Note :

Please read! If you find this fic after the release of End Game, know that the entire plot was planned and prepared way before. As I write this, I have no idea yet as to what the movie will be like, but one thing is for certain: the events in End Game won't have any impact on the unfolding of this story.

Trigger warning: this fic isn't supposed to be gory, but this chapter will be (although it is gonna be the only one like that, don't worry). So if you're uncomfortable with blood and wounds, just know that it's coming (and it's not gonna be pretty).

_________________________________________________________________

May 2022

Do you know what is the worst about days that go terribly wrong?

Most people would answer, "Well, duuuhhh, it's that they go terribly wrong." And even if they are not mistaken per say, the obvious answer is not necessarily the correct one. You see, there is something more insidious about those days. Sometimes you are 'lucky' enough to know from the start that you are going to have a shitty day. But most of the time, they take you by surprise. You get no time to mentally prepare to stand tall while destiny is slapping you hard in the face; all you can do is try to hold on and not be swiped away as you watch everything you love crumble around you.

It was one of those days for Peter.

Nothing stood out of the usual in the beginning. He overslept a little (not unusual after a night patrol), but made it in time for his lecture nonetheless (not as usual but, hey, who was going to complain?), he managed to grab MJ for lunch (and almost had time to finish his second sandwich before having to suit up to stop a car chase) and he arrived only five minutes late to his afternoon lecture, breaking his record for his continuous extreme unpunctuality. He really did try to stay awake during that lecture, a very interesting subject at that, but as usual, he decided that resting his eyes a few minutes wouldn't hurt him in the end.

His phone buzzing in his pocket woke him up. A bit groggy, Peter almost turned off the call but stopped himself just in time when he noticed the name on the screen. Silently standing up, he exited the theatre to pick up the call in the hallway.

"Hey kiddo, you busy right now?" greeted a voice at the other end of the line before Peter even got the time to say a word.

"Good afternoon to you too, Mr Stark. Kind of? Why?"

"Is it more pressing than a giant donut-shaped spaceship hovering Greenwich? We could use a hand."

At the mention of a 'spaceship,' Peter was already running towards the stairs to access the roof of the building.

"I'll be there in five." Then it hit him. "Wait, you said 'we.' Who 'we'? They're back?"

Peter could hear the sound of Tony's repulsors loading and firing in the background. He knew the question was stupid, especially since they were considered criminals now, but somewhere inside himself he had never stopped hoping to see the Avengers reunited.

"Only Banner. But he can't green up right now, so he's not really helping. There's him, and two wizards."

"Banner is back?" That almost gave Peter a pause.

"We'll talk later. Hurry up or Hocus Pocus will finish all the aliens before you even get the chance to see one for yourself." With that, Tony hung up.

Reaching the roof, Peter traded his clothes for his suit. As he put on his mask, Karen's warm but slightly reprimanding voice welcomed him. Peter would never stop marveling at Tony's AI's capacity to subtly replicate complex human emotions.

"Good afternoon, Peter. Aren't you supposed to be attending Pr. Warren's lecture?"

"Not when there are aliens in town. What info can you give me on that?"

A feed of videos and tweets popped up on his interface. Some footage revealed the spaceship's silhouette through a thick cloud of dust and debris, while others showed the battle between Iron Man, the aliens and... wizards? So Tony was not kidding? Peter had been Spider-manning for seven years now and yet, the world kept finding new ways to surprise him.

"There seem to be a total of two alien individuals from no race known to humankind. The spaceship is stationary and appears to be non threatening at the moment. The individuals, however, can be considered enhanced for our standards."

"Great. Alien supers. Exactly what this city lacked."

Peter climbed on the edge of the roof. He could see the spaceship perfectly from his vantage point. It was enormous. Regardless of Karen's affirmation, an ominous feeling emanated from it, only accentuated by the low-key humming sound that eerily swept over the city, reverberating through Peter's bones in perfect harmony with his spider-sense.

"Do you want me to trace you an itinerary to the spaceship, Peter?"

Peter wryly chuckled.

"No thanks, Karen. I'm pretty sure I'll find my way on my own."

"As you wish."

Peter stepped over the edge and let himself fall for half a second before thwipping out a web.

Peter arrived just in time to block a hulk-sized alien from smashing Iron Man flat on the ground with a pickaxe-like weapon.

"Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Spider-ma-aaaaaahh!"

The alien did not let him finish his sentence. He twisted to grab Spider-man and threw him at a fountain, as if he were nothing more than a discarded toy. Peter quickly recovered.

"Hey, that was rude! Nobody ever told you not to cut off people when they are talking?" he said in a mock-outraged voice while throwing fast blobs of web at the alien. Spider-man took off as the alien swung his weapon at him as an answer before turning his attention back to the blasts Iron Man was firing at him.

"You're not exactly the talkative type, are you?" Spider-man kept on pressing, swinging around the alien like an annoying fly and sending fast and stingy webs at him occasionally.

"You're not exactly giving him time to answer either," Iron Man cockily replied.

"True. But then again, would he if I did?"

"Probably not."

"What do they want anyway?"

"Uh... I think they're here to steal one of the wizards' necklace."

Spider-man paused and stared at Iron Man.

"Wait. Seriously?"

If not for his Spider-sense, Peter would not have been able to duck the blow the alien aimed at him.

"Focus, kid," scolded Iron Man. "Yes. And it's very important that they don't get it."

Spider-man landed behind the alien, shot two strands of web at his ankles and brusquely yanked, causing the alien to topple to the ground. He hastened to encase his foe in a webbing cocoon.

"What's so important about it?"

"Why don't you ask the wizard directly?"

Spider-man looked up quizzically at Iron-Man, then turned his gaze when he noticed he was staring at something behind him.

The thing flew by him extremely fast. So fast he almost did not have time to make out the man whizzing away, closely followed by a slender alien riding a wave of concrete. Spider-man looked back at Iron-Man, his lenses wide from puzzlement.

"That would be him," Tony informed him. "We can't let them get away with him!"

"On it!" Spider-man lifted off as the big alien freed himself from his restraints. This mildly annoyed him, but he was confident in Tony's ability to take care of the threat by himself.

Spider-man pursued the strange pair at a dazzling speed. The wizard seemed to be flying away in an uncontrolled manner.

"Hey wizard, are you ok?" shouted Spider-man.

The man was unresponsive. His sharp turns were erratic, as if something was controlling his flight for him. Was he unconscious? Peter had to do something before he hurt himself.

Before he even had the time to act, the alien raised his hand in a swift motion. Not a second later, a huge advertising board came flying at Spider-man, who barely managed to avoid it. As he did so, the alien picked up some speed, determined to catch his prey. Another hand gesture from him and all the streetlights on the wizard's path bent like claws to try and catch him. It was only a miracle that he managed to avoid all of them.

Peter was fascinated. It was not the first time he saw telekinesis in action, but that guy's abilities were ten times more impressive than Scarlet Witch's. Impressive and foreboding.

Peter's motormouth took over before he could think.

"Hey Slenderman! Do you think you could unbend those lights? It's obvious you don't pay taxes to maintain this city. Let me tell you, life here is very expensive and it's already difficult enough to-"

With an annoyed sigh, the alien sent a cab flying at him. Expecting a similar move, Spider-man dodged it effortlessly this time. But a whole cab though?

"You and your friend are very rude. Do you know that?"

In spite of his rambling, Peter didn't loosen up his attention. This enemy was too powerful to take lightly. If he were to face him alone he might have a small chance, but he would have a hard time at it and would cause way too much collateral damage anyway. The safest course of action was to retrieve the wizard and lose the alien. He had no idea how to though, but then again, having a plan had never really worked so far.

He got an opening only a few moments later. One of the streetlights caught the wizard's cape, sending the man tumbling towards the ground. Spider-man snatched him with a web and immediately changed directions.

"Gotcha!"

First part of the job: done. But that was the easiest part. Shaking off an alien who could move literally anything with his mind proved to be way more difficult, especially with the dead weight Spider-man had to drag with him. He did hold his own quite well for a short time, but soon enough he felt that the wizard was being dragged in the opposite direction.

"Hey, that's cheating!"

