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Chapter Text

  "So, they agreed?" Peter asked incredulously.

  On the screen, Yondu nodded, looking pleased as punch. "Yep. Took a long while, but she agreed to come with us. Some of the boys still ain't happy 'bout it; she's one of their best, apparently; but she got them to come around."

  Peter felt excitement spark in his chest.

  Four years ago, the entire galaxy had been abuzz with talk of a red-gold suit of armor that had destroyed Thanos' fleet of Chitauri. He hadn't paid much attention at the time, of course. But since then, he'd met the rest of his team and he'd learned who exactly Thanos was and why the skirmish on Terra- and its result- was such a big deal. The fact that it was Terra, least advanced planet of the galaxy, and the hero was a resident of there made it all the more impressive.

  Then a few days ago, the Nova Corps had requested they call in favors from across the nine realms, what with news of Thanos being on the move again. Peter and Groot had gone to meet the Vanirs. Gamora and Rocket had traveled to Alfheim, land of the elves. Drax and Mantis had visited Asgard, home of the gods. Yondu had picked Terra, or Midgard, as some called it. Earth.

  The idea had originally been to simply alert the universe to the dangers. But, Gamora had suggested they specifically find the armored hero and ask him, or her, to accompany them to some of the more skeptical worlds. The Nova Corps had agreed, adding that they do the same with one of Asgard, as well. After all, having a god and a galactically acknowledged hero on your side could only make negotiations easier.

  "Are you sure you didn't kidnap her?" Peter asked, only partially joking, considering Yondu's long-standing habit of doing unscrupulous things for perfectly sound reasons. "Because I don't think Terra would be very happy with us if you did."

  "Shit, kid, I told you I don't do that anymore," the Ravager grumbled. Then he brightened up. "Oh, hey, I think you're gonna like this girl, though. She's real pretty, got a sharp tongue and doesn't look like she takes any bullshit from anyone."

  "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Peter rolled his eyes. The entire team had been trying to set him up with various girls for a good long while, now. According to them, he'd been moping ever since they'd fought his da- Ego. "I've gotta check in on Drax and Mantis. See who they're bringing with them. You get the girl on board and come up. I'm right outside Terra."

  "You got it."

  Ten minutes later, he was fighting a losing argument with Drax and Mantis. The Asgardians had insisted on sending both their princes. Ever tried arguing with gods? It wasn't easy. Or safe.

Chapter Text

  Peter frowned. Yondu's pod had docked with the Milano around 10 minutes ago. It shouldn't take more than three minutes for him to reach the main console of the ship.

  "Hey, Groot," he said, catching the sapling's attention. "You think Yondu might be in the kitchen?"

  "I am Groot," the kid answered, his high voice concerned. "I am Groot?"

  Peter felt a short stab of concern at the suggestion that the Terran might have done him in. "I'm going to check on them," he muttered.

  Activating the mask over his face, and sternly instructing Groot to stay put, he grabbed his launcher and started carefully creeping along to the docking area. It was highly unlikely that any Terran had gotten the better of a Ravager, but Peter had learned not to question unlikely stuff a long time ago.

  He froze just before rounding a corner when he heard a low muttering, "I cannot believe my own AI is talking back to me. Honestly, Fri, have some manners."

  It sounded female, but oddly electronic. And by the sound of it, there was somebody else, too; Fri? Cautiously, he perked around the corner. To his surprise, a humanoid robot had its hand on the communication panel next to the docking pad.

  "Looks like an Earth one, but the coding is completely alien. Think you can translate it, baby girl?" The robot said.

  Okayyy, Peter thought. Apparently, the robot was crazy. Because there was nobody else in there. Still, it was in the Milano, examining the ship, and Yondu was nowhere to be seen.

  Taking a breath to brace himself, he stepped around bringing his gun up. "Alright, Metallica, hands up where I can see them."

  The robot spun on its heel- wait a second, it had heels?- and raised an arm, the palm facing him. It glowed brightly and Peter knew a weapon when he saw one. It was kinda beautiful, almost molded to a human shape, painted in dimly shining gold and dark crimson, with a glowing blue chest piece. It looked highly sophisticated. Rocket would probably have a field day with it.

  "And you are?" It asked, sounding deathly bored.

  "Commander of this ship," he declared. "Now who are you and where's Yondu?"

  "Ohhhhh," it drawled out. "You're the baby Smurf."

  That took him aback. "Uh, what?"

  "It's an Earth thing. And relax, Sharkhead is still in the pod, said he wanted to contact somebody. Kraglin, he said?" It waved a hand around nonchalantly, the action oddly on a metal figure. But its right arm was still raised towards him.

  Abruptly, Peter felt oddly disoriented. "Hold on, so who are you?" He demanded.

  The robot tilted its head and he got the feeling it was smirking at him. "You would think that as an intergalactic icon, I would be more recognizable," it taunted and Peter was tempted to blast it right there.

  "What's goin' on here?" Yondu finally exited the pod, looking between them. "Why have you got weapons on each other?"

  "Baby Smurf here decided to sneak up on me," the robot piped up, making Peter splutter.

  "You didn't come out and this psycho robot was just standing here," he defended himself. "It's basically a walking weapon. What was I supposed to do?"

  Yondu glared at him. "You weren't supposed to threaten her," he scolded. "She's the Terran hero, for cripes' sake."

  "She... She's what?" He turned towards the robot and noticed the color scheme again. Red and gold. How had he not made that connection? Peter gave a little shake of his head, smiling apologetically. "Oh. Oh you're the... You're... Right, okay... So, you're...?"

  "Yep."

  "Jeez, I'm sorry, I didn't realize." He quickly deactivated the mask and held out a sheepish hand. "I'm Peter Quill. Star-lord. Member of the Guardians of the Galaxy."

  The robot seemed to snort as she gripped his hand. "Toni Stark. Iron Woman. Co-leader of the Avengers."

  With that, the robot seemed to melt away, leaving a human in its place, with the metal seeping into her skin. Peter would have appreciated the technology, but for the second time in his life, he was completely dumbstruck by a woman. The first time had been Gamora, of course. Her practiced ease and the dangerous vibe she gave off even as she flirted with him, the shrewdly gorgeous features, had all rendered him speechless.

  This woman, Toni, was almost entirely different. Her casual posture, dark shiny eyes, the teasing smirk on red lips; it all gave her the appearance of confidence and delicacy. But at the same time, there was an undeniable sharpness to her that screamed the same level of danger as their family assassin, maybe even more.

  And yeah, maybe Peter had a weakness for hot, scary women.

  "Close your mouth, Mario," she quipped, still smirking like she found his speechlessness amusing. And wow, Peter had never thought he'd hear someone other than himself mention the name 'Mario'. "You might catch flies. Or the space version of it anyways."

  Peter was pretty sure he was in love.

Chapter Text

  Toni was an engineer. Go figure. She hadn't said anything about it, but the curious gleam in her eyes as Peter took her around the Milano said it all.

  "You're a techie, aren't you?" He ventured, as she tossed a duffel bag into one of the two spare rooms.

  She lifted a perfect eyebrow. "To sum it up, sure. That obvious?"

  "You've just got this slightly crazy look," Peter explained. "It's the same look our guy Rocket gets when he finds something to tinker with."

  "Can't wait to meet him."

  "So did you design that suit of yours?"

  Toni gave a proud smile, as she undid her hair, letting the dark brown locks fall down her back. "Yep," she beamed. "Designed it, built it, improved it. All me."

  Peter took a second to let it sink in that this fragile looking woman had actually built that suit with her bare hands. It wasn't as if he couldn't see the lean muscles under the sleeves of her black shirt, but she was so... Petite. Small. Just fucking tiny.

  "So, it's only you on earth who's got that then?" Peter guessed. "Not everyone?"

  "I'm one of a kind, sugar," she quipped. Yeah, she would probably get along with Rocket.

  "Well, what about the rest of your team? The Avengers? What do they do?"

  Toni's smile wavered. "No specific skill set, we're all over the place," she answered vaguely. "We've got two gods, whenever they're on-planet, another scientist with one hell of an extra personality who's also been off-planet for two years now, three master assassins, one of whom is an archer, a sorcerer, a synthetic human, a witch, two more flyers, both of whom have suits I built, but only one of them is modelled like mine, an Enhanced 16 year old who's scary strong, but he's more of a reserve member and... And Captain America."

  Peter felt his eyes go wide. "Captain America?" He repeated in awe. "They found him? The same exact guy? They found him alive?"

  "Yes to all of the above," Toni muttered, shooting him a look he couldn't quite decipher. "One of the assassins I mentioned? Sergeant Barnes of the Howling Commandos. Turns out he didn't actually die, but was found and experimented on by Hydra. Basically the same as the Captain."

  Peter whistled, and was about to ask more, but the glowering look in Toni's eyes didn't go unnoticed by him. Bad blood, maybe? He decided to let it drop. Instead, he said, "Well, Yondu is probably stuffing his face in the kitchen right now, but if you're not hungry, you might enjoy sitting up front with me. We're going to Xandar to meet up with the rest of our team."

  She nodded. "Yeah, I'd just had dinner when we got the alert of an atmosphere breach."

  "Seriously?" Peter asked, astonished. "You've got an alert for extra-planetary visitors? When did Earth get so advanced?"

