Typical Parker Luck - A Peter Parker Love Story

XLIII - Children of Thanos

Back on the ground, Bruce Banner stood in front of a closing orange portal.

I landed next to him, careful to avoid any sharp debris.

"Where's Stark, and that Spider-Man kid?" Banner asked me.

"Peter should be coming down soon," I said, pressing a button to take down my mask. "And Stark..." My voice trailed off.

"Don't tell me he's on the ship," Bruce began.

I let out a long sigh. "The wizard—"

"Doctor Strange?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, wait, isn't that the doctor who did my operation after Cairo? He's a magic user?"

Banner nodded.

"Well, he got beamed up into the ship, and Stark went in after him," I said.

Bruce cursed under his breath. He sighed. "Alright, well, let's wait for Peter to come down and we'll head over to the Avengers Compound."

"With all due respect," I began. "I told Stark I didn't want to be an Avenger. Not after what happened the last time."

Bruce was silent for a moment as he looked out across the chaotic scene. "That's completely understandable," he said in a low voice. "But, with what Wong and Strange told me what we are up against... I think we're going to need all hands on deck."

I looked down at my new suit's nano-tech scales. It had protected me, after all.

"Alright," I said after a quiet deliberation.

The last time I was at the Avengers Compound, Stark had offered me a new suit which had caused a panic attack. I hoped returning to the facility wouldn't elicit the same response.

The two of us made our way out of the destroyed parts of the city and over to the first cleared-ish road we could find. We had to walk several blocks.

Bruce clicked a set of keys, calling one of Stark's self-driving cars.

Peter was still no where to be found.

"Any word from Spider-Man?" Bruce asked as we waited for our ride. "Can't you uh, talk to him through your suit?"

I hadn't exactly remembered that I could do that.

"Oh, yeah," I mumbled sheepishly. "CADE, call Peter, Spider-Man," I said.

"Out of range," the suit responded.

I looked up at the sky, searching for any sign of a parachute. "That idiot—" I breathed, now covering my face in my hands.

"What?" Bruce asked.

I sighed harshly. "He's on the ship."

***

Now at the Avengers Compound, Bruce occupied himself with copious amount of research on Thanos and these things called Infinity Stones, explaining them to me as he went.

"The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurdling across the universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence," Banner explained. "There's Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time."

"So who's this guy who wants to catch 'em all?" I said, my arms crossed as I rested on the couch.

"Thanos," Bruce answered. "He's a plague. He invades planets, he takes what he wants, and he wipes out half the population. He's the guy who sent Loki. The attack on New York, that was him."

I resisted a shudder.

"So far, Thanos has the Power and Space Stones," Bruce continued. "That already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands, on all six Stones..." He let his voice trail off.

"Where are all the Stones?" I said. "Why can't we get to them first?"

"Doctor Strange has the Time Stone but last I heard he was on a spaceship piloted by Thanos' children, so we might be out of luck there until Tony and Peter get back," Banner said cynically. "Vision has the Mind Stone implanted in his head. As for Reality and Soul, I've no idea."

"So we just need to keep Vision safe," I said.

"We don't know where he—"

The door to the room swung open, in stepping James Rhodes, Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximoff, and Vision who was clutching his side and supporting himself on Sam's shoulder.

I stood from my relaxed position.

"What happened?" I began.

"Children of Thanos," Natasha responded, "ambushed Vision trying to get the Stone."

"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Bruce replied.

"And they can clearly find us," Wanda continued.

"We need all hands on deck," Bruce said. "Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation," Natasha started, "he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families."

"Who's Scott?" I began.

"Ant-Man," Steve replied.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" I mumbled.

"Okay, look..." Banner stopped me. "Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he... He gets... Vision's stone."

"Well then, we have to protect it," said Natasha.

"No, we have to destroy it," Vision spoke up, still holding his side. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also of its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps... Its molecular integrity could fail."

"And you, with it," Wanda said softly , moving closer to him. "We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it," Vision said.

"That's too high a price," Wanda countered.

"Only you, have the power to pay it," Vision replied. "Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should," Steve spoke up. "We don't trade lives, Vision."

"Captain, seventy years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?" Vision said.

Before Steve could answer, Bruce started: "Because you might have a choice," the doctor said. "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda began.

"I'm saying that... If we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. P-perhaps the best parts," Bruce replied.

"Can we do that?" Natasha asked, arms folded.

"Not me. Not here," Banner replied.

"You better find someone, and somewhere fast," Rhodes said. "Ross isn't exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

A pause.

"I know somewhere," said Steve.