***Stark Cabin***
After lunch, the day pretty much flew by.
But when nighttime rolled around, Peter found himself in deep thought, as he washed the dishes. He thought about May. He thought about Ned...and he thought about Tony. That's where his memory held still for a minute. The more he thought about the heroic billionaire, the more he missed him. He remembered the wave of shock that overtook him when he first met Tony. The glee he experienced when he was with them in Berlin...before the fighting began that is. But then, the heart-wrenching pain and sadness from watching Tony die in front of him came back as well.
It was only the faucet hose spraying him that pulled him from his thoughts. He immediately reacted by turning off the water and placing the hose back in it's spot. He noticed that he had partially drenched himself, the right side of his shirt to be more precise. Mentally slapping himself, he dried the plate in his hands before placing it in the dish rack on the counter next to the sink. As he set it down, his eyes drifted upward to a picture of Howard Stark on a small shelf that was in a corner. He gave it a good look and couldn't help but notice, again, just how much like his father Tony looked.
He hummed a tad, a half smile coming up. "Hey, Mr. Stark."
But after he said that, his eyes drifted to another picture behind the one of Tony's father. This one hit differently though.
That smile gone and a sigh let out through the nostrils, Peter hesitantly reaches up and pulled the photo down to get a better look at it. It was a picture of him and Tony with a Stark Industries Certificate that Peter had received on joing the "Stark Internship" way back in 2017.
As he looked on at the picture, tears began to well up and his heart started to hurt. And the more the hurt, the more Peter understood what Nikki meant when she said what this thing was. What this plan, this Time Heist meant. Not just to him, but to everyone on Earth. Heck, to everyone in the UNIVERSE!
Bringing his head up and staring ahead with a look of determination, he nodded to himself as he knew what had to be done.
A little later, Peter sat down and fired up his computer/holo-table in the living room, generating a holographic model for a potential time machine that could be compatible with quantum fluctuation.
"Ok uh, can we look at a mod inspiration, please? I wanna see if it checks out." He said to his AI, KAREN. He still used her and was really happy, it helped to have someone to talk to like her. "Uh...recommend one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time, in the shape of a Mobius strip, inverted, please."
"Processing..." She replied.
The hologram that was projected above the table showed the Mobius strip-shaped structure being formed with multiple fluctuating panels on it. Peter nodded at it before turning it around with his hands and worked on certain parts.
"I'm gonna need a...um...why do you call it?"
"Eigenvalue?"
"Right! That. And that, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp. That'll take a second."
"Just a moment."
"And uh...ya know, don't worry if it doesn't pan out. I'm just kinda..."
But the AI cut him off with her report. "Model rendered."
Within a few seconds, the results for the render came up, and what he saw left him speechless. The results show the chance of the model being as 99.987% successful. Peter's eyes went wide at the sight of it. This was it. It could work! So overcome by shock and bewilderment, Peter fell backwards into his chair, completely blown away.
With so many neurons flaring in his brain, one word came to mind that helped him get out his shock."...sh**!"
"Sh**." Another voice repeated. Peter slightly flinched as he didn't expect anyone to hear him, let alone repeat him.
Turning around, he saw none other than Morgan sitting at the foot of the stairs, smiling and giggling at her "older brother".
Immediately, Peter brought a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet. "What are you doing out of bed, little miss?" He asked, not stopping the smile that automatically came.
"Sh**." She replied, repeating his previous line.
Once again, Peter tried to shush her. "No, no, no! You can't say that. I shouldn't even be saying it. Your mom's the only one that can use it. She coined it, it belongs to her."
He made that last part up, but he hoped it would be enough for Morgan not to use it again.
"Why you up?" She asked him.
"'Cause I-I got a big project I'm working on here."
"What 'ith' it?"
"Grownup sh**!" Peter exclaimed with a cocky smile, "What do you think?"
That made Morgan put on a scrunched up face that said 'What did you just say?!' It was still cute though. But it made Peter realize what he'd just said and done.
"No, I-I got something on my mind. I got something on my mind." He corrected himself.
"'Wath' it 'juith popths'?" Morgan asked with a teasing tone.
Peter saw right through her and could tell what she was getting at. And it just made him smile even more. "Uh, yeah. Sure was. Great minds think alike."
Standing up from his chair, he reached out his hand which Morgan took as she jumped down the last step of the stairs and they both walked towards the kitchen.
"By the way, are you familiar with the term 'extortion'?" Peter asked her, which she replied with another giggle.
***Morgan's Bedroom***
Thirty minutes later, the two were finishing was had been two juice pops each.
"All finished?" Peter asked her, a juice pop stick in the side of his mouth.
Morgan nodded with hers still on her mouth too. "Mhm."
Peter couldn't help but smile at that. She was just too cute and lovable. And she loved him too, that made him even happier to know her and be here for her.