  Toni shrugged. "Needs must," she replied dryly. Then she froze as they entered the ship's console room. "Um, Quill? Peter? Is that a... A baby tree? A sapling? That is dancing?"

  Peter chuckled and gestured her to come closer. Groot looked up at Toni and gave a smile, extending one of his branches in an obvious handshake. "I am Groot," he said. "I am Groot."

  Toni shook the branch with her index finger and thumb, wearing a bemused smile. "Um, I'm Toni. Hi. It's nice to meet you too."

  "I am Groot," he told her, his large eyes wide in admiration as he looked up at her.

  "Thank you," Toni laughed at the compliment. "You're pretty cute, too."

  Peter stared at her. "Wait, you can understand him?! It took me months to be able to get what those three words meant every time he said it."

  "Sure," Toni said. "I mean, I've got three rudimentary AI whom I built long ago and they communicate only by beeping. After learning to decipher that, and then a sentient cape- cloak- this little guy is easy to get."

  Both Peter and Groot gaped at her for a few seconds. Then Groot turned to Peter and curling the end of one branch shook it at him disapprovingly. "I am Groot," he scolded.

  "Yeah, yeah," Peter rolled his eyes. Toni laughed, bright and easy, and Peter agreed with Groot's earlier statement: she was really pretty.

  "Jesus, is it just me or is it actually burning like an oven on this planet?" Toni frowned. She had pulled her hair back up in a bun and was fanning herself with her hand.

  Peter clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Shit, I didn't realize," he berated himself. "You've only got Terran clothes. That's not gonna be enough protection against weather problems and you can't always wear the armor. It's too obviously a weapon and lots of people won't like that."

  "So..."

  "You and Gamora will have to go shopping when they get here," he said. "They should be here soon." They had arrived on Xandar an hour ago and had been escorted to the Nova Corps' conference room to wait for the rest of the team. Yondu had opted to stay on the ship.

  Peter suddenly remembered something. "Oh, fair warning, Mantis is an empath. She can tell what you're feeling by touch, even manipulate emotions." Something flickered in Toni's eyes, but it was gone too fast for him to name it. "Drax comes from a people who are completely literal; he's got no understanding of metaphors and sarcasm."

  "That's unfortunate."

  "Rocket was genetically engineered. He wasn't born naturally. But if you mention it, he will bite your ear off."

  "Duly noted."

  "And Gamora is a former assassin and Thanos' daughter."

  "... What?!" Toni asked, stunned.

  "Not really my story to tell, any of theirs really," Peter sighed. "But she was adopted. You can ask her about the rest."

  "Fair enough," Toni conceded. She had a thoughtful look on her face as she leaned back against her seat.

  "And also-" the new voice had them both turning towards the door. Gamora and Rocket walked in, both relaxed and well-rested. "Don't insult the Asgardians. They're gods and very much capable of killing us."

  "Well, I'm very close to two of them and they're really powerful ones, too, so I should be fine," Toni told them. Then, for the second time, she simply froze, when she realized who she was talking to. "That's a raccoon," she mumbled faintly. "That's an actual fucking raccoon."

  Rocket scowled at her. "Why do you Terrans keep saying that? I don't even know what that is."

  "Maybe because that's what you are?" Toni pointed out, still looking down at him like he was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen.

  Peter intervened. "Guys, this is the Terran hero, who blew up Thanos' army. Toni, this is Gamora and the raccoon is Rocket."

  Realization dawned on all three of them. "The techie and the assassin," she mused.

  "So you're the red-gold flyer," Gamora stated, eyeing the woman speculatively.

  Toni nodded, returning the assessing look with one of her own.

  Gamora abruptly turned to Peter. "Has she got any proper clothes?"

  "No, I was hoping you could take her to the local market."

  She nodded amicably. "Drax and Mantis will still take a while longer. We'll be back before then."

Chapter Text

  Fear was an odd thing. Being in an actual spaceship, being in space, was equal parts exciting and terrifying. Or, well, not equal parts. The child in Toni, the nerd who got enthused at the very idea of learning cool new stuff, was ecstatic. But then there was the larger, more prominent part, the one who'd been haunted by a single thought for six years since the attack on New York. And now that terror had a name: Thanos.

  It had taken a considerable amount of control to not fall into a panic attack when she'd sat at the console of Milano, looking out at the vast expanse of stars in pitch black. She'd come a long way from being reduced to a shivering mess at the thought of the void.

  But now, here she was, in a small room, obviously meant as a dressing area, with an assassin for company. And she only felt the prickling need to be alert in case of an attack.

  Gamora was, without a doubt, at the same skill level as Romanoff, maybe even higher. Toni probably couldn't beat her in hand to hand, but the suit was literally lurking just underneath her skin. Even if she couldn't think fast enough, FRIDAY would never let her get hurt.

  "Most of the planets we'll be visiting are either really cold or really hot or really wet," Gamora said, as she dumped a pile of bags, made with what looked like jute but felt like plastic, on the small circular bed. "And there are some who like everything to be very formal and dress up for every small thing. All in all, you're completely packed for the next three months."

  They'd spent a good portion of the last hour wandering through the busy markets. Gamora had breezed through them all, leaving Toni to scramble behind her in order to keep up. She'd been tempted several times to stay and see everything there was, but she understood the need to hurry. Maybe on the way back...

  "You might need help with some of the knots," the other woman said. "Should I stay or do you want me to leave?"

  Toni side-eyed her for a second. She was gorgeous in an exotic way, like the Black Widow was, with lime-green skin and red hair. Red. Figured. "You can wait outside, if you don't mind," Toni answered, careful not to seem too uncomfortable. She still didn't like being stripped bare in front of strangers. Not to mention the arc reactor. "I'll call for you if I need help?"

  Gamora gave a sharp nod and left, closing the door behind her. Toni released a breath and began undressing.

  -Boss?- The voice in her head began. -I've started receiving radio frequency from the planet. Given another hour, I could begin translating them.-

  "Get on it, Fri," she muttered. "The sooner we don't have to depend on the Guardians, the better it is." Toni hated it, but the Civil War had increased her distrust into paranoia. She didn't know these people, had yet to meet Drax and Mantis, but she was already making plans to beat them. It didn't help that she was alone, except for FRIDAY, but she'd had worse odds before. Not to mention the two Asgardians who were supposed to be joining them. Peter hadn't told her who they were, but she knew for a fact that Thor was in the habit of retelling all his battles to anyone who would listen and he'd once told her that even Loki spoke highly of her. So there was a chance she could swing any one from Asgard over to her own side, if it came to fighting.

  "Do you need help?"

  The yelled question from the other side of the door startled her and she realized she had finished dressing. "No, I'm done, thanks, just give me a minute." She took a few seconds to wash up- bathroom facilities worked the same way, thank god- and scrutinized her image in the full-length mirror. The pants were a light beige color, knotting at the ankles, the knees and midway up to the thighs. The tank top was basically spaghetti straps, but she had to tie it behind her back like a bra. Both were made out of a stiff material that would soak up in any perspiration. The upper half of her arc reactor was visible at her collar bones. The rest of it glowed through the thin grey cloth. Nothing she could do about that and it was too hot for her to put another layer on that would hide it. With a sigh, Toni picked up the rest of the bags, tied up her hair and exited the room. Gamora raised an eyebrow.

  "You got the knots right," she commented.

  "Not that different from Earth," Toni informed her. They began walking back towards the conference room. Toni was itching to ask the alien something. "So Peter said you're a daughter of Thanos? And an assassin?"

  Gamora turned her head slowly to look at her. "In a sense," she answered coolly and Toni remembered Peter had used the word 'adopted'. "Will that be a problem?"

  "None whatsoever," Toni promised. It was true. Toni was all too familiar with the look of bitterness with respect to a parental figure. She'd seen it in the mirror plenty of times.

  Gamora smiled faintly at her, maybe catching onto her sincerity. "Come," she said. "The princes must have arrived."

  That stopped Toni in her tracks. "The princes?" She inquired, hardly daring to hope.

  "Yes, the Asgardian representatives. The All-Father sent his crown prince and his younger brother."

  Thor was a big man, tall with bulging biceps and blond hair. The imposing hammer in his hand completed the image. But, contradictorily, he had a pleasantly charming smile and honest blue eyes. Drax was openly crushing on him and Peter would be lying to himself if he said he didn't feel a little intimidated by the thunder god.

  His brother, on the other hand, Loki, was an inch shorter, leaner, his musculature less obvious. His dark hair was curled atop his shoulders, accentuating his sharp features. He wasn't carrying any visible weapon, but the glint in his eyes somehow made him even scarier than Thor.

  "Where is your Midgardian representative?" Thor questioned, looking far too eager.

  "Calm yourself, brother," Loki murmured. "It might not be one of our friends. We have not visited the realm once since Father fell into the sleep, and he only recently awoke."

  Thor hummed in disappointment and Peter remembered what Toni had said about knowing two gods. Surely she hadn't meant...

  The door of the room flew open and Toni walked in, Gamora on her heels with an amused smile, prompting Rocket to whisper, "Well, they both like making an entrance."

