"Did you tell Ned what is happening?" Shuri asked.
"No, and I can't."
"Why?"
"Because he'll tell someone else, and they will tell someone, and on and on and then there will be a panic. A lot of people could get hurt – and we don't even know that this Thanos is really coming."
"But you think that he is."
Peter nodded.
"Let's just say that I expect him to."
No sense in letting her know how little he trusted the universe to leave him alone and let him be happy like he finally was.
"You are far too young to be so jaded," Alec told him.
"You disagree?"
"No, I think that Gamora is certain he's coming, and she knows him best. He's coming. Eventually. But there's no reason to believe that you're not going to be ready for him. You have a lot of power, Peter, and a lot of powerful allies and friends. Thanos is going to find your planet and her people a large bite to chew when he comes."
It wasn't the first time that Alec had worked on reassuring and bolstering Peter from the inside, while Pepper, Tony, Natasha and the others worked the same task from the outside.
"Are you going to call him?" Shuri asked, unaware of the conversation going on in Peter's head.
"Yeah, I need to. If I don't, he's going to call me, tomorrow, anyway when I don't show up in school."
"What will you tell him?"
"That something has come up and Tony needs me to stay here." Peter shrugged. "He'll understand. It's MJ who will be difficult."
"Because she already worries about you doing dangerous things?" She asked, proving that she was spending enough time talking to Peter's friends – now her own, as well – that she was learning how they felt about being friends with a superhero in training.
MJ didn't handle it anywhere near as well as Ned did. Ned was excited about what Peter did. MJ was afraid.
"Right. Not to mention, I asked her to Homecoming, and now it's not looking like I'll get to go."
Shuri knew him well enough to know how much he enjoyed formal dances, and her expression was sympathetic, even while he tried to hide the disappointment he was feeling about the whole thing.
"I'm sorry."
He gave her a wry smile. Pouting and brooding weren't really in his nature. He worried; he didn't sulk.
"It's okay. Really. It's like Tony says; I can't risk anything happening while I'm at school and having this guy come looking for me there. He could hurt them all – or worse. Not to mention, if he knew they were my friends, he could use that against me."
It wasn't that much different from being careful about other bad guys, really, and Peter had learned that lesson the hard way, but had definitely learned it. The caution was something that kids his age normally didn't have to deal with, but he figured it was a small price to pay to have the love and support that came with being Tony's son.
"Maybe they can have a dance, here?"
Which elicited another shrug, but a smile for her effort to make him feel better. She was a good friend to him, and he knew it.
"Homecoming with the Avengers? We'll see."
"I would come," she assured him. "If you invited me."
"Consider yourself invited."
They grinned at that and then went to work on the shield, leaving the ail gun problem for the moment, since they were going to have to wait for someone else – Steve or one of the specialists – to decide where to put the cannons to give the best coverage of defense.
OOOOOO
Tony was in the gym, again. Pepper had left him soon after the debrief with Carol, telling him that she was going back to looking at the new suit and studying the manual so that by the time it was done, she'd be ready to try it out – under the careful tutelage of her husband to make sure that she didn't have any of the initial hiccups that he had when he'd been learning to be Ironman.
At the moment, though, he and T'Challa were talking to Stephen and Natasha – who were getting ready to go to Asgard, uninvited, since they really didn't have a good way to summon Thor, or to communicate with him. There was always a chance that they could run into someone who didn't know who they were, or just plain wasn't pleased with the idea of someone waltzing into their world without an invitation. Which was why Natasha and Strange were both going.
They worked well as a team, after all, and Stephen was powerful, while Natasha was deadly and adept at reading a situation and determining what the next step needed was going to be – if they needed to show force, or negotiation. In this instance, it was just as important that she knew Thor as well as any of the people on earth did – and more than almost all of them. She was the perfect choice to inform him of what was going on, and Stephen was a good choice to support her, since he was willing.
"Need anything?"
She smiled, used to the way that he micromanaged and helicopter controlled everything that went on around him. It never ceased to amaze her that he was able to focus on so many different things that were going on around him – something that he perfected using the Ironman suit.
"We'll be fine, Tony. Keep an eye on Peter. Don't let him get too distracted that he doesn't eat or sleep."
"I'll take care of it. Don't let Thor bring his stone here, alright? The last thing we need is a beacon for trouble."
"Right." Strange gave him a look; a mix of amusement and impatience, and the cloak waved Stark away, which amused everyone watching, despite the seriousness of their mission. "You know; Carol might be right when she called you dad…"
Tony shrugged.
"It comes with maturity," he said, pompously. "You wouldn't know anything about that."
Strange rolled his eyes, but Natasha smiled.
"We won't be any longer than necessary."
"Right." He trusted her, and she knew it. "Keep whatshisname here out of trouble, will you?"
"Of course."
They watched while Stephen created the portal, waited to make sure a charging army of Asgardians didn't come rushing through it, and then waited until they were gone and the portal was closed. Tony looked at T'Challa.
"I'm going to go look at rail gun placement. Coming?"
"Yes."
OOOOOOO
Titans didn't require a lot of rest. Not only was that convenient for someone with the goals that Thanos had, but it was also a form of self-defense, since sleeping made someone vulnerable. Even someone as massive and deadly as Thanos. He did take times when he would meditate, however, and clear his mind. His ambitions required the death of countless peoples and worlds and even someone as merciless as he was still needed a chance – occasionally – to clear his head and his heart after doing something particularly abhorrent.
At the moment, he was quiet for another reason, entirely. The hand that held the gauntlet was almost constantly aching. There had been an initial surge of agony when he'd attached the stone to it; an agony that had been almost ecstasy, as well, and it had calmed to something more bearable. But it still ached, and he thought that he could almost feel the fury in the stone that he now controlled.
With his 'children' standing guard close at hand, Thanos actually closed his eyes. His mind cleared, and the ache in his hand – which coursed upward through to his elbow – was more bearable, he pondered the mystery of the prophesy that he'd been made aware of. Somewhere out in the vast expanse of the universe was the answer to his search for the stones.
If he could find this boy, he would have a guide to all of the stones. The boy could show him where the stones were. Could aid him in his quest. He just needed to know where the boy was – and how to recognize him when the world he was on was almost certainly populated with thousands, hundreds of thousands, of people. How did he know him? It would be a waste if he were to kill him, accidently, before he was able to use him. The fact that he might have been on one of the worlds that his children had already decimated didn't even concern him.
The universe wanted him to save it, he knew.
As if to confirm that, there was a sudden image in his mind. An image of a boy. A human boy, with pale, pale skin and brown hair.
A surge of excitement coursed through him, even as he wondered where the child was. No sense knowing the who if he couldn't know the where. He grunted, as his mind was suddenly filled with other images. Another stone. Connected to the boy, just as the prophesy said. The stone knew the boy. Even the stone in the glove on his hand seemed to react to the image in his mind.
Thanos opened his eyes, a smirk of satisfaction on his face – an expression that told those who knew him best (and there were very few) that he was suddenly at his most dangerous. He got up and walked over to his lieutenants, who looked at him with fear, waiting for his instructions.
"Find out where Earth is," he ordered.
"And destroy it?"
"No, Maw," Thanos said. "We're going to go and find the boy that I need."
"He's on earth?"
"Yes. Gather the armies, find the coordinates we need, and keep me apprised."
"I will."
"Don't take too long," Thanos said. "The universe is in a hurry for me to save her."