Marvel's The Avengers: Hydra's Little Spider

Chapter 20: Changes

Peter and Wanda spent the rest of the day inside, catching up on everything that has happened in the past three weeks. Wanda scolded Peter hard when he told her that he voluntarily abstained of food so Nebula would not have too little, but once Peter explained to her that this was probably the only reason why he did not starve to death on the spaceship, she was glad he did. After all, with time and care he would regain his normal weight quickly.

Wanda told him that they buried Vision at the lake next to the Compound. A few days ago, some government officials were here to ask for Visions body, but they told them that he was completely destroyed to keep them away. Wanda didn’t dare to imagine what they would have done with Vision if they would have gotten their hands on him. Wanda also told Peter that May didn’t make it. It crushed Peter that his last living relative, even if not by blood, was gone now, but he was glad that Wanda at least got all of her possessions from her apartment.

The time they had to kill until the rest of the Avengers returned with hopefully good news turned out to be nearly insufferable. Wanda hoped that they would be successful, while Peter told her that it was what Strange foresaw to encourage her. The Sokovian always looked at Peter with a worried look on her face when he talked about that, as she was not nearly as convinced about that as Peter was. From time to time, Peter thought about Pepper and how she had to feel about the fact that Tony was gone while Peter returned. And while Peter was glad how things turned out, he also felt bad about feeling that way. After all, he figured it was as if he wished death on one of his friends, which he definitely didn’t.

Pepper actually wanted to stay at the Compound until the others returned. Wanda checked in on her regularly and urged Peter to do the same, but he simply couldn’t face her after what happened on Titan. And even though Wanda was a bit disappointed with Peter in that regard, she also understood where he was coming from.

In the end, it took only two days until they heard a spaceship returning. Peter and Wanda rushed outside, eagerly awaiting the return of their colleagues. However, when the door of the spaceship finally opened and the Avengers stepped outside, there was no smile on anybody’s face. Depressed looks greeted Peter, Wanda and Pepper, who arrived a bit after the other two.

Peter could not believe that the plan apparently had failed. Dr. Strange made it obvious that he meant for Thanos to win before they could claim the ultimate comeback and defeat him in the end. Did Peter misinterpret what Strange said? He wasn’t sure anymore.

The returning Avengers walked straight back in the Compound, and Peter and Wanda followed them quickly. Once inside, they found them in the kitchen, where Rhodey poured himself a big glass of whiskey.

“What happened?” Peter asked right away.

“Thanos is dead,” Carol explained from the other side of the room. “But he destroyed the Stones before we could get to him. The plan failed.”

Peter stared at her in disbelief. “What do you mean ‘he destroyed the Stones’? I thought one needs something similar to Wanda’s powers to destroy a Stone? Something with a similar energy signature to the Stones?”

“Yeah, it turned out that you apparently can use the Stones themselves to destroy the Stones. That energy signature would be plenty similar,” Rhodey said sarcastically as he set the now empty glass down.

“So what’s our game plan now? We have to try something else. Strange made it clear that this would be the only way to defeat him,” Peter asked desperately.

Carol looked at him pitiful, but it was Natasha who answered. “And we did defeat him. Just not in the way how we all imagined it going.”

“No, I refuse to give up when the one guy with knowledge of the future said we could win. That’s not a win. That’s a loss with a little bit of revenge tacked on,” Peter nearly shouted.