Chapter 12

Tony headed to the kitchen with a smile he usually used around the press on his face. "Pizza here? I can smell it from the lab." He joked lightly as he came over to join them.

Peter watched Kasey carefully, gently taking her arm and heading over to the counter. He had picked up on her walking a little more carefully than usual. Letting go once they reached the counter, he popped open a box of pepperoni and stole a slice from the box.

Aurora went through the other couple of boxes, popping them open for everyone. "Best pizza in New York, if you ask me." She picked up a slice of pepperoni as well.

Kasey was slightly startled by him for a second but let him lead her over. She immediately honed in on hers as she had recently discovered it was one of her favorites and snagged the entire box of chicken bacon ranch- She happily took a bite out of it and melted at the warmth as her body quickly told her it was very hungry all of a sudden. "Thank you Tony." She told him with a smile.

Tony had just taken one from the box of pepperoni as well as he knew they needed more than one box of the stuff. He looked up at Kasey when she spoke and faltered for a second when he saw how much more relaxed and happy she seemed now. He didn't want to make it worse again but he didn't really have a choice in the matter, huh? "Of course. Can't let you kids starve after all. CPS would be on my tail if I did-" He joked lightly.

Peter laughed lightly at Kasey's reaction. "Looks like someone's hungry after all." Peter irked a brow, munching on his piece of pizza. "CPS? I don't think CPS would even know that we're here." He grinned, continuing to eat on the piece he had picked up.

Aurora watched the group as she ate, zoning in on Tony. He wasn't always the greatest at hiding things, but she wouldn't comment on anything unless the situation called for it.

Tony pointed his pizza at Peter. "And you best keep it that way," He grinned at him.

Kasey had made a face at Peter before tearing deeper into her pizza, content to just sit and listen.

Peter finished his piece and held his hands up defensively. "Believe me, I have no intention of telling people that I spend the night in Stark tower after every time I get kidnapped."

Tony just about choked on his pizza. "You do it more often than that!" He argued after recovering.

Kasey snorted at that. "Yeah, mostly when the two of you say up till 4 am in the lab-"

"Well I can't help it!" Peter defended himself. "A lot of those experiments can't be left alone until they're done, and by the time they are done, both May and Mr. Stark say I would be better off staying here. So technically speaking it's your fault-" He turned to Tony before going pale. "I retract that statement."

Tony just laughed. "You're also picking the experiments kiddo- Not all on me."

Kasey was about half way through her pizza.

"It's not like I can do all those experiments in the science lab at school." Before he said anything else, he snatched another piece of pizza to munch down.

"Watching you two is one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed." Aurora spoke between bites.

Kasey nodded at that. "Very entertaining." She agreed.

Tony chuckled and moved over and ruffled Peter's hair before he could pull away. "Well maybe if your school would get better equipment you could."

"They've been trying, hopefully we will." Peter replied, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Aurora smirked, finishing up her piece of pizza. "I'm just glad to be getting some food right now. A whole day is a hella long time to fast."

Kasey nodded. "Oh for real. I was starving." She was lying against the counter now, the box folded back shut.

Tony smiled a bit at the three of them. "You two are just planning on hanging out here all day? I'm fine with that but you might wanna let anyone you need to know." He told them.

Aurora plucked a paper towel from the roll, wiping her hands off on it. "No, I gotta run a couple errands and work on some school work. Thanks for bringing us back and helping us out Tony." She wadded up the paper towel and tossed it effortlessly into the trash.

Peter finished up his second piece, grabbing a third for the road. "I should probably get going too, and meet up with Ned and MJ to let them know what happened." He turned to Kasey. "Let me know if you need anything though."

Kasey nodded at them both. "I will." She agreed.

Tony nodded at them. "Oh, here." He tossed them both a phone. "Figured you'd need one till we can get yours back or well, that's yours now." He shrugged. "Keep it on and update me when you get to wherever you're headed, alright? It's only been a few hours and they may be looking for you."

Both the teens caught their respective phones with their quick reflexes. Peter turned his on and checked it over before tucking it into his pocket. "Thank you so much Mr. Stark. And I'll keep an eye out for any of them."

