Putting this up a little early. As a reminder – you have been warned.

The song for this chapter is "Born to Rise" by Redlight King.

Enjoy?

Chapter 14: A Place to Cast a Stone

They stood on the balcony overlooking the city.

"Well." Tony turned to Peter, his heart icy with fear. "I guess you're a full Avenger now."

"Is there a ceremony or something? There should be a ceremony," Peter quipped.

Tony loved this idiot kid with all his heart, and the joke helped. "You want a ceremony? Fine."

The nanotech extended his gauntlet at his command and made a semblance of a blade. He touched Peter on one shoulder, then the other. "I dub thee Spider-Man, Avenger. Until May yells at me and I take it back."

Peter smiled. "Fair enough."

Above, an absolutely, terrifyingly huge ship was entering Asgard's atmosphere. It was coming in over the sea from the same direction as the Bifrost. Heimdall had already pulled the golden sword from the mechanism, and stood now at Loki's side. Tony didn't think Thanos getting his hands on that was a good idea, so he was just as glad they'd already shut it down.

But even the rainbow bridge looked so small compared to Thanos's ship. Everything was small.

"Three objectives," Steve said. Which, sure, everybody knew them, but the tense silence was a lot worse than Steve being repetitive. "First, protect the Tesseract. Second, kill Thanos. Third, don't die."

"Fourth," Loki said, "retrieve the Stones Thanos already possesses."

"What's happening?" Bruce was staring at the ship. Which now looked oddly hazy.

Tony pulled his helmet on so that JARVIS could help him out. "Looks like...some old friends are dropping by."

A moment later, the very sky darkened with the horde of alien soldiers who flooded out of the ship, heading straight for the city and riding on flying things that reminded Tony painfully of the Battle of New York.

"Here they come," Rhodey said quietly.

"Call it, Cap," Tony managed. His throat was tight.

The first of the flying scooters hit the lead Asgard defenses and the war began with a crash.

Steve cleared his throat as the shouts and clash of weapons grew louder. "We need to smoke Thanos out of his hole. Loki, can your warriors handle these guys?"

"Even outnumbered ten to one," Loki said with pride, "Asgard can defeat these dogs."

"Then we wait," Steve decided. "Let Thanos exhaust his own forces. Give him no choice but to engage directly."

"How do you know he will?" Nat asked. "The smart thing would be for him to sit back and keep himself out of the fray."

"Something about egomaniacal villains always makes them want to be in the center of chaos," Steve said.

Tony found himself nodding. "This guy...he's been in my head for six years. His ego doesn't even fit in his giant party boat out there. Trust me, he'll want to step out into the limelight and tell us all why our defeat is inevitable."

"I agree," Loki said. "Except about the defeat part."

"I didn't say he was right," Tony replied.

"So do we just...sit here?" Peter asked. "What if people start getting hurt down there?"

Aw, kid. Tony's heart ached. He hoped Peter never outgrew that innocent kindness.

"Sometimes," Bruce said, "you have to let a fight go a little while before you get involved. There's a...rhythm to these things."

Since Bruce was the one who usually stayed back until fights went really bad, Tony figured he must know what he was talking about.

"Things must happen when it is time for them to happen," Peter said softly, and Tony recognized the quote from The Last Unicorn. "Okay."

"There is something you could do, however," Loki said. "As my warriors take injury, they may have difficulty retreating. You could help them return to the palace if you cannot remain still while they fight."

Peter turned to Steve. "Can I? I want to help."

"I'll go with you," Sam offered at once. "Between the two of us in the air, we can evac anyone in trouble."

Tony gave Steve a nod he hoped Peter didn't catch.

"Okay," Steve agreed. "But just that. Do not engage except to keep yourselves and any wounded safe. Understood?"

"Yes, sir, captain sir!" Peter saluted. And then he threw himself off the balcony where they'd gathered with a whoop.

Sam sighed. "I'll keep him out of trouble."

"You better," Tony warned him.

Sam copied Peter's salute and took to the air. His new wing pack — because Tony always had extras of everything just in case — glinted in the light of a new Asgardian day.

"Are you sure that's smart?" Bruce asked.

