Chapter |Twenty-Eight

"This is the Asgardian refugee vessel Statesmen. We are under assault. I repeat, we are under assault. The engines are dead, life support is failing. Requesting aid from any vessel within range. We are 22 jump points out of Asgard. Our crew is made up of Asgardian families, we have very few soldiers here. This is not a war craft. I repeat this is not a war craft."


A year can change a lot for a person, sometimes it feels like not much changes or it feels like everything has changed completely. Sometimes things change for the worse, but sometimes they also change for the better. In the span of a year, a lot had changed in many aspects.

Adrien, Nino, and Chloe had moved into the apartment that Audrey had previously gotten Chloe, the one Marinette had taken residence in when she first came to New York. Chloe had taken up finishing her GED through the summer, and given a sparkly recommendation from Tony Stark she was currently taking business classes online to take reign of Style Queen within the next few years.

Adrien had taken to having his freedom, to finding who he was personally for the first time without his father's over bearing nature and all the tight schedules. He usually spent time going through Peter's physic books and reading them for fun, and when he wasn't doing that he was in Tony's lab playing with experiments with Plagg, who would rather be anywhere else.

Nino had taken a spot next to Marinette as one of Stephen's students, learning the way through the Mystic Arts. He wasn't a natural like she was at first, but within a few months he had taken to Stephen's teachings, along with Wayzz's help. Watching Nino learn through the year gave Marinette some memories to reminiscing on from when Tikki was there to help through her teachings.

Then there was Marinette, who kept her promise to Peter. She took residence in the Parker apartment, often making sure Peter didn't blow anything up with his tinkering and up keeping the apartment when May was out at work. She did make the transfer to midtown high, and was currently a student there with Peter. When she wasn't there or with Peter, she was training with Stephen on control with her powers and spells from the books he had in the library- the ones that were off limits to most. Of course she spent some nights patching Peter up from wounds he would occasionally get being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, lightly chastising him for not being more careful.

She remembered him asking why she didn't take up being a hero again, and all marinette could really think about was the fear of losing control on her power. She was still learning about it, how to use and control it in a controlled environment for training. Out in the open, where there were people who could get hurt wasn't worth the risk. She missed it, sometimes, but there was something she didn't mind about waiting for Peter to return home and knowing by keeping him healthy and patched up she was helping him be a hero himself.

"Hey, Penis Parker!" Flash's voice yelled through the school hallways, causing Marinette to grip her textbooks and her eyebrow to twitch.

"Deep breaths." Ned's voice cut in, seeing her try not to strangle Flash for the day. It was a daily struggle she hadn't quite got a grasp on yet."One, come on Marinette you have to follow my zen voice. Follow my voice. One, two-"

"Say three and I'll strangle you without touching you." Marinette's empty promise falls on deaf ears as she openly stares at Flash, who found all the joy in trying to make Peter's life hell on earth. "I just don't get why he can't be anything but a pain in the ass. I'll bet you money he's secretly in love with my boyfriend."

Ned snorted at the last part she whispered just for him to hear, yet Peter in favor ignored Flash's taunting and wrapped an arm around Marinette's shoulder as the three of them made way to go find MJ before the school field trip.

"Are you sure about not going Mari?" Peter asks, and Marinette could hear the pout in his voice.

"I wish I could, but I really need to go meet Stephen at the Sanctum." Marinette reminds him. Ned knew about Peter being Spider-Man, so it was only a matter of time when he would find out the truth about Marinette. Though the time he thought Marinette didn't know Peter was Spider-Man was probably one of their most memorable moments by far since they first met.

"You won at least right?" Ned asks, grabbing a frozen bag of vegetables from the freezer to hand to his best friend.

"At least the guy got arrested." Peter groaned, placing the frozen bag over his swelling black eyes. "I will admit, I could have dodged that hit but I was concerned for the little old lady who thought a her purse would solve all our problems, and she could hit."

"So you got hit by a little old lady's purse huh?"

"Yeah.."Peter sighed, "Not my proudest moment, I'll admit."

