Steve Rogers took a deep breath, looking at T'Challa and then at the white wall of light that was receding from the compound at an incredible rate of speed. More incredible was the wake of healed people and vanished dogs and apes – and even armored turtles. The alien invaders weren't dead; they were just gone. As if they'd never been there. And the defenders were, miraculously, healed.

At least the ones who were alive were. The ground where the fighting was heaviest – around T'Challa and Steve – was littered with the dead, too. Although it was a testament to just how amazing they all trained that there weren't nearly as many as there might have been. He raised his hand, triggering his communicator, but watching in case it was some kind of trick.

"Is anyone else seeing this?" he asked.

"Do you mean the bright light?" someone asked, and he recognized one of the SHIELD commanders that had been stationed with the national guard units as a liaison. "It went through our lines, but it didn't hurt anyone – and it looks like it wiped out the things that were coming at us."

"Same here," came an agreement."

The communications were filled with radio chatter, describing what had happened wherever that particular person was calling from. Steve ignored it for a moment, looking around, again, and getting an idea of who had survived and what was going to happen, next.

"Is it over, then?" Okoye asked, suspiciously. She was standing next to T'Challa with a large group of his guards. All of them had blood on their ceremonial outfits, and yet none of them were even scratched. "Or will there be more?"

"The light took out a ship that just started throwing troops at Beijing," Carol reported over the comm. "The ship, the stone pillars and the aliens are all gone. They didn't even put up a fight."

"It's in China?" This was from Gradymatson, who sounded more than a little miffed and confused as he walked up to the group that Steve was standing with, and Steve was relieved to see that Jack was cavorting beside him, apparently none the worse for having been at the compound during the fighting, rather than evacuated to Clint's farm. Not surprising that Gradymatson was annoyed, really, since as far as Steve knew, the colonel was last seen on the roof of the compound commanding the railgun positions. "We didn't even get hit by the light, first. Something dark slammed into our positions and the next thing we knew, we were in the lounge – and your dog here was jumping on Lyle."

"It's everywhere," Carol reported. "Wanda and I are watching it, but we can't stop it – and Wanda says we shouldn't even try. It's making a circumference of the planet. If it continues on course, you'll be able to see it again in a minute."

"Tony?" Steve called on his comm, realizing that he didn't see any of the flyers, now, and fearing the worst.

"We're here." Stark sounded distracted. "Thanos is done. Start getting things cleaned up, will you?"

Which meant that Tony didn't want to deal with it and was asking Steve to take charge. Not unexpected, really. He was sure that Tony would want to head to Asgard and get Peter back on earth where the boy belonged.

"Yeah. I'll take care of it. Carol? Are you still tracking the light?"

"It's everywhere," she repeated – and he could hear the awe and concern mixed together in her voice. "As far as I can tell, it isn't hurting anything, or anyone. Planes have flown through it – and I just watched it go through a herd of elk in northern Russia and they might not have even realized it was there."

"They were probably reindeer, then," Lyle said, absently, making everyone look at him. He frowned, looking a little defensive. "I mean… there aren't a lot of elk in…" he trailed off, and Grady snorted.

"Keep an eye on it, Carol" Rogers requested. "Let me know if it does anything odd."

"Like healing injuries that should have killed me?" Thor asked, walking up, just then, as well. He had a large number of warriors with him – male and female – and Wong was walking with them. All were alive and well, although looking a little wild-eyed as they studied the battlefield they had walked through.

"Yeah. Like that."

"I'm on it," Carol assured him.

"What do we know about this light?" Grady asked, curiously.

"Nothing, yet," Steve admitted. "We'll find out as soon as we can. Let's check wounded."

OOOOOOO

"What do we do?" Pepper asked, watching with her arms wrapped around herself, while Tony had his arms wrapped around her, as well. Mainly to keep from reaching for Peter like he wanted to do. "We need to wake him up."

Strange held up his hand, and it began to glow. Only then did he reach for the housing unit of the vibranium suit that Shuri had made Peter. He tapped it, and the nanites retreated, leaving Peter in jeans and a t-shirt, once more, but still eerily silent where he lay. Pepper made a distressed noise, and Stephen had to bite back his own.

