Chapter Text
The Tesseract had been placed on the middle of the table in the Alcroft, he and Ned still in shock as they processed their actions.
Stephen had gone to confirm something with Wong, leaving them to their own devices as they pulled out a couple of dusty chairs and sat near the desk they had used when the multiverse was collapsing because of him.
The Tesseract wasn't as big as he had thought it would be. It was a bit bigger than a Rubix cube and didn't seem as intimidating as the stone inside of it, but he couldn't imagine keeping it safely in his pocket.
None of the awe-inspiring but fear-striking energy emanated from it like it had during the battles he had fought against Thanos, leaving him slightly confused. How had something as intimidating as the Space stone ended up inside of that?
"I can't believe we pulled that off," he murmured, resting his head in his hands. He had found the Tesseract and Loki within the same minute, warning the God of what was to come within the next few days. He had no idea how that would affect the future but he wasn't sure if his actions were right.
Surely he hadn't done the wrong thing? Loki had a better chance of surviving now (though he didn't know if the God of Mischief had believed him) and knew to come straight to Earth to fight for half of the universe's existence.
However, it did depend on if Thor would believe him – wait, Stephen had said Thor had talked to him a few days prior! He had seen Stephen in the portal and knew they were associated somehow, even if it seemed unbelievable.
"Dude." He looked up to see Ned's confused face. "Where are we even meant to store this?"
His stomach dropped. He had forgotten that part of the plan. Now that they had the Tesseract and it wasn't on Asgard, they needed somewhere to keep it safe until Thanos came looking for it. There were now three Infinity Stones on Earth: the Mind stone, the Space stone and the Time stone.
Aliens were meant to attack New York in search of Stephen within the next few days so he doubted they could leave it at the Sanctum. He didn't know if he could store it in his home – did aliens have a way of tracking the Infinity Stones or had Thanos already known about their locations?
He hoped it was the latter rather than the former. Then again, the Infinity Stones were incredibly powerful; they were bound to leave a trace of their power wherever they went. If Thanos did have some sort of magic tracker for the Infinity Stones then maybe he would be thrown off by its sudden disappearance from it leaving Asgard via a portal.
Wait, he was being stupid. Asgard was in the process of being destroyed.
His mood dampened at that thought.
"We can't leave the Tesseract here when the aliens are going to come to the Sanctum to get Stephen," he said. "I don't know if I can take it with me either."
"What if we broke open the Tesseract and took the Space stone out?" Ned asked.
"I…" he hesitated, images of Tony's pained form holding the Infinity Stones in his hand flashing in his brain. "Are you sure it won't do anything crazy like disintegrate us?"
Ned sighed. "Good point. Maybe it's better to leave it alone." Silence reigned until Ned came up with another suggestion. "What if I took it home with me and opened a portal to it when we need it?"
"Are you sure? If Thanos can track it then you'll be in a lot of danger." He grimaced at the idea of Ned having to run away from Thanos with his portals.
"I can always portal away and I don't think he can track the stones," Ned replied. "If he did, why would he wait so long to snap away half the universe? He seemed hellbent on completing his purpose. You know, 'too many mouths to feed, not enough resources' thing he was on about in your memory?"
He did have a point. If Thanos could track the stones, why would he wait so long? He could have taken all of them whilst everyone was unprepared and killed half the universe much earlier. They would have been none the wiser about his plans and no one would have fought back.
What if he had been collecting information about the Infinity Stones for the past few years and waited for the perfect opportunity? It wouldn't be out of the question.
"I get what you mean," he replied before huffing out frustratedly. "It's so annoying though! It'd help us so much if we knew if he was tracking the stones. We could open a portal to another planet and we'd buy ourselves a bit more time."
How much more time did they need? Was he confusing how much time they needed to prepare with how much they could delay Thanos from reaching the Infinity Stones? Realistically, there was a chance they would struggle to keep him away from all of the stones. They couldn't access the Reality stone and the Soul stone.
The Soul stone was a puzzle in itself. They didn't have the means to reach Vormir without Ned or Stephen opening a portal and even then…
How would he get the Soul stone?
"Hey Aaron," he said cheerfully despite the warning he was about to give the man.
"What's up Spidey? I didn't expect a call this early," Aaron replied, video game noises sounding out in the background. Ah, he must have Miles with him.
"Just wanted to give you a heads up. Something big is happening around Greenwich tomorrow and I figured you might want to stay away from there. Same goes for Officer Davis if you can warn him."
"Uh…thanks for the warning, but what's happening?" He asked warily.
He bit his tongue as he was about to launch into an explanation of what was going to happen. He had influenced the timeline so much that he wasn't sure what Butterfly Effect would occur if he did tell Aaron. It might be better to let him see it for himself and react – hopefully when he was away from the Greenwich area.