"Yes." Loki nodded, never taking his eyes from Thanos's ship. "It will keep him occupied, and it will also ensure he is at the rear of any conflict where the wounded will be gathered. If we can keep him doing this for the whole of the battle, it is possible he will never even lay eyes upon Thanos."

"Good," Tony said. "Let's do that. The farther apart Thanos and Peter are, the happier I'll be."

"I as well," Loki told him.

But of course Tony had JARVIS monitoring KAREN in his HUD so he could see every move the kid made every second, just in case.

For seemingly hours, they stood there. Wave after wave after wave of Thanos's soldiers emerged from the ship that was easily twice the size of the city itself, but they fell and died at the hands of the Asgardian soldiers. Brunnhilde was in the sky on a flying horse and she single-handedly brought down dozens at a time, sending them crashing into one another or into the waiting spears and blades and axes of the Asgardians.

"He's lost hundreds of his own men by now," Rhodey said after a while. "And he just keeps sending more. What is he thinking?"

"That they are expendable." Bucky's voice was low. "They're not people to him. Just means to an end."

"Well, considering that his end goal is genocide," Nat said, "we shouldn't be surprised that he doesn't care for the lives of his people any more than he does the ones he plans to kill."

"Yeah, but this seems like a waste," Steve said. "And as over the top as Thanos seems to be, I wouldn't assume he'd just...expend people like this."

"I think you're right." Tony really only had hunches to go on, but he had them. "This feels more like a pressure test than anything else. See how strong our defenses are."

Sam, who had been listening on comms, said, "If you're right, we'll probably find out soon."

Not long after, another wave of Thanos's soldiers appeared, but these were different. The previous ones had all been about human-sized, slender, not dissimilar from the Chitauri. This new round were bigger, closer in size and bulk to the Hulk. They landed in the streets of the city with audible crashing and began smashing Asgardians and buildings indiscriminately.

"Hey, guys?" Peter's voice on comms was light still, "I think these new things might require a little extra muscle to take down."

"I concur," Loki said. "I believe we have waited long enough."

"Okay." Steve glanced around at the team. "Peter, you and Sam stick to evacuating the wounded. Everybody else, let's go."

It was an honest relief for Tony to blast into the air and start taking potshots at Thanos's bastards. For six years, he'd dreamed about the Chitauri, about the army he saw waiting through the wormhole. For six years, he'd known there was a bigger fight coming someday.

Tony still wasn't sure if any of the moves he'd made to prepare for this day were right. Should he have gone back and resurrected the Ultron program? Should he have enhanced the Iron Legion protocol? What about an army of drones in a satellite the way Veronica was waiting for deployment against the Hulk? What about bigger and badder weapons?

But he couldn't redo the last six years. He could only focus on the battle right here and now, the one he could not afford to lose. Earth was still hanging out in space somewhere, dangerously vulnerable and fragile. And even with the heavy hitters they'd left behind, Tony wasn't sure anything would be enough to handle Thanos.

They had to find a way to win today. Right now. Before Thanos even turned his head enough to consider a visit to Earth.

And with Peter on the ground, dodging Thanos's big goons and rescuing Asgardians left and right, Tony had to make sure they did it before Thanos got anywhere near his kid, either.

"JARVIS," Tony said. "What's the status of the Iron Legion on Asgard?"

"You have fifteen units available, not counting the dead man's switch at the end of the Bifrost."

That was a little something Tony and Bruce and Loki had cooked up while they were figuring out material strengths of alien metals. The Bifrost wasn't Thanos's aim, but it was dangerous as hell and they couldn't let him get control of it. Apparently it didn't work without Heimdall's sword, but Tony didn't want to take any chances on somebody pulling one of Peter's moves and yoinking it out of the guy's hands. So he'd fixed one of the Iron Legion suits he'd brought to Asgard with a giant set of Asgardian explosives. If the Bifrost Observatory was at risk, JARVIS had permission to blow that suit up and take the whole building with it.

Tony felt good about that contingency. He felt less good about the lack of others.

