It had been 15 minutes. Not that Peter had actually timed it but it certainly felt like it. 15 minutes, at least.
Mr. Stark was ranting and raving, pacing back and forth and stabbing a finger at him or Strange in turn. Not a surprise, of course, if a little excessive even for Mr. Stark. He'd always been a stubborn bastard. Peter couldn't get a single word in edgewise. He would just talk over him, ramble on about responsibilities and accountability and trust and whatnot. He dug up every little thing, even the damn ferry incident, which was not fair at all. As if that had been even remotely the same thing. Neither was the unintended trip to space.
If it hadn't been for Strange's orange dome, Mr. Stark might have just wandered off by now. Maybe Peter shouldn't have used his own words against him. At first, Mr. Stark's mouth had hung open, stunned into silence. Dead silence. And then, Rogers had made a move. Unsuccessfully, though, plus pretty predictable. Granted, Peter's senses would have picked up the fast approaching footsteps from behind even if an armada of Chitauri had suddenly made their way into the ally. At Rogers' approach, the hair on his neck rose and his body was ready, his senses scanning for the threat. He had managed to surprise Rogers even back in Germany. Two years of Spider-man-ing later, the new suit, plus Mr. Stark was right in front of him. If Rogers thought he could get past Peter's reflexes, he had been wrong. Very wrong.
When the Captain had launched for Mr. Stark, Peter had just needed to extend his arms and swiftly whirl his mentor around. One pull, a few quick steps, and Peter's body was between Mr. Stark and Rogers. The Iron Spider reformed around him like a second skin, his web shooters engaged. He had been ready for this, ready to fight for Mr. Stark when he had so miserably failed him in the battle on Earth. And on Titan.
Peter's eyes were fixed on Rogers' shield and when his senses fully kicked in, time seemed to slow. The Captain came at him. Detaching the shield from his back, he firmly clasped it in his hand, building up speed. Let him come. He could take Rogers. He wouldn't break as he had in the hospital. He wouldn't give in. Not this time. Behind him, Mr. Stark shouted for them to stop. He ignored him. Eyes on the man. Eyes on the shield. Then, the familiar orange veil rose in front of him, a swirling barrier between them. Rogers, unfamiliar with Strange's particular brand of magic, braced himself behind his shield and ran headfirst into the dome. A clash and, like earlier Bruce Banner, he was catapulted backwards, just about missed Lang and smashed into the front of the car right next to him. Ha. Served him right.
"Peter!" Mr. Stark grabbed him from behind, and with Rogers dazed for the moment, he let himself be pulled back.
But it was Strange's voice that actually startled him out of his fight mode. "Peter... I know we're not on a particularly tight schedule here, but this is really not the time to indulge in your Captain America revenge fantasy. So... can we not?"
"He started it."
"And I am stopping it. I don't care how mad you are at the other Captain Rogers version, this one has not a clue what's going on and there's no need for all the drama."
It took a certain amount of self-control for him to keep his cool, but he let the suit retract back into the housing unit, signaling some sort of cooperation. Even the damn cloak was pointing a fabric finger accusingly at him. He fought the urge to turn away from the wizard, sulky teenager style, and instead, relaxed his arms. The wizard was right. Rogers wasn't important right now. He turned to the man he had come to bring home, the only one who really mattered. Mr. Stark had taken one look at him, and then he had started off his rant.
On the other side of the orange shield, Lang stood with his mouth hanging open. Rogers had extracted himself from the wreckage of the car and paced the perimeter of the dome. Not as frantically as Peter's mentor, up and down, up and down, always at the edge of the dome. If anything he looked like a tiger that circled its prey. Thank god for the Doctor's barrier. Without it, he'd have been absolutely screwed.
Mr. Stark's pacing was less of the threatening sort but more the mad-monologue kind. He kept his distance from Peter and that didn't make it any easier to get the man to listen.
"—not gonna happen. I don't even want to hear it! There is no way in hell I am going to risk Pepper or Morgan or you and fuck around with the damn timeline! No! No way! We had one shot and botched it already. What if this will make it even worse? Thought of that? Hell, you guys being here... it means... shit, this could already... this could unravel it all. Maybe has already? Thought of that? No?" His hands ran through his hair and pulled at the strands. "And you!" He turned towards Strange, stabbing his finger in his direction. "You should know better. How could you let this happen and—"
"I know what I am—"
Mr. Stark talked right over him as well. "—you know the implications this can have on this timeline! Now that we know... now that we know what will happen it might undo everything! It might not even—"
"It won't, Tony. Not the way we—"
"Now, you are here forcing our hand and who knows what this will—"
Peter had enough. He closed his eyes for a short moment and pictured that little ball of warmth in his gut, all the courage he had brought. This was his shot. He had to take it. A few steps and Mr. Stark was within his reach. In one swift motion, he grasped his mentor's wrists, forced his hands out of his hair and to his sides. Holding him down in a firm grip, Peter faced the man. "We'll turn it all back!"
Manhandling seemed to do the trick. Mr. Stark blinked.
"Mr. Stark, we'll fix it all. We know how. You and I, we will leave and then Doctor Strange will turn everything back. You won't even know that we were here!"
Mr. Stark's mouth fell open and his eyes glazed over as Peter squeezed his arms. This would work. He knew it would work! "It'll be like we were never even here and you'll be safe in 2023 with us. The power of the Stone can't touch another timeline."
"But, turning back time... that would bring you back, too! How... No, I don't even want-"
Peter kept him rooted right in front of him. "Just... can you just listen?! Doctor Strange can do it. He can control it, turn time back just for the three of you. Everything else around you stays the same."
"Peter, no! I don't... that... is that even possible?" He glanced over to the Doctor. "To turn it back like that?"
Strange nodded. "It is!"
But Mr. Stark shook his head and pulled on the hold Peter had on his arms. "You can't know that for sure! There is no way you can. You're just hoping it's that easy and—"
"Ask Rogers then," Peter interrupted before Mr. Stark could go off on another rant. "You won't believe me? Fine! He tell you!"
Mr. Stark followed his outstretched arm, pointing to the Captain, and his face went slack. On the other side of the dome, Rogers stopped dead, an expression of annoyed confusion painted on his face.
"Go on, Captain. Tell him about Vision," Peter said.
Rogers just stood there, eyes wide in silent shock. "I don't think this is—"
"Do it! Tell him what you saw back then in Wakanda. We know you saw it."
Rogers jerked at Peter's shout and went pale. "Peter, it doesn't matter what happened there! Vision was... this has nothing to do with—"
"What the fuck happened in Wakanda, Steve," Mr. Stark said, his voice sharper than before. His stare was fixed on Rogers, calculating and curious at the same time.
"Vision... he..." Rogers cleared his throat, then went on with a somewhat steadier voice. "Vision died. Thanos took the Stone from him and he died. You know that."
Inside the dome, Strange made a small annoyed sound. "If you could elaborate on the minutes before that, Captain?"
Rogers gritted his teeth. His eyes found Peter's and an intangible understanding passed between them. They had him cornered. Rogers might be a pro when it came to omitting certain facts and his version of the truth might not always co-align with what Peter would consider to be fact, but he wouldn't lie to their faces. If it came to his honor, he'd tell the truth if pressed for it, even to his own detriment.
"Wanda... Wanda used her magic on him." Rogers cleared his throat again before his glance moved to Mr. Stark. "She had waited until the last moment even though Vision had begged her to do it sooner—to get it over with. And in the end, she did it. She destroyed the Stone and Vision with it. Only Thanos undid it. He used the gauntlet and turned back time just enough to bring him back. She...we couldn't stop it."
Peter glanced to Mr. Stark. He stood like transfixed, eyes narrowed and an expression of intense concentration on his face. Then he shook his head. "No! That can't be right. You wouldn't... couldn't know then. If he... your memory of it would be gone, too!"
Rogers cleared his throat again. "Well... it wasn't time altogether - just a... slice? Just where Vision was. It didn't affect anyone else.
Below Peter's hand, Mr. Stark's pulse spiked. He looked over but his gaze was still glued to Rogers' face, frozen in his spot.
"You watched him... as he turned back time... and Vision just came back?" Mr. Stark asked, his voice uncharacteristically shaky.
"Yes." The Captain's face was stoic and he shook himself out of his trance. "There was nothing we could do. Wanda or I. We could only stand there and watch. When Vision was back, he strolled over and ripped the Mind Stone from his forehead. It was over in sec—"
"Jeez, Rogers! You never thought to mention that before?"
"I tried! You didn't seem all that interested at the time."
"Excuse me? I was right there. I didn't leave the fucking base for a month! Danvers found me just fine. Rhodey found me just fine! How come you didn't? At the very least, when we went for the time heist, how could you not tell me?"
Rogers took a deep and measured breath. "It was over and done with," he said, "And you barely even tolerated my presence in the room. And no, it didn't seem relevant at the time."
"Oh fuck off, Rogers! What did you expect me to do? The moment I came back to Earth you still held the fucking Accords and Ultron over my head. After everything, we had lost! After we fucking lost everything you still couldn't even face the idea that maybe you'd been wrong! That maybe if you hadn't run from your fucking responsibilities, hadn't gone on a single-minded Bucky-rescue-mission and left the rest of us in the lurch, then maybe none of this shit would have happened!"
Rogers face hardened, but he made a visible effort to calm himself. "It was never just about Bucky."
Mr. Stark shook his head, then made a shooing motion with his free hand. "You keep telling yourself that. I can't keep having the same fight with you! It's been five years and I've lost—" He broke off and glanced back to Peter. Their eyes met and he swallowed the rest of the sentence.
Strange stepped forward. "Gentlemen, neither of you will change that particular part of history. I suggest you defer this discussion to a different time, preferably sometime in 2023. As Captain Rogers just demonstrated it is—"
"Tony, listen to me." True to his righteous self, Rogers completely ignored the wizard's attempt to break up their fight and stepped even closer to the dome. "We need you. The universe needs you. We can't do this without you. If something goes wrong... If he can't bring you back—"
"Captain," Strange's voice took on a sharper edge than Peter had ever heard on him before. It made the tone the wizard had had put on during Mr. Stark's and his discussion on that alien ship sound like a friendly chit-chat. "As far as I remember, we don't trade lives here..."
The Captain jerked back from the magic shield as if a current had arced over and burned him, eyes shifting to the wizard.
"That...this is different! A completely different thing! To change the course of time like that, there are consequences. I don't understand how you can even—"
"I'm sorry, I am confused as to what you're trying to imply here. Are you actually questioning my integrity?"
Rogers' face was set in stubborn defiance. "Nothing comes without consequences."
"Unless you know how to work time." Strange face was dead still, radiating all the authority ingrained in the Sorcerer Supreme. The cloak, however, had its fists clenched and pressed against its waist, clearly offended. "Like I would have even considered helping the boy without ruling out any consequences for the universe as well as the space time continuum. If this path was likely to bring harm to any part of it, I would not be here."
Mr. Stark gave a small twitch under Peter's hand and turned his attention from the quarreling men to him, a gentle expression in his eyes. "Pete..." He stepped closer and his own hand came to rest on Peter's arm. "Buddy, this is nuts. It can't work. Even if Strange reverses time, I'll just end up back here. It's alright, though." His voice was low and urgent, desperate to make him understand. "Here is where I should be. You know that. It's what I've got to do. I can't risk my family and I can't risk you, no matter what dimension you—.
"No, you won't! The Stone's energy can't touch you in a different timeline."
Rogers' voice echoed through the dome once more. "They can't know that, Tony. All of this is just too—"
"But I do. I do know it." Peter's eyes were fixed on his mentor, urging, pleading for his trust. "Thanos' snap only affected our timeline. Only the one. Even with all the Stones, he couldn't change other dimensions." He dug his fingers hard into Mr. Stark's arm, willing him to listen, to believe him. "Pepper knows. What I'm here for. What I'm going to do."
Mr. Stark's head shot up, eyes sharp and focused. "You told her?"
Peter nodded. Pepper's voice came up as present as if he had just talked to her. The way she had pleaded with him, her anguish and worry. "Yes. She...she said to tell you that she loves you and that she needs you." He blinked back the sudden sting in his eyes. "We all do, you know? We all need you to come home."
Mr. Stark's eyes grew wide and he shook his head. "No way. She'd never let you do this. She knows I never would have wanted you to risk yourself like this."
Peter shrugged. "It's not that I actually asked for permission...when she found out, she tried to stop me. At first. She wants to be strong... for Morgan's sake, even for me. She kept saying we'd be fine without you and that you prepared all these... all these things for a reason. That we wouldn't be lost in case you didn't make it back... but it's not enough. I know it. Pepper knows it, too. I told her I was going to get you and she didn't stop me. She even helped. Deep down she knew all along this... it's the right thing to do."