"A massive fight with some criminals. It's all been planned out and I'm trying to keep as many people out of the crossfire as I can," he replied, hoping his half-lie was believable.
He really didn't want anyone to be caught in the crossfire when whoever Thanos sent arrived and started the deadliest war he had fought in and would fight in.
"Damn, good luck with that. I'll tell Jeff as soon as I can."
"Thanks. See ya around." He hung up quickly, sighing with relief. That was one problem solved.
Staggering over debris from the ruined Compound, his body ached like he hadn't moved in years. Technically he wasn't wrong since he hadn't been alive for five years.
…that was the most confusing and possibly the worst thought he had ever had. He would have time to come to terms with being dead for five years after the battle.
Thor, Captain America and Tony all fought Thanos, all desperate to get the gauntlet and make sure Thanos didn't snap his fingers and turn them to dust again.
His stomach dropped as Thanos threw Thor to the side and disregarded Captain America like he was an annoying fly.
His heart stopped as Tony flew up, throwing himself at Thanos's hand and grasping at it before he was thrown to the ground, one of his hands clenched and the other used to stabilise himself even as he fell to the ground.
"I am inevitable." His Spidey-sense remained quiet as Thanos snapped his fingers, causing him to flinch. He had expected something to happen, to feel his skin cells screaming in agony as his healing factor fought with the controlled will of the combined might of the Infinity Stones.
There was nothing but shocked silence on the battlefield.
Not because Thanos had the gauntlet on his hand, no.
It was because the Infinity Stone's had merged with the nanobots on Tony's hand.
"I am Iron Man."
Shooting up in his bed, his breaths came too quickly but not enough oxygen filtered into his lungs. His Spidey-sense buzzed at the back of his head despite the lack of danger near him. Sweat trickled down his back. Goosebumps rippled across his arms.
'It can't happen again, it can't happen again, it can't happen again,' he chanted wildly in his head. He couldn't let Tony sacrifice himself for the world again. He didn't deserve to die after he had a family and managed to bring back the half of the universe that had been turned to dust.
He wouldn't let it happen.
He would use the infinity gauntlet if it was necessary. Anything to stop Tony dying would count as a win in his book.
Shuddering breaths rendered him useless until he gained some autonomy over his body and he forced himself to breathe normally, holding his breaths for a few seconds to calm down his anxious heart.
Truthfully, he had been waiting for the nightmares to happen. He had spent every day exhausting himself with school and patrolling so he didn't have the energy to have nightmares but the past few days had been so closely connected to the past that exhausting himself didn't work anymore.
Nightmares about the fights with the Elementals that Beck had conjured using EDITH and the drones had subtly crept into his psyche but he hadn't been too effected. Those fights hadn't been as bad when he realised it was all fake and he had come out of them unscathed.
No, it was the illusions in Berlin and everything that came after that haunted him. Flashes of blood marring the previously clean white surface of the train exterior and staggering to a seat once he managed to get inside. Waking up in a prison cell with those weirdly nice Europeans.
Flying down to London with Happy and leaping out of the jet, taking down the drones inside of the illusion, fighting the drones on London Bridge and finally utilising his Spidey-sense. Beck shooting at him from point blank range.
His name being announced in Times Square.
He couldn't let anything like that happen again. His world would descend into total chaos and there would be no magic fix this time.
Huffing out a shaky breath, he pulled the covers off of himself and started on his routine despite the buzzing at the back of his skull persisting like an irritatingly close fly.
After showering, he checked his phone to see if there were any messages from Michelle or Ned and he wasn't surprised when he saw a message from Stephen.
Magic Man
Arrive at the Sanctum at 10.
Me
Okay.
Slight nausea mixed with his anxiety as he put on a sweater and jeans over his suit, placing his mask in his pocket so he could change just before the battle was meant to start.
He couldn't believe he was about to fight for the universe's sake. Everything he had done over the past year and a half had built up to this day.
The thought made him feel sicker than before but he had to push it aside. He couldn't mess up.
Too many braincells
Guy in the Chair
U going to the Sanctum?
Me
Yh, Stephen sent a message.
Getting there for 10
Guy in the Chair
I'll portal there
Wanna join?
Me
Dude that would be awesome
Hell yeah
MJ <3
Bus left for MoMA
ETA for spaceship?
Me
A couple of hours
I know u know how to use
a mace but pls don't fight
an alien
MJ <3
…
Me
Pls?
