Natasha leaned over Quill's seat and looked out the front viewport. "What's the chance this works on the first try?"

Quill shrugged and focused on maneuvering the ship into position. "88%". He glanced over at Rocket, who was prepping the thrusters. The general consensus was that the thrusters would provide enough force to crush the rocks. Then it would just be a matter of sifting through the debris until they found the ring.

Rocket laughed. "Which means there's a 12% chance that we'll create a dust cloud so large that it'll block out the sun and all life on Earth will die out." Slapping his hand down on a button, the engines fired beneath them.

Natasha moved to look at the video feed from the QuinJet. It was hovering over the cave system providing a view of the rocks. Right now, all Natasha could see was dust. "Steve, can you tell if it's working?" She felt the thrusters disengage and turned back to the front. All she could see was a dust cloud until it started settling. "I didn't think it would settle this fast."

Rocket shrugged. "I used the fire suppression system. I thought it was worth a shot."

Natasha grinned. She could see a pile of much smaller rocks in place fo the giant boulders. "Steve?"

"We've got it. Who wants to go play in the rocks to dig it out?"

"I am Groot."

Natasha smiled. Even without knowing what he said, she thought he knew what he had in mind. "Land. I think Groot has an idea."

xxxxxxxxxx

Steve stood next to Groot, watching him snake his branch through the rubble. They both had their eyes on a screen showing the position of Groot's branch and the ring. He let out the breath he has been unintentionally hold when the two signals met and the transponder fastened around Groot started retreating. He looked over as Bucky stopped next to him.

"Sam's out of surgery. Rhodey said the doctors think he'll make a full recovery. Once he can travel they'll bring him to the compound and Dr. Cho can use the cradle device to speed up the repair." Bucky watched as Groot's arm retreated from the rubble.

"Good. It looks like we're almost done here." Steve watched Rocket's eyes follow the ring Groot was holding.

"I am Groot." Groot dropped the ring into Steve's outstretched hand.

"Thanks, Groot." Steve looked around at the group. He was glad Quill had shown up when he had. Natasha had mentioned needing to convince Tony of something she had promised to Rocket. Other than that, the mission had turned itself around and had been successful. Sam would be ok and they had retrieved the ring. He looked over at Natasha. "Three our of four isn't that bad."

Natasha shrugged. "They're still tracking the Triad leader, but I'm not holding my breath. I think he's left Hong Kong." She glanced over at at the Hulk. "Any chance he'll change back to Banner?" The Hulk had been on the QuinJet before but it wasn't the best option.

Bucky shook his head. "I don't know. I think the only reason he changed was to catch Sam. I would have thought he would have changed back by now." He looked over at the Hulk who was standing back from the group. He realized they weren't the only one watching him. The lady with the antenna was as well.

Mantis tilted her head and looked at the large creature in front of her. She could feel it's anger without even touching him, but just below the anger was frustration and sadness. It was those emotions that made her curious. She could feel his strength and knew he would be just as much of a challenge as Ego had been. She took a reserved step forward and then another, finally reaching her hand out and touching his. The anger almost overpowered her. Fighting through it, she searched for the frustration and sadness until she located it. She could hear the grunts coming from the creature but it was background noise to her as she listened to the creature's emotions. "You are sad that he wants you to remain hidden."

Natasha watched Mantis and Hulk. She knew from experience that if you could connect with the Hulk on a personal level he would calm down enough for Banner to regain control. It was interesting to watch someone else do it. She knew Mantis was an empath but didn't quite know what that meant. She knew an empath felt emotions but as far as what Mantis did with it was beyond her.

Mantis thought the grunts were lessening and the anger was receding. It was still there but it was being covered by the sadness and frustration but also fear. She closed her eyes and pushed the anger further down. It wasn't gone and she knew it would never be gone, but she focused on the fear that was replacing it. "You fear losing control." Opening her eyes she realized the large green monster had been replaced by a much smaller man. "You fear losing yourself."

Bruce sucked in a breath and pulled the tattered shirt around him. "What did you do?"

Quill stepped forward and handed him a blanket. "She reads people and can control their emotions. It can be quite embarrassing at times." He eyed the man as he tightened the blanket around him. "What are you?"

