A/N: I'm not one for writing many flash-back scenes like this, but I wanted to give it a go. I hope it doesn't make things even more confusing. Thanks so much for reading this!

OOOOO

The shield was holding. The thing was amazing, and if they survived this mess, Tony told himself that he was going to give Shuri a kiss for all the help that she'd been. A very chaste kiss, he amended even as he flew by it to get a visual on the thing to augment what Friday's systems were telling him. The power capacities were all over the place, and the energy wasn't holding as well as it had been, but they were holding.

Just like the defenders were. As he flew overhead, he saw Thanos standing at the open gap of the shield, but more importantly, he saw that Steve and T'Challa were in danger of having their position overrun. He angled in for a strafing run, with Pepper in the Rescue suit right behind him. A surgical strike with mini canons cleared the majority of the swarm without wounding any of the Wakandans or SHIELD fighters that were slugging it out with Steve and the Wakandan king.

They were holding their own, but Tony wondered just how much longer they could stand against such overwhelming numbers.

Before he could ask Friday – hypothetically – for a number, the entire area suddenly went black. Not dark, like the sun going down and the stars coming out, or even the slow build of clouds when a nasty thunderstorm is coming in. The sky was black and so was the ground, the building and even Friday's sensors.

"What's going on, Fr-"

A small beam of light, and Tony fell silent, realizing that he recognized the presence he felt inside that light, even as he came to land on the rooftop in front of it. He didn't hear her, but as he retracted his helmet, he saw Rescue landing beside him, and her helmet opened, sliding back to reveal Pepper's face.

"Peter…"

Their son was standing in a pillar of light that was bright as a neutron star, and was watching them. His eyes were bright with pain and his entire being was so tense that Tony thought that he might fly apart at any moment. But the expression on his face was only filled with love for them – even though he didn't make a move to touch either of them.

"Hey. Are you alright?"

They were definitely the ones who should be asking that question. Tony's gaze didn't miss the glove on Peter's right hand, or the five stones that were adorning it. They were killing Peter, and Tony and Pepper both knew it. Even more; Peter had to know it, as well.

"We're fine, son." He wanted to ask him a million questions. Wanted to tell him to take the glove off and fling it as far away as he could and protect himself, but he didn't. There had to be a reason that Peter had separated them from the battle, and despite the calm that seemed to be all around them, he knew that time was short. "What do you need from us?"

"A distraction," came the immediate reply. "I need to get the stone from Thanos before he tries to use it."

"Can your stones overcome the one he has?" Pepper asked.

"Probably," Peter conceded. "But I can't risk it. I need them all. If he managed to loose the power of his stone on the compound, anything else that I do won't matter."

Tony didn't agree, of course, but it didn't matter. Peter's face was pinched with pain that was obviously getting worse by the moment. Maybe with each heartbeat.

"Do you have a plan?" he asked. "Or do we wing it?"

Peter smiled; and it was a sad smile – as if he loved the joke, but knew it was the last time that he'd hear Tony's cocky response.

"I have a plan," he confirmed. Then he moved his hand, and suddenly there was another beam of light, and out of that light, Clint Barton came walking toward them, joining Pepper and Tony. "I brought you some help," he added.

OOOOOOOO

Natasha frowned. She'd been sitting on the arm of the sofa in the small waiting room, listening to a very brief retelling of the events that had happened on the roof. The waiting room was filled with cots, blankets and pillows, but was empty except for Clint, Pepper, Tony, Gamora, Nick and Romanoff – and Tony was the one who told Natasha what Peter had done.

"He had them all?"

"By the time he was finished, he did," Stark confirmed. "He only had five when he told us what he needed us to do – but the plan went exactly how he'd told us it should – and the sixth one finished Thanos and his buddies."

"And this light you mentioned?"

Tony brought down a large display – normally designed for giving someone waiting to hear about their loved one something to distract them. It turned on with a gesture and there was suddenly a video from an external feed from outside the compound. Friday had been monitoring the movement of the light across various cities on the planet and it had come full circle back to the compound before vanishing.

The footage Tony brought up showed the initial flare, the sudden brilliance that had lit the place up like daylight and the light as it moved along the grounds, clearing the invaders and bathing the defenders in warmth and healing – and then moving away, silently, in all directions, but mostly toward the south, expanding as it did until it looked like a wall a mile high and hundreds of miles wide.

"And it healed everyone?"

"It appears that way. We have a lot of dead," Tony said, looking at Nick for confirmation. The director nodded, somberly. "But anyone who was hurt – no matter how badly – got up and walked away without a scratch to show for it."

"Including you," Clint pointed out, looking at her. "I know you were injured; I watched you take the hit – although the tree saved your life. You should still be out."

"I feel fine," she said, frowning.

"So do I. So does everyone," Barton said. "There are a dozen doctors and surgeons here, and there's only one patient."

"The light couldn't heal him?" Gamora asked, knowing that they were all talking about Peter, of course. "Did anyone try to put him in it, or anything?"

"I doubt it would have worked that way," Tony told her – and Natasha, as if to let her know why they hadn't tried to put him in the light. "Maybe it works for everyone else but not for him, because he created it."

"What-"

Friday interrupted Romanoff's interrogation.

"Ned is trying to reach Peter," she advised Tony, using an external communication link since he hadn't bothered to reactivate the Ironman suit.

"What?" The billionaire frowned, looking over at Pepper. "I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised. The light isn't hiding, and Ned's going to know it came from this direction by now. He's probably trying to find out what's going on."

"He can wait until we have more news on Peter," Pepper said. "Then-"

"Incoming call from Ned," Friday interrupted, again.

"Send him to voicemail, Friday," Tony said, agreeing, completely. Then he frowned, because Ned would hound Peter for gossip, yes, but even though the boy was extremely informal with Tony, he doubted Ned would try to get the scoop directly from him. "No. Answer it. Ned?"

"Mr. Stark? Hey. I was trying to talk to Peter."

"He's not available, right now. Is everything alright?"

"No." Ned was quiet for a second, and Tony thought he heard a female voice in the background – although there was also a lot of background noise from wherever the boy was. Then he spoke, again, and he sounded a little concerned. "I have a problem."

"We're a little busy, right now, buddy. Can it wait?"

"My mom's going to kill me if she finds out I snuck out. I really need someone to come get Sirah so I can get home before she wakes up and I'm not there."

"Who?" Pepper asked, before Tony could.

"Sirah," Ned said. "The girl Peter left in the safehouse." Ned's voice dropped to a whisper. "The alien."

"You're at the safehouse?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah. Peter had me meet him here, about two hours ago, but I'm seriously a dead man if my mom-"

"Hold tight," Tony told him. "I'm going to send someone to you."

"Okay. Thanks."

The call ended, and Stark shoo his head.

"Friday? Where's Wong?"

Stephen was busy, but he wasn't the only magician who knew where the safehouse was.