"Ned? What are you doing?" Peter asks, after spotting Flash resting her head on Ned's shoulder as she plays with a lock of his hair.
"Peter?!" Ned calls out, pulling her hand away from Flash.
Flash looks upward and spots Peter also. "Peter?" A look of shocked awe takes over his face as he stumbles to stand up. When he catches his footing, he quickly rushes up to her. "Why didn't you tell me you're Spider-Man? I thought we were friends."
"What?!" Peter asks, completely shocked by the unexpected question. "Ned, you told him?" She asks, turning to her friend."
Ned still looks to be in shock and stutters before she answers. "Peter, you shouldn't be here!"
"What?" Peter is now even more confused.
"You shouldn't be at school!" Ned tells her. "Not right now!"
"Why didn't you tell me you were a girl also?" Flash demands to know.
Peter covers her breasts afraid they might actually be showing. She suddenly remembers she is in swim trunks and a tight swimming top. She looks down at her sandy feet and realizes she isn't wearing any shoes either.
"Were you at the beach?" Flash asks, continuing his bombardment of questions.
"Yes..." Peter asks, trying to hold onto what little bit of control she could gather.
"Was it an alien beach?" Flash asks.
"What?!" Peter asks, even more surprised. 'Why does he know so much?' She wonders.
Ned spots Peter's panic and rushes up to her. She grabs her by the shoulders and they lock eyes. "Peter, you can't be here!" Ned tells her. "Everyone knows!"
"Everyone knows?" Peter asks, worried about the implications of that comment.
"Everything Peter!" Ned states. "You're all over TV."
"What?!" Peter shouts again.
"After you left," Ned starts to explain, "These alien ships started showing up all over the world." Peter can feel her panic rising. "At first we thought they were here to invade, but instead they hacked all our satellites."
"Satellites?" Peter repeats.
"It was some sort of intergalactic TV Company. They broadcast your fight with Thanos everywhere!"
"Everywhere?" Peter can't believe what he is hearing.
"Hey yo, everybody. It's your boy Flash here with a new update." Peter and Ned turn to see what Flash is talking about. "I'm here hanging out with my long-time best friend, Spider-Maaaan!" Flash lifts his phone up to include Peter and Ned in the camera shot. "That's right! He's back from outer space. Or should I say, she's back from outer space..."
"Flash!" Ned shouts as she rushes forward and slaps the phone out of his hand.
"Oww!" Flash exclaims. "Babe, what was that for?"
"Babe?" Peter asks, once again even more confused.
Ned spins back toward Peter. "Peter, you need to get out of here. Who knows how long before someone sees that." Flash's phone starts pinging rapidly.
"I think they already saw it." Flash says as he bends down to pick up his phone. "Sweet, no cracks."
"Go... Now!" Ned tells Peter.
Peter Parker looks at the door and realizes the window would probably be quicker. She rushes forward and opens it wide, sticking her head out. She reaches through and starts trying to scale the wall.
"Oh my god! It's really her!" Someone shouts. Peter can hear a few other people talking in awe. She stops to look back, sitting on the window sill. A crowd is quickly growing.
"Uh, hello..." She says with a wave, still nervous about being seen.
"Peter! What are you doing up there?" Mrs. Harris shouts. "That's dangerous!"
"Sorry!" Peter replies and hops back into the window.
"What're you doing?" Ned is panicking now.
"There are people out there. They'll see me!" Peter says.
"It doesn't matter Peter, they already know." Ned says.
"And, we're back, everybody." Flash is on his cell phone, once more.
"Flash!" Ned jumps between them and tries to block the camera.
"No running in the hall!" Someone shouts from outside the classroom. There is a clear commotion coming from outside.
"We have to hide you!" Ned says, just as the door comes swinging open.
'Too late!' Peter thinks as she turns to see who it is.
"MJ?!"
Michele Jones is standing in the door. They lock eyes and share a very brief but powerful emotional reunion. Peter starts to smile, but MJ is rushing toward her before her face can even change. Peter expects MJ to hug her, but instead she grabs her hand.
"We've gotta go!" MJ says, snapping Peter back to reality. She pulls her hand hard, causing her to stumble.
"Right." Peter says, following MJ.
"I'll call you later!" Ned shouts as they leave the room.
"There she is!" someone shouts in the hallway. MJ turns away from the voice. "I didn't believe you." The student keeps talking.
"This way! We'll take the back hall." MJ continues pulling Peter along.
They pass a few unaware students along the way to the staircase. MJ starts pulling Peter upward. "We can't go up there!" Peter tells her. "We'll be trapped."
"Can't you swing us out?" MJ asks.
"I don't have my web shooters." Peter replies.
"Downstairs it is." MJ is clinging to Peter's hand tightly now.
They come across a couple sitting on the stairs. Instinctively Peter sweeps up MJ and leaps over them down a long flight of steps. Peter sets MJ down and sees a pale look of panic on her face. "Sorry." She tells MJ.
"Let's never do that again." She responds. They take a brief moment for MJ to reorient herself and begin rushing further downstairs. The stairway couple looks on in shocked awe.
