|A Spider's Tale|

Endgame-3: Chapter 24

Peter and Gwen's spider-sense suddenly blared, as if they had been dampened and now we're back online and overloaded, it hurt. 

"Who are you?" Natasha cried, Clint drew his bow. 

"Consider me a guide. To you, and any others who seek the soul stone" 

The figure speaking was Red Skull...at least he looked like it, but he was wearing a torn up cloak...and looked like a Dementor?

"Oww...Well, that's good Mr...Skullface? Umm, could we have it...then we'll be on our way."

Gwen rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, he is a total dork.

"If only it were that easy," he led them to the edge of a cliff, intricate carvings were all over the floor "What you seek, lies in front of you...as does what you fear" 

"So the stones down there?" Clint asked. 

"For three of you...yes...for the one other...In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love...and everlasting exchange. A soul, for a soul" 

"So that's what it takes" Natasha looks down the cliffside. 

"Whatever it takes" Clint muttered. 

"Woah Woah Woah...hold up a second....you're both talking as if you're just gonna throw yourselves off that this cliff. We have pretty much all the time we need. Let's think this through, observe our surroundings then come up with a solution" Gwen yelled, she didn't want or need anyone dying, these people were here friends (Peter even more than that) nothing would happen to any of them, they just had to find a way. 

"Gwen's right...as far as we understand, every stone has a trial, and challenge or a protector, but every single one is designed to be obtained by a single person...this could be an elaborate riddle" 

"But Thanos went here with his daughter, and then left with the stone, obviously he threw her off!" Clint said. 

"It said you sacrifice what you love...I don't know what you think, but If I loved someone...which I do...my top priority would be to stop them from falling off this thing, you don't love someone if you throw them off the cliff, it just shows that all you love is yourself" Peter reasoned. 

"Oh my...Peter that's it! Thanos only loved himself and his own goals...look at these carvings...remind you of anything?" 

"No, not really...wait...those look like the carvings on Stormbreaker...and the images of Mjollnir and the Bifrost burn marks!" 

"Precisely! Asgardian magic! We know Thor and his father knew of the stones...and we know that Odin and members of his family had possessed them before...so what's to say Odin...or an ancestor of his didn't make this spire to protect the stone?" 

"And if that's true...the family enchantments that run in Odin's bloodline are mostly related to worthiness...being worthy of Vallhalla, being worthy of Thor's hammer, Being worthy of special abilities..." 

"So what makes you worthy of the soul stone?" 

Natasha and Clint stared dumbfounded at the two geniuses, yeah...if they hadn't been there, one of them would be dead, no argument. 

"It says it demands a sacrifice, so what can someone sacrifice, that's a part of them...but the sacrifice won't actually harm them..."

"Emotions? Ideas? Beliefs?" 

"You're onto something...but what if it isn't demanding payment...what if it's to gauge our reaction...like a test?"