Being pulled away as well, Spider-man clung to a streetlight and looked toward the wizard to judge how bad a situation they were in. That's when he noticed that, contrary to what he believed at first, the alien was not responsible for the force moving them.

It was. A freaking. Light beam. Emanating from the spaceship.

"No way... Just how cliché can you be?" muttered Peter.

The street lamp he was holding on to gave way. Spider-man shot a web to try to anchor them to something, anything, to no avail. The force of attraction was too strong and prevented the webbing to reach far enough. The situation was, indeed, pretty bad.

"Er... Tony? I think we're being abducted," Peter said in his communicator.

"I'm coming in a few, hold on."

Peter looked at the ground. They were gaining altitude way too fast. He had gotten rid of his fear of heights a long time ago, but damn... that was high.

"Believe me, I'm even clinging! ...Sticking? Am I allowed to say that?"

"We went over this already. That joke has been sticking around way too long."

"No way, did you just make one of those? I'm honestly shook."

"You know what? Just for the use of that word I'm disinheriting you."

"Oh no, Mr. Stark, you can't do that! I had already cleared a spot on my desk for that terrible coffee machine in your lab... I was soooo looking forward to get splatters all over my papers."

"You, out of all people, are not touching that machine."

Peter never once lost eye contact with the wizard. As he got boarded into the ship, the doors closed, cutting off Spider-man's web and the light beam at the same time, allowing gravity to take over once more. With a surprised "Whooop!" Peter reflexively slung a new web. He climbed on the side of the spaceship, heart in his throat. It had been close, but there was no time to rest. Oxygen was getting rarer as they got higher. Peter was already starting to breathe heavily.

He tried for the door that took the wizard in, but found no way to open it. It was sealed shut, and no amount of strength he could muster was enough to even move it the slightest. Just as no control panel could be seen anywhere close. Resigned, Peter set out in search of another way in.

"Karen, I need to find an entry point."

"There is another gate 203 feet above your current position", she informed him after a quick analysis. Peter promptly followed her indications.

Soon enough, his head started spinning. Not enough to slow him down at first, but as he kept on progressing, vertigo hit him so hard he had to take a break. Every breath had become a struggle. It didn't matter that he would fill his lungs completely each time he inhaled. It wasn't enough anymore. He peeled off his mask in a desperate attempt to get more air in. But outside of the sudden coldness that stung his skin, he noticed no change. The pressure in his head was becoming overwhelming.

"Tony... I can't... breathe..." he panted in his com. "Too... high."

"Just let go, I'm gonna catch you."

He didn't need to be told twice. Bordering on the edge of consciousness, Peter entered free fall, barely aware of it. He fell for what felt like an eternity, until he was struck hard in the back. He thought at first he hit the spaceship in his descend, but when he felt something crawl over his suit from the impact point, he knew he didn't end up a flat fly on a windshield on the side of the spaceship. As the thing came over his face, Karen's interface popped back on his field of view. A pressurization sound took over his hearing. Oxygen flowed once more.

Senses sharp again, Peter managed to back flip just in time to gracefully land on the spaceship. Looking at his hands, he noticed a nice metallic glow on his suit.

"Smells like a new car in here."

"You're welcome, kid," said Tony, flying right past him.

Peter almost pointed out a discussion they had had a few years back about the fact the he wanted to be the sole creator of his suits. But Tony's just saved his life, and deep down, he always knew the man couldn't resist building him new toys, so he let go of the subject. At least for the moment.

Tony went straight for the body of the ship.

"Karen detected an entry point-". Peter interrupted himself when he realized Tony was cutting right through the shell. "Or we can go by the shorter route too."

"There's no 'we', kid. I don't want you in."

Peter was dumbstruck by Tony's sudden coldness.

"What? What is that, all of a sudden?"

"It's a one way ticket. There's no going back." Tony pushed the metal piece inward, the edges still glowing red from the heat. He turned to Peter. "I'm not stealing your life."

Peter took a step forward.

"Tony, if the situation is that bad, you're gonna need all the help you can get."

"You don't get it. The whole universe is at stake here. This might as well be a fight to the death, and I'm not adding another innocent death on my conscious."

"Are you serious? You don't get to take that decision for me!"

"Yes I do! I'm responsible for you! If anything happens to you, that's on me, and I won't have it. Not this time, not ever."

"Listen to me. I'm old enough to take my own decisions. I chose to come of my own free will, knowing full well what the consequences might be. If anything happens to you up there, and I'm not here to help you, I will never be able to forgive myself. And if anything happens down there because I was not helping you up there, I will not only never forgive myself, but you as well. And I don't want to hold a grudge against you. I'm coming."

"Peter..."

"I'm. Coming."

His entire body language was screaming determination.

"There's no changing your mind, am I right?"

"Not a chance."

They both glared at each other. Peter rarely stood up to Tony like this, but they both knew that when he was guided by his moral compass, there was no stopping him. He had proven it only six month into the job, years back, when he took on the Vulture on his own. He would have found a way to follow Tony in no matter what - a way that might have put him uselessly at risk. Tony stepped inside, reluctantly giving up.

"Alright, come on. We still have to save the day," he sighed.

Peter followed him in, relieved. He didn't fully understand why this specific mission was so important to Tony, but he could definitely see that the man was taking the matter very personally. And when he did, he needed to have people around who cared about him, to protect him from himself and his self-destructive tendencies. He preferred not to leave him alone more than necessary.

Peter picked up the cut out part of wall from the ground and put it back in place, holding it for Tony to fuse it with nano tech. The silence stretched long enough between them to become awkward.

"You know, if you had been a few years younger, I would just have deployed the parachute in your suit and it would have saved me the pain of this discussion."

"You put a parachute in my suit? Again?" Peter twisted to get a look at his back.

Tony managed to give a phone call to Pepper before the spaceship went out of range from the satellites. Even though Peter couldn't hear what she said, he could guess she was heartbroken. She had managed to make Tony swear to stop suiting up a few years back as she couldn't stand the worry any longer. He had more or less been able to hold his promise; until he stepped into a spaceship going who knows where, on a mission he seemed almost certain he would not come back alive from. Of course he didn't tell her that specific part. But judging by his answers, Peter suspected that Pepper knew. The both of them had grown such a bond that they seemed to be able to read each other like an open book. It was almost scary at times.

Tony lifted his faceplate once he lost contact. Bending slightly forward, he pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. It looked as if the weight of the whole world was resting on his shoulders. He took a moment to put his emotions in check.

When he straightened back up, he was almost back to his normal self. Almost. It was subtle, but something was off in his fire, although Peter couldn't put a finger on what it was exactly.

Turning to Peter, Tony raised an eyebrow at him.

"You didn't call anyone?"

"My phone plan doesn't exactly cover interplanetary calls."

Tony saw right through his humor.

"You sure you won't regret this?"

Even though quite some time had passed, Peter's memories of his uncle Ben's passing were still fresh in his mind. He remembered only too well May's soul crushing despair when she realized her husband would not come back home. The expression she arbored on her face at that moment was forever carved in Peter's mind. He would not inflict that pain on her once more, especially since he was determined to find a way to come back once they finish whatever it was they were on their way to accomplish.

Peter rubbed at the back of his head, looking away from Tony.

"I don't know. I just felt like it was too early to say goodbye. I know how you feel about the whole mess we're in but, in our line of work, we've survived weirder than a trip to space, right? I mean, I don't want to uselessly worry May, you know how she-"

Tony rolled his eyes and walked away, dismissing Peter's rambling with a hand gesture.

"You just had to answer yes or no. I didn't need to hear your life story."

Of course. Classic Tony. Peter smiled despite himself and followed his mentor's lead.

Soon enough, they emerged on a platform overlooking what seemed to be the command room. Bitten down cries could be heard from down below. The wizard was held immobile in mid-air, dozens of crystal picks hovering around him and threatening to pierce his skin any moment. They could not hear what the slender alien was telling him, but judging by his confident demeanor and the obvious torture setting, it couldn't be niceties.

"Alright kiddo. Since you insisted on being here, make yourself useful. What's the plan?" whispered Tony.

Peter took a few seconds to think. A smile stretched on his face. Although he was wearing his mask, he knew Tony would decipher the look he gave him.