MJ <3
Fine
But if aliens attack the
bus then I'm taking no
chances
Me
Fair
Stay safe
Love you <3
MJ <3
You text like an old lady
…
Love you too <3
The regret of hiding the MoMA field trip from Tony and May slowly faded away as he quickly ate breakfast and mentally fortified himself for what was going to happen. He could do this. The first half of the mission had gone relatively well until Quill had woken up Thanos. If they did follow similar events and ended up in the same position, the least he could do was figure out how to stop Quill's rage from overpowering him.
Hopefully he could do that.
Magic Man
Make sure you're in your
suit when you arrive
Me
Are the aliens here now?
Magic Man
20 minutes
Stark is here as well
Me
Does he know I'll be there?
Magic Man
He'll find out soon enough
Well, wasn't that just great? At least he wasn't skipping school since the MoMA trip wasn't compulsory so Tony couldn't be disappointed in him for that. He would probably be more disappointed in Peter for working with Stephen but oh well; the fate of the universe was at stake, it was understandable that he was working with a sorcerer.
He took off his civilian clothes, deciding to turn up to the Sanctum in his suit with his mask on in case Stephen had any visitors. His pacing around the living room paused once fizzling sparks started close to the bookcase, revealing Ned with the Tesseract placed on his bed.
"…we should probably do something about that," he said once the portal had fully opened.
"What? Oh, right, that," Ned replied as he gestured to the Tesseract. "Should we wing it and put it in a backpack? It's not worth taking it to the Sanctum though."
He shrugged. "Imagine your Lola finds it. She'd have a lot of questions why there's a magical relic on your bed."
After placing the Tesseract in his school bag and sliding it under his bed, Ned walked into the kitchen and closed the portal with trembling fingers, breathing out once it had shut.
"We'll get through today, right?" He asked nervously. "We've prepared so much."
"All we can do is fight our way through it," he replied. "There'll be so many people fighting that I think our chances will be much better than last time."
Ned sighed, shaking his hands before raising them up to open another portal. "You're right. We can totally do this. Let's go to the Sanctum!"
Wonder filled him as he watched Ned open a portal to one of the rooms in the Sanctum. How did the magic work? Did it function on how strongly a person believed and then their skills? Were objects like sling rings meant to channel the user's magic or could they potentially open a portal by themselves? Did any of them actually use wands like in Harry Potter?
He doubted his last thoughts. Wands were probably for wizards if they had any in their universe.
They stepped through the portal into the doorway between the kitchen and foyer, quickly stepping out before freezing at the multiple voices in the foyer.
"Vision is somewhere out there with the Mind Stone and we have to find him now."
"Bruce, you don't need to worry about that. Princess Shuri removed the Mind stone from his head last summer and its being kept in a vault in Wakanda."
"What? Wait, how long have you known about Thanos?"
"Since Strange warned me about him last summer."
He looked at Ned, shock palpable between the two of them. His jaw had dropped slightly as Ned mouthed 'is that Bruce Banner?'
Hesitantly nodding, he moved out of the way so Ned could shut his portal before they slowly moved out of the doorway, still trying to work out if they were hallucinating or not.
Lo and behold, the Bruce Banner, the man with 6 PhD's and medical degree and hundreds of scientific papers that Peter had read was standing in the foyer with Tony, Stephen and Wong. He wore a dusty and slightly dishevelled jacket and for some reason the stairs were destroyed. What the hell had happened over the past few hours?
Wong finally spoke. "Strange, it seems your apprentice and your friend have entered the Sanctum."
His heart skipped a beat. Right, sorcerers had placed wards on the building for centuries and definitely had ones for detection. He and Ned wouldn't have been able to portal into the Sanctum without someone noticing.
Footsteps echoed as someone decided to work out where they were only to reveal Bruce warily staring at them.
"Who are you two?" He asked, his hands fidgeting at his sides like he didn't know what to do with them. A second thought popped into his head: would Hulk decide to make an appearance?
"I- uh-" he stammered, unable to do much more than freeze as he realised he was going to talk to one of his childhood heroes. As cool as the Hulk was, Bruce Banner was much cooler to him. "Hi, uh, I'm Spider-Man."
Tony rounded the corner, his eyebrows raising once he saw him and Ned. "Kid, what are you doing here? How did you even get here? We're right in front of the magician's doors."
"Sorcerer," Stephen called out to correct Tony.
Tony waved his hand dismissively. "Similar terms. Still, that doesn't explain what you and Ned are doing here."
"It's a long story."
"I have time."
Stephen cut in. "You don't, actually."
Goosebumps rippled across his forearms and the back of his neck as his Spidey-sense rang out like a gong, screaming at him that the danger it had been sensing for a month had finally arrived.
"I will totally explain everything later but-"
The sky rumbled.
