CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
❝ far from home ❞
DOCTOR STRANGE CRIED out in raw pain as the silver needles surrounding him began piercing his face. Maw hummed in satisfaction, leaning closer to the sorcerer. "Painful aren't they? They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them..."
Aster and Tony stepped out of the shadows, now on the main level of the ship with them. Tony had both thrusters raised and Aster had her hands poised by her sides, with cosmic energy already bleeding from her palms.
Able to sense their presence, Maw turned and narrowed his eyes at them. "...could end your friend's life in an instant."
"I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend," Tony said. Aster sent him an exasperated look in the form of a side-eye. "Saving his life is more a professional courtesy."
"You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine," Maw taunted, telepathically lifting two beams of steel on either side of himself. Silently threatening to hurl them at the two Avengers with a flick of his wrist, Maw took a step forward and focused his attention on Aster. "Even yours, little star."
Tilting her head, Aster jutted out her bottom lip into a dramatic pout. "Mm, okay, if that's what you think." Her lips curled into a subtle smirk. "But you are severely underestimating a seventeen-year-old boy who has seen way too many movies."
A look of confusion flashed across Maw's face, but before he could decipher her words, Tony had already fired a rocket from his suit. The weapon pierced a hole in the side of the ship and created a vacuum-like effect, sucking Maw out and spitting him into space.
Strange yelled as he was also pulled toward the opening, though his cape quickly swooped in to grab him, anchoring him to a railing of the ship. But because of the sheer force of the air rushing out of the ship, his arm slipped from the cape's grip.
From above, Peter lept down and shot a strand of web at the sorcerer, catching him before he could be sucked into space. He grabbed a beam in the ship with one hand and held Strange with the other.
When Aster saw Peter's grip faltering, she swirled her hands through the air and surrounded both of them in cosmic energy, pulling them away from the opening and toward safety with ease. Turning to give Tony a nod, she yelled, "Now!"
Holding both fists angled forward, Tony sprayed nanites over the hole, creating a seal to stop the vacuum of air. Aster gently lowered Peter and Doctor Strange to the floor of the ship, making sure they were somewhat stable before dropping her energy.
Doctor Strange's cloak levitated through the air, immediately going to check on its master. Peter's eyes lit up when he saw the red fabric floating toward him, holding out a hand for it to shake. "Hey, we haven't officially met—"
The cloak ignored him and went right to Strange. Aster snorted as Peter dropped his hand, muttering an embarrassed, "Cool."
"We've gotta turn this ship around," Strange breathed, pushing himself up from one knee.
Dissolving his suit, Tony walked past the sorcerer without so much as a glance. "Yeah. Now he wants to run. Great plan."
As his cloak settled back on his shoulders, Strange followed after Tony and insisted, "No, I want to protect the stone."
"And I want you to thank us," Tony bluntly said. He walked over to the controls of the ship, inspecting them closely. "Go ahead. I'm listening."
"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?"
Finally turning around, Tony stared at Doctor Strange in a bewildered manner. "Who just saved your magical ass? Us."
Aster and Peter shared a look at their back-and-forth argument. Stepping forward, Aster cleared her throat, "Okay, guys—"
"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet," Strange told him, cutting Aster off.
"Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused."
"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you."
"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut, billions of miles away from Earth with no backup."
Standing next to Aster, Peter raised a suited hand and chirped in, "I'm backup."
"No," Tony told him, waving a hand through the air. "You're a stowaway. The adults and Aster are talking."
Aster frowned and took a protective step forward. "I'm sorry, I think you both owe the 'stowaway' a thank you. Did he not just come up with the plan that saved all of our asses?"
"Oh, I-It's fine," Peter timidly insisted, not wanting the attention that Aster was shining on him.
Shaking his head, Strange narrowed his eyes at Peter. "I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here." He turned to Tony. "What is he, your ward?"
"No," Peter said, pausing before holding a hand out for Doctor Strange to shake. "I'm Peter, by the way."
Strange's eyes flickered down to Peter's hand, though he didn't make any move to shake it. "Doctor Strange."
Peter retracted his hand. "Oh, we're using our made-up names. Um... I'm Spider-Man, then."
