Ashes, Ashes

"Something is happening,"

Even as she said Peter could sense that something was, indeed, a little off. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but something in his gut - instinct? - churned in agreement, and he looked over at her from where he'd been helping Mr. Stark up. A gremlin of worry gnawed within his stomach, giving him a fleeting image of an alien exploding out of his belly, which only added to his anxiety. 

Mr. Stark had assured him that the antenna bug-lady wouldn't lay any eggs in his body, but that battle had been pretty crazy. She could have snuck an egg on him when he wasn't looking. But, looking at her now, Peter didn't think alien babies were the problem. The bug-lady's antennae's were twitching and shifting, almost on their own accord, and Peter shuddered - but also, when he didn't think too hard about it, it was also kind of the coolest thing ever. Then she glanced up and 'the coolest thing ever' didn't quite align with the look on her face. The gremlin ripped into Peter's bowels and he shifted on his feet.

Her bright, curious eyes had been replaced with ones of bewilderment. In fact, bug-lady was looking kind of dazed....and out of focus. Peter blinked to get rid of the fuzz, only to realize that it wasn't him. She really was getting fuzzy. The left side of her body was turning grey, like pocket lint, was spreading inward. Peter stared in horror, heart thumping heavily as the grey crawled up her arm, rolling over her body, leaving cracks that flaked and fell. It was getting darker and darker, and in the places where it was darkest, she began to crumble.

It happened too quickly for Peter's mind to fully comprehend. The alien lady barely had time to glance up at her groups' leader, innocence quivering, before combusting completely into black and grey flakes of ash. 

What the SHIT! He stared at the spot she'd been seconds earlier, watching as her remains danced and swirled ethereally through the air, before settling on the ground in gentle peace. Peter - he was pretty sure that didn't usually happen...right? No one ever specified powers or skills when Mr. Stark had been giving the plan, so how was Peter to know that crumbling into a pile of dust wasn't in her skill set. He waited for the leader-dude to laugh and point at their faces because 'ha, got you' as the bug-lady giggled and reformed. But one look at the leader-dudes face and Peter was under the impression that something else was going on. He turned to Mr. Stark, knowing he would have the answer. He was the smartest man on the planet - well, planet Earth- so there must be something he knew that could explain what happened.

Maybe - maybe they could regrow her. Or, Dr. Strange could perform some doohickey spell and she would appear in a puff a smoke.

But Mr. Stark didn't meet his eyes. Shuffling in the metal of his suit, Peter followed Mr. Stark's eyes over to the burly man with the strange alien tattoo's textured over his skin. The burly man, who was normally so enthusiastic, was staring at the spot bug-lady had disappeared from in shock. Peter felt his heart jump when he noticed the burly man's skin turning grey. Burly-man noticed too and looked down, then slowly back up, meeting the alarmed eyes of leader-dude and whispered in a soft tone, "Quill..."  

No sooner did that word pass his lips, did his body crumble. Ash overtook him, hovering in the shape of his form, an ashen apparition of the man it had been, before it was washed away with a breeze and strewn over the pile of bug-lady that frosted the ground.

Now, Peter would admit that he didn't know as much about space as the rest of them did - all he had ever taught him in science class was the solar system, the stars, the big-bang theory, constellations, and even Asgard, but no one ever mentioned ALIENS THAT TURNED TO DUST.

The leader-guy - Quill - sucked in a shuddering breath. His mouth moved to say something, but all that came out was a soft, puff of air that didn't seem to know what to do. Whirling around, he turned to Mr. Stark, eyes heavy and wide. The earlier image of the arrogant, angry and grieving alien-leader was gone. Mr. Stark must've noticed too and took a step toward him, hands going out to palliate some sort of comfort.