Peter dived down onto the floor, covering Kate as everyone braced themselves.
BOOM!
Multiple explosions soon detonated against the building they were in, causing them to be surrounded by flames and debris instantly. Peter held on as the onslaught ran its course, eventually coming to a stop after several loud explosions. He slowly looked up to see most of the building on fire, or at least what hadn't been reduced to rubble. He glanced down at Kate, who was slowly removing her hands from over her head.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I think so," she gasped, nodding for extra reassurance.
Peter looked around and to see the others getting up as well, in some cases pushing rubble off themselves. They'd all appeared to hunker down together, looking out for and protecting one another. As a result, everyone seemed to be okay.
"Let's get out of here!" he said.
They all made their way out of the building, climbing or hurdling debris to get to the outside. Once they were all outside and back together, Amadeus was the first to speak.
"Well, looks like it knows we're here."
"Time isn't on our side anymore," Sam declared. "We need to hurry and get to the mainframe before we can't even get in anymore."
"It's not like stealth is useful anymore to us anyway," Kate said, shrugging.
"Alright," Peter said, "Sam, lead the way."
Sam's blue energy once again overtook his body and he blasted off ahead of them. Peter grabbed Kate, firing a web and swinging to catch up while Amadeus grabbed Eli as he and Riri followed along as well.
M.J. reached over, grabbing her cup and taking another sip of her coffee. True to her request, Happy had made sure to load up on the espresso, which was largely what was maintaining her sanity right now. The minutes since Peter and the others left had turned to hours now, but the portal was holding steady. She was now joined at the console by both Eleanor and Happy, all three of them waiting patiently for the return of their loved ones, or at least patiently as possible.
Of the three of them, Happy had been the one who'd felt the freest to talk (big surprise), but Eleanor would reciprocate him from time to time. M.J. barely responded, still desiring to maintain her focus above all else. She did chime in from time to time though just to be polite, and again, because she knew that Happy particularly was just handling this in his own way, which she certainly wasn't going to blame him for. The three of them were in this together, and that meant accepting how they needed to deal with the situation.
"So, Mr. Hogan," Eleanor spoke up, "you worked very closely with Tony Stark, correct?"
"I did," Happy said, holding up two crossed fingers. "We were like this."
"I see," Eleanor replied. "Might I ask what kind of work you did?"
"I was his personal bodyguard for a while," Happy replied before proudly adding, "then I was bumped up to head of security at Stark Industries."
"Wow," Eleanor said, "that's a big jump."
"It was, but I like to think I proved myself quickly," he said.
M.J. had to fight off the temptation to roll her eyes.
"And now you work with Spider-Man too?" Eleanor asked.
"Sort of," Happy said, his tone a little more serious now that the subject was changed to Peter. "It's more like I just help him out from time to time. He mostly likes to do things on his own though. He and Tony got along well, but they're two very different types of superheroes."
"Oh?" Eleanor asked, "how so?"
"Well..." Happy paused to think it over. M.J. was actually fully paying attention to the conversation now, curious as to what Happy would say.
"I would say Spider-Man just doesn't care as much for the attention of being a superhero like Tony did," Happy finally said. "Tony was always happy to indulge the people and even the press from time to time by showing them what he could do and having fun with it. Spider-Man does that too sometimes, but at the end of the day, I think that's why he always keeps the mask on whereas Tony didn't. Spider-Man is happy to interact with others; he loves being the symbol people look up to while in the suit. But at the end of the day, he just wants to go home and live in private."
M.J. smiled quietly to herself. That was really a spot-on assessment, and a reminder of how grateful she was that Peter WASN'T like Tony Stark. He clearly adored the man, having described him as something akin to a second father, so she knew the man behind the iron suit was probably more decent and kinder than he had portrayed himself publicly sometimes. Still, M.J. was glad that, despite spending a lot of time around Tony for a couple years or so, Peter had remained the humble and sweet soul that he was today.
Suddenly, sparks began flying from the control panel, causing M.J. to kick back and throw her arms in front of her face. When it stopped, she looked up just in time to see that the portal, Peter, Kate and the others' only way home, was closed. It was gone, with no trace of the blue energy.
For a moment, all three just sat there in stunned silence.
"Where'd it go?" Eleanor asked, rising to her feet and gesturing in the direction of where the portal had been. "Where did it go?"
M.J. got up from the chair, running to check on the control panel.
This wasn't happening.
"We have to get it back up," Eleanor said.
"We will," Happy tried to reassure her. The man then came beside M.J, scrambling around to try and think of something. "Well, maybe it just turned itself off and we need to turn it back on again."
The man tried pressing the same button that was used to open the portal in the first place, but nothing happened. Frankly, the man was lucky the thing wasn't still hot enough to zap him.
