CHAPTER 2

Location: Guest Quarters, Palace, Wakanda, Earth/Terra/Midgard

Ice cold water splashing on her face was what brought her out of her thoughts. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Natasha gripped the edges of the washbasin in her quarters and looked up at the mirror in front of her. Cold, unfeeling eyes looked back at her in a mocking manner as if asking her: what next? She shook her head as if to fling the thought out of her mind and watched dispassionately as the short, blond hair moved and hit her chin.

Blond. She never liked taking that particular hair color. It could have been because of Clint since he always told her that that hair color did not suit her. Not that it mattered to her. But now that she didn't know whether Clint and his family were alright, it was all that she could think of. Behind her, her satellite phone pinged as a secret, secure connection was established. Walking calmly to pick the phone, she braced herself for any sort of news. This number was only available to Clint and Phil Coulson, thinking about whom still ached her. No one else. Not even Stark, who prided himself on getting all of their dirty little secrets out in the open.

The assassin checked the time. An hour since the snap. It was time. They had a protocol, she and Barton, that whenever something went down and they were separated, they would give each other an hour before establishing contact. No more and no less. As she dialed his private number, she thought fondly about Budapest. That had been the last time they had had to use this method.

"Zulu-Lima-Foxtrot-Charlie" crackled over the phone in a familiar voice that made Natasha sigh in relief.

"Boston-Easy-King-Young" the blond replied using the Western Union phonetics. They usually switched between their own keywords but due to Clint's house arrest, they had reverted to their usual method of developing codes.

"Barton, is everyone alright?" Natasha asked as she slipped into her other gear, one that was not covered in dirt, blood and their friends' ashes.

"Yeah, all of us are. But… Natasha, we were in a restaurant and our waitress just turned to dust and then some of the other patrons. I mean… what the hell? What happened Natasha? Dammit! What happened?"

"You heard about the alien ship in New York this morning?" she asked.

"Wait. What?" Clint yelled into the phone and mouthed 'sorry' to Laura as Nathaniel almost woke up from his nap. Walking out of their room, he asked softly, "I have been on vacation ever since the house arrest ended. You know, the no connection type. Only brought the satellite phone and a few others for emergency. Are you saying that we have another alien crisis? Is this anything like Loki's stuff?"

"We had an alien crisis, Clint. We lost. It's over."

"Tell me everything. Hold on. Lila, Cooper, go to your mom. Yeah, go on."

And Natasha told him about everything that had happened since that morning. As she was lacing up her boots, there was a knock on the door and she joined Bruce and Rhodey to walk down to the throne room.

"Is it Clint?" Bruce mouthed to Natasha. "Is he ok? His family?"

Natasha gave him a thumbs up, still explaining the situation to Clint.

Just like her, Rhodey too was busy on call. He had called up Pepper to check in on her. Thankfully, she had been uninjured and only stuck in traffic as a result of half the universe turning to dust. Now, as she walked home frantically, she asked about what exactly had happened and how everyone was doing.

"I'll check in with you later, Pepper." Rhodey said heavily as they neared the throne room, where Thor, Steve and Rocket were talking. Well, Steve was talking, Thor was nodding solemnly and Rocket was just staring into nothing.

"Wait. Wait!" Pepper shouted.

"Yeah?"

"Tony. You never said a word about Tony. What happened to him? Is he okay? Oh please tell me that he is okay. Please, Rhodey." Pepper was on the verge of tears as she stopped and sat down at a bench, nowhere near to her home. She needed to know if Tony was even alive.

"I…" Rhodey uttered, coming to a halt and almost bumping into Steve. "I don't know. I'm so sorry. But he wasn't here with us."

Pepper inhaled sharply and said, "Ask Bruce. Tony had gone with him and that wizard."

"Okay. As soon as I find out something, I'll call you. Just hang in there."

"Pepper?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. She is okay." Rhodey answered the unasked question. "But worried about Tony. Bruce? What exactly had happened before you came to the Facility?"