"Me too. Here. " Reaching over, he wiped Morgan's face for any juice pop residue before taking her juice pop stick and stood up from the bed. "Alright, time to sleep."
"Nooooo!" She cried, "Tell me a 'thtory'!"
"A story?"
"'Pweathe'?"
Peter exhaled a laugh from his nostrils before sitting back down next to her bed. "How can I say 'No' to that face?"
He was really pushing it, but he couldn't say no to her even if he wanted to. Morgan smiled at that as she readied herself for the story.
"Heh, ok. Which one?"
"The one about the 'thix' 'heroeths'."
Peter froze for a minute. He knew what she meant by that. He'd told her that story a long time ago when she was a baby. But she wanted to hear it now and again.
A smile came to his face as he nodded. "Ok."
"Yay!" She clapped.
"Ready?"
She nodded. Peter let out a sigh as he began, wondering how to start.
"Ok...Um...ok. And there came one day unlike any other. When Earth's Mightiest Heroes came together against a common threat. The Soldier. The Knight. The God. The Monster. The Spy. And The Archer. On that day, the Avengers were born. And they fought to protect people from threats that they couldn't on their own.
"Did they 'thave' the world?"
Peter laughed and nodded at that. "Yep, they sure did. And it became a regular thing for them. And they all became close friends as they did. Even making new friends along the way. There was...The King...The Giant...and The Ghost, and many others!"
"Ooooohh!"
"Be it mischievous lords, alien invaders, or evil robots, the Avengers vanquished them all. Together, they were a team of unstoppable good."
Peter pauses momentarily as he saw the mesmerized expression on his "little sister's" face. She really liked it when he told her stories like this, he was always so expressive and vivid with them and she was always happy with the endings. And Peter looked it too, the storytelling was a big thing for him with Morgan. And this particular one was a personal favorite...but now, things were different now that she was older. So he decided to go a little further.
"But one day," he continued hesitantly, "...evil returned. A new evil called: Thanos."
Morgan had never heard this part of the story before.
"The Mad Titan, Thanos, wanted nothing less than dominion over the whole universe, but wanted half of it gone."
"Why?"
"Well..." Peter thought for a minute of how to explain to where she'd understand. "...Ok, you know how you don't like it when there's too much peanut butter or too much jelly on your sandwiches?"
Morgan nodded.
"Well, that's how it was for Thanos. He thought that there were too many in the universe and figured that the only way for balance was to ki-...'off' half of it."
"That's mean!"
"Yeah it is, and it's how he wanted it too. But the Avengers stood in his way."
"Yeah!"
"Yeah. They fought their best to stop the Mad Titan, and they came so close to stopping him...but unfortunately...they weren't able to..."
"Did they die?"
Peter solemnly nodded.
"Yeah...they did...but even after, the children of the Avengers lived on...and as long as they do...there's still hope."
Peter had said that last part mainly for himself. He needed hope, a lot of it. And now...he had it. He had trailed off and stopped talking. Morgan noticed this and saw that Peter had began tearing up, and that didn't sit so well with her. She didn't like to see her "big brother" sad or hurt, or anything like that. Cause then, that made her feel bad.
Moving the covers away, she got up from her bed and hugged Peter's neck, and Peter didn't hesitate to hug her back. "Ith's ok, Peter."
"Thanks, Morgan." He whispered back, more tears threatening to come forward.
After hugging it out a little more, they let up and broke their hug. Morgan smiled as she looked Peter right in the face and rubbed cheek. That made Peter smile, and he was happy that she was able to help him. Even with small gestures like that.
They shared a final smile before Morgan jumped back into bed. Peter followed suit as he tucked her in.
"Night, Morgan." He said with a smile.
"G'night, Peter." She replied.
"Love you tons."
"I love you three 'thouthsand'."
Peter was stunned by that. Morgan never ceased to surprise him, but this one took the cake. He couldn't help but smile at that as he stood up. "Three-thousand? Wow! That is a big number, I'm impressed."
Turning off the light and just about to close the door, Morgan called out to Peter once more, "Peter?"
A light sigh escaped him as he heard his name, but he still couldn't be upset or annoyed. Not in the slightest. "Yeah?"
"Is that 'thtory' true, about the heroes?" she asked.
Peter thought on that for a bit. He never told her the story was true, but she was smart enough to figure things out on her own. Still though, he didn't want to scare her. "Well, what do you think?"
"I think it's real."
That made Peter nod, a small prideful smile with it too. He was really proud of her with how she took it and how strong she was. "Well, it is. And even though some of them are gone, it's good that those heroes gave people hope. It helps a lot."
There was a momentary silence before Morgan gave an honest, heartfelt statement.
"You're my hero, Peter."