It was then that the apartment unlocked, and Ned expected Peter's aunt May. yet he was surprised to see Marinette Dupain-Cheng walking in with a bag of groceries and tossing apartment keys onto the table by the door. Not even paying them any mind like this was something on the norm, but Ned didn't understand why the hell she was there.

Turning around, Marinette's blue eyes made direct contact with Ned's before glancing at Peter nursing his wound. Ned sprung into action, seeing as Peter already had his Spidey suit on still. Marinette had already dropped the groceries unceremoniously onto the floor, quickly making her way to Peter and forcing him to let her take a look over his wounds.

"What happened?" She asked him, but Ned being the best friend he was, answered for him.

"Peter was cosplaying as Spider-Man, and got hit by a little old lady for sneaking up on her by accident." Ned merely snitched Peter out unknowingly, causing Marinette to raise an eyebrow and the corners of her lips to twitch in amusement. "The real question is why are you here Marinette, with keys? I don't even have keys and I'm his best friend."

Marinette couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips at his words, shaking her head and placing the frozen bag of veggies back onto Peter's eye. "I live here Ned." She says it so simply, and surely that Peter couldn't help the pride he felt swell in his chest.

"You live here?" Ned repeated, then looked at Peter. "Does Aunt May know she lives here?"

"Of course she does Ned. Marinette just doesn't sneaking in and out." Peter sighed at his friend, "We're together, Mari and I."

Ned eyed Marinette warily, leaning to Peter and whispering into his ear. "Does she know, about you know what?"

Marinette gave Ned a look of pure amusement, and mockingly whispered back, "About the Spider-Man thing? Yes, she knows about it."

"I knew first." Was Ned's go to argument, and she would let him have it.

Peter had a grin on his lips then, "Wanna know something cool though? You know Ladybug of Paris?"

"The one Tony Stark exposed by unjamming Paris's satellites?" Ned asks, not sure what this had to do with anything.

Peter nodded, pointing towards Marinette, "That's her over there."

Ned's eyes widen, "Shut up. You're not telling me Spider-Man and Ladybug are a couple." Then Ned busted out laughing at it, "You two have a theme going on. Oh this is great. Marinette, do you hibernate when it gets cold? Do you have good luck? Are you a master at yo-yos?"

Marinette's lips twitched, not having the heart to tell him she wasn't Ladybug anymore. That part of her life was done and over with. Deciding not to dwell on that or correct Ned, who givingly didn't know the truth, she decided to humor him.

"I used to hibernate. My luck is pretty good, sometimes. Yes, I'm great with yo-yos and anything that needs be be tied up. Keep that ice on your face Parker!" Seeing Peter move the frozen bag of veggies again, she pointed to Peter with a look Peter dubbed she adopted from May.

Ned watched Peter comply to the female in the kitchen, looking back and forth as a knowing grin spread across his lips. "You are so whipped huh."

"Huh? No." Peter shook his head, "She can kick my ass though Ned, and yours and anyones really. I would like to not have nothing else to ice."

"Mhmmm sureeee."

Peter knew that she was trying to maintain a normal life, but she still missed out on a lot of things normal teenagers do. Normal teenagers didn't go training with wizards, or train in combat the way she did. Peter found out that Marinette started taking gymnastics about five months ago, and then martial arts with Chloe as well. She was training, not living for herself and he just didn't know how to help her with that. He was doing his best to include her in normal things, but a part of him knew normal wasn't interesting to her much anymore, but she was trying mainly for him.

"I'll be home before you though Peter. I think I'm going to try to make tacos for the first time for dinner tonight. I love you." Marinette smiled up at him, giving him a quick peck on his lips. "And you two," She gave Ned and Peter a pointed look, "Please don't do anything stupid."

Ned looked offended, "I don't know what you mean by that, but I accept your apology for being so rude."

"Nope, not saying sorry." Marinette shook her head, "Or do I need to remind you of the time you two both thought you could swing around using yo-yos?"

"You used to do it!" Ned exclaimed.

"Ned, shush." Marinette hissed, "And it was magic. Normal yo-yos are toys, it's not physically possible!"