Bruce answered, "Wizards happened. Doctor Strange. That was the guy's name. And umm Wong, I think. And then there was the giant alien space ship and Strange was taken away and Tony went in after him. And maybe even the swinging kid did. Not too sure about that one though."

"Swinging kid?"

"Spider man." Natasha answered, covering the receiver with her hand. "It's Clint. He is fine and so is his family. They have been off the radar for some time so he has no idea what's going on."

"Oh god!" Rhodey breathed out. "Tony is in space? Along with Doctor Strange and maybe even Spider man?"

"I guess. We could check in with the other wizard. He went back to their sanctuary, I think." Bruce answered, now worried about his friend.

"Sanctum." Thor's voice, gruff with disuse, rang loudly amongst them. He had not spoken much since the snap, reverting to only gestures and facial expressions. Now he spoke, "Usually, any place that houses magical artifacts are called Sanctums. I'm assuming that it is the same way on Midgard."

"Ok. Sanctum then." Bruce said, knowing that Thor usually knew more than he let on. If he had learnt anything on their little space trip, it was not to underestimate Thor. He had figured out that the only reason the god hardly spoke technical things with the Avengers was due to language barrier as even his 'All-translator' or whatever couldn't translate technical words because even Brunnhilde, the Valkyrie and Loki had had trouble explaining some things to him.

"But I don't know the address. I had just fallen in there, through the roof."

Once again Thor answered, "177A, Bleecker Street."

"How… how does he know that?" Bruce whispered.

"He is a god." Rhodey whispered with a shrug just as his phone rang.

"Hey. It's Pepper. I know you probably wouldn't have found anyth…"

"Tony might be in space." Rhodey interrupted Pepper's frantic speech.

"Damn him! I was hoping he had come back. He hates space ever since New York." Pepper whispered.

"Along with the wizard and maybe even spider man."

"No! Tony would not allow Pet-Spider man to accompany him."

"I know that you know who this kid really is. So could you check if he, you know, is at home or whatever? Also, I will get in touch with the wizards as soon as I am back in New York."

"No, Rhodey. Give me the wizards' details. I can't just sit and do nothing. This is Tony we are talking about. I'll go talk to the wizards."

"Ok. I'll text you. Be careful."

"…and where?" Natasha was asking Steve, the satellite phone clutched in her hand in a manner suggesting that Hawkeye was still on the line.

"Where what?" Bruce asked in confusion. "The Tower, right? Or is there any other place?"

"Tower? As in Tony's Tower?" Rhodey asked as he huddled in with them, careful not to step on Rocket's tail. "He sold the Tower and shifted everything to the Facility."

"Ok, then the Facility." Bruce said with conviction.

"We are enemies of the State, Bruce. We cannot go back." Clint's voice sounded from the receiver.

"We cannot stay in Wakanda anymore." Steve said.

"This is true. The people and the Queen are both recovering." Thor said in an understanding manner. "We cannot be additional burden on her, not when she has to pick up the pieces of her kingdom and mourn for her brother."

Bruce looked up at Thor and saw only loss and sadness on his face. Nodding vehemently, he said, "Facility it is. The Government would be stupid if they tried to do anything to us. Especially at this point."

"Yeah, well, they aren't exactly the brightest people." Natasha said sourly.

"We have to go back. If for nothing else, then the people. They would need hope right now." Steve sighed.

"Aye. That is also correct." Thor whispered as the doors to the Throne Room opened and the Council walked out.

"Is the Facility safe for us?" Natasha asked Rhodey.

"Yeah. Additional security features that Tony added on one of those 'paranoid nights'. Nothing gets in, not even Ross's people or anything that S.H.I.E.L.D. had."

"Great. Clint, you hear all that? … Good."

Natasha cut the connection and walked in to join her team.