A tremor ran through Mr. Stark's body. His eyes wet, he let go of Peter and looked away, suddenly very interested in some detail on the ground. He couldn't hide his shaking fingers though. Not from Peter. When he took a step away, Peter held on, not willing to let him go—let it go.
"Please... We need you. It won't matter for this timeline. It'll be like we were never here. I promise. I know it seems like an awfully convenient loophole, but it'll work. Please..."
Behind them, Strange and the Captain had stopped their bickering and stood, watching him and Mr. Stark in silence. Mr. Stark's eyes shifted to Strange, then back to Peter. "I—"
"If you won't do it for me, do it for Morgan," Tears stung in his eyes now, too. Why was this so hard for him to agree to? "She needs you. I know you think she'll be okay, but she won't be. Not if she ever finds out that you had a shot at being with her but didn't take it."
"You should do it," Lang said, his tone almost conversational.
Peter whirled around and so did everyone else. Thank god, someone else had taken over talking sense into Mr. Stark. Whatever he had said seemed to be too little, too unconvincing.
Lang had been quiet all this time, had done nothing but stand and watch and listen. Now, he shrugged and cleared his throat. "Seriously, go for it. None of them knows what it's like, but I do." He walked up to the edge of the dome and stood next to Rogers. All eyes followed him. He didn't seem to notice and was fixed on Mr. Stark alone. "Cassie thought me dead for five years," he went on, his voice turned sharp and demanding. "If there was a chance to save her from this pain, from the loss and heartache, I'd do anything. If this can work... and they say it would... I wouldn't think twice about it and you shouldn't either. That's a chance you can't afford to pass on!"
"Scott!" Rogers grabbed Lang's arm. His face was drawn in surprised shock. "What are you doing? How can you... The risk is—"
Lang shook him off. "Cut the crap, Cap... Captain... Steve, I mean... America..." He cringed but continued. "You tell me you wouldn't undo some shit given the chance? No mistakes? No fuck-ups or regrets? What about that dumb fight at that German airport? I sure didn't think that one through properly."
Rogers opened his mouth as if to argue his point again, but thought better of it and pressed his lips into a tight line. Lang only shrugged at him, raising his hands. "I know it's over and done. I've lived and will be living with the consequences of all my fuck-ups... made my peace with what I did. But nothing has been anywhere near as permanent as this. Or as severe."
Yes, yes, yes! Peter's heart leaped in his chest. This past-version of Lang was just as good an ally as the future one. Mr. Stark would see reason now. Peter shot Lang a big smile, but he wasn't done yet. He took one more step towards the swirling yellow-orange barrier.
"This seems way too convenient. I get it," he said, motioning to Mr. Stark. "But leaving my family behind if I could choose otherwise just because it feels like cheating fate? Never in a million years. They shouldn't be the ones to pay. You..." He pointed, his finger all but touching the dome. "You should go with them! For all I know you earned it."
Mr. Stark sighed. He shook his head, balled and un-balled his fist, fighting a silent battle with himself.
"Mr. Stark? Mr. Stark...?" Peter tugged at his arm, but when he looked up, it wasn't in his direction. Peter followed his gaze.
Rogers. He stood, back straight and jaw working, staring back. What was it with them? Why was the Captain's opinion so much more important than everyone else's? This was a freaking nightmare!
Mr. Stark swallowed. "I don't know what to do. I dropped the ball. We blew our chance with the Tesseract but..." he waved at Strange and Peter, "but they are here and so I guess we fixed it. Somehow. Like—I don't even know."
That startled Rogers. He blinked, clearly confused. "What's with the Tesseract? What happened?"
Lang shrunk back, leaving Mr. Stark to explain. Peter still held onto Mr. Stark's arm, pulling harder to get his attention back, but he wasn't reacting, gaze still fixed on Rogers.
"We dropped the ball, Steve. Well, the damn case. Hulk jumped out of the staircase and the case went flying. Loki took it. I... I'm sorry. I couldn't—"
"But you'll fix it!"
That got their attention. All eyes snapped to Peter.
"But we only had one shot," Lang said.
Mr. Stark cocked his head and held Peter's gaze. "What was that?"
"You'll go back to 1970, New Jersey, and get more particles, grab the Tesseract from storage and come back okay."
"You will still do that, as a matter of fact," Strange added. "We are not... cannot change anything about that."
"1970—?"
"Jersey—?"
Rogers and Mr. Stark both spoke out at the same time, then stopped just one word into their questions. Both men's foreheads creased with puzzlement but Mr. Stark recovered faster.
