6. Nemesis Attack

Even though Tony had been marveling at the incredible stories of Peter turning mountains to dust, how proud of his son he'd been and how he'd thought nothing could harm him now, Peter now seemed far too small, far too vulnerable, as he stood in the middle of the lawn, alone.

The light of Nemesis formed into a figure fifty feet from Peter, and Tony's hatred surged as the light coalesced into Ross' form. Tony thought the only person that hated Ross more than him was Peter. He would happily summon a suit and go to town on him, but he knew Ross was no longer someone he could fight. He was now part of Nemesis, and it was that all-powerful being Peter was facing off with.

"What took you so long?" Peter asked conversationally, shocking Tony who had expected anger or fear. "I've been waiting for you for days."

Nemesis narrowed their eyes. "Yes, I'm sure you thought you were very clever, locking time on me."

Peter smiled smugly. "It sounds like it pissed you off, so I'm calling that a win. Like I'm calling what my family did for me. You left too soon, Nemesis. You thought you'd won so left me and look at me now." He raised a hand, and The Infinity Stones' light rippled from palm to fingertips. "My family made me Worthy."

Nemesis' color rose, though their voice was even, carefully controlled. "That would be a problem if that was my only option. I have still beaten you until you were broken each time we've done battle."

"That's true," Peter said, sounding perfectly at ease, as if they were two buddies chatting. "But I just came back from vacation, and I learned a lot."

Nemesis' eyes darted from Peter to the other Tony, the one that had arrived and twisted a perfectly peaceful evening on its head, and then to Peter.

"Is that what you learned?" they asked, gesturing towards the other Tony. "Did you do that?"

"Really, you think I'd tell you? You're forgetting which version of me you're facing this time. I'm not a kid anymore, Ross."

"That's it, Queens," Steve said with a gritted teeth smile. "You can do it."

"No, you're not," Nemesis said, tilting their head to the side and ignoring Steve's words completely. "You're actually truly eternal now, aren't you? You've tested it—you've lived!"

Peter smirked. "Yep. And yet I still can't buy a beer. How is that fair?"

Nemesis lifted a hand, almost as if they wanted to forestall Peter's words. The action, though familiar, gave Tony a chill of fear, and he was on the point of calling a warning to Peter when Nemesis struck.

With a simple flex of the hand, Nemesis sent a wave of blinding white power towards Tony's son. His name strangled on the way out of Tony's mouth, but Peter was already reacting.

He reached out into the air and caught the blast of light, like he was playing catch, and threw it back toward Nemesis. It seemed to catch them off-guard as it slammed into their side, making them stumble back a few steps with an expression of stunned surprise.

"That's it, Pete," Natasha encouraged in a murmur. "You know what you're doing."

Tony took some comfort in her words, her confidence, though his heart was still slamming against his ribs. Natasha knew exactly what Peter was capable of as she'd been there when he was honing his powers and combat skills, but Tony was still scared for his son.

While Nemesis was off balance, Peter threw a wave of colored light at them. This time they dodged it, and it flew into the forest where it exploded a group of towering oaks into sawdust. As Nemesis corrected their stance, they threw a blast at Peter, which he snatched out of the air and threw back at them, catching their right knee and making their leg buckle.

As Tony watched, his fear eased and became confidence. Peter was fighting back and actually hurting Nemesis. He remembered his son in the hospital bed, with a array of machines around him, monitoring the swelling in his brain, the stress on his heart, and even breathing for him. He remembered Peter in Wakanda, cracking jokes while strapped into a brace while his damn spine healed. Those injuries had come from Peter fighting Nemesis. In those fights, Nemesis had trashed Peter, would have killed him if not for The Infinity Stones, but he clearly had the upper hand this time.

As Tony watched he realized, possibly truly believed for the first time, that Peter was going to win this—he was going to beat Nemesis and trap them back into that hellhole universe and he would make sure they never got out.