Aster snorted and Strange glanced over at her with a tired look on his face, wordlessly turning to walk to the navigation center. Peter turned to Aster, dumbfounded as he leaned over and whispered, "I don't think he likes me very much."
Aster cracked a smile, grabbing his arm and tugging him toward the adults. "He'll warm up to you."
"How do you know?" Peter asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"How could he not?" Aster countered, smiling up at him.
She turned and kept walking, leaving Peter stunned behind her. A warm smile grew on his face and he stood like that for a moment before finally breaking out of his stupor, hurrying to follow after them.
"This ship is self-correcting its course," Tony said, tearing his gaze away from the control system to stare off in deep thought. "Thing's on autopilot."
"Can we control it? Fly us home?" Strange raised an eyebrow when Tony didn't respond. "Stark?"
Tony snapped out of his trance. "Yeah?"
"Can you get us home?" Strange firmly repeated.
"Yeah, I heard you." Pausing, the billionaire clasped his hands together in front of him and shook his head. "I'm thinking... I'm not so sure we should."
Aster and Peter shared a concerned look. Doctor Strange's expression hardened and he moved to circle Tony. "Under no circumstance can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos. I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here—"
"No. It's you who doesn't understand," Tony interrupted him, walking forward to jab a finger into the sorcerer's chest. Aster frowned at his sudden urgency, ready to step in and separate them if needed.
With his chest heaving up and down, Tony looked over at her and his eyes softened apologetically. But it was only for a split second before he was back to glaring at Strange. "Thanos has been inside my head for six years... Since he sent an army to New York and now he's back! And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did, what he can do. At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him, Doctor. Do you concur?"
Aster stood there, stunned. Tony was Thanos' biggest threat during the Battle of New York. The billionaire was the one to fly into the wormhole and finish off the Chitauri. Of course, Thanos would choose to target Tony from there on out.
Worry swirled in her gut and her heart pounded with sudden anxiety. The thought of Thanos even knowing who Tony was to her made her feel sick. Thanos knew that Aster's heart was the weakest part of her, and if she didn't comply with what he wanted, he would make her pay for it.
Taking in Tony's words, Strange stood there and simply stared at him. Finally, he concurred, "Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kids or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let the three of you die." Peter stiffened behind Aster. "I can't because the fate of the universe depends on it."
"Nice," Tony murmured, slapping the sorcerer's shoulder. "Good. Moral compass. We're straight."
Tony turned to his kids and made slow steps over them, seemingly conflicted. With a sigh, he outstretched an arm to briefly tap Peter on both shoulders in an induction-like manner. "Kid. You're an Avenger now." He turned to Aster next, doing the same for her. "And you're back."
Peter stared at his mentor in disbelief before turning to Aster with a giddy smile on his face. Aster forced a smile back, though the weight of the situation settled heavily on her shoulders.
───
Allowing the spacecraft to continue the route it was set to travel on, the makeshift team that they had assembled had some time to kill.
Tony and Strange both went off in separate directions, most likely to take some time to think and prepare themselves on their own. Not wanting to be alone, Aster and Peter stayed together.
"So..." Peter drawled, turning to look at her. Still in their nanotech suits, the two teenagers were sitting near the controls, watching the bright stars pass by as they flew through space. "Since I'm an Avenger now, wanna tell me what we're up against?"
Aster tore her eyes away from the grand windshield to flash Peter a small smile. "Do you want the short version or the long version?"
"... Short, only because I don't know how much time we have." He paused and scrunched his nose up. "But not as short as Mr. Stark's version that he gave me in the park."
Giggling Aster nodded. "That's fair." She squinted and gathered her thoughts. "Uh, basically, there are these six colorful stones that Thanos wants. Space, Reality, Power, Mind, Soul, and Time — which is the one Doctor Strange has. Each one is powerful in its own way and has to do with a different aspect of the universe. If Thanos gets his hands on all six, he'll be the most powerful being in the universe. He would be able to do whatever he wants. And his goal has always been to keep the universe balanced."
Listening to every word intently, Peter tilted his head and asked, "Balanced?"
Biting her lip, Aster nodded. "Yeah. Like eliminating half of the universe's population to balance its resources and inhabitants."
With wide eyes, Peter soaked in her words. He leaned back, blowing a long breath from his lips. "Wow." Glancing over at Aster once more, his eyes softened. "And Thanos is your father."