  Peter ignored him, gaping at Toni. It wasn't supposed to be possible to look that good in a simple tank top and pants, right? Nobody seemed to have told Toni that. The dark grey cloth clung to her lightly, showing off her slim waist and shapely hips. He absently noticed the scars on her shoulders and arms, but mostly he was preoccupied with the thought of running his hand over the muscles in her shoulder blades and back, see what it took to make her shiver and tense up.

  It wasn't until Mantis whispered, "That's a pretty light. What's it doing on her chest?" That he noticed the glowing blue device embedded in her skin, right under her collar bones, half hidden by the top.

  Toni paid no attention to them. Instead, she smiled brightly and exclaimed, "I knew it was going to be you two! I knew it!"

  Both the gods laughed delightedly, confirming Peter's suspicion. Thor got her first, grabbing her around the waist and spinning her around, both their laughter mingling. "Lady Antonia, a pleasure to be in your company again," he commented, releasing her with a beam.

  "You too, Mean-Swing," she said and turned to Loki. This greeting was much more sedate. He simply wrapped his arms around her and she pressed a kiss to his cheeks. "You good, Bambi?" She asked. Loki nodded and, in a movement that made Peter slightly jealous, brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

  "Better now," the mage told her with a sly wink. Toni giggled and Peter wondered if he had competition.

Chapter Text

  The meeting with the Nova Corps was short, boring and to the point. Soon enough, they were all back in the Milano, and all of them were gathered around the long table. It was a little cramped, so Toni, true to herself, simply perched on Loki's lap, comfortable and at ease, while the rabbit, Rocket, did the same on the Destroyer. Not that Loki minded. If anything, he was enjoying the calculating look on the half-celestial's face and the 'discreet' glances he kept throwing in their direction.

  "I say you visit the Ravagers near the end," Yondu suggested. "'Cause, I've talked to Kraglin n' he ain't wastin' no time alerting the other factions."

  "I think we should stop by Sakaar, too," Gamora put in. "It'll be dangerous, but there are a lot of mercenaries and retired warriors who would be happy to get a chance against Thanos. Plus, the Grandmaster is an Elder. He could be of great help."

  "If he's willing," Rocket grumbled.

  "I can help with that," Loki interrupted. "I've been to Sakaar before, some centuries ago. I might still have some favour with the Grandmaster and if not, I can easily regain it."

  "Of course you can," Toni muttered low enough for only him and he grinned cheekily at her.

  "Well, the ice giants are the closest people from here-"

  "Jotuns."

  Everybody looked at Thor, who had been silent till now.

  "Frost giants seems such a derogatory term. It'd be better to call them by their proper name: Jotuns." Thor steadfastly looked ahead at Quill, but Loki felt an inexplicable warmth for his brother.

  "Right, okay, Jotuns, then," Peter agreed. "I say we start from there."

  Loki tensed up at the idea of even setting foot in Jotunheim again. After all, he'd killed Laufey by luring him to Asgard. It was doubtful they'd want to welcome him.

  "I'm afraid that might be a problem," he spoke up. Toni's hand in his own tightened in silent comfort. "The king of Jotunheim will not take kindly to me entering that realm." He could see everyone itching to ask why, so he answered it himself. "I killed his father, the previous king." 'I killed my father,' he added internally. His thoughts must have shown on his face, because Toni pinched his thigh, just hard enough to hurt slightly.

  He knew what she was trying to tell him: Laufey had never been his father. Odin had lied to him, yes, but he'd also raised for him, cared for him and loved him equal to Thor. It had taken a while for him to realize it. It had taken seeing the All-Father stumble to his knees at the news of Loki's death for Loki to believe it.

  But he did, eventually. He just forgot it sometimes.

  "He left you there? In a damaged suit? With no way of getting home?" Loki hissed, seidr glowing around his fingers. Thor could feel his own hands crackling with electricity.

  "Guys, sheesh, cool it with the scary powers," Toni muttered with a tremulous smile. They were sitting in the second spare bedroom, with Thor and Loki pacing agitatedly and Toni on the bed. "It's over, it's done with, they're back and pardoned. Signed the Accords even."

  "That doesn't excuse what they've done, Antonia," Thor growled. "Steven lied to you, betrayed you, failed to trust you and chose a man he hasn't seen in nearly a century over the woman he claimed to love."

  "Not to mention," Loki went on. "You opened your home to them all after knowing them for hardly two days. You housed them, protected them from the people and the administration, provided them with weapons and many other privileges, yet not a single one of them thought twice before leaving you for Rogers and the lost soldier."

  Toni's lips were quivering and she was staring up at them with a grateful smile. "It's not all bad now," she tried to reason softly. "Rhodey's walking again. Peter, for some reason, looks up to me. Vision and I talk a lot more now. Stephen is just always there to listen. It's good."

  "You deserve more," Loki insisted and the thunderer agreed. "I never did have much favor with the Captain. I never approved of your relationship with him. And to think, he had asked your hand in marriage."

  Toni wilted at the snarled reminder and Thor instinctively sat down next to her, gathering her small person in an embrace. She seemed to shake in his arms, though no tears fell. Loki watched them, his eyes filled with sympathy.

  "Why did you bring them back, sister?" Thor asked sadly.

  "The world needs them."

  She couldn't sleep. It had been over two hours since she'd left the brothers in their room with strict instructions not to 'accidentally' stab or electrocute each other, but sleep evaded her. Even worse, there was simply no concept of time in space.

  "What time is it back home, Fri?" She whispered into the empty room.

  "By my calculations, it is now 1 pm in New York," FRIDAY answered in her head. It was an odd feeling, knowing there was someone else sharing her brain space, getting a direct feed from her consciousness. But it didn't feel intrusive. Knowing it was FRIDAY and not the Mind Stone or Wanda Maximoff, it felt more protective and loving, like Stephen's gifted bracelet, Rhodey's hugs, Thor's reassuring presence, Loki's smile. It felt good, knowing she was never alone. "Mr Parker would be having lunch at school right now. Miss Potts is currently flying to Monaco. Dr Strange and Colonel Rhodes are in a meeting with the Council."

  Okay. So they were fine. But she was obviously not getting any rest tonight. With a sigh, she swung her legs off the bed and crept out of the room. After a moment of consideration, she headed to where Peter had shown her the engine room. She slipped inside with a relieved sigh. Just being surrounded by the sight, sound and smell of machinery was comforting to her.

  A small cough alerted to her a little alcove beside the capacitor where the talking racoon was sitting upright in the middle of what looked like a mini pillow fort. "What the hell are you doing here?" He growled.

  Toni blinked, taking a second to remind herself that, after everything she'd seen, it was perfectly normal for a woodland creature to be questioning her. "Sorry, I just couldn't sleep," she explained. "I usually go down to my workshop back home, but this was my only option right now."

  Rocket glared at her for a minute, before harrumphing. "Fine, whatever," he grumbled. "Just don't touch anything."

  Toni muttered a simple thanks and settled down into a corner. The hum of the engine was soothing and she would have fallen asleep, finally, but she could feel beady little eyes watching her. She sighed. "Alright, you've got questions."

  "Yeah, what is that?"

  He pointed to her chest, where the glow of the reactor was visible, and she said, "It's called an arc reactor. It's basically an electromagnet, with a Starkanium core. Self-sufficient clean energy."

  "What does it power?" Rocket's tone was gruff, but she could hear the underlying curiosity.

  "The suit. The Iron Woman suit."

  "I wanna examine it-"

  "NO!" She refused in alarm, a hand coming up to cover it protectively. Rocket narrowed his eyes at her and she swallowed. "Sorry," she apologized. "But just... No."

  He nodded. "Can I see the suit, then?"

  Toni sighed in relief, having been expecting him to insist. This was easy though. Holding out an arm, she called on the suit. Red metal seeped out from her skin like liquid, shaping itself over her hand and solidifying into a gauntlet. Rocket scampered up from his self-made bed towards her and took her hand in his paws. Toni shifted, resisting the urge to pull away from him, and focused on the metallic circular implant on the back of his neck, as he bent over her arm and stroked a careful finger over her knuckles.

  "Impressive," he breathed out.

  Toni smiled, a little smug, a little proud. "Thanks."

  "You built the whole thing yourself, Quill said?"

  "Yep."

  Rocket nodded appreciatively as he went back to his nest. "Reckon you ain't half bad, then. For a Terran."

  "Glad to know I have your approval," she replied dryly.

  He seemed to chuckle before silence fell and she fell asleep.

Chapter Text

  "The king has given permission to enter," Loki stated. "He didn't recognize my voice and I only gave him Thor's name."

  "I think you should stay behind brother," Thor suggested and Loki's lips thinned. "It would not do well to test fate."

  "We might need the backup, though," Toni mused.

  Peter opened his mouth to give his input, but Gamora placed a hand at his elbow to silence him. There was something interesting in the dynamics of those three. Both the brothers were obviously very protective of the human.

  Interestingly, the human, in return, seemed just as protective of them.

  Reading body language was something she'd learned as a killer and it was a useful skill. Toni, Thor and Loki were acting like a cohesive unit, all of them capable of working alone, but more efficient together. She had a feeling if they ever battled, the three of them together could crush any competition that came their way.

  Right now, there was a silent conversation ongoing. Finally Loki seemed to slightly deflate. "Alright, I stay on the ship."

  "Groot stays with you."

  Loki gave Rocket a sharp smile. "Trouble trusting me, rabbit?"