His heart skipped and the stress he was feeling became exhilaration. He saw the future at their feet without Nemesis being a threat and the life they could all have without that hanging over their heads. He saw Peter's freedom.

As if to spite him and his thoughts, Nemesis threw a blast of power which caught Peter in the chest and made him grunt with pain.

In the instant Peter was distracted, Nemesis threw an orb of white light towards Tony's doppelgänger. Peter snapped out a hand the light froze inches from the other Tony, then Peter pulled back his arm and threw it overhand into Nemesis' gut, making them double over.

The Tony that had narrowly avoided being blown to pieces stared wide-eyed at Peter, a hand on his chest and the other extended, as if he was reaching for him. Tony examined him, seeing the lines of stress on his face, the tracks of the tears that had dried on his face, and he wondered who and what he was. He was him, according to Peter anyway, but he was also not—he seemed different, more strained, and absolutely terrified of what he was witnessing.

Tony's attention snapped back to the fight as Peter took another blast to the chest with a cry of pain, even as Nemesis shot a blast at the other Tony. Peter reached out to catch it, blood beginning to trail from his nose, but he was too slow. Tony caught his breath, thinking he was about to see that other version of himself blasted into atoms, but Bucky jumped between it and him and took the blow to the chest.

Steve cried his friend's name and Tony's breath caught and his stomach rolled with nausea, but Bucky was somehow okay. He shook off the blow like the swat of a hand opposed to the fist of what amounted to a god and waved away Steve's concerned questions.

Peter was enraged now, though. His eyes blazed and his hands fisted. Tony didn't even think he had even been this angry when Mind had defied him to come to ask Bucky to join with Peter to save his life, and that had been the angriest Tony had ever seen him or imagined him capable of. This, Nemesis threatening Bucky, his family, had incensed him.

With a roar of fury he clasped his hands to his chest, seeming to pull the light of The Stones from his own heart and into his hands, and then, when the light was almost blinding, he threw it out at Nemesis like a javelin.

It slammed into them, creating a glow around them and making them scream with pain then fall to their knees as the light faded.

Tony thought it was over, that Nemesis were beaten, defeated at last, and then they bowed over, vomited blood onto the grass, and then disappeared in a rush of white light.

Peter stared at the place they had been, hand on his chest and breaths panting, face still furious, and then he closed his eyes and shook his head, muttering, "Dammit."

"Pete?" Natasha said cautiously. "You good?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "Just a little too slow."

His words seemed to break the unconscious spell that had held them all in place as Nemesis and Peter fought, and they ran towards him. The other Tony was fastest, and he reached Peter, placing one hand on Peter's back and the other fluttering around his right ribs where he seemed to be most injured. Tony was surprised to see fresh tears in his eyes.

Yes, he'd been scared watching Peter at first, but Peter's confidence had become his. This other Tony looked as though he had just seen Peter cheat death—which was impossible, though perhaps he didn't know that.

"How bad is it?" he asked, voice thick with worry. "Do you need us to bring a doctor to you?"

Peter shook his head and smiled sadly. "I'm okay, really." The other Tony still looked worried, far more than the situation really warranted, but Peter patted his arm and said, "I'm going to be fine, Tony."

He stared into Peter's eyes then nodded and smiled sadly, though tears glistened at the corners of his eyes.

"How are you doing, Buck?" Peter asked

"I'm fine," he said wonderingly. "Which is crazy. I could feel the power, it was like this huge pressure, and I could feel what it could do to me, but it was… I was…"

"Protected," Steve said, his relief obvious. "Thank god."

Peter nodded eagerly, and then his face fell and he hurried away from them, hand on his side, and rushed into the building. Tony followed, hearing his daughter's crying as soon as the door opened, and his heart sank. He'd completely overlooked the fact she was within hearing of what was happening outside, possibly watching it happen, too, if Pepper hadn't been able to keep her away from the window.

"Mo, it's okay," Peter soothed, rushing across the room and sitting to rub her back as she cowered in Pepper's arms.

