Tony found himself flying through the air once again, this time with Peter not far below him. The kid was swinging and swerving through the obstacle course which was the battlefield, latching onto every standing pillar and half-disintegrated chunk of the base he could find and webbing up as many of the alien freaks as he could.
Watching him for a second longer, Steve's voice suddenly cut through the comms.
"Does anyone else hear that noise? Tony, are the comms broken?"
Clint piped up too. "Yeah! It sounds like static or something. I thought I had finally gone crazy."
Noise? While Tony hadn't heard anything, it couldn't hurt to check things out. Their comms were their only way of communicating with one another across the battlefield. Without them, no one would be able to help out anyone in need.
"Friday? Are the comms working?"
Taking a moment to run a diagnostic, Tony heard a beep before she replied. "All communication devices are fully functional boss."
Frowning in concern, Tony started to ask her to reboot the system when he suddenly heard the noise Steve and Clint were talking about.
PHSSST!
"There it was again! Tell me you heard it that time Tony."
"Yeah, I heard it Cap. I'm going to reboot the-" He stopped himself as he had a sudden realization. He recognized that noise.
Concerned that he had stopped talking, Steve asked, "Tony?"
Laughing at the source, he explained what was happening.
"Don't worry about it guys, that's just Spider-Man. When he gets really focused he starts making a sound effect every time he shoots his web. I don't even think he realizes he's doing it and I've learned to tune it out. I'll talk to him."
Tony heard both Steve and Clint laughing before they cut off their connection to him. Sending a private message to Peter's comms, he informed him of what he was doing.
"Hey Pete? You're making the noise again and you forgot to shut off your comm connection. Currently, you're broadcasting it to every hero on the field."
"Oh man, really?! Sorry Mr. Stark, I'll turn that off now."
Chuckling at Peter's innocence, and having figured out what the mystery noise was, Tony began scanning the surrounding areas to monitor who needed help and what areas needed tackling when a thought suddenly dawned on him. The interaction had made him remember how young Peter really was. This was a huge battle and it was easy to get lost in the scope of it all, especially for someone as small as Peter compared to everything else going on. It was important that he had his six covered, even if Tony got caught up in the fight and couldn't physically check in.
"Fri, keep tabs on Peter's condition through his suit for me would you? Anything happens to him, anything at all, I want to know. Got it?" He couldn't be too careful. He never wanted to go through the process of losing him ever again.
"Got it."
If Tony didn't know any better he would have said she sounded amused at his request. However, she did as he asked, as a small series of readings immediately appeared at the bottom of his helmet's screen display, showing Peter's body temperature, oxygen level and blood pressure. He could also hear a faint heartbeat through his speakers, the steady thrumming easing his nerves considerably. Checking on each of his vitals in turn, Tony noticed that they were all good if not slightly elevated, but that was normal considering the physical exertion and stress that came along with a battle like this.
He was about to decide where they should go next when Friday sent an alert to his screen about a disturbance she picked up in the distance. He looked over and saw that a huge cloud formation was rapidly swelling in the sky, bringing deep rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning. Then, as the power had reached its peak, a huge flash resonated across the whole area, illuminating the hundreds of heroes fighting below and blinding Tony momentarily. Blinking the spots out of his eyes, he noted that as soon as it had appeared it was gone and they were once again thrown into the foreboding gloom cast from the immense ship above. Much like thunder that normally followed such a strike came, instead, a thunderous battle cry that echoed across the land. It was this that made him realize what had happened. That must have been Thor. Asgardians and their theatrical entrances.
Shaking his head in fake annoyance, he continued across the war zone where his scanners once again picked up a big battle happening on the ground. Honing in on it, Tony saw Doctor Strange fighting a group of aliens in the distance. It looked like Strange had everything under control, but he knew he had to have a talk with him to make sure that this was it and that they had a chance to win this fight. He didn't think he could handle any more losses, and he sure as hell knew that the universe couldn't either. If Thanos was true to his word, which Tony had no doubt he was, losing this time meant that there would be no universe left to avenge.
"Pete!" he yelled down to the kid, who currently was swinging through the aliens below. "Listen, I've got to go have a word with the wizard. You stay here and fight as many of those alien freaks as you can, but you leave if you're getting overwhelmed you hear me? I will be right back." He couldn't help but mother him, the thought of leaving him alone in battle giving him even more anxiety.
"Copy that Mr. Stark!"
With one final glance at Peter who was advancing towards a couple of stray aliens, Tony took off towards Strange. He hated having to leave the kid on his own, but he had to have faith that he'd be able to handle himself for the time being. Besides, he had Friday keeping tabs on him through Karen in his spidey suit, so if anything started to go wrong he'd be back at his side in an instant. Nothing was going to happen to his kid, Tony would make sure of that.
Landing on the ground, he watched as Strange flew what had to be thirty feet off the ground, bringing the horde of aliens surrounding him with him as he went. Each alien was spinning and thrashing against the invisible grip, desperately trying to escape whatever was keeping them captive. He watched on as Strange made purple streams of light emanate from the ground under each alien, streaking upwards like snakes trying to catch their prey. Moving quickly, they reached the aliens hovering helplessly above and tightened themselves around their body, instantly stopping the mad thrashing of their useless attempts to escape. With one fluent movement, Strange whipped his outstretched hands down quickly, causing the makeshift light lassos to follow his movements, slamming each alien into the ground where they vaporized on impact. The attack left the earth quaking under Tony's feet, vibrations shooting up his legs and threatening to throw him off balance. Steadying himself, Tony began walking towards Strange as he floated to the ground, now plastered with the shadows of what used to be parts of Thanos' army.
"Hey. You said one out of fourteen million we win, yeah?" He got right to the point. He needed to hear it from Strange in order to know what he was to do. "Tell me this is it," he demanded.
Strange turned and looked at him in a calculated manner, his eyes swimming with the untold knowledge of the many futures he had seen. "If I tell you what happens…it won't happen."
This was as good as a confession for Tony, the certainty of Strange's words sending a shiver down his spine. He knew what the endgame was and what he had to do to achieve it.
"You better be right."
He knew he was right though. The look Strange was giving him was enough. It was like an unspoken understanding had passed between the two of them and the plan that had been in the back of Tony's mind since they started their journey on the time heist, even lurking in the shadows as far back as when he'd first heard Thanos' name at Strange's sanctum, was beginning to set itself into place. It was now or never.
Hesitating for a moment, he was about to set off to rejoin Peter when Clint piped up over the comms again, the tension in his voice palpable.
"Cap! What do you want me to do with this damn thing?"
"Get those stones as far away as possible!" came his strained reply, clearly in the middle of a fight.
"No!" Smart-Hulk roared back, "We need to get 'em back where they came from!"
Tony knew he was right, but his stomach clenched as he remembered that Thanos had destroyed their only way to do so. The time machine had most definitely been blasted to pieces along with every other part of the Avengers compound. There was no way it could've survived
"No way to get 'em back, Thanos destroyed the Quantum Tunnel," he told them grimly, wishing that he could give them any other answer. For both their sake and his own.
Without the time machine it didn't seem like they had any other options than the one that would end it all. The one, he realized as he let out a long breath, that he was ready to do.
Whatever it takes.
However, just as his mind had begun to lock his plan into place, Scott suddenly chimed in.
"Hold on! That wasn't our only time machine!"
Tony heard the telltale sound of La Cucaracha play in the distance.
The Van.
He sighed shakily, never having been so relieved to hear that ridiculous song in his life. It meant that there was still another option, another way to get out of this. Steve picked up on this too and immediately made a call out for the van lost amidst the chaos.
"Anyone see an ugly brown van out there?" he panted.
"Yes, but you're not going to like where it's parked," supplied Valkyrie.
A red dot blinked to life on his helmet's hologram map, showing the location where the car's alarm had sounded from, and she wasn't wrong. The sound's signature had been dropped in the most heavily populated section of the battle, the many smaller dots created by Thanos' army massing around the perimeter and forming a brick wall of heat. Tony didn't need to see the van to know the poor condition it was in, especially after the raining fire Thanos had sent on his first approach. It was a true miracle that it had survived at all, let alone in a repairable capacity. They would need time to get it up and running, as well as the sheer power of strength and will to reach it. He figured that the former could be more easily dealt with, so he voiced his concern to Scott.
"Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?"
"Uh, maybe ten minutes?" came his uncertain reply.
"Get it started!" Cap said, his tone with an air of finality, "We'll get the stones to you!"
Relieved that the team had a halfway decent plan going, Tony was finally about to hurry back to Peter when he was engulfed by a dark shadow. Looking up to see what the source was he felt his skin crawl. It was a Chitauri Leviathan. Since Scott was on the mission to fix their only Quantum Tunnel, the beast had broken free from a giant, now unmanned portal, which he had been sending it through in a collaboration with Strange. What was even worse was that the rogue animal was currently headed towards Peter, who was going head to head with a small group of aliens where Tony had left him several yards away.
Realizing that Peter was too focused on the fight he was currently in to notice the approaching giant, he sprang to action. Blasting himself off the ground he engaged his secondary boosters to make it to Peter before the Leviathan. He felt the jolt that was the extra booster engaging and heard the wind whistle by him as he gained even more speed, finally coming to a quick stop in front of Peter whilst simultaneously sending out blasts from his hand repulsors, sending the rest of the aliens flying.
"Thanks Mr. Stark! Those were some mean aliens," he panted as Tony disengaged his thrusters and landed on the ground, sounding relieved to have had some help with the final few beasts.
They both retracted their helmets to get a better look at each other, Tony noticing the beads of sweat dripping from Peter's brow and the way he seemed to droop at the edges. He knew the kid must be getting tired, having never fought in a battle of this extent before, but they had to keep going. If they could gain an advantage on Thanos by removing the gauntlet from the equation then maybe they'd be able to end this fight once and for all, giving everyone a much needed rest.
Before he could tell Peter about the incoming threat however, the kid's body suddenly tensed and he whipped around, looking to the sky. Tony could literally hear his heart skip a few beats, the steady, albeit quick rhythm he heard through his speakers stuttering slightly. Peter's face morphed into brief panic before he hesitantly told Tony what he was seeing.
"Uh, sir? I just thought you should know that there's a giant sky alien coming right at us, and it doesn't look much friendlier."
Tony was briefly confused at why the kid had suddenly sprung to life, but then gave a small chuckle as he remembered the conversation he once had with May about Peter's powers. Well, not so much a conversation, more like an interrogation. Despite having a base-level of knowledge on the kid's powers there were always more avenues to explore when coming up with new suit features, but when he approached May about it she hadn't been overly eager to talk details. There was, however, one small detail he had managed to get out of her.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about your 'Peter tingle'. That's what I was coming here to warn you about, kid."
Peter turned his wide eyes on Tony, and he couldn't help but smirk. He had called it that name for the exact purpose of eliciting that response from him. A way to have a little fun before they fought the giant space whale.
Peter's face flushed red as he responded. "It's not- Did you get that from Aunt May?"
"No time to talk kid, we have to kick some mean alien ass," he replied wryly, purposefully not answering the question. He loved the kid, but it was so fun to mess with him. Peter just set his jaw in defiance at the poorly named power.
Shifting his mindset back to the fight, he thought back to how difficult it was to take one of these down. The one he had killed thirteen years ago had basically taken down half of New York before he finally found its weakness. Knowing that they couldn't penetrate the armour surrounding its body, Tony began to come up with a plan that would play to both of their strengths. While Peter was a pretty good fighter, his one big weakness was also one of his greatest assets: his swinging. The issue here was that there was nowhere for Peter to attach his webs and swing from, and the alien was moving at such a high velocity that there wasn't much room to improvise and gain momentum by swinging from the armoured body alone. This all left him at a huge disadvantage for the air fight.
Needing a new angle, he used Friday to scan the fast approaching enemy. A schema for the beast materializing in his HUD, he found that there was a large crack in the armour covering its underbelly. With this bit of information in mind, he turned towards Peter to try and make a game plan just as the Leviathan reached them.
Before Tony could get a word in, however, Peter shot a web up towards the giant alien where it fastened itself to one of the armour plates sticking out on its side. With a yelp he was violently dragged off of the ground as the Leviathan climbed higher in the sky and was now stuck fifty feet off the ground, swinging below the beast. Knowing that the kid needed help, Tony once again launched himself off the ground in a race to get Peter.
"I'm coming kid!" he exclaimed as he got closer to where he was dangling. Reaching him quickly, and knowing he wasn't in immediate danger, he couldn't help but give a jab at the kid for the rookie move.
"You know, for someone so brilliant you can sure make some dumb decisions."
"Yeah, this really wasn't what I had in mind," he murmured, and Tony chuckled at the embarrassment in his voice. He would've loved to continue poking fun at his mistake, but it was at the exact moment he'd lined up his next quip that the Leviathan decided to dip down and head back towards the ground.
Knowing that they had to find a way to bring the beast down before it crushed one of the many fighters below, Tony started to think of a way to kill it that didn't involve flying into it and blowing it up from the inside like he had done in the original New York battle. The crack that he'd found earlier would be immensely helpful in doing just that, giving him an opening to simply stab into its flesh instead of having to break through the armour first. It was especially helpful as the beast could sense your approach and would immediately start swerving and dipping so you normally couldn't position the blade properly. Having the crack will give him one less thing to worry about. Bypass all of that nicely, get straight to stabbing. Tony chuckled to himself; when had he become Natasha?
With his thoughts now in order and a plan squarely in his mind, Tony turned to Peter to explain what he had come up with.
"We need to bring this thing down before it does any real damage. I know you can't swing up here, the alien's soaring faster than a speeder jet, but we're actually going to use that to our advantage."
"But Mr. Stark that doesn't make any sense! How does me not being able to swing help us?" he questioned, thoroughly confused as to what Tony was getting at.
Suddenly the Leviathan made a sharp turn and began soaring quickly towards a fight happening on the ground below. Looking closer, Tony's heart dropped as he realized it was Rhodey who was currently fighting off a swarm of chitauri and alien dogs that had gathered around him. Realizing time was running out, he set his plan into action and decided to fill Peter in as he went. He flew up a bit to match his level with Peter's and grabbed his arm that wasn't holding onto his webbing. Before Peter could even question what he was doing, Tony cut the web attached to the leviathan and took off before circling around the back of the Leviathan, pulling Peter along with him.
"Oh my god, what's happening?!" Peter yelled as he suddenly found himself flying through the air once again.
"Sorry Pete, we don't have much time. What I'm going to do here is circle down and around so we're below and behind this thing. When I get into position I'm going to fly up real quick and throw you under the belly of this thing. Once you reach it, I want you to activate instant kill mode and use your retractable legs to slice its underside as you go; There's a sizeable fracture in its armour, exposing the skin underneath where you'll be able to easily insert the leg of your suit. That should kill it slow enough that we'll be able to guide it away from the battlefield. Easy peasy."
Using Peter was the last thing he wanted to do, but he didn't have another play. He would never let anything happen to the kid on his watch though, Peter would never be in any real danger. Circling around and angling himself so they were both looking at the underside of the beast, Tony was finally in position to execute his plan.
"Not that I doubt you or anything sir, but I don't know if this is going to work. What if I don't make it? And what happens after I cut it open? Am I just-" he cut off the kid's rambling train of thought.
"I'm going to catch you after, I promise," he assured him. "Ready?"
"Um, sure?"
"Lets go!"