"Okay, that didn't work," the man stated almost under his breath.
"Well, try something else," Eleanor suggested, her tone going up significantly in intensity.
"I'm sorry okay; the tech stuff was always Tony's thing," Happy explained, clearly flustered.
The rising tension in the room was only serving to drive up M.J.'s anxiety as she struggled to focus on actually finding a solution to the problem.
"Well," Eleanor said, "maybe we just try one of the other ones."
She started pressing different buttons, bumping into M.J. as she did.
That did it.
"Stop it!" M.J. yelled, grabbing Eleanor's arms and holding them up, "both of you! Scrambling around and yelling are not going to bring them back. We need to keep our heads if we expect to have any chance of fixing this."
"You're right," Eleanor acknowledged once she'd calmed down for a moment, and M.J. released her grip on the woman's arms. "What do we do first?"
M.J. thought about it for a moment, then she walked over to where the equipment that her, Peter and the others had been using to rig up this thing in the first place, grabbing some protective gloves and slipping them on. Acquiring a couple tools, she came back around and unscrewed a section of the underside of the panel. After taking a look at the wiring she believed she had a decent idea of what they might be dealing with.
"This wiring is shot, probably from not being maintained properly for a couple years now," she explained, "but I'm pretty sure I can rewire it and get the power back up, at least for how long we need it for."
"Okay, how can I help?" Happy asked.
M.J. thought about it for a moment.
"You guys keep an eye on the device actually powering the portal," she finally replied. "That seems to be still intact for now but let me know if it starts to fizzle out or something. That way I'll at least know if I'm doing something wrong."
"Got it," Happy said. The two went to the other side of the panel, and M.J. bent down, glancing inside of it. She took a breath, a final moment to let the implications of this wash over her.
"Stay cool M.J," she said in barely a whisper. "Stay cool. You got this...hopefully."
"There it is!" Sam shouted, pointing ahead of them to one of the few buildings in the area that was actually still completely intact. The downside was that it was encased in a protective dome similar to the one used by the machines back on earth. Peter landed about ten feet in front of it, dropping Kate off as the others joined them.
Sam, meanwhile, floated up ahead of them, going right up to the forcefield.
"Can you do the same thing you did before?" Eli asked.
"We're about to find out," Sam replied.
"What are you guys talking about?" Riri asked.
Peter watched as Sam provided the answer, pressing his hands against the forcefield, its energy seemingly melding perfectly with his own. However, after about ten seconds, the small hole he'd managed to make reconstituted, sending Sam reeling backwards. He caught himself, stopping before he could collide with anybody.
"Why didn't it work this time?" Eli asked.
"It's learned," Sam said. "It's probably tracing where I am and rerouting more of the Nova Force to counter me."
"So, what do we do?" Amadeus asked. "Last time I tried smashing through the thing, it didn't go so well."
Peter noticed a determined look forming on Sam's face in response to the question.
"Give me one more chance," he said. "I still think I can do this."
Sam clenched his fists, the blue energy around his body steadily increasing in power and intensity. He then bolted to the same position he started in, slamming his hands into it. A hole once again started to form. It was slow in coming though, and Peter could observe where it was fighting him back. When it threatened to close again, Sam pushed harder, letting out a powerful scream with his effort. The hole then expanded, now big enough for them to fit through.
"Go, go!" Sam yelled, and one by one, the team sprinted inside the dome's radius. Peter went through second to last, helping pull Sam in behind him. The boy collapsed to the ground, the effort clearly having taken a lot out of him.
"You okay?" Peter asked, squatting down on his knees next to Sam.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good," Sam replied, his panting slowing up a bit.
Peter's spider sense rang out.
"Good, because I think we're about to have company."
Standing up, Peter moved to the front of the group. He observed what looked like a small army of some kind of war drones. Even from the distance they were away, Peter could tell that they were far more advanced than anything he'd ever seen before.
"What do we do?" Eli asked.
In that moment, Peter knew there was only one way they were going to get through this: as a team.
"Avengers!" he shouted. "Assemble!"
Deep down, part of him had always wanted to say that. Admittedly, he'd been nervous that it would be too corny a moment in a Diar situation like this, but as he motioned for his team to gather around him, they all came together in something of a half circle, each one facing the weapons about to come after them. He could see the resolute looks now on their faces, each one doing their best to swallow whatever fears might still linger.
"Alright everyone," Peter said, "they're probably going to try and surround us, so try and keep in a circle formation once they do. Keep moving, watch each other's backs, and, above all else...don't hold back."
Everybody drew their weapons and got in their stances, bracing themselves.
Hope you guys are still enjoying this!
Know that I am praying for you all; stay safe and healthy and have a very Merry Christmas!
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.'" Luke 2:8-11