At his touch, Morgan scrambled onto his lap and buried her tear-streaked face into his neck. "He hurt you," she cried. "I saw blood."

"I'm fine," Peter soothed, though he looked pained as well as guilty. "Really, just a little bump on the nose."

Tony wasn't sure he believed that, not with the way Peter was favoring his right side, but he was glad Peter was reassuring his sister when she was so upset.

"It's my fault," Pepper said, remonstrating herself. "I didn't get her away from the window in time. I was distracted, panicking, and she…"

"It's okay," Tony said, wrapping an arm around her. "Pete's fine. You hear that, Morgan? Your brother is okay. He was the biggest and strongest."

Despite his own worry for his son and his injuries, Tony's voice was strong and reassuring, and it seemed to calm his daughter. She lifted her face from Peter's neck and touched a finger to the blood that was drying under his nose. "Does it hurt?"

"Nope, not even a little. It's kinda gross, though. Do you think you can go get me a washcloth so I can clean up?"

Morgan slid from his lap and held out an hand to Pepper, who took it and allowed her daughter to lead her from the room.

As soon as she was out of sight, Peter grimaced and touched a hand to his right side.

"How bad?" Bucky asked.

"A few ribs broken, but they're already healing. They caught me off guard, is all. I won't let them again."

"Are you sure it's just broken ribs?" the other Tony asked, worry etched into his brow. "Shouldn't you get checked out anyway? I know you have a med-bay here. And the nosebleed could mean…"

"How do you know what we've got here?" Sam asked. "And what the hell are you doing here? Who are you even?"

The other Tony ignored the question and prompted, "Kid?"

"He'd know if it was worse," Natasha said darkly. "He's felt a lot worse than broken ribs."

Tony grimaced at the memories that presented, and then pasted on a smile as Morgan came back into the room with a washcloth in one hand and their first aid kit in the other.

"Mommy said I can fix you up," she said, and Pepper shot Peter an apologetic look.

"Perfect," Peter said. "Doctor Morgan is exactly who I need."

Morgan came to a stop in front of him and began to dab at the blood under his nose with the washcloth. When the skin was clean, Morgan unwrapped a Spider-Man Band-Aid and placed it over the bridge of his nose with a satisfied, "There!"

Peter kissed her cheek and said, "Thank you, Mo. I feel all better now," and she beamed.

Bucky raised an eyebrow and Peter nodded. Tony was sure there was unspoken communication passing between them thanks to their telepathic link. He knew that Bucky would tell them if Peter was hurt worse than he was saying, so he didn't worry overly.

Morgan turned to the other Tony and frowned. "You're not my Daddy."

"I'm not," he agreed with a searching look that made Tony uncomfortable—he didn't want him, whoever he was, looking at his daughter like that. It was bad enough that he apparently felt some connection to his son; Tony sure as hell wasn't letting him near his daughter, too.

"Who are you?" Morgan demanded.

The other Tony opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again, and Peter spoke up. "How about you go play in your room, Mo?"

Her bottom lip pooched out and she crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't want to go play."

Peter feigned shock. "You don't? I'd love to go play. Unfortunately, with my friend Tony visiting, we've got to have a really boring talk about boring adult stuff. Why do you go play while we do that and then you can come help me and Bucky made dinner later?"

Morgan considered, weighing up her options, and then she nodded and pressed a smacking kiss to his cheek, and then she allowed Pepper to lead her from the room. At the door. Morgan stopped and turned back to Peter and said, "I think sometimes you say it's boring when it's not and you just don't want me to hear."

"Do you mind that?" Peter asked.

Morgan considered and then shook her head. "No, it's okay to have secrets."

Peter beamed. "I think so, too. When their footsteps had passed out of hearing, Peter smile faded and he placed a hand on his side. "Yep, I think I'm going to need a little ice."

"What about painkillers?" Steve asked.

"No, ice will do."