Everyone froze, confusion clouding the room as they all observed the weird artifacts in the Sanctum shake. The floor vibrated as the ceiling rafters shook, making small clouds of dust fall down as screams sounded from outside.
"That can't be good," he muttered as Tony headed towards the door, pushing it open to see wrecked cars and people sprinting away from the apparent danger which he knew was the doughnut spaceship.
Stephen glanced at him before following Tony, subtly gesturing for him to follow at a distance. He nodded at Ned before they strolled onto the street, the carnage impossible to miss.
Gusts of wind tried to blow them back as a wing mirror flew towards him, forcing him to web it to the Sanctum wall before following Ned. He caught a woman who had tripped, helping her stand up as she looked at him with wide eyes before she carried on sprinting away.
'This is going to be messy,' he thought before he turned onto the next street.
The doughnut spaceship was much more intimidating than when he was inside of it. Dust bellowed around them as the shadow of the spaceship cast itself over them, blocking the sun before it moved away a few seconds later.
Squinting against the sunbeams, he stealthily made his way towards the car Ned had hidden behind, crouching once he made it to a window so he could watch the next interaction.
Stephen raised his hands, using his magic to summon a strong gust of wind that blew all of the dust away so the street was clear.
Wrecked cars with broken windows and shattered wing mirrors decorated the street like an apocalyptic landscape as two figures emerged from the shadows on the other end of the street.
One had a slim figure with a long, grey nose and scaly skin. The alien -he dubbed it fake-Squidward- held himself regally as if he owned the world. The other alien was bulkier with rock-like skin and a massive hammer – nothing like Thor's, more like what he would see in videogames.
"Here me and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of the children of Thanos." The fake-Squidward's partner exclaimed something in an unfamiliar language. "Be thankful that your meaningless lives are now contributing-"
Tony interrupted, completely disregarding the alien's speech. "I'm sorry, Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get outta here."
Fake-Squidward didn't seem fazed. "Stonekeeper. Does this chattering animal speak for you?"
Stephen started walking forwards. "Certainly not." He moved his hands in a familiar motion, summoning his shields with practiced ease. "I speak for myself. You're trespassing on this city and on this planet."
"He means get lost, Squidward," Tony called out as Wong summoned his own shields. Ned shifted beside him, readying himself in case he had to join the fight.
"He exhausts me," fake-Squidward said as the other alien grunted. "Bring me the stone."
Tony muttered something to Bruce that he didn't pick up, too focused on how the other alien had readied his weapon and was advancing towards them. Was he asking about Hulk?
"Dude, portal yourself down there and help Stephen, make sure he doesn't get taken by Squidward," he murmured to Ned. "I'll help Tony and Doctor Banner." Ned nodded before they quickly did their handshake for what hopefully wasn't the last time before crawling to the other side of the car, crouching so he could run at a moment's notice.
Everything promptly went to shit.
Squidward raised his hand as Tony used his nanobot suit for the first time, firing up his multiple repulsor beams only for car doors to form a shield around fake-Squidward and deflect them.
He glanced at what Stephen was doing, eyes widening when he opened a portal and let Bruce drop through it. Was Hulk not available? Did he not want to fight? Okay, that was a strange idea even for him. Had Hulk been scared of whatever he fought in space?
Wincing as the massive hammer wrapped around Tony and threw him into the next week (he internally winced at each wall he heard break), he leaped over the car and shot a web up to a building, pulling himself up and chasing after him. the street blurred below him, the occasional abandoned yellow taxi flashing in his vision.
Yanking himself to the right using a lamppost, he swung over the broken tree and before he dropped and rolled onto the grass before sprinting towards Tony and catching the hammer from the massive alien -he really needed a name for this guy because honestly- as he dug his boots into the ground to keep himself stable.
"Hey man!" He greeted the alien before he pushed against the hammer's weight as Tony's repulsors fired up again and he shot the alien in the face. Wind brushed the side of his face as he dodged the alien's swipe -ha, it was as if he was trying to swat a bug away- before he ducked and shot a web at the back of the alien's shoulder.
"Hey, Hammerhead!" He yelled as he yanked at the web, dragging Hammerhead's shoulder towards him and turning him away from Tony.
Hammerhead shouted in his weird language before raising a hand to tear the web away from his shoulder, picking it away like it was a piece of string and twisting around.
"Whoa-" the force of the webline moving lifted him off of the ground as Hammerhead threw him across the park and into the side of the water fountain, causing him to smash his back into the concrete. "Fucking ouch."
"Language," Tony remarked over the comms as he activated his extra repulsors and Hammerhead used his massive hammer to deflect them all over the park, beams of energy splitting all over the place and cutting down more trees.
