Guiding Light ➙ Peter Parker

Chapter Eight

The atmosphere had gone quiet after Thanos successfully retrieved the Time Stone and disappeared through a portal. The Avengers, and now conscious Guardians, sat in silence as they tended to their own injuries and prayed Thanos didn't claim the last Infinity Stone and fill the gauntlet on his left arm.

Harrison was hunched over with his elbows on his knees and his head hanging forward. He inhaled and exhaled slowly as every time he brought in air, a stabbing pain spread from his hip bone all the way up to his throat. A dull ache settled in the boy's skull as thoughts bounced around in his mind. He was scared to look at his own skin after being a victim to the Power Stone and the titan wielding it, scared that his once tanned skin would be the same colours as the Space and Power Stones, purple and blue. The blood stain on his grey suit had dried but Harrison's skin throbbed every time he moved his right arm, knowing he had some sort of cut flawing his torso.

Peter sat on one side of him with Mister Stark on the other. The man was silent, breathing in and out through his nose while he stared off into the distance. His Iron Man suit was destroyed, only fragments clinging to his body. The metal was roughly cut from where it had cracked with scraps of the gold and red suit littering the burnt orange ground of the planet.

"We should leave." Harrison speaks up, wincing as he slowly rises to his feet.

"Where are we gonna go?" Tony asks with a bitter tone in his voice as he looks up at the boy.

"I don't know but...we're all hurt. We need to get somewhere safe." Harrison replied as his heart hammered in his chest. He went to sit back down, growing intimidated by Tony as he realized his plan, one that he didn't really have, was irrelevant. They were safe wherever Thanos wasn't, but still had to worry about if he'd manage to fill the gauntlet.

"There's no use. We don't have a working ship and whether we die here, or in a ship, it makes no difference." Doctor Strange spoke up from behind the space debris the three Avengers were sitting on.

"Easy, Strange. No one is dying." Tony scolded the man as he looked over his shoulder, an ache spreading through his stiff neck as it moved.

"How are you so sure?" Doctor Strange argued back, rising to his feet. Tony did the same and turned to face the man.

"I'm not, but don't freak out the kids!" Tony used all the energy he could muster to yell at Strange, glancing at Harrison and Peter who had the same nervous expressions written across their youthful faces.

"I don't think you realize what's going to happen. Thanos doesn't care about kids, he cares about the stones so that he can wipe half the pop-" Strange started to rant but Tony cut him off, a red flush traveling up his cheeks while his eyebrows knitted together.

"So why did you give one to him? You gave Thanos an Infinity Stone knowing what he wants to do. Why?" Harrison had never seen Tony so agitated, but he wasn't sure if it was anger or fear.

"I had no other choice. He would've killed all of us. At least now we still have a chance." Doctor Strange replied in a calm tone, his face blank from emotion. Tony breathed heavily and didn't reply as he sat back down, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to calm himself down.

"And for the record, there is a ship here that is most likely in working condition, as long as that nut sack didn't ruin it." Quill spoke up, earning a glare from both Tony and Strange in response.

"So what do we do now?" Harrison asked as Peter gently nudged him in the ribs to get him to shut up. The boy winced and put a hand on his less injured side.

"Sorry." Peter mumbled as he realized his action hurt his friend.

Tony sat staring straight ahead as his mouth fell open slightly, hesitating to answer. "I don't know." He muttered and quickly glanced to the two boys beside him. They both looked to him for leadership and at this very moment he had no idea how to lead them.