X-X-X-X-X

Location: Recovery Room, Unknown

The brightness was the first thing that he registered. Then came the pain that made him shut his eyes and slip into unconsciousness before he could even breathe.

The next time he came near consciousness, wasn't any better and he didn't even try to open his eyes. He did try to move his fingers and was once again pulled under for his troubles. It wasn't until till maybe the seventh try that he was finally able to hear something and hopefully even remember it.

"…been too long…"

"…maybe not possible."

"…sure…tail…really?"

Unable to make sense of his surroundings, he willed himself to sleep. Maybe the next try would be better. It took another couple of tries, before he could successfully move his index finger as he listened to the people around him.

"We should give up."

"…probably for the best…"

"It is going to work! I know it."

"Patience…ah… patience would be good now."

That last voice sounded a bit familiar as he started to realize that they were probably talking about him. Were they the enemy? Or allies? Did he even have allies? Probably not. Best not to show any signs of waking up.

Too late.

"He is waking up. Get… get him. It worked!"

"Best… uh… best that I leave now. Yeah. I'll… uh… I'll leave." Said the familiar voice.

The next few minutes or maybe hours were spent by trying to ignore the crowd around him. After a few minutes, the few people remaining in the room had left and he was left alone with just one person.

A cool hand rested on his own and a calm voice said, "I know you are awake. If you can hear and respond, tap once."

At first he decided to not follow the order. Just because he was found out didn't mean he had to respond to them. But as the seconds ticked by, Loki decided that it was better if he pretended to follow the orders. There was a high chance that he would find out what exactly was going on. And his throat was starting to hurt him.

"Good." There was an audible sigh as Loki tapped the bed beneath him and then, "Try to open your eyes. The lights have been dimmed."

Once again, reluctantly, he followed the instructions. Where was he? What did he get himself into now? If something happened to him, Thor would personally strangle him.

Thor! His brother! He was left alone with Thanos because Thanos had killed Loki and now Loki was dead. What sort of Helheim had a healing room? The surroundings definitely looked like a healing room. And what sort of a dead soul would require healing? Surely, even he wasn't that damaged? Or was he?

"Loki! Loki!" The other person called his name, one hand on the shoulder and the other on the chest, trying to push him back on the bed. When had he even gotten up? Whenever it had been, it had been a horrible decision, thought the trickster as pain flared up in every part of his damaged body.

Breathing heavily, Loki tried to calm himself down as the pain disappeared with one touch of the other person's hand. It was a pinkish alien, with blue and green markings on its body and grey hair tied up in a bun. The god had never encountered their type before but could immediately tell that it had some sort of seiðr in it. Very different and definitely weaker than his own, but most definitely there.

As it wordlessly worked on Loki's injuries, the god inspected his situation. He wasn't as awake as he would have liked to be but he had worked in worse situations, so he could manage it. He assessed his own body first. His neck had healed almost completely and the rest was being worked on by the healer alien. All other possible injuries, it seemed, had already been taken care of.

He looked down at himself and found that he was wearing a light green gown of sorts. It was hideous. His room didn't fare any better. Painted in pastel colors, the most it reminded him of was a nursery in Vanaheim. Not up to his tastes either. Hmm.

There was a door just opposite his bed and it wouldn't take him long to reach it, but not with the present company. No. He would have to wait for an opportunity to be alone. The room had the standard medical things, minus a healing stone. Now that would have been helpful, but never mind. Moving on, all of the machinery were advanced… too advanced. That was when he got suspicious of his whereabouts. This sort of advanced machinery had neither existed with Asgard nor with Thanos. And if he was in neither of these places and Xandar, one of the most technologically advanced world, had been destroyed, then where exactly was he?

What alarmed him was the window in his room, or rather the scenery outside the window. It was dark and stars shone brightly in the distance. Giant metallic structures were visible and so were a couple of aliens in space suits. A myriad of colors was visible just on the horizon, marking the beginning of some nebula probably. It was too far to be sure of it. It also meant that Loki didn't have any sort of inkling as to where he was. And he knew a lot of parts and sectors of the Universe.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" a melodious voice asked.

