Always and Forever

Chapter 14

Tony and I got to a spot where we could look down on Strange and Squidward. Strange was levitating, and he was surrounded by some weird kind of needles. "In all the time I've served Thanos, I've never failed him," Squidward said. "If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be... judgement." He started to push the needles into Strange's face, making him wince in pain. "Give me the stone."

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and raised my hand to shoot a taser web, but saw that it was just Strange's cloak. "Wow, you're one seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty...." We all turned to see Peter dropping down from above us.

"What the-" I started.

"I know what you're gonna say."

"You should not be here."

"I was gonna go home-"

"I don't wanna hear it."

"But it was such a long way down and I just thought about you 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," Peter told Tony.

Even Strange's cloak looked shocked. "What did you just say?" Tony asked.

"I take that back. And now I'm here in space."

"Yeah," Tony said, stepping in front of Peter. "Right where I don't want you to be. This isn't Coney Island. This isn't a field trip. It's a one-way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend like you thought this through. You could not have possibly thought this through."

"No. I did think this through."

"You could not have possibly thought this through," I said.

"It's just... you can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there's no neighborhood." Peter waited for a reaction from Tony and I and didn't get one. "Ok, that didn't really make any sense, but you know what I'm trying to say."

Tony and I exchanged glances, and I took a shaky breath before saying, "Come on, we got a situation." I led him over to where he could see Strange. "See him down there? He's in trouble. What's your plan? Go."

"Um. Ok, ok... uh...." Peter had a sudden realization and popped up from the crouch he had been in, Strange's cloak popping up with him. "Date night two weeks ago. We watched that really old movie, Aliens."

Tony looked at me. "Yeah, you gotta explain more, I fell asleep during that."

"What?"

"I had been having dreams about Ragnarok, so I wasn't getting good sleep, and I fell asleep."

"Ok, whatever, just explain," Tony said.

"All we gotta do is blast a hole in the side of the ship to suck the bad guy out. Then we can close the hole and be safe," Peter said.

"Right. Easy peasy," I said sarcastically.

"Well, we don't have a better plan," Tony said.

I sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Painful, aren't they?" Squidward asked Strange. "They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them...." He turned at the sound of a thump and saw Tony behind him, ready to fire. "...Could end your friend's life in an instant."

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

Squidward started walking toward Tony, making big metal objects float behind him. "You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine."