"Americans are weird."

Shuri allowed her expression to become stern, even though she knew her eyes were amused and would not convey a truly annoyed appearance.

"Careful, Azoru," she warned. "The American in question is my boyfriend. Not to mention he is a noble of a Wakandan tribe and would be within his rights to bring a formal complaint to the council of lords – or my brother."

"He would not do that."

Azoru was Peter's friend, after all.

"Or…" she added, and now she was smiling. "He might just beat you up."

The Jabari noble rolled his eyes.

"He couldn't do that, either." They both knew that Peter could, of course, but that it wasn't something that he would do. "The Jabari tribe will be camping on the Avenger tribe lands. We will be guests."

The princess nodded.

"Too true. Do you want me to have Peter inviter you to their Halloween party?

"They really dress up in costumes?"

"They do. I have researched it, and can share the information I found. It is fascinating."

"I do not have a costume."

"We could come up with something. The notice is short, but Peter is your friend and the Avengers already know that you are not a threat to the security of their compound."

Azoru was in the golden city as an emissary of his people, preparing for the gathering of the tribes that weekend. Shuri had greeted him, and then explained why Peter or his people weren't there, yet. The young man had listened, interested and a little disbelieving, as she'd explained where she was going to go the next morning – which would be the evening before, for the people at the compound.

"Then, yes. I would like to go to their party, if the notice is not too short for it to be allowed."

Shuri smiled, and handed a data tablet to him.

"Start reading this," she told him. "I will contact Tony."

"Not Peter?"

"He is on his way to school."

Besides, Tony was the one who was getting the preparations for the party put together, since Pepper was working all week, and Peter was doing school. Shuri knew all of these things, because she was in regular contact with Peter, despite their various busy schedules and the crazy time differences between their countries. It was one of those things where if it was important, they did what was needed to make it work. And it was important enough to both of them that they did what was needed to be able to talk to each other as much as possible.

OOOOOOOOO

"Where's Stephen?" Tony asked, smiling a greeting to Wong when the sorcerer walked into the lounge a few minutes after materializing in Peter's quarters.

Karen had immediately contacted Friday, who had told Tony that he was there, but everyone was expecting him, since he was going to be building the haunted house for use that evening during the party.

"He hasn't returned, yet."

Tony frowned, offering Wong a cup of coffee, which he accepted as he settled into a chair across from the billionaire.

"Is that normal?"

"He's in a different dimension," Wong reminded him. "Time works differently, sometimes. If he isn't back by this evening, I'll make myself available to open a portal to Wakanda to bring Shuri over for the party."

"Shuri and Azoru," Tony corrected, relaxing a little.

If Wong wasn't worried about Stephen, then he wouldn't worry, either. Although he did wonder what Natasha thought of her boyfriend going to other dimensions and talking to the weird – and dangerous – creatures and beings that resided there. She hadn't been around the last day or two, since the others had all been called away for their own training down the Eastern seaboard. But they were on their way back, now, and would be landing in plenty of time to be able to attend the Halloween party. Which was fine with Tony, since he didn't want to have to corral all of Peter's classmates, and Clint's kids, and Jack, Ironpig and Nutmeg with only Pepper to help.

Wong nodded his agreement of the addition.

"And tomorrow the tribal gathering begins?"

"It does." Stark knew that Wong and Stephen were both interested in what happens during those gatherings, and that one of them would most likely want to be there. "You're a member of the tribe," he reminded the other man. "That means you can come, if you want."

"If Stephen returns, then I will – or he will. If not, I'll stay home and guard the sanctum until his arrival – but I'll make your portal, to save you the flight."

Tony smiled.

"Thanks. We appreciate it."

"You're welcome." He took another sip of his coffee, in no great hurry, despite the comment about guarding the sanctum. It was filled with protections of its own, after all. Otherwise they would never leave the place – and that could lose its appeal, quickly. "Did you rope off the area you want to use for the haunted house?"

Tony's smile broadened. He and Wong had been working on the haunted house for a few days, now, getting the details straight before they actually had Wong try to create the building. It would be made with magic, and then taken down with magic – after everyone had left, of course – and Tony couldn't wait to see what they were going to end up with as a finished result. He'd never had a magician (a real magician, as opposed to a charlatan) at hand in a situation like this, and he was interested in how it was going to work out.

Not to mention watching magic happen, of course. It might be old hat to the sorcerers, but it didn't get old for Tony. He'd been tempted to let Peter stay home and watch, too, but the boy had practice at school and Pepper had pointed out that if he didn't do his online schoolwork that day, then he shouldn't be allowed to do any school extracurricular activities. Peter thought it made sense, and Stark had – of course – followed Pepper's lead. So Peter had gone to the tower for school, and Tony was going to have Friday record what happened, just for his own personal files, and would let Peter watch it.

Plus he could see it get taken down before they left for Wakanda.

"I have," he replied. "When you're ready, we'll go out and see if it works for what you have in mind."

"I'm ready."

Wong had never built a haunted house, before, and he was just as interested as the Avengers were.

OOOOOOOOOO

The creature wasn't human. Wasn't even close to human. It was evil, and cruel, and had managed through sheer luck to be one of the very few survivors of Thanos' enormous army. Not that it knew at the time that it was escaping destruction when it had deserted the ship right before it had been launched into the interception trajectory that would have had them meeting with Thanos' mighty armada. But it was a rare exception to the rule of blind followers in the case of Thanos. The thing didn't care if Thanos destroyed the entire universe – as long as it survived – but it didn't want to be cannon fodder in his quest, either. Mainly because while the numbers looked good on paper, it was a member of the shock troop formation and knew that it would have been one of the first deployed.

And most likely one of the first to be destroyed.

So it had taken the cowards way out, betting on the fact that no one would miss one unknown soldier in an army of so many – or at least that no one would be interested in turning the ship around to come back for it once the desertion was noticed. And it seemed to have been the case. Word came back that a terrible light had destroyed the Mad Titan, and his army, utterly and completely. Save for a few other deserters in individual craft. Other beings who had broken off when they'd realized that things weren't going to go their way and had had the resources to escape by instant transfer to another quarter just as the light had struck, who had made their way fearfully home, only to tell horror stories of what they had narrowly escaped.

Even worse; the light was still coming. They hadn't seen it, yet, but there was no doubt that it was looking for them, specifically. Even the deserters who hadn't even gone to that stupid planet. Ones who had never set foot on that ball of blue swirling white. Thanos was dead, they all knew, but the horror that he had unleashed on his army was still trying to claim those that it had missed. And they were desperate for a way to escape that unfair justice.

The creature shuddered, even then, as it waited in the darkness of a deserted ruin of a farm that had long been destroyed. It had heard that someone powerful was looking for information on Thanos' downfall and that that someone was willing to pay handsomely for that information. More than that promised credit, however, was the hope for the creature that if it pleased whoever this powerful creature was, then perhaps it could provide protection from the light before it could come and destroy it.

A scant hope, of course, but it was desperate. Certainly desperate enough and afraid enough, to sell its soul to the highest, most powerful bidder.