  "Not really, no," he answered and all three of them looked at him in surprise. "But Groot's still a baby. He stays with you."

 "I am Groot!" The tiny sapling shook an outraged branch at his father figure.

  "Cool it, tiny," Toni laughed. "You are a baby."

  Groot smiled at her sweetly and Rocket grumbled under his breath.

  The walk to the icy throne was cold and intimidatingly long. There was nothing but white and blue snow in all four directions. Peter was glad he'd thought to have Toni go to the market in Xandar. She was walking beside him, somehow shivering even in the thick layers of coats.

  "Jesus Christ, my suit could keep me warmer," she hissed through her teeth.

  Peter looked down at her. "How can you possibly be feeling cold under two coats?"

  She scowled. "I don't do well in cold," she muttered darkly and Peter noticed her wide eyes.

  But before he could ask, Thor said, "Silence."

  They all stilled at the foot of the huge iced throne atop which there was a being easily more than twenty feet tall, who was glaring down at them impassively. His midnight-blue skin gleamed in the pale starlight and even from here, Peter could easily spot the enmity in those crimson eyes. He resisted the urge to hide behind Thor's huge frame.

  "King Fryse," the god greeted, bowing his head in greeting. Gamora was the first to imitate the action and the others followed suit, even Drax, who basically did whatever Thor asked.

  "Odinson!" Fryse spit out the title like it was a curse. "What brings you here?"

  "We come with a warning," Thor replied somberly. "It seems there is an enemy on the move."

  "And why would an enemy of the Aesir be an enemy to us, pray tell?"

  "He is an enemy of Life itself," Thor said, his voice quiet. "I speak of Thanos, the Mad Titan. He is on the move, collecting relics to help his quest to conquer Death. He seeks to lay waste to half of life, in all nine realms and all worlds within."

  He inclined his head ever so slightly and Toni responded to the signal by stepping forward. "It's true. He already once warned Ea-Midgard by attacking us with a fleet of Chitauri." She looked ridiculous in her puffy jackets, but her voice carried as strongly as Thor's.

  "I see," Fryse hissed out, dragging a long, pencil-like finger down the side of his face. Peter couldn't help but notice the raised markings on his skin. "We shall prepare ourselves for the time of oncoming battle. But now, take your merry band of pets and leave, before I come to the end of my already short tolerance, Asgardian."

  Peter could feel both Gamora and Rocket bristling at the remark, but they all followed Thor's lead, turning to leave the way they came.

  "Wait!"

  The command made them freeze and they turned half-way in anticipation.

  "Every magic user has his own unique signature," Fryse told them, his grating voice hard and unforgiving. "I can sense remnants of magic on two of your company. He is hiding on your ship, is he not? That MURDERER?!" The last words were screamed and dozens and dozens of giants stepped out from the where they'd been camouflaged against the ice pillars. They were all carrying weapons and Peter activated his mask. Beside him, Thor began spinning his hammer and Toni's fingers were scrabbling to take off her jackets.

  Before any of them could really react though, there was a bright flash of gold, a sharp "Grab hold of each other and wait!" Then another flash and Toni and Thor had disappeared.

  Peter barely had time to think before Gamora was grabbing his arm and there was a third flash, someone taking hold of his wrist, then a fourth and he was back on the Milano. He stumbled, sudden vertigo hitting him, and somebody caught him around the waist.

  "Easy, Star-boy," he heard and he caught a faint whiff of metal and fire over the din in his spinning head. "Teleportation takes some getting used to."

  "Teleportation?" He repeated. There was a stabbing pain behind his eyelids as he opened them. He was lost in deep brown for a moment before his vision focused and he could see Toni looking at him with amused concern.

  "I'd kept the comms on. Loki teleported to us and back again when he thought we might be in trouble," she explained, as Peter looked over her shoulder to see Rocket swaying on his spot on the table while Groot poked at him with a worried branch. Drax was unaffected, but Gamora and Mantis were both looking pale and paler, respectively.

  "Toni, I don't feel so good." It came out like a question as he rubbed at his temples.

  "Sit down for a few," she advised and he obeyed.

  "Where're the gods?" He asked. His head was refusing to calming down.

  "Up front piloting the ship." Toni paused, peering down at him. "Maybe you should lay down," she muttered. She turned away. "Drax, can you please help the girls to their rooms? Rocket, wait right there, I'll be back after helping Peter."

  Peter was in a daze as Toni dragged him to his feet. She was surprisingly strong, he reflected, as she slung an arm around his waist and led him to his room. He'd expected her to leave him at the door, but she actually waited until he'd gotten into bed, basically tucking him in.

  "Sleep," she ordered. "The headache will be gone when you wake up. First time teleporting does this to everyone." She was gone before he could thank her. With a pounding head, he forced himself to fall asleep.

  After taking Rocket to his room, where he'd opted to spend the night instead of the engine room, Toni found herself there. She sat down at the same corner, trying to lose the chill she could feel permeating her bones even after all this time. The chill of Siberia.

  She shuddered, rubbing at the phantom pain in her chest. She considered studying the engine, maybe find a manual. FRIDAY had been able to download a data packet that had translated everything into English, so space was her playground now. But she needed sleep and thinking about space tech was not keeping in line with that goal.

  So, instead, she turned her mind to the Guardians. They'd been travelling together for five days now. Plenty of time to observe them. And what she saw... Hurt.

  They had called themselves a team, but anyone could see that they loved each other like family. A crazy, dysfunctional family, true, but still.

  It made Toni's head spin.

  They were what she had once hoped the Avengers would be to her. Long ago, after New York, when she thought she'd found people who accepted her and loved her back. She'd been wrong. Of the original team, only Thor had ever truly seen her.

  And then, the Spider-ling. Loki. Stephen. Pepper and Rhodes after she stopped trying to shut them out. She had found her own family. But sometimes it still felt like something was missing and that just made her feel so, so selfish. She couldn't expect them to be around her all the time. Peter had May, Loki and Thor belonged on Asgard, Stephen had his own separate set of duties, Rhodey was needed by the military, Pepper had her own family and a company to run. Toni was, at the end of the day, still alone. And she hated herself for not being able to deal with that.

  But the Guardians... For a second, Toni tried to imagine being a part of them. Of being a Guardian instead of an Avenger. Would she have fit in with them? Or would they have tired of her as well?

  She dismissed the idea. She didn't know these people yet and there was no point in torturing herself with useless fantasies.

Chapter Text

  Peter woke from a dream filled with dark brown and gold colors. He sat up in bed to rub at his eyes, noticing with relief that the vertigo from before was gone. Still, teleporting was not an experience he wanted to repeat.

  Well, he might as well get something to eat. Picking up his Zune, Peter made his way to the kitchen, mindful of his sleeping teammates. As he filled a cup of Elvish tea, the familiar pop songs playing in his ears, he became aware of someone else in the space. Turning around, he saw Toni sitting at the table, with six of Rocket's guns laid out in front of her. She seemed to be deep in thought, staring at the guns with an analytical gaze.

  As he watched her, she picked up one of the guns and, very slowly, began to disassemble it. Once it was in pieces, she picked up another one, turned it in her hands a few times, then began assembling the first one again. Peter watched in awe as her hands picked up speed, taking the weapon apart and putting it back together like she'd been doing it her whole life. He'd only ever seen Rocket work that fast before.

  "That's brilliant," he commented without thinking. Immediately, Toni leapt to her feet, both arms raising with a metal glove already wrapped around one hand and the gun she'd been working with in the other hand, both aimed towards him.

  "Peter!" She exclaimed, her stance faltering as Peter took a step back. "Jesus fucking Christ, don't sneak up on me like that, Quill!"

  "Sorry," Peter apologized, taking his headphones off. He took a seat beside her as the armor retracted from her hand. "It's just... I've never seen anyone that quick with weapons. Rocket works as fast as you do, but he needs a lot more time to study something new."

  "I've always been a fast learner," Toni shrugged with a smug smile. She nodded at the device in his hand. "Is that a Zune? I haven't seen one of those in a long time."

  "Yeah, it's... Uh-" It was Peter's turn to feel hesitant. "One of Yondu's old Ravager buddies, Kraglin, he found it on one of their rare Terran trips and gave it to me after my old player was- after it broke."

  "So, how'd you end up here?" She asked.

  "Quid pro quo?" Peter suggested, leaping at the chance to learn more about her.

  Toni's eyes narrowed a little. He probably wouldn't even have noticed it, but it was the same look Gamora got sometimes, the same look Nebula always had. "Cliff notes version?" She counter offered.

  Peter nodded. "My mom was human. My... Father was a Celestial, kinda like a god. He was the embodiment of a planet. Named himself Ego." He allowed himself a huff of laughter when Toni snorted at the name. "He left her while she was pregnant with me. Mom raised me on her own. Died of cancer when I was around 9, maybe 10. I ran out to the open fields. The Ravagers had been there at the right time and Yondu picked me up, decided to keep me." He leaned back with a shrug. "I kind of grew up a thief, until I met up with these guys and we saved the galaxy."

  Toni hummed, having heard about the fight in Xandar a couple days back, in exchange for the Chitauri story.