"What's in the Garden State in 1970—oh!" Comprehension bloomed on his face. "The military installation in—" He broke off mid-sentence, nodding to himself. "That's quite the trip down memory lane, but yeah... yeah that could work. The Tesseract is there and more Pym Particles and—"
"Are you sure?" Rogers asked.
"Yeah. I have a vaguely exact idea..."
"And it will work. It already did," Peter said, pointing meaningfully at himself. "You'll be fine. You already know what to do."
"We'll fix it? We didn't ruin the time heist after all?" Lang asked from the sidelines.
Peter had his eyes still on his mentor. "You will fix it. After we've left... after Strange has put everything back the way it was."
Strange cleared his throat. The dome flickered and died. "Tony, Peter has the coordinates for you. The two of you will jump ahead and I'll follow as soon as I turned things here back to the way they are supposed to be."
Peter's eyes flickered over to Rogers and Lang, but neither seemed to make a move now that the dome of protection was gone. That was probably a good sign.
"Hang on, I didn't agree to any of this yet. Tell me... Tell me again."
Peter looked at Strange and the wizard nodded encouragingly. Even the cloak's collar was nodding along. He took a deep breath and collected his thoughts. This was it, this was his chance to finally make him see reason. "It's easy enough. You and I will jump ahead into the Quantum Realm. As soon as we're gone, Doctor Strange will use the Time Stone and reverse all the interactions we had with the three of you. You'll pop up again in this timeline because time gets turned back but then you'll also be safe in the Quantum Realm since the Stone only affects the one timeline it's wielded in. Strange will stay out of sight so you won't know he's here and when things are back to the way they were, he'll time jump, too. We'll all arrive on the platform in 2023 together."
"Easy enough, huh?" He turned to Rogers. Again. The Captain's glance wandered over to Strange then back to Mr. Stark. He shrugged. "Your call."
Peter's heart was in his throat. They were so close. What was there still left to ponder? He felt his emotions bubble up again. "Mr. Stark... please..."
His mentor's pulse was racing under his hand. He could feel the nervous energy, uncertainty rushing through the man in front of him. Peter's breath hitched. What else... what else did he need to say?
"Please... you just need to trust me. You did, with Friday... I wouldn't even be here if you hadn't trusted me with Friday and..." He wasn't even looking at Peter. His head hung low, his shoulders slumping. A cold shiver went down Peter's spine. Fear? No. He'd seen fear on Mr. Stark. This was not that. It was something else. It was... Oh.
Peter's hand tightened around his arm. "Mr. Stark... Titan... Titan wasn't your fault." His mentor jerked back, but Peter had a firm hold on his arm. "What Thanos did was not your fault. You did everything you could to protect—"
"Did I?" His head shot up and the look on his face made the words jam in Peter's throat. Mr. Stark tried to yank his arm out of his grasp again, but shock had his whole body frozen and his grip wouldn't falter. The man's eyes were glistening with tears, a deep red mark on his lip where his teeth had bitten down hard. "Did I do everything I could? We've had years to figure out our bullshit and all I did... all I did was—"
"You did what you thought was right! Mr. Stark, I was there! I know how hard you tried to make them listen, to understand what was at—"
"You died, Pete. There was nothing I could do. You fucking disintegrated in my arms because we failed. I failed. That was on me! I should have figured out how to turn the damn ship around, fly us home. Keep you—"
"We don't even know if that would have changed anything, Tony." Strange's voice was still so calm when Peter's heart was about to burst out of his chest. "Flying back to Earth might have just turned into more casualties. You knew that and you were right. That is if we had even been able to figure out how to do that. Might I remind you we couldn't even land that thing on Titan without crashing? Earth's atmosphere would have made us crash even harder without any guarantee of defeating Thanos."
Mr. Stark's eyes burned into Strange. "We managed in 2023. Or so you say."
Strange stood completely still but the cloak threw its own fabric up like hands in frustration. "That's was not the same. He didn't have the Stones. We didn't have Captain Marvel in 2018. It was a very different fight. You know that."
Mr. Stark just waved him off and as Peter blinked away his tears he suddenly realized what this was really about. Redemption. A dept, Mr. Stark felt like he had to pay.