With that, he set off towards the belly of the beast. As soon as he was fifteen feet from its body, he swung Peter up and threw him, in a carefully calculated manner, so he'd arc underneath the beast and be able to slice its body as he went. He carefully monitored the kid as he flew through the air, watching him activate instant kill mode along the way as he was supposed to. In seconds, Peter reached the soft exposed skin of the Leviathan's belly and jabbed one of his eight retractable iron spider legs into it. Easily passing through, he then used his momentum to slide down towards the tail, spilling green slime and alien guts everywhere. Tony didn't envy the people getting an unwanted shower below.
He heard Peter gag over the comms, the smell of the slime getting to him. "This is gross Mr. Stark, like, really gross," he groaned, voice ridden with disgust.
Tony winced in sympathy. He owed the kid big time after this. "I know," he reassured, "but you're doing a good job kid!"
Seeing that Peter was almost at the end, Tony began making his way to where he knew he would drop so that he would be in position to catch him. As if on cue, Peter reached the tail of the beast which caused his makeshift knife to come loose as it lost the exposed surface area. Before he even really had a chance to fall, Tony swooped in and once again grabbed his arm, flying him away from the now fatally wounded giant in the sky. He was having a hard time maintaining a good grip on his arm due to the amount of slime he had acquired as he cut the alien open, so Tony had to make sure to hold on extra tight to ensure the kid didn't slip from his grasp. Looping around once again to face the Leviathan, now slowly falling from the sky, Tony sent a giant missile towards it to not only make sure that it was dead, but to also give it an extra push so it landed on the outskirts of where everyone was fighting instead of on top of everyone. He watched as the blast went off and the alien drifted sideways until finally crashing into the dirt where it went up a cloud of dust. Satisfied that it would be giving them no more trouble, he brought himself and Peter to the ground.
Safely back on solid terrain, Tony let go of Peter's arm and watched as the kid retracted his helmet and breathed a sigh of relief. It was short-lived, however, as the stench of the alien guts hit him full force, the only barrier between him and it now gone. Gagging once again, Tony knew he had to do something before things went any further and the kid found himself losing his lunch.
"Pete, put your helmet back up," he ushered quickly so he could begin washing the residue off and not drown the kid in the process.
Looking like he was concentrating on not throwing up, his mouth drawn into a tight line, Peter did what he was told without question. As soon as his head was secured inside his helmet, Tony immediately started blasting him with water. Spraying the green slime off Peter's body, he made sure nothing was left before giving Peter the all clear.
"Okay kid, you're good to open up that can."
Retracting his helmet once more, Peter took gulping breaths of fresh air, hands on his knees, filling his body with something that didn't smell like death.
"Thanks," he gasped in relief before staggering a few steps away from the gooey mess and collapsing flat onto his back.
"I never want to do that again. That was so intense," he breathed out, keeping his eyes closed the entire time. Tony couldn't help but chuckle.
"We better hope this fight goes our way then."
They were silent for a moment, Peter laying on the ground after his traumatic ordeal when the kid suddenly spoke, continuing to stare up at the sky.
"Hey Mr. Stark? Where did that water come from?"
Not understanding the question, Tony was about to ask for clarification when it hit him. His suit's water. Normally, a suit like this wouldn't hold water, but Tony had designed them to always have some kind of a reserve built into them in case a situation at hand warranted it. You can never be too careful.
It was, of course, a step up from the old design he had. The filtration system in his older models, while effective, was also disgusting in his own right.
Planning on telling Peter the truth, he was about to respond 'from his reserve', when he realized this was a perfect opportunity to lighten the mood.
"Oh, you know, just from my suit's filtration system. Finest water there is really."
Even exhausted, Peter sat up at that, a growing look of horror on his face.
"Fil-filtration system? But… what's it filtering?"
Tony cleared his throat, pretending to avoid the question. "Right, so I should probably go scan the battlefield. See what's going on-"
"Mr. Stark, was that pee water?"
"... no."
"Agh!" Peter held his arms out from where they were resting at his sides, staring at them intently.
"I'm covered in pee water. I can't believe it, you washed me off with pee water." Peter stared at Tony, betrayal evident in his eyes.
While he felt bad for traumatizing the kid, the look on his face was priceless.
I'll tell him the truth later.