"But you're still so good at them!"

"Because I had experience using them to swing around, of course I can use yo-yos!" Marinette wasn't sure how they go into these stupid argument, but she didn't mind them at all. "Now you two have a bus to catch, go have fun learning about whatever it is you learn about."

Ned looked at Peter, "How do the teachers not question her absences?"

"Honestly, no clue but I make sure she had her homework done and studies so she can graduate in time with us." Peter admits, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Please be safe."

"I'm just training Peter." Marinette pouted.

Ned chuckled, "And the last time I heard you sent Nino to Alaska for his training."

"Hey!" Marinette crossed her arms, "It was done for me so I was just passing the mantle to him. He can send the next trainee to Alaska too."

Ned shuddered, "I'll pray for that pour soul. But I promise I won't let Peter do anything I wouldn't."

"Yeah no- that's the opposite of reassuring Ned." Marinette quips, earning an eye roll from Ned.

"You woke up with no caffeine today huh?"

"Is it that noticeable?"

"You're mean, so yeah."

"Don't you have a bus to catch or something?"

Ned huffed, "Come on Peter, let's go catch out bus."

Peter watched as Marinette laughed at them while Ned dragged him a wave, mouthing one more time I love you. Marinette smiled at him, blowing a kiss before she turned and headed the opposite direction.


Nino would admit, he never thought his life would be this cool. He always wondered what it was he was going to do as a career, nothing really truly being of interest for him. He loved music, so he gave being a DJ a shot but even then it was eh. It didn't give life the pop of excitement he yearned for, then when he came to have Wayzz it changed. Life had color, it held a meaning for him to protect those he loved deeply.

Yet it was more than that now, and maybe that was due to being around Marinette and really rediscovering who she is. The need and wanting to protect his loved ones had moved to the need to protect the ones who couldn't defend themselves. He wanted to help people in anyway he could, even if that meant defying the thin lines of what was right and what was wrong. He hadn't understood that thin line until training with Marinette and Stephen, and for a short time while Marinette trained Wanda. When he accepted that, life seemed to blow up with color and excitement. It was like he found a purpose.

Nino just wasn't expecting all the reading that came with the training for the Mystic Arts. In over a year he had decided to stay in New York, everything seemed to change. Paris seemed to be a world away, and he understood what it was that called too Marinette to stay in New York. Of course he wasn't smitten like she was, but this city had more to it. It was a feeling, but it was strong. Of course he thought of Alya, but she never reached out after leaving Trixx.

A part of Nino knew that the guilt for what happened with Marinette and Lila was too daunting for her to burden. It ate at her, and he knew this because he knew her. He watched her try to be useful in the team, but she was the one who fumbled the most and instead of staying, she left. Alya made her choice, and he wished her nothing but happiness and hope she found her place in the world as well.

Luka and Kagami were a different story though. Nino wouldn't understand those two, not completely but he understood Luka. He was hurting, but watching him and Marinette that day after they returned from Paris, something had changed. The way Marinette carried herself around them, and the way she eyes Luka like she didn't know him. How she saw through him, and instead of speaking in private, Luka did the most out of character thing her could ever do- call Marinette out in front of everyone. he needed the space, and Nino could give him that but that didn't give him the right to treat Marinette the way he had. Yet Marinette will forever tell both him and Adrien to drop the Luka situation.

Last Nino heard, Luka was traveling with Jagged Stone on tour. Apparently the rock star was his father, and he was taking as much time as he could too reconnect. Nino remembered the day the head line came out, Marinette had been sitting as Nino read his training books, and there had been a small smile on her face.

"Maybe it will ease his heart a bit more."

Nino witnessed Marinette wanting nothing more than Luka to be happy, and even admitted that if that meant she was no longer in his life then it was okay. It sucked but it was okay. Nino would always say that Marinette Dupain-Cheng is one of the most selfless people he's ever known, she hides it well but she was. Well, until she was one of the people helping you train in the Mystic Arts and leaves you in Alaska damn near freezing.