"Okay." Tony dodged one of the flying things and repulsored one of the big goons in the face. "Take five of them and get them to try to penetrate Thanos's big ship. Pick somewhere obvious. We're not going for subtlety here. If you can find the main control center, aim for that."

"Understood, sir. If conventional means are insufficient to breach the exterior, shall I resort to a self-destruct?"

"Eh, check with me before doing anything drastic." Tony dropped to the street and blasted a precarious wall that had already taken damage, dropping it on three of the little guys. "I don't want to blow our wad too early."

"Thank you for that crude analogy," JARVIS said.

In spite of everything, Tony grinned. "I can always count on you keeping me in line, buddy. Even at the possible end of the world."

"I live to be constant in my support of your efforts, sir."

"Stark!" Sam's voice rang out over the comms. "Pete's in trouble."

Tony swore and blasted off towards Peter's signal. "JARVIS, bring it up!"

Peter was apparently pinned down in a small alleyway. There were two Asgardian soldiers there, conscious but badly hurt. And a dozen of Thanos's goons of various sizes had converged at both ends of the alley.

"No, no, no, I got this!" Peter yelled. "Don't even….yikes!"

Tony had seen enough. "JARVIS, trigger KAREN to activate Instant Kill."

"I don't want to kill anybody!"

"You won't," Tony told him with a heavy heart. "This one's all me."

A moment later, Tony could see the extra legs spring out of the back of Peter's suit, swinging and stabbing at his opponents who came at him from behind. By the time Tony landed and hit the biggest goon with both his main repulsors, the rest of the alien guys were down and Peter was trying to get their bodies off the two Asgardians he'd been protecting.

"That was both cool and really gross," Peter told him. "And I don't want to do it again, okay?"

Tony pretended not to hear the tiny wobble in Peter's voice.

"I know, kid, and I'm sorry," he said. "But if somebody's not walking away from this fight, I don't want it to be you. You got me?"

Peter's mask retracted and Tony could see his eyes, bright with emotion. "I never thought I'd actually kill someone someday."

"You're an Avenger now," Tony said. "I know how hard the idea of really hurting someone is for you, but you can't save anybody if you can't save yourself. If you didn't kill these guys, you and those two would be the ones lying there."

Tony did not have time for a moral debate in the middle of the battle, but he had to get Peter to understand.

"Sometimes we all make choices we have to live with," he said, letting his own helmet retract. "And sometimes the best we can do is choose the least worst. So make the choice that gives you the chance to keep going, no matter what. Okay?"

"I'll try," Peter said. Then he turned back to the two wounded soldiers. "I gotta get them out of here. Thanks for, you know. Saving me. Again."

"I will always save you," Tony vowed. "Just don't make me have to do it more than that today, huh?"

A loud crash sounded from somewhere nearby. Tony pulled his helmet back on with a gesture and he was pleased Peter did the same.

"Now go be a friendly Asgardian Spider-Man while I deal with whoever is wrecking the neighborhood."

Tony took to the air, hating leaving Peter behind but not having any real choice. Even his kid had to come after the fate of the world, whether or not he liked it.

Tony was about to go intervene where the Hulk was in a wrestling match with five of the big goons when JARVIS alerted him to something with Thanos's ship.

"The five Iron Legion suits have been destroyed," JARVIS said, "but I believe they have, as you might say, kicked over the anthill."

"Pretty sure I've never said that in my life," Tony quipped. But he followed JARVIS's guidance up higher until he could see.

A familiar blue beam emerged from the ship, depositing a single figure on the Bifrost right at the edge of the city.

Tony knew. He knew as soon as he saw him.

"Thanos."

"We're on the way," Steve reported. Tony could track all the Avengers converging towards Thanos, so he made sure to get there first, dropping down to face his nightmare incarnate.

Of all the hellish things Tony had imagined, he'd never actually expected Thanos to be so…purple.

"So, Barney the Dinosaur?" he asked. "I gotta admit, I didn't really expect the grape juice vibe or the…" He gestured at Thanos's chin that looked like his clay mask had run. "Kinda ruins the sinister image, I gotta say."

"Stark."

Thanos's voice was grating and low. Tony braced his hands, ready to fire. But if the big guy wanted to spew his ego for a while, Tony was happy to play distraction.