  "Well, I was kidnapped by a terrorist cell during a weapons demonstration for the army. They wanted me to build my latest missile. I had shrapnel in my chest from the explosions and Yin- another prisoner, a doctor, had hooked me up to a car battery to keep it out of my heart. I built a miniaturised arc reactor, like an electromagnet, to replace that. Then I built the first version of the suit and got out. Found out my long-time business partner had been double dealing faulty weapons to terrorists and had ordered the hit on me. Perfected the suit, shut down weapons manufacturing, took care of him."

  Peter blinked, not missing the grim tone of the last four words. "That's a lot of stuff to do alone," he praised. "Is that what the blue light is?" He gestured vaguely at the glow below her collarbones. "The reactor?"

  She nodded and he whistled lightly. "Damn. Any chance I could take a closer look at it?

  "I don't think you wanna do that."

  "Oh princess," Peter smirked. "You have no idea what I want to do to you."

  Toni blinked and Peter realized his mistake. "Shit, sorry, didn't mean to flirt," he apologized, immediately contrite.

  "No, no, that's fine," Toni rushed, her eyes wide. "I just wasn't expecting it. Why are you sorry?"

  Peter frowned. "Um, aren't you and... Loki...?" He trailed off, feeling awkward when Toni scoffed.

  "Holy fuck, no!" She exclaimed. "Loki's like a brother to me. We're just really close friends."

  Peter, to his mortification, felt himself blush. "Well, how was I to know?!" He protested defensively. "You are literally all over each other the entire time."

  "I'm like that with all my close friends," Toni laughed. "I haven't got that many of those and the ones I do have, I rarely see them. So, when we do meet, I get a little clingy." There was a flicker of discomfort in her eyes, like she'd revealed a little too much, which didn't surprise him because he'd always had a knack for getting people to lower their guard. But Peter suddenly wanted nothing more to make that uneasiness go away.

  "So, I'm allowed to flirt with you?" He asked, perking up.

  Toni bit back a smile. "You're welcome to," she assured him.

  They spent the rest of the time in comfortable silence, with Toni inspecting the other guns. But this time, as Peter watched her smooth, fragile looking hands handle the weapons expertly, he felt the familiar thrum of attraction zip through his stomach.

Chapter Text

  Nidavellir was hot. Peter had never been there before, but he'd heard tales, and he wasn't liking it all that much. The only upside was that he got to be alone with Toni.

  Watching her pick her way through the dwarf forges, eyes wide and marvelling at the craftsmanship, commenting on the different techniques and metals; well, Peter was having the time of his life.

  "I still find it hard to believe," he said.

  Toni looked up at him. "What?"

  "That you built that armour of yours," he expanded. "Designing it? Sure, no problem. But building it? I mean, come on!" He knew he was goading her on, just to get a reaction, but the moment she scrunched up her nose in the cutest way possible, he knew he was going to enjoy dragging this out.

  "Excuse you, Mr Space Man," she snapped. "Just because I was born filthy rich and privileged, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy getting my hands dirty. Half of the fun in engineering comes from being able to personally tinker with stuff."

  "Sure," Peter agreed. "But are you seriously telling me that you never needed help with the... Heavy lifting?"

  "Do you want to have an arm wrestling match right now and settle it?"

  "Since it's gonna end with you holding my hand, then, sure, why not? And if it gets a little intense, no problem. Watching you get violent is probably gonna turn me on, anyway."

  For around five seconds, Toni gaped, obviously not having expected that. Peter internally cheered at catching her off guard.

  "If you're having trouble closing your mouth, I'm sure I can think of some way to help," he offered with a grin.

  She shut her mouth with an audible snap. "You're horrible," she finally said.

  "Thank you," he replied cheerfully.

  "How do you know I don't have a boyfriend?"

  Peter frowned. "Do you?"

  "Would it matter?"

  "Uh, yes?"

  "You don't sound sure."

  "I think you would have told me," Peter pointed out.

  "Maybe, maybe not," Toni shrugged. Then she suddenly stepped into his space, leaning up to whisper in his ears. "Makes it just a little more fun, don't you think? Not knowing for sure how much trouble you might get into?"

  Peter swallowed, more at the unexpected proximity and her breath hitting his ear, than her actual words. He shivered, then stepped back to give her an appraising look. "You're horrible," he said, throwing her words back at her.

  Toni laughed. "Oh, darling, I'm amazing and you know it."

  They resumed walking.

  "Okay, if you were married," Peter started again. "Then it would matter to me." That was the wrong thing to say.

  Toni's face tightened, her lips drawing into a thin line and Peter realized the look in her eyes was heartbreak.

  "Toni?" He asked hesitantly, reaching for her arm.

  She flinched at the touch. "Come on, let's go," she said, straightening herself. "The others will have finished talking to the king, by now. We should head back."

  Peter was taken aback by the flips in her behavior, but followed obediently.

  Toni swallowed several times, as she leaned against the closed door of her bedroom on the Milano. Gods, she was an idiot. Peter mentioned 'marriage' and she started having flashbacks? Just how pathetic was she?

  She couldn't afford to have a breakdown, not here. Peter had been suspicious when they were in the forges. She was pretty sure Gamora had personality-profiled her the same way Nata- Romanoff had done; albeit a little more kindly, perhaps. Mantis probably thought Toni hated her or something, because she'd been very careful not to allow any form of physical contact with the empath, not even the slightest brush of skin. The others might not actually suspect anything, but she'd caught the way Drax looked confused whenever she grew silent, how Rocket never questioned her when she joined him in the engine room after a nightmare, how Groot seemed to have some sort of intuition for when she was feeling panicky and always reached out with a branch if Thor or Loki weren't near.

  They were the only two who knew the extent of her... Damage.

  She couldn't afford anymore weaknesses.

Chapter Text

  “Toni?!” Peter called, knocking on her door. No answer. “Toni?” Hesitantly, he opened the door a crack, only to find the inside of the room empty. “Gamora, have you seen Toni?!” He yelled.

  It was Mantis who replied. “I think I might have seen her go to the engine room!”

  With an air of bemusement, he made his way there. It was only when he got closer that he heard voices from inside.

  Stepping in, he found Toni and Loki standing inside, the former talking excitedly while the god listened with a fond look.

  “It's brilliant, really, just how energy efficient this whole structure is! It’s too bad the fuel they use isn’t available on earth. Can you imagine how many problems could be solved if it was? Global warming would be a thing of the past within the decade, Lokes, just think!”

  Peter stood awkwardly, feeling out of place on his own ship. Toni was obviously in her own little bubble and hadn’t even noticed him, and Peter wanted the chance to observe her. He had a feeling that this was her natural state: passionate and driven, rambling nonstop about the things she loved. She was always so cautious around the rest of them.

  Loki spotted him first. There was a glint of warning in his eyes and Peter had to wonder why.

  “Hey guys?” He cleared his throat, making Toni turn to him with a start. “We’ll be making the jump in half an hour into Sovereign space territory. You’ll want to be up on the deck.”

  Loki nodded, with a last glance towards Toni and left, leaving Peter alone with her. She gave him a small smile and began walking towards the door. He grabbed her elbow before she passed him, and counted it as a win when she didn’t point a gun at him.

  “Uh, you'll wanna, you know, get a little-“ he gestured toward her person vaguely. “Cleaned up.”

  Toni looked down at herself. “Can't handle getting a little dirty?” She said, raising an eyebrow and smirking coyly.

  “Princess, with the way you're looking at me right now, I'll handle anything you wanna throw at me. Including yourself,” Peter said semi-seriously. It was true. In spite of the grease smeared over her chin and the baggy work clothes she had on, her eyes were still bright and her smile seemed genuine and she looked... Beautiful.

  Toni rolled her eyes with a snort. “Waiting for a proper explanation, Han Solo.”

  “These people are obsessed with physical perfection and beauty,” he explained, trying to still his wandering eyes. “The more obvious it seems that you’ve put in effort to look good for them, the more they’ll respect you.”

  Toni nodded. “Okay then. Get cleaned. Glam up. Anything else?”

  “No sarcasm.” At her grimace, he amended, “No rude sarcasm. No backhanded insults. The most polite, ass-kissing behavior possible. Pissing off these guys means a chase to the death and we’re already on thin ice with them.”

  Toni chuckled. “Of course, you are. I'm surprised how Rocket survived them even once.”

  “By the skin of his teeth, is how,” he muttered.

  Toni patted his upper arm, thus freeing her elbow from his grip. He hadn’t even noticed he’d held on. Speaking of which, she hadn’t stepped away. Or maybe she hadn’t noticed either?

  “I'll see you up on deck, then.” Saying which, she squeezed his bicep lightly and disappeared with a smile.

  Twenty minutes later, they were all standing on the deck. Usually Peter would have been at the wheel, but today, he’d relinquished to Rocket in favor of standing next to Toni. Holding on to the strut for support, he wrapped his free arm around her waist.

  “You're too short to reach,” he pointed out when she gave him a stern look, resolutely ignoring the twin glares from both gods. He was beginning to learn how to spot the humor in Toni's eyes though, so he didn't take her ire seriously.

  “You know I can actually hurt you, right?” She murmured, when he winked at her. “Like, really injure you.”

  “Told you before, Starshine,” he whispered back. “That'll probably just turn me on.”

  He counted it as another win, when she bit her lips to stop sound from escaping, but her shoulders shook with laughter.

  The star-smooth infrastructure of the High Priestess' palace gave Peter a headache. Everything glinted with reflected light, giving the entire place a washed-out look. It was a wonder they managed to survive here.