Once again, the strings of Peter's heart were strummed when she said that and a blushy-faced smile came with it to boot. He looked down to try and hide it, but failed. That's the effect Morgan had on him, she would leave him speechless and loved. And he loved that about her.
"And you're mine too, Morg." He replied, his voice voice cracking a little. They shared a brother and sister moment as they smiled at each other once again. "All right, now go to sleep or you'll turn to the Dark Side!"
Morgan giggled as she watched Peter close her bedroom door and leave her to sleep, and she did. And when she slept, she dreamt of the heroes, and Peter as a hero too.
***Living Room***
Pepper Potts was sitting on the couch and reading a magazine when's she hears Peter come down the stairs and joins her in the living room.
"I honestly can't get enough of her." He stated proudly as he sat on the couch with her, "She just said 'she loved me three-thousand!'"
Pepper scoffed/smiled at that statement. "Oh, did she now?"
"Yeah. But don't worry, I'm sure you're high than me."
"Oh, I doubt that, Peter."
He cackled innocently before his gaze drifted back over to the holo-table where the hologram still floated and glowed. He still couldn't he'd cracked it, yet there it was. He didn't realize he'd been staring at it for quite a while until he heard a voice.
"Peter?" Pepper called him, pulling him from his thoughts.
He came back to reality once again, blinking rapidly a few times before looking back to her. "Yeah?"
"Are you ok?" Pepper asked, the concern of a mother apparent in her voice.
Peter let out a heavy sigh before gathering his thoughts and telling Pepper. "I figured it out."
Unclear on what he meant, Pepper tried to ask, "And when you say 'it', just so I know, we're talking about -"
"Time travel." He expanded, making it more understandable for her. "I made out the model and it says it'll work."
Pepper was taken aback by that, almost speechless. "What? Wow... That's amazing, and... terrifying."
"...yeah...yeah, it is."
"You know, we got lucky to have made it this far."
Peter nodded at that. "Yeah, I know."
"A lot of people didn't."
"Also true. Wasn't able to save them."
"Doesn't seem like it's stopped you from still trying."
"For the past ten years...I've been haunted by these memories. They keep playing in my head, over and over.
"Peter, if there's one thing I know about you, it's that when you can't stop once you have a moral obligation. You tend to see it as a responsibility. It's one of the things that Tony saw in you, why he liked you so much. Because you reminded him of him."
Peter snorted lightly at that as he listened to Pepper's words, her words about Tony. And that made Peter think about the Heist even more, and how important it was...and what it could mean to Pepper if it worked.
"I miss him..."
Pepper nodded in agreement, tears forming in her eyes the more she thought of her lover. "I know...I miss him too, so..so much. But I think if her were here right now, he'd be proud of you. "
"Yeah...but with this, I...I'm torn. Part of me feels like I should just drop it at the bottom of the lake... go to bed."
Pepper, knowing better and caring for Peter, retorted kindly, "But would you be able to rest?"
She made a good point there. Peter would probably just be in bed, laying awake and staring at the ceiling for the whole night with it weighing on his mind. And that made him feel conflicted even more. "I don't know...I just don't know."
Pepper closed her book before standing up and looking down to Peter once more. "Peter, whatever it is you choose, I know you'll make the right decision."
She walked past him and kissed the top of his head before going up to her room to bed.
As Peter sat there alone, he looked back over to the holo-table and look at the model once again. As he did, the thoughts and worries of what could happen came back. And he was afraid of them, but he was even more afraid of not trying now that he was this close to it.
Best case scenario: everyone lost would be back. Worst case...well, Peter decided not to let that hold him back anymore. So, letting out a good long sigh, Peter nodded as he stood up and walked over to the table and starred at the hologram. The longer he stared, the more solid his decision had become.
Once again, he nodded as he said the following words. "Whatever it takes."
That's it for this chapter, y'all!"
Peter's in and ready to start the mission! Also, he's being a great big brother to Morgan. I seriously LOVE the idea of the two in a scene together with the brother/sister bond between them, and I hope you guys enjoy how I'm presenting their relationship within this story.
Pepper's in here too as a bit of a mother figure to Peter now, and she misses Tony dearly. That's more motivation for Peter to do this. So expect big stuff to come from that. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and all the cuteness that came with it.
Like & review please! I like the feedback I get from you guys, so lemme have it!
Also, one last thing. I see that you guys really like this Next Avengers story, and I'm enjoying the pleasure of writing it. And it has become my decision to make my own MCU focusing on the Next Avengers' journey after this story. It spans out to 18 stories which includes solo stories and two more Next Avengers team up stories. And I wanna give you guys a bit of a release showcase, but I wanna see if you guys would like to see is as well. So, would you guys like to see the rest of my 'Next Avengers Initiative'? Lemme know in the comments. I really hope I can share this with yall!
Til next time! Laters!