"You know me?"

"I do. You are not the only one cursed with knowledge."

Tony eyed the golden glove on Thanos's hand, a purple and a red Stone blinking brightly on it. He ramped up the force for his next repulsor blast just in case. "My only curse is you!"

"I can believe that," and the Titan sounded almost reasonable. "It is unfortunate that our two wills must find themselves in opposition. Especially when we serve the same aim."

"I don't think that's really true." Steve came to a stop at Tony's side, shield at the ready. "We protect life. We're not out to end it for no reason."

"But I have a reason," Thanos said. "Allow me to show you."

The red Stone on the glove pulsed and suddenly they were somewhere else. Another planet with strange, rounded architecture — and a lot of purple beings that looked like Thanos.

JARVIS showing readings that everything was an illusion was the only thing that kept Tony's heart-rate steady. For a moment, he thought they'd been taken elsewhere.

If he gets the Space Stone, will it be that easy for him to reach Earth?

Thanos didn't give Tony time to panic or to get himself back under control. At least the bad guy apparently did want to monologue long enough for Tony to pull it together.

"This was my home, once. Beautiful, isn't it? Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, and not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution."

"Genocide." Loki spat the word.

Thanos inclined his head. "But at random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass."

The surroundings of the planet changed, now reduced to ruin. Nothing lived, not the smallest speck of green. It was a different kind of nightmare, like the aftermath of nuclear winter.

"And now you want to murder everybody else," Steve said.

Thanos smiled slightly and Tony hated how pleased he looked, how calm. "Not everybody. Half. Half of all life, so that the rest of life can thrive. With all six Stones, I could simply snap my fingers and they would cease to exist. Instantly, painlessly. I call that mercy."

"And then what?" Tony demanded.

"I finally rest and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills." The image of Thanos's planet faded away and they were on Asgard again.

Loki snarled. "My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is greater. You have no power over me any longer!"

"Dude, is this really the time for Labyrinth quotes?" Peter asked quietly over comms. "Especially if you're not even gonna do it right."

But Tony could understand why Loki chose those words. Just as he was facing a nightmare in Thanos, so was Loki. Because Loki had been tortured by this guy, brainwashed, sent to Earth to conquer or die. It was another entry on the very, very long list of reasons Tony had for why he wanted to punch this guy into the sun and watch him fry.

If Loki could remind himself of who he really was, and that none of it came from Thanos, it might keep him from drowning under the rest of it.

And what better reminder than a movie night with Peter and the Avengers, safe and sound and together?

"Give me the Space Stone," Thanos said. "Give it to me and half of your lives will be spared when I enact my will. Resist any further and I will kill you all."

"Not happening." Tony aimed his ready blast. "Not today, not ever. You're going down, Grimace."

"Very well."

Instinct took over and Tony threw himself into the air, Rhodey and Sam doing the same while a blast of purple energy came at them from the golden glove. Steve caught it on his shield, Nat behind him, and Loki blurred to the side. Hulk hadn't actually joined them yet, so only Bucky got caught up in it. The wave of energy picked him up and threw him through the nearest building.

"I got him!" Sam called, immediately diving through the hole Bucky had made with his back to check on him.

While they were reeling, a glint of metal flashed in the air.

Brunnhilde, riding her flying horse, dove down with a spear in her hands. She had apparently picked up a friend along the way, because Sif was falling through the air with her own sword braced to strike. They reached Thanos at the same time, but he blocked them both with his glove. Another wave of purple energy sent them careening off the edge of the Bifrost and the flying horse had to grab them both out of the water.

"That's the Power Stone," Loki said. "Combined with Reality in a Gauntlet which allows him to wield them directly, they are a dangerous combination."

"Rhodey, let's go!" Tony went through the air to get around behind Thanos. Rhodey, being brilliant, lined up across from him. "Give it everything you've got!"

They fired simultaneously, catching Thanos between them as they had Ivan Vanko back during the Stark Expo years ago. The repulsor blast fed back on itself the longer they held it, getting stronger and stronger.

"Look out!" Nat yelled.

