Hello, readers present and future!
Sorry for how bad my last chapter was, but we all have our off days. Anyway, it's the weekend my dudes, so I'm going to make the most of it. Yep. I should be able to update at least on both Saturday and Sunday.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything Marvel and have no intention of using this for profit. (But judging by the name of the website, you already knew that)
"Let me just say, that if aliens end up laying eggs in my body, I'm totally sorry for that," said Peter, comfortably hanging from the ceiling, like, well, a spider.
Tony rolled his eyes. "If I get another pop culture reference out of you-"
"What I'm trying to say is that someone's coming!" said Peter. Oh. He must have been able to detect them with his Spidey-senses, Tony thought.
"Allies of Thanos, I recommend you surrender if you value your lives," came a voice from the door. They hadn't been seen yet, thankfully. Stephen Strange grabbed pulled Tony by the collar and yanked him out of sight. Peter self onto the ceiling with his web. Even if this was an enemy of Thanos, it didn't necessarily mean that said person would be an ally.
Tony furrowed his brow. He had recognized the voice, but he couldn't place from where. He had a vague feeling that he owed them a drink. Well, Tony Stark owed a lot of people a drink, so it wasn't much of a distinction.
Stephen Strange reached out with his sixth sense for the unfamiliar aura. Except it wasn't unfamiliar. Strange stood up cautiously. "Odinson?" he asked the silence.
"Afraid not," came the reply. Suddenly, Tony remembered who the voice belonged to.
"Strange? You know who you're talking to?" asked Tony hesitantly. The taller man ignored him.
"What are your intentions here?" Strange asked. Tony was impressed at how calm the man was being.
A beat. Then, "Revenge."
"Revenge for what, reindeer games?" asked Tony, standing. He felt quite certain that if Loki was planning to kill them, he already would have. Plus, 'real power' didn't have an army at his back this time around. Tony felt certain he and Strange could take him.
Loki paused. Then, "None of your concern, mortal. By the way, you still owe me a drink."
Strange turned to Tony. "You know him?"
"We've met," said Tony. He raised his voice and added, "When we clobbered him in New York. You?"
"Briefly," said Strange, as if it was of no consequence to sit and have tea with the god of mischief.
"Hey, um, do you know this dude?" asked Peter, sinking down from the ceiling on his web fluid.
"Get back up there," said Tony, protective instincts kicking in. He didn't know what he'd do if something happened to Peter, but he had a hunch it would probably along the lines of 'get murdered by the kid's hot aunt'.
"I don't have any intentions to harm you, as long as you are against Thanos," said Loki, who was growing bored with the incessant back-and-forth.
Something isn't right, thought Tony. Loki and Thanos should've been best buddies, seeing as Thanos could probably help Loki along to his goal of world domination. "How do we know you aren't playing games with us, Rudolph?"
"I thought you said no more references," Peter muttered, but everyone ignored him.
"Thanos and I have a…" Loki paused for a minute, thinking of the right way to phrase this. "We have a bit of a history together. I wouldn't dream of siding with him even before he…"
"Before he what?" said Strange.
Loki's eyes suddenly widened as they took in Strange's apparel. More accurately, the pendant on the man's necklace. "Did you really bring the time stone right into Thanos' grasp?" he asked. And he had thought the sorcerer an admirable talent!
"We might need to use it!" said Strange.
"Use it how? To bargain for somebody's life? To increase Thanos' power tenfold? Do you even realize what he could do with that?" Loki asked, stepping slowly towards the two men.
"Yeah. Wipe out half the universe, douche," said Strange.
"Erase time so none of us were ever born. Not you, not me, not the kid," he gestured vaguely to Peter, who was still hanging upside-down.
Strange didn't miss a beat, replying with some quippy remark, but for Tony it had struck a nerve. The idea of Peter getting hurt was bad enough, but for him to have never been born? Tony knew he would never let that happen, as long as he lived. Which meant that he would protect the time stone with his life.
"Who is he again?" asked Peter. This was very confusing. For one thing, he didn't see how the man looked anything like a reindeer. For another, the man now seemed to be playing fondly with a long, slanted dagger.
Loki turned to the child. "Loki, god of mischief. There's more, but I don't feel like explaining it to you."
"How do we know you aren't lying to us?" said Strange suspiciously.
To tell or not to tell? Loki sighed, and gave himself a moment to compose himself so that his voice didn't tremble when he said, "Thanos killed Thor."
"What?" said Tony, taken aback. Loki must have been lying. Thor would never have gone down without a fight. Tony wouldn't believe for one moment that the optimistic, friendly god could be dead. "You're lying."
"He's not," said Peter.
"And how do you know that?" asked Strange. God, if it was something along the lines of 'everyone deserves a second chance'...
"I, uh, recently installed a lie detector in the suit. The, uh, radio, internet, and tracking stuff have all gone down, but I built the lie detector to run off battery power." Peter felt uncomfortable when all eyes turned to him. And was it just the suit bugging up again, or did Tony actually look...proud?
But Tony's pride lasted only for a brief moment before his face fell. If Loki was telling the truth, it meant that Thor was indeed dead. And what the hell had the god of thunder ever done to Thanos?
"Why are you even here?" asked Strange awkwardly. It seemed it was now his job to not be losing it. Never mind that he had just been kidnapped by a noseless Squidward, or been tortured with glass needles!
"Thanos mentioned that he and his allies would regroup on Titan. And imagine the irony - killing Thanos on the planet where first came up with the idea that genocide was a good thing." Loki smiled. It was rather unnerving.
Also, he was now playing with two knives instead of one. Peter had to ask where he was keeping them.
"I love you, more than anything," said Gamora. She was not afraid to die, right here, right now. Peter was there, even if he was the one with the gun, and if her death saved the universe, then so be it.
"I love you too," whispered Peter. They should have been alone, because the Titan gripping Gamora by the neck did not deserve to hear their words. They should have been saying them while getting married, not with him aiming a gun at her face.
He closed his eyes and fired. But the gun only omitted a stream of bubbles. Thanos laughed. The blue space stone glowed as he teleported himself and Gamora to his ship.
Thanks for reading!
