Grace sits at her desk, unable to hear Rhodey moving around downstairs but still comforted knowing he's there, since she isn't all that used to being home alone, especially without Pepper or Happy. Her computer is on in front of her, her school assignment taking up its screen. She's meant to be doing Trigonometry, but instead, she's texting Peter, who's on a school field trip on his way to MoMA.

The Museum of Modern Art.

A virtual tour, even the one her father had the museum make specially for her birthday one year (without giving them the reason), is surely nothing compared to the real thing.

'This is the first time that I've actually REALLY been tempted to sneak out of the house,' she texts.

Peter has his head down against the back of the bus seat as he texts her. Ned is sending him memes on Instagram every few minutes, and he flips back and forth from those and his text conversation with Grace. When he receives her most recent text, he laughs quietly, but he responds, 'And it isn't even for me :('

Grace chuckles at this response, but is tempted to roll her eyes. 'I'd still be SEEING you, you dummy.'

'But that's not what you'll be LOOKING at,' Peter replies, tacking a watery-eyed emoji — one he sends more frequently than could be considered normal — at the end of it.

Grace actually does roll her eyes, then adds the matching emoji onto her text before she sends it. 'Oh, my gosh, you drama queen.'

'You'll just be looking at the art,' Peter replies. 'Well guess what?' He sends the next sentence in three separate texts for emphasis. 'I don't even NEED to look at the art,' he starts, 'because the real masterpiece,' he continues, then waiting a second to send the last part to create suspense, 'is you <3'

Grace doesn't even know how to respond for a moment, and finally just types, 'I-' She sends a second text. 'You do realize they literally have Starry Night?' And then a third, for emphasis. 'Like, THE Starry Night?'

Peter's face resembles the meme Ned just sent him — a surprised Pikachu. 'So you're just going to ignore how cute the thing I said was?' he replies.

Grace sighs, then sends, 'It was adorable, Peter.'

'Your tone says otherwise,' Peter replies, practically able to hear her speak the words in his head. It's a familiar, monotone tone designed to show she's exasperated with him.

'I'm literally texting you,' she replies. 'How could you tell what my tone was?'

Peter sends the shrugging emoji. 'Idk man AP Lit just gives you special powers' He's taking the class to get a weighted grade and college credit, and also because Grace said it would be great when he was contemplating it. Peter just trusts that she'll help him if need be.

She now sends the emoji with a raised brow, a favorite of hers. 'Evidently it takes away your use of commas.'

Peter takes longer than usual to reply, 'Ok, thank, you, punctuation, police, are, you, going, to, arrest, me, now,,,,?'

Grace cringes. 'That was literally painful to read.'

Peter chuckles. 'Our FBI agents must think we're huge nerds.'

'Because we are,' Grace replies.

'Yeah, that's true.'

She then steers the conversation back to where it started. 'Anyway, please try to appreciate the art and memorize everything that you see. I expect a five page report sent to me by this evening.'

Peter smiles widely. 'Well, hopefully, I will be at the compound later today to give it to you in person. :)'

Grace grins. 'Hopefully, you will. I have been waiting WEEKS to watch the next episode of Merlin.' They thought it would be cute and fun to watch a show together, though they overestimated the amount of time they're able spend together every week. It's becoming harder to wait to be with the other to watch the next episode.

'I just want to reassure FBI Agents Phil and Dan that we aren't as nerdy as these texts make us seem,' Peter replies.

'Yes, we are.'

'Yeah, we are,' Peter concedes.

'If not more.'

'Yeah...'

She begins typing as Ned sends him another meme — this one about Spider-Man. Peter looks up to say something to Ned about it, but then the hairs on the back of his neck and arms stand on end.

Something is wrong.

He turns, looking out the bus window, then easily spotting a giant, ring-shaped spaceship floating over New York. His stomach drops as if he were on the worst roller coaster ever.

He reaches over the seat in front of him without looking and hits Ned on the face, not hard but repeatedly to get his attention. "Ned, hey, I need you to cause a distraction."

Ned turns, then spotting the ring through the window. His mouth falls open in shock, and he takes a moment to fulfill Peter's request. But he finally finds his voice. "We're all gonna die!" he shouts, getting up, other students quickly following him. "There's a spaceship!"

The students start freaking out, their panicked voices blending together as Peter focuses on getting out of the bus and to whatever the crap is going on in the city.

He reaches into his bag after dropping his phone in and puts on his webshooters, then pulls the emergency exit window open with a web. He quickly leaps out, sticking to the side of the bus by his feet. After putting his mask on, he grabs his backpack, instructing, "Karen, call Grace."