"Tell me, Mr Stark. Have you seen that very old movie called Alien?" he asked in a mischievous tone.

The plan, surprisingly, worked for once. It was a close call — Peter and the wizard almost got blasted into space — but it worked. It took few surprise elements on their side - including the wizard's cape, which flew about as if it had a mind of its own, and the spider-like limbs that unexpectedly erupted from Peter's suit at the most welcomed moment. They gave him extra grip and strength, allowing him to extract the both of them from the hole Tony had pierced in the shell of the ship; a hole that was originally intended to suck the alien alone into the void.

Peter and the wizard were violently sent flying backwards, and while Tony closed off the hole with nanites, artificial gravity became the main force of attraction once more. Peter managed to gracefully touch down on a crouch, but the wizard landed heavily on his side.

"Are you alright?" asked Peter.

"Surprisingly better than I would have thought," grumbled the wizard.

Slowly getting up, his cape came to settle down of its own accord on his shoulders. The wizard didn't even seem to spare it a second thought.

"We gotta turn this ship around," he directed to Tony.

"Yeah, now he wants to run," he retorted.

"No, I want to protect the stone."

"And I want you to thank me. Now go ahead, I'm listening."

"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?"

"Who just saved your magical ass? Me."

"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet."

"Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused."

"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you."

"And due to that fact, we're now on a flying doughnut, billions of miles from Earth, with no backup."

Peter, couldn't stand the tension any longer.

"Alright, can you guys settle down? And maybe fill me in on the situation? I'm Spider-man, by the way," he said extending his hand to the wizard.

The wizard shook it.

"Doctor Strange."

Peter gave a curt nod. Some people had a knack for finding the most fitting made-up names, and that Doctor definitely had one of the bests out there.

"What do you know exactly?" he asked Peter.

"Close to nothing. I know your necklace is important. And that we're in space. That's about it."

Strange turned to Tony, stunned.

"You take a kid on board a spaceship without explaining anything to him?"

"I figured you were better at bedtime stories."

"I'm surprised this ship still hasn't crashed from the weight of your irresponsibility. What were you thinking?"

Peter didn't let Tony quip back. He was fed up watching the two of them waste their energy on some trivial banter. And he didn't like to see his mentor attacked for no reason.

"It was my choice, not Tony's. Now can you please just tell me what's going on?"

Tony pointedly looked at Strange. Resigned, the wizard didn't quite hold back a sigh when he materialized an illusion out of thin air that morphed alongside his explanation.

"At first, there was nothing. Then, out of the Big Bang emerged the six Infinity Stones, each controlling an essential aspect of existence. Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time."

On cue with his last word, Doctor Strange opened his necklace, revealing the shining green gemstone contained in it. Peter could feel the raw power emanating from the artifact pulsating through his bones. His spider-sense was lowly humming, not from immediate danger, but from everything that could be. He had never quite felt anything like this before. It took a conscious effort on his part not to step back from the stone.

"It is said that they who gather all six stones will be granted the power of a god."

Doctor Strange closed his necklace to Peter's quiet relief.

"See? Better storyteller," Tony couldn't help but comment.

Strange ignored him.

"A powerful being, by the name of Thanos, is after them. According to Bruce Banner, he already has two in his possession, which is more power than anyone has ever wielded in the history of this universe."

"He's the one behind the attack on New-York," Tony said in a voice that he tried to make as flat as possible.

That's when Peter finally saw it. What was amiss with Tony's usual fire. He was on a quest for revenge, lead by despair. His determination was so strong that it slipped into every movement he made, every word he said, every choice he took. And at the same time, these emotions were so foreign from him that Peter had needed to be pointed at them to recognize them. He knew that Tony had had a hard time after the attack on New-York, that he had to deal with PTSD. They talked about it once, when Tony was briefing Peter on the aftermath of heroing, and how to deal with it. But it was not before this very moment that he realized how deeply the event was engraved in him. Tony was out for blood, to try and right a wrong that was done to the world, to him, ten years before. And he was ready to give his life for it if he had to.

Peter stared wide-eyed at Tony. He had turned his back to them, seemingly inspecting the ship's commands.

"What does he want to do with those Infinity Stones?"

Strange was the one who answered.

"Wipe out half the universe."

The idea was so far fetched that Peter's brain froze.

"...Is that even possible?"

"It would require immense will power and strength to do so, but yes. It is, indeed, possible. Everything is, with the Stones. Their power is ancient and immeasurable. Some even speculate that they are the very tools that forged our universe."

"But... why?" Peter couldn't grasp the motivations behind such a horrific goal.

"We don't know what Thanos' reasoning is, but we do know that he's relentless."

"Banner was with Thor, on an Asgardian ship," Tony filled Peter in, knowing the question was coming. He was gripping the edge of the ship console, his back still facing them. "He witnessed Thanos murder half of the Asgardian population, to get the power Stone contained in the Tesseract."

The artifact was actually a Stone? Peter had heard about it in history class in high school, and his curiosity had lead him to make further research about it. The thing was extremely powerful. And he was almost sure they'd seen only a fraction of its power. If someone could manipulate its raw strength at will...

Only then did Peter register the whole of what Tony said.

"Asgard?" Peter asked, panic slowly finding him. "Is Thor alive?"

Tony didn't answer right away.

"We don't know."

Even though Peter had never met the god, he couldn't help but feel a pang of loss at the idea of the disappearance of someone who had helped to protect their world so many times. Of someone Tony had grown to consider a friend. If even a population of gods couldn't defend itself against Thanos...

Peter was starting to grasp the stakes of the mission they were on. He understood why Tony didn't want him on board, but the knowledge acquired didn't lessen his motivations in the slightest. On the contrary; it reinforced them. He couldn't allow the same fate that had happened to the Asgardians to befall humanity. Or any other species, if he could help it.

"This ship is self-correcting its course. Thing's on autopilot," said Tony, changing the subject.

"Can we control it? Fly us home?" inquired Strange.

Tony did not reply.

"...Stark?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you get us home?"

"Yeah, I heard you the first time. I'm thinking I'm not so sure we should."

"Under no circumstances can we bring the time stone to Thanos. I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here," scolded the wizard.

Tony turned around so fast Peter felt dizzy just by looking at him. Stark strode to Doctor Strange, planting a finger on his torso.

"What? No. It's you who doesn't understand that Thanos has been inside my head for ten years. Since he sent an army to New-York. And now he's back. And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did, heard what they can do. At least on his turf he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him, Doctor. Do you concur?"

Strange looked Tony right in the eye.

"Alright Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand. If it comes to saving you, or the kid, or the time stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because the universe depends on it."

"Nice. Good moral compass. We're straight."

Even though he knew how pointless it was, Peter was trying to make sense of the command console out of pure curiosity. They'd been stuck in the spaceship for hours, and he'd gone through every other way to occupy his time by this point. He tried to keep company to Tony at first, but the man was too restless to be any good at socializing. Peter then turned to Strange, only to quickly realize that the wizard was no better, if not worse; it felt like he was trying - and not entirely succeeding - to contain contempt every time he answered one of Peter's questions. When Tony couldn't stand to be confined in a single room anymore, he went for a quick go around the ship, with Peter on his heels, eager to explore. But they didn't discover anything worth noting, nor any information that could have helped them prepare better for the fight ahead of them, and they quickly ended up back in the command room. Peter settled down for a while with a game on his phone, with an eye always (discreetly) out for Tony, until his battery ran critically low. So, the console it was. And let's be honest; it's not everyday one gets the chance to look at alien technology up close, right?

There were very few written indications next to the buttons, not that Peter could decipher them anyway. But even more intriguing was the screen on which circles of varying diameters kept popping up and disappearing. How could anyone make any sense out of that? Peter lightly brushed a finger against the screen, fascinated. As he did so, a strident alarm blared through the room. Peter's hand jerked up in the air as he jumped away from the console.

"I don't think that one's on me, but if it is, I'm sorry."

As he stepped back, he noticed the screen had changed from the endless passing by of stars to numerous sea-star shaped formations that kept getting bigger.

"Did I do that?" asked Peter, skeptical.

Tony came closer to the screen.

"I think we're here."

"Then what is the alarm about?"

Peter understood as Tony said it.

"I don't think this rig has a self-park function."

