Author's note: Sorry about the wait. I've had a death in my family and have been coping with that. (Not my dad, though, before anyone can worry). He is recovering very well from his surgery and is at home – which is yet another thing that I'm taking care of, right now. I should be getting back to a routine, soon.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Natasha didn't even give him a chance to reply – much less reach out and take it. She scowled, moving to stand between Peter and the Collector, her expression suspicious and her body language plainly saying that she wasn't quite ready to let Peter touch it.

"Who are you?" she asked. Yes, Stephen seemed to know of the man – and Wong, as well – but they weren't the ones who were responsible for keeping Peter safe, now, were they? That was her job, and she took it seriously. "How do we know that isn't some kind of trap? A transportation rock – or a portkey, or something?"

Taneleer smiled, looking impressed rather than annoyed at the challenge.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Taneleer Tavin. Known throughout the universe as the collector, due to the fact that I have been collecting things since there were things to collect. Surely you've heard of me?"

"I have." She didn't mention Sirah's name, because she knew that the man had wanted the former slave girl back – and that wasn't going to happen, now was it? "But I have yet to hear anything that tells me that I should trust that you have Peter's best interests in mind, and that your altruism brought you all the way here from wherever you're from, just to bring him the solution to his problem. For that matter, how do you even know what his problem is?"

"I don't." He shrugged. "And I don't care. I'm here because when I told the cat people that I wasn't going to part with anything from my collection – not even for Peter, here – the power stones made themselves known to me in the most uncomfortable of manners until I changed my mind."

She raised an eyebrow.

"The cat people?"

"That would be my father," T'Challa said from the entrance to Peter's tent. The young king had arrived just in time to see Romanoff's challenge, and showed every sign that he'd recently woken and pulled on the first thing that was at hand. "I was just speaking to him." He looked at Tony, and then Peter, before looking back at Natasha. "He warned me that there was going to be a stranger coming. One who could get through the protections of the country – and then the gathering. He told me that this man has been summoned to assist Peter."

"That's what I was telling her," Taneleer said, making a there you go motion with his hand and turning back to Natasha. "But she's suspicious of me, for some reason."

Peter smiled, because Natasha was suspicious of everyone she didn't know, and they all knew it. He felt warm and fuzzy inside that she'd just been willing to step between him and a total stranger, acting on her own instincts that told her not to trust anyone. The others seemed more willing to go along with what they were hearing in the interplay between Wong, Stephen, and even Carol, but while she trusted all three of those sources, Peter knew that Natasha needed to be sure of things, herself. It was a byproduct of her earliest training, and she was suspicious by nature, anyway.

"You didn't answer my question, though…" she pointed out. "How do we know the rock isn't a trap?" She looked at Peter. "What does Alec say?"

"He can't read him," Peter conceded, knowing that the admission wasn't going to help matters. "Too strong."

Her eyes narrowed at the comment as Peter had known they would. Before she could say anything – or Tony, Stephen, Wong, or anyone else could, either – Peter suddenly saw a flash of an image in his mind. Taneleer grumbling to himself as he sorted through an incredible assortment of almost everything Peter could think of – and many things that simply were too incredible to even imagine. Then the image switched, and Peter saw another scene. This one was Taneleer Tavin standing in front of him – much as he was just then – and handing the small crystal to Peter.

Although the mind stone never actually spoke to him, Peter had no trouble understanding the message it was giving him. From the looks of things, he wasn't the only one getting that message, just then, because Natasha stopped in mid-scowl and seemed to be focusing on something internal, instead – although she never moved from her spot in front of Peter.

"Did you guys see what I just saw?" Tony asked, looking a little startled.

Of course, none of them (except Natasha – and Peter, of course) had been recipients of images from the mind stone, and the boy knew that it could be disconcerting. Wong looked fine – if not a little awed – and Stephen was fairly unflappable when it came to weird things going on around him. He worked with the creatures from other dimensions, after all. It would take more than a simple vision in his head to make him rattled.

"Did you see Peter taking that thing from the Collector guy?" Steve asked.

"Yeah."

"Then I saw that, too, yes."

Natasha narrowed her eyes, slightly, watching Taneleer and clearly trying to decide if she trusted the mind stone more than she distrusted the ancient being. None of those watching spoke, either, respecting the fact that Natasha was the one who would allow Peter to take the crystal. True, she wasn't father or mother, but she was guardian and they all respected that. Even T'Challa waited and watched. Taneleer smirked, his own expression unconcerned.

"My arm is going to fall off if you keep me waiting too long," he pointed out, still holding the crystal out in his palm.

With a grudging glare – because she didn't like aliens, for the most part – she stepped aside, but never turned her attention from the Elder. Luckily for him (although he almost certainly didn't know it) his expression didn't change to triumphant. He still wasn't happy about giving away (even temporarily) one of his collections. Another reason he was so adamant about getting Sirah back, wasn't it?

With the tacit permission granted, Peter stepped up and reached for the crystal, but he wasn't reaching blindly. He, too, wasn't completely certain, and he was relying on his spider senses. Like trying out each of the relics in the sanctum for Stephen and Wong, Peter was waiting to feel what kind of alignment the item might hold, and was rewarded with a gentle calm that seemed to be waiting for him to take it.

"It's neutral good," he murmured, knowing that it might make the others a little less tense to know that he was using his abilities. "Nothing chaotic, and nothing evil…"

Taneleer smiled, now, not looking at all confused by the statement.

"You know your alignments," he said. "That's impressive."

"You play D&D?" Peter asked.

"No." He wiggled his hand, reminding Peter silently that conversations about obscure games and the ancient alignments that the game had been based upon weren't the important topic, just then. "My arm…?"

"Sorry." Satisfied, now, that it was safe, Peter reached out and took the crystal sphere from him.

Everyone tensed, including the Collector, now, waiting.

"What do I do?" the boy asked, having expected the thing to tell him.

Before anyone – especially the Collector, or Strange, or Wong – could tell him what to do with the sphere, he suddenly heard a voice in his mind that wasn't Alec. Not as cheerful a voice as the teleportation stone, but much more sentient – although Peter knew that it wasn't alive, so to speak.

"You tell me what you want," the voice told him. "The greatest desire that you have."

"And you'll make it happen?" Peter asked, somehow aware that none of the others could hear either side of the conversation.

"If you're worthy."