Peter stared down at the scene he had expected to see. He had known he would crawl along the walls, try to be as silent as possible, and finally enter the main hall of the ship. There, he would see the floating doc, suspended in mid-air. Unconscious. Unmoving. The poor man being surrounded by huge floating, needle-like things. The alien, Maw something, was busy watching the sorcerer. He would use the needles to kill him. Or maybe do worse in his efforts to get the Time Stone. On a small platform above the sorcerer and the alien, Tony and cloak were hiding, watching the unfolding situation. Peter had known he would see what he currently saw. Yet, actually seeing it bordered to insanity. He had been here before. They had been here before. They killed the alien before. Everything had already been. Yet, all he could think about was what if.

What if they couldn't save the doc?

What if they couldn't kill the alien?

What if they got stuck in this ship in their future without suits?

Would the timeline simply reset if one of them died here?

Would they end up in front of a massively pissed Thanos, because they obviously did something? Or maybe the titan would be oblivious to the fact that they had turned back time and just let them be. Let them live with the knowledge that they had had a chance and failed.

Peter shivered at the thought. Every new possibility was worse than the other. He wouldn't let any of those happen. Not if he had a say in it. The goal was rather simple. Save the doc. Kill the alien. Or whatever of those two happened first. And then somehow get back into their own current past. Before he could start to brood over what exactly he had been thinking, he carefully dropped down from his hiding spot on the wall and joined Tony and cloak, who barely glanced at him. This was unlike the first time. The first time, Tony had been surprised seeing him. This time, it seemed to be expected relief. He was here. Finally.

"Ned is here." He whispered, immediately getting a response from both. Cloak swirled around and stared at him, Tony frowned and did the same.

"What?!" He asked lowly.

"Yeah. He touched me during the light flash and…" he shouldn't explain things. They didn't have time for explanations. "Whatever. We can't blast a hole into the ship like last time. I mean, we can't anyway because we don't have suits, but we can't for sure because we might suck Ned out too." He fell silent. "What do we have? I have my web shooters with me."

He saw, how Tony moved his hand, an Iron Man glove appeared, covering his hand. "One shot." The man said grimly. Cloak gestured towards itself.

Even though Peter had expected it, he felt his heart beat faster. None of them had suits. They would have to fight an alien with nothing but web and intellect. Three idiots against an alien which could move things by sheer force of will. Nothing easier than that.

"Where is Ned?" Tony asked lowly, turning his gaze back to the still unconscious Stephen and the alien.

"Got him up on one of the higher platforms and told him to hide." If Ned got hurt in the process…

No. He couldn't think about another what if. It would only drive him insane.

"Do you have a plan?" Peter asked instead, joining the two at staring down at their peculiar problem.

"You still have strength and speed, right?" Tony asked grimly, sounding as if he didn't want to ask what he was asking.

"Yes."

"You heal faster, right?"

While Peter answered "Yes" again, he realized what he would have to do, because currently only he could do it. Fight the alien. Or distract it for starters. Tony without his suit was surely awesome, but a bit restricted if it came to hand on hand combat against aliens.

"You go down and distract him. I will try to get Strange out of those needles. Hopefully, I can touch them with the glove. If not, cloak helps me first and then you. If I can touch the needles, I'll see if I can use them as some sort of weapon. They seem painful enough after all." Tony was silent for a moment. "Aim for his head. I guess that he lets stuff float through willpower. If he is unconscious, he can't bother us." Peter nodded. Sounded reasonable.

They kept calm until the doc seemed to return to consciousness, drawing the attention of the alien onto himself. Maw started to talk about his loyalty to Thanos and that he couldn't fail him and…

Peter used the moment to jump down, making sure to pull the attention of the alien away from the doc. And away from the small platform where Tony and cloak were still hiding.

"You have a sorcerer who belongs to us. Give him back." Peter said on a whim, feeling the urge to talk again. They had a plan. As stupid and crazy and suicidal it may be, they had a plan. He could work with that. And maybe distract his enemy through non-stop chattering.

"You want him back?" Maw asked, something between bored and amused. "You can't fight me, human. Your powers are inconsequential to mine." With a flick of his hands, metal scraps, sharp looking metal scraps, started to float, hovering on either side of him.

"Are you really living in a mess, only to have stuff close by to throw at enemies?" Peter asked. "By the way, try to get bitten by a radioactive spider first. Then we two can sit down and have a chat about inconsequential powers."

With that, he ran towards the alien, deciding to mix a scream in for good measure to hide any sounds Tony could make while being floated down by cloak, only to stop when the metal scrap things started to move towards him. He dodged one, webbed the other and let them crash into another.

"That's all you can do? Throw metal at me?" he taunted his enemy, stepping away. He wanted to lure him away. If only a little. Even though he guessed that increasing the distance between Maw and Tony and the doc didn't really matter. What was distance to a guy fighting with thoughts? Well, the metal scraps needed a few seconds longer to hit the target.

"Your words mean nothing." Maw informed him oddly bored. A moment later, the ground below his feet started to move, metal bending, turning and twisting, trying to ensnare him.

"F…" acting fast, he jumped away, trying to hit Maw's face with webbing, which he blocked easily by letting a piece of metal float in front of his face. For a long second, Peter stared at him. Obviously, he could block his range attacks easily. If he wanted a chance at webbing this guy, he would have to take the fight up close.

