stark, peter parker

viii. we're not taking autographs right now, sorry

dakota groaned as she woke back up, barely able to lift her head from the rubble. she was passed out for only a minute, but her head was spinning. the gravitic aftermath of dumping a large chunk of moon onto an unstable planet's surface wasn't necessarily her idea of a fun friday night.

the guardians were flying uncontrollably, moon-chunks making fiery balls around them as random debris and massive rocks floated about. peter was well-equipped to handle this, at least on a physical level. emotionally, the boy was freaking out.

"i got you!" he said as he webbed mantis. "i got you!" he repeated, snagging drax and securing him. "i'm sorry i can't remember anybody's names!" he apologized as he grabbed quill.

kodie grunted, attempting to crawl her way out of the space. "fuck me." she mumbled as she found herself unable to move from the position. unfortunately, she wasn't necessarily known for her physical strength, and there was no way that she'd be strong enough to lift a piece of moon this large.

just as she was about to give up and take a power nap, peter swung down. she could hear the light thud of him plopping to the ground, looking over to the sound. "kodie?" he asked softly, poking his head around the space.

"yeah.. yeah i'm in here." she said, hearing him rustle about with the rocks.

he managed to find a good vantage point, grabbing it and flipping the rocks so that they landed on the other side of the stark girl. she groaned as she helped herself back up, feeling peter wrap his arms around her to help her to her feet. "you know you're my favorite, right?" she asked when she was standing upright again.

although his mask was up, she could practically see him smile as he said, "i better be."

dakota turned just in time to see thanos throw strange, watching as he hit his head on a stone and passed out. simultaneously, one of tony's iron gauntlets slapped itself into the palm of the infinity gauntlet, prying thanos' fingers open.

"you throw another moon at me," tony said, done with the titan, "and i'm gonna lose it."

thanos didn't respond for a moment, turning his head as dakota shakily flew in next to her father. "stark." he said once the two were in front of him.

"you know us?" tony asked.

"i do." the titan replied.

dakota looked up at him. "we're not taking autographs right now, sorry." she said sarcastically, holding a hand out in defense.

thanos shook his head. "you starks are in over your heads. you're not the only ones cursed with knowledge."

tony shook his head. "my only curse is you."

small rockets popped from his back, launching at thanos. they all exploded at once, shrouding him in smoke. before the smoke could clear, both starks drove into thanos. tony used a super-jet boot configuration, bouncing off and sticking his landing. dakota wrapped herself around the titan's leg, driving her sabers through his legs in an attempt to break skin. when she was unsuccessful, she pushed off of him, joining her father in punching thanos into a ruined wall.

thanos recovered quickly, reaching forward to tear tony's helmet off. dakota didn't know words that could express the way she felt after seeing her fathers face. never before had tony stark looked so surprised and so caught off guard. a man she had always known to be sure of himself and of his every move seemed completely lost, utterly desperate.

tony's suit recovered, automatically reforming a head protection. thanos didn't skip a beat, punching dakota away and into a wall, doing the same to her father. the titan used the power stone to stream energy at his opponents, who formed shields to kneel behind. the force of the lambent energy drove them to be pushed back even further, driving into the ground.

tony slid out from behind his shield, letting the angled energy push him away for a head start. he ran and whipped back into thanos, kicking him with his left foot. dakota followed his lead, turning her boot into a ground clamp and helping him pin the gauntlet, twisting in an attempt to pull it off again.

her father's left glove became a ram device, and he punched his fist, slamming into thanos' face, cutting his cheek.

the titan chuckled lowly. "all that for a drop of blood."

he smiled, punching kodie and sending her pinwheeling. he did the same to her father, but followed after him, beating him with his fists. tony attempted to block the blows with his arms, but thanos was relentless, picking the man up by the helmet and blasting his midsection with the power stone.

tony landed hard, struggling to a knee and firing his right hand repulsor at thanos, watching sadly as the beam was easily deflected by the gauntlet. he got to both feet as the suit tried to complete repairs to no avail.

thanos approached him, backhanding the incomplete helmet straight off of tony's head. he crossed his arms to block a blow from the gauntlet, left hand over his head. desperate, he formed what was left of his right glove into a sword, only for thanos to snap it off.

dakota slid under thanos' legs, chopping at them with makeshift swords. he grunted, picking her up by the middle. "you simply won't give up, will you?" he asked, tossing her to the ground.

she grunted, standing up despite the pain in her legs. "clearly you don't know the starks, do you?" she replied, holding her arm out as a large blade erupted from it. she swung it in the air, aiming it for thanos.

he swatted it away, unimpressed. "did you really think that would work?"

"no," she said, shaking her head, a wicked smile playing on her face, "i just had to buy myself some time."

"system complete." f.r.i.d.a.y. spoke, just as a swarm of miniature iron men sprouted from dakota's suit. she began controlling the swarm to wrap around the gauntlet, all of the figures tugging at it.

thanos smiled. "is this your main defense?" he asked as he used the power stone to crumble all of them. dakota stumbled back, forcing various rockets to fly out of her suit. she fell to her knees, only a few feet away from her father. thanos approached her, dodging all of her attempts to attack him. she was too physically weak from the crash of the moon to fight with hand to hand combat, but she still couldn't give up.

she held her head up, looking up at him. he reached out, taking the front of her helmet and crumbling it with only a hand. dakota slumped down in defeat, leaning back onto a large rock.

satisfied with her current state, and figuring he'd kill her later anyway, thanos approached tony, who had just woken up from being knocked out. "you have my respect, stark." he said. "when i'm done, half of humanity will still be alive. i hope they remember you." he raised his gauntlet, the four stones on it glowing.

"no!" dakota screamed, rolling down onto her stomach, her suit of armor opening up to reveal her in her shield bodysuit not unlike the one natasha romanoff once wore. "no, please-"

"stop!" strange yelled, sitting up and sounding completely defeated. "spare his life... and i will give you the stone."

"no tricks." thanos said, watching as strange shook his head.

tony looked up. "don't...!"

strange reached up, plucking the time stone out of its hiding place in the stars. he opened his hand, the scars on his fingers and their trembling becoming obvious. the stone floated into thanos' bare hand, and all the three could do was watch as he took the stone and dropped it into the thumb of the gauntlet.

"one to go." thanos said, suddenly disappearing.

"where is he?" quill asked angrily as he flew in, looking around at the scene.

dakota rolled over, her hand on her side, covering a wound there. peter swung over to where she lay, kneeling over her and inspecting her wounds, brushing hair out of her face as he did so.

quill looked around at the dejected three who had just fought, his fury melting into fear. "did we just lose?"

tony tuned to strange. "why would you do that?" he asked, completely hopeless.

"we're in the endgame now."