Loki whipped his head around to find someone at the door. When had the door even opened? His senses, it seemed, were yet to recover from… the incident. The voice belonged to a humanoid with hair as black as the space itself and eyes that matched it. His eyes were completely black with something shimmering in them. Loki could barely look directly into those eyes – so old and so dark that it reminded him of the void. And that was something he was actively trying to forget.

But none of that disturbed the prince as much as the power radiating from the person, did. It was a sort of subdued power, like the type the Grandmaster had kept around him. It was meant to intimidate one but not to alert them to the truth of the matter. And the truth was what Loki wanted to find out. This strange power was not unlike the Grandmaster or the Collector's but it also had something else about it. Something that he couldn't pinpoint.

"You can sit up on your own now, if you want to." The person said and signaled the healer to leave and the god tried not to show any discomfort at being left alone with this powerful being.

The god gingerly sat up, pausing every few movements to see whether the pain would return. When it didn't, he felt comfortable enough to sit up properly, his legs dangling over the side. He kept himself calm on the exterior but was ready for any sort of attack. But before that, he needed more information about the situation.

Loki opened his mouth to speak but could only manage a croak. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he tried again. "Wh-where am I?"

"Here. Drink this." The entity said, plucking a tumbler out of thin air and handing it to the wary prince. Seeing his reluctance, the entity said, "It is not a poison. On the contrary, it is an elixir. I promise, no harm would come to you."

Taking the gamble, Loki took a sip of the so called elixir. He was immune to many types of poisons any way thanks to his durable physique and nature and his time spent under Thanos. Still, it couldn't hurt to be careful and so he let his seiðr try to detect any harmful substance in the drink. There were none and so he swallowed it slowly.

The drink had almost no taste but had a sweet aftertaste. What really shocked the god, was the effect it had on him. His body tingled with warmth and he felt rested. His seiðr sang in joy as the elixir was absorbed into the body. He could feel it flare to life in a way that he had forgotten. He felt… alive.

And then came the headiness. He felt drunk on power. His own power. He had only felt like this the one time he had attempted and almost reached the bottom of Yggdrasil and the famed but never actually seen pools that gave it life. That had been a horrible idea and he had barely made it back upwards to Niflheim before collapsing from sheer exhaustion. Thankfully for him, the Einherjar stationed over there had recognized him and managed to take him back to Asgard. Unfortunately for him, Odin and Frigga had forbidden him from practicing Yggdrasil-travelling-through-backdoors till he came of age and finished learning all other forms of wielding seiðr. After that, Thor had kept him too busy with his foolhardy ways to attempt such a feat.

Now, feeling the same surge of power, he could barely keep the smug grin off his face. He quickly downed the entire drink and shuddered as his seiðr reacted strongly and he was sure that he glowed green and gold with power. Out of the corner of his eye, he was able to see the satisfied smirk on the entity's face and that was what brought him out of his power-drunk state.

"That was no ordinary elixir." Loki said, his voice back to its normal tone. He looked at the empty tumbler and then back at the entity for an answer. Now that his seiðr had been awakened, he sent it out to check on his surroundings, carefully keeping it hidden from the entity.

"No, it is not. I don't think you were supposed to just gulp it down. I mean, that stuff is pretty strong. I wouldn't know. I can't drink it."

"Because?"

"Compatibility issues."

"Hmm." Loki contemplated on that as he analyzed the findings of his seiðr. He was in, what seemed a private area. There weren't many rooms surrounding his and only one was occupied. The one on the far side of the floor. That one had an energy signal that he knew but couldn't place. The floor below him, however had a few more occupied rooms, again having energy signals that he was comfortable with. But other than that, the whole establishment that he was in, reeked of an old energy, older than even that on Sakaar. That one had been the Grandmaster's influence but this… this was different and much older.