Staring down at the huge, obviously magical, glowing needles floating around Strange, Tony moved his glove-covered hand reluctantly, touching one of the things. He had expected to feel pain rush through his body. He had expected to be in agony. Yet, nothing happened. No pain at all. The touched needle simply glowed a bit brighter. Sighing relieved, he allowed himself a tiny smile. He could touch those things. Signaling to cloak to go and help Peter, he took to the task of pushing floating needles aside. "I'll get you out." He whispered lowly, not even sure if Strange could hear him, but he guessed the man could see Peter and count one and one together.

Peter, trying to get closer to the alien, was suddenly flung to the side and flew through the room. Crashing against the closest wall, he groaned lowly. "Not fair, man!" he yelled at the alien while trying to move. He couldn't though. A mere second later, he heard metal screeching and breaking again. Watching, how the wall moved to literally swallow him, he felt panic rush through his being. Maw would bury him inside the wall. Cut off his access to air and just suffocate him. Let him die slowly. He. Would. Not. Die. Not like that. Not like… groaning and cursing, he tried to move again. Get away from that damn wall.

Suddenly, he could move. Wasting no second, he pushed himself off, crashing onto the luckily not-alive ground. Getting back onto his feet in an instant, he realized he didn't have anything to do with being able to move. It wasn't due to his will to live or something like that. Cloak had wrapped around Maw's head and was busy dragging him along. Watching how cloak got flung to the side, Peter started to sprint towards Maw. He wanted to reach the guy and knock him over. Web him for good measure. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw how cloak tumbled. Something trying to push it down. Yet, cloak prevailed shakily, just trying again to attack Maw. A few steps away, Maw turned his head and looked at him. Flicked his hand.

Once again, the ground beneath Peter's feet turned alive. This time, he wasn't fast enough. He felt cold metal wrap around his feet, ensnare him, make him fall. Hitting the ground, he saw the remaining walkway jump to life. Heard metal move and bend. Yet, it didn't bother him as much as it should. All he did was stare at Maw. He had flicked his hands. He couldn't control things by sheer force of will. Not alone at least. He needed gestures to make the crazy parts of it work.

Ripping his arms free from metal, which had already started to wrap around them, he aimed and webbed the one hand of Maw he could see. A surprised yelp was his response. Instead of being entombed in the ground, he felt his body being ripped upwards, fly through the entire room and hit the ceiling hard. Groaning, he felt his body fall down again. He was getting ready to hit the ground when cloak dashed to the side and caught him. Suddenly floating, relief rushed through his body. He hadn't hit the ground. Maw couldn't use the walkway to bury him. He wouldn't die beneath metal. Looking at the alien, Peter dared to smirk.

"All you can do? Throw me around? Doesn't work that well, obviously."

He just had to web Maw's remaining hand. Stop him from doing the crazy stuff. This would work out.

The screeching of metal bending, louder than ever, distracted Tony from his task. Looking up, he stopped pulling on Strange's leg for a moment. All he could do was stare at metal bending and twisting and turning. The ground, the closest wall and one of the upper platforms had turned to life. All of it forming one big metal structure, closing in on Peter and cloak, who just floated there. Couldn't they move? Why didn't they move?! He had to… finish what he was doing. Giving Strange's leg a final pull, the sorcerer floated away from the vicinity of the needles. Yet, he just kept on floating. Unable to move. Staring at Strange for a second, he looked back at Peter and cloak. They too just floated there. Unable to move. All three of them were just suspended mid-air. Watching metal twist and move, the structure started to close around the two. Just a few seconds more and they would be trapped. Probably get crushed by metal or suffocate or…

Aim for the head. His earlier words rushed through his head. Raising his gloved hand, he aimed and shot. The one shot he had.

It hit its goal. The back of Maw's head. Yet, the alien only tumbled a few steps forward, groaning. The screeching of metal stopped. Grabbing one of the needles, Tony didn't waste any more time and started to run towards the alien. He had to reach it before it regained itself. He had to reach it before…

Maw swirled around. And then Tony's body was flung to the side, moved upwards and simply stopped. Just. Stopped. Floating mid-air, he was unable to move. Tony tried to trash around, to move, to something, anything, but nothing happened. The alien stared at him. Strange had to feel like that. Peter and cloak had to feel like that. Suspended in mid-air, unable to do a damn thing. Just floating. Witnessing what was going on. Watching how Maw stepped closer, Tony felt oddly numb. This was it, wasn't it? They had tried to save Strange and he got killed in the process.

A piece of metal clattered to the ground beside him. Another one hit Maw's shoulder.

"Leave my friends alone!" another piece of metal hitting the ground.

He knew that voice. Ned. Peter's friend.

Tony watched, how Maw looked up. How he raised a hand, gestured towards himself. A moment later, surprised screams followed. Ned floated into his field of vision, stopping right in front of Maw.

"Who do you think are you?" Maw asked softly. Somehow, it sounded more dangerous than all his other words or actions. Once again, a gesture. The needle Tony had brought along floated out of his hand and towards Maw. Another flick of his wrist and the needle moved towards Ned. With sheer horror, Tony listened to Ned's accelerating breath. Watched the needle getting closer. Inch by inch. Maw seemed to relish in dragging out the inevitable.

"Such a noble action. Trying to save your friends."

Suddenly, there was Peter with cloak on his shoulders. Half floating, half running, looking as if he fought against a power holding him back and slammed into the alien. Tackling it to the ground.