Peter started mumbling to himself, something about buses and learning to not intervene, so Tony left him to it, deciding to scan his surroundings to see if anyone needed help instead. During his scan he found that Rhodey was fine and had managed to kill the aliens around him, now moving on to another threat. With that relief in mind, Friday picked up on another fight happening not too far from where they were on the ground. Enhancing the image so he could see what was happening better, the newly enlarged picture showed Steve going head to head with one of the fifteen foot tall aliens, the kind that looked like the ugly child of a bulldog and Godzilla. Friday's analysis also picked up a group of the chitauri freaks they had battled in New York coming up hot behind in an attempt to ambush Steve while his focus was on their larger friend. Figuring Steve could use some help, but knowing Peter was tired, he made the decision to let the kid stay on the outskirts of the battle to rest for a minute while he went and gave Cap some help.
Looking back at Peter, he saw that he had laid back down and had his arms crossed over his chest.
"Hey Tarzan, I'm going to help old Capsicle quickly, but I want you to stay here. I'll be right back. Keep an eye out for any trouble!"
"Can do," he replied, betrayal and annoyance still evident in his voice. Satisfied that he'd be okay where he was for a minute though, Tony left to help the Star Spangled soldier.
Approaching Steve quickly, he watched as Steve was knocked off balance after one of the chitauri shot a beam of light at his left leg, but instead of falling over like Tony expected, Steve caught his balance and used his momentum to spin himself around on one leg, his left leg jutting out behind him in a sort of clumsy pirouette. As he spun he threw his shield and knocked over the five approaching Chitauri soldiers like bowling pins. Returning to his normal upright position, he caught his shield as it returned to him while at the same time Tony made contact with the ground in front of him. Seeing that the giant alien was still alive and coming back to hit both Steve and now Tony, he launched a couple of his shoulder missiles where they whistled through the air before exploding all over the aliens face and multiple areas of its body, sending it, too, crashing to the ground.
"Hey twinkle toes," he mocked. "This isn't part of your dance act, this is a big boy's battle!"
"Thanks for the reminder Tony, I totally didn't notice," he deadpanned, but smiled nonetheless.
Smirking himself, it was at this moment that he realized Steve didn't have Mjolnir on him, something that actually surprised Tony as he assumed Steve wouldn't let it go after first wielding it. It was, after all, a weapons gods themselves used and something that seemed helpful in their cause to bring Thanos down.
"Hey, where's your magic hammer to save the day? You know, the one you almost took my head off with? Maybe it could have stopped me from having to rescue that perfectly toned ass."
Steve just rolled his eyes, exasperation coating his features at Tony's inability to keep his comments to himself.
"You're just jealous that you can't lift it," he countered, not playing into Tony's games.
Tony gasped in fake betrayal, dramatically raising his eyebrows in surprise. "I may be many things, Captain, but jealous is not one of them."
Steve shook his head and laughed, amused by Tony's antics. Chuckling himself, they both enjoyed a brief moment of reprieve from battle. His laughter dying down, he glanced around and sobered as he took in the hellscape surrounding them. Seeing Steve's chuckling fade away as well, a mournful look overtaking the split second of happiness, he decided to properly check in, make sure Steve was doing okay before he left to rejoin Peter.
"Seriously though, you good?"
Looking closer now he could see that Steve looked as tired as he felt himself. He was caked in blood, both his own and from the aliens, and covered head to toe in so much dirt and gunk that he was looking more like the ghoul from Swamp Thing than a decorated soldier. This battle against Thanos really was taking everything they had and it didn't look like it was ending anytime soon. The aliens seemed to be in never ending supply and it was clearly taking a toll on everyone. Even Tony's energy was slowly depleting as he seemed to kill three aliens just for six more to appear behind him. He knew that they had to do something, and quick, because at this rate they would never beat Thanos.