Steve patted his shoulder and then headed into the kitchen, rattling around for a minute and then coming back with an icepack which Peter tucked under his shirt with a wince and sighed, "Man, Nemesis can pack a punch."

"Yeah, but so do you," Natasha said with satisfaction. "They're the ones that got trashed this time, Pete"

Peter gave a little shiver then winced. "Yeah, they did. I just…"

Sam frowned. "Just what? What's with the face?"

"It's just… I knew it was going to be a fight and that I'd hurt them, that I had to hurt them to win, but knowing and doing are… it's different."

"But you did it," Wanda said. "I know it's not you, to hurt people, but they're not people. Think of everything they did and what happened because of them—think about May."

"I know, thanks." He snapped, and Wanda's face fell. He immediately became remorseful. "I'm sorry, Wanda. I know what you're saying and you're right: Nemesis are the reason May was murdered and I will never forgive that. But it's just…" He raised his hands. "Feeling that kind of power in my hands, using it as a weapon, was different. I did that. I spent all this time planning and preparing, telling myself I could do it, and now I see… I can do it. I felt all that raw power in my hands and pointed it at an enemy. If they'd not taken off, I could have really won then. It could have been over. It's just a strange feeling."

"Is there a way to track them down?" Clint asked. "Find them and put the final whammy on while they're weak. I know you're a little beat up but they're way worse, and if you got them now it'd be simple."

Peter shook his head. "Right now they're using pretty much all they've got to hide themselves. But we're looking. When they show themselves, we'll know."

Tony noted the plural and thought he was speaking of himself and The Stones, then Bucky nodded and Tony realized that he was now a part of that team. Peter was the one that possessed The Infinity Stones, but Bucky was connected to them now, too.

"I think from what we saw today, they're going to be back soon as they can, even if only for Tony," Peter said,

Tony's double nodded and said, "Apparently so."

"Uh… why?" Rhodey asked. "Why, with all of us there, was it Other-Tone that they tried to slam."

"I do not know why," he replied. "Do you… Peter?"

He said Peter's name with a kind of reverence, as if he'd not had the chance to in a long time. It was the way Tony had said Morgan's name the moment he held her for the first time after the long wait of time travel.

It made his stomach roll to think about why that could be.

Peter shrugged and then winced and muttered, "Ouch. Uh… No, I don't know why they tried to attack Tony—though he was the only one there that I'd not protected, so maybe it's just that he was the only person vulnerable to them apart from me."

"Why were you vulnerable, though," Bruce said, brow furrowed. "Why can you protect us but not yourself?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "That's on The Stones. See, to protect you, I have to… I don't know the word… Coat you? Cover you?" He tilted his head to the side and frowned. "Oh. That simple? Yeah? It's shield you. So I can protect you with The Stones, but I can't do that to me because I have to use them to fight. Trust me, I'd love to avoid Nemesis' Fists of Fury, and I totally could, but I wouldn't have the power to fight back properly. And I really kinda need to do that."

"Which you did and kicked some ass," Natasha said cheerily.

Peter grinned. "Which was way better than last time we met. Just a few cracked ribs…"

"Are you sure?" the other Tony asked. "I really think you should see a doctor."

Tony felt a strange sense of displacement. Not only was the voice speaking his—exactly his—but the concern was his. He wanted Peter to rest and recover. He wanted Peter to get checked out by the doctors, to maybe spend a night under observation. It was his place to think and feel these things as Peter's father, not this… him… whoever he was.

"Nah, I'll be healed by morning," Peter said. "And you came here for a reason."

"I will make a deal with you," the other Tony said. "I will tell you why I am here, answer all your questions, if you see a doctor first."

Peter raised an eyebrow and then snorted. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you'd ask, but honestly, I don't need it. You can trust me."

"You can," Bucky said. "He knows what he's doing."

The other Tony narrowed his eyes. "You have a history of downplaying injuries in my world."

Tony laughed in spite of himself. "Tell me about it."

Peter rolled his eyes. "It's a few broken ribs and a stress headache, that's all. I am fine."