The cold air nipped at Nino's nose as he stepped through the portal with Stephen, Marinette and Wayzz. It was probably the coldest he's ever been in his life, and taking in that he wasn't even dressed for winter weather, well it was fucking freezing.

"What are we doing here?" Nino couldn't help but ask, because no one in their right mind would ever been in this cold with shorts.

Stephen leveled a look with him, "You're going to open a portal back to the Sanctum without the help of Wayzz or Marinette to guide you."

"Good luck, you got this. Believe in yourself, focus." Marinette offered, and Nino could see in her eyes she knew exactly what was going on as she took a step back into the portal with Stephen and Wayzz. In horror he watched as it closed, and a panic almost settle in.

Then he remembered how Marinette described the feeling of using the mystic arts. He remembered her telling him to take a deep breath and focus on himself. To focus on the familiar energy and warm the mystic arts felt like and pull at it with a destination in mind. It was honestly a weird feeling. It was weird feeling magic flow inside of him instead of around him, a rush of power hot and ready to strike.

Calling forth the proper posture of using the mystic arts, Nino opened his eyes to find his hands using the same runes as Stephen and Marinette, the orange glow there as he positioned himself and willed a portal to open back to the sanctum.

It took a few freezing tries, his teeth grinding against each other. Low and behold when he finally opened the portal, Marinette was standing there with a warm smile and a popping hot cup of hot chocolate in greeting.

"Welcome back. You were quick."

Then there was Kagami, who last Nino heard was being sent to learn from one of her distant cousins on her father's side in Macau. Nino swore the name that Adrien had mentioned was something like Xu Xialing. According to Adrien, Kagami's hostility had calmed a bit and she was working on herself to be better towards people.

"Am I really that mean without coffee?" Marinette's question cut through Nino's train of thought, said female walking in with a cup of Starbucks in hand.

"I'm sure you can make a grown man cry without having coffee, or caffeine in general." Nino replied back with a chuckle, "Though you never really have Starbucks. What are you drinking today?"

"A normal black coffee." She said it like it should be the most obvious thing in the world. She never did the special drinks, only straight coffee and Nino will always wonder how she tolerated the bitter taste.

"I pray the world never ends because you and no coffee will be the end of us." Nino chuckled at her pout.

"That's mean." Her lips twitched in an amused smile, "Whatcha reading today?"

Nino shrugged, "I was just going through some of the other books Stephen has in the library. Haven't really found anything new, but I did see something about a thing called the multiverse."

Marinette's eyes flickered up from looking at her coffee cup at Nino, her smile slowly turning into a frown before she quickly masked it. "The multiverse is something we know little about Nino, it's something we shouldn't look into either."

"Doesn't that make you want to know more though?" Nino's interest showing, because if it was something Marinette was saying to leave alone then it had to be something.

"Please Nino." Marinette's voice almost pleaded, "Drop it. Whatever book you're reading, put it away and don't mention it again. There are things that we don't know of, and we don't need to mess with. That is one of them, and even then I don't know much about it."

"Have you asked Stephen?" Nino questions, earning a small nod.

"Yes, and even he said it wasn't something to mess with."

Marinette still remembers their conversation, it was mentioned briefly in one of her readings and Stephen told her it was something along the lines of time and reality. Something hard to explain, almost as hard as it was to understand it. Yet to mess with it was something no one ever truly tried, because of the unknown possibilities of it. She knew one thing for sure, it was dangerous. She was less worried about the multiverse and more so focused on herself.

When she formally met Wanda Maximoff, something just seemed to click. A little over a year ago Stephen had has a talk with her about her powers, and how important it was to make sure she understood them and learned to control them. He could only help her understand so much, he was more one with the mystic arts and could teach her more in depth training there. Wanda though, she could help her with control.

For maybe about a few weeks Wanda was in town, strictly to meet Marinette and help assess what it was she needed to know. Right away Wanda had felt her power, and set to help her the best she could before she went on the lam and lying low in Scotland with Vision. No one was supposed to know that, but Marinette had seen it in her head by accident one day training and promised not to mention it.

