Um hi. *offers you this*
"So... you're not with Thanos?"
"With Thanos? No! I'm here to kill Thanos. He took my girl. Wait, who are you?"
"We're the Avengers, man."
"Oh."
Slowly, Tony lowered his gauntlet. From his position in the arms of the alien man who was actually from Earth, Peter knew that his chest blaster was still ready to go if they made a move to attack, but thankfully the cold pressure of the space gun against Peter's temple was also removed after a moment. Missouri dude released Peter and stepped away. Peter hurried to stand by Tony. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," Tony assured. "Are you okay? When we get home you are so grounded for life-"
"You can't ground me-"
"May will ground you, don't mess with me Peter-"
"His name is Peter?" The alien who did not lay eggs in Peter asked. "Are all humans called Peter?"
"What?"
"The guy who'd kidnapped Peter sighed and his face mask vanished. "Hi, I'm Peter Quill. No, Mantis, not all humans are called Peter. Unless things have changed."
Peter squinted at Peter. "Peter Quill? Why does that sound famili...? Oh! You're that guy from Buzzfeed unsolved! Mr Stark! I solved an Unsolved! He was actually taken by aliens, oh my god Tony we have to go home and tell them-"
"Is your child okay?" The tattooed alien asked loudly.
Tony went to pinch his nose only to realise he was in the suit just before he smacked his own face. "He's not mine. I'm just babysitting."
Peter wanted to protest, but he'd just noticed Dr Strange having a seizure in the corner. "Um, Tony?"
"What- what? Strange, what in the ever-loving-"
Strange came to an abrupt, glitchy halt and explained that he was checking the timeline. "Uhuh," Tony said skeptically when the mage explained how many they didn't win.
"But you didn't check all of them, so maybe there's a really good version you didn't see and we should just do whatever feels right at the time," Peter said optimistically. Strange did not seem impressed.
"Hey, wait, is that an infinity stone?"
"I am the keeper of the time stone, yes. We can't discuss this now, Thanos is coming-"
"You own time and you're saying we don't have time?" Quill yelled in outrage. "Just pause time!"
"I can't just do that without messing with the balance of the-"
"And how many of the futures you just saw messed with the balance of the universe?" Tony cried, outraged.
Peter nodded. "He's right. Surely this is the best time - heh - to use it?"
Strange stared hard at Peter. Then his lips tensed and he made a strange motion with his hands, and a faint greenish glow surrounded them. His teeth were showing with the strain. "I cannot hold it long. If you're going to come up with a plan, do it now."
"We could go back in time and save Gamora!" Quill suggested immediately.
"Again- who's Gamora?"
"A friend of ours," Mantis said. "Thanos captured her, she's the only one who knows where the soul stone is."
"Except Dr Strange just saw the future so he knows too," Peter pointed out.
He expected Strange to shoot him down again but instead the man's eyes flashed briefly green and he said, "Vormir."
"That mean anything to you folks?" Tony asked the aliens. They exchanged a glance and nodded.
"Okay. So we go back in time to way before Thanos stole Gamora and hide the soul stone somewhere else without telling her so Thanos will get to this Vormir place and have no clue what to do next. Then we'll have just as many stones as him and he won't stand a chance."
"One issue," Strange gritted out. There were glowing orange circles around his forearms now that seemed to be helping with the strain of holding time. "I'm only human. I can't turn back time any further than 24 hours before I burn out. And no, none of you can borrow the stone."
The aliens exchanged glances.
"Gamora was taken 4 standard orbits ago," tattoo guy said.
Quill thought about that. "That's roughly 16 hours."
"Great. How long will it take to get from here to wherever she was taken?"
"Less than one orbit," Tattoos said confidently.
"Great," Tony said. "So Strange winds back time 20 hours, team one takes a ship and zooms over to save this Gamora or at least stall Thanos long enough for team two to zoom over to Vormir, steal the stone and take it somewhere else."
"I can't go near Thanos, not wearing a stone," Strange said immediately.
"Okay, the wizard volunteers for team two. There's no way you're getting near this maniac, Pete, so you and I are going to Vormir too."
"I'm saving Gamora," Quill said decisively. Tattoos nodded. Mantis placed her hand on his shoulder.
"He surprised us. This time I may be able to put him to sleep before he can attack."
"No," Strange said curtly. The effort was obviously starting to get to him.
"No?" Tattoos asked dangerously.
