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"Hear me, and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful that your meaningless lives are now contributing to..."
"I'm sorry, Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get out of here." Tony says.
"Stonekeepers... Does this chattering animal speak for you?"
"Absolutely not. We speak for ourselves. But, you're trespassing in this city and on this planet." You created two blue shields while Stephen created two yellow ones.
"It means to get lost, Squidward!" Tony says.
"Hold on, excuse me!? If we are going to be fighting you, we should at least know who we have the utmost displeasure of speaking with." You said, clearly aggravated by the entire situation.
"Ebony Maw. And your little friend here exhausts me." He turned to his partner. "Bring me the stones."
"Banner, you want a piece?" Tony turns to his old friend.
"No, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?"
"That's right. Been a while. Good to have you, buddy."
"I just... I need to concentrate here for one second. Come on, come on, man."
"Where's your guy?"
"I don't know. We've sorta been having a thing."
"There's no time for a thing."
"I know."
"That's the thing right there. Let's go." He points at Maw. "Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards."
"Tony, I'm sorry. Either I can't, or he won't."
"It's okay. Hey, stand down." He looks at you. "Keep an eye on him. Thank you." The battle was now in full swing. You looked at Stephen, then nodded and turned to Bruce.
"Bruce, if the rest of your green friend will not be joining us..." You made a portal and pushed him through it. "Then goodbye."
"You have got to get those stones out of here, now," Tony said.
"They stay with us." You said back.
"Exactly. Bye." He flew away into the battle. You and Haylee split off from the group and went to find Maw.
"Ah, Sophia Lousing and Haylee Fells. Thanos told us to watch out for you two."
"In my very own opinion. Thanos was quite correct." Maw sent stone-like spearheads towards the two of you.
"Haylee!" She knew just what to do. The two of you made portals that sent the spears back to him. You both fought together, looking incredibly synchronized. It was like you were created to be a partnership.
Maw sent a car flying towards Haylee. It knocked her down. "Haylee, no!" You ran to her while making a barrier around the two of you. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked around for something. "Wait. Where is Stephen?" You looked around nervously and yelled for him instinctively. You turned around and saw Stephen struggling to breathe, then his eyes closed. Maw was using his power to strangle Stephen with a cord from the streets.
"No!" You used your magic to pull him towards you. Maw was following close behind the two of you. Two seconds later, you fell unconscious. You woke up to see Stephen and Maw arguing with each other like children. Stephen was tied up with silver needle-looking objects all around him.
"Ah, finally, you're awake." You stared daggers at Maw.
"I will die before you ever get what you want." You spat at him. "And even then, you still won't get what you are after." You looked behind him and saw Tony standing there. Stephen groans in pain. The silver needles are now pressing into his skin.
"Painful, aren't they? They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them..." Maw senses something behind him and turns around. "...Could end your friend's life in an instant," Tony smirks.
"I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more a professional courtesy. Sophia, on the other hand, I might just so happen to care for her." Maw used his magic to make very large solid metal objects levitate behind him. He was approaching Tony like a cat waiting for the perfect moment to pounce on his prey.
"You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine."
"Yeah, but the kid has seen more movies." Tony fires a rocket from his shoulder, which pierces the ship and begins to suck everything out with depressurization, especially Maw and his large objects. Both you and Stephen are freed from your bindings and immediately start heading straight for the hole in the ship. The Cloak of Levitation wraps around Stephen's arm and an anchor point to catch him. You screamed while trying to grab onto something as an anchor. Peter shoots a web at you and holds onto a piece of the ship to brace himself. It breaks, sending you both towards space when his new suit shoots out metal arms to brace him and keep him from being sucked out. Peter crouches with his new spider-legs and makes a mighty leap that pulls you both back inside. Tony quickly sprays nanites onto the hole to plug it up. Peter safely drops you on the floor before landing on it himself. The cloak drops Stephen to the floor none too gently. You run and crouch down next to him to see if he is alright.
"Stephen? Are you alright?" He sits up, nods, and looks at you worriedly.
"Are you alright?" You nod, and he immediately hugs you. After a minute, he releases you from his embrace, and you rest your forehead against his. "Do not ever do that to me again. You have to promise me."
"What did I do?" He asks you, puzzled.
"You went into that battle purposefully trying to find Maw. You voluntarily put yourself in immense danger. I swear, sometimes I feel like you have a death wish." He smirked.
"Okay, I promise I won't purposefully go into a death trap." He said it sarcastically.
"I mean it!"
"Alright, alright, I promise." You were about to speak when he cupped your face in his hands and kissed you. It was a gesture of love and affection. After a while, you cupped his face and pulled back. You both got up off the floor and turned to your rescuers. Your eyes landed on Peter first, and you ran to hug him.
"Peter, what are you doing here? It's not the I am ungrateful for your help, but what if you got seriously hurt? What kind of mother would I be then?"
"I know, and I'm sorry, but I had to help." Stephen walked up to you, interrupting your conversation.
"We've gotta turn this ship around."
"Yeah. Now he wants to run. Great plan." Tony says, clearly irritated.
"No, I want to protect the stones."
"And I want you to thank me now. Go ahead, I'm listening."
"For what? Nearly blasting us into space?"
"Who just saved your magical ass? Me."
"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet."
"Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused."
"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you."
"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup." Peter raised his hand.
"I'm back up." He shouted.
"No. You're a stowaway." He points his finger at himself and Stephen. "The adults are talking." You quietly laughed.
"I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here. Wh-- what is he, your ward?" Stephen says sarcastically.
"No. I'm Peter, by the way."
"Dr. Strange."
"Oh, we're using our made-up names. Um... I'm Spider-Man, then."
"This ship is self-correcting its course. Thing's on autopilot." Tony interrupts the conversation. Stephen approaches him.
"Can we control it? Fly us home?" Tony is lost in his head and doesn't respond. "Stark?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you get us home?"
"Yeah, I heard you. I'm thinking... I'm not so sure we should."
"Under no circumstance can we bring the Time and Element Stones to Thanos. I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here."
"No. It's you who doesn't understand, that Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York, and now he's back! And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf, or his but you saw what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him. Doctor. Do you concur?"
"No! If we fight, we fight together with everyone else. We have a better chance if we have larger numbers." Stephen looked at you, and you nodded at him showing your agreement.
"Fine. We go with your plan then." You set the destination on the ship for a deserted planet and made a phone call to see where the fight was going to be. After a few minutes, you made a portal to Wakanda and went through.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was long overdue, but the next one will be published very soon. I promise.