The one main thing Wanda had taught her in those few weeks was one thing that Marinette would always carry with her. "There's not many people like you and I. We have power at our finger tips, and that alone is enough to scare people. You will never be able to control anyone else's fear, only your own. Remember that and your control will be that much easier."

Those words had brought some peace to Marinette's mind, still not enough to make her forget what she could do but she saw the point. No one else would really matter, not their thoughts or actions because the reality was that she could truly only control her own fear of hurting others. What most of her friends didn't know what that Wanda didn't really help with her powers, more on the emotional aspect of it. Like Wanda, Marinette's powers reacted with her emotions. It was harder than Paris, but it was manageable.

"But still." Nino groaned, wanting to just know.

Marinette was going tell him to drop it again, but she perked up hearing Wong and Stephen arguing as they walked past the room. Nino, hearing it too, poked his head out of the study as they listening in onto the conversation the two mystic art masters were having, more like arguing at this point. A pointless argument at that.

"Seriously? You don't have any money?" Stephen says, giving Wong a look.

"Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual." Wong argued back, and it made sense to her given where they were at and what they did.

Stephen's facial expression never changed, "I'll tell the guys at the deli. Maybe they'll make you a metaphysical Ham on Rye."

Wong patted at his pockets, pulling out something from them and looking the contents over, ": Oh, wait, wait, wait, I think I have 200."

"Dollars?" Marinette couldn't help but ask, surprised if he had two hundred dollars just there.

"Rupees."

"Which is?" Stephen's tone indicated he needed an elaboration, and so did Marinette.

Wong frowned, "Uh, buck and a half."

What the hell was a rupee anyways? Marinette was curious, yet Nino had to hid his snickers from the others hearing .

Stephen sighed, "What do you want?"

"I wouldn't say no to a Tuna Melt." Marinette made a face at Wong's choice in a sandwich.

In that moment a light stuck down in the middle of a Sanctum stairs, causing a yelp to escape Marinette's lips at the sudden crash landing and cracking of the marble stairs. Both Strange and Wong got ready for a fight, their positions moving to get ready for an on coming attack. Marinette was following in suit moments after, her eyes blinking in gold for a second. Then her defense went down completely seeing a man she saw in photos.

Bruce Banner.

"Thanos is coming. He's coming.."

Strange shared a look with both Wong and Marinette before looking back at Bruce but it was Nino who asked, "Who the hell is Thanos?"

Which is how they were lead to where they were currently now, about fifteen minutes after the reappearance of Bruce Banner. Stephen had opened a portal to where Tony was with Pepper, who looked a bit more fed up with him. Marinette had stayed behind while they fetched the billionaire, who came a bit confused and upset he had left Pepper yet again for something out of his control.

"Hey kid, I thought you would be on the field trip with Peter." Tony says, sitting next to her.

Marinette shrugged, "I couldn't go." Was all she offered, and it caused Tony to frown at how much she acted older than her age. He was able to at least keep Peter more so in the dark so he could have that experience, it was why he waited a little longer to have him be an Avenger officially. Marinette, she was the total opposite.

Yet nothing else was said as Nino and Bruce took a seat as well, watching as Wong used his magic to show the universe and what seemed to be five out of the six Infinity Stones. "From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurdling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

"Space. Reality. Power. Soul. Mind. And Time." Stephen continued, glancing at Marinette for a moment. "We also have come to recently understand in the past year that the true origin of these elemental crystals do stem from the existence of the kwamis, spread far and wide to separate their power."

"Kwami?" Bruce repeated, the question clear in his tone.

"Pocket sized gods and goddess." Nino pointed towards Marinette, "She's basically the new goddess of creation. She would be one of the ones to know more about these stones."

"Tikki was vague about them." Marinette reminded, "Everything within the Order of the Miraculous was top secret, some knowledge lost over time. We know the kwamis created the Infinity Stones in an attempt to rid themselves of power, but it was a mistake. It created too much power in the end, from what I understand."

Bruce would have questioned that logic before, but he'd seen a lot of thing on the different planets he has been one and realistically anything was possible at this point. There were too many legends, stories. Fiction could be truth, no one could really know until it happened.