"Peter- Peter Quill can't go to Thanos. And Stark and the kid can't go to Vormir together."
Immediately several people began to protest. Strange's eyes slammed shut, green flames of- of something appearing in the air around them.
A gauntlet, thrown around a battlefield. Nobody to catch it.
Two identical men, pointing at each other. A green woman pointing a weapon at both of them- "You can't trick me Thanos-"
A blast, a body flying backwards, crawling towards the edge, another stepping backwards-
"Tell Pep I'm sorry,"
"No wait- NO-"
A purple giant kneeling, pinned, antennae glowing, "sleep", a mumble, a yell, a purple head snapping to the side and black eyes flying open, full of rage-
The images are there and gone before Peter can process them, before he even knows what he saw. Tony swallows. "Okay, so team one: Me, tattoos, bug lady." He pointed at them in turn. "Team two: kid, wizard, buzzfeed."
Nobody complained. The circles that had ben rotating so, so slowly around Strange's arms paused, then started to go backwards, faster and faster. Around them, the moons of the plant shifted, and Strange let out a yell, then the circles vanished, the amulet snapped closed, and the moons stopped moving. The green tinge vanished from the air.
Strange pointed one hand at the ruined donut and twisted it. A part of the ship repaired itself. "There must be escape pods of some kind."
"Right," Quill started towards the ship, Tattoos in tow.
"How's the suit?" Tony said. It took Peter a moment to realise he was talking to him.
"Oh! It's great, Mr Stark, really, I mean I was actually really sad before that it was a part of the Avengers offer because it would have been so cool to have on patrol, I mean the other one is great but like spandex isn't bulletproof and this one seems like it actually might be?"
"If we get back to Earth you are keeping that," Tony said quickly. "You didn't tell me you get shot!"
"I mean, not a lot? And I think I told Happy, but maybe not. He doesn't seem all that interested in me, to be honest."
Peter kept chattering, filling the silence until two pods detached from the spaceship and landed near them. Quill and Drax emerged.
"Alright," Quill clapped. "Let's do this."
Tony laid a hand on Peter's shoulder, faceplate lifting to show his worried eyes and the determined set of his jaw. "I don't like this."
"It's the only option," Peter reassured. "Be careful, okay? This Thanos seems...not great."
"I hardly need you telling me to be careful, kid. Don't make me tell May I lost you in space, alright? FRIDAY'll look after you. And you!" Tony span around and pointed at Quill. "You'd better not let anything bad happen to my kid!"
"I thought you were just babysitting," Quill reminded him.
"Well, now you're babysitting," Tony fired back. Peter squashed the childish urge to insist he didn't need babysitting.
"I can't babysit! Last time I dealt with another human I was a baby!"
"And you!" Tony whirled and pointed at Strange, and hesitated, an unreadable expression flashing across his face. He sighed. "I'm trusting you to make sure he gets back to Earth in one piece."
Strange inclined his head.
"Right," Tony said. "Look after yourself, underoos. See you at home. Now, someone has to tell me how to fly one of these things because I'm not going back to Earth and not building a spaceship."
"Bye, Mr Stark," Peter called after him as he headed to the other spaceship. Just his luck that he met a bunch of aliens and then got stuck on a team with two other humans.
The silence in the small podship was excruciating.
"So," the other Peter was the first to break. "How's Earth doing?"
"It was intact when we left," Strange said dryly.
Peter tried to think about what he would want to know about Earth if he'd left it 30 years ago (he didn't know how old Quill was, okay?). He clapped his hands together and leaned forwards.
"They made more Star Wars films! There's like, an entire franchise. Um, technology has developed a bit thanks to Mr Stark but we don't have much more advanced space travel yet. Oh! And there are superheroes, ever since aliens invaded New York a few years ago."
"Superheroes?" Quill glanced over his shoulder, curious. Peter bit back the urge to tell him to watch the road. "Like Captain America?"
"Right! The main group is called the Avengers, they live in New York. It's a bit of a mess at the moment, long story, but Captain America was part of the Avengers!"
"It's been a while since I read the comics as a kid, but didn't he die?"
"Yes except no, they defrosted him and he's fine now. On the Avengers there's also Mr Stark, he's Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye and Thor who's a god but not really." Quill made a sound that was maybe a scoff. "There are loads of other superheroes that come and go but they're kinda the key members. And there are other teams than the Avengers but they tend to keep to themselves, like the Defenders, the Fantastic Four, and probably loads of others I haven't even heard of. Like whoever Dr Strange works for, I guess."