As tired as he was, though, Tony knew he couldn't stop fighting. He had to see the fight through until every last alien was dead. He had too much on the line that he needed to protect. Whenever he saw Peter fighting it brought him back to that moment where he had suddenly appeared. For five years Tony had thought that he would never see the kid again; That he was the reason he was gone and that he'd failed to protect him. Having him back and in front of him again was what was fuelling his fight. He knew he couldn't stop because he had to protect Peter, his son, and nothing was going to get in the way of that again. He also had his family that he gained in those five years on his mind too. He needed to make sure that there was a world for Pepper and of course the beautiful gift that was his daughter Morgan to live and thrive in. The sheer fact that Pepper was here fighting alongside him was the cherry on top as to why he would never give up. He would do the ultimate to win.
He was broken out of the train of thought he had gotten lost in by Steve's reply.
"I'm good Tony, don't worry about me," he responded looking weary, but confident, his words echoing those of Bruce earlier. Seeing that Steve could manage his side of the fight, and knowing that he had to get back to Peter, Tony figured it would be safe to leave the Captain on his own again.
"Right, I forgot you're Mr. 'I can do this all day,'" he jabbed, a good natured smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
Steve chuckled again, but this time it came out as more of a scoff. "Yeah, something like that." Then he turned to rejoin battle once again, leaving Tony standing alone.
Making his way back towards Peter, he found him exactly where he had left him, the only change being that the kid was now standing, seemingly forgiving Tony for the pee water, looking more ready for battle.
"I'm ready to fight again, sir. A-and I don't even know why you thought I needed a break, cause I was ready before! I can totally keep up with this space alien battle stuff," he said as soon as Tony landed next to him. Tony smiled, he knew that the kid was trying to put on a brave face, but could tell deep down that Peter was grateful for the small rest he had given him.
"Yeah, sure kid. Now, since you're clearly more than ready to fight alien space battles let's-" his response to Peter was cut off by an earth shattering thud that caused them both to stumble.
Whipping around and quickly hovering in the air to see what had happened, Tony saw a huge commotion in the centre of all the action. In the midst of the battlefield, surrounded by different smaller fights happening, was a huge cloud of dust that was being illuminated by red flashes from within. Looking closer, he saw the undistinguishable silhouette of Thanos appearing through the dust, backlit by the constant flashes of scarlet. It was this that made his mind click as to what was happening. Wanda was going head to head with Thanos. He was immediately concerned for her because he knew the length that she would go to destroy Thanos, even if it meant destroying herself in the process. With all she had lost in her life, her parents to the Sokovian bombing, her brother to Ultron, and most recently the love of her life, Vision, to Thanos himself, Tony knew from personal experience that she would go as far as overextending the limit of her powers to take him down. Quickly landing on the ground next to Peter again he quickly changed his plan.
"New plan, we're going to head over to where Wanda's facing off against Thanos. She'll need back up if anything goes south."
Peter nodded firmly. "Got it, Mr. Stark."
Together they both advanced towards the fight, Tony blasting any aliens he passed in the sky or that came close to Peter on the ground along the way. As much as he wanted to jump into the mix, he used his better judgement and decided that they should stay back, keep the advancing aliens from influencing Wanda's already stilted fight. Finally coming close enough to see what was happening, Tony witnessed, to his amazement, that Wanda was actually doing an impressive job at keeping Thanos at bay. Confirming that Peter was still with him, Tony continued to blast a perimeter around the battle as he snuck glances at her progress from his vantage point in the sky while the kid surveyed it from the ground.
Using her powerful abilities to her advantage, Tony could see that Thanos had wildly underestimated Wanda's strength as well. He moved to come at her with his treasured double-edged blade, but when he swung, instead of his blade meeting its mark, it instead froze in place as Wanda focused all her energy on stopping the powerful swing. Tony could see the doubt beginning to line Thanos' features as the red glow of her power surrounded the sword. The mad tyrant hadn't expected her to so easily beset him. Struggling to release the blade from her hold, Thanos decided to push down on it with everything he had in an attempt to break the glowing barrier. This ultimately backfired as Wanda took advantage of this and easily sent the blade flying out of his hands and Thanos stumbling backwards with a powerful wave of her arm. He was now defenceless as his sword lay ten feet behind him, out of reach and with one side broken from the force of her blast.