"Should we..." Peter pointed at the stirring gimbal handles, his voice a weird mix of apprehension and excitation. Out of all the crazy things this Spider-man gig could ever lead him to do, piloting an alien space-ship was on his top ten list of mad but incredibly cool things that could potentially happen one day.

Tony reactivated his armor, put his hand around the handle and closed the pieces around it, inviting his protégé to mimic him. Peter hurried to do as told. He couldn't have been happier.

"We have to try and stay coordinated. These were made for one big guy."

"Got it."

Judging by the screen, one of the sea-star shaped structures was getting very close.

"We might wanna turn," intervened Strange.

It turned out the ship wasn't easy to stir. It required more strength than first anticipated, and trying to figure out the right amount of coordination proved to be unhelpfully unintuitive.

"Yup, we're trying," replied Tony with gritted teeth.

The results were hardly visible on the screen.

"Turn, turn, turn!" shouted Peter, his Spider-sense tingling strongly at the back of his neck.

Casting a look at Tony to ensure they were on the same page, he jerked the handle on the side. The ship finally changed course, but not enough the get them out of the way of the upcoming construction. Not trusting them to right the situation anymore, Doctor Strange walked in between Tony and Peter and materialized a light sphere full of intricate symbols all around them.

Metal being torn apart resonated through the ship as it collided with the building. The deafening sound it had made promised nothing good regarding the integrity of their vessel. Peter hanged to the handle tightly, adding stickiness to his already powerful grip, preparing for the inevitable crash.

To say they were jostled around was an understatement. The amount of sensory input was overwhelming, between the light shutting off and the flashes of power cables snapping, the metal structures shrieking, the low rumble of the ship's belly hitting and dragging on the ground, and the huge tremors it caused. If not for Doctor's Strange protective spell, they likely would have been tossed all around the room instead of a limited area, and would have ended up with far worse than the few bruises they actually got.

The silence that followed the crash was almost as ear splitting as the crash itself, only interrupted by random sparks erupting from torn wires. The light blinked back on as an emergency power source took over. Peter was surprised to find himself lying on the floor, the handle still in hand, reaped from the main body. He discarded it as he got up, dusting his suit while taking in his surroundings. Well, they'd have to find another means of transportation to head back home...

Peter shook his head, confused. If they had finally landed, why was his spider-sense still going haywire?

"You alright?" Asked Strange as he helped Tony to stand up.

"That was close. I owe you one."

Strange nodded.

Peter got the answer to his unvoiced question when his enhanced hearing caught wind of footsteps getting closer.

"Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something, and I eat one of you, I'm sorry."

Tony's head whipped towards him.

"Now is not the time for pop culture references."

A small bomb came rolling at their feet. But Peter felt it coming; he snatched it with a web and sent it to explode further away before it got the chance to scatter them.

"I was just trynna say we're not alone."

As if on cue, three... beings? walked in through a breach in the wall.

"THANOOOOOS!" shouted one of them, losing no time in throwing three daggers at Strange.

The wizard managed to block two of them in time with some kind of magical shield, the third one missing its target entirely. He sent his cape at the alien's head, placating him to ground.

Meanwhile, a second alien propelled himself in the air and engaged Tony, which left the third one, visibly a female, to Peter. She came cautiously to him, her hands extended in front of her as if she were trying to convey a calm demeanor. Peter had an ominous feeling about her. He stepped back as she advanced on him.

"I'm not trying to sound cliché, but please, don't put your eggs in me."

The alien stopped, looking confused.

"I'm not... I don't think I-"

Peter took advantage of her puzzlement to encase her in webbing. However, he didn't react in time to avoid the surprise side kick (two words) that sent him tumbling meters away. The mechanical limbs in his suit emerged as an extension of his body, reacting in accord with his own movements to help him land smoothly. Damn, Tony really outdid himself on this one.

Tony's opponent had somehow managed to incapacitate him and was now on Peter, the red glow of his helmet's eyes a burning menace. The alien shot plasma blasts at him using a pistol, that Peter easily avoided thanks to his spider-sense and years of practice. But the alien was good too; without ever breaking pace between his shots, he subtly switched from his pistol to a net that Peter saw coming only too late. He didn't manage to avoid it in time, its surface being wider than the plasma blasts. As its strands closed in on him, electricity shot through him. All his muscles tensed, sending him crashing to the ground. The pain was so intense his vision turned white. Involuntary squeaks escaped him. This — was not — pleasant.

The mesh lost its juice as things seemed to settle down. Trying to muster his mind back and still trapped, Peter couldn't do anything but let the alien pick him up and hold him against his chest, putting the canon at his temple. He could see Tony keeping the third alien at bay with his hand canon, while Strange stood at the ready to strike anything should it be required.

"Everybody stay where you are, chill the eff out," bawled the alien in his ear. Ouch.

The alien changed his target from Peter to Tony. Major mistake. Having gathered his strength back, Peter surprised the alien by suddenly shooting out of the net. With practiced ease, he pushed the pistol away from his aim before disarming it entirely. Now in possession of the weapon, Peter webbed it to the floor, making it impossible for anyone to grab and use it. He lost no time in wrapping the alien in webs too. All three of them were now subdued. He was surprised to see how human the alien looked without the helmet he had removed sometime during Peter's daze.

Peter crossed his arms.

"Wrong move, my dude. You don't get to menace that guy over there and think you can go unpunished."

"Hey that's my line, Webhead," Tony said indignant.

"Too bad I was faster."

The alien glared at them, his hatred palpable.

"Where is Gamora?"

Tony deactivated his helmet.

"Yeah, I'll do you one better: who's Gamora?"

The big alien he kept on the ground replied something that had them all flabbergasted, including his own teammates.

"I'll do you one better: why is Gamora?"

Peter could practically hear Tony's thoughts : Yeah, you definitely are the smart one.

The human looking one was relentless.

"You better tell me where the girl is or I swear to you I'll beat you up so bad that not even Thanos will be able to recognize your ugly faces," he threatened, still held by the shackles of webs. "Starting with you, freak." He looked pointedly at Peter.

Peter rolled his eyes.

"Why is everyone so rude today?"

"He's not wrong, you know."

Peter turned to the big alien.

"With the way you move, your eight legs and those big bright eyes, you're kinda freakish."

Peter waved his hand in front of his face.

"You do realize this is a mask, right?" he said flatly.

"Spider-man, look out!" warned Strange.

Too late. Peter turned just in time to see the female alien, who had managed to free her hands from her restraints, grab his forearm, her antennas glowing a bright white.

"Peace," she murmured in a compelling manner, dragging the word.

Calm swept over Peter like a tidal wave. His mind relaxed in a way it had not in a long time, spreading to his body, erasing every traces of alertness. He hadn't known he was that tensed until all the strain left his body. He barely realized his legs gave out under him, or that the alien held him in his fall to make it as gentle as possible. He just felt.... good.

Everything that happened around him was perceived through a fog. He could hear and see alright, but it was as if his mind couldn't process the events unfolding around him enough to enable emotional reactions of any kind.

"What did you do to him?!" bellowed Tony. "Step away from him! He better be alright or I swear to you I'll blast him and you next!" He changed his regular gauntlet to an impressive plasma canon that could be nothing but lethal, almost shoving it in his prisoner's face. He absolutely meant his threat.

"It's all right I can take it! Just do your thing," declared the big alien.

"No you can't!" replied the female, a strong note of panic in her voice. She stepped away from Peter, lifting her hands as much as she could in an attempt to show her good will. "He's fine, see? He's fine. He's only relaxed. It's ok, we're not working for Thanos."

"What?" deadpanned both Tony and the human looking alien.

The female looked at the last one.

"They think we're with Thanos." She turned to Strange and Tony. "We're not."

"So you're not working for— wait, who are you, then?" asked the alien.

Peter rolled onto his back. He cast a quick glance at Tony, knowing that what he was about to say was only true to an extant.

"We'ee zee A'enges, man," he slurred.

Peter frowned and sucked his tongue.

"You're the ones Thor told us about," realized the female.

At the mention of Thor, and seeing that Peter was, indeed, fine, Tony folded back his hand canon.

"You know Thor?"

"Yeah. Tall guy, not that good-looking, needed saving," enumerated the human looking one like a shopping list.