"He is," Bucky said.

Both Tonys examined Peter and then the other sagged, defeated, and said, "Okay."

"I believe you, Pete," Tony lied, allowing the petty lie as a defense to the fact this other him acted like he was the one that cared about Peter's wellbeing.

Peter laughed softly. "Thanks, Dad."

Tony was pleased that Peter said it, backed up Tony's place as his father in front of this interloper. Peter was his kid.

"Okay," Sam said, clapping his hands. "Lots to talk about, double-up on Stark going on, who else wants a beer?"

"Screw beer, I want scotch," Clint said. "Nemesis attacked and got their ass handed to them; Other-Tony showed up from… where is it?"

"It's a long story," the other Tony replied.

Clint rolled his eyes and said, "We've hopefully got some answers coming our way, and I want a drink to go with them."

"I'm with you there," Sam said.

"We all are," Tony said, and then his double spoke up stiffly, "I don't drink."

Tony frowned. He had been a big drinker back in the day, a big drinker, but that was then. Now he liked a beer of an evening, a glass of champagne when the occasion was special, a smoky whiskey at the end of a long day like today, but he'd never thought of it as a problem, not the way that other Tony seemed to.

"Huh… Other-Tony is teetotal," Clint muttered. "There's one for the ages."

"I learned my lesson," he stated, eyes drifting to Peter and a frown knitting his brows.

Bucky stared at him, face oddly gentle in a way it wasn't usually, unless directed to Peter, and eyes sad. "You lost a lot, didn't you?" he asked.

He nodded, and a tear tracked down his cheek. "I lost everything."

Peter smiled sadly. "I don't believe it was everything. I think you've still got a lot."

"It was enough," he said, voice cracking. "And it's because of that loss that I am here."

Tony rubbed his hands together. "Okay, since you're here, weirding out my daughter and frankly giving me the creeps, how about you tell us what you need to go away again, and we'll work on getting it for you."

"I came for Peter," he stated, as though it should be obvious. "And to help."

"You came for Peter?" Wanda asked, eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"

Tony dragged his gaze to her and said, "If the center had been ripped out of your world, wouldn't you do whatever it took to get it back?"

Wanda looked to Vision, and he squeezed her hand wordlessly.

"Exactly," Tony said

"Okay," Steve said slowly. "Now I think we need a drink. I'll get them. Sam, give me a hand."

Sam shot their visitor a distrustful look and said, "Sure, okay, " and got to his feet and followed Steve into the kitchen.

Tony took a seat on his son's side and placed an arm around his back. His double stared at them for a moment and then took a seat opposite, his eyes on Peter.

Tony didn't know why he was here, where he was from or what he wanted, but it had something to do with his son, and that made him uncomfortable.

Still, Peter was in a room surrounded by superheroes that would fight to the death to protect Peter, so he wasn't worried.

He just wanted answers.

Though Bucky was feeling the oppressive tension in the room and the trepidation of what this other version of Tony was about to tell them, Peter was calm. It wasn't an act either; Bucky could feel the peace through their connection. In what had to be one of the biggest days in his life, the adoption, the battle with Nemesis, the arrival of this copy of his father, Peter had come to the end of the day feeling good.

Bucky took comfort in that, because he had a feeling that there was big trouble coming for them. Again.

"Okay," Tony said, bottle of beer held to his chest. "We'll start with where you came from."

The other Tony seemed to need to drag his eyes from Peter and they drifted back after only a moment as he said. "In a way, I am from here, I left the compound less than an hour ago, it just wasn't this compound in this reality or time."

"It was time travel," Bucky said, already knowing that much from overheard murmurs from Peter and Time.

He nodded. "Time travel and dimension travel. I don't suppose my world has a name, does it?"

Peter smiled. "The Stones never bothered to name them all, and I've not, but they call this one Prime Reality. How about we call yours Tony World."

Clint snorted. "Yeah, that's not going to give him a big head."