"On it," she says when Peter leaps off the bus, the phone ringing as he catches himself before he hits the water below the bridge the bus is on. In no time, Grace picks up.

"Peter?" she says. "What-?"

"Are you seeing this?" Peter asks, swinging toward the city.

She clearly hears the panic in his voice. "What? N-No, I- what's going on?"

"Well, there's, uh, there's a spaceship. Over New York," Peter replies.

Grace's eyes widen, and she gets up, heading for the stairs, her voice now fast and panicked. "Mom and Dad went out with Happy this morning to run in the park or something and they haven't called or anything-"

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Peter quickly assures her. "It's okay. I'll find them, alright? I'm on my way now."

"You're what?!" Grace exclaims. By now, she's made it to the living room, and Rhodey is giving her an odd look. "Peter-"

"I'll be okay. But-"

"You can do something, so you have to do it," Grace finishes. She takes a deep breath, shoving down the panic. "Just please be careful, okay? Make sure my dad is careful, too. I'm with Rhodey now, and we're gonna... try to figure this out."

"Okay," Peter replies. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He can't hang up, so he waits for her to, but it takes her a few moments, and Peter hears her breathing and Rhodey's faint voice on the other end. He just hopes this will all be over soon.

~~~~

Tony and Strange look at the ship, both panicked and worried. Thanos is here. Thanos is here.

"Friday, evac anyone south of 43rd Street, notify first responders," Tony says.

"Will do," Friday responds. Tony hears a whooshing noise behind him, and then Strange's magic rushes forward, clearing the dust from the air. Tony looks back at him, and all they can hear for some moments is wind and sirens. He breathes, hopes that his family is safe. Reminds himself to call Grace when he can, and even starts to right then, since nothing is happening.

And then something is beamed down from the ship.

Two aliens: one large, Hulk-sized but the color of muted orange and donning armor, the other small, the only descriptor for him being a deformed, humanoid squid with white hair forming a severely receded hairline and going down the back of his head.

The small one speaks in an annoyingly lilting voice. "Hear me and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos."

The large one lifts his almost equally large ax-like weapon, speaking a language no one else present — except maybe the squid — understands.

The squid continues as Tony, Strange, Wong, and Bruce approach. "Be thankful that your meaningless lives are now contributing to-"

Tony can't listen to this any longer. "I'm sorry, Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get outta here."

The squid looks at Strange, neatly cutting Tony off. "Stonekeeper, does this chattering animal speak for you?"

Strange walks forward. "Certainly not. I speak for myself." Tony hears noises that he can only describe as, 'boom, boom — whoosh' behind him as Strange arms himself with magic. "But you're trespassing in this city and on this planet." Wong does the same, though with less theatrics.

"It means get lost, Squidward!" Tony shouts.

Squidward glances at the large alien next to him. "He exhausts me." The large one replies in his unknown language. Squidward looks back at Strange, though he isn't talking to him. "Bring me the Stone." The large one speaks again, this time slamming his ax into the ground as he walks forward, toward the small group of four.

Tony, quietly, without looking away, says, "Banner, you want a piece?"

"No, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?" Bruce replies.

"That's right," Tony says as Bruce attempts to transform into the Hulk.

But he can't, even as he tries to talk to himself — or the Hulk, whichever works.

"Been a while," Tony encourages. "Good to have you, buddy."

Bruce shushes him. "Let me just... I need to concentrate here for a second. Come on... come on, man."

His neck is turning green, but it's not working, not even as the large alien approaches.

"Where's your guy?" Tony asks, fully turned to Bruce as Strange and Wong, still in position, watch.

Bruce stops trying, takes a break. "I don't know. We've sort been having a thing."

"There's no time for a thing," Tony says.

"I know." Bruce begins trying again.

Tony points. "That's the thing right there. Let's go." The large alien speaks, and Bruce strains, struggling. Strange looks at Tony with wide eyes in half-fear, half-disbelief.

Tony looks at Bruce. "Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards."

Bruce whispers back, "Tony, I'm sorry. Either I can't or he won't-"

Tony sighs. "It's okay. Hey, stand down." He looks back at Wong. "Keep an eye on him."

Wong nods as Bruce moves to stand behind him. "I have him."

"Thank you," Tony replies.

The large alien starts running at them, and Tony pulls on the strings of his running jacket, tightening it, then taps his arc reactor, causing the Iron Man suit to form over his whole outfit. As he walks forward, he takes off his glasses, then crouching as a shield forms on his arm.