"Your powers." Loki said, looking at the entity. "That is what runs the whole establishment?"

"Very perspective of you." The entity smiled and walked to perch on a small side table. "Yes. But I think you can do much better than that. I think, given some more time, you can find out exactly who and what I am."

"You give me far too much credit. I assure you that I possibly could not even imagine from where such old and powerful seiðr…"

"Oh, cut the bullshit, Loki." The creature said jovially and the god barely resisted raising his brow and showing his surprise on his face. "The fact is that people don't give you enough credit. But never mind. I do. I bet even at this very moment you are going through all the possible beings that I could be, aren't you?"

Loki gritted his teeth in annoyance. He always hated one thing above all and that was for the other person to know exactly where he stood in terms of his powers. Pasting a sickly sweet smile, he asked, "Maybe. But I am sure that I have never encountered one of your kind before. So I do not have any base for forming opinions."

"I think you do."

Loki remained quiet. It was a tactic that he had learnt from Odin himself. To stay mum and not say a word would almost always compel the other person to give away their position. It had worked a great many times and in great many situations.

The silence continued for quite some time till the entity said, "Two can play the game. But Loki, the time for playing games is over. So quit it. Go on. Do it."

"Do what?" Loki asked calmly.

"Your thing. Do your thing. Find out who I am. Aren't you curious?"

"What I am curious about is how I still live. Last I checked, I was being strangled to death."

"Patience, Loki. I know you have it. All will be revealed… but before that, find out who I am."

Loki narrowed his eyes at the entity and planned not to do his bidding just out of spite. He hated being treated as entertainment. That was what Odin's court, Thor's friends and basically almost everyone in his life had reduced him to and he refused to be just that. However, his curiosity was probably his biggest weakness at this moment and he knew he was fighting a losing war when his curiosity peeked its little, harmless head out to play.

Before he could decide on whether to voice his suspicions or wait for more information, he felt himself growing tired and weak. It was like coming down from a high and his experimentation in his youthful days were enough to let him know that it would give him a terrible headache. The crash, for that was what it was, reminded him of that one time he and Thor had gone on a diplomatic mission to Vanaheim and ended up partying with the royal heirs on that world. The two brothers had then slept for a week when they had returned home. He hoped that he didn't have to sleep for a week now, he still had to get to Thor or else Thor would be angry and an angry Thor was not good for his health… what was he thinking about, again?

Unknown to him, he was starting to slip off the side of the bed where he was sitting. The entity caught him before he could fall down completely.

"Whut 'ryu doin?" Loki's speech slurred as he tried to get away from the other person.

Sighing, the entity took the tumbler that the god was holding on to and said in a soft voice, "Maybe, that was a bit too much essence. Should remember that for next time… As for you, Loki, rest for now. You took too much in too less time. Your body is unable to handle it in such a weak state. We will talk later."

"…Mmm f'n." Loki managed to say as he lied down. His last thought as the person left the room and his eyes closed was 'Celestial'.

X-X-X-X-X

Location: Roof, Somewhere in San Francisco, Earth/Terra/Midgard

"This is so weird, man." Luis said as he looked at the equipment in front of him.

"And cool." Dave added, fingering the controls.

"I don't get a good vibe." Kurt mumbled as he avoided stepping on the three distinct mounds of dust behind the controls.

"Focus, guys!" Jim said, poking his head out of the van and held up a phone in his gloves clad hands.

"Do you have to do that? Wear the gloves? This ain't a crime scene, dude." Luis said, stepping away from the weird equipment at the back of the van.

"Why is that glowing? I don't like it. It's like Pym's witchcraft. Not a good sign." Kurt said, making a cross with his hand and muttering a prayer.

"I can't find Daddy anywhere!" Cassie said as she came around the van.

"This is his phone." Jim said, trying to unlock the phone. "Cassie, do you…?"

Cassie took the phone from him and typed 'No1GR NDMA' in the password area and handed the phone back with an attitude.