Tony raised an eyebrow. It was true that he would once have taken great pleasure in an entire world being named for him, but he was not that man anymore—he had not been that man since before Thanos according to Pepper.

"It's not," Peter said vaguely, eyes on the other version of his father. "Why did you come?"

"I… uh…" the other Tony trailed off and the version who was like a brother to Bucky sucked in a breath, eyes becoming wide, and said, "How long ago did you lose him?"

The other Tony affected innocence. "Lose who?"

Tony narrowed his eyes. "I know that look. I saw that look in the mirror day after day for five years. I knew exactly what to do to hide that look when my wife and little girl were around. How and when did you lose Peter?"

Shock rippled over the occupants of the room, and Rhodey knocked back his whiskey with a curse.

The other Tony looked to Peter and addressed the answer to him, "2020. You and Happy went to Delmar's for a pint of ice cream for May. There was a mugger and—"

Peter's eyes bugged. "No! I know that one—I saw it. I was there. But that was… Oh."

Tony nodded. "Strange said it wasn't supposed to happen that way, but someone intervened."

"Kaecilius," Peter whispered.

Bucky gasped. He remembered now—the weeks of waking in the night to Friday's alert to tell him Peter had woken from another nightmare and needed some help. Bucky had gone to his room each time, wrapped him in his arms until he calmed and then they would examine the new scars together. He'd not thought of the versions of his family that remained in those worlds without the kid them loved.

Peter ran a hand through his hair and explained, "Tony's was one of the realities that Nemesis sent Kaecilius to attack me in. I remember that one so clearly because it was just like Ben. It was like they did it that way on purpose. I…"

"We saw the footage from a traffic camera," the other Tony said. "You jumped in front of Happy as soon as you saw the gun. You lived—"

"A few minutes with a bullet in the lung," Peter whispered, and then his eyes widened. "No! I remember! There was something else. Happy?"

"He had a heart attack on the scene. He lived six weeks longer than you but…" He spoke through his teeth. "He gave up fighting, he just quit, when May needed him more than ever."

"May's alive there?" Steve asked.

Tony's lips quirked with a smile. "She is, alive and magnificent."

"She always was," Peter said, eyes distant and the snatches of musings Bucky could hear focused on Happy and his fate in that other world.

"She was," Steve said, his smile gentle and distant, lost in a memory perhaps.

Peter seemed to come back to himself with a shake of the head, and then addressed the copy of his father. "I'm so sorry I let that happen, I should have gone looking for Kaecilius to stop it. I let them just go ahead, burning through realities to hurt me. I could have saved Happy for you."

"It wasn't your fault," Bucky said before either Tony could speak. "The Stones told you it would be worse than searching for a needle in a haystack. You made the right choice."

"You did," Tony agreed, though his double looked away, eyes sad.

Bucky understood how he felt, at least he could try to. He'd experienced what it was to believe he was going to lose Peter, in those dark days after May's death, and he could imagine how much worse it would be to really lose him, say a final goodbye, put him in the ground, never see him again.

He felt a gentle brush against his mind, a mental embrace from Peter, and he forced a smile.

"Why are you here?" Rhodey asked. "You're not here because you think you can take our Peter back with you, are you?"

"Because you can't," Vision said firmly, and Peter shot him a smile.

To Bucky's surprise, the other Tony smiled. "If I thought I could, I would in a heartbeat, but I know better. I have been watching you for a long time."

"You've been watching us?" Sam asked. "How?"

He took a deep breath and said, "It's a long story, but… After Peter died, our lives, all our lives, collapsed, then, when Happy gave up, there was nothing to fight for anymore."

"What about the world?" Peter asked, a line of displeasure between his brows.

"For a long time, not even that, no. I… well, I finally stopped drinking for a reason."

Tony narrowed his eyes, possibly remembering his own darkest days in the depths of a bottle. "What saved you? Morgan?"

