The Strangest Feeling | Earth-56: Pilot part 1

Stephen

It was some time later when Stephen finally noticed the sparks. "Stark?"

Across the room, Stark swiped away a holographic display and started towards him, rolling his eyes. "You'd think no one around here even knows I have a first name."

"You get a first name when you stop calling me 'wizard,'" Stephen shot back, but he found the verbal sparring strangely reassuring, a tacit agreement to pretend the real argument had never taken place. He had meant what he said - the Stone was his burden, and he would protect it. No matter the cost. So why had the look on Stark's face when he had said it aloud been so wrenching?

Stephen shook himself as Stark stopped beside him, dark eyes coming to rest on the scorched control panel in front of them. Stephen had no idea what it did, but from its location and the impressive array of buttons and switches, he would guess it was important. A thin trail of smoke rose from its blackened surface, and every now and then it spat orangey sparks.

"Must have been damaged in the fight," Stark muttered.

Stephen glanced at him. "Can you fix it?"

"Uh, there's a giant hole in it. So no." At Stephen's look of annoyance, he added, "Why don't you wave your wand and magic it better?"

"I can't. I have no idea what it does or how it works."

"To put it in layman's terms, I'd say it's the thing that makes the ship go."

"Based on your extensive knowledge of alien ships," Stephen said pointedly.

The vibration of the engine running all through the hull shuddered haltingly. Stark gave him what was obviously a told you so look.

"Look, Doc," Stark said, crossing his arms. "Wherever it is we're going, I don't think we're gonna make it. I say we aim for a semi-controlled landing on the nearest planet while we still can."

"You think you can land this thing?"

"Might be on the rough side," Stark admitted.

With a soft noise Stephen was beginning to recognize as the kid shooting a thread of webbing, Parker landed lightly across from them, excitement in his voice. "We're crash-landing?"

Stark tapped the arc reactor and his suit formed up around him in seconds, face hidden behind the glowering mask and voice coming out harsher, vaguely metallic. "Not if I can help it. Kid, give me a hand with this."

Parker put on the mask of his suit as he followed Stark toward a strange mechanism Stephen could only assume was for steering. It swallowed Stark's suited hand, and the ship jerked slightly. After only slight hesitation, Parker allowed it to do the same. Stephen felt the ship's course shift slowly.

Stark glanced over at the younger hero. "Got it, kid?"

"Yeah," Parker replied, eyes narrowed slightly in concentration. "This is so weird."

Through the huge window that took up the far wall, a reddish planet came into view. Within seconds it took up the entire field of view. They were approaching fast. Stephen snatched a glance at Stark. The mask prevented an accurate reading of his emotions, but Stephen was sure he was perfectly aware of it too. The sorcerer thought he could feel the planet's gravity start to pull on the ship, but he might have been imagining it. He definitely wasn't imagining that they were going faster. Through the window, craters and details of the planet's surface were starting to come into focus. Stephen clenched his jaw to hold back a sharp and unhelpful comment.

The white eyes of Parker's mask narrowed further. "Uh, Mr. Stark?" His tone made Stark look away from the window where the planet was looming closer and closer. Stephen could make out structures on its surface now, fallen buildings and the wreckage of cities. "This is gonna be rough."

Stark looked back at Stephen, and he knew they were thinking the same thing. Stark's suit was practically indestructible. Though Stephen suspected the billionaire had designed Parker's too, it was much lighter, but it would probably still see him through an impact like this. A passenger with nothing but a few layers of fabric, though? Stephen's optimism was hindered by years of medical school. He knew the chances of someone like that walking away from this landing.

Someone like him.

The ship shuddered violently beneath their feet. They had hit the atmosphere.

"Kid, we gotta slow down!" Stark shouted. Stephen could see them both bracing against their back foot as they tried to steer, feel the ship slow slightly as it fought against gravity, hear his heartbeat over the roar of the ship tearing through the air. The buildings through the window were becoming clearer. Much clearer. Stephen tried to gauge the time until impact. Thirty seconds? Twenty? They were moving too quickly, and the roar of the ship shredded rational thought. The cloak wrapped around him as if bracing itself.

Stephen's attention had fixated solely on the ground rushing towards them through the window when movement flashed in his peripheral vision. Stark ripped his arm out of the mechanism and lunged towards him. He crashed into Stephen, and the situation fragmented into a thousand discordant pieces. He was too startled to break his fall, and he hit the ground hard, Stark on top of him. Something blocked his vision. The roar of the ship through the air was magnified a hundredfold, and everything lurched. Metal screamed. He felt momentum try to rip him off the floor and throw him across the room. His neck snapped forward and pain exploded across the blurry canvas in front of him as his head hit Stark's armor. The sound of screeching metal and breaking glass filled his skull.

The quiet when it stopped was louder than the crash. Stephen blinked away pinpoints of white light and tried to force what he was seeing to make sense. Stark was half on top of him, one arm held up. From it extended a shield that covered both of them. As Stephen watched, it was absorbed back into his suit in moments.

The helmet flipped up. "You ok?" Stark asked, and it was not the metallic voice of the suit but the voice of Tony Stark, a little rough and out of breath, quiet into the space between them but urgent. His face was peppered with several small cuts, but his dark eyes, fixed on Stephen's, still had that same spark. So alive, and so close to him.

"I'm fine," Stephen managed, though it sounded as stunned as he felt. He was suddenly aware of the strangest feeling taking over him. The strangest feeling as neither of them looked away. The strangest feeling about Stark saving him, even though it should have been perfectly ordinary. Stephen wasn't sure what the hell this was, but it certainly wasn't ordinary.

Stark broke eye contact, and from where it hovered, holding its breath, reality rushed back in around them. He moved away quickly, pulling himself to his feet. His eyes stayed fixedly on the ground, on the wreckage of the ship, anywhere but Stephen.

"I'd better go find the kid," Stark told the rubble, and then he vanished into the settling dust.

Stephen sat up, rubbing his neck, and found himself staring at the spot where Stark had been. He was already long gone, but that strange feeling lingered, making him forget about the shooting pain when he moved his neck or where his head had cracked into Stark's armor, making him forget about the Stone he was supposed to be protecting, making him forget about everything but the memory of Stark's face inches from his.

What's happening to me?