"Thanks." Jim mumbled as he removed the 30 something missed calls from Cassie. "If his phone is here, then where is Scott?"

"Not here." Dave said, looking around the roof.

The five had met up at Pym's residence at the beach but hadn't found any signs of life other than ants… a lot of ants. Jim had managed to find a few scribblings on a piece of paper in the trash and decided that the family and Scott had been off to do some science-y stuff. Then Kurt had traced Scott's phones (all of them) to some building in the downtown area and they had come to an empty roof with a running van and some piece of highly important equipment but no sign of any of the Pyms or Scott.

"There are only 3 mounds of dirt, so… only 3 of them are gone. Any one of them could be alive." Dave said as he eyed the dirt.

"What is with the dirt? It's everywhere!" Cassie asked as she looked over the railing to look at the city below them, covered in dirt and panicked residents. "It was there in the kitchen too." When she was met with silence, she turned to look at the sad faces of the adults and remembered Dave's words. Her eyes widened as she slowly made the connection.

"The dirt is…"

"Cassie, its ok." Jim said, pocketing the phone and going to crouch in front of his step-daughter.

"It's...its… mom… the dirt in kitchen… no…" Cassie's face scrunched up as she tried not to cry. "Is mom… is she … gone? JIM!"

"Cassie, we'll find out. I'm here." Jim pulled the little girl in to his arms as she started to cry and call for her dad.

The three ex-cons watched the scene as they wiped their own tears at seeing the distraught girl that they had come to adore over the years. They hoped, for Cassie's sake, that Scott was still alive and she wasn't an orphan.

All of a sudden, static filled the air and Kurt gasped and walked away from the console, muttering something about spirits. Dave rolled his eyes and went to look at the device as the static increased before giving way to the sounds of faint breathing.

"A ghost!" Kurt yelled as he ran backwards.

"ssie…Cassie?" the sound came from the talking piece hanging over the dirt.

"What's that?" Luis asked in confusion.

"DADDY!" Cassie yelled in excitement as she ran towards the control unit. "Daddy?"

"Cassie? What? Anyone? Hello?" Scott's voice crackled.

Picking up the talking unit, Jim asked, "Scott? Buddy, you there?"

"Jim? That you? Why are you there? What's happening? Where's Hope and Hank and Janet?"

"They are not here. I'll explain everything, but where are you?"

"Quantum Realm. It's weird. Can you get me out?"

"How?"

"Umm… not sure. They know how to… but the controls… umm… yeah… right to left… no, no, left to right. Yeah. Left to right, flip the three switches and then turn to giant dial in the middle, anti-clockwise till you hear a click. That should do it."

"Are you sure?" Jim asked as he inspected the controls and found all the things that Scott had pointed out.

"Kinda… like 60%."

"Scott!"

"Okay more like 40% or 20%. Ok, make it 10% but that's better than nothing. Anyway, do it when I say so. I need to change the controls on my suit too."

Cassie was smiling widely and practically vibrating with excitement as she realized that her father was coming back while Jim stood tensely and repeated Scott's instructions to himself. Luis and Dave were staring at the controls and looking around to see if Scott made an appearance while Kurt was kneeling on the ground and praying to keep the evil spirits away from him. Maybe, Baba Yaga was making a comeback.

"Ok… Jim? Stand away from the back of the van and… do it now."

Jim frantically followed Scott's instructions and hoped that he did it right. His Cassie could not lose another parent.

Everyone's attention was diverted to the glowing machinery in the back of the van as it started to whir and make some weird noise. At first there was nothing but slowly they could make out a figure growing bigger and bigger till the Ant-Man jumped out of the machine and balanced himself to stay upright before landing on one knee to hug Cassie, who had ran towards him.

Keeping one arm around Cassie and opening the face mask, Scott asked, "What is going on over here?"