"We don't have a Morgan in our world," he replied. "Not yet at least. It was Pepper that saved me. She sat me down and told me she couldn't watch me poison myself with the booze day after day, blocking out everything but my pain, so she had two choices. She could leave me to my pain or join me in the depths of it." He grimaced. "I couldn't let her join me there, in that agony, so I quit—I checked myself into rehab for six months and came out sober and determined."

"To fight?" Peter asked hopefully.

"No, to find you. It took us four years, Bruce and I working constantly, we even pulled in the best minds in Stark Industries. There's a man called Beck that—"

"Kill him," Tony cut in angrily. "As soon as you get back, kill him."

Peter shook his head. "Tony's world's Beck isn't responsible for the crimes he committed in this world, Dad. But watch him," he advised. "He's got a… dark streak."

The other Tony looked like he wanted to know more, but he nodded and took up his story again. "With Beck's help, we did it, created the I-Spy System, which created a window to this world from ours. But we were too late, you were already dead; at least you were. Thanos didn't come to our world, but we saw the aftereffects of what he did here. After all that time, all that work, we were too late. We almost gave up, shut down the program and… started building our lives without you."

"Maybe you should have," Peter said gently.

Tony smiled. "Maybe. You see, we were keeping watch, just observing occasionally in case… I guess we were hoping for a miracle, and then we saw your team working on time travel with the quantum tunnel, and it occurred to us that there was a way to get to you. It took time and work, long enough for us to see you come back, Snap to save the universe, all those incredible and awful things that happened to you, and we almost had it when everything we were seeing stopped."

"When I froze time," Peter said.

Tony nodded. "We could still see this world, though you were gone, until there was a flash, a day in which time moved again and we heard you talking about what had happened, what you had done, and then it stopped again."

"When we went back to 2017," Natasha said.

He nodded. "Yes, and it stayed frozen until a week ago, when time restarted."

Tony glowered. "So, you've been spying on us for years, and now you're here because, I'm guessing, you punched a hole through the Multiverse to come here. You're not taking Pete back with you, obviously, if for no other reason than I'd kill you if you tried—"

"Dad," Peter chided. "Go easy on him. I know it's weird for you, him being here and you but not, but— He winced and adjusted the ice pack on his ribs.

"That's it," the other Tony said firmly, rising to his feet and pointing at Peter. "You are going to see a doctor!"

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you've not tried that before."

"He's right, bud," Bucky said. "I'll come with you." When Peter looked mutinous, he widened his eyes and said, "Please…"

Peter snorted and shook his head. "Okay, sure, as long as you don't try pulling that face again. That wasn't puppy eyes. That was… I don't even know what that was."

Bucky laughed. "I should have known better than to try your trademarked powers of persuasion."

"I don't do puppy eyes," Peter protested.

"No," Wanda said, and Tony scoffed. "You don't do them," she went on. "It's just a natural byproduct of you being you."

Peter grinned, and Bucky placed a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, bud, sooner you get checked out the sooner we can unravel the mysteries of Tony and Tony."

Peter allowed Bucky to lead him out of the room, arm over his shoulder, and they walked towards the med bay. Bucky was concerned about Peter being in pain with his ribs but not overly worried for his overall wellbeing; he'd seen Peter go through far worse injuries than this and come out the other side. Peter wouldn't even have gotten it checked out without their visitor's insistence.

It was that same visitor's voice that drifted back to them along the halls, prickling Bucky's nerves.

"Steve, can they hear us now?"

"No. Why?"

Bucky wondered why Steve was lying, since he knew damn well that Bucky and Peter were still easily close enough to hear. He supposed Steve was feeling a little distrust toward their visitor. His own distrust rose, and he listened close to hear what it was their visitor wanted to say without them hearing—or was it just without Peter hearing?

Peter had also stopped, head tilted to the side and eyes distant.

"I am here for Peter, yes, but not to take him away from you."

"As if you could," Rhodey replied, a threatening darkness in his tone that pleased Bucky.