Tony looked at Strange.

"So he's alive."

"Where is he now?" Asked Strange.

"Nidavellir."

" 'less you," answered Peter.

"Is he, now?" bemused Strange. "It's a mythical place amongst the nine realms, where weapons only gods can wield are forged," he added to answer Tony's questioning look.

"He went there to get a weapon that could kill Thanos," informed the female.

Tony nodded.

"Good. That's actually a very good thing."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

"Who did you say you were again?"

They were called the Guardians of the Galaxy, even if they didn't really look the part, according to Peter. The fact that his pride was still sore for having been so easily subdued had obviously nothing to do with that judgment. It turned out their leader, who called himself Star Lord, was also from Earth, although he didn't seem to have any knowledge about anything that went on on the planet since the eighties. The female, Mantis, could read and control emotions with nothing but a touch of her hand. She didn't look very sharp, but they were warned that she was way more powerful than she appeared. Peter was ready to believe their very words on this matter. The last one, Drax, had a profound hatred for Thanos, as well as a complete lack of sarcasm understanding.

They asserted they had three other members, two of them having gone with Thor to accompany him in his quest. The last one, said Gamora and Star-Lord's girlfriend, had been kidnapped by Thanos in a place called Knowhere, after he acquired a third Stone, the Reality one. This bode no good news for the fight to come. Although they only mentioned it quickly in passing, Drax and Mantis had been subject to the Reality Stone's effect first hand, which seemed to have affected them more than they let on. However, they kept a strong façade, and didn't seem to be dreading facing Thanos any more than any other one of them. They had bravery on their side (or was it just stubbornness?), Peter could at least give them that.

They ventured out of the wreckage, finding that the atmosphere, if a bit dusty, was breathable. The landscape, however, was of the apocalyptic sort. The sea-star shaped constructions turned out to be buildings falling in ruins, metal beams coated in dirt and rust. The wind sometimes picked up the sand covering the ground to let appear the ghost of pavements that must have been majestic once. An eerie silence reigned all around them, only broken by the occasional creaks and groaning of the local architecture, losing its battle against decay. There was nothing alive around them. The whole place emitted the weird feeling ruins typically do: the one of past grandeur, of lives gone by, of a story that met its inevitable end. It made Peter really uncomfortable.

Star-Lord walked around, observing a small shining tube he held in his hand.

"The hell happened to this planet? It's eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place."

Tony clasped his hands, trying to gather everyone's attention.

"All right, we got one advantage: he's coming to us. We'll use it. I have a plan. Or at least the beginnings of one. It's pretty simple. We draw him in, pin him down, get what we need. Definitely don't wanna dance with this guy. We just want the gauntlet."

Star-Lord nodded, looking like he fully agreed.

"All right, we're optimistic, yes. I like your plan. Except it sucks, so let me do the plan and that way it might be really good."

"You serious?" Tony was incredulous.

Drax laughed, a palpable pride for his leader echoing at its edges.

"Yeah. Tell him about the dance-off to save the universe."

"What dance-off?"

As they argued on who would be better to establish a plan, Mantis turned around, a strange noise capturing her attention.

"Huh... Excuse-me? But does your friend often do that?" she asked, pointing a finger at Doctor Strange.

The man was seated cross-legged, hovering above the ground, in a meditation pose. Everything about him was completely static but his head, that moved around as if someone had pushed the 'fast-forward' button on a remote control. The sight was unusual to say the least, and pretty worrying.

Tony strode toward him, Peter on his heels.

"Strange, we all right?"

The wizard abruptly opened his eyes, drawing in a deep, panicked breath. He landed to the ground, and would have ended face first into the dirt if not for Tony holding him back. He let out a bewildered cry, followed by intense panting.

"You're back. You're all right," tried to reassure Tony.

"Hi," replied Strange, faintly.

"Hey, what was that?" inquired Peter.

Strange swallowed with difficulty.

"I went forward in time to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict."

"How many did you see?" asked Quill, astounded.

"Fourteen billion, six-hundred and five."

Damn, that was a lot.

"How many did we win?" questioned Tony, reserved.

Strange shook his head, refusing to look at any of them.

"None."

The stillness that fell over them was heavy with dread, full of a reality that was yet to be processed.

Tony was the first to break the silence.

"What do you mean 'none'? Like zero? Nada? Nieces? You can't possibly have seen everything. You must have missed something."

Strange looked him dead in the eyes.

"I mean that no matter how we approach this fight, there is no way we win it. We lose no matter what."

"You can't be serious."

"However," Strange purposefully turned all his attention to Peter, "Amongst those futures, one seemed to go further than what I was allowed to see. This unseen future could be the key."

Although Doctor Strange did deny it afterwards, it seemed like he knew more than he let on; but nothing said could convince him to talk. Tony plain decided to ignore anything Strange said about the matter, and set out to prepare for the fight, declaring that it was stupid to believe a rock could predict the future. However, Peter believed he was just too invested into the matter to accept the possibility of inevitable defeat. He would not have it. Peter himself struggled to really grasp the idea. He had lost in the past, sure, but never on such a big scale, with so much at stake. It wasn't just a few lives that were in danger here, or even a city, but the whole universe. They couldn't lose. Otherwise, what kind of heroes would that make of them?

The worst part in this whole ordeal was the wait. They knew Thanos was coming. But they had no idea when, and no way to know. It was stressful to say the least. Learning on the spot that the Rhino or Doc Oc were attacking somewhere and having no time to lose in arresting them was a world apart from waiting for an enemy's arrival you knew were too powerful for you. Especially with the insidious knowledge that you couldn't win this fight anyway gnawing at your mind. Peter was longing so much for a nice cup of coffee with MJ in their favorite café at this moment, far from this mess, that he almost regretted his life choices.

"Just ignore him, okay?" pep talked Tony. "We're gonna do our best. We will kick Thanos' ass so bad he will regret ever looking at New-York. We're a team. We'll unlock this 'unseen future' where we win. Do you trust me?"

Of course he did. But that didn't lessen the apprehension in any way.

It was hours before Thanos materialized out of thin smoke. He walked in, big purplish and proud. He was gigantic. As soon as he entered the scene, Peter's spider-sense screamed at him to turn back, run, and never come near this man's vicinity ever again. It was almost dazzling.

Everyone had taken upon themselves to go into hiding but for Doctor Strange. If Thanos was surprised to find him sitting alone on the remnants of steps, he didn't show it.

"Oh yeah. You're much more of a Thanos".

"I take it the Maw is dead."

So that was what slender-man was called !

Strange nodded.

"This day extracts a heavy toll."

The most perturbing thing about Thanos was probably his calm demeanor. From someone with such horrific goals and virtually zero limitations to achieve them, one would expect him to be crazy. Mad, even. But instead, he seemed calm, level-headed. Eloquent. It would have been easier to fight someone who didn't look like he had thought this through. Not someone who appeared to have the wits to know what he was doing. It made the whole thing a lot more frightening.

"Still, he accomplished his mission," Thanos said, looking at Strange's necklace, knowing perfectly what was inside.

"You may regret that. He brought you face to face with the master of Mystic Arts."

"And where do you think he brought you?"

"Let me guess. Your home?"

Thanos' smile was crisped.

"It was. And it was beautiful."

Thanos raised a hand cast in a golden gauntlet. Closing his fist, a single red stone shone brightly. The reality stone. In just one hand movement, Thanos gave life to the entire landscape showcasing it in what must have been its prime. The buildings were almost glowing of prestige. People were pacing the side-walks along well maintained bushes. Peter could hear birds singing, perceive the sweet smell of the flowerbed just below his position. He could take in people having individual conversations. Hear their heartbeats. This was more than just an illusion. It was almost too real.

And it was just one stone.

From his vantage point, Peter could count five out of the six stones on the gauntlet. Five. Only then did Peter fully realize the weight of their mission. They had to keep Thanos from getting the time stone. They were the last barrier between Thanos and the obliteration of half the universe. They outnumbered Thanos and yet, Peter couldn't shake the feeling that they still weren't enough. The long hours of waiting now felt like they were too short. They needed more time to prepare. Time they would never have.