"Tell me his name again." Tony says, looking at Bruce.

"Thanos. He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets, he takes what he wants, he wipes out half the population. He sent Loki! The attack on New York, that's him!" Bruce needed them to understand, hell he watched Thanos kill Loki and wipe the floor with Thor. Glancing at Marinette, she wouldn't be a challenge either if he wiped the floor with two other gods. Goddess or not, Bruce could only hope she wasn't dumb enough to consider stepping up to the task.

The news almost hit Tony like a freight train, his mind flashing back to the alien attack. He could almost feel the memory of who Bruce was speaking about and suddenly wished he did more to build armor around the world. "What's our timeline?"

"No telling. He has the Power and Space Stones, that already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe! If he gets his hands, on all six Stones, Tony..." Bruce shook his head.

Marinette felt herself stand up, worry lacing her veins as she paced. This was bad, like seriously bad. Glancing at Wayzz from where he sat on Nino's shoulders, he shared the same look as her already knowing the dread she was feeling at this news.

"He can destroy life on a scale hither to undreamt of." Stephen says as Tony leans against a cauldron and stretched casually.

"Did you seriously just say "hither to undreamt of"?" Tony almost gave Stephen a look, but held back on that.

In return Stephen did give Tony an annoyed look, "Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?"

"Is that what this is?" Tony's looks down just as Stephen's cloak of levitation smack him on the arm, earning an offended look from the billionaire, "I'm going to allow that. If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?"

Stephen shook his head as Tony pointed to the Time Stone, "No can do."

"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives." Wong added, not going to let anyone just destroy the stone he swore to protect.

"And I swore off dairy, but then, Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so..." Tony shrugged.

"Stark Raving Hazelnuts." Nino commented, remembering trying it out when Adrien bought some.

"It's not bad." Tony defended the flavor.

"It's a bit chalky." Marinette added, "A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge" is our favorite here. Well Wong's and Stephens. I like strawberry."

"That's a thing?" Bruce asks.

Tony waved his hand dismissively, "Whatever. Point is: Things change."

Stephen shook his head in disagreement, "Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change. This Stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."

"And still conversely, it may also be his best chance against us." Tony pointed out, and Marinette felt a bit torn on the topic. Her oath was to protect the balance, and yeah balance was currently tipping.

"Well, if we don't do our jobs." Stephen retorts.

"What is your job exactly, besides making balloon animals?" Tony's voice was borderline mocking, a defensive mechanism he thought no one could see through.

Stephen's eyebrows knitted together in his tested patience, " Protecting your reality, douchebag."

"Hey." Marinette cut in, shaking her head. "We need to not be arguing with each other."

" Okay, guys, can we quick cable this discussion right now? The fact is that we have the Stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him now." Bruce wanted to be ahead of this, not wanting to see what happened to Thor's people happen here to his own.

Tony's scratched his head awkwardly, "Yeah, that's the thing."

"What do you mean?" Bruce frowns.

"Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He's offline." Tony watched as Marinette shifted on her feet, her eyes darting away from everyone's.

"What?! Tony, you lost another super bot?!"

Nino spluttered, "Another? There was a first?"

"Yeah, Ultron." Marinette says so simply, like Nino needed to keep up to speed on these events. He never felt so offended, and knew this must be how Ned feels.

Tony ignored them, "I didn't lose him. He's more than that. He's evolving."

"Who could find Vision, then?" Bruce questions, and in turn Tony sighs.

"Shit, probably Steve Rogers."

Stephen sighs in exasperation, "Oh great."

"Call him." Bruce says it like it was the easiest thing in the world, but it wasn't. After the events of Civil War both Tony and Steve had been on edge with one another, Steve coming around when the events of Paris happened and was concerned with a being like Marinette running around unsupervised. Once the issue was dealt with, he was gone and left her with Tony making sure she wouldn't blow a building up again.

Again, Tony sighed not sure how to tell his friend. Maybe it was better to just rip the bandaid off, "It's not that easy. God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we? The Avengers broke up. We're toast."