"I'm not a superhero," Strange protested, sounding offended. "I'm a member of the Sanctum."
"Is that a cult thing?" Quill asked.
Strange's lips twitched. "It is not a cult."
"Sounds like a cult," Quill shrugged. "What about you, Peter 2.0? Are you a superhero?"
"Oh, not really. Mr Stark made me a temporary Avenger when we came to space but I think he was joking. I just help out around the neighbourhood, stop muggers and bicycle thieves and stuff like that."
Peter cringed as Quill turned all the way around in the pilot's seat to stare at him in disbelief. "You realise you're in space, kid? Going up against Thanos? I think that counts as more than looking out for the neighbours."
"I mean, can't look out for the neighbourhood if there's no neighbourhood left?" Peter tried weakly, but it didn't sound as cool as it did when he'd said it to Tony. This was exactly why he'd declined the offer of the Avengers.
Thankfully Quill dropped the subject, and instead started an argument with Dr Strange about music.
Vormir, when it appeared, was smaller than Peter had expected. Instead of a planet it was more the size of an asteroid, and it was immediately obvious where they needed to go. The only feature was a mountain-like structure with a long set of stairs up to the top. The podship wouldn't fit on the top of the platform so Quill landed at the base of the stairs and all three of them disembarked, gazing up at the mountain.
"What," Quill asked, "is the point of having a spaceship if I also have to walk up stairs?"
Strange moved his hand, and a sparking portal appeared in front of them, showing a dark stone platform. A matching golden circle was barely visible at the top of the stairs.
"Now that's a superpower I can get behind," Quill said appreciatively as he stepped through the portal. Peter followed, glancing around warily, and the portal closed behind Strange.
There was movement from behind a half-ruined pillar and immediately all three of them braced. Golden shields appeared on Strange's arms, his cape flared, Quill's mask covered his face and he aimed two blasters at the shadows, and Peter crouched, web shooters ready. The metal legs that had helped him cling to the flying donut had made a reappearance, entirely intuitively, and were spread threateningly around his body. The new suit was so cool.
A figure emerged from the darkness, tattered robes swirling ethereally. It made Peter think of a dementor, although the creature's face was entirely visible: red, and ridged, lacking a nose. Oddly, the alien creature seemed... familiar.
"Who are you?" Quill demanded.
"Do you seek the stone, travellers?"
"Do you intend to stop us?" Strange asked dangerously.
"No. I am the stone's keeper. I am here only to warn of the price."
Quill and Strange exchanged a glance over Peter's head. Peter was too busy squinting at the red face, trying to recall...
"What is the price?" Strange was the first to give in. The red chin lifted.
"To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the stone demands a sacrifice," the cloaked figure recited.
"What sacrifice?" Strange demanded. An uneasy feeling churned in Peter's gut and the cliff suddenly seemed more ominous.
If the skull-faced being had lips, it might have smiled. "In order to take the stone, one must lose that which they love. A soul for a soul."
Wow, he delivered that in such a cliché villain voice, just- "Got it!" Peter snapped his fingers and pointed at the red man. "You're the guy Captain America beat!"
That didn't seem to please the man - Peter didn't care, according to the books he was a scumbag anyway - but he kept trying to be mysterious anyway. "Indeed, a lifetime ago I, too, sought the stones, and paid a great price."
"You had it coming," Peter scoffed. "I say we don't listen to this guy and take a look around ourselves."
Quill glanced at Strange. Strange sighed. "Well, I'm afraid I can't claim either of you to be that which I love most, so there's not much point in throwing anyone over the edge just yet."
"Right," Quill agreed. "But if he's right... well, this is going to become real awkward real fast."
Strange turned away and began casting a complicated spell. Red Skull watched them impassively as Quill began kicking rocks around, making a show of looking behind crumbling pillars. While the adults were distracted, Peter snuck to the edge and peered over.
"It will not work," A voice said at his elbow and Peter almost screeched, narrowly avoiding falling off the cliff.
"Give a guy some warning!" He hissed at the looming villain. Red Skull didn't blink.
"You are not that which you love most. As a hero, you are too selfless. Your sacrifice would be in vain."
Peter gave him an incredulous glare. "I wasn't going to- I'm definitely not that self-absorbed, jeez. I was just looking. Personal space, please."
