The alien asshole looked far more calm and in control than he had any right to be, and he didn't let go of Peter's hand. Instead, he formed his opposite hand into a fist. The needles around Strange began to close in on the wizard.
"These barbs are all under my control," Maw said coolly. "Any one of them could end your friend's life in an instant."
Tony didn't break eye contact or lower his weapon. "Yeah, I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more of a professional courtesy. So this Mexican standoff isn't going to do you much good. Now, get your hand off the kid."
Maw smiled thinly and finally released his grip on Peter. He turned his back on the kid, folding his hands together behind him. However, instead of surrendering, the alien summoned more barbs. These ones closed in on Peter.
The kid curled into as tight of a ball that he could manage, cradling his broken hand to his chest. "Mr. Stark," he called, the plea for help clear in the high pitch of his voice.
Tony barely fought down the protective growl that wanted to crawl up his throat.
"As you can see, you've saved nothing" Maw said. "Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine."
The circle of needles continued to close in on both captives. Peter had his eyes shut tight and was rapidly muttering under his breath. Tony had a sickening feeling that he was whispering self-comfort. Chest tight, Tony forced his attention away from the kid and back to the alien, keeping his voice care free.
"Maybe. But I already sent your ass running once today. I kinda like my odds."
Tony was certain that if the alien was a normal fleshy color, his face would be beat red. "You did not send me running anywhere, you chittering ape! You are nothing, a mere pebble to be kicked aside."
"Yeah, yeah, heard this all before," Tony said, adding an eye roll for good measure. And this stand-off was much easier for it, now that Tony found some control.
Maw snarled. "You will learn to bow to your betters, you pathetic—" Maw suddenly convulsed, choking on his words. Confused, Tony glanced over the alien's shoulder.
And saw the thin line of Peter's webbing planted in the middle of the bastard's back. Taser web, Tony knew that was a good idea for a setting. While Maw was distracted, the kid had apparently forced his three non-broken fingers to the trigger of his web-shooter. Atta-boy.
When Maw's eyes rolled back and his legs started to tremble, Peter brought his other hand over to fiddled with his injured wrist. The taser web dropped, and a blast of full webbing replaced it, pinning Maw to the far wall. With the alien unconscious, Strange dropped to the floor – right on his face, hah! – and Peter sagged against the wall.
"All right, kid!" Ignoring Strange, Tony pulled Peter to his feet. The boy was visibly trembling, and his eyes were glassy with pain. Tony wrapped an arm over his shoulders and did what he did best when a situation made his heart crawl into his throat: he babbled.
"How'd you do that? The web choices are locked unless on standard without the suit's A.I. We're out of range, Karren and F.R.I.D.A.Y don't work up here."
"Um, after the whole thing with Toomes, I added a manual mode – sorry," he added quickly, clearly remembering Tony's reaction the last time he'd fiddled with the suit.
Tony smiled and gently rubbed the kid's shoulder. His eyes were clearer now, at least. Seeing that Tony wasn't angry with him, Peter lifted his wrist to show off what almost looked like a radio dial, just beneath the vial of web fluid. Circled around the dial were a handful of hand-drawn symbols.
"It's a little less overwhelming this way. Helps me remember my favorite web choices," Peter said.
He flashed a shaky smile, and then made the mistake of looking down at his injured hand. His index and middle fingers were bent flush against the back of his hand. The little color that had returned to Peter's cheeks immediately drained away and the shaking in his shoulders doubled. "M-Mr. Stark, I can't move my fingers," he whimpered, voice full of tears.
"Let me take a look at that," Strange said. Peter shrank into Tony's hold and, despite the circumstances, Tony's heart swelled at that gesture. "It's all right, son. I'm a doctor," the wizard said gently.
Peter glanced up at Tony, big brown eyes wide and teary, asking for reassurance. Strange was a top-class surgeon, Tony knew that from the search he'd had F.R.I.D.A.Y run on him during the fight. Even though Tony wasn't supremely confident in the wizards doctoring abilities, seeing that his hands were trembling, and Tony would have been more than happy to rip out Strange's spin for just sitting there and letting this happen to Peter…he couldn't leave the kid in pain, and Strange was the only option.
So he nudged the boy forward, keeping a hand firmly planted between his shoulder blades. Strange gently cradled Peter's hand, muttering vague medical things under his breath as he tentatively prodded at the boy's wrist and studied his broken fingers. Then, without warning, he yanked the boy's fingers forward, snapping them back into place. Peter yelped, and Tony yanked him back to his side, curling around him defensively and without thought.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He snapped, instinctively raising his weapon.
"His accelerated healing had kicked in," Strange said with the cool, condescending voice of a true doctor. "The bones in the wrist were fine, but the fingers needed to be re-broken. I just gave him back the use of his hand, for the rest of his life."
"He really did," Peter said, flexing his finger and rolling his wrist as an example. Then he glanced down at his front with a wince. "The suit's kinda ruined, though."
Tony eyed Strange for a minute longer, then examined Peter. His color was better now, even if he was still trembling. Tony examined the damage, and some of the tension in his shoulder's drained away when he saw the damage wasn't too bad. He smiled tentatively down at Peter. The kid still looked uneasy as he fiddled with the torn fragments of the suit. Well, if he was worrying about the suit, the kid wasn't too bad off.
"Don't worry about it, I brought you a replacement," Tony said, transferring the package on his back to Peter.
The particles slid over the damaged suit, leaving the pristine Iron Spider suit in its place. Peter glanced down in amazement.
"Whoa," he squeaked. "This is, the, it's the from the…This thing is even cooler up close! Is it the same nanoparticle tech you were thinking of using? What all can it do?"
Almost like the suit was answering the kid's question, four mechanical spider legs sprouted from his back. Tony was having a lot of fun with Peter's name when he added that into the design. Peter twirled around, trying to get a better look.
"Whoa, what are those? They're awesome! This is the coolest thing in the galaxy!"
Tony watched him fondly as the kid came down from his geek out – he hadn't been there when Peter first saw the original suit; his ecstatic joy was just as cute as Happy promised. Tony glanced back at the wizard. The other man's face was blank, the perfect doctor's mask. If Tony hadn't perfected that same mask years ago, he would have planted a well deserved repulser punch to the heartless bastard's throat. As it was…
"I'm still pissed," Tony said, just so they were clear.
Strange didn't respond, except for the slight incline of his head. Then he turned on his heels and swept out of the room. "We need to get this ship turned around," he called over his shoulder.
Tony waved for Peter to follow him and jogged out after the wizard. Peter spared a hesitant glance at the unconscious alien before following the adults. Luckily, though the ship itself was enormous, the control room was only a few corridors away. The control panel was scaled for a giant and framed by two circular handles. Tony immediately crouched at the base of the panel, pulling the case open to get at the internal wiring.
"You know, if you're ready to thank me, I'm ready for it at any time," he called up to Strange.
"For what?"
"For what, for saving your magical ass!"
"I wouldn't really call this a rescue," Strange said, motioning to the expanse of space ahead of them.
Now Tony stood up from the panel. "Got you out of the circle of doom, didn't I? And if you'd just listened to me, none of this would have happened. Now we're in a flying doughnut, billions of miles from Earth, with no backup."
"I'm backup," Peter piped up.
Tony waved him off. "Not now, kid, the adults are talking."
Peter dutifully stepped back. Strange looked between the two of them, brow furrowed.
"I'm confused as to the relationship, here. What is he, your ward?"
"No," Tony said, instantly and maybe a little too sharply.
Tony suppressed a wince and glanced over to the kid. Fortunately, he didn't seem offended. Peter flashed that tentative, adorable smile of his, and offered Strange his hand.
"I'm Peter, by the way."
The wizard clasped the kid's hand. "Doctor Strange."
"Oh, we're using our made-up names. I'm Spiderman, then."
Tony coughed into his hand to cover the laughing fit as Strange visibly struggled to find a response to that. The kid was the best.
Strange turned his unimpressed look to Tony. "Can you fly this thing, Stark?"
"I don't think so. It's self-correcting its course," Tony said, all business now. "Thing's on autopilot."
"Can you override it?"
"Maybe, but the alien tech could take hours to figure that out, without F.R.I.D.A.Y running diagnostics. I don't think we have that kind of time."
Strange clenched his jaw, clearly frustrated. "So what do you suggest?"
Tony ran his hand over his mouth, thinking hard. "I say we should talk to our captive friend."
He turned on his heels, motioning for Strange to follow. He tugged Peter's arm as he passed the kid, keeping Peter safely tucked at his back. The teenager burrowed into him, just a little, but Strange must have seen it, because he moved to flank the kid. They slowly approached the other room. Tony poked his head in, summoning his blaster again as he peeked around the corner.
"Shit!" He snapped. Tony bolted inside, only to confirm that, yes, the webbing on the wall was in tatters, and Maw was nowhere in sight.
"He's loose. Bet he's the one who locked the auto pilot. Dammit," Tony shouted again, kicking the empty wall.
Strange started pacing, his sentient cape flaring around him. "Stark, fix this. We cannot allow the stone to fall into Thanos' hands."
"Well, I'm sorry!" Tony snapped. "The alien bastard's locked us out of the controls, and you know he's going to fight any attempts we make to change course. There's nothing I can do, so why don't you just shut it!"
Tony took a deep breath, reeled in his helpless anger. Peter was still clinging to Tony's arm, and he could feel the trembling that the kid was trying to hide. Lashing out wasn't going to do any good.
"We're going where we're going," he said, calmer now. "That just means we need to get ready to bring the fight to Thanos."
Strange eyed him, but finally nodded. "All right. But you have to understand; if it comes to saving you or the kid, or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because the universe depends on it."
"Yeah, I already saw that, Doctor," Tony spat. Something flickered in Strange's gaze, but it was gone too quickly for Tony to see if it was guilt. The wizard turned away and started back toward the control room.
"I'm going to ensure there are no unwanted ears listening in while we figure out this plan of yours." He swept out of the room, leaving Tony and Peter alone.
Peter's big puppy eyes darted from Tony to the Maw-vacant wall, and back, wide and scared, before he tried to school his features. He flashed a weak smile, and the attempt was made even weaker by the way Peter hugged himself. Tony beat back the itch to wrap the kid in his arms, and instead flashed his own brilliant grin.
"It'll be all right, kid." He promised. When that poorly disguised look of fear still clung stubbornly to Peter's face, Tony felt a burst of inspiration. "And hey, since we're going into an epic battle, we might as well do this right." He tapped each of Peter's shoulders, barely resisting the urge to form the nanos into the blade for effect. "You're an Avenger now," he declared.
That finally did it. The sick fear dropped away, and Peter's face went through a gambit of emotions. Shock, elation, caution of the responsibility placed on him, more elation, and finally settling on contentment.
Tony grin and squeezed his shoulder, then headed back to the control room. "Now come on, I want you to watch my back while I try to get some control over this thing. Keep Squidward off my back."
The wizard was doing something magic-y in the back of the room, sending up burst of orange energy. Peter hummed in interest, while Tony rolled his eyes and started examining the control panel again. After a few minutes, he felt Peter come to his side.
"Have you ever seen that really old movie, Alien?" he said after a stretch of silence. Tony glanced up and found the kid eying the ceiling with an air of unease. "I kinda feel like we're living it."
Despite the annoyance of hearing yet another one of the movies from his childhood being referred to as 'really old', Tony grinned. "Yeah, well, since you're such a big fan of that franchise, you should remember that it turns out pretty well, in the end."
"Only if you're Ripley," Peter muttered.
Tony barked a laugh. "Don't worry, kid. I'll make sure this is more of an Aliens type situation. I'll be Ripley, you can be Newt."
His fiddling came to an abrupt halt as Tony realized what Peter could read into that comment. He peeked up at the kid from the corner of his eye. Luckily, it seemed like the kid was too immersed in the game to pick up on the subtext.
"Does that make the wizard Hicks?" Peter asked.
Tony sighed in relief, awkward situation avoided. Then, the subtext of that comment caught up to him. He sent the kid a withering glare. From the overly wide smile Peter directed at him, the cheeky little sass-miester knew exactly what he was implying. Tony fought to keep from grinning.
"No," he said firmly. "He can Bishop. Can't wait to see him get ripped in half," he added a little bit louder so Strange could hear.
The wizard threw a half-interested glare over his shoulder, and then went back to…whatever mojo he was doing. But Tony didn't care remotely about anything going on with the wizard-doctor. Peter's bright laughter sounded through the ship, and in that moment, that sound was the only thing that mattered. Tony's heart soared, relieved beyond measure that Peter wasn't so scarred by this experience that he couldn't laugh. And he promised himself that no matter what, he was getting his boy home safely.