X-X-X-X-X

Location: Parker Residence, Queens, NY, Earth/Terra/Midgard

May grumbled as she heard the knocks on the door for the millionth time. Why wouldn't they just go away? She was tired and this was her off-day from work and with Peter not at home and hopefully not in trouble, she could actually lie down and get some decent rest. Until whosoever-at-the-door decided to destroy this wonderful late afternoon for her.

Groaning, she threw away the blue and yellow throw and got up to open the door.

"I swear, if you are selling something, I'm going to kill y…"

May suddenly shut herself up as she saw a strawberry-blond in a business suit standing nervously at the door, about to knock once again. She instantly recognized the woman as Virginia Potts, CEO of Stark Industries and fiancé of Tony Stark. But what was she doing here?

"Umm, hello?" Pepper greeted Peter's aunt, just hoping that Peter would pop out of nowhere and hug her enthusiastically as was custom for the young boy.

"H…hi!" May said, straightening her top nervously and welcomed the business woman inside. "Um… would you like to have something?"

"No, thank you." Pepper said, giving May her usual press smile. "I'm Pepper, by the way…"

"Yeah… I know." May said. Pepper was one of her favorite modern day women-in-power. "I mean… Peter talks about you whenever he goes to meet Tony… I mean Mr. Stark. I'm May, Peter's aunt. But you probably knew that… because, umm… you have met Peter and maybe he talks about me or whatever…"

The business woman smiled fondly at that and asked, "Where is Peter?"

"School? I hope so. Oh, wait… I think they had a field trip to some museum today. He was pretty excited for it."

Pepper nodded as May went to find the slip with the name of the museum. She had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.

"Is there someone I can call to reach Peter? It's just that he isn't picking up the calls." Pepper said as May returned with the slip.

May frowned at that and asked, "What's wrong? Peter is not allowed to do his 'other' stuff during school hours."

"It's about the alien attack?" Pepper replied in confusion.

"Wha… what alien? Alien attack? What?" May rambled as her eyes flew open in distress. At Pepper's unbelieving look, she defended herself, "I had taken a couple of pills before I slept off and in this area you get used to odd sounds at all times of the day."

Pepper sighed and explained about what had happened during the day as May switched on the news to hear the same things.

"Oh fuck!" May exclaimed as she realized that there was no way Peter would have stayed away from such a huge threat. "Did something happen to Peter?"

"I honestly don't know." Pepper replied as she poured some water for the distraught aunt. "I just came to know that Tony had gone off in the ship with the aliens. I told him… I told him to come back but does he ever listen to me? Anyway, Spider-Man was spotted in the area so maybe Peter is somewhere out there helping other people out."

May nodded absently as she gulped some water.

"Ned."

"What?"

"Ned Leeds. I can contact him about Peter. They are joined at the hip and Ned knows about Spider-Man."

Pepper walked around the house, looking at pictures of young Peter as May talked to Ned on the phone. At the increased cursing behind her, Pepper turned around to find May cussing at the phone. She hoped that the lady had at least hung up.

"Peter went to fight the aliens. Of course he did." May said as she clutched the phone to her chest.

Remaining calm was one of Pepper's specialties. She had needed it to handle Tony and now it helped her to think through the situation. "Okay. Tell you what. I'm going to go and get someone to find some video feeds of the encounter and let you know what I know. You just sit tight."

"I can't. I'm…I'll go nuts. I have to…" May trailed off as she looked outside her window at the few policemen that were trying to get the vehicles off the road that were blocking it. How did she manage to sleep through an alien attack? "I'll go to Peter's school. Yeah. Maybe someone over there would know… or maybe I can help…"

Pepper walked over to the rambling lady and put her hand on her shoulder as a gesture of support. "I'll find out what happened, okay? Peter is like a son to both of us."

Walking out of the apartment, Pepper spoke into her phone, "Happy, I need your help. Get me to Avenger's Facility after a pit stop at Bleecker Street… Don't ask… we now officially have wizards."