A very gentle mental nudge pulled Peter from a dream about planets.

"I need you to wake up, and I need you to not freak out when you do…"

He frowned, even half-asleep, and rolled onto his back, wondering what Alec meant by that. Then he felt those senses tingling – and more – as he became more awake and aware. Peter opened his eyes, and sat up, eyes automatically adjusting to the darkness in the room, and catching sight of the figure that was standing near the entrance to his tent.

"What…?"

Taneleer Tavin gave him a somewhat wry smile, looking at the boy.

"Hello, Peter."

"Don't freak out."

Peter did his best.

"Hey, Taneleer." He looked around, but no one else was in the tent – and there weren't any alarms going off. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, that's an interesting story," the Collector replied. "I was told that you need something that I have, and was then told to give it to you – or else."

Peter could feel Alec's interest in what he was hearing. He was more interested in something else, though.

"How did you get here?" he asked.

The Elder gave him an arrogant look.

"I'm older than almost everything in the universe," he pointed out. "And I surround myself with the most interesting objects. Once I was told where to go and how to find you, getting here was easy."

"Who told you?"

"Well… that's an interesting story, too." He looked around the little tent, again. "You live here?"

"What?" Peter realized what it must look like, and he shook his head, pushing the blankets back. "Oh. No. I mean, it's a temporary thing. A tent."

"I know what a tent is," Peter," he was told. "I would think someone as powerful as you could live someplace less… dirty."

"I do. We're at a…" he frowned. "Who knows you're here?"

"No idea." And he clearly didn't care. His gaze took in some of the souvenirs that Peter had collected, himself, during the gathering. "What place is this called?"

"Wakanda."

"The handiwork-"

"What the hell…?"

They both turned at the voice, and Peter saw Tony walking into the room, with Stephen beside him. Peter was surprised to see that the sorcerer was dressed in his formal robes – and had the cloak hanging from his collar.

"Keep him calm," Alec suggested. "The Collector isn't here to cause trouble, and we don't him to if we can avoid it."

Peter got out of bed, shivering just a little in the chill African night.

"It's okay," he said, quickly, just as Wong and Natasha walked in, as well – with Steve and Carol, following. Pepper was close, too, he knew, but the others wouldn't want her in the tent unless the possibility for danger was gone. "This is-"

"Taneleer Tavin," Strange said, his gaze intent on the Elder being. "Otherwise known as the Collector."

The Collector obviously knew Strange, too, and Peter remembered that he'd been made an offer for the time stone. A big one, from what Peter had been told. Peter wondered if Taneleer had been to Earth, before.

The Collector made a slight bow, his eyes taking in all of them as they walked into the room, and lingering on Carol for a moment, before turning to Tony.

"You are?"

"Wondering what you're doing here," Tony replied, watching him, suspiciously.

"He said he was told I need something," Peter said, moving to stand beside Tony. He saw Pepper walk into the tent, unwilling to wait outside, and she moved to stand on the other side of him, not surprisingly. "And that someone told him to bring it to me."

"That's curious," Wong said. "Who controls the Collector?"

Tavin scowled at the wording.

"No one controls me," he said, darkly. "But it was… strongly suggested… to me that I bring the item, myself, to make sure it was delivered."

"You have something for Peter?" Natasha asked, frowning.

"Correct." He was clearly outnumbered, but didn't look worried. "I found myself on the Astral Plane, earlier, talking to a bunch of cat-people, and they told me that my collection held a cure for Peter." He looked at the boy. "You look healthy enough," he said. "A little scrawny, maybe, but not-"

"I'm not scrawny," Peter objected, making more than just Natasha smile. "What kind of cure?"

"No clue." The Collector held his hand out, and suddenly there was a piece of crystal in it. A piece of hollow crystal as far as Peter could tell. It was no larger than an apple, but was clear as glass and a perfectly shaped sphere. "This is the Ko."

He said it like it was supposed to mean something, but the humans standing around the tent looked at it with interest, but not too much awe.

"What does it do?" Tony asked, looking more suspicious than the others.

"The Ko?" Wong asked, at the same time.

"You've heard of it?" Natasha asked.

"Read about it," the sorcerer corrected. "In a book of fairy tales."

"It's in my hand," the Collector pointed out, smirking.

"What does it do?" Peter asked, even as he had a mental image of him holding the thing in his hand and being surrounded by a light green shimmer. "Oh."

"Oh?" Tony echoed. "What?"

"It grants wishes," Wong said. "Supposedly."

"To those who it deems worthy," the Collector corrected. "And only one wish. But anything you want."

"What?"

"It's like a genie?" Steve asked.

"It isn't sentient," the Collector said, obviously understanding the reference. "But it can give a person what they ask for. If that person is able to convince it that the need is great enough to make it act."

Tony looked at it, and then looked at Wong.

"What's the catch?"

"There isn't one," the sorcerer replied with a shrug. "That's the thing. From what I read, you hold it, tell it what you want, and it grants you the wish."

"What if you wish for more wishes?" Carol asked.

"It doesn't work that way," the Collector said. He looked at Peter. "I'm not giving it to you. I'm giving you a chance to use it. But it goes home when I do."

Stark turned to Stephen.

"You've heard of it?"

"No." He'd have looked for it when he'd been looking for a cure for his damaged hands, now, wouldn't he? He looked at Wong. "One of our books?"

"No. It was in London."

The Collector looked at Peter.

"You get one try to convince it, Peter."

"Wait," Tony said, even as the boy automatically reached for it. "What if it hurts him?"

"Why would it?" the Collector asked. "He saved the universe from the mad Titan. He commands the stones of power. If anyone can convince it to do his bidding, it's probably the boy."

"So he can ask for anything?" Natasha asked.

"Didn't I say that?"

She scowled, wondering if the universe really needed a Collector.

"Have you used it?"

"Not, yet." The Elder shrugged. "I have everything I want, and everything I need, obviously.

Peter knew the truth, though. Not because Alec could read the Collector's mind – because he couldn't. Apparently the ancient being was too strong, or had too many protections on his mind to allow even someone as powerful as the ancient sorcerer to get inside his head. But the mind stone knew everything, about everyone, and it told Peter what he wanted to know – before he even wanted to know it.

"You asked it for the stones."

The Collector scowled at the boy. Obviously he'd forgotten that Peter had abilities of his own.

"And it turned me down," he confirmed, looking annoyed. "Apparently because I'm not worthy of gathering them."

"Or because it was too dangerous a wish to grant," Strange pointed out.

"That much power in your collection would have leveled the place," Carol said. She'd seen the stones in action, and had been to the Collector's place. "Maybe it isn't that you weren't worthy," she told Tavin. "Maybe it's because the wish being granted would have made you miserable, and it knew that the stones weren't what would have made you happiest."

The Collector frowned at that; he clearly hadn't considered that idea.

"Perhaps you're correct." He smirked, looking at Strange. "I still would like yours."

"No."

"How about your cloak, then?" The Elder reached his other hand out, as if to touch the fabric of the ancient relic, and Peter waited, holding his breath and certain that the thing was going to zap him. Instead, it merely moved, slightly, out of range, and Peter felt amusement rather than annoyance coming from the powerful artifact. "It would make a fine addition to my collection."

"It would make more of a mess than if you'd have been allowed to collect the stones," Wong told Taneleer.

"Perhaps." The Collector looked at Peter, offering his hand to the boy, once more. "Well?"