  “High Priestess Nala,” Gamora greeted. It had been decided that this time, Gamora and Loki would be the ones to talk, both being calmer and having more restraint than the others. “Thank you for receiving us on such short notice.”

  The gilded lady nodded. It was amazing how her welcoming smile was even colder than Priestess Ayesha's had been. “You said you had urgent news,” she reminded. “Rest assured, I would not have granted you entry otherwise.”

  Loki bowed his head gracefully. “Of course not, High Priestess. However, it is imperative that you heed our warning.”

  She raised an eyebrow in question. “Warning?”

 Together, Loki and Gamora highlighted the coming of Thanos, following the same spiel they had given to the Jotuns and the dwarves.

  At the end of it, Nala looked considerably alarmed. “You’re asking us to risk ourselves in a battle against a madman?” She murmured. “But that is a tremendous waste of perfection. I can’t possibly consider sending any of our own people into war.”

  “With all due respect, High Priestess,” Loki cut in, a tad sharply now. “We are talking about a Titan who is courting Death. Perfection or not, your people are in just as much danger here as you would be out on the battlefield.””

  Nala's eyes narrowed. “Have care how you speak, Jotun,” she grit out.

  A muted snarl from beside him had Peter gripping Toni’s wrist in warning. Loki had a similar hold on Thor’s elbow, though his own face was twisted in derision.

  “Jotun or not, I am a Prince of Asgard,” Loki spoke coldly. “So you would do well to have care how you speak.”

  Nala’s upper lip curled in disgust. “Leave this instant!” she ordered. “Before I lose my patience.”

  There was no love lost between them as they turned to do exactly that. But before they reached the gates, she called out, “Wait!”

  Warily, they turned to see her leaning forward on her throne, interest blazing in her eyes as she focused on one of them.

  “I was a Lady of Honor when you Guardians first visited,” she said, pointing at Peter. “And I can sense something different within your genealogy now. Something... Less, than what it used to be.”
Peter froze, not liking where this was going.

  “You are a very particular hybrid,” she spoke softly. “But that Celestial aura is no longer visible on you.”

  He knew Toni was frowning in confusion, knew Gamora had a hand on her blade, and Rocket and Drax were ready to charge. But he couldn’t quite think about it.

  “But Celestials don’t die natural deaths,” Nala continued. “Tell me, Guardian... Did you kill your father?”

  There was a sharp intake of breath from someone, followed by a loud silence. Peter opened his mouth to take their leave, but Toni got there first.

  “I don’t know where you’re coming from, thinking you can just accuse someone of murder without knowing anything about them,” she said, in a voice that was simultaneously sweet and angry. “But if perfection comes with that shitty asshole behavior, then it’s not the kind of perfection anyone I know would wanna get within ten feet of.”

  Another silence, this one more deafening then the last. The hostility in the air was palpable. Then Gamora bowed, her movements stiff. “We’ll take your leave now, High Priestess.”

  “Don't say a word, just come on!” Peter hissed in panic and Toni fell into step beside him.

  They boarded the ship in a hurry. Peter joined Rocket at the helm, hoping to get out before the Sovereign gave chase.

  Loki, Thor and Toni belted themselves in, Mantis took Groot below deck, and Drax and Gamora kept vigil at the back of the ship. As they took off, Peter prayed to no one in particular that they would escape scot-free.

  No such luck.

  They made it only four klicks away from their space territory. Then Sovereign battle drones were chasing after them.

  “How far is Berhert?!” Peter screamed, trying to keep in tandem with Rocket's piloting as they maneuvered the asteroid belt in an attempt to shake off the drones without losing too much firepower.

  “Ninety klicks, one jump!” Rocket growled. “But three jumps and forty-seven klicks away, smack dab between the asteroids, is Contraxia!”

  His mind raced. Berhert was secluded, safe. Contraxia was dangerous in its own way. But they could stock up there. And in wake of the alliance between Ravagers and Nova Corps, any and all enemies of either were banned from entering any civilian zones.

  “Peter, stop thinking and call it, you fool!” Gamora cursed between blasts of a large gun.

  “Rocket, set course for Contraxia!” he ordered. “I'm sending a signal to any Ravagers there.”

  “Why aren’t you destroying them?” Rocket called out. “Nobody’s in those ships!”

  “Wait, what?”

  “I'll explain later, Stark, not-“

  “Are they fucking remote-controlled?” Toni screeched.

  “YES!”

  “What are you-Toni, what are you doing?” Peter twisted in his seat to glare incredulously as Toni scrambled off her seat and headed towards the back of the ship, somehow not losing her balance.

  “Both of you get back in,” he heard her say to Gamora and Drax. “Trust me, I’ll take care of it.”

  He cursed when they actually stumbled back in to the cockpit. Undoing his own belt, he hurried after her, ignoring the two gods, who surprisingly looked both unworried for their friend and nauseous from his and Rocket’s crazy flying.

  “Rocket, take the wheel,” he said over his shoulder as he made his way over to Toni, using the walls for support. He found her standing at the edge of the opened bomb bay doors, with a space suit covering her face, a tether hooked at her hip to tie her to the vessel, and her armored boots anchoring her to the floor. His own mask activated, he reached her with a yell of, “What are you doing?!”

  “Hold on,” she yelled back. Her face was pinched in intense concentration and she seemed to be gritting her teeth hard. Peter did a double take when he realized that her eyes were no longer brown, but a glowing blue that matched the light on her chest.

  To his awe, one by one, the Sovereign drones veered off course, exploding and crashing into each other. Toni’s face was beaded with sweat and Peter held on to her waist for support as she took down the entire fleet single-handedly, creating a somewhat spectacular show of sparks in space.

  Then the ship was rocked to one side, the sound of a large impact loud to their ears. Both were thrown from the deck. Peter grabbed Toni closer, feeling cold metal against his skin as it covered her, with sharp wind hitting his body as Rocket covered three jumps together, pulling Toni, and subsequently him, with them.

  Icy air stabbed pins and needles into him as they entered Contraxia and he hugged Toni closer, metal arms wrapped surprisingly gently around his waist while he pressed his forehead against her shoulder. Whiplash making him dizzy, he dimly registered Toni twisting their bodies in mid-air, so when they reached the ground, she took the brunt of the fall in her suit and he ended up on top of her, a relatively softer landing in spite of the metal.

  With a groan, he lifted his body just enough to watch the red and gold metal seep away like water, leaving her bare face looking up at him with a relieved grin.

  “Hey you,” she greeted breathlessly. “You alright?”

  “Yeah,” he grunted, letting his own mask fold back. “You?”

  “M’good.” She paused, with a considering look. “Terminal velocity is a bitch, though.”

  He chuckled, feeling her breath ghost over his lips as she laughed with him. “Gotta say, this is a very clever way to get me on top of you, princess.”

  She smirked up at him and he was suddenly very conscious of her body stretched out beneath him. “In your dreams, Star-boy,” she retorted, her eyes back to sparkling brown.

  “Break it up, you two!”

  Peter gingerly moved off her, wincing at the slight soreness from hitting the ground so fast.

  A shiver passed through him as he noticed the snow falling around them. The dim lights of the town area glinted a short distance away, just a walk of ten minutes.

  Gamora passed them both coats. “Your signal was picked up by Stakar Ogord,” she said, though her gaze was fixed on Toni. “He says we're welcome to come into town for supplies and such and if possible, he would like to see the boy Yondu raised.”

  “Right,” he dragged out the word. “Should probably go see him then.”

  “How did you do that?” Drax interrupted, openly staring at Toni with no small amount of curiosity. “You destroyed them all when even Gamora and I could not do it together. How?”

  Toni shrugged uneasily, darting a glance up at Thor who had taken up a place at her side. “I'm a... Technomancer? I guess that's what it’d be called. I can control and manipulate any piece of tech within range with my mind. Takes a hell lot of effort though,” she hurried to add. “Especially on that large a scale. I don't use it in battle often.”

  Rocket held up a paw to cover his eyes. “Why did we get stuck with Quill?” He groaned. “When there are people like you on Terran?”

  “Thanks a lot, you stupid racoon,” Peter said sarcastically. “Remind me which one of us is the better pilot again?”

  “Sure, it's me!”

  “Uh,” Toni laughed nervously. “There aren't people like me on Earth. I'm the only one who can... Do... That.”

  Rocket stared at her. “Perfect,” he snarled. “You’re gonna help me repair the ship. It should take at least fifteen hours working together. Be nice not have to do it alone, like I always do. But first, I’m gonna need all this.”

  He fished out a list from his belt and handed it to Thor.

  “Scram, you folks, we ain’t got all day.”

  "So how long have you been able to do that?” Peter asked, if only to break the silence that had fallen between them.

  Rocket had split them, citing the need to hurry with repairs. Somehow, he’d ended up with Toni, and while he wouldn’t put it past the team to have done it on purpose, he wasn’t complaining.

  “Only for about two years,” she replied, constantly looking around at the maze-like streets filled with bars, casinos and whatnot. “There was a... Battle, and I took some pretty nasty hits. They had to inject me with a virus I had mostly corrected in order to save me. It gave me slightly accelerated healing, considerably enhanced senses and strength, and technomancy.”