The large alien swings his weapon down on it, then Tony reaches up and punches him. He stands back, regular blasters and four, long extra blasters floating behind him. When the large alien looks up, they all fire, shooting him back towards Squidward, who tosses him to the side with the wave of his hand. The extra blasters return to Tony's suit.

"Where'd that come from?!" Bruce asks.

Tony turns to answer. "It's nano-tech. You like it? A little something I-" Before he can finish, he's shot up into the air, and he takes a moment to regain control of his flight. When he does, though, he flies back down, stopping just behind Strange, who's forming a glowing, orange, magic circle with his hands, ready to deflect a car barreling towards himself and Wong, who's doing the same. Tony flies right through Strange's magic circle and blasts the car back, sending it towards Squidward.

He raises his hand and splits it in two without even touching it.

Tony looks at Strange. "You gotta get that stone outta here, now."

"It stays with me," Strange insists.

"Exactly. Bye." Tony turns and flies towards Squidward, dodging the large spikes of concrete the alien sends up to hit him and block his path.

Behind him, before Tony realizes, the large alien gets up, throwing a giant chain with a hammer on the end of it. It hits Tony and sends him through multiple buildings before he crashes into the ground, running a rut into some grass before he's stopped by a tree.

Bruce, from who knows where, runs over. "Tony, you okay? How we doing? Good? Bad?"

Tony looks up at him. "Really, really good. Really good. Do you plan on helping out?"

Bruce sighs. "I'm trying. He won't come out."

Tony's eyes widen as the large alien crashes through a building, throwing the hammer chain towards them. "Hammer!" he shouts, hurriedly pushing Bruce out of the way. Once he's safely on the ground, Tony shoots back up, flying at the large alien. He blasts him with a laser, but the alien holds up a shield. Tony proceeds to move in a circle around him, trying to get a hit, but the alien moves with him. A few trees in between them get cut in two. Tony switches gears when he pushes the alien to the fountain, hitting him with short blasts, which he blocks.

Then, he punches Tony, knocking him into the ground face-first. He hears the alien coming, but he can't turn around in time to stop him.

Luckily, something comes in between them.

"Hey, man," Peter Parker says to the alien. He looks back at Tony, whose eyes are wide. "What's up, Mr. Stark?"

Tony, in his surprise, remembers what Grace said Peter was doing today, as she said it multiple times. "You missing your field trip to MoMA for this?" Tony asks.

"Yeah."

"Grace isn't gonna be happy about that."

Peter sighs. "Yeah, I just talked to her. She said-" Before he can finish, the alien grabs him and flings him away. He lands on the ground, next to the fountain.

Tony blasts the alien as Peter gets up, firing a web. "What is this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?" He swings back towards the alien, helping Tony fight him.

"Uh, he's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard," Tony replies.

Suddenly, Friday says, "Sir, Grace is calling."

"Uh-" Tony starts, but then Peter gets grabbed by the alien's hammer chain; the hammer apparently is actually a claw. The alien spins him around, flinging him away once again.

Tony, worried and feeling a pang of anger, throws everything in his blasters, hitting the alien hard, even as he blocks with his shield. Behind the alien is half a taxi, dug into the grass, and he grabs it, throwing it at Tony, who's forced to dodge. The call is sent to voicemail.

Then Peter, midair, grabs the half cab with a web, pulling it down on top of the alien, forcing him into the ground. Peter and Tony stand.

"Nice work, kid," Tony says.

"Thanks," Peter replies. "Hey, where's Miss Potts?"

"Should be on her way home."

"Oh, cool. Grace was worried."

And then the large alien gets back up.

Tony and Peter quickly begin fighting again, working in tandem with each other. Tony says, "Friday, call Grace back."

"On it," she says, the phone ringing for only a second before Grace picks up.

"Dad?" Tony hears through his helmet, her voice shaky, quietly reminding of him of when she was younger. But there's also a hint of control, like she's trying to hide it or calm herself down.

"Hey, sweetheart," Tony says as he fights. "Look, I sent Pepper and Happy back to you, okay? If they aren't there yet, they should be soon. Peter is with me. How are you and Rhodey?"

"We're okay, I guess," Grace replies, now calmer without the effort. "Watching the news. Rhodey is on the phone with half the government."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"Did you call Steve yet?" Grace asks. "You should really call Steve."

Tony grimaces. "Uh, not yet."

"Dad-!"

"I know, I know. I'm a bit busy right now."

The large alien slams his weapon into Tony's shield, and Grace hears it through the phone. "Dad? Dad, what was that?"

"Peter and I are fighting an alien."

"Then I'll let you get to it," she replies with some concern. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too."

"Be safe. Keep Peter safe."

