Chapter 1: Going Up the Country

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"I'm goin' up the country, baby don't you want to go?

I'm goin' to some place, I've never been before"

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POV: Peter Parker

Being a Spider-Man is awesome.

I get cool perks like meeting the Avengers, getting sweet tech, being the hero, and saving the day. Basically it's like everything I ever dreamed of.

Well, really it's awesome like...85% of the time...because let's be real, crap happens.

Take today for example. Did I expect to be hit in the face by some dude flying around?

No. Not at all.

Did I get hit in the face though?

Almost.

"Kid that's the wizard. Get on it!"

I jerk around in surprise as I narrowly avoid being hit by said wizard. Obeying Mr. Stark's shout, my eyes track the man in the cape as he whizzes far past me in the bright sunlight.

Huh.

The things you see in New York.

*thwip* *thwip*

"On it!" I fling myself into pursuit, leaving Mr. Stark to fend for himself against a super ugly fanged alien, the two of them currently wreaking havoc in a nice peaceful park.

The flying figure jerks left and right around buildings and down uncharacteristically empty streets, leaving the branches of small trees whipping violently in his wake. He's leaving me in the dust!

"Hey Karen, would mind tracking that guy's path for me?" I politely ask my A.I. while flinging myself around a corner.

"Of course Peter." The mechanical voice responds.

The screens on my display light up and highlight the outline of the wizard's form, the tip of a red cape flicking like the tongue of a snake.

Gotcha!

Easy peesy Mr. Stark. I'll get em! I think as I release one web and shoot another.

I catapult after him like it's a regular Tuesday, although come to think of it, racing after a wizard down the streets of New York City during an alien invasion has got to be one of the weirdest things I've ever done. Definitely going to add it on top of my list of "Weird Stuff I've Done With Mr. Stark." Which meant that fighting a giant and Captain Freaking America in Germany was getting knocked to second. Sorry Cap.

Distracted by my thoughts, I almost miss it when the swatch of red veers abruptly left into a narrow alleyway. I let out a surprised huff and awkwardly twist in the air, trying to throw myself into a new trajectory.

Not a good move.

My forward momentum hurls me straight towards the side of a building.

CRAP!

In a slight panic I reach my hand out.

*thwip*

Shooting one last web at the opposite wall of the alley, I yank hard to pull away from my impending crash. I let out a slight groan as my shoulders protest at the sudden change in force. With a quick flip in the air, I let the motion carry me to the ground and gracefully catch myself with one hand. The dust on the ground clouds around my feet as I stand in the entryway of where the strange man halted his flight.

The man's cape dumps him on the trash strewn ground. He staggers to a standing position against an old wooden pallet, the high building casting him in shadow.

My eyes must be playing tricks on me because the cape continues to hover in the air above the broken glass and debris after depositing the poor dude. I blink a few times, but the cape is there every time I open my eyes. There's only one logical conclusion out there to explain that.

"Whoa...you're a wizard AND you have a magic cape? The words tumble out of my mouth. "That's insane!"

The man jerks around with surprising speed. His sharp features and impeccable facial hair are barely noticeable compared to the icy blue eyes staring back at me.

"What?" He demands.

"Your cape! It's magic, right?" I say matter-of-factly and point at it. The cape, in response, moves back a little as if accused.

The man gapes at me for a second before shaking himself a little and ignoring my question all together. "Are we still being attacked?" His eyes flicker between the two cement walls and the far back wall of where we landed. It's emptier than my chemistry class after the lunch bell rings. "Where did Tony Stark go?" His eyes flick back to me.

"You flew right through the fight so Mr. Stark uh, told me to follow you and stop that fanged dude from stealing your necklace..." I rub the back of my neck somewhat self-consciously and examine the necklace. "I mean, it is nice I guess...but Mr. Stark is...uh..." I trail off trying to think of where Mr. Stark is now.

A thought suddenly strikes me, and I raise my eyebrows.

"Hey wait a minute, you are on our side right?"

"That depends on who exactly you are?" His eyes narrow as his tone turns hard and steely. His cape next to him floats over and lands protectively on his shoulders.

That is SO cool! I think. But now isn't really the time to nerd out over magic.

Tapping into my Spidey-senses reveals nothing sinister about this guy. So I put my hand on my hip and cheerfully respond with "Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Who are you?"

"Doctor Strange."