"I'm not sorry," he replied as he stumbled into a crouch and launched himself at Hammerhead with more vigour than before. Pausing his comm connection with Tony, he asked Karen to call Ned. "C'mon, pick up!"
"Dude, Squidward's powers are crazy!" Ned exclaimed over the call as he shot webs at a tree and swirled it around, waiting until he gained enough momentum before releasing it so it hit Hammerhead's back.
"Telekinesis, right?" He asked, throwing his concussive webs at his opponent and making him stumble.
"Probably. Wong isn't happy I'm fighting but I'm helping-" Ned paused as something that sounded like a bomb erupted in the background, "-with portals and defensive spells- oh shit!"
"What? Ned, what happened?!" He asked as he sprinted towards Hammerhead, shooting a web between his legs and pulling himself underneath him before shooting a trip mine at his ankle, causing it to bind his ankles together.
"Stephen conjured like 100 daggers and a few deflected near me after fake-Squidward used his power!"
"Nothing hit you, right?" He crawled up Hammerhead's back and did a front flip, twisting so he shot some webs at Hammerhead's eyes before landing on the ground and ducking as Tony shot a massive repulsor blast at Hammerhead's chest.
"Nah, I opened a portal so the daggers hit fake-Squidward instead."
"Awesome. Stay safe man."
"Same goes for you. I'll call you if anything major happens." Ned hung up as a car flew across the sky, crashing a few metres from Bruce, the poor man stumbling out of the way as leaves battered his face.
"Kid, get Bruce somewhere out of the way," Tony ordered before going after Hammerhead who had managed to tear away the webs from his face.
"On it," he replied, swinging towards Bruce and picking him up.
"What the-? Spider-Man? Where are we going?" Bruce asked as he floundered, keeping a tight grip on Peter as they swung away from the ruined park.
"Somewhere safe!" He replied, dodging another car before dropping closer to street level. "I know this is a bad time but can I just say you're my hero."
"Uh, thanks?" The wind howled in his ears as he sharply twisted around a corner. "Can't say Hulk would want to come out and meet you though."
"Huh? Nah, Hulk is cool but I literally have a poster of you in my classroom and-" he dodged a spear-like lamppost, "-I read your research about anti-electron collisions."
"Wait, set me down on there." Bruce pointed to a slightly off-centre fire hydrant, prompting him to drop to street level. They weren't too far from where Stephen, Wong and Ned were fighting but they weren't going to get hit by any spare debris. "You read my anti-electron collision research? Why?"
"I had some spare time," he replied, shrugging before looking around at the trashed street. "Why ask to stop here?"
"We can use the force from the fire hydrant to deal with that alien. You were calling your friend earlier?" he nodded. "Call him again so we can co-ordinate an attack."
Ned picked up on the first ring. "What's up?"
"Doctor Banner has an idea but we need to time it well," he explained.
"Awesome, tell me what's gonna happen."
"I'm going to direct water towards you, can you open a portal whenever fake-Squidward dodges it?"
Another tally on some of the weird ideas he played along with. Oh well, it wasn't as if he had any other options right now.
He nodded at Bruce so the scientist stepped back, leaving him to grasp around the metal and prepare to pull it off.
"Three, two, one…open a portal now!" He exclaimed as he yanked the fire hydrant away, sparks fizzling into existence immediately and a portal opened to direct the gushing water streaming into the air.
Anther portal opened a few metres away from them, this time directly facing fake-Squidward and leaving him barely any time to prepare for the force of water hitting his back with bruising speed.
Raising his scaly hand, fake-Squidward summoned a wall of chalky bricks to defend him from the water but Wong took that as an opening to attack, his magic forming an amber whip which he used to slash at fake-Squidward.
Fake-Squidward had to defend himself multiple times before he managed to hit Wong with a brick, knocking the sorcerer to the ground before he restrained Ned with a pipe that was lying around.
"Oh crap!" He muttered before he swung towards Ned, leaving Bruce by himself. Hopefully the other had enough sense to hide. "Don't worry dude, I'll free you," he said as he wrestled with the pipe.
Panic bubbled in his chest as he realised fake-Squidward had cornered Stephen but he knew he had to trust the sorcerer. He had to focus on Ned first, tensing as he broke the pipe and made sure his best friend was safe.
"I'm fine!" Ned waved him off. "Go help him!" He pointed at Stephen and both their jaws dropped as they realised fake-Squidward had kidnapped him again. "I'll portal you up there!" He placed his hands in front of him and opened a portal to the top of the building Stephen was a few metres away from.
He jumped through the portal without hesitation, a floating sensation going through his stomach before he dropped onto the piece of concrete Stephen was chained to.