Bruce blinked at Tony like he grew a second head, "Broke up? Like a band? Like The Beatles?"

"Cap and I fell out hard. We're not on speaking terms again at the moment, not since the kids have been safe. We didn't exactly agree on many new things here in New York." Tony admitted what Marinette already knew, Steve Rogers believed she should be able to train. It was Tony who was more worried about her, and she was too. Yet Steve didn't fight for her to go, he just left her in the hands of New York and wished her the best of luck with Tony, but also told her to be happy.

"Tony, listen to me. Thor's gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not." Bruce never sounded so desperate in his life, but as Tony pulled his phone out to call Steve. Marinette shifted again on her feet, this time drawing more attention to herself.

"Scotland." She muttered softly. "Wanda mentioned they were going to the Iams in Scotland to lay low. before she left."

"Thanks kid." Tony says, shooting Steve a text that was basically along the lines of SOS, find Vision and Wanda. Tony did notice one thing on Stephen though, "Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?

"Not at the moment, no." Stephen tries to look up at one of his stray hairs fluttering.

To Marinette, she felt it more before she heard it. Something within the balance inside her tilted, throwing every nerve off and over the edge as she looked up. Her eyes found Nino's, and he understood all she was trying to say go find Chloe and Adrien. He opened a portal right then and there, hoping through to find their friends as the rest of them went outside the Sanctum.

Outside was worse, and Marinette swore she's seen chaos before but nothing like this. Metal scraps were flying around as people were running for their lives. The scene right here reminded her of the dumb alien movies Peter loved to watch on rainy days, and it felt surreal that it was happening. Off to her side, Marinette sees and hears Tony helping a woman up and asking if she was okay.

The woman ignored him, continuing on her path of running away right as a car crashes on a pole behind Tony. Tony looks at Wong and points at the man in the car, "Help him. Wong, Doc."

"Go! Got it!" Bruce called.

Tony doesn't reply as he put his sunglasses on, all humor from earlier gone. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., what am I looking at?"

"Not sure, I'm working in it." Was all the A.I could tell him in the moment.

Tony turns and points at Stephen, "Hey! You might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!"

Stephen gets his magic ready, calling forth on the mystic arts to aid him to protect the stone. "Might wanna use it."

Marinette could only follow both Stephen and Tony into the streets, her blue eyes widening as she takes in the sight before her. Up above Bleecker Street was a huge circular ship, one Marinette never thought she would ever see.

"He may be right." Marinette spoke softly to Stephen, her hand grabbing his arm. "Everything in my body is telling me the Stones need to be kept safe. The very balance depends on it."

"Balance means nothing right now kid." Tony tells her, his eyes never leaving the ship.

Marinette's eyes flickered gold, but she says nothing and choses to stand there ready to defend Stephen and the Stone. It was what needed to be done. Her duty as Guardian of Miraculous was to keep the balance for the kwamis, and the balance was being threatened. She could only hope Wanda and Vision would be safe.


Meanwhile across the city Peter Parker sat on a bus, the hairs on his arms standing up to alert him there was something wrong. He looks up and out the window, seeing the space ship at a distance. He was miles from the city, the very city his Aunt May and Marinette currently were in- no doubtingly in the middle of whatever the hell was going on. Tapping Ned's shoulder, who sat in front of him Peter whispered, "Ned, hey. I need you to cause a distraction."

Ned didn't need to be told twice when he looked up out the window, " Holy shit! We're all gonna die! There's a spaceship!"

His words weren't exactly confident building, but they were enough to cause the distraction Peter needed to open a window with the help of his web shooter. Glancing and making sure everyone was distracted at the moment, Peter crawled through the window and webbed away towards the danger that loomed over them all.


Here we are, officially in the Infinity Arc. Now these chapters probably will not come as fast, because I do read the screenplay and plot accordingly through that. I do have changes to make through this arc to fit the MLB characters.

I hope you liked this chapter, because I'm excited to write whats to come. This fast update is my late Christmas gift to you all!

Thank you for the support on this story!