Tony saw the chunk of rainbow bridge coming just in time to catch it instead of being hit across the face; across from him, Rhodey was a little less lucky and had to fly out from under it. Between them, Thanos barely looked as if he'd noticed their attempt.

"How do we stop him?" Steve yelled.

"We must find a way to remove the Gauntlet," Loki said, and Tony realized he was hearing it not aloud, but through comms somehow, even though Loki refused to carry one. But it wasn't exactly the kind of information he wanted Thanos to overhear, either.

"Let me try!"

And then Peter dropped down right into Thanos's space, threw a web grenade into his face, and started yanking on the glove.

"Peter, no!"

It only lasted for a moment. The Gauntlet glowed with red light and the webbing on Thanos's face vanished.

"Insect." Thanos scowled. He grabbed Peter by the arm and threw him into the nearest wall.

"Ooh, that was a bad call," Bucky said, now taking up a spot on a roof and firing his rifle intermittently — not that it was helping any more than it had against Hela, but if it was a distraction and annoyance, that had merit.

Thanos had just enough time to look up at Bucky before a very large, very green fist appeared to pound him in the jaw.

"No hurt friend!" Hulk roared.

"Yeah," Peter said, getting to his feet. Tony checked JARVIS, but his kid's injuries were minimal. "You tell him, big guy."

Tony could see that Hulk wasn't going to make enough of an impact on Thanos already. His strength was negated by the Power Stone. They needed a plan. He took off into the air, dropping missiles behind him and banking away from the fight.

"JARVIS, get the Legion in there. See what they can do!"

"On it, sir."

But that was only going to buy time, Tony knew. He needed something big. Something really big. He glanced around until inspiration struck.

"Loki! I need some magic power!"

A crow appeared in the air beside him as Tony headed along the side of the city. "Can you make something temporarily weightless?" Tony wanted to know.

He could tell when Loki understood his plan because the crow stopped following and instead began leading the way.

It took a precious few minutes to cut the thing free and get Loki to enchant it. Tony tracked everything via JARVIS and comms feverishly, but while the team wasn't making any progress, at least nobody was getting seriously hurt, either. Nat and Bucky and Sam had backed off trying to fight Thanos directly and were mostly coordinating attacks and taking shots when they had an opening. The Warriors Three didn't have comms, but according to JARVIS they had taken off to handle the bigger sized goons, and Sif had gone with them. Brunnhilde made the most of what chances she got, but she spent a lot more time bringing down the little goons on their flying go-karts so they couldn't interrupt than striking the big purple menace.

That left Thanos to the Iron Legion, Steve, Hulk, and Rhodey. And Peter. But Peter was taking advice from Bucky, trying to create openings rather than getting too close.

Tony hated everything about Peter's power so much right now, and had never been prouder of him at the same time.

Finally Tony got the thing he wanted up and balanced. He took off into the air, climbing high enough not to be immediately visible. Loki must have done something besides change the weight, because when Tony looked up, he couldn't actually see the thing.

He carried it over to where Thanos and the rest of the team were fighting now in the very courtyard of the palace.

"Everybody get clear!" he said.

And he turned so that he could push downward on the statue of some old Asgardian guy that was the size of the Statue of Liberty and way heavier. He shoved it with all his strength, and he had the satisfaction of feeling the impact when it hit the ground and crushed Thanos underneath.

But a moment later, the statue disappeared into dust and Thanos stood up. He wiped at his scraped cheek — the first real blow anybody had struck.

"All that for a drop of blood."

Tony landed, too surprised to be scared that he'd thrown a literal skyscraper at the guy and barely marked him.

Thanos looked up at him. "You have my respect, Stark. When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive. I hope they remember you."

Tony braced himself to face him again. "What, are you getting tired? We're just getting warmed up!"

"I tire of this." Thanos lifted the Gauntlet. "Just know, you chose to oppose me. This is your own doing in your arrogance and foolishness."

And Tony felt nothing but a shattering agony encompassing his entire being.

-==OOO==-

Peter was standing still. He probably shouldn't be, but he was.

He couldn't move.

Tony — everyone — was in literal pieces on the ground. And they were still alive.

