It was Jack who woke Peter.

The puppy's head jerked up as he went from asleep to awake in an instant, and that sudden motion was all it took to pull Peter from his nap. He realized that he felt that odd tingle that warned him something was going to happen – or that someone was coming – and he sat up, grunting when he did it too quickly to please his hip and caused a stab of pain to course through his side.

The puppy jumped off the sofa, landed in an ungainly heap and made a beeline for the door, while Peter got up and did the same, reaching for Jack before stomping his feet into his boots. Obviously the puppy had his own alert system.

"What's up?" Tony asked, already halfway to the door.

He'd been sitting at the table playing cards, enjoying the peacefulness of an almost empty cabin when the movement in the living room had drawn his attention and he'd stood automatically when he saw that Peter was on his feet and heading to the door.

"Someone's coming," Peter answered, snapping Jack's leash onto the puppy's collar and opening the door.

Stark did the same thing Peter did; simply stuffed his feet into his boots and followed the boy, ready to activate his suit in an instant, if needed. Pepper, Strange and Natasha weren't far behind, and when Peter went out onto the front porch, he turned his head to the left, beyond the igloo, realizing that now he could hear a low rumbling sound somewhere in the distance. He set Jack down, but held the end of his leash and watched.

"What is it, Tony?" Pepper asked, frowning.

She heard the rumbling, too.

"Avalanche?" Strange asked, taking a stance that Stark recognized as the same one Peter had used to stop the slide that had nearly buried them all.

It was obvious where the Mind stone had pulled the magical abilities it loaned to Peter from.

"No," Peter said, shaking his head. He was calm, they could all see – although he was shivering and immediately wished he'd grabbed a coat. The clear skies had lost all insulating cloud cover and it was cold out. "It's someone, not a something."

Before Stark could go Ironman to see what, a movement through the trees caught everyone's attention, now, and a huge, brightly painted snow machine came rumbling through a space between the trees. It looked like a snowmobile, only it was much larger, with wider tracks, and it actually had a cabin that appeared to be large enough to hold several people. Behind the first one came another, and then another, until five of the machines were all heading through the deep snow that blanketed what would normally be the parking lot and came to a stop near the metal crate that had originally been used to carry all of their supplies.

Behind the snow machine was a small convoy of snowmobiles, with riders dressed in what Natasha and Tony immediately recognized as winter military outfits.

Jack barked, his little body tense as he moved to place himself between the weird monsters and the people on the porch, and Peter smiled at the attempt and picked the puppy up to keep him from getting underfoot. The people on the snowmobiles parked behind the snow machines and the doors to the snow machines opened, with two people emerging from each one. These people were also dressed – for the most part – in the military outfits, and clearly more prepared for the cold than Peter was.

Peter thought that he recognized Polly as one of those who got out of the first machines, though, and she waved at the small group on the porch, but waited by the snow machine as her companion turned to a different person, and barked a single order. That man started shouting orders, and waved the others to the side of the cabin where a small group of mostly buried snowmobiles could just be seen - although a couple of them stopped to look at the igloo.

The first – a man to judge by the deep voice that had given the order – broke away from the group, pulling his hood down and taking off the sunglasses he'd been wearing as he and Polly walked over to the porch.

Peter realized that he recognized him even before he read the nametag on the man's heavy coat, and the man smiled when he saw the boy – winking at him before he turned to Stark.

"Mr. Stark? I hear you have something of a situation, sir."

"Grady…"

Tony turned to Peter, surprised.

"You know him?"

"I met him in Phoenix."

"You have a good memory, Peter," the colonel told him. Obviously, he remembered Peter, as well. He looked over the boy's shoulder at Natasha, and nodded a hello. "Agent Romanoff. It's good to see you."

"Colonel Gradymatson," Romanoff said, also nodding, and just as surprised to see him.

"How did you know about our situation, colonel?" Tony asked, curiously.

"Nick Fury called my general a few days ago," the colonel explained. "My general told me to take care of it – since we are stationed probably as close as anyone. We've been bivouacked at the drop off point – where you parked your jet – and have just been waiting for the snow to stop before coming to get you. When Peter called me last night, we knew it was safe, so we gathered our guide-" he gestured to Polly – "and I started us out right after breakfast."

Stark turned to Peter.

"You called him?"

"No." he looked at Grady. "I did?"

"On my personal cell." The man grinned. "I wondered how you knew the number, but remembered that I gave you my card and told you to keep in touch." He looked up at the cabin, and then all around them. "Not exactly what I had in mind, son."

"Let's go inside," Tony suggested, shivering a little. "Polly?"

"Thank you, Mr. Stark."

She walked up the porch steps and he offered her a steadying hand since there was a little slush on the deck and walked her into the door. Peter and Grady followed, with the colonel sluffing off his coat and hanging it with the others before kicking his heavy boots off as well, obviously not willing to track water and slush into the living room.

Peter made the introductions as the colonel took Jack into his arms to make friends with the puppy and make him stop looking at him so suspiciously and they all ended up sitting at the dining room table.

"What are your orders, colonel?" Stark asked as Pepper and Strange went into the kitchen to find more coffee cups.

Peter felt the tingle that told him Stephen wasn't going to bother brewing the coffee to offer their visitors – he assumed Strange didn't want to miss the colonel's answer.

"To evacuate you and your party, Mr. Stark." He looked around the interior of the cabin. "There have been some minor avalanches and we were worried about waiting too much longer – although all reports show the snowpack isn't too unstable at the moment."

"Most of our party is out snowshoeing," Tony told him, as Pepper returned with a cup of coffee that the colonel took with a smile of thanks.

"That's not a problem," Grady assured him. "We can dig out your snowmobiles, and your cargo container while we wait. We thought about coming in with helicopters, but were assured that it wouldn't be the best course of action – just in case. Your Quinjet should be able to pick up your supplies – but it might not be a good idea to do that right away."

Stark shrugged.

"It's sleds, skis and snowshoes, for the most part. It can wait until spring thaw as far as I'm concerned."

They'd used up most of the foodstuff that they'd brought.

"When the rest of your party returns, we'll give them a chance to warm up, and pack," Grady told him. "Then, if it's alright with you, we'll feed everyone a warm lunch – my guys included – before we head out."

"Not Peter, though," Tony said, before Strange could speak up.

The boy flushed, but he knew the reasoning behind his exclusion, and he agreed that he wasn't going to be able to handle the rattling of the snow machines, much less the jet, for as long as it was going to take them to get home.

Grady frowned, looking at Stark and then at Peter, and back to Stark.

"Why not?"

"It's a long story."

The colonel raised an eyebrow, and shrugged.

"I have nothing but time, Mr. Stark."