"Kid?" He rasped questioningly as fake-Squidward made an outraged noise.
"Dude, kidnapping isn't cool!" He exclaimed before ripping the chains away from Stephen, leaving Cloak to attack fake-Squidward as he helped the sorcerer stagger upright. "Let's go."
He didn't give Stephen any time to object, simply grabbing the sorcerer's arm and jumping off of the concrete slab and swinging away. In his peripheral vision he saw Cloak following, quickly catching up to them and wrapping itself around Stephen.
He let go of the sorcerer so he could levitate on his own, his breath catching in his throat as a billboard flew towards him.
"Shit!" He exclaimed, yanking himself up too late as the billboard clipped his side and sliced through the web he was swinging on.
Faint fizzling sounded beneath him and he scraped the ground before he was in the sky again. Taking his chance, he shot a web and managed to get himself to rooftop to take a few seconds to check his side.
Panting, he realised none of his ribs had broken but there would definitely be pain once the adrenaline faded away. Bruises would turn up in a few hours but would fade as quickly as they would appear.
Looking around, he noticed Stephen closing a portal and he nodded in acknowledgement before his Spidey-sense hissed at the back of his head, begging for him to notice the next inevitable danger trying to kill him.
Blue light shone on him and Stephen, both of them looking up to find the doughnut spaceship above them as the ground shrunk away from him ridiculously quickly.
He had been caught in the tractor beam.
"Karen, activate my comm," he ordered as he shot a web at the roof he had been on only for it to move upwards with the inverted gravity. "Uh, Tony, I'm being beamed up with the sorcerer!"
"What?" Underlying concern laced Tony's voice. "Okay, hold on, I'll get you."
Ascending much faster than he ever wanted to be, the new suit flashed in his mind. "Send 17A!" He told Karen, thankful Tony had given him permission to access it a couple of weeks ago.
The wind howled in his ears as the atmosphere started thinning out, his entry into the mesosphere brining numbness to his fingertips as the warm air filtered away. Breathing was slightly painful as the cold air cut his nose and he couldn't seem to breathe in enough oxygen to keep his vision focused.
He had no clue where Stephen was -maybe fake-Squidward had kidnapped him anyway- and he yelped as his chest hit the spaceship, sending another wave of cold through his body.
Shaking as he clung onto the spaceship, he looked down to see the dizzying view of Earth rapidly flying away from him. His vision blurred as he panted breathlessly, well aware he was living on borrowed time.
"Peter, you're gonna need to fall. The suit is on its way," Tony assured him as he flew to where he was clinging onto the spaceship. An object with a trail of white burst out of the atmosphere, intent with catching up to the spaceship.
Looking up, the depths of space stared menacingly at him.
"Underoos, it's now or never!"
He let go of the spaceship, the wind screaming in his ears before something slammed into him, wrapping around him and blocking all input for a couple of seconds as he gained awareness of his surroundings.
His back brushed against a solid surface and he twisted around so that he could grip onto the spaceship, breathing in deeply as oxygen made itself available again.
"Tony, it still smells like a new car in here," he remarked, crouching close to the metal exterior so the wind didn't batter him as much. "Karen, find an entrance to the spaceship."
"Hold on, since when did I say you could stay? FRIDAY-"
"I will get Ned to open a portal back here if you send me back," he said seriously, biting his tongue nervously after. He didn't interrupt Tony and if he did then it had to be for a very good reason. Personally, he would say that this was one of the most important times for him to argue back.
Tony sighed. "Kid, arguing with me won't get you very far."
"I know but I don't really have a way back now," he replied, gesturing to how far away Earth was. They were closer to passing the Moon at this point and he had started to crawl up the spaceship to the weak point that Karen was indicating to. It would be easy for him to sneak through it if he wanted to.
"…you little shit," Tony muttered, albeit there was more concern than anger in his tone. He would get away with being in space for the second time. "Fine, let's go. FRIDAY has the same entry point Karen is showing."
Breaking into the ship wasn't too difficult since they were near one of the entry points. Then again, no one expected anyone to break into a spaceship when they were mid-flight. Being close to the gears of the spaceship made him expect everything to be loud and overwhelming but surprisingly it was fairly quiet.
The gears hummed and turned quickly, flashes of orange light emitting from them every few seconds as they made their way forward.
He crawled along the ceiling as Tony hovered above the floor, both of them cautious and listening out for anything that would be out to kill them. He subtly guided the way, relying on his memories to avoid any would-be traps if they accidentally triggered them, motioning to Tony when they reached the right place.
They leaned over the edge of the platform they were on and he was thankful for the dull lighting where they were. The last thing they needed was fake-Squidward spotting their shadows and gaining the advantage.