Thanos had done something with the Reality Stone, and it was like a horrible cartoon where a character got sliced apart, or where they melted into a puddle. Everyone had come apart, unraveled like the rug in 'Aladdin.' Tony, Steve, the Hulk, Sam, Nat, Bucky, Rhodey, and every Asgardian around.

Some were the puddle version, some were just broken, some were in pieces...but they were still alive somehow. Alive…and twitching.

Peter had seen a guy at the fish market once chop up an octopus so fast Peter could barely see his hand move. Just, one second there was a whole octopus, and then there were slices cut clean through. But the octopus didn't quite know it was dead yet and all the bits of it had kept moving even afterwards.

It was like that, and Peter couldn't throw up because he couldn't move.

His mask was off, he realized belatedly, probably because KAREN thought he should be throwing up, too.

The only other person still standing was Loki, who had actually put himself in front of Peter at the last second.

"Surrender," Thanos said, and it was almost friendly. "Give me the Tesseract and perhaps I will not raze this land to the ground and reduce all its inhabitants to a smear of flesh."

Peter's blood was pounding in his ears so hard it was making him dizzy, and if not for KAREN in his suit actively constricting and releasing his ribcage in a regular cadence he would already be hyperventilating.

"I suppose I have no choice."

Peter's head snapped up. "Loki, no!" he yelled.

Loki actually stepped over the separated pieces of Tony, his shoulders down.

"Asgard is my responsibility, Peter," he said. Low and sad. "We can't beat him. I have to do what I can for my people before there are none of us left."

"Hmm." Thanos tipped his head to the side, an inquisitive expression on his face. "And why should I believe you now? I seem to remember you being rather willing to lie to save your skin more than once before."

"Because." Loki was moving closer to Thanos. "Because I'm a coward. And you scare me."

Something in the way he said those words sparked recognition in Peter's mind, but he didn't have time to think about it.

"No you aren't!" he shouted. "Loki, stop!"

Loki shook his head. "Peter. Listen to me. I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me."

This time, Peter got it. That was a line from the final battle in Labyrinth. The first movie he'd ever watched with Loki.

"I move the stars for no one," Loki continued, turning back towards Thanos. "We fought so long, and we've come so far. But Thanos can be so cruel. Just as I can be so cruel."

Peter's breath caught in his chest in a blinding moment of realization.

"But I do believe in you."

And Loki pivoted in place, suddenly producing and throwing the Tesseract like a baseball. Just like how Jareth had thrown a crystal to give Sarah her last chance at victory.

"Peter, run!"

The glowing cube fell perfectly into Peter's hands, and he could feel the pulse of its energy even through the Iron Spider suit.

Loki was still moving — he spun all the way around and materialized a spear out of nowhere. He stabbed it towards Thanos with all his strength.

But Loki's body and the spear flashed with red light and he was held immobile, as if frozen.

"Typical." Thanos sounded disappointed. "Allow me to return the favor."

Thanos plucked the spear from Loki's motionless hands and stabbed him through the chest hard enough that the spear point was driven into the flagstones beneath him.

"No!" Peter was past yelling, so it came out wet and helpless instead.

The red light faded and Loki could move. He wrapped a hand around the shaft of the spear above him as if he could pull it out. But he was pinned like a butterfly and could only hold himself up a bit.

Loki's head rolled on his neck to face Peter.

"Use the Tesseract and flee," Loki managed, blood dribbling at the edge of his mouth. "Go, child." Then, almost lost in a cough, "Please."

Peter just couldn't move.

Thanos raised his Gauntlet again and red and purple light flashed, but Peter only saw the energy flow by him. Around him, the fallen Avengers made tiny, inhuman sounds of pain.

None of the Stones' power touched him.

Thanos frowned.

This time, red light burned like a beam, aimed arrow-straight at Peter's chest.

Peter couldn't move, but the light never touched him.

"Interesting," Thanos said. "It seems you may be immune to the Infinity Stones. This should not be possible."

Peter shook his head but no words came to him.

