"That's Pepper?" Clint asked, walking over to look up as well.

Peter nodded, but before he could say anything Carol Danvers was also streaking upward into the sky, following the two ironclad forms, and Peter heard Pepper and Tony communicating with each other through their AIs – which allowed Karen to listen in on things. Ironman was acting as a bogey to give her a chance to practice using her sensors – and Carol had come to allow her to do the same with another flying target.

"Watch out for anyone sneaking up on you," Tony was saying. "It's easy to forget what's going on behind you, because you're watching what's happening in front of you."

"I can see that."

Pepper sounded like she was having the time of her life, and it made Peter smile. He deactivated his helmet and looked at the others – who were all looking up, even though the best they could see just then was the glare from Carol's flight and an occasional glint of sunlight off metal when one of the other two moved just right.

"She's practicing finding bogeys in the sky," Peter said, smiling.

Star Lord grinned, looking up.

"Let's give her another one."

Suddenly, he touched the side of his head, activating an odd-looking mask that came over his face, and he, too, was launching into the sky, rockets from some kind of mechanism on his boots sending him shooting upward to join the others in their weird flight.

Peter sent Tony a heads-up to let him know what to expect, but figured it was probably the kind of thing that they wanted Pepper to practice, so he didn't send her a warning.

"Looks like it's pretty successful," Rocket said, clearly waiting to see if someone was going to fall out of the sky.

"That isn't too surprising," Natasha said, her hand along Peter's shoulder. "Tony has the resources to do anything that he sets his mind to doing – and getting Pepper's suit ready was definitely up there on his priorities."

"With good reason," Strange added.

"We'll have to make sure the people using the rail guns know what Rescue, Carol and Peter all look like," Steve added. "It's bad form to shoot down an ally, after all."

"Not Ironman?" Rocket asked.

"Everyone knows what he looks like," Romanoff said.

Peter had to agree to that, but he didn't do much more than nod before Clint frowned, looking the other direction from his vantage point on the roof.

"We have incoming," he said, suddenly.

Peter wasn't the only one to look the same way Hawkeye was looking, and the Ironman suit came swooping by, doing a fly-by of the compound with Rescue, Carol and Star Lord all flanking him like some kind of mixed up Blue Angels grouping. Peter's watch beeped at him at the same time he realized that he knew the car that was heading down the service road toward the compound.

"Hey…"

Tony sounded a little annoyed.

"Did you invite Ned to our party without telling us?" came the question through the communications link.

"No. He didn't call, either. I hope he's okay."

"Go see what he's up to," Tony ordered, flying by, again – and this time it was Carol leading, with Rescue following and Ironman and Quill both doing barrel rolls, obviously trying to outdo the other. He didn't seem too concerned that something was wrong; and with good reason. Ned had a watch if he needed to get in touch with Peter or with Tony. He'd used it before, so they had to assume that he was simply there to check on things. "Bring him to the lounge."

"What do I tell him?"

"Nothing about Thanos or the stones. He might as well meet the guardians, though, if they are around. Let me know if there's an emergency."

"All right."

"Is that Ned's mom's car?" Natasha asked, watching as the car parked pretty much directly below them at the main entrance.

"Yeah. I'll go see what he's doing."

Peter didn't bother to use the entrance to the stairs. With a negligible flick of his wrist, he shot a strand of webbing at one of the lights, and took a running leap off the roof, swinging down and out of sight for a moment, before landing on the driveway, below.

"The kid knows how to make an exit," Rocket said, approvingly."

Clint just nodded.

OOOOOOO

Ned was just getting out of the car when Peter walked up, disengaging his new suit as he did. Before either could say anything, the foursome flying around the compound did a low altitude fly by, less than a hundred feet right above them, and Ned shaded his eyes as he looked up and watched them until they were out of sight.

"Holy shit, Peter… who's that with Ironman?"

"I'll have to tell you later. Tony wants to know if everything is okay?"

"What?" Ned looked at his friend. "Yeah." He looked a little abashed. "I was… I brought you some homework from the first days of school – and I told MJ that I'd check and make sure you weren't really dead and everyone was just covering it up. She's worried about you."

"Yeah?"

"I am, too. You haven't really been calling too much and keeping up – and that isn't like you."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. Things are pretty hectic around here. Does your mom know you have her car?"

Ned nodded, handing Peter a backpack.

"She's the one that suggested I come out and check on you instead of calling. 'Easier to get forgiveness than permission' were her exact words. You know how she is; you're like the scrawny, pale, curly-haired son that she never had."

Peter laughed at that.

"Tony said to take you to the lounge."

"What's going on on the roof?"

"We're setting up some stuff."

"With the military?"

"Yeah. Colonel Gradymatson is here – the one that helped dig us out in Montana."

"Cool. Why?"

"Can't tell you, sorry." He shouldered the backpack. "Come on."

"Seriously? It's that big?"

"It's… I can't tell you. Really."

"I'm your guy in the chair."

"Not for this one. But you've got to meet some of the others that are here," Peter said, trying to distract his friend. "You won't believe them."

"Who's flying around?"

"What are the new classes like?" Peter asked, ignoring the question.

Ned wasn't to be denied.

"You're not going to tell me?"

"Not unless Tony says it's alright. Come on."

"He wouldn't care."

"Probably not, but he's too busy to give me permission, right now, so you need to wait. You know if it was anyone else that just came driving up like you did, they wouldn't have gotten past the front door," he reminded his friend.

Ned grinned at that, because he did know.

"Are you injured, at all?" he asked as they walked into the compound and started down the corridor that led to the lounge. "Something you're not telling us?"

"No. I'm okay. Really. This thing… It's not me." For a change. "We have some people visiting from space, though. One of them was flying with Tony."

"Aliens?"

"Not the one flying. He's actually from here."

"The compound?"

"Earth," Peter corrected. "The others aren't, though. They're-"

Peter stopped, because Ned had stopped. Right in the middle of the corridor. Coming toward the was Groot, with Drax and Mantis, and the young tree was once more holding Nutmeg.

"What the hell?"

Peter smiled.

Yeah. This was going to take a while to explain, wasn't it?