"Alright," Peter said once he'd collected himself. "Sam, what do you have?"
Sam held up the metal ball he'd been carrying. The inside was still glowing, an energy of some kind appearing to run through it.
"This device was something invented by one of Xandar's greatest scientists," he began. "When supplied with an additional power source, it can allow for instant interstellar travel."
"Instant?" Amadeus questioned. "As in teleportation?"
"More like it creates a portal, or a bridge, to another point in space," Sam elaborated. "It's even more efficient than sending a ship into hyperdrive. It was originally created for the purpose of use among the Nova Corps to catch opponents by surprise."
"Or, in our case, the WorldMind catching us even further by surprise after disabling our space monitoring technology," Kate said.
"Exactly," Sam replied.
"So, how do we use this thing to help us?" Eli asked.
"With some reconfiguring, we should be able to get it to produce a portal on its own, without the help of a ship," Sam explained. "We just need to find a means to give it the necessary power boost to do so."
It was beginning to click in Peter's mind where this was going.
"So, once this is done, we can actually GO TO Xandar and stop this thing once and for all?" Peter asked, voicing his theory aloud.
"That's right," Sam confirmed. "This was always how it was going to have to be. I'd hoped we could buy ourselves and this planet more time by destroying the bases they set up here, but now...this is our only option."
Peter nodded, his eyes wandering away. He wasn't sure how well he'd handle another trip to space given how his last experience had gone, but if this really was the only way...
"If this is what we need to do, we'll do it," he said, returning his line of sight to the team. Slowly but surely, each member signaled their agreement with a nod or a look. Some looked more reluctant than others, but they were all in.
"Alright," Eli said. "How do we get this thing the juice it needs?"
Peter thought about it for a moment.
"Amadeus and I will work with Sam on that," he said.
"Yeah, we'll get it up and running," Amadeus concurred.
"How can we help?" Kate asked, looking to Eli then back to Peter.
"Have a look around," Peter replied after thinking about it for a moment. "It does look like they cleared the place out pretty well, but if I know Tony Stark, he had to have kept a secret stash or two of equipment somewhere. Look for anything out of place or that might lead into somewhere secret. He LOVED secret rooms and doors."
The two nodded, immediately setting out in the hopes of tracking one of these secret spots down.
"What about me?" Riri asked.
"If you're going to go with us, you need to work on your suit," Amadeus said.
"He's right," Peter agreed. "I can show you where some digital equipment might still be."
Riri nodded. She still appeared nervous, but the resolve was there too.
"Okay," Peter said. "Amadeus, Sam, I'll meet you guys back in here in a moment after I show Riri where she can work. Try and get some initial ideas for any reconfigurations, and I'll show you guys how we might be able to give it the power boost we need."
"We're on it," Amadeus replied.
With that taken care of, Peter led Riri and M.J. to a section of the building where he and Tony had worked on new potential suit upgrades for each of them. Nothing had ever really come to it on his end, which had been fine. He'd come to realize that, while he enjoyed utilizing technology in small touches, he much preferred harnessing his powers and quick thinking in dealing with a situation. In any case, they were fortunate enough that there was still some useful tech in there for Riri to work with.
"I'm sorry it's not what it used to be," Peter apologized, "but hopefully it'll be helpful."
"It'll do," she said, setting the helmet on a table, starting to get to work.
"Hey," Peter spoke up. Riri turned to him, but he struggled to get his next words out. He wanted to address what had happened to her but didn't really know how to go about it. He still didn't know her all that well, but he still felt a responsibility to help her.
"Listen," he finally continued, "I heard about what you went through out there. Something like that would be hard for anyone. I'm happy to have you out there with us, but I don't want you to push yourself into something too soon."
Riri looked away for a moment, and Peter was immediately second guessing if he said the right thing. After a moment, she looked back up at him again.
"I'm not sure of much of anything right now, other than that I still want to help," she said. "I don't even know for sure if I can fix this or not. I guess I just...I figure if you can face everything you've lost, maybe I can make it through this too."
Peter smiled, nodding at her.
"I'll leave you to it then." He then took his exit from the room, closing the door once M.J. had exited as well. When he looked at her, she was smiling.
"What?"
"Nothing," she said. "Just proud of you, that's all."
Peter's head dropped as he let out a couple happy but nervous chuckles.
"Thanks, but don't jinx us yet," he said. "Maybe save it for when we save the world."
"Touche," M.J. conceded. Her smile was genuine but light, giving off a slightly melancholy tone. He would never say it out loud to her, but Peter pitied his girlfriend during times like this. He couldn't imagine how he would handle things if their dynamic was reversed, and he had to be the one never knowing if she might not come back.
"I guess I better get to it," Peter said.
"Mind if I come with you?" she asked. "You know, to try and help?"
"Of course," he replied with a smile. "Really, it's almost offensive that you feel the need to ask."
"I just know how sensitive you are," M.J. jabbed back as they started walking.
"Me?" Peter sarcastically questioned, putting a hand to his heart. "Where would you ever get a crazy idea like that?"
M.J. was so glad to finally feel USEFUL.
Upon joining up with the other two again, Peter had stated that she was going to help them too, and they had simply accepted his word about it. Still, she was nervous upon first jumping in. Chemistry had always been more her thing and was one of the things her and Peter had bonded over. Technology and computer science was more his thing. That wasn't to say M.J. didn't know her way around computers and other devices; usually when Peter talked about an upgrade to his web shooters or something, she understood the fundamentals of it even if she wasn't familiar with all the intricacies as he was.