"Give me the Tesseract, little warrior." Thanos's voice almost sounded kind and Peter had never hated anyone or anything more. "Give it to me and when I set right the universe, I promise you will live to enjoy the peace I will create."

Peter took a step backwards, but he could go no farther. Not with Loki bleeding with a spear through his chest, still trying to move or breathe. Not with Rhodey spilled all over the ground like chunky paint. Not with Tony shattered like a plate.

And Tony was still trying to move, somehow. The twitching was like oil in a pan, popping and jerking with a terrible sound.

Peter knew it was because he was alone. That Tony would try to move past even the point anyone else would be dead, because of him.

Peter's throat was filled with bile and terror, but he managed to clear it.

"I...I'll make a deal with you."

Thanos edged a step closer. "Oh?"

Peter wanted to run. He wanted to cry. But he forced his voice to work, forced himself to form words, though they were laced with shaky desperation.

"I...I'll give it to you, but you...you have to fix everybody. And you have to leave Asgard without hurting anybody else."

"No!" Loki's shout was bitten off in a choked gasp. "Peter—" Blood filled his mouth and he coughed.

"Silence." Thanos's Gauntlet glowed and Loki went still in the wash of red power again. "The boy and I are talking." His eyes never left Peter's face. "An audacious request."

"You...you can't hurt me," Peter dared even as he trembled. "The Stones don't work on me. But I could...I could take the Tesseract away. And you'd never find it."

"You think much of yourself," Thanos said. "I am inevitable, little warrior. If I take it from you now or when you are old and frail, I will take it. Do not test my patience."

There was threat and danger in that, and Peter's chest rose in response.

"I'll destroy it," he said. "I know how. I know who can do it. I'll leave with it and by the time you catch me, it'll be too late."

His chin was shaking, but he held it up anyway. Because it was true.

When he'd left the Earth, Wanda and Shuri and Doctor Strange had been talking about how to destroy the Mind Stone if there was no other way to keep it away from Thanos, or how to destroy the other Stones if they managed to beat him.

By now, he had to believe they'd found a way. That they'd be ready.

And while Peter had never been able to lie very well, he had the strength to make a promise he would keep at the cost of everything.

Thanos stopped his inexorable movement forward. "I see."

Peter held the Tesseract so tightly his hands went numb. He stuck to it with his powers just in case. "Fix everyone and leave Asgard without hurting anyone else in any way and I'll give it to you."

"No." Thanos made a small smile. "That is two gifts from me in return for only one from you. If you want to bargain, it must be fair."

Peter didn't need his Spider-Sense to warn him of the depth of the impending danger in front of him. If he hadn't gotten so much practice ignoring it, it would have been badly distracting right now.

His family shattered before him and the terror screaming in his veins was distraction enough.

"I will leave Asgard in return for the Tesseract," Thanos said. "But I will allow all your friends here to die in agony. Unless."

Somehow, Peter knew. He knew what was about to happen. And so he didn't shake apart when Thanos pinned him with those endless eyes.

"Unless you come with me, little warrior."

Tony somehow let out a sound that was part scream and part squeal and it was only because he was holding the Tesseract that kept Peter from slamming his hands over his ears. The sound of it stabbed through him like Loki was stabbed through.

"Why me?" Peter managed to ask around tears that gathered in his eyes, torn from his soul.

"I should like to understand how you have rendered yourself immune to the effects of the Infinity Stones. Such an ability may be useful to me. Also, you and your friends have already taken some of my disciples." His smile was fond and terrifying. "It has been some time since I raised up a new child."

Peter dropped his head, defeated so much worse than he ever had been with Beck's nightmares.

He'd never felt so much and so numb all at once.

"If I give you the Tesseract, you'll leave Asgard alone? And if I go with you, you'll fix everybody? You promise?"

"Yes."

"How can I trust you?" Peter whispered, his eyes shut. "How can I believe you'll keep your word?"

"Because the one thing I am not, the one thing I have never been, is a liar."

And Peter's own Spider-Sense was damningly quiet.

Hopelessness filled him up and pounded where his blood should have been.

"Okay," Peter said. He opened his eyes, lifted his head, and nearly broke at the gleam of triumph on Thanos's face. "Okay."