  “It's actually pretty cool,” he mused, as they walked. Then a thought occurred to him. “Hold on! If you can control any technology, does that mean you can basically take over my ship?!”

  Toni shot him an amused look. “Well, what makes you think I haven’t already?”

  “Have you?”

  She didn’t reply.

  “Toni, seriously, have you possessed my ship?”

  “Maybe,” she laughed. Then she grew a little pensive. “Um, I'm... Sorry, by the way. Sorry about the ship.”

  “Yeah, don’t worry about it,” he waved it off. “We get into trouble all the time. It’s pretty much routine now, to stop for repairing after every mission.”

  “Yeah, but...” she sighed. “I snapped at the sparkly lady. I just couldn’t help myself, she was talking shit and-“

  “Exactly,” he interrupted. “She was talking shit. About me. And you defended me. Then you saved us just now. So really, if anything, thank you, for all of that.”

  “I...” She blinked, looking too confused for such a simple conversation. “That's okay. I mean, yeah, it's... Fine, it's nothing.”

  Peter frowned. “Toni,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”

  She met his eyes, flustered, and he could almost see her calculating how much to tell him.

  “It’s not... A common occurrence. People thanking me, I mean,” she answered quietly.

  “Why not?” He asked.

  She shrugged and they kept walking through. Peter kept stealing glances at the woman beside him. Her previous light mood has been replaced by a cool, flippant demeanor that he was starting to recognize as her mask. He called it her “Take no shit, but bullshit the world” face.

  He wasn’t very fond of it. It needed to go.

  “Hey, you remember that guy I told you we destroyed? Ego?”

  She nodded. “The planet who tried to assimilate everything, yep.”

  “Right, so, to do that, he’d needed the power of more than one Celestial,” he explained. “He'd gone around the universe, knocking up women to ensure descendants, hoping that when the time came, at least one of them would have inherited his power.”

  “That is majorly messed up,” Toni muttered.

  “Tell me about it,” he sighed. “He later hired Yondu to pick up those kids he'd left behind and bring them to him. But none of them had the potential, so he killed them right after. Yondu found me on one of those trips and decided he liked me, so he kept me.” He took a deep breath. This was the difficult part of the story. “Turned out I was the only one of his kids who was strong enough to trigger his plan.”

  “Oh, Peter,” Toni murmured, her eyes wide open in realization. “That's what... you had to...”

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “That's what the Priestess was talking about. We blew up the planet. Killed him.”

  “I'm sorry,” she said quietly. “That doesn’t help to hear, I know, but I do know how that feels. I told you about Obidiah Stane? He was my godfather, and had more of a hand in raising me then my actual father.”

  “He was the one who ordered the hit on you,” he recalled. “That's... Horrible.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed.

  They walked in silence for a while.

  “Why did you tell me all that?” Toni asked all of a sudden. She looked only a little wary and he hurried to correct it.

  “Because I want to know you better,” he answered honestly. “But I feel like you don't trust me completely. So I'm trusting you instead. I'll wear you down eventually.”

  Uncertainty flashed across her features, before she covered it with a nervous laugh. “I'm flattered. But I'll be gone before you succeed. I don't trust easy.”

  “Oh, you'd be surprised at how persuasive I can be,” he assured her.

  There was another silence, this one less tense.

  “Peter?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Thank you.”

  He turned to see a small smile curving her lips, her eyes facing forward, but soft and warm.

  “Thanks for trusting me,” she elaborated. “Most people don't do that either. It means a lot to me.”

  Something lodged in his throat. Peter stared at her, somehow feeling the jagged edges of something broken within her, as sharp as the cold they were in. It occurred to him that his want for her had, at some point, evolved into much more. It would physically pain him to be watch her leave, when the mission was done. 'I love you,' he tried the words in his head. It sounded right, comfortable and true.

  “Anytime, Starshine,” he replied out loud. 

Chapter Text

  Stakar Ogord was a perceptive man. The last time he’d seen Yondu's boy, Peter, the kid had been only twelve years old.

  After that, Yondu’s crimes had come to light, and his entire faction had been exempted from the Ravager community.

  Now, looking at the strapping young man standing with his team, he could see some of Yondu’s stubborn nature and natural leadership in him. Mostly, though, because he was an aging man who was fond of gossip, he paid attention to the obvious tension he held towards the Terran on their team.

  The girl herself seemed utterly oblivious to poor Peter’s pining, while the Asgardians kept hovering over her protectively.

  Bringing out the messaging unit all Ravagers carried, Stakar coded in the words: Your boy's gone lost his head for a girl.

  He hadn’t been expecting an answer, but as he turned back to the Guardians, who were busy showing their three guests around the lodgings, the unit vibrated with a message: What, ya mean that Terran heroine? Yeah, why’d’you think I didn’t stick around? I ain’t waiting around to watch his disaster flirting!

  No, Yondu, I think this is pretty serious from his side. The Terran hasn’t got any idea.

  Oh. Well, shit. You think it’s gonna end bad? Do I gotta be there?

  Not sure.

  Peter doesn’t tell me stuff about his love-life.

  I wonder why.

  "Hammer that plate in,” Rocket ordered.

  Toni complied dutifully, too pumped up about working on an actual spaceship to take offence to the bossiness. She was actually way worse when it came to her own tech.

  “Groot’s taken a shine to ya,” he said out of the blue.

  She nodded, taking a pause to rest her aching arm. “I know,” she said, breathing hard from exertion. “I'm an amazing person, after all.”

  There was a little puff of air, which she thought was the raccoon version of a snort. “Mantis is a little obsessed with ya.”

  “That is also not as unusual an occurrence as it should be.”

  “You make her curious.” He pried open a panel near the bomb bay doors, revealing a somewhat familiar looking circuit board.

  “Why? What about?” She peered at the circuit as offered it to her for inspection.

  “She says you’re very 'intense', her words, not mine.”

  Toni’s head snapped away from the mess of wires. “Excuse me? Intense?”

  “Usually, she needs to be in direct contact with someone to feel their emotions.” He fixed her with beady little eyes narrowed in a dark glare. “She can feel you from the other end of the ship.”

  There was a horrible twist in her gut. “What does she say I’m feeling?” She asked cautiously.

  “She ain’t telling us,” he shrugged, but Toni had grew up learning to lie and fake, and this guy wasn’t al that great at it. “But she’s having a lotta trouble sleeping at night, cuz she’s feeling stuff that keeps her awake.”

  She swallowed, guilt wrapping around her throat like a scarf wound too tight. She took a second to feel it, let it choke her, the way she’d done after the Civil War. Then, thinking of the empath on the ship who could feel every emotion as if it were her own, she packed it up in a little box and pushed it away into the farthest corner of her mind.

  “I didn’t realize I was projecting so much,” she said, as casually as she could manage. “I’ll see if I can’t keep it under control.” Which meant no more falling asleep without exhausting herself into a dreamless coma first.

  Rocket stared at her for several seconds, like he was searching for something. Then he smirked, almost sneering, and turned back to his work. "Yondu once told me that he and I are alike. I used to wonder how he could tell. Now I know.”

  She tried not to stare warily. “How?”

  “Don’t act stupid all of a sudden, Stark,” he snapped. “Doesn't suit ya half as well as smart ass.”

  And that, she figured, was as friendly as he was going to get.

  “One more thing.” Rocket straightened. “Gamora says not to interfere, but I wanna know: how long are you gonna keep Quill hanging?”

  This time, she really did stare. “What?” Was all she said dumbly.

  Before the infuriating racoon could respond, Peter appeared. “It's been almost half a day. You guys done yet?”

  “Don't get your loins in a twist,” Rocket grumbled. “Another hour and we’re done.”

  “Great.” He turned to her. “Uh, you wanna come watch the jump when you’re done here? You didn’t really get a chance to appreciate it on the way in.”

  “No, we were too busy hanging on for our lives,” she agreed with a grin. She’d been smiling a lot these last couple months. It should have made her uneasy, but something about the Guardians, and Peter, especially, just eased so much of her hurt. It was easy to forget her pain when she was talking to him. Which meant it was going to be horrible when she had to leave. Maybe they would miss her, maybe they wouldn’t, but for her, it’d be like suffering from withdrawal.

  “But, yeah, I'll be there,” she continued, turning back to the damaged circuitry. “Soon as I finish this up.”

  For almost half a minute, Toni could have sworn she felt him staring at her. But when she turned around to confirm it, he was gone.

  Rocket stared at her incredulously. “Oh shit. She was right.” He snickered once, obviously amused. “You’re clueless. Sheesh, you're worse than me.”

  “Clueless about what?” She tried not to sound annoyed, though she hated being ignorant.

  “Oh, you'll see,” he waved it off.

  Toni shivered as she stood at the so-named Observation Deck of the Milano. She was getting better at controlling her panic, exposing herself to the void, and was trying to learn to see the beauty in it instead.

  A scuffle behind her got her attention and she turned to see Peter, looking slightly embarrassed to be caught there, with his zune plugged in. “Sorry, I didn't know you were here,” he apologized.

  “Couldn’t sleep,” she replied. It was only half a lie. She wouldn't have slept even if she felt like it, not when the chances of her having a nightmare, which would subsequently trouble Mantis, were so high.

