Peter Quill looked at the display with satisfaction, watching as the balance of credits in his account multiplied by an incredibly absurd amount. He turned, looking at the Collector, and nodded to Gamora.

"Give him the stone."

She reached into the pouch she held, which was so nondescript that it almost had gone unnoticed. A moment later, she pulled out the sphere that held the reality stone and handed it over to the collector. The ancient being looked at it, and then opened it, admiring – but being careful not to touch – the stone that was held within.

"Imagine being able to control them," he murmured, mesmerized by the light that seemed to come from within it. How was he able to handle the energy produced by the gathered stones?"

"He did fine," Carol assured him.

"Where did he send the others?" The collector asked, looking up from his prize. "Are they still with him? What will he do with them?"

She almost felt sorry for him, well aware that he was pretty much addicted to knowledge. Not surprising, since he collected everything that he saw for the purpose of studying it and learning about it. And then keeping it, though, to add to the collection. Yet another reason to keep him from Peter, who wouldn't make a good display.

"They're being dispersed," Quill said. "Can't keep them all in one place; it isn't safe."

"No. Of course not." His expression turned blank. If someone could say they knew him well, they'd have said he was being his most charming. Certainly because he wanted something. "I don't suppose you could talk him into selling me another one?"

Two was better than one.

"We're not selling you this one," Gamora pointed out. "We're returning something that you already possessed."

"And charging you a finder's fee," Quill added, smugly. "We should go, though. Places to do and things to see, and all that." Besides, he didn't like how the guy was obsessing about the other stones – or Peter, for that matter. "Thanks for the hospitality."

The collector frowned, but then shrugged.

"Yes. Safe travels." He looked down at the sphere in his hand, as if to make sure it was still there and hadn't been spirited out of his grasp by one of them. "If the boy changes his mind, you know where to find me."

"Yeah."

The three turned and left, ushered out by a servant, and the ancient being sat down, again, and watched them go, speculatively.

OOOOOOO

"That was easy," Quill said.

"Too easy," Gamora agreed.

Danvers nodded.

"He's up to something."

"Should we warn Tony?"

"I'll give him a heads up when I get back there," Carol said. "If nothing else, I'll make sure Steve knows. He'll ask, anyway, since he enjoys debriefing."

Star Lord smirked, giving her a sidelong glance.

"We heard you guys were debriefing each other…"

Danvers rolled her eyes, but Gamora noticed that she didn't deny it.

OOOOOOOOO

"How's it going?"

"He likes the setup."

"Yeah? That's a good start. Friday said that he's doing math?"

"Math the first two hours," Pepper confirmed. "We're breaking it up a bit to keep from burning him out too soon on any one subject." She didn't even need to look at the schedule. "He has quite a reading list, too, so he's not going to be staring at a screen all day, every day. But there are book reports and quizzes, and the like. He's in my office, right now, running through ridiculously hard equations like I do spreadsheets. "

She was coming from a conference a few floors down.

"Do you need any help with him?"

She smirked.

"Are you already bored being home alone?"

"I'm not alone. Steve's here. And Clint."

And a lot of SHIELD people, of course. That went without saying, really.

"Where's Natasha?"

"Doing something with Clint, I think. They're getting ready to deploy some people. Or something." He waved a hand, dismissively. He didn't pay attention to what the others did unless it was something that they needed his help with. "I had an interesting call from T'Challa a few minutes ago, though."

The amusement in his expression told her that it wasn't serious, but she immediately thought of Shuri.

"How's everyone's favorite princess who isn't owned by Disney?"

"She's feeling better and still confined to her bed by the healers for at least another three days. T'Challa asked if we had any suggestions for keeping her there, short of trying her up or drugging her."

Pepper smiled. A bored, intelligent, teenager stuck in bed? They knew all about that, didn't they?

"And you said…?"

"I said let me call Pepper and see if I can come up with something."

"But you already have something in mind?"

"I do. But it'll cut Peter's first day of school short, so I thought I'd run it by you, first. And a couple of other people."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm listening."

OOOOOO

Shuri was bored. And annoyed. And bored. And frustrated. And bored.

She sneezed, which was annoying, because every time she sneezed it gave her brother and mother more ammunition to keep her in her bed when she had a million things that she could be working on in her workroom. Or she could be checking in on a number of projects that others were doing that interested her. Or she could even be at the orphanage, checking to see how Sirah was doing so that when she emailed Peter again, she could let him know.

Instead, she was stuck in her bed; her mother's stern gaze keeping her there far more readily than T'Challa's royal edict. She felt fine, and was much better than she had been, and she knew they knew it. They were just being cautious, they said. Making sure that she didn't relapse, or some such nonsense. As if princesses relapsed. Too cautious. She was beginning to think that they were just enjoying the chance to have her out of their way.

A wave of self-pity swept over her, then, and she sniffed, again – this time not because of her perpetually runny nose. They probably liked having her out from underfoot. She-

A knock on the door stopped her downward spiral into the pity pool and she looked up to see that her brother was standing at her bedroom door. He smiled.

"How do you feel?"

"Terrible. Go away, brother."

The young king's smile only grew at her petulance, and Shuri looked for something heavier than her tissue to throw at him – princess or not, king or not.

"Should I send your visitors away, then?"

"Visitors?"

He moved, slightly, and Ned walked through the door, grinning. He was holding a laptop and a small paper folder.

"Hey, Shuri."

"Ned." He was the last person she'd have expected to see. "What are you doing here? Is everything alright? Where-"

Before she could finish the question, MJ walked through the door after Ned, also holding a laptop. She looked a little sheepish, as if surprised to find herself where she was and uncertain of the reception she was going to receive, but the princess smiled, and looked at her brother.

"What is going on?"

"You said you were bored. I arranged entertainment – as long as you stay in bed."

"But I don't understand. What-"

"Hey, Shuri…"

Peter was the last to arrive, but he looked the most cheerful. Even more than Ned, which was saying something.

"Peter?" the boredom, frustration and even the self pity were washed away in a wave of good cheer. "What are you doing here?"

"We heard you were still stuck in bed," the boy answered, walking over with his friends, and holding a laptop, as well. "Your brother asked if we knew something to do to keep you from going stir crazy, and I have just the thing. It's more fun with more people, though, so I invited Ned and MJ. I hope you don't mind?"

He'd hoped that MJ wasn't going to refuse, when Tony had suggested the internet scavenger hunt and maybe taking more than just him to Wakanda to spend some time with Shuri, who had more than earned a little time with her friends. When he'd called (after getting special permission from Pepper to use Friday to call instead of email) she'd been pleased by the invitation – if not a little startled that he'd asked.

Peter was serious about maintaining her friendship, though, and he thought that maybe MJ might keep Ned from exhausting Shuri with a million stories. Tony had sent Happy to pick Ned and MJ up from school – after calling their parents to let them know he was kidnapping them and not expect them home until well after dinner – and then Stephen had met them at the tower and created a portal to Wakanda.

"Are Tony and Pepper here, too?"

"Yeah. But they're not hanging out with us. I spent all day with Pepper; she's probably ready for a break from me." He walked over with his friends and they all settled on her bed; Peter right beside where she was sitting, and Ned and MJ at the foot. "Got your laptop handy?"

"Yes. Why?"

"We're going to play a game." He smiled. "I'll warn you, now, though. I'm pretty good at it."