Avengers: The Gathering

Chapter 2: The Invitation

Peter groaned, moving the ice pack to the other side of his head. His left arm was in a sling, his left eye bruised around the socket. He laid in agony in the hospital ward of Avenger's tower.

Tony was on the phone with May, giving some half baked excuse, "Yeah, the guy came out of nowhere."...'Uh huh, bike messenger."..."Yeah, knocked him right off his board and kept going. Don't ask me how he didn't wipe out."... " Welcome to New York, am I right?"..."Yeah, I got him in the best hospital I have access to, got him checked out, patched up and a full round of pain medication. Don't worry, I covered it."..."No, to me, it's pocket change!"..."That gentleman is kinda running the country right now, so I'll take that as a compliment.,"..."Yeah, I'll have him home and cozy tomorrow morning."..."Alright, see you...Saturday night?"..."Great! OK, bye!"

He hung up and sat in the chair next to Peter's bed as he groaned again. He pointed at Peter with his phone, "You are so lucky that I'm A: A Grade-A bull-shitter, and B: sort of seeing your aunt."

Peter winced, "Is it bad that I can't feel my tongue?"

"FRIDAY, how's he lookin'?"

"No brain damage," FRIDAY reported. "Left shoulder was dislocated, I had Vision push it back into place."

"Even my tolerance of high sound frequency was tested," Vision remarked from the chair across the room where he rummaged through Peter's back pack. He pulled out a sock, "Is this all the extra clothing you packed?"

"I was in a hurry," Peter shrugged. He grabbed his left shoulder in pain and shouted, "OW!"

"FRIDAY, fetch junior a Star Wars T-Shirt," Tony commanded. "Throw in some white tube socks, boxers, blue jeans and a pair of black Converse."

"I prefer Nike," Peter croaked.

"Size 11 on the shoes, boss?"

"I don't know, whatever we gave him for the suit!"

"Ordering now, sir."

Tony sighed, looking above Peter's hospital bed at the flat screen which was currently showing the daily news cast, "Not one station. Half of New York, destroyed by Godzilla's ugly stepsisters and not one news station has even mentioned it!"

"The city was completely restored by that figure on the tower after the attack," Vision reminded him. "Perhaps, just as FRIDAY has no recollection of the event, everyone else had their memories wiped by whatever that golden light was."

"That's all well and good," Tony replied. "But that still doesn't tell us what it was, why this happened or even, what the hell those things were, that..."

"Eldrazi," Peter cut him off.

Tony paused, "Bless you?"

"That's what those monsters were," Peter explained. "They're part of a race of creatures called the Eldrazi. It was a full 20/20 Desolation twin." He chuckled, "Seeing one up close was awesome. Never considered that it'd scare the living crap out of me."

Tony knit his eyebrows, "FRIDAY, you wanna do another brain scan? Double check there's no trauma?"

"I believe I know what he's talking about," Vision offered. He was thumbing through a deck of trading cards, presumably from Peter's bag. "Are you familiar with Magic: The Gathering?"

"Original nerd's card game," Tony answered, "Easily mastered and way over-hyped.  Started playing when I was in college and got bored within two days after beating every nerd in my school." He shrugged, "What about it?"

Vision picked a single card from the deck and showed it to Stark, "I believe this is your card." Tony had to look twice, slowly taking the card from Vision's hand. Right there, displayed on the card with stats, abilities and manna cost, was the monster that just nearly killed them.