"Gamma radiation." It was all Bruce could manage at the moment. He felt unsettled. He always felt out of sorts after changing but this was something more. He could feel the Hulk's frustration and sadness. It wasn't something he had ever felt before. A realization struck him. As much as he feared losing himself, the Hulk had that same fear. Bruce realized for the first time that they both wanted the same thing. A chance to live and all that living implied. It was unsettling. "I'll be on the QuinJet." He wasn't sure who he had mumbled that too. All he knew was that he needed to think.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dr. Cho eyed the group clustered in the room. Her eyes landed on Peter. He had surged from his seat even before she had opened the door. She thought if it hadn't been for MJ's firm hold on his hand, he probably would have already scrambled past her. "He's out of danger and restIng comfortably. I have him lightly sedated but he should wake up in another hour or so." She heard a collective sigh of relief. "Peter, you can come back now." She looked at the rest of his team. "Just Peter and MJ. The rest of you get something to eat or something." She held the door open for Peter and MJ and have a final look back at the four boys as the door closed.

"What happened?" Peter tightened his fingers around MJ's hand as the slowed to walk next to Dr. Cho.

"The drop in temperature caused his body to go into overload. His heart has enough damage that it couldn't handle the strain." Dr. Cho looked over at Peter. "On a good day his heart is probably only functioning at about 40 percent. He's got a pacemaker of sorts that helps it along when needed but the temperature was so cold that nothing was working." She could see panic sweeping across Peter's face. "Peter, hear me clearly. He's stabilized. He will be as good as Tony gets. He's sedated to give his heart a little bit of a break. When he wakes up, he'll be okay." She paused in front of the door and looked at MJ. "Do you want to call Pepper or do you want me to."

MJ looked at Peter. He was having more trouble with this than she thought he would. "Can you call her? It'll probably be more reassuring coming from you."

Dr. Cho nodded and left the couple standing by the door. Based on Peter's reaction she thought Tony had probably downplayed all of his heart issues. She hoped Pepper wasn't as in the dark as Peter had been.

Peter took a deep breath and pushed open the door. He thought he was prepared but he wasn't. His eyes started taking on various things. The monitors on the wall showing a heart rate, oxygen, a bunch of other numbers he couldn't quite process. There was a chair next to the bed. He thought back to the times he had woken up in a room in MedBay. His dad has always been firmly planted in the chair next to his bed. His eyes moved over to the bed. The sheets were a crisp white. It was a contrast to sheets he had woken up cover in. Iron Man sheets had shown up at one point. Captain America sheets had shown up a couple weeks later. It was months before Spider-Man sheets had made there way in. But these sheets were none of those. These were pale, as pale as the figure lying on them.

MJ put her hand on Peter's back. "It's ok. Dr. Cho said he'll recover."

Peter sucked in a breath and took a hesitant step into the room, enough for MJ to allow the door to close behind them. "I didn't know his heart problems were this bad. 40 percent doesn't sound good."

MJ walked closer to the bed hoping Peter would follow. "It's not great but it doesn't mean he's dying. Believe it or not, in a regular human normal heart function is only something like 55-75 percent." She smiled at the look on Peter's face. "You really didn't pay attention in biology, did you." She almost laughed at the eye roll she got in response. "Of course yours is something like 98 percent." She had actually been curious about Peter's physiology and had asked Dr. Cho about it one time. Everything about Peter functioned at almost 100 percent efficiency. She looked back at Tony. She was a little surprised his heart functioned as well as it did. She squeezed Peter's hand. "He'll be ok."

Peter shook his head. "I could have lost him. I'm not ready for that." He focused on his dad heartbeat. The unique sound had always been comforting to him. Now, it just reminded him that his dad's heart was damaged and that it could eventually kill him. "He can't put on the suit again." He knew he was thinking in absolutes in an attempt to maintain the status quo. Guilt swooped in on him as the thought formed in his head. His dad continued to put on the suit to make sure Peter was safe. He had told him years ago that he would do whatever it took to make sure Peter remained safe. Which meant he would always put on the suit...the suit that would eventually kill him. He could feel his own heart start to pound in his chest. Out of habit of working himself out of a panic attack he focused on the sounds around him. Sounds other than his dad's damaged heart or the sounds of the machine's monitoring his dad. He heard the tiny quick heartbeat sounding in accompaniment with the stronger heartbeat he recognized as MJ's. For a moment it centered him. Hearing the two heartbeats was soothing until it occurred to him that he'd put his son in the exact same position he found himself in now. He'd do whatever it took to protect him which would mean it was entirely possible his son would be standing where he was now. It was overwhelming. His eyes snapped up to MJ's. "I need some air."

MJ watched Peter yank the door open and escape into the hallway. She was slightly surprised he hadn't just gone out the window. She had recognized the panic etched in his face. He was right...he needed some air. Sighing, she sat down in the chair next to Tony's bed. "ILYA, tell give me an update every 15 minutes on Peter's position."