Believer [Peter Parker]

35 - On the Spaceship

Ebony Maw continued to interrogate the wizard, who groaned loudly.

"Painful, aren't they?" Maw asked. "They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any of them..."

At the "thump" behind him, Maw turned to see Tony and Hannah standing there, hand repulsors ready to fire and electricity running through her fingers.

"...could end your friend's life in an instant," Maw finished.

"I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more a professional courtesy," Tony said.

Maw walked slowly towards Tony and Hannah, beckoning very large, very solid metal objects to float behind him.

"You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine," Maw said.

"Yeah, but my friend has seen more movies," Hannah shrugged.

Tony fired a rocket from his shoulder which pierces the side of the ship to Maw's right and Hannah shot electricity at Maw. The rockets began to suck everything out with depressurization, especially Maw and his large objects. Strange is pulled loose of his pinnings, loses the needles, but also headed for the hole, helpless to resist. The Cape wrapped around his arm and an anchor point, but Strange's arm slipped loose and he kept going. Spider-Man shot a web strand at Strange with one hand and holds onto a piece of the ship with the other. It broke, sending them both towards space when his Iron-Spider suit's metal arms braced him to keep him from being sucked out. Fortunately, Strange was still surrounded by the ship's atmosphere making haste to leave.

"Yes! Wait what are those?!" Peter asked.

Peter crouched with his new spider-legs and made a mighty leap to pull them both back inside. Tony quickly sprayed nanites onto the hole to plug it up. Strange safely, if emphatically, hits the floor. Ebony Maw is seen floating in space, quite dead, ice from the escaped atmosphere frosting over his grimace. Spider-Man lands on his new legs, retracts them, and finds the Cape 'standing' next to him. Hannah ran over to Peter.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," he nodded.

They both turn their attention to the Cloak.

"Hey, we haven't officially met," Peter said. He offered the Cloak his hand to shake, but it ignored his offer and continued to go to the wizard. "Cool."

Tony walked past the wizard, shaking his head and with his armor retreating into its containment as the wizard got to his feet and becomes en-Cloaked

"We've gotta turn this ship around," the wizard said.

"Yeah," Tony said. "Now he wants to run. Great plan."

Hannah looked at Tony confused.

"No," the wizard corrected, "I want to protect the stone."

Tony walked towards the front viewport.

"And I want you to thank me now," Tony said, irritably. "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?" the wizard asked.

"Who just saved your magical ass? Me."

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

"Admit it," Tony said. "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," Dr. Strange said.

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

Peter raised his hand.

"Hannah and I are back up," he said.

"If I were you you, I would stop talking," Hannah said to Peter.

"Listen to your girlfriend," Tony said, "and you both are stowaways. The adults are talking," he referred to himself and the wizard.

"I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here," the wizard said. "Wh-what is they, your wards?"

"No. I'm Peter, by the way," Peter introduced himself.

"I'm Hannah," Hannah said.

"Doctor Strange," the wizard said.

"Oh, we're using our made-up names. Um... I'm Spider-Man, then," Peter said. "And this is the Spark.

Hannah looked at Peter in disbelief. She recognized that name. Her father had to go under surgery a few years back and Dr. Strange was the one who did it.

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

Dr. Strange turned around and walked closer to Tony.

"Can we control it? Fly us home?" Dr. Strange asked.

Tony wasn't focused. He was lost in bad memories that he didn't respond right away.

"Mr. Stark?" Hannah said.

"Yeah?" Tony turned around.

"Can you get us home?" Dr. Strange asked.

"Yeah I heard you. I'm thinking...I'm not so sure we should," Tony said.

"Under no circumstance can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos," Dr. Strange said. "I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here."

Tony walked over to Strange. "No. It's you who doesn't understand, that Thanos has been inside my head for six 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, 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?"

Doctor Strange paused. "Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kids or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it."

"Nice. Good," Tony said. "Moral compass. We're straight," he stepped over to Hannah and Peter. He tapped each of Hannah's and Peter's shoulders with the edge of his hand, dubbing him as is done at a knighting. "Alright, kids. You two are Avengers now."

He didn't look at him as he said those words, knowing well what he is signing him up for.

Hannah and Peter looked at Tony in disbelief, and then cycle through delight, satisfaction, pride and determination, and braced themselves for what's to come.