"Titan was like most planets," continued Thanos. "Too many mouths, not enough to go around." Thanos cut short the apparition. "And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution."

"Genocide," completed Strange.

"But random. Dispassionate. Fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass."

"Congratulations, you're a prophet."

"I'm a survivor."

"Who wants to murder trillions."

"With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist. I call that mercy. "

"And then what?"

"I'd finally rest and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills."

"I think you'll find our will equal to yours."

"Our?"

Tony, on cue, propelled an enormous floating rock onto him, boosting his thrusters to maximum power. Thanos saw it early enough to react in time. Closing his fist, he used the power stone to shatter the projectile before it hit him.

Without wasting any time, Peter jumped out of his hiding position, joining the others in the fight. Their plan was simple: remove the gauntlet from Thanos. The execution, however, would not be that easy.

"Look out!" Spider-man shouted to his allies. "He's got five Stones!"

Peter landed a blow behind the titan's head and ducked away immediately. He would have had better luck hitting a rock; at least, it might have cracked. This was not gonna be easy.

"Five?" Tony repeated, alarmed.

He circled Thanos, trying to angle himself at best to fact-check Peter.

"The bastard."

Tony shot a good handful of missiles at Thanos, who absorbed the heat and redirected it back to the sender, forcing him to dodge.

Everyone tried their best to incapacitate Thanos one way or another. Those who had the abilities to stop him from closing his hand to use the Stones' power focused on that part of the plan, while the others distracted him in the meantime. Tony especially seemed relentless, almost putting too much power in his blasts. Peter was concerned about his energy reserves.

The fight was an abrupt mess. And almost too easy on Thanos' part. Every time someone managed to force his hand open, he would fend them off. And every time someone would deal him a blow, he found more and more creative ways to stop them, even managing to knock Drax unconscious at some point.

Thanos could do virtually anything. Teleport himself away just before a blow landed. Change the scale of the fight from long distance to close range by modifying the ground itself. Spawn random creatures to come to his help. Transform the ground they were standing on into quicksand.

For the first time in his life, Peter didn't hold back his strength. He put all his energy into every move. And still it wasn't enough. All of them combined, and nothing they had done so far had dealt Thanos a single scratch.

Peter shot a web, snatching his fingers. He jerked on the strand, preventing Thanos from closing his hand. The titan pulled on it, annoyed. Peter tried to resist, but he was dragged forward, his feet unable to stick to the ground because of the layer of dust. His mechanical limbs shot out, helping in pinning him in place.

Thanos' patience was drawing thin. With his other hand, he grabbed the web and ripped it off his fingers.

"Enough!"

He closed his fist. A single yellow stone shone.

Peter collapsed.

Something big and powerful rushed into his mind, ransacking it. It was digging into every corner, reading every thought, witnessing every memory. His psyche was an open book, and he couldn't do anything to close it. Peter was paralyzed in his own head, forced to watch as the thing took in everything. And the thing was not gentle in his undoing; painful in an indescribable way.

Peter wasn't aware of what was going on around him. He barely realized how his hands had shot up to his head, in an unconscious and futile attempt to shield his mind. He might have been screaming.

And just as abruptly as it started, it stopped. The presence didn't leave completely though. It was still there, watching his every thought from a distance, like a hawk waiting for the right moment to dive on its prey.

Peter slowly got on all fours, not trusting himself to be able to stand just yet. As he looked around him, he noticed that everyone else had been subject to the same abuse. They all looked miserable. Pathetic.

While Thanos was standing tall, not even close to be winded. His fist was still closed. The stone still shining.

"Interesting," he said. "What a nice little plan you have here. Completely pointless, but at least you tried. I respect that."

He turned toward Mantis' hiding spot. So far, she was the only one who had kept her distance with the fight. She was no combatant; and a precious asset in their plan. They kept her away, as a secret weapon.

Not so secret anymore, apparently.

"Mantis, come here. I want to see you."

Mantis came around the pillar she was hiding behind, sustaining her own weight against it. She was shaking.

"What an interesting character you are," Thanos said, a sad lilt to his voice. "So much potential. Such innocence. Too bad it is time for you to sleep."

They all felt it, even though it was not directed at them. Mantis collapsed.

"Karen, is she...?" rasped Peter.

"I do not detect any heartbeat, Peter."

Peter clenched his fists, his knuckles most likely white under his gloves.

"That yellow stone. How did you get it?"

Tony's voice. Peter looked up, concern gnawing at his guts.

Thanos looked at his hand.

"This Stone is, indeed, what you think it is," he replied. Thanos looked up, locking eyes with Tony's slits in his faceplate. "I destroyed him."

"You killed Vision?"

Tony got up with difficulty.

"It was just a machine. A beautiful piece of machinery, but a machine all the same."

Tony formed a blade at the extremity of an arm. He was starting to draw in the nanoparticles that formed his suit, leaving patches of his body exposed. If he realized it, he didn't seem to care.

He let out a cry of pure rage and ran at Thanos, readying the weapon to hit. The titan didn't move an inch. He let Tony come to him.

At the last moment, he snatched Tony's arm, parrying his blow. Using his free hand, he broke off the blade. Without letting go of him, he plunged it right into Tony's exposed guts, to Peter's absolute horror.

"Out of all people, I thought you would be able to understand, Stark. You are like me: cursed with knowledge."

He pushed the blade a little deeper. Tony grunted, his face paler than ever. Thanos got even closer and murmured: "I see you care for the lad. If you want him to live through this day, you better not interfere again."

He turned to Peter, knowing he heard everything.

"Same goes to you."

Thanos let go of Tony, who collapsed on his knees.

Peter was paralyzed. He desperately wanted to run to Tony, but he was afraid Thanos might want to finish the job if he got too close.

Out of nowhere, a gigantic piece of metal hit Thanos, the force of it sending him sprawling yards away. Peter realized at this moment that the weight on his mind was gone. He got up and stumbled toward Tony as fast as he could, getting to his knees as he arrived next to him. The blade was still buried in place.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my— do-don't move, okay?"

Peter didn't know what to do. He was no paramedic. He couldn't leave the blade like that; but he also knew that removing it could cause severe internal bleeding. Tony needed to get medical attention as fast as possible. But they were trillions of miles away from the closest hospital.

Tony flapped his hand at him, motioning him away.

"You're too close."

Peter moved back a little— and reacted too late to stop Tony from jerking the blade out of his abdomen. Tony held back a grunt.

"What are you doing?!" panicked Peter.

"Calm down, it's ok."

"No it's not!"

"Look, the nanoparticles in my armor were designed to sustain traumatic injuries. It will hold on for a time."

As he said so, he used his gauntlet to project particles into his wound, filling it perfectly and stopping the bleeding. He removed his glove and handed it to Peter.

"Here. Can you do my back?"

Peter nodded.

"The stone on Vision's forehead— it was an Infinity Stone?" he asked as he did what Tony told him to.

It was Tony's turn to nod.

"Yes. He always referred to it as an entity of its own. I didn't realize until today what it was. If I had known, I would have tried to... I don't' know. Remove it or something. Protect him."

Peter handed back his piece of armor to Tony, who surprised him by grabbing his wrist.

"Listen. What Thanos said. We cannot listen to him. By coming here, we made a choice. YOU made a choice. We need to keep fighting. Do you hear me? We can't let him win."

Tony's mind was made. His look said everything his voice didn't: he was ready to die to stop Thanos. He had been the moment he knew who the titan was.

Peter was hesitant, and he hated that he was, because he knew what was at stake.

"One life isn't isn't worth trillions."

It was as if Tony had read his mind. Peter shook his head.

"It's unfair..."

"It's always been."

Thanos was assaulted full force by a newcomer before he got the chance to fully stand up.

"Where's Gamora?" she asked.

"So you came," he replied, wiping his mouth.

"You should have killed me when you had the opportunity."

"It would have been a waste of parts."

She screamed, running at him, blades at the ready. She fought fiercely, driven by rage and hatred.

Star Lord had recognized her voice. Her question gave him enough force to stand up and rejoin the fight.

"Where's Gamora?" he repeated from a distance, firing his pistol.

The newcomer was the one to answer him.

"He went to Vormir with her. He came back with the Soul Stone. She didn't." She turned to Thanos, passionate. "Where is she?"