The Red Skull didn't back off, so Peter sighed, checked that Strange and Quill were still busy, and stepped over the edge of the cliff.
The rock face was sheer and jagged, but Peter's stickiness worked just as well here as it did on Earth. He crawled down the cliff face, exploring for any hidden caves or secret doors. To his disappointment, the rock face seemed mostly smooth.
It was a long way down. Peter wasn't even halfway before he heard shouting from above, and Strange's red cape came hurtling down the cliff face.
"I'm fine!" He yelled up, and batted away the cape when it tried to pull him off the rock. "I'm going to climb down to the bottom and see if I can find the stone!"
A small portal opened beside him and Strange glared through. "You couldn't have warned us?"
"I figured you'd tell me not to," Peter shrugged.
"Man, that is creepy, how are you doing that?"
"I'm sticky."
"You do recall I can make portals, yes?"
"Maybe it doesn't work if you use magic to get down. We have no idea what the rules are here."
"It is like I said," Red Skull said from the other side of the portal, sounding faintly amused. "A soul for a soul. No loopholes."
Peter huffed. "Can you just keep the evil ghost entertained while I look around down here? It'll either work or it won't, I'll be fine."
Strange sighed. "Fine, but the cloak's staying with you. I promised Stark I'd bring you back alive. If you're not back up here in an hour I'm coming to get you - we don't know how long the others can stall Thanos."
"Okay! Have fun up there!"
Quill gave him a thumbs-up, Strange just looked annoyed. The portal closed.
Adjusting his grip on the rock slightly, Peter turned to look at the floating cloak.
"Hi," he said. "I'm Peter."
The cloak rustled, then swung itself around Peter's shoulders and clasped around his neck.
"Oh." Peter blinked. "Okay then."
Deciding that there was nothing of interest on the cliff face, Peter fixed a strand of webbing to the rock and began to bounce down to where the sacrifices would presumably fall to. The cloak fluttered but didn't stop him as he neared the ground, only slowing to lower himself upside-down towards the rocky floor.
There was a stain in the centre of the space, but no lingering smell of blood or skeletons. He supposed it might be a metaphorical stain. Who knew how the stones worked. Theoretically if the soul stone was still here, that meant nobody had ever claimed it here, so really the place had no business feeling as haunted as it did.
With a last glance up at the top of the cliff, where he could just make out the tiny shapes of Strange, Quill and the Red Skull, Peter reached down and brushed his fingers against the flat rock at the base of the cliff-
-and he fell, crumpling onto the hard surface and sending out ripples. He got quickly to his feet, embarrassed, and glanced back up to check the adults hadn't seen him.
He sucked in a breath. The cliff was gone.
Peter whipped around in a circle, but he was somewhere unfamiliar and entirely barren. The weight of the cloak had vanished from his shoulders. What was this? Was the ground a portal to some alternate dimension? Was that where the sacrifice was meant to go? Had he accidentally sacrificed himself? There didn't seem to be anywhere here to hide a stone. How was he going to get back? Could he get back?
"Friggin... Parker Luck," Peter muttered angrily, kicking at the shallow water. The dusty ochre sky stretched on, unforgiving.
"Peter."
Peter turned around so fast it gave him whiplash. He blinked the stars away and squinted at the approaching figure. He gasped. "Uncle Ben?"
Immediately he cursed himself. His uncle was dead. Undeniably so. This apparition was some kind of trick, something to-
"Peter," Ben said again, eyes crinkling in the way they always did when he was proud. Peter couldn't help it. His eyes welled with tears. He missed him. He missed him so much.
"Ben," he choked out, tears escaping onto his cheeks. His uncle reached for him with a sad smile, and Peter stretched out a hand-
-and gasped as the world shifted around him, and he was back at the top of the cliff, kneeling, outstretched hand closed into a fist. Strange and Quill hurried towards him as he drew his hand towards himself, shaking, cheeks still wet. The cloak hovered in front of him, flapping worriedly.
"What happened?" Strange pressed. "Are you hurt?"
Yes. "No," Peter said, getting to his feet. "Let's go."
"But we haven't found-" Peter opened his fist and Quill's mouth closed with a snap. In his palm lay a glowing gem of a yellow-orange colour. The soul stone.
A soul for a soul. He'd paid the price years ago. Peter had already lost what he loved, and if the universe thought this was some kind of repayment... It would never be enough. But it would at least help.
"Alright," Strange said. "Let's go."