I tilt my head in confusion. "I'm sorry, is that some kind of superhero name? I mean, I get the strange part, I'm not so sure about the doctor thing though." I say gesturing to his getup, but I don't think he appreciates my attempt to joke because his expression flattens. Actually, he looks about 100% done with me. It makes me take a small step back. Okay, maybe he's a little intimidating.

I'm about to ask about his necklace when the ground begins to shake behinds us.

CLANG BOOM!

An explosion echoes into the alley coming from the street outside. I move towards the opening only to jump back in surprise.

CLANG!

Something large and metallic hits the ground where I had just been standing. Cursing my Spidey-senses for not warning me, it takes me two seconds too long to realize it's just Mr. Stark in the Iron Man suit.

Before I can even voice a "oh, hey man, what's up?", gold flashes and Mr. Stark's face appears.

"Good news," he says in a low tone, implying there's nothing good about his news. "I lost Squidward and friends somewhere back there so they aren't here yet. Bad news, the ugly bitch is angrier than if I just hit its mother over the head with a two by four." He looks pointedly at Strange "So essentially what I'm saying is you have about 30 seconds to come up with some voodoo escape spell or we're toast."

Strange lets out a long sigh. His cape, which appears dormant now, swirls around his legs as he begins pacing.

"It won't matter where we go. As long as Thanos seeks the time-stone he will follow us anywhere."

"So you want to go Mano a Mano with him here?" The mechanic's voice is heavy with incredulousness.

"It's either now or later."

"Well I'd prefer a little more back up against him and a literal alien invasion than your magic ass and Spider-Kid over here." Mr. Stark jabs his finger towards Strange and then directs it to me. "So wrangling up some back up and fighting later sounds pretty good to me Doc."

Strange's pacing stops. He faces Mr. Stark. "Then what?" He hisses. "If we waste time getting back up and Thanos gets more of the stones we won't stand a chance against him. That will be on you Stark."

I raise my hand as if we're in class. "Who's Thanos?"

They ignore me.

Mr. Stark steps towards Strange, fuming. "No. No, you know what's on me? None of this shit! Where have you been every time we, the Avengers, defended the world? Were you too busy "defending our reality" to lift a finger against any of the pretty damn real threats we've defeated? No, you know what's on you?! Not warning us about Thanos and his damn rock collection from the start!"

Their bickering bounces off the confined space like bullets. The distant clouds of smoke reflect off the glass high above us.

A familiar tingle of awareness creeps down my spine with a chill. My heart unexpectedly skips a beat and my anxiety spikes.

Something is coming.

As usual, paranoia floods my thoughts. I examine our surroundings, my heart thudding.

Everything looks fine, but that doesn't mean trouble isn't around the corner.

"Hey, hey, hey, Mr. Stark?" My voice barely breaks through the tension in the narrow space. "Guys?!"

I move towards them when a force shoves into me from behind. I am in the air hurtling down the alley. The walls of brick race past my eyes before my body makes impact with the ground and all that exists is pain.

"Kid!"

Someone is yelling, but all I can hear is buzzing because the sky is now on fire and everything is hot. My senses throb at my skull.

After an agonizing moment, I roll over and heave myself up onto hands and knees. My breath sticks in my throat at the sight beyond my mask.

Mr. Stark and Dr. Strange are backing over to where I'm situated. Their attention is directed at two figures at the entryway of the alley.

Oh great. Big fanged boy is back and he brought another, shorter, alien friend. Do aliens even have friends? The shorter one is probably who Mr. Stark has been referring to as Squidward based off his flat nose and wrinkly grey skin. They're both hideous, and, I'm guessing, the reason I'm a bruised heap over here.

"Your antics have been admirable, but nothing more than the bother of an insect." Somehow Squidward looks even uglier when he speaks. "Nothing will prevent Thanos, he is inevitable."

At that, Squidward raises his hand and flexes his fingers oddly. Several bricks come flying off the nearby walls and crumble to form into the shapes of icicles, or maybe they're brick-cicles. I don't know. Regardless, they look deadly. With another flick of his wrist, Squidward somehow seems to control the flow of air through the alleyway because I find myself being sucked off my low stance towards the brick-cicles.

Strange must have used a spell to slow down time because I swear as we hurtle toward the spikes waiting to impale us that I can feel every tremor of my heart against my chest. I think I hear screaming, or maybe I'm just hearing myself.

Just then, a pretty orange light, like a sparkler or firework, erupts to life in front of the spikes. It circles and circles around until the spikes behind it disappear and all I can see is the street behind them.

My body hurtles toward the circle of light, and I wildly wonder if this is what people mean when they talk about a light at the end of the tunnel when you're about to die.