Thanos' look hardened.

"She had to be sacrificed."

Star Lord lost it. He entered a frenzy, shooting blasts in a complete unrestrained manner, throwing everything he had at Thanos.

"You asshole! How could you do that to your own daughter?"

"It was the hardest choice I ever had to make. But it was a necessary one for the sake of the universe."

"Don't talk about her death as if it served a great purpose. She hates you and everything you represent! And she would never, never, want to be associated to the death of half the universe!"

Star Lord came too close to Thanos. He swiped him with the back of his hand as easily as one would a fly. Star Lord flew to the ground. Groggy, he didn't get back on his feet quickly enough to stop Thanos from picking him up.

"You did a good job at convincing yourself you love her. You almost made it sound like you have a heart for a sec," Star Lord spat at him, his need to spew venom stronger than the restriction of airflow caused by Thanos' grip on his rib cage. "But let me tell you: this is not love. We don't kill people we love, no matter what."

"Funny. I remember you were ready to kill her yourself."

Star Lord did not answer this; his glare said plenty enough.

Yards away, Peter's spider-sense went off like crazy, causing him to stop his discussion with Tony to look up in their direction.

"Love is a complicated thing," continued Thanos. "I would not expect you to understand. But one thing is for certain: I don't need love to kill."

With that he raised his fist and hit Star Lord in the face. A crude, plain, strong hit. The crack his skull made as it split open resonated through the empty battleground like thunder. Star Lord went limp in his hand. Thanos discarded him.

Peter saw the blow coming. He tried to intervene, but he was too far. He didn't manage to arrive fast enough. While he had been debating over what choice to make — because he had been selfish — someone had died. He felt horrified. Useless. Disgusted.

They weren't strong enough to defeat Thanos. Four people were already down; two of them dead. And Peter hadn't been there to help either of them. How could they just stop Thanos?

'No matter how we approach this fight, there is no way we win it. We lose no matter what.'

Peter's cry echoed the newcomer's. They both jumped on Thanos, joined by Strange. But something was different this time. As if until then, Thanos had been playing with them. Making them believe they had the slightest chance. He was done playing.

Without any warning, he opened a hole under the newcomer's feet and had it closed as soon as she disappeared inside. He then turned to Peter.

"I see you decided to play hero. How foolish. You brought this upon yourself."

He closed his fist.

It all happened in slow motion. Following his instinct, Peter turned toward Tony just in time to see a spike shoot out of the ground and impale him, lifting him up. His feet dangled in the air. His first wound look like a scratch in comparison.

"No!" Peter screamed.

Peter should have felt it coming; the hand that swiped him. He should have. But as soon as Thanos hurt Tony, Peter's vision had tunneled in spite of him and the decisions he had taken but moments ago. The blow was so strong he lost consciousness before he hit the ground.

When Peter came around, he didn't know how long he had been out. His head hurt like hell. When he tried to get up, he found out he couldn't; and it was not because of the spell of dizziness that hit him. He had been restrained with chains emerging straight from the ground. He didn't have the strength to break them.

Looking up, he found Strange yards away from him, lying on the ground. As he tried to get up, he was assaulted by a liquid that forced him down. It slithered all over his body until it covered everything but his head and torso, then hardened to immobilize him. He was pinned to the ground, helpless. Thanos was towering over him.

"I draw my magic from other dimensions," Strange tried to explain, winded. "If you try to force the ward that protects the Stone using the other Infinity Stones, interdimensional forces will collide. You could shatter this entire reality."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Thanos' tone said clearly that he did not believe him.

"You've used the Mind Stone. You went into my mind. You saw the outcome of what you're about to attempt."

"You are full of tricks, Wizard. I've seen what you wanted me to see. But that doesn't make it true."

"I figure there's no talking you out of it."

"I have been waiting for too long."

Thanos raised his hand toward the necklace.

Strange set his jaw, resigned.

Peter's spider-sense bellowed like it never had before. His vision turned black from the strength of it.

"Don't!" he shouted, powerless.

He heard nothing but the clicks of the gauntlet forming itself into a fist.

Then he felt it. The blast of power hit him, burning him through his suit.

Everything went eerily calm, clashing with his still overwhelming spider-sense. The chains that restrained him disintegrated.

Slowly, his body accommodated itself to his spider-sense, allowing him to find back his sight. He got up. He couldn't think of any part of his body that hurt any less than an other.

He couldn't think at all.

He started limping. As he did so, deep, deafening cracks could be heard. They came from nowhere.

No.

Everywhere.

He couldn't really tell.

He walked by Doctor Strange and Thanos' still fuming bodies without really seeing them. Their skeletons bare but for bits of muscles here and there. The force had churned their bodies. The necklace was opened, half melted. Peter didn't notice the shatters of Stones layering the ground.

His feet took him to Tony, his mind too blank to think by itself. The blast had unhooked Tony from the spike. The gash in his guts was too big. The side of him that had been exposed to the explosion was badly burned.

"So... that's how it ends."

His voice weak, gurglish from the blood trickling down his mouth. But he was alive.

Tony was alive.

Peter's wits came back to him. He fell to his knees at his mentor's side. He removed his mask. His voice was shaking.

"Don't say that. We're- we're gonna find a solution. What... what about your nanotech? Huh? Can you give me that glove?"

Tony looked at him calmly. He had already accepted what Peter couldn't.

"It's pointless. You know it."

"No. No it's not. Let me just try-"

"You look terrible," tried to joke Tony. "You... "

All his attempts at light-heartedness left him.

"What have I done?" he rasped. He tried to swallow. He turned his head away, not able to look at Peter anymore.

"You're too young. I should never have dragged you in this mess with me. I failed to protect you."

"What are you talking about? Look, I'm still alive. Huh? I'm still alive."

It was as if Tony didn't hear him.

"I failed to protect Pepper. Pepper... I'm so sorry. I failed you too. I failed everyone. If I had swallowed my anger... If... If we had been united— maybe things would have been different."

His voice was full of remorse. Shame radiated of him in such strong waves it was almost palpable. Tony was... crying?

Peter was unaware of the tears he was shedding himself.

He gently tapped Tony's unburned cheek.

"Hey, hey, Tony! Look at me."

This seemed to shake Tony out of his stupor. He looked at him.

"We will get home. You will see Pepper again. It's not too late yet. All right? We can fix this."

Tony fake smiled.

"I'll do as if I believed you."

His voice was weaker.

He looked Peter up and down, concern appearing again on his features. His hands shot up, trying to remove one of his gloves. Peter stopped him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, what are you doing?"

"You're bleeding badly. You should take this. You need it more than I do."

"Didn't you hear the part where I said 'we're going home'?"

Tony's hands fell. He didn't have the strength to lift them anymore.

"You're a good kid, Peter. I'm sorry it has to end that way."

"No, don't you say it. I already lost Ben, I refuse to lose you too. We'll find a way."

Tony stared at him.

"Tony?"

He didn't answer.

No. He was not staring at him. He was looking at nothing in particular.

Peter tapped his cheek gently. Tony didn't react.

"Tony!"

He tapped more forcefully.

"Please, talk to me!"

Still Tony didn't move.

"Say something! Anything! Tony!"

Peter placed two fingers at his throat, looking for a pulse. He found none. He put his mask back on. Without wasting any time, he started CPR.

"Karen, give me the CPR rhythm."

"Peter, I don't think-"

"Karen!"

She did not discuss anymore, providing a metronome to guide the correct pulsation.

Peter pumped like crazy, giving his everything.

"Come on Tony, you're not dying on me. You hear me?"

He pumped, looking away from Tony's guts, ignoring the gurgles of blood shooting out of the wound with every pressure of his hands. He fixated Tony's eyes, convincing himself that if he wanted it strongly enough, those eyes would blink and life would come back to them.

It just had to.

Peter didn't know how long he spent trying to revive Tony. But the gurgles had long stopped.

At long last, he had to accept the truth. Tony was dead.

And he died because of him.

Peter got to his feet without realizing it, oblivious to the huge cracks running on the ground, unaware of the fissures appearing out of thin air and sucking objects of varying size into them. He didn't notice how gravity seemed to lose its attraction as some pebble started hovering above the ground.