Peter lived and breathed the stuff though. He had told her many stories of when, before the snap, he would work with Tony Stark on various upgrades to the Iron Man suit. She had seen it plenty for herself as well when he would work on fixing his costume or tinkering with the system inside of it to improve its functionality, relying less on fancy Stark tech and more rudimentary means. On some level, technology was just a way of life for Peter Parker.
However, M.J. had ended up integrating herself surprisingly well into their little operation. She offered feedback and even some suggestions of her own as they all worked on the project together. She even helped them out more directly as they connected the device to the building's power in the main room, hooking it up so that they could open and close the portals they would use from a control panel.
It just felt so GOOD to M.J. to finally DO something and help Peter out during this crisis. For the last couple of years, she had been able to help him out on several occasions with her investigative skills, researching various leads Peter had found out in the field that would prove helpful to him later. She was never so foolish as to get herself into a dangerous situation where she was in over her head; rather, M.J. simply made the most of what she was good at. It was her way of helping bring justice to the world around her, like Spider-Man was Peter's.
In this crazy set of circumstances, however, she had mostly been restricted to sitting on the sidelines just hoping Peter would come back to her. It had helped knowing that Peter was working his best to do so; if there was one thing that M.J. knew for sure in life, it was that Peter Parker would fight until his last breath to come back to her, because he loved her above all else. It wasn't until she had jumped in and helped him out with the potential resolution to this threat that she realized just how out of control she had felt about her recent circumstances up until this point.
As they were finishing up, the others returned to the main room as well. Kate and Eli seemed to have found success in finding some gear, as Kate's quiver was now restocked full of arrows and Eli appeared to have found a couple weapons which were now attached to his hips. Riri also entered in, decked in her armor sans helmet.
"How's it coming?" Kate asked.
"Almost done," Peter answered, "just doing a quick system's check to make sure we're good."
Kate nodded before glancing over and making eye contact with M.J. She walked up to her.
"So...Spider-Man's girlfriend after all, huh?" Kate said in a quieter tone, causing M.J. to bristle a little.
"Congratulations," M.J. sarcastically replied, forcing a smile. "You want a medal?"
"Oh no, the knowledge itself is all I need," Kate replied, and it was getting a little tempting for M.J. to wipe the smirk off her face.
There was a moment of silence between them before Kate spoke up again.
"You know, I meant what I said," she began, "about how I was able to figure it out. You might have saved my life that night, you slept on the floor...you did so much for some stranger you'd never met. It's exactly what he does. I think you two go well together."
"Thanks," M.J. said, allowing a small smile. "That means more than I would've thought. Also, for the record, you've shown a lot of strength too from what I understand. You've taken on quite a lot so far."
Kate nodded.
"Yeah, it's been rougher than I hoped, but I knew that's what would come with the job," she said. "I just hope I'm up for something this big."
"You are," M.J. replied matter-of-factly. "You're not the only who can read people, so just trust me on this one."
Kate let out a huff of air, nodding.
"I guess I will."
At that point, Happy and the woman they had found when they'd arrived entered the room. M.J. had almost forgotten that Happy had stopped to talk to her as she'd pleaded with someone to "talk some sense into her daughter," letting her proceed so she could find Peter. She turned and looked at Kate, whose eyes were locked on the stranger, her face bearing a nervous expression. She turned and looked at M.J.
"That's my mom," she explained.
"Oh," M.J. said in response, not knowing what else to say. Peter then came over, his mask now back over his face, likely due to Kate's mom entering the room.
"I'll give you two a minute," Kate said before heading off in the direction of her mother. M.J. turned back to face Peter.
"So, I need to ask a favor," he said.
"What is it?" M.J. asked, her mind instantly pondering what it could be.
"The building should have enough back up power to keep this thing on for a few hours, but that's about it," Peter explained. "We don't have any way to communicate through space though, so that means we're going to have to keep this thing open for us to come back. That means we need somebody to watch it while we're out, so I was thinking you could do that."
"Oh," M.J. said, almost got off guard by this. "Of course!"
"Great," he said, seemingly relieved. Really, she was terrified; what if something went wrong and she couldn't get it back up? Now was not the time for her to show fear though; not when he was taking perhaps the biggest risk of his career for the world and for her.
He walked her through what she needed to know on how to operate the control panel, and after that, it was time. Yet now that it had come, neither Peter nor M.J. could find the words, instead resorting to staring at each other. By now, the room was almost entirely silent, as all other conversation had ceased as the others waited patiently, even respectfully.
Finally, M.J. peeled Peter's mask up so his lips were exposed, pressing down a hard kiss on them that she hoped conveyed all the love she had for him at once. She pulled him into an embrace once they separated, desperately fighting back the tears that were beginning to flood her eyes.
"Come back to me," she whispered in his ear.
He pulled away, offering her a light smile and nod before he pulled his mask back down fully, walking over to join the others.
M.J. knew he couldn't promise her what she asked, but he'd done what he could to reassure her.
Peter stepped up to join the others. At this point, nothing needed to be said; he could see in their eyes that they were all ready, or at least as much so as they could be. He turned back to M.J. again, giving a nod. She reached over to the control panel and pressed a button. Suddenly, a large, blue-colored portal fired up in front of the six of them.
It worked, which meant no turning back now.
After peering back and taking one last longing look at M.J, Peter ran forward, leaping straight into the portal first, the others right behind him.
Hope you all are still enjoying it!
Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!
"The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing." Proverbs 10:28