Guardians of the Multiverse (Book 7 of 7)

Chapter 3: The End

Nothing happened within the next months. Life was normal. Annie was obviously no longer able to fight whatsoever. She was stuck at Avengers Headquarters trying to figure out stuff to do. Tony had her handling the business side of things.

She was 8 months along at this point. She was in a meeting with all of the Avengers. They were talking about new technology and most of them were reading through the paperwork.

"It's quite boring in here isn't it?" A threatening voice said. Annie jumped to her feet as she heard the sound of a charged blaster. Annie looked to see that she was too late. She banged her fists together and tried to shield herself. She protected herself from being badly injured but the force knocked her over and onto her stomach. She felt pain fill her and knew she was in danger. She couldn't move. All she saw was Nat above her and then her vision turned black.....

Annie woke up and saw that she was in the Avengers Headquarters hospital room so she was safe. She then looked beside her and found Peter with a broken leg and arm, but he was in his normal clothes and he was tiredly waiting.

"Hey." Annie sighed and Peter looked over at her and smiled slightly.

"Hey sweetie." Peter sighed. Annie put her hand down to feel her baby bump and it was almost gone and then Peter started to explain as he couldn't hide his proud smile.

"She's doing alright. She was born three weeks prematurely but she appears to be completely healthy despite her size. Aaron hasn't left her side." Peter explained and Annie nodded.

"And Osborn?" Annie asked.

"The Hulk quite literally ripped him in half." Peter replied and Annie looked relieved. "She still needs a name Annie." Annie was so tired.

"Dad?" Annie sighed.

"Yeah." Peter replied.

"What state is my health?" Annie asked.

"Annie your fine. You lost a little bit of blood but your ok." Peter replied and the doctor came in.

"If you call losing half of your bodies blood only losing a little bit then you're insane Parker. Or in denial at least." The doctor sighed and Peter frowned. " You have recovered quickly though. I'll have them bring baby Stark and your fiancé in. I don't want you out of this bed until your better." The doctor said and then he walked back out and Annie looked to Peter who was staring off in the distance.

"What is with you? Ever since I came back you've been acting so weird." Annie sighed and Peter frowned and looked to her.

" I'm the only one who knows Annie. The way you looked at me the second you got me back is something that will haunt me till the day I die." Peter replied and he looked to her with tears in his eyes. "I love you and I know the pain you were going through and the fact that you refuse to talk about it worries me." Peter expressed his concern.

" I have talked about it. There's just so much that's happened that I don't want to. It takes too much energy to explain it all. I mean you waited to tell me your story until I was 12 and that was only 13 years of fighting. I've been fighting for 100 years. Think about that." Annie said with a laugh. Peter raised his eyebrows and let out a laugh as well.

"You really have grown. I just...." Peter started and Annie finished the sentence.

"have trouble adjusting to it." Annie sighed as she looked to Peter and Peter smiled at her.

"Nothing left for me to teach you, is there?" Peter asked.

"You would be surprised." Annie laughed. Peter just nodded and suddenly Aaron came in holding a baby in a pink blanket. Peter could see the same change in him that Peter had when Annie was born and felt a world of worry fall off of his shoulders.

Aaron handed the baby to Annie as MJ walked in with Benjy at her side. Benjy ran over to Peter and climbed up on the bed and crawled into Peters lap and laid there. Peter held him close. Benjy was almost 5 but he was growing closer and closer to Peter as more and more of his spider abilities started to show up. He wasn't like Annie. Benjy didn't start showing symptoms till he was 3 ½ . At first he only had sticky fingers. His Spider-sense didn't show up until recently when Osborn attacked Annie. He had a broken wrist for a reason. The fight escalated very quickly when it happened......

Annie had just been shot at by Osborn and Peter hadn't moved two inches before Benjy grabbed Osborns leg and bit him as Benjy let out a loud long grunt. Peter couldn't help but stop and laugh for a second. He looked to Tony and pointed at Benjy and Tony looked at him in outrage.

"Right." Peter came back to reality just as Osborn tossed Benjy off. Benjy landed on his wrist and started crying. Peter managed to get his web shooters on quick enough to shoot them at Benjy and pull him out of the way before Osborn stabbed him. Osborn shot a green electrical thing at Peters leg and snapped it in a weird way and when he yanked it Peter felt is leg break and he fell to his knees as he held on to Benjy. Peter went to shoot a web at Norman and Norman shot his green thing at Peter's hand and broke it. Peter pulled Benjy deeper into his arms with his one hand to see the Hulk grab Osborn.

"EVIL GREEN MAN HURT TINY SPIDER! EVIL GREEN MAN DIE!!!" Hulk shouted and Peter felt an emotional trigger.

"HULK NOT IN HERE!!!!" Peter cried but Hulk didn't listen. Peter shot his webs at a blanket and covered Benjy up so he wouldn't see. Peter knew the sound. He was about to run out of the room when he saw Annie bleeding out from her pregnancy going wrong. He saw Nat barely being able to stop the bleeding with Steve at her side. Suddenly Benjy was silent. Peter looked to him and saw him staring at the blood and gore of Norman Osborn ripped in half on the floor. Peter pulled Benjy's face away and saw that Benjy was in shock. Peter picked Benjy up and looked to Tony with tears in his eyes.

"I have to take care of Benjy. I trust you." Peter cried and then he left the room.......

That's why Benjy had a broken wrist.

"Her names Ashley Michelle Stark." Annie decided and Aaron smiled at the thought of it. Aaron leaned over and kissed Annie's forehead. Peter looked to MJ who had tears in her eyes. Peter grabbed MJ's hand and MJ looked to him proudly. She then sat next to him and he put his arm around her.....

Annie eventually had to return to being the protector of the Burroughs of New York. With her knowledge of fighting even the toughest villains were easy to defeat.

Everything that had happened in the years that went by when Annie was the Infinity Stone Vessel remained the same. All of it except for the fact that Annie had a daughter. She and Aaron didn't have another kid till they were 30. It was another girl. They called her Brianna Pepper Stark.

Annie also aged just like Aaron did. Thor died with Jane Foster. Quill and Gamora did the same, and at the age of 100 Annie and Aaron died of old age. It was the way that things were supposed to be: perfectly balanced.