"I will."

"Tell him I said to keep you safe."

Tony chuckles. "Bye, sweetheart."

"Bye."

And then Tony sees Strange, unconscious and being pulled by his weird, sentient cape. He looks at Peter. "Kid, that's the wizard. Get on it."

"On it!" Peter replies, swinging after him while Tony continues to fight the alien.

Peter rounds the corner, the wizard in his sights, when he's suddenly hit by a billboard that's being pushed through the air by an unnatural source. When he gets to his feet, ready to swing again, he sees another alien, this one smaller than the one he was fighting before. "Not cool," Peter says as he begins swinging again, the wizard racing in front of the new alien, who bends light poles into the wizard's path to stop him.

Eventually, it works — sort of. The wizard's cape is caught, but the wizard falls right out of it, forcing Peter to catch him with a web. "Gotcha." Peter swings around, heading back to Tony, but he's stopped by a blue light from the spaceship hitting the wizard, dragging him up, the force stronger than what Peter can fight. Peter ends up being pulled with the wizard, though he grabs onto a traffic light to resist the pull.

Then the small alien rips the traffic light from the ground, and Peter lets go, too high up now to grab onto anything.

"Uh, Mr. Stark?! I'm being beamed up!" he shouts.

Tony's been fighting the large alien the entire time, trying to fell it — forget about killing it. The fountain has been half-destroyed in the process. "Hang on, kid," he replies, seconds before he's pushed into the ground, trapped by the large alien's claw, which is now electrified.

The alien comes at Tony with a blade as he struggles, and, for a moment, he thinks he's going to die.

But then an orange ring of sparks forms over Tony, and the alien jumps into it, disappearing. Tony sees Wong a few feet away, standing with Bruce. Just before Wong closes the portal, the alien's hand shoots through, cut off when the portal disappears. Bruce makes a disgusted sound and kicks it as Tony gets up.

"Wong, you're invited to my wedding," he says, flying off to save Peter, but too much time has passed. The spaceship is leaving. "Give me a little juice, Friday." He needs to get up there. Now.

He shoots off like a rocket, quickly heading for the ship.

"Unlock 17-A," he commands, seeing a speck of red on the side of the ship, moving up. Peter. "Pete, you gotta let go. I'm gonna catch you."

"But you said save the wizard!" Peter shouts. "And-And Grace said-" He cuts himself off, ripping his mask off and trying to take in air. "I can't breathe!"

"We're too high up. You're running out of air," Tony says.

"Yeah. That makes sense," Peter replies, too quietly. Tony watches as he seemingly turns lifeless, going limp and falling as he passes out. Tony's heart clenches for a few seconds, but then the Iron Spider suit catches Peter in time, providing him with air. He wakes and catches himself on the ship. "Mr. Stark, it smells like a new car in here!" he exclaims.

Tony smiles. "Happy trails, kid. Friday, send him home — preferably to mine. And keep watch."

"Yep," Friday replies.

A parachute erupts from Peter's new suit and carries him off as he shouts, "OH, COME ON!"

Tony attaches to the side of the ship with a claw-like apparatus on the arm of his suit, using a laser on the other arm to cut a hole in the side. When he goes through it, Friday says, "Boss, incoming call from Miss Potts."

"Answer it."

"Tony?" Pepper says. "Are you alright? What's going on?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just think we might have to push our 8:30 res," Tony replies.

Pepper is quiet for a moment. "Why?"

"Just 'cause..." Tony starts, looking at the inner-workings of the ship around him. "I'll probably not make it back for a while."

Pepper must be home now because, suddenly, he hears Grace's voice. "Are you going to space?!" she shouts. "You better not be going to space!" She just saw the ship leaving Earth on the TV, and there was a suspicious red speck heading towards it, along with two figures being carried away by it.

"Tell me you're not on that ship, Tony," Pepper says.

He sighs. "Yeah."

"Tony-"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I don't know what to say."

"Come back here, Tony," Pepper demands.

"Pep..." he trails off.

Grace sighs deeply, then asks, "Okay, where's Peter and what can we do?"

Tony almost smiles at her tone, exasperated and worried but straightforward, getting down to business. "I just sent him back to you," Tony replies. "Stay safe, keep the earth safe in case anything comes knocking. You'll have help. Bruce is back. There's a wizard. His name is Wong. It's a lot."

"You could come back and help!" Pepper shouts.

Tony shakes his head. "Pep, I can't do that. I'm sorry. I love you both."

Resigned and worried, Pepper replies. "I love you, too."

"I love you, too, D-" Grace starts, but her voices cuts out.

"Grace?" Tony asks.

"Boss, we're losing them. I'm going too..." Friday trails off, her voice fading out.

Meanwhile, outside, Peter is hanging on for dear life, then eventually manages to climb up into the ship. He sighs. "I should have stayed on the bus."