Aurora tucked hers into her pants pocket. "Thanks Tony." She figured that they would be, having three of their hostages escape. "I'll keep you updated." She turned, heading towards the door. "See you guys later."

Kasey waved. "Bye!" She called after them.

Tony watched them leave before turning to Kasey once he was sure they couldn't hear. "We need to talk." He told her and she tensed up. "Come with me." He led her to the lab, Kasey holding onto his hand nervously.

What did he find?

Peter and Aurora didn't exchange many words on the elevator ride to the ground floor, and exchanged some more goodbyes and safe warnings before heading their own ways. Peter off to meet up with Ned and MJ, and Aurora off to tend to her own business.

Aurora's first order of business was to run by her home, and pick up her suit. If anyone was sneaking around looking for her and her friends, she wanted to know.

Tony sat her down in a chair in the lab and turned to her. "I read the folder while they were gone. It... It is about you." He told her, his voice low.

Kasey's eyes widened as she processed that. "And... there's something you thought I should know?"

Tony took a deep breath. "Yes... They mentioned they, um, obtained you with another project."

Kasey furrowed her brows. "Another spider?"

He shook his head. "No. They called it a bunch of numbers but Friday translated it... They called it Project Multiverse."

Kasey tilted her head. "Multiverse? I... I thought that was just a theory?"

"Apparently not if this is to be believed... And if that's the case it, um... Implies that you were uh, snatched from another universe-"

Kasey's heart skipped a beat and spoke quietly. "...What?"

Tony felt horrible as he came a bit closer. "If they are telling the truth in this? Then you aren't in your dimension, universe or whatever you wanna call it..."

Kasey started to shake her head and scoot back a bit. "I-I-" She felt tears fill her eyes. "...I need to call my parents."

Tony's eyes softened. "Kase-"

"Please, Tony... Please..." She pleaded with him and he sighed softly, sitting next to her.

"What's the number?"

Kasey told him the number and they both sat and listened to the phone ring before picking up, "Hello?"

Kasey flinched as tears fell down her face and shook her head.

Tony gently squeezed her shoulder before apologizing, changing his voice slightly and hanging up. "Kase-"

"That should have been them..." She muttered.

"Kasey, I-"

"Why wasn't it them?!" She asked a bit louder, her voice breaking from her distress.

Tony grabbed her shoulders. "Kasey, breathe-"

"It should've been them! WHY WASN'T THEM?!" She cried in anguish.

Tony finally just pulled her into a hug and she sobbed into his shoulder, clinging onto him like a lifeline.

"I'm so sorry, Kasey..."

Aurora hummed to herself as she headed towards her home, thinking back to Kasey. She hated leaving her at the tower, but she trusted Tony to be there for her, and knew he had experience dealing with ptsd and such. He was probably able to do more than Aurora could for Kasey. For now, Aurora would do what she knew. Patrol. She would keep her eyes and ears open in the city, to make sure no one came near her friends.

It took her a hot minute to get back home, and she spent little to no time changing and slipping out her window. Time to get to work.

Tony sat and held Kasey for, he really wasn't sure how long. He just let her cry as he held her until she couldn't cry anymore and drifted to sleep as she drained all the energy she had recovered. He scooped her up and brought her to her room, gently laying her in the bed and covering her up. "Fri, keep an eye on her. Let me know if there's any problems."

"Of course." Friday confirmed.

Tony glanced at her again before shutting the door behind him. He pulled out his phone and hesitated. He wasn't supposed to tell them but... He could be discreet about it, right? Just let them know she's gonna need a few days to recover? That sounded fine and believable and honestly? Probably true.

He sighed before shooting both Peter and Aurora a text, explaining she had another meltdown and passed out. He told them that it'd likely be a few days before she'd even be up to going out patrolling with them.

Aurora pulled her phone out of a protective pocket on her suit, checking over the text message. She let out a sigh, knowing how high of an emotional toll this whole experience had been on Kasey. She figured some new information came up to make Kasey break down again, but knew not to press the matter. If she was meant to know, then Tony would've told them.

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