Thatta girl! he thought proudly. Wanda was currently kicking Thanos' ass. All powerful Titan, ha! Even Barney could fight better than Thanos right now!
Faltering slightly, he took in the meaning of what he had just said. Man, I really need to stop watching TV with Morgan in the mornings.
The surprise on Thanos' face was laced with a hint of fear, as Wanda wasted no time in encompassing his body in a cocoon of red energy. Using the powerful force at her hands, she began squeezing Thanos and raising him up so that his arms were tightly fastened to his sides. The Titan began struggling madly in her grip, straining hard against the invisible force to try and break free, but he didn't have any stones and was no match for her. As she continued to raise him off the ground, she began ripping his armour off piece by piece, slowly destroying all of the defence he had.
Come on, keep going! He silently urged. You're almost there, you've got this!
She probably would have destroyed Thanos right there and then, if Squidward hadn't seen what was happening and jumped to his master's defence.
In the corner of his eye he could see Thanos' goon steadily approaching to help his master from where he was stuck in Wanda's death grip. Knowing he had to do something so he wouldn't interfere, Tony quickly abandoned his alien dog massacre and launched himself at the ugly creature, when he was suddenly stopped in mid-air. Going from full speed to being frozen in place caused his stomach to lurch, threatening to rebel at any moment. He had to force himself to take a few deep breaths to calm it down, not wanting to make a mess in his helmet… again. He had done it once before, that particular instance taking place after a long night out, and it wasn't something he wanted a repeat performance of. Shuddering as he thought back to the unsavoury smell, he drove those thoughts from his mind and continued to breathe until his stomach finally began to settle.
As he recovered, he realized that Squidward had seen his approach and had stopped him with a lazy flick of his wrist. Coming closer to Tony with his hand still raised, Tony got an eyeful of yellow teeth as he drew his lips up in a sneer.
"It'll take a lot more than that to stop me, you pathetic rust bucket," he scoffed and waved his hand again, a movement that caused Tony to go hurtling back towards the ground.
Spinning wildly, Friday managed to recalibrate his suit and launch him back upright, his back just grazing the rubble below. Looking over to Squidward as he stopped next to Thanos and Wanda, he was able to hear him ask, with an unusual amount of panic for someone so sure of himself,
"Sire, shall we commence phase two?"
Tony didn't know what 'Phase two' was but based on the destruction already happening around them, he knew it couldn't be anything good.
"No!" Thanos roared, the strain in his voice obvious from battling against Wanda's attack. "It's too risky! Send the rest of our troops! Leave no one behind!"
Squidward hesitated at first, but then nodded and lifted a hand toward the giant ship looming above. Before Tony could move to find out what was going to happen, he got his answer.
Having made his way back down to the ground next to Peter, Tony could feel the earth shaking beneath his feet. Looking up he saw why; Thanos' battle station, which he now knew was called the Sanctuary II thanks to his time trapped in space with Nebula, had suddenly come alive. The shaking was being caused by two massive Q ships, alike to the one he, Peter, and Strange had crashed onto Titan five years ago, being deployed from the circular docking bays on the underside of either wing on the ship. About a dozen more drop ships, the jagged triangular ships that carried Thanos' alien dog army, shot forth from several other ports and were now hurtling towards the ground as well. As if that wasn't enough, the giant door beneath the Sanctuary II had opened, Tony grinding his teeth at the deafening screech of metal on metal, and more Necrocrafts and Leviathans emerged, coating the sky like a swarm of killer bees.
Like a dam bursting, Thanos had just released the full extent of his army.
Blood pressure steadily rising from the amount of aliens joining the battle, Tony turned away to make a game plan with Peter, Wanda and Thanos momentarily forgotten, when he noticed the kid was no longer standing next to him, but rather looking at something over to the right. About to ask what he was staring at, he watched in horror as Peter catapulted himself over to the spot and flung his web to retrieve what Tony now understood was the gauntlet from T'Challa's vibranium claws.
"PETER!"