Peter's right hand was blackened, and in some spots so raw that it was bleeding – and still smoking. The damage was most severe on his hand, but the forearm was blistering and red – and black in some places – and the injury went all the way up that arm, fading in seriousness as it came closer to his shoulder and disappearing under his sleeve. Tony came to his knees beside his son, activated one of the many attachments on the hand of his suit and was suddenly spraying something on the worst of the injuries – especially the hand.

Strange looked over at him, unable to hide his confusion. He thought at first that it was a fire extinguisher, but it didn't look the same, and the residue being left behind seem to be moving – although the horrifying smoking did stop, immediately.

"Nanites," Stark explained. "They'll at least stop what might still be happening."

The doctor reached out and touched Peter's neck, clearly waiting to get zapped for his troubles, but breathing a silent sigh of relief when it didn't happen.

"He's alive," he said looking up at them, and then shaking his head in amazement when he looked at the fingers that were touching Peter's skin. He hadn't felt anything, but they were straight and strong – and none of them hurt – and neither did his hands, for that matter. The sorcerer supreme ran one of them carefully over Peter's cheek and forehead, and then opened an eyelid to look at his pupils. "But he's definitely in shock."

A couple of thick, warm, blankets appeared on the roof beside Peter, and Tony helped the doctor cover Peter.

"Do we take him to the med lab?" Clint asked.

"Yes," Strange gestured for Tony to pick the boy up. "There are far too many people there for me to risk jumping us into it, however. He'll need to be carried."

Tony retracted his Ironman suit and gathered his son into his arms, carefully, blankets and all, and he frowned, looking down at him. He didn't seem to weigh anything, really. Even less than before. Like everything that was him was simply gone, now. Pepper stepped up, but with the Rescue suit on, she wasn't able to run her fingers through his hair, or brushed her fingertips along his cheek.

The doctor glanced down at the ground level, and the people coming out of the building – healed and thinking that they were ready to fight on, now. Only to find the fight was well and truly over.

"Will you bring my cloak, Clint?" Strange asked, picking up the polymorph and putting it into his pocket.

Even though the thing was incredible, and the vibranium was shielding the power of the stones, he was able to feel the suppressed power within.

It was Pepper who reached for the cloak; one gauntleted hand gently gathering up the heavy fabric – which was also still smoking. She held it against her chest, and a corner of the fabric slowly moved enough to brush her ear before it went still.

A moment later all of them were there on the ground, in the area that concrete met grass, instead of on the roof. Clint opened the door, waiting for them to all go inside, and then went ahead, yelling for those people inside – mostly coming from the infirmary – to make a hole to allow them to pass. Which they did. Tony didn't pay attention to them. He was watching where he was going, and was continually looking down at Peter who hadn't moved or made a noise. His face was flushed, damp from sweat and thinner than ever. As they made their way through the maze of corridors, Tony pressed his cheek against Peter's fevered one, holding it there so he could have some connection with the boy, beyond just carrying him.

They met Natasha just outside the main infirmary. She was talking to Nick, who had Gamora with him. All were upright and looked healthy, and Gamora was holding Nutmeg under one arm – which allayed at least one concern. Tony wouldn't have to tell Peter that his fragile kitten hadn't made it through the battle for the compound. Their conversation broke off, immediately, and Romanoff moved to look at Peter as Tony greeted her with a nod and a look that told her he was glad to see her standing, but never stopped as he followed Stephen into the room. She followed right behind Pepper.

"How is he?" she asked, watching as Strange efficiently shooed everyone away from the closest table, gesturing for Tony to settle Peter there, and then imperiously began ordering Dr. Adams and one of the National Guard surgeons to help him begin an examination. "Is-"

"You guys need to be elsewhere," Stephen told them all, looking up from Peter for the briefest moment. "We need the room for medics."

Several nurses stepped forward at the command. Some started guiding those watching politely, but firmly, toward the door, while a few started responding to the orders that all three doctors were now giving, turning their attention on their patient, now.

"What happened, Tony?" Natasha asked as they allowed themselves to be guided as far as the entrance. The cloak moved from Pepper's arms to draped itself over Romanoff's shoulder, and then was still. "What did I miss?"