AN: had some trouble with this chapter. didn't plan to take one week to get this out, but i have an asshole teacher who keeps stressing me out. oh well. also, this fic is now available on ao3 under the same title and username. however, due to circumstances on my end, this chapter might not be up on there for a few days. as of right now, it's more convenient for me to post on FFnet, so updates will usually appear here first.

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"So, what's next?"

After the trip to Hatchetfield led them to a dead end, Peter and Tony returned to the city to rethink their plan of action. And, of course, during the few hours they were gone, the situation in New York only escalated. The entire city was on lockdown, and the infected were roaming the streets in packs, singing all the way. Like the starry sky in Hatchetfield, Peter might have appreciated the zombies' harmonic voices, if it weren't for the fact that they were, well, zombies.

In response to Peter's question, Tony sighed. "Reports say that the infected are acting as a sort of hivemind, confirming our original theory. But the meteor was the only lead we had, and there isn't an efficient way to gather more intel—"

"—since the only people who know anything about the infection are the infected," Peter finished. "And trying to communicate with them is obviously a lost cause—"

"—since they'll either just sing at you or infect you. Which means we're back to square one."

For a few minutes, they were silent. In the background, FRIDAY was playing live news reports on the monitors.

"—the musical infection has spread across America—"

"—NYC officials have called for a city-wide lockdown—"

"—the origin is currently unknown—"

"—numbers of infected are increasing exponentially—"

"Do you think they have a leader?"

Peter's question made Tony glance up.

"I don't see why they'd need to," he replied after a moment. "If they're being controlled by one brain, it wouldn't be logical to have one of them be the central host. It would be too easy."

"But if the meteor's gone..."

"The meteor could still be out there," Tony pointed out. "Don't think they'd send it back to space, I'm sure that thing has a range, so it's probably still on the planet, and heavily guarded."

"I don't doubt that the meteor is the brain," Peter said. "But there's not a whole lot of logic behind moving it from the landing site. Only a few people escaped Hatchetfield alive, and I don't think the survivors would be a big enough threat to the hivemind if they were able to escape. The whole thing is kind of fishy."

"You think so?"

"I mean, I doubt the hivemind is expecting the Hatchetfield survivors to try and return. And even if the survivors did plan to take out the meteor, their chance is long gone. They would've done it from the start."

"Maybe they did." Peter looked up as Tony paced the room. "What if the Hatchetfield survivors did take out the meteor, or at least attempt it? If there was an attempt, the hivemind could've seen it as reason enough to move the meteor to a more protected location. Air at least somewhere nobody would expect it to be."

Peter mulled over his words. "That makes enough sense. But where would they move it?"

Tony shrugged. "Don't know. My best guess would be somewhere crowded, where attempts to destroy the meteor would have greater casualties and destruction. Or a place that they see as important to humans."

"That doesn't narrow it down much." Peter leaned back in his chair, twirling a pen between his fingers. "There has to be a way to pinpoint a more exact location. Maybe a place that's special to them?"

"What, like a sentimental place? I doubt an alien hivemind is going to feel sentimental about a place on earth, other than New York, and FRIDAY has already scanned the entire city for traces of the meteor."

"They couldn't have just picked a random place. That's why I said that they might have a leader. The leader could've chosen a place that they found important, and the hive followed."

"A sound theory, Parker. What we don't know is who the leader could be."

Peter tilted his head. "Well, it probably wouldn't be a government leader."

Tony glanced over. "Wouldn't have thought that."

"If they wanted the president, they would've landed the meteor in D.C.," Peter reasoned. "But they landed on a tiny island in Lake Erie instead. Something, or someone, in Hatchetfield must be special to them in some way."

"Someone in Hatchetfield must've pissed them off, then. It's basic strategy. Take out the biggest threat first."

"Not everyone in Hatchetfield was infected. Does that mean the hivemind succeeded in taking out the threat, or did the threat escape?" Peter mused.

"If the threat did escape the hivemind, I doubt they would've lasted much longer," Tony countered. "You can't run from those things forever. And I'll bet that whoever the hivemind felt threatened by tried to destroy the meteor, like we said earlier. They obviously failed, so they might already be infected."

"Boss, there's a visitor asking to see you." They looked up as FRIDAY interrupted their speculation.

"What?" Tony asked, perplexed. "Why the hell is someone trying to visit at one in the morning? And I thought the Tower was on lockdown, nobody should've been allowed inside."

"The visitor is affiliated with PEIP, a military branch founded thirteen years ago."

"PEIP?" Peter questioned.

"Stands for paranormal extraterrestrial interdimensional phenomena," Tony said distractedly. "A military branch that's sort of like the Avengers, deals with similar but smaller-scale problems. The visitor is connected to them?" he asked FRIDAY.

"She repeated the code set by General John McNamara six years ago with Director Fury. She says that it was passed on to her by a Colonel Amanda Schaeffer."

Tony narrowed his eyes. "She's not infected, then? No singing or creepy blue eyes?"

"No signs of infection." A pause. "Scan shows very low traces of the radiation we picked up in the Starlight Theater, but I'd pin that to the fact that she claims to be a Hatchetfield survivor."

At that, Peter stood up as well. "Wait, really?" He turned to Tony, a gleam in his eyes. "Mr. Stark, she's from Hatchetfield! She might know something about—"

"—the meteor," Tony finished, already heading toward the elevator. "Let her up, Fri."

"You think she'll be able to help us?" Peter asked.

"PEIP has had security issues in the past, and McNamara has a strong dislike for digital communication, so it set up special codes with its allies, to ensure that the right information is passed to the right people." Tony replied. "She's from Hatchetfield, and if she was sent here by PEIP, she must know something that can help."

"That works for me. Hey, what's her name, anyway?" Peter wondered.

After a pause, FRIDAY answered his question.

"She says her name is Emma Perkins."

-

AN: next chapter will be completely TGWDLM centric, no mention of the MCU! also i kind of hate the thing with the code but this entire fic was based on the idea of emma, tony, and peter fighting the hive. i needed an excuse to bring her to new york, and this was all i could think of. the concept is that PEIP doesn't like to send information digitally, only in person, and emma is sent there as a messenger, with the code to confirm that she's trustworthy. i do think it's something that mcnamara would do. he's not fond of modern technology, as we all know.