His mind was blank. Unable to focus. Overwhelmed.

His spider-sense was louder than ever, telling him to flee.

The metronome was still ticking.

And he had killed Tony.

If only he hadn't listened to him. If he had stayed by his side, Tony wouldn't be dead. The outcome would have been the same anyway. And together, they could have tried to find a solution.

But Tony was right about one thing. If they had been united... He meant the Avengers. Together they would have had a bigger chance. Somehow, he always knew that it was a bad thing that the Avengers split up like they did. His guts probably felt it would end that way. He should have seen it coming, all those years ago, in Germany. Tried to talk them out of it. Maybe they could have found another solution.

No. Who was he kidding? He was just a kid. Nobody would have listened to him. But he could have tried anyways. Afterwards. Instead of following Tony blindly. He had wasted years. He had been so naive. Knowing Tony the way he did now, he realized that sometimes Tony wasn't good at making taking the best decisions for himself. If all of them had just been able to look past their problems... Maybe they could have saved the universe.

Peter felt dizzy. He didn't know if it was because of his spider-sense, or the shock he was in. Maybe a mix of both. Or could it be blood loss? Tony did say he bled a lot.

Peter looked down, partially paying attention to himself for the first time since he woke up. His suit had melted into his own skin in places. The rest had been either badly damaged or completely torn away. Those parts revealed bare skin, burnt to the third degree when it had not been ripped off in chunks. He had been closer than Tony to the explosion... Well, this explained the pain.

Peter should have been panicking. He had never been that hurt before. But he couldn't bring himself to care. He was dissociating.

Finally the ringing in his hears won over the too loud rumble. It was a blessing. Peter tripped. Or was it just that his legs couldn't bear him anymore? It didn't really matter. He was feeling better on the ground anyway. He was sleepy. It was almost comfortable.

For some reason, it reminded him his home. Not his own apartment. But Aunt May's place.

Aunt May... He hadn't told her goodbye. Did Pepper tell her he left on the spaceship? She must have been so worried. She always worried about him. Even if she hid it well enough in the last years. He felt sorry for all the pressure he inflicted her. She was the best. Always supportive, no matter what. She didn't deserve it. All the pain. She did grow a few white hairs prematurely because of him. She didn't deserve to have her husband killed because of him. She was never angry at him, even when he told her after she learned about Spider-man.

He would have wanted her to be mad at him, like he was still mad at himself. He couldn't accept how his mistake had cost the life of someone he loved.

But this mistake was nothing compared to one they just committed. All of his loved ones would die now. Aunt May. MJ. Ned. To cite just a few. Because that's what it was, right? The end of the world. That was what the wizard said would happen if Thanos did what he did.

He did not even had the opportunity to tell Ned he flew a spaceship—

Peter didn't realize it when he stopped breathing. His mind had gone too far away.

He had not realized he was lying right in a field of Infinity Stones shards either.

His glassy, unfocused eyes didn't see how the shards shone, lifted of the ground by the lack of gravity, not long after the last trickle of life had left his body.

???

Everything was dark around him. It felt wrong.

It shouldn't be completely dark; it was obvious the sounds coming to him were set outside.

He had trouble breathing. The air was too hot. Too moist.

He felt claustrophobic; wrapped in fabric loose enough to have room to move, but too tight to really find his way out of it. He sat up, trashing about in his pathetic prison.

Clueless on how to proceed peacefully, and starting to slightly panic on the edges, Peter ripped the fabric apart. Cool air washed over his torso. It felt good. It was a good start. But his arms were still trapped. So he ripped the fabric around them too, freeing them in turn.

His vision was still dark. Reaching up, Peter put his hands on his face.

Oooooohh.

It was his mask. And the thing he ripped was probably his costume. Oops. He'd have to head back to the facility sometimes soon to make a new one. Tony wasn't going to—

Tony.

Peter snatched the mask of his face, needing to inhale fresh air on the spot before he started hyperventilating.

Tony!

Too late for the hyperventilation.

Everything came to him at once, overwhelming him. Titan. Thanos. The end of the universe.

Tony's death.

"Oh my God."

He had to tell Pepper. He had no idea how to. She would be devastated.

Then Peter realized something was wrong. Looking around him, he was clearly not on Titan. He was in a small alley in Manhattan, New York; one he had used countless of times before to change into his suit. No one ever came here. That's why he liked this place: there was nobody to pry on him.

How the hell had he got here?

"What the—"

He clasped his hand to his throat, surprised. His voice was too high pitched.

It was the voice of a child.

But now that he was paying attention to his surroundings, it did seem like things were too big around him, regardless of the fact that he was sitting. And looking at his limbs, they looked like they were out of proportion. Too short.

"No. No, no no, no, no."

The high pitch of his voice did nothing to reassure him. And getting up to his feet only confirmed him that he was smaller than he normally was. Way smaller.

He needed to tell Pepper about Tony's death. He needed to find out what had happened to him.

He was kind of surprised that New York was still standing, honestly. It wouldn't be for long though, judging by the general state of panic the people running past the alley were in.

Peter shivered. Looking down, he noticed he was completely naked without the shreds that were left of his suit.

"Oh. Great."

He gathered it as best as he could around his middle section to at least try to keep some privacy around his parts. Holding it awkwardly, he reached down one of his gloves to retrieve a web-shooter, but quickly realized the wristband was too loose for the shooter to be of any use. Grunting, he put it back inside the sleeve, along with his dead phone he had found in a pocket, before tying the both of them around his thighs and waist to somewhat hold the suit in place. This would have to do. Even if the legs were still way too long on him. Luckily for him, the weather had the coolness of a nice spring day. He could make it bare-chested, even though it wouldn't be comfortable.

Peter put his mask back on. He couldn't see anything through the lenses.

"Karen?" he tried.

He got no answer. He must have torn important circuits in his panic. He should have listened to Tony and his 'the more back-ups, the better.' He removed the mask to tuck it into his improvised belt.

Peter was starting to have suspicions on the 'what' of 'what happened to him'; but he was still clueless as to the 'how.' He needed some height to put things in perspective before he got to Pepper. And he couldn't stand in this alley any longer. It was honestly shear luck that nobody had ran into it so far.

He reached for a wall, already regretting the pant legs he was dragging behind him. He extended his arm out of habit, only to be remembered abruptly that it was shorter than it should be. Grunting, he was forced to take another step closer to the wall. This whole thing wasn't gonna be fun.

Then doubt struck him. What if... ? With the mess he just woke up in, it was a possibility.

He put his hand to wall.

And was relieved to find it stuck to it, just as usual.

Peter climbed his way up the building, tripping too many times on his suit for his liking. He reached the top—

And stopped.

On top of the building directly facing him was the carcass of a Chitauri war worm.

"What..."

He looked around him, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Had Thanos sent other Chitauris to attack the Earth while they were fighting on Titan? He spotted a newspaper that had been left abandoned on the roof he was standing on. Peter went to pick it up. It had been weathered by the elements, but it still looked fairly recent. Days old maybe. No more.

It was dated May 2012.

"...the hell?"

_____________________________________________________________

Note :

Wow, what a ride. Thank you so much for reaching the end of this first chapter if you made it through! If you liked it, know that I still have a lot more surprises in stock. A lot more.
The fic is already planned all throughout, and let me tell you: it's gonna be a long one. But all chapters won't have that length though. This chapter was special; an introduction of sorts.

I want to say a big big thanks to Note who co-created the fic with me. She's the one who thought of the main plot, and I will never be able to thank her enough for inspiring me to write the fic and give me the opportunity to be part of this adventure!
And Note is gonna make a comic out of it! If you're curious about it, go check her twitter out at @noire00123!

I also need to address an enormous thank you to my beta SanaTomb on AO3, whose thorough corrections and side notes not only brought you a better reading experience, but also helped me see my mistakes and understand them. So thank you very, very much!

The last thing I need to say in this note is: sorry. If you're as excited to read the next chapter as I am to write it, I need to apologize. My studies are very demanding in terms of personal work, and sometimes it is weeks before I can just relax and make some progress on personal projects. I'm not going to have an update schedule because I just can't. The updates are gonna be sporadic.
But know that they are coming! And I can't wait already! :3