I close my eyes as the circle engulfs me.

The second I pass through the fiery sparks the pull on my body disappears and I slam into the rocky pavement. The impact knocks my breath away for the second time in less than five minutes, and I lay there gasping for a moment.

The force of the impact must have jostled something inside me because the air feels thick and humid now.

Rolling over with a groan, I wheeze and push off of the rough asphalt, preparing for another attack. I scan over where Squidward had been only…he's completely gone. I look around the street for him, expecting a surprise attack, but no sign of him. My Spider-senses have reduced from haywire alarms to barely a prickle.

But I sense something behind me….

I whip around. It's only then that I notice a small crowd of people milling around on the street outside the alley. Have they been here the whole time? Some are watching us intently while others are holding things pointed our direction. I start to bring my arms up defensively when I realize these people aren't threatening. In fact, the things they have pointed at us aren't lasers or anything sinister.

They're large video cameras.

What?

A few of the people notice me looking at them and tilt their heads in confusion.

"Get out of here! You need to find somewhere safe!" I shout to them. My voice echoes loudly off the nearby walls, causing me to wince.

Wait, why is it so quiet..?

The absence of noise is eerie. No screams, no explosions, no aliens…

I glance up to where I remember the alien ship hovering in the sky. What I see makes me choke.

The sky is gone.

All around us the buildings of New York grow until they are swallowed up into the dark expanse of…a raftered ceiling. We're on the street…in a building.

I have a sudden ridiculous image in my mind of being a Lego figure on the street of a Lego set and half expect enormous hands to rip the roof off of wherever we are and reach down for me.

"What the hell? Mr. Stark-" the words babble from my mouth. I stagger backwards.

"Where are w-" Upon turning around, I discover another horror. Mr. Stark is crouched over the limp form of Dr. Strange. There's blood…lots of it.

"FRIDAY give me a reading!"

I can feel the lingering eyes of the crowd behind us as Mr. Stark barks orders at his AI.

"Head trauma to the lower skull, weak pulse, sprained wrist. He appears to have a concussion. I would recommend immediate medical attention to prevent further damage Boss."

Mr. Stark curses as and my heart plummets at the sound of FRIDAY's diagnosis. This is NOT good.

Mr. Stark makes no indication of seeing me. He continues to ask FRIDAY questions and glance around. I can tell he finally registers our surroundings because he rises in an instant and shouts to the small crowd behind cameras. "Why are you all just standing there? We need a doctor!"

The sharp sound of a bell rings out over the scene.

"CUT!"

Turning again, I watch the gathering of people immediately jump into action. The cameras are wheeled away, several people start running towards us, and a few people start gathering up larger chunks of debris lying around.

"Tom, Robert, I love the raw reactions, I really do, but you're acting like you've never seen a camera before. What's up?" A dark haired man wearing a dark t-shirt and glasses looks up from a chair near the cameras. I think he's talking to us because he's looking right at me.

By now my confusion is as high as the unsettling ceiling. One of the women from the crowd reaches me.

"Here's your water Mr. Holland." She reaches a water bottle towards me with the longest straw I've ever seen.

"I-what? Uh…thank you?" I hesitantly take the water from her. More people crowd around Mr. Stark and Strange.

"Oh my God! He's really bleeding!"

"Someone get the medic!"

"WE NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION NOW!"

The shouts and cries distract the water lady's attention from me. In fact, everyone's attention is now focused on the small huddle around Dr. Strange.

I don't know how long I'm standing there. Confusion, shock, and exhaustion keep me frozen in place, stupidly staring at the scene with a water bottle in hand.

After a while, someone comes in with a gurney. Mr. Stark and several others help Dr. Strange onto it. They begin to wheel him down the street and away from the alley.

Someone puts a hand on Mr. Stark's shoulder, stopping him from following the fallen wizard. They say something to him I only hear because of my enhanced hearing.

"Rob, we need you to stay. We'll send someone with him to send us updates on his condition."

He runs a hand through his hair out of stress. His stance is wary and guarded. Abruptly, his posture jolts and he looks around wildly until his eyes rest on me.

"Kid!" He begins marching over, relief evident in his movement. "You're okay?" It's less of a question and more of a hopeful statement.

I stare at him for a moment before shaking myself out of my haze. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

He raises an eyebrow at me.

"Mr. Stark...do you know what's going on? The aliens just vanished and we're inside some building!" I say in a rush, frantically pointing upwards. Lowering my voice, I add "And now Dr. Strange is hurt and all these people are running around like nothing is going on. Was that sparky thing like a portal or something?"