Peter and MJ work their way down the staircase and finally reach the bottom. They turn the corner and stop when they see a full hallway. They both pull back and hide behind the corner. MJ pushes Peter against the wall hoping to hide her. Peter blushes.
MJ studies Peter for a moment, peeks around the corner, then looks back up the stairs. "I should have grabbed a jacket to hide you." She looks across the way, seeing a classroom door. "I'm gonna check for one over there. You stay here."
Peter nods.
MJ peeks around the corner once more and starts rushing to the classroom door. It opens before she can reach it. A young man comes strolling out and almost bumps into her. "Sorry," he says, locking eyes with MJ. "Michele?" He recognizes her. The boy peers over her shoulder now and spots Peter.
"Hi." Peter waves shyly.
"Spider-Man!" The boy shouts, excitedly pushing past MJ.
MJ looks back down the hall and sees several students staring. None have started approaching yet, but they're clearly curious. "Hi." She says with a light wave. "It's not Spider-Man... We're just playing..." She tries to lie.
"That's MJ!" Someone randomly says. "She's Peter's girlfriend."
"Shit. Peter, we've gotta go." She rushes past the kid and grabs Peter's hand forcing her to rush back upstairs.
"Wait!" The kid calls back.
Peter and MJ manage to get past the couple without leaping this time and are forced to continue upstairs when they hear more voices coming from the floor they were on.
The two reach the roof and slam the door behind them. "Ok, we have to find a way off the campus, before they get here."
"MJ, aren't we overreacting a bit much?" Peter asks. "I mean, those are all our friends. Do we really have to hide from them?"
"We're not hiding from them!" MJ says as she rushes to the edge of the roof and looks over. She turns around, looks past Peter and points. "We're hiding from that."
Peter looks behind herself just in time to see a strange but very familiar flying device approach her. "Peter Parker! Welcome back." The flying machine shouts in a very loud voice. "How does it feel to be one of Earth's finest superheroes?"
"What?!' Peter asks again, for nowhere near the last time today.
"It's a Mojo Drone!" MJ says. "They're all over the planet. Ever since you left, Earth's had a lot of extra terrestrial visitors wanting to know everything about Earth and the superhero culture."
"Mojo? Like that guy from space?" Peter asks.
"Exactly that guy from space." MJ responds. "He basically gave everyone free cable tv, internet, and all sorts of media."
"He did?" Peter asks.
"Yeah. It did wonders for the economy," MJ is looking over another area of the roof, "but we can talk about that later." She wraps her arms around Peter tightly and looks her in the eyes. "Remember when I said, let's never jump off things again?"
"Yeah..." Peter answers.
"We have to do it again." MJ tells her. She turns toward the school parking lot. "We can escape through those trees. The drones don't have any peripheral vision."
"Are you sure?" Peter asks, just as two other drones quickly come approaching.
"Just go!" MJ says loudly while shutting her eyes.
Peter's feet loudly slap the ground as she runs, gets a good grip on MJ and leaps off the roof. MJ screams. Peter lands in the grass and rushes for the trees.
*** At the Avengers Compound ***
"Hello?" Bruce calls out. She slowly walks around the pile of sand left by Tony earlier. There is a trail of footprints in the direction Tony went.
"Tony... Are you still here?" Bruce sees a panel lit up and several lights are on in the hallway. Her feet make little patting noises as she follows the trail of clues. She is somewhat surprised by how little has changed over the last two years. She wonders if it is because of the breakup that occurred shortly after she left.
Despite the quiet setting, there does seem to be life outside the windows. Bruce spots several aircrafts, clearly not airplanes, flying in the distance. Before she can reach the window, she hears loud music blaring up ahead. 'Rob Zombie.' Bruce thinks to herself. 'Tony must be working on something serious.'
Bruce is about to turn toward the end of the hall when she sees a drone approaching. 'That's not Stark Tech.' She notices. The drone notices Bruce also, stops, and approaches the glass. Bruce has flashbacks of battling on Sakar as the Hulk, as the little alien cameras zoom in and record every detail. "What are you doing here?" Bruce asks aloud. She gets no answer as the drone hovers, silently watching from outside.
A loud engine-like boom catches the attention of both Bruce and the drone as they both turn toward the end of the hall. Bruce can hear something roaring for a few moments before becoming quiet again. She turns away from the window and approaches the door.
As she enters the lounge area, she spots a huge mess. Most of the seats are pushed against the wall with random wires and parts strewn across them. There is a large table with what looks like an engine or possible canon sitting on it.
"Try adjusting the rotation by a thousandths of a degree in the initial breached quadrant." Tony tells his AI. He is wearing a white muscle shirt and his slacks from earlier. A pair of darkened goggles is resting on his head and he is very sweaty.
"Adjusting." The computer responds.
"Fire." Tony tells the AI.
"Waiting for the reactor to cool." The system protests.
"It's fine, it's not that hot." Tony responds.
"Sir, I cannot stress enough the dangers of overheating gold titanium while under pressure." F.R.I.D.A.Y. protests.
Tony grabs his temples and takes a loud exasperated breath. "Fine! How long until it's cooled."