"Yes, I know that. But I am still here for him." There was a pause and then he said, voice strained with emotion. "Unless you can find a way to stop it, Peter is going to die."

Nemesis were in agony, and that agony was trying to tear Ego's mind apart. She had not felt pain since she tore herself to pieces at the dawn of the universe, creating The Infinity Stones. She had felt mental torment, trapped in the Ultraverse for billions of years, alone, but this physical pain was unfamiliar and unbearable.

She was not going to remain to suffer it.

She used Ross' eyes to look at their surroundings, recognizing them and wondering at Ross' sanity in bringing them back to this place. The white sky with its dual moons and stench of goats in the air.

"Why did you bring us here?" she asked.

In response there was an inarticulate whimper that annoyed her. Though she recognized it was possible there no further ability to appreciate pain, she was going to try. With a simple thought turned action, she drove a spike of pain like an icepick into Ross' brain and he cried out.

"Why did you bring us here?" she asked again.

"I… I don't think the… Asset will come back here…" Ross panted. "We need help."

"And who do you expect to help us here?" she asked. "Shall we ask the goats or the mosquitoes?"

"It hurts…" Ross groaned.

Ego was angry that he was being so weak, but she was far angrier that The Asset had done this to them. He shouldn't have been capable of it. The mere fact The Infinity Stones saw him as Worthy meant that he wasn't capable of this violence. At least that was what she had believed and told Ross.

The Asset had destroyed Ross' body to the point of permanent consequences if he did not get expert assistance. Ego did not know enough about the universe to know where to go for it. She knew Terra was out of the question given what Ross had done there, or at least what the Asset made the world think he'd done. But she did not know what other options there were for medical healthcare in the universe. She supposed she could pick a planet and see what happened.

As Ross was able to do no more than lie on the grass and groan, she had to take charge. She dragged them to a sitting position on broken bones, ignoring his howls of pain, and then to their feet.

Ross was making sounds which were almost inhuman, and she felt a twinge of disappointment. The Asset had handled the pain she caused him better than Ross could, and Ross was one half of Nemesis.

She took flight to the closest inhabited planet and dumped them in the middle of a busy marketplace. Ross, usefully this time, screamed as they slammed into the cobblestone road and people flocked towards them.

Ego allowed Ross control, as he was doing a good job of expressing what they needed. People called for help in a language Ego had never heard before but understood nonetheless thanks to her connection to The Infinity Stones' powers and knowledge.

A stretcher was brought and they were placed on it, Ross making a great deal of fuss about it. What bothered Ego most was that she was sure The Asset wouldn't make that much fuss. How could Ross allow them to be weaker than The Asset.

As they were carried towards an ambulance, they caught sight of a strange face in the crowd, a man with green skin. It reminded him of a little girl he had seen many years ago in the company of his former tool at the point of recruitment.

And that face gave Ego an idea.

"I am going to leave you for a moment," she said.

"You can't leave me?" he said, each word laden with pain-filled misery. "We're Nemesis."

"We were, and I will not be leaving you physically…"

He would die if she did, and she would therefore need a new vessel… Which she supposed would work… But no. She had put the work in to make Ross a useful side of Nemesis and she was not willing to start over from scratch. What she was going to do was allow herself to leave him in another way.

"I am going to be here but distracted. I do not doubt your consciousness is going to be wiped out when whoever these people are take care of your injuries. Try not to embarrass us too much with your whimpering."

"My…"

His tone indicated he was going to protest, which she did not want to hear, so she silenced him with a jab of pain to his already inflamed head. Without another word, she withdrew from Ross' awareness and sent her senses out, away from the scene and then slipped into the Multiverse. She was still physically with Ross, maintaining their connection and therefore his life, though her self was traveling through worlds like a feather on a breeze.

She was looking for a servant, and she thought she knew exactly who she needed.

And she would not allow him to fail her again.

So… Ego needs a little help, and Other-Tony has dropped a bomb. We're into the meat of the story now, and I'm excited to share.

Until next time…

Jadey xxx