"As a show of good faith," Thanos said. He lifted his head and yelled, "Cease the invasion and return to the ship immediately! Another shot fired and your life is forfeit!"

Silence fell on Asgard as abruptly as a bomb going off. In the sky, the flying craft began retreating, swarming towards the main ship and not turning back even as the dregs of Asgard's resistance fired after them. The larger and ground-based beings followed in retreat, swarming the Bifrost bridge.

Peter was practically vibrating out of his skin, but Thanos seemed utterly at ease. A few nearby Asgardian warriors charged in as if to help, but Thanos simply raised his Gauntlet and threw them back carelessly.

All of Thanos's attention was on Peter, and Peter had never ever been so scared.

"Now," Thanos said. "It is your turn."

Peter couldn't look at Loki. Couldn't look at Tony. And he couldn't quite get his knees to move. But he lifted up the Tesseract and let go of it.

It never fell. Red and purple light swirled around it, catching it as gently as if Wanda were here with her magic. Peter watched it float to Thanos who neatly crushed the cube and drew the shining blue stone into the Gauntlet.

"Very good," Thanos approved. "I appreciate a child who understands the value of his word. As a reward, I will allow you a moment to say goodbye."

"You...you promise you'll fix them and leave them alone?" Peter asked, despair chipping away at what remained of his courage.

"Yes. You will see them restored for yourself. But you must understand that I will not allow even Stark the chance to cause you to break your word to me." The Titan's face went stony and that was scary — and that was better because scary Peter could handle, but that fond approval led to madness.

"I understand," Peter said.

"Then take your moment before more of your Asgardian allies make a foolish decision and risk my retribution."

Peter bit his lip until it bled, but he made his feet walk forward until he could fall to his knees beside Tony. Well, beside his head and most of his chestplate. The rest...Peter could barely look.

"I'm sorry, padrino," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. But I can't...I can't let him do this to you. I'm so sorry."

He reached out and the Iron Spider retracted off his hands so he could feel the familiar warmth of the Iron Man suit with his own skin.

A thought flitted through his mind.

"I...I became a hero to serve you, and all that is like you," he recited.

And he finally understood Lir, finally understood what it took to give himself to the Red Bull, just in the barest hope that he would buy the unicorn even one more second of freedom.

"I guess...it's finally my turn to save you."

Tony made another horrible, cracking scream and Peter shivered.

"Tell...tell Pepper and Morgan and May...tell everyone I love them."

His tears fell and he let them go.

"I love you, padrino. I'm sorry."

And it would have been easier for Peter to bear Thanos tearing his heart from his chest than to move, but Peter pulled his hands back and managed to stand. He shut his ears to the terrible sounds Tony made — and now he realized others were making them, too — and stepped forward without stopping until he reached Thanos.

Thanos, who was smiling at him.

"I am very proud of you, little warrior. You will make a remarkable addition to my family."

"I already have a family," Peter said. His shoulders sagged.

He waited for pain, for some kind of punishment, but Thanos just chuckled.

"For now." He put the hand not wearing the Gauntlet on Peter's shoulder and it was huge and heavy and it felt like a chain. "And now for my part of our bargain."

Thanos stretched out his Gauntleted hand and red light pulsed.

Before Peter's eyes, the pieces of the Avengers began to knit themselves back together. Steve congealed like jello; Rhodey's body started to form like foam on top of the liquid smear; Tony's armor and the body within it snapped back together piece by piece. The spear in Loki's chest melted away, and red haze swam over the hole it had left until there wasn't even a dent in his golden armor.

"Satisfied?" Thanos rumbled.

Loki was recovering his balance and breathing, and the Avengers were stumbling to their feet. Those whose faces Peter could see were ashen pale, but their eyes were all for him.

Tony's helmet retracted and his expression was agonized.

But before any of them could really collect themselves, Peter nodded. He stared as though he would never see them again — Because I probably won't — and swallowed everything that surged up inside him.

"Yes."

"Peter!" Many voices rang out at once.

Thanos lifted the Gauntlet again and blue light surrounded them.

"Goodbye," Peter sobbed.

And they were gone.