"You remember that old movie, Aliens?" He asked.
A small sigh came from Tony. "You and your pop culture references," he muttered whilst nodding.
"Okay, so here's what we can do…"
Fake-Squidward hadn't even started torturing Stephen for the Time stone. All he had done was slowly monologue as the light needles neared his face and he could hear Stephen's heart hammering in his chest.
"So, you're here to save your friend?" Fake-Squidward asked, slowly raising his hands and drawing metal boxes towards him.
He crawled close to where Tony was going to shoot, knowing Cloak would go after Stephen but it never hurt to have a back-up in case the force of space was too much for the magical garment.
"He's not really my friend," Tony replied as he raised his hand to shoot his opponent. "It's more of a professional courtesy than anything." He rolled his eyes at that. Tony and Stephen had never gotten along well even during the final battle. He supposed it was their personalities were so similar that they clashed instead of worked together.
"Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine," he said, the boxes rising into the air until they were poised like arrows waiting to be released from the bow.
"Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies." Tony shot a repulsor blast at the wall he was a few metres away from, a shock of cold air trying to drag him into the vacuum of space. Unsheathing his iron spider legs, he clung onto where he was staying as fake-Squidward was sucked into space with a frozen expression.
Cloak caught Stephen just before Peter reached out to him, levitating him away from the metal hole as Tony covered the space with some sort of spray that formed a protective layer.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, he crawled to where the front of the spaceship was and dropped down on his web, hanging on the ceiling as Tony and Stephen flew to where he was with scowls on their faces.
"A 'thank you' would be nice," Tony called out, the nanobot suit retracting from him as Stephen reached the front of the spaceship, the blue void in front of them acting like an imprisonment rather than an escape.
"For what?" Stephen asked. "Nearly blasting me into space?" He tensed at the sarcasm. They didn't have time to bicker like last time. For all they knew, Thanos would be on his way to collect the Reality stone or the Soul stone depending on if he had taken whoever Gamora was. He watched silently, knowing it wasn't his place to join the argument as it unfolded.
"Who just saved your magical ass? Me."
"Listen Stark, I don't have time for playground antics. We need to get out of this ship. We are not bringing the Time stone directly to Thanos," Stephen stated, leaving no room for argument.
"What, so you're suggesting we go back to Earth?" Tony asked incredulously. "That's not an option. This thing is self-correcting its course and I can't control it."
"Who said we needed to bring the ship with us? You saw me open portals earlier," Stephen remarked. "And why are you so against going back to Earth?"
Was he teasing Tony at this point? They had gone through this conversation in the previous timeline, he knew why Tony didn't want to go back.
Tony looked away from Stephen, gazing at the ceiling before speaking. "I'm thinking it's not such a good idea." He turned back to Stephen, glaring at him like he was the enemy. "Thanos has been in my head since the Chitauri army invaded New York with Loki and he will bring destruction to Earth if we go back there with the Time stone."
He frowned internally. He had known Tony would have an adverse reaction to seeing Loki but to hear the panic in his voice at the mere mention of him and the Chitauri was something else entirely. Guilt gnawed at his insides but he pushed it down. Warning Loki had been a necessary risk if they wanted to defeat Thanos with as few casualties as possible.
"He will go to Earth regardless of what we do. There are two Infinity Stones there already, the best thing we can do is protect them with the rest of the ragtag heroes left."
"Listen, I'm not so sure what to do even if we're fighting on our own turf or on his. You saw what they did when they went there and there will undoubtedly be more destruction than last time." Tony scowled before frowning. "I thought the second stone was the Mind stone. How can there still be two left on Earth?"
Stephen looked at Tony stonily. "The Tesseract is back on Earth."
"What?"
"I'm not going to repeat that. As long as it is on Earth, he will have to travel with his own methods. I'm not sure how much time that will buy us but it is better than him having access to the Space stone."
Tony hesitantly nodded. "Okay, so in a situation where we have three stones, what could we do?"
"Keep them safe," Stephen replied immediately. "We know where the Mind and Time stones are and realistically, our final fight will be on Wakanda."
Tony's eyebrows furrowed. "You said the Tesseract is back on Earth."
"There's a…technicality with that." Tony looked unimpressed. "While I know its general location, I don't know where it actually is. The people who stole it never told me where they put it."
He frowned behind his mask at Stephen's jab. He had never asked where they put it! Was he supposed to reveal he and Ned had been working with Stephen since 2016?
"Wow, amazing," Tony replied sarcastically. "One of the six most powerful stones in existence and you don't know where it is."
"I do but it might take getting back to Earth to find out where it is."
They lapsed into a contemplative silence from there, the whirring of the gears the only noise he could hear before Tony's footsteps echoed across the metal chamber.