Mr. Stark raises his hands to me, "Kid, hey, slow down," then registers the bizarre things I mentioned surrounding us. "What the hell? FRIDAY, where are we?"

"I'm sorry Boss, my location services are currently having difficulty connecting to the Stark Network. Looking for network errors now."

Mr. Stark scoffs. "You can't have network errors. You are the Network."

"It appears that the network doesn't currently exist. Would you like to connect to 'PINEWOOD_GUEST3' WiFi instead?"

"Doesn't exist? Wha-FRIDAY that's not possible!"

Shaken, Mr. Stark continues with his tirade of questions directed at FRIDAY while my attention drifts around the room. All the people I've seen appear relaxed, if a little hurried. The street stretches on until it becomes a wall of office buildings and stores. Buzzers sound and I realize part of why the room gives off weird vibes is that all the natural looking light is coming from lamps scattered all around the street. Those were definitely not there before, but there's dozens of them! I start to count them to try and distract from my nervousness. I'm barely at three when my attention is drawn to something behind one of the buildings.

Eyebrows high with even more bewilderment, I take a few steps to the side of the street until I can see the object clearly. What I see makes my blood freeze.

There's a massive wall behind all the line of buildings I didn't initially notice. It's obviously the wall to the massive room we're in. On the wall is an immense poster. It takes up probably a fourth of the space and features around two dozen people on it. I wish I could say that was the eerie thing about it, but with a start, I identify Mr. Stark placed prominently in the dead center surrounded by the faces of several of the avengers and even Dr. Strange, all with an orange glow behind them. There are other faces I've never seen before. My eyes follow the lines of people until my breath catches as I recognize...myself.

Plain as day, I stand, unmasked, in the Spider-Man suit very, very exposed.

I gape at the sign, mouth hanging open.

What is this? How did someone find out my identity?

For a horrible heart-wrenching moment I wonder if Mr. Stark gave my secret away. However, the utter stab of betrayal is pushed away by the fact that there is a lot more off about this poster than just me. Like, who was that giant purple dude behind Mr. Stark? Why were all the Avengers together? Did something happen to the Accords to allow them working together again? And why did we all look so…posed?

My eyes trace up to the giant text blazoned across the top of the banner.

Mr. Stark must have noticed my unusual lack of movement because, after a few moments, he joins me on the side of the street.

"Kid, listen, I don't know what the hell is going on, but we need to find out where they took Strange and then we can figure our way out of wherever this is. I need you to see if your AI is onli-you're not listening to me. Why aren't you listening to me? What could possibly be more import-" His question cuts off as he glances at what I'm looking at. He does a double take and breathes the words I'm unable to form.

"What the hell is this place?"

It all clicks. The people, the cameras, the lights. The sign says it clear as day.

"MARVEL STUDIOS
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR" it reads.

We're on the set of a movie, and the movie is about us.

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AN:

Hey guys! Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!

I wanted to take just a second to thank those who have inspired this story. I've read tons of fan fiction over the years, but lately some authors have inspired me to want to write more. If you haven't checked out Queen of Crystallopia, PippenStrange, Eva7673, KevyGrayce, or JustmeSpidey you're really missing out. They deserve huge shout outs due to their Spider-Man fan fictions being some of the best fan-fiction stories ever written!

Of course, much love to those who left reviews or favorited/followed. Y'all are the best! 3

I would love to know what y'all think about this story as it goes along. Although most of this story is already written, any ideas or thoughts you may have for it are always welcome too!

One more thing. Each chapter title is based off of songs used in marvel movies. Bonus points if you guess which movie they're from!

Until next time!

~Gamma

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Review replies:

I.D.'s Fantasy:

Thank you! I got the idea one day while I was at work and I couldn't get it out of my head. Thus, the story was born :)

Sage Nicholson:

It's going to be an interesting adventure for them, that's for sure! Since the multiverse is cannon I'm pretty sure that means our universe has to be somewhere in there right? XD

Spideyfangirl123:

Yeah it's a little bit of an out there idea. The stone isn't really speaking, but it's more like putting thoughts into Strange's mind. If Strange wasn't the keeper of the stone and so familiar with it it probably wouldn't be able to do that with him. Make more sense now? Let me know :)

emailgirl:

I'm so glad you liked the chapter! And oh my goodness thank you for the review as well! 3

There's more to come so stay tuned! :D