He took a deep breath, trying to still the rush of emotions that would make his voice all weak and shaky. "You think laying down your life will make up for not defeating him in the first place, don't you? That it will somehow get rid off all the guilt you carry around?" Mr. Stark bit down on his lip again and Peter could feel the jolt of pain that went through him. "You'll still do that, Mr. Stark. You'll die and—" Peter's voice broke and he took a strained breath to continue. "And it looked painful enough. But if you don't come with us now, all you do is just leave behind the people who love you to suffer on their own. Please... The world still needs you. Pepper and Morgen... and I... we all still need you."
Slow, strong footsteps came up behind him. It didn't make his senses flare, but he flinched all the same as Rogers got closer. "Tony, Earth can't afford to lose her best defender." Tears spilled over at last as Peter turned to look back over to Rogers. "They say there are no consequences to this and Peter might lie to your face to convince you, but Strange wouldn't."
Peter found Mr. Stark's eyes again. "But you'd know if I was lying. And you know Strange would not hesitate to let you die if the universe depended on it. He already has." His hand shot up and wiped the tears off his face.
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mr. Stark cleared his throat and nodded. "Not really aligned with his moral compass."
"The kid is right. If this is about punishing yourself for Thanos. Don't." Rogers' hand clasped Mr. Stark's shoulder for a moment. He gave a curt nod in Peter's direction and stalked back to stand next to Lang.
Mr. Stark's eyes found Peter's. "You sure about this?"
Peter's heart fluttered with hope. "Yes."
Mr. Stark's throat worked. He sent another glance over to Cap and Lang, then to Strange, before he gave a few short nods.
"Alright."
Peter nodded along. "Alright." The throbbing of his pulse made his ears ring. Did... did they just do it? Was this it? Still nodding he shot a quick look at Strange. The wizard was stoic as ever.
"Hey, kid..." Peter's eyes met Mr. Stark's again. "You'll have to give me back my arm if you want me to punch in those coordinates."
Peter blinked up at him. "You... you're coming with us?"
At that Mr. Stark's face pulled into a tentative smirk. "I... yeah. I trust you, Pete."
It felt like another minute passed before the words really registered with Peter and as they did all the fear and doubt, all the pain and grief fell off him all at once. He let go of Mr. Stark's wrist and in the same motion lunged forward and flung his arms around his mentor. That little warm ball of courage in his gut spread into his every cell. Hope. He would really bring him back. He really did it. He wouldn't lose him after all. His face was buried in Mr. Stark's jacket and he muttered a thousand teary "thank you"s into the fabric. Mr. Stark's hands rubbed soothing circles across his back.
"I... " Peter gulped down his emotions to steady his voice. "I love you, too, Mr. Stark."
He tightened his grip on Peter and let his head drop down to his. His lips came to rest against Peter's temple as he whispered back. "I know, buddy."
Peter leaned into the touch for another moment, then let go. He used his sleeve to dry his face before he pulled it back and held his hand out to Mr. Stark. The coordinates for the platform shone brightly on the bracelet's display. The emotion running through him was still too much and he cringed when he just couldn't stop his hand from shaking. He stole a glance at Mr. Stark because of course, he would notice, but his mentor just grasped his hand and gave it a firm squeeze before he typed the digits into his own bracelet.
He cleared his throat. "So... I just time jump and... hope this works, I guess. right?"
"Right," Peter whispered back.
"Nothing else I gotta do. Just jump." He exhaled deeply, eyes now on Strange.
"Just jump. I'll do the rest," Strange confirmed.
"Alright... I guess I'll see you guys in a minute." He nodded at Rogers and Lang before his attention was back on Peter. "Ready, kid?"
Peter couldn't help but snort with a low laugh. Of course, Mr. Stark would jump right back to being in charge, calling the shots. Excitement prickled in his fingers and a wave of happy familiarity rolled over him. "Yup. Ready, when you are."
He mimicked Mr. Stark and had his hand hover over the bracelet as he met the man's eyes full on. His mentor bit his lip once more, then nodded.
"Here we go."
In unison, both tapped the bracelet twice. Nanites swarmed out of the bracelet's holding unit and formed the Quantum Realm suit around them. It took only seconds for the mechanism to roll into gear and catapult them across time and space. Only seconds, but long enough for Peter to ponder the fact that he might have failed to mention to Mr. Stark what exactly was waiting for them on the other side of the time jump.
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[author's note: thank you guys for reading and thank you for the kind comments! I hope you're enjoying the ride. ;) ]