"Safely sir?" the system asks.
"Tony, what are you doing?" Bruce asks loudly, catching him off guard.
Tony looks up and turns away briefly to turn down the music. He looks back at the display before speaking.
"If they're not going to help us find the infinity stones, I will find them myself." Tony makes a few adjustments on his screen. "You might not want to stand there, by the way. That's an exhaust vent."
Bruce walks around the table to better see Tony. She turns to the machine in front of him. "What is it?" She asks, trying to avoid upsetting him.
"It's a gravity engine." Tony responds. If I can get the collider to spin with enough intensity, I can create a gravity field, hopefully capable of warping space."
"Are you sure you want to stand so close?" Bruce asks with concern.
"It's fine!" Tony states. "That's what the exhaust is for."
"I see that Tony, but last I checked, exhaust ports don't redirect warped space." Bruce says. "This could seriously mess you up."
"How would you know?" Tony says defensively while still tapping the panel. "Your specialty is gamma radiation, not rocket science."
"You forget Tony," Bruce says as softly as she can. She reaches across the panel and places her hand on Tony's, causing him to stop. "I've been in space for the last two years. Even as the Hulk, I picked up a few safety tips."
"Then you can help me afterall!" Tony says, pulling his hand away, and trying to continue working.
Bruce watches Tony fidgeting with the screen for a few moments and juggles what to say next. There are a lot of suppressed emotions in his face.
"Why are you doing this Tony?" Bruce asks.
Tony keeps working, refusing to look at Bruce. "We can't let them win." He says.
"They didn't win." Bruce says.
Tony pauses trying to think of a retort, but has none. He starts working on the panel again.
"Tony..." Bruce calls. She tries to look him in the eyes. "We won, Tony."
Tony hesitates only a moment, but it's enough for Bruce to notice. She sees a flicker of emotion gloss over his eyes.
"I know things aren't the way they used to be," Bruce leans in a little more, "but..."
"But what?" Tony snaps, looking directly at Bruce. She can tell he is trying to be angry, but she only sees hurt sadness. "How did we win?"
Bruce is not sure if she wants to answer, but does so anyway.
"The Universe is safe, Tony." Tony's eyes drop at hearing the same excuse everyone else is saying. "Nobody died... Thanos was defeated... We're home..."
Tony looks back to the panel and tries frowning angrily. He's finding it hard to hide his frustration. He begins aggressively tapping icons on the computer screen.
"Listen, Tony..." Bruce continues to try. "I know it's not 100%."
Bruce's choice of words seems to have done the trick, Tony pauses. "We still won, Tony. You'd be hard pressed to provide reasons as to how we didn't..." Tony makes a fist and closes his eyes, still trying to suppress any reaction.
Bruce does not want to, but asks the question that's been burning in the back of her mind. "Is it about Steve?"
Tony turns away now.
"Tony.." Bruce places a hand on his arm. "That wasn't your fault... Steve doesn't blame you."
"She was protecting me... It was my armor..." Tony responds.
"Tony, it was Thanos."
"It should have been me!" Tony snaps, locking eyes with Bruce again. "I designed that armor to take any hit. It was meant to be safer than my own." Tony is clearly holding back tears.
"Tony, no..."
"No matter what I do, it's never good enough." Tony says. "Twice, I couldn't stop Thanos. I couldn't protect Steve even though she was wearing Pepper's armor. It was designed to protect the person I..." He pauses to reword, "to protect the wearer"
"No one could have predicted what happened, Tony."
"I was expecting to put everything I had on the line so no one else would have to. I swore after Rhodey, no one else would get hurt."
''What happened with Rhodey?' Bruce wonders, as she was not on Earth during the airport fight. Tony is too upset to notice her confusion.
She looks up at his eyes again, seeing the tears. "Tony... It's not your fault..." She grabs his other arm and turns him toward her. "It's not your fault, and it was never your responsibility."
"I couldn't protect them..." Tony's eyes are getting more watery.
"It's not your fault, Tony." Bruce tries to reassure. "It has never been your fault."
Tony places a hand on his face as he massages his eyes, and wipes away tears. Bruce takes advantage of the moment to move in and wrap her arms around him. She can barely do it as she is still small.
"It's not your fault, Tony. Don't let anyone let you think otherwise." Bruce starts tearing up also. "Especially not yourself. You've always done your best, and it's always been more than enough."
Tony releases his face, thinks for a moment, then chooses to return the hug. He can't help but feel guilty for feeling just a little better. 'Is it really okay to let this go?' He wonders.
A screen nearby suddenly pings to life.
"Uh... I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Tony looks up to see a large image of male Pepper Pots on his screen. He still has the long hair, but there are now small whiskers of a possible beard on his chin. He must have video called after learning the alarms went off.
Bruce turns her face to look at the screen. She contemplates releasing Tony, but doesn't. "Hey Pepper."
"Don't mind me. You both look so cute like that." Pepper adds with a smile.
Tony's obsessed desire to fix things starts to slowly seep back into his mind. 'I forgot I needed to save Pepper,' he thinks to himself.