"Stark." His footsteps paused as Stephen turned towards them. "If it comes between you or the kid or the Time stone, I will not hesitate to choose the Time stone. It's nothing personal, but the fate of the universe depends on it."
His chest hollowed at the words even though he hoped Stephen didn't mean them. Stephen had sacrificed the Time stone to keep Tony alive so he could use the gauntlet in the final battle. They had (accidentally) travelled back in time together with much more haunting knowledge that needed to be used carefully. Surely that had to mean something?
"Good." Tony mockingly patted Stephen on the shoulder. "Good, moral compass." He shook his head as he walked towards Peter. "Kid, you're benched."
"What?" He exclaimed, feeling as if he'd had a rug pulled out from underneath him. He hadn't reacted like this in the previous timeline! "Tony, I fought with you and the others in New York, I can fight with you in space. Everyone else will!"
"I didn't understand who we were up against until then. Squidward nearly beat us using his weird telekinetic powers and we haven't faced Thanos yet. What makes you think I would want you to face that?"
Oh, the irony. If only Tony knew what he had seen and fought against over the past few years.
"None of us want to face Thanos but we have to if we want the universe to survive. I won't sit here and watch you all fight knowing I could do something!" Something sparked in Tony's eyes, almost like he was remembering a conversation they'd had before. Rage simmered in his chest and words bubbled to his throat before he could stop them. "Besides, I've seen all of this before!"
He froze as he registered what he had said.
Stephen looked up, staring at him with a mix of confusion and mild horror in his eyes.
"What do you mean by that?"
The silence between them became palpable.
His heart struggled in his chest.
"I- uh-" He fumbled as he tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for his implied time travel. There was no way to explain time travel in depth before the massive battle they were about to face.
"…Doctor Strange and I have been planning about how we're going to deal with Thanos for a while."
It technically was the truth.
"For how long?"
"We started a few days after he opened a portal to the lab."
He turned back to face Stephen. "You've been working with him?" Stephen nodded. "And by proximity, Ned?" Another nod. "Well, that makes sense why he could open portals."
"You're…you're not mad, right?" He asked tentatively, fiddling with his fingers behind his back as he waited for Tony's response. More than anything, the man looked tired, like the weight of the world had been dumped on his shoulders.
Well, to some extent, it had.
"No, no, I'm not mad. All I can say is that you need to explain a few things. For now though-" Tony raised his hand, tapping it on each of his shoulder's like the Queen knighting a person, "-you're an Avenger."
He walked away from him and Stephen, probably to process all of the information he had been given.
Looking at Stephen, he threw his hands up helplessly as if to say, 'I don't know what to do', the sorcerer gesturing for him to go up to him. Climbing up the stairs, he wondered what their next move was. Would they wait for the Guardians to try and attack them or go straight to Vormir to get the Soul stone?
"Kid, I would wait for Stark to cool off," Stephen advised quietly. "Firstly, where did you leave the Space stone?"
"At Ned's," he muttered, thinking about whether Ned was safe or not. He didn't know if Wong had come out unscathed or not and if Ned had been injured or had gone back to his home. Maybe he was telling Michelle what had happened and how he had been beamed up again.
He wouldn't know until he managed to get back to Earth. If he ever managed to.
He hoped he would.
"Secondly, about what I said earlier…" Stephen trailed off at his puzzled look. "If I had to choose between you, Stark and the stone."
"Oh."
He still had conflicted feelings about that. On the one hand, it made complete sense. Giving Thanos the Time stone would screw them over so badly since it was the difference between winning and losing. His guilt would grow to astronomical levels if Stephen gave it up to save him. On the other hand…it did hurt that he could be so easily discarded in the grand scheme of the universe – hell, in the grand scheme of the multiverse.
"No, what you said made sense. You can't give up the Time stone for me." He paused, choosing his next words carefully. "For Tony…" One of his main goals had been to stop Tony dying and he was resolute with it. Tony deserved everything he hadn't been able to keep in the previous timeline. "He has to stay alive. He can fix things with time travel."
Stephen hesitated. "You shouldn't undermine yourself like that."
"It's true though. I might know about the future but he has the means to bring anything into reality if he really wants to."
Stephen pressed his lips together, clearly not pleased with his response. "I'll make that choice when the time comes."
All he could do was hope he would make the right one.
Notes:
So, what do you think?
I have an idea where Peter wields an Infinity Stone but Marvel cites 'only powerful beings can wield Infinity Stones' so realistically I won't write it for this. Maybe I'll do it for the What If...? series.
There'll be reunions and confrontations in Wakanda - who do you want to see Peter meet?