A statement, not a question. Aster stared at him with parted lips, unsure of what to say. "How'd you figure it out?"
"Well, Mr. Stark said that those alien guys were basically your evil siblings and I put the pieces together," Peter told her, his voice teetering the line between joking and serious. The way he was looking at her made Aster want to cry right then and there. The concern he had in his eyes made her feel like the only girl in the universe. "I know this is a dumb question but... You okay?"
Aster didn't want to lie to him. She wanted to sit there with him for the rest of time and spill all of her worries, and then find a loophole for them to go home and for it to be all over. She wanted nothing more than to return to being a normal kid whose biggest worry was getting all of her homework done. She wanted to be back in the city and go get Thai food like he had asked her to. Just the two of them.
But instead, she forced a small smile and said, "Always am. I just want this to be over."
"Me too," Peter told her, sincerely as ever.
The two stared at one another for a moment before Aster wordlessly leaned her head on Peter's shoulder. His breath hitched and his arm ghosted over her back, almost like he was scared his hands were too fragile for her. But then, he rested a gentle webbed hand on her side, rubbing small circles over her ribs with his thumb. Nothing was said as they both looked ahead, trying to focus on the beauty of space and not the situation they were in.
The sound of someone clearing their throat behind them made the two teenagers spring apart as if they were suddenly burning one another. They both looked up and froze when they saw Tony standing there, eyeing them suspiciously. "Can I..." he trailed off, pointing at Aster.
Understanding the implication of his words, Peter incessantly nodded and jumped to his feet. "Yeah! I'm just..." He cocked a finger over toward Doctor Strange, who was engaged in some quiet conversation with his cloak. "I'm gonna go try and make him like me."
Aster giggled as he scurried over to Strange. "That's probably not gonna end well," she noted.
With his hands in the pockets of his workout sweatshirt, Tony shook his head. He sat down next to her with a sigh. "Nope. It'll be a miracle if Strange doesn't kill him by the end of this."
The end of this. "Yeah."
Glancing over at the seventeen-year-old, Tony stared at her closely. Clearly, her attempt to stifle her anxiety couldn't get past him. "What's goin' on in your head?"
"I don't know if we can do this," Aster guiltily admitted, looking at him with fearful eyes.
Tony reared back, splaying his palms up. "Oh, come on. Where's my confident Ace?"
Aster tore her eyes away from him, returning her gaze to the starry landscape ahead. "The Avengers are still split," she pointed out. "Half of us are on Earth, and half are here. We've never done this apart before."
With a heavy sigh, Tony told her, "I know. I miss how it used to be too, you know." He lifted a hand to tap the bottom of her chin, pulling her attention back to himself. "But we don't have any other choice right now. We're gonna figure it out like we always do, and so are they, and then we'll all get to go home."
Home. Aster smiled a little.
To offer her a bit of hope, Tony added, "And I know you already sent out a distress signal but I gave Bruce the phone. He and Steve have probably already made a plan to keep Vision protected and Earth safe."
Trying to stay optimistic, Aster nodded. A beat of silence passed between them before she murmured, "I didn't know he was in your head for six years."
Tony stiffened, only slightly. Still, Aster noticed. "I didn't know he was your father. Gives me a little more motivation to kick his ass."
A puff of laughter left Aster's nose. Before another word could be said between them, the controls of the ship began to beep, tearing Aster and Tony's eyes away from one another. Getting to their feet, both of them stared out the window with wide eyes.
"Hey, what's going on?" Peter asked as he and Doctor Strange jogged over.
"I think we're here," Tony duly noted.
Aster's lips were parted in shock. She slowly nodded, taking a deep breath to prepare herself. "Yeah. I know where we are."
All three heads turned to her. Aster swallowed hard, still not tearing her eyes away from the planet they were approaching. "This is Titan. Thanos' home planet."
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
dun, dun, dun!
peter is officially and avenger and starlight is officially back in business!
the gang has arrived at titan and things are about to get even more chaotic.
aster and peter's little talks are my favorite to write.
they comfort each other in a way no one else can. *crying*
anyways, aster is feeling a little weary and even tony's arrogance can't calm her down.
if only they ran into a few other familiar heroes of the universe...
thanks for reading!
leave your thoughts!
<3 mal