Saving Grace

Seventy Two

Strange is suspended in the air with at least a hundred long, glass-like needles surrounding him — some sick form of torture, Tony can tell. One is piercing his cheek, emanating a white light as it does so. Squidward is floating in front of Strange, though Strange is face-down.

Tony watches, thinking, trying to figure out some sort of a plan, and then someone taps him on the shoulder. He jumps, his hand blaster facing the source and raring to fire.

But it's just Strange's freaking cape.

"Wow, you're a seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?" Tony says to it, though he doesn't expect a reply.

He gets one anyway. "Yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty..."

Tony turns and sees none other than Peter Parker hanging upside from the ceiling. Tony's eyes are wide. "What-?"

Peter flips and lands on his feet, his mask retracting into his suit. "I know what you're gonna say-"

"You should not be here," Tony scolds.

"I was gonna go home-" Peter starts to explain, but Tony firmly cuts him off.

"I don't wanna hear it-"

"-but it was such a long way down and I just thought about you and what Grace said on the way-"

"-and now I gotta hear it-"

"-and I kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way, so, if anything, it's kinda your fault that I'm here."

Tony looks up at him sharply. "What did you just say?"

Peter's eyes widen. "I-I take that back. And... now I'm here in space."

"Yeah, right where I didn't want you to be," Tony says, stepping forward, his voice lowering. "I told Grace you were gonna be at the compound, and now what's she gonna think? That you're dead?"

Peter inhales sharply, the thought of her worrying about him that much hitting him, and he wishes he could've talked to her first, knowing he needs to apologize for this so much when he gets back. "Mr. Stark, I-I didn't know-"

"This isn't Coney Island," Tony says. "This isn't a field trip. It's a one-way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend you thought this through-"

"No, I did think this through-"

"I know you didn't-"

"I did think this through-!"

"You could not have possibly thought this through."

"You can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man when there's no neighborhood." Tony just looks at him, half mad and half amazed at Peter's reasoning, how... selfless and grown-up and yet reckless it is — almost something Tony would say, just less... eloquent. Peter sighs. "Okay, that didn't really make any sense, but you know what I'm trying to say."

Tony continues looking at him in silence for a moment, resolving himself to protecting to this kid, to getting him back home to his aunt and his friends and Grace. She needs him. It's a fact Tony's had to accept over the past two and a half years. And now it's the fact that makes this so much more worrying.

Tony sighs, starting to turn back to where Strange is. "Come on. Luckily, I trust Grace to handle herself, especially since the imminent threat is up here."

"Exactly," Peter replies.

Tony gives him a look, silencing him, then he walks over to stand next to the cape, looking down on Squidward and Strange. "We got a situation." He points to Strange. "See him down there? He's in trouble. What's your plan? Go."