  “Oh, well,” he shrugged, coming to stand by her. “I come here all the time. The view’s amazing.” He looked at her in concern when another shiver wracked her form. “Cold? Here.”

  “No, Peter, that’s not-“

  “Shh. Just take it.” Ignoring her protests, he tugged off the long Ravager coat, wrapping it around her himself. His hands lingered at her neck as he pulled up the zipper, but only for a second.

  “Thanks,” she whispered, not knowing what else to say. It felt weird to her. The only times she’d ever worn someone else’s clothes were Rhodey’s sweatshirts at MIT and then Stev- Rogers', when they’d still been together.

  “No big deal,” he said easily. “We’re all used to it. Wouldn't want you to catch a cold.”

  She smirked. “Liar. You just wanted to get me into your clothes.”

  “That too,” he laughed, but... There was something off, something a little stilted and forced. And he didn’t joke back like she’d expected him to. She felt the urge to press, to know what had happened and fix it. But she restrained. “What are you listening to?” She nodded at the headphones.

  He started to take them off, but she held up a hand to stop him. “Friday?” She tilted her head a bit to the side, out of force of habit.

  -Just a sec, Boss. Connecting to Microsoft Zune in four, three, two-

  “What?” Peter questioned. “What did you do?”

  “Permanent uplink to my AI, remember? She helps regulate my technomancy. I just connected to the Zune, so now I can hear what you’re hearing. Is that...” She hesitated, suddenly unsure, like she so often was these days. “Is that okay?”

  “Of course, it’s okay, it’s awesome! So, do you recognize it?” Peter waited eagerly for her to name the song.

  She focused on the words, old pop music playing in her head like a mental concert. ‘...And there’s a girl in this harbor town; And she works layin' whiskey down...’

  “The sailors say: Brandy, you’re a fine girl,” she sang along and Peter grinned.

  “What a good wife you would be!” He sang. “Yeah, that was my... My mom and Ego’s favorite song.” He paused, thoughtful. “I think, if there's anything good I can say about him, it's that he loved my mom. Even if it was a messed up sort of love.”

  “I used to wonder the same thing about my father,” she confessed. “Your mom was an awesome lady, wasn't she?”

  “Yeah,” he smiled softly. “How'd you know?”

  “Well, you did mention your father was an asshole.”

  “Oh that’s true,” he laughed, then sighed. “Okay, I'm changing the song. See if you can guess it. No cheating.”

  He fiddled with the buttons, and she waited until the music began to play. '...So long, I've been looking too hard, I've been waiting too long...'

  “Sometimes I don't know what I will find, only that it's a matter of time...” she trailed off, fumbling with the words. “Waiting For A Girl Like You, by the Foreigner. Christ, I haven't heard these songs since I was in college.”

  Peter held out a hand in invitation. Never one to back down from a challenge, even just a perceived one, Toni, with only a split second of internal debate, allowed herself to twine their fingers together. His answering smile was blinding and definitely worth the minuscule discomfort. He drew her a bit closer, placing a hand on her hip. He was singing too, his lips moving with the smooth voice of the singer.

  “Maybe I'm wrong, won't you tell me,” he murmured. “This heart of mine has been hurt before...”

  An involuntary shiver ran up her spine, in spite of the long leather coat. Peter’s green eyes, shining in the dimmed glow of the arc reactor between their bodies, were locked onto her features with an intensity she wouldn't have expected from him. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the reason behind it.

 ...l've been waiting for a girl like you to come into my life; I've been waiting for a girl like you, your lovin' will survive...

  Almost as if sensing her discomfort, his gaze shifted to the glass behind her. “Look at that,” he whispered, twirling her gracefully before pulling her back towards him. She followed his lead and it occurred to her that the way they were now standing, pressed back to front, one of Peter’s arms curled around her torso, should have felt restrictive, setting off every instinct of self-preservation in her. Instead all she felt was... Safe.

  ... Yeah, waiting for a girl like you to come into my life...

  Then all those thoughts flew from her head and she gasped when saw the cloud of colors seemingly massed together among the stars, all in hundreds of shades and tints she wouldn’t otherwise have been able to identify, sparkling and shining against the inky backdrop. It was like watching the Northern Lights in space, up close and personal in a way that made Toni feel like she could reach out to touch it.

  ...It's more than a touch or a word can say; Only in dreams could it be this way...

  “Cosmic dust,” Peter explained in a quiet voice. “They're everywhere, but sometimes a lot of it collect together in one place, where they refract the lights from nearby planets or stars. It looks like nebulae or globular clusters, but it’s really just... Dust.”

  “Wow!” was all she could say.

  “Yeah, I know. It still takes my breath away after having seen them for almost my while life.”

  She let out a laugh of wonder. “I can’t imagine anyone ever getting tired of a scene like this. This is...” She shook her head, trying to find the words. “This is beautiful!”

  ... There's nowhere on earth that I’d rather be than holding you tenderly...

  “Yeah,” Peter whispered. And, though she didn’t know it, if Toni had looked back in that instant, she would have caught him gazing at her face instead, before kissing her hesitantly, and she, to her own surprise, would have let him, shocked but exhilarated at the gentleness with which he handled her. But she didn’t look back, didn’t tear her eyes away from the vibrant beauty of a sight she’d feared for a decade, and right behind her, all Peter said softly was, “Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

  ...Been waiting for a girl like you to come into my life...

  "You left an Infinity Stone with Taneleer Tivan?” Loki and Gamora both yelled. They hardly seemed to notice the creepy synchronization, both busy glaring at Thor, who looked defensive.

  “It wasn’t my idea!” He protested. “Father felt it was wisest to hand it over to a Celestial being.”

  “Yeah, but Celestials don’t exactly have a track record of being reliable,” Peter pointed out. “Ego wanted to assimilate the multiverse. The Grandmaster is just plain crazy. Tivan is a misogynistic slaver who collects pretty things. He actually lives inside the skull of another Celestial who’d died doing some other crazy shit. Not people you’d trust with something so powerful.”

  Loki sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Well, we have to get it back somehow,” he said. “Tricks and lies won’t work with him, he’ll appreciate an honest bargain.” He turned to Toni. “Can you handle this one, do you think?”

  “I think so,” she nodded. “I'll just have to charm him into being reasonable, right?”

  “Right,” he agreed slowly. “But he's a devious man who's watched the universe grow. He's a collector of information. Be careful with what you have to say.”

  They descended from the ship together, Toni leading, Thor and Loki on either side, with Gamora, Drax and Peter bringing up the rear, effectively keeping Rocket, Groot and Mantis in the middle. It was safest if they all went together. Not that something would go wrong, but anything could, theoretically.

  Murphy’s Law, Toni thought wryly to herself. Should have just been called Law of Inevitable Fuck-ups.

  “The Collector awaits you,” a lilac-skinned alien, with large unblinking green eyes and an uneven smile, greeted them, ushering them in with a grandiose manner that seemed out of place. She led them into a large cavern, converted into a sort of lab or treasury. Every inch of the place glittered with both gaudy trinkets of no real value as well as seemingly innocuous objects that were possibly of great importance. More chilling was the numerous glass cages with other aliens held inside. Behind her, she was sure Rocket was holding back an aneurysm at the sight.

  And in the center of the room, evidently waiting for them, was a man with a shock of white hair, like Einstein had decided to get a coif done. He was watching them with shrewd eyes, and though he wasn't smiling, Toni's first thought was: Justin Hammer. They looked nothing alike, of course, but he had the same air of ‘creepily excited to ruin your day with bad business ideas'. She hated the guy immediately.

  “Taneleer Tivan,” she greeted pleasantly, extending a hand. He took it, shaking it with none of the fumbling curiosity of an alien, which meant he’d been to earth before. And that meant, he was smart.

  “Toni Stark of Terran,” he returned, confirming her suspicions, in a low rumbling voice. “Have you come to warm me about Thanos?”

  “That is one of the things we were hoping to accomplish,” she agreed. “But if you're already aware of it, then you’ll hopefully understand the gravity of our second objective.”

  He hummed. “I heard it is not wise to keep two Infinity Stones so close together.”

  “And yet, you agreed to take the Orb from the Guardians, while already having the Aether,” she shot back in a saccharin sweet voice.

  “Indeed.” His lips grew thinner, as his eyes moved to Gamora. “Daughter of Thanos. Your last visit ended with my home being blasted into ruins. Tell me why I should do business with you?”

  “Because, if you don't, Thanos will kill you when he comes for the Stone,” the assassin replied coolly.

  “Let's skip the niceties, Tivan, please,” Toni cut in, before the Collector’s glare turned darker. “You know we’re here for the Aether. If you'll give it to us, we’ll be gladly on our way.”

  “Of course,” Tivan said with a pretentious nod. “But everything comes for a price, nothing without.”

  “No member of this team, regardless of species, or our personal belongings, including weapons, is negotiable as a price, Tivan, alive or dead or anything in between,” she stated, having been warned by Rocket beforehand. “Nor in the form of service for however short a time. Anything else, ask.”

  He clicked his tongue in annoyance at the thoroughness. “Pity,” he murmured. “The things I could have done with Groot carcass, or Jotun skin. Even empathetic antennae might have great use.” He stepped closer to Toni, and she could guess his intentions before he lifted a hand to stroke her collar. His touch was cold, not comfortably cool like Loki's, but downright freezing. His finger travelled lower, smartