whole mess by being caught by May in the first place.

He’ll never apologize for going to Mr. Stark’s house. Or getting to know Pepper and Tony. He will never be sorry for the memories he created with them, both good and bad. He will never apologize for the way he feels about them, or the way he let them into his heart. He will never feel bad for the love that he feels for both of them. And as Peter sits there, scared, helpless, and weak, he promises himself that the last thing he’ll think of when he dies is Pepper and Tony, smiling at him and calling him their son.

Because all he wanted in life was to have people who love him.

Aunt May comes back around the corner, grim determination on her face, but an excited look in her eyes. Peter notices that Pepper is not with her. And the tears break through his eyes. They slither down his face, sliding through the dried dirt and remnants of other tears.

He’s brought to his feet and roughly dragged away. He’s led far from where he originally was and under a room that still stands from the building. Apparently, the entire building hadn’t been destroyed when it collapsed.

Around the room are columns, just like in the main part that Peter had been crushed under. On each column is a ring of explosives, all with a timer set for midnight. Aunt May drags Peter to the center of the room and ties his ropes to a metal pole sticking straight out of the ground. He leans against it for support, taking in tight breaths that don’t lift the sinking, hopeless feeling in his chest.

“I really am sorry about all this Peter.” Aunt May says, finishing tying the knot on his ropes. “I wish there was another way to get to Tony, but you’re the only option here. My hands are tied. I love you, Peter.”

“No.” Peter coughs blood onto the ground. “If you loved me in any way, you wouldn’t be trying to hurt my family.”

“They are not your family, Peter.” Aunt May says angrily. “I am all you have left.”

“Well then I denounce you.” Peter says. Despite the fatigue running through every cell in his body, he manages to smile at her. A triumphant smile. “I denounce you as my family, May Parker. No longer are you my Aunt.”

“You-You can’t do that!” She splutters.

“I can do anything I want.” Peter eyes are half closed, but a half smile plays lightly across his lips. “And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Well, what good is your family.” May laughs hysterically. “Tony isn’t even here right now. And there’s ten minutes until midnight.”

“I wouldn’t be here right now if he didn’t love me.” Peter says, the exhaustion growing over his body so much that his voice is hardly above a whisper. “And that’s all I need.”

In a huff, May storms off. Back towards the main area to wait.

Through the sky, Tony hovers over the scene. It’s ten minutes until midnight, but it’s empty. There’s no one there. Nine minutes until midnight, and Tony sees Aunt May’s shape working back into the main area. He can’t see anyone with her, but they’ve definitely been there. He lands hard on the ground, the sound of metal striking concrete ringing violently through the air.

“Stark!” May says, as if she’s pleasantly surprised.

“Where are they?” He growls, stepping out of his suit. He steps so that he’s staring right into her face. “Where are Pepper and Peter, May?”

“Oh, how would I know?” She pretends to look confused for a moment. “Last I heard they were both deeply saddened by the fact that they were about to die and you never came for them.”

“Well, I’m here. That was the deal, May. I come, and you give them back.” Tony is furious, but showing anger will only play into her game.

“I don’t remember ever making a deal with you, Tony.” May’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Only setting the rules.”

With an aggravated cry, Tony sprints back to his suit and jumps inside, taking flight the second it’s safely shut around him. He scans from the air, a timer ticking down the seconds until midnight in the bottom corner of his screen.

Seven minutes, thirty two seconds.

“FRI, scan for heat signatures.” A quick report, and Tony can see four heat signatures around him. One to his left, small enough to be Peter. One behind him, which is May. And two to his right, one significantly larger than the other. With a split second decision, Tony flies to Peter’s aide first.

Peter sat there, staring up at the ceiling. He had sat in a room like this not so long ago, staring at the ceiling as it came down to crush him. Now, there was only moments before he would be forced to relive that horrible nightmare again. Except this time, something told Peter that there was no way out.

Peter couldn’t help but let a small smile pour over his lips as he began to remember all the good times with Tony. Many of them took place in Iraq, but he remembers the feeling of hope that filled his body when he heard Tony’s voice when being locked in the closet. The gratitude of being able to live with him, and the kindness that Tony always showed him, even when Peter made him mad.

His eyes closed without him realizing. It just felt so much more comfortable to be in darkness, and it helped soothe the shattered feeling inside him. As sleep threatened to overcrowd his senses, one thing opened his eyes.

The clanging of an Iron Man suit against concrete.

His head cocked at an uncomfortable angle and his eyes barely open, he managed to see Tony stepping from his suit and rushing to his side.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter said, his partially open eyes blocking some of the details he was seeing.

“Yeah, kid. I’m here. I’m here, don’t worry.” Tony cups Peter’s head in his hands, touching his lips to the top of Peter’s hair.

“Am I dead yet?” Peter whispers. It doesn’t seem real that Tony is actually standing next to him telling him everything is going to be okay.

“No, I’m very much alive, Pete.” Tony smiles sadly. “And so are you. But you have to help me out. You gotta get up for me, okay?” Peter just nods, using Tony’s arm to support himself as he pushed up to his feet. The second he got to his feet, his head started to swim with static and his vision blacked out for a second. He clutched Tony’s shoulder so he didn’t fall over, and stumbled forward to take a few steps. After he was able to stand for a few seconds by himself, Tony jumped into his suit, grabbed Peter, and flew upwards.

Peter had never flown with Tony in his suit before. It was an odd experience, and the debilitated state of his brain made it seem all the more surreal. Tony flew Peter to a spot by the main area, but safe enough that May wouldn’t find him. Leaving him was one of the hardest things that Tony has ever had to do, but he knew that he needed to save Pepper next.

Four minutes, eighteen seconds.

Pepper, during all of this, was worrying about her own problems. For one thing, being so high up made her dizziness even worse. The looming darkness around the edges of her vision was creeping closer and closer, and each passing second brought more weakness through her body. Her arm was looped through one of the railings, but both her hands were pressed tightly against the stab wound. She was fine staying like that forever, until the elevator wall that had pushed her onto the walkway started to move again, pushing Pepper towards the edge. And that’s when the terrifying realization settled over Pepper, sinking her stomach and stitching fear into her heart. The walkway wasn’t a walkway.

The walkway was a ramp, and Pepper had only two feet until it quickly declined to the point where she wouldn’t be able to hold on.

Tony flew quickly towards the double heat signatures, practically layered on top of each other. As he got close, he could see the illumination of fire through the pitch black sky, and a sinking, unsettled feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. He had been surrounded by fire once before, and had almost lost Pepper to it. But not this time.

From the sky, he saw the tall tower, and the struggling shape at the stop. There was a long, cantilevered walkway that jutted from the top, and then quickly pitted at a sharp decline. He could see, from his sideways spot, that there was a thick wall pushing someone towards the edge of the decline. Someone slumped over, sitting and attempting to dig their feet into the ground.

Pepper.

She neared the edge, panic tightly gripping every muscle in her body. Her fighting, while weak, wasn’t doing anything to prevent the wall from moving. She reached for the rails, but as soon as she had grasped on, the wall pushing her tugged them off.

Over the sound of the cranking wall and her own groans, she could hardly hear the sound of Iron Man’s suit flying. Tony began to assess, realizing that the wall would push her off the ramp at exactly midnight, which was in one minute, four seconds.

Crap.

Tony quickly flies to the side of the walkway. His mask recedes back into his suit, and he calls out Pepper’s name. Her head snaps to the side, and her eyes melt with happiness as she sees him.

“Tony!” She smiles beside herself; he didn’t leave her, he came back.

“I’m going to get you out of there, honey.” Tony searches for what he can do. The wall is moving too quickly for him to just grab her, and she’s barely a foot away from the decline.

Thirty seconds.

The wall speeds up, and Pepper stops trying. There’s no reason for her to, when she now has no reason to prolong this.

“This isn’t going to be the same as last time, I promise you.” Tony eyes are wide and sincere, and Pepper can see the large amount of sadness and terror behind them.

“I know it won’t, Tony.” She smiles at him. “I love you.”

“Save it for after.” He smiles back and immediately flies close to the edge, ready to catch her.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One. Pepper hits the decline, but at the same moment, the piece falls away. The decline was about three feet long, and Tony was positioned at the edge, ready to catch Pepper the minute she slipped down. But the entire decline had broken off the walkway, catching Tony by surprise.

Pepper started to fall through the air, not registering what was happening until the smell of the fire began to hit her. She opened her eyes, air flying against her face. Her hair whipped behind her, creating loud static in her ears.

From somewhere around her, she could hear the mechanical noises of the Iron Man suit. Tony flew through the sky, his boosters working at full throttle.

“Sir, your battery is about to die. If you continue using your boosters at this power, I estimate you only have twenty seconds of energy left.”

“That’s all I need, FRI.” With that, another countdown appeared on his screen. Twenty seconds and counting until his entire suit ran out of energy.

He approached Pepper in a matter of seconds, grabbing her tightly in his arms just as the wafting smoke touched her. With ten seconds left, Tony started to fly towards the ground.

Three seconds and thirty feet above the ground.

Two seconds and twenty five.

The power disappeared, and Pepper and Tony began to free fall. Twisting himself, Tony put himself underneath Pepper. The impact was harder than they both had thought, and the suit exploded into an array of pieces around Tony. Pepper was thrown a few feet to the left, fighting consciousness.

Tony groaned, and touched his head. The mask had taken most of the impact, but his head still felt like a smoothie in a blender. With a sudden jolt, he crawled to Pepper, mumbling her name under his breath. He moved next to her, placing an arm on either side of her shoulders.

“Please be okay. Please be okay.” Tony whispers, using a hand to brush a piece of hair out of her face. She looked so tired when her eyes were closed, and in the dim moonlight Tony could see all the cuts over her face, arms, neck, and chest. His eyes trailed down to the stab wound.

“Oh, Pep.” He grabbed a limp hand in one of his and felt for her pulse with the other. Suddenly, with a violent gasp, her eyes shuddered open and she stared up at Tony.

“You caught me this time.” She smiled slightly, her eyes half open.

“I’ll always be there to catch you.” Tony said with a sad smile. “Are you ready to get out of here?”

“I can barely stand, Tony.” Pepper said, her voice becoming breathy with exhaustion. “Fighting to stay on that walkway took the last bit of energy from me. I can hardly keep my eyes open.”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Tony cups her face in one hand. “Stay with me, Pep. I’ll get you home and we’ll solve all this.” With a fluid motion, He ripped the bottom of his tee shirt off and tied it tightly around her waist.

“Tony.” Pepper began to argue, but bit her tongue as the pain of the makeshift bandage set in.

“Alright, hon, let’s get the kid and get out of here.” Tony grabbed her arm and lifted Pepper to her feet. Throwing an arm under her shoulders, he began to walk her towards the main area. They only got a few feet before Pepper collapsed, ragged breaths shaking her entire body.

“Okay, calm down.” Tony sets her gently on the ground, then leans down and picks her up in his arms. He supports her shoulders with one arm and her bottom half with the other. He carries her until the main area, where he sees Peter poking his head out behind rubble. Thanks to his rapid healing, Peter now had slightly more energy than before. None of his injuries had healed, but at least he had some more energy.

He limped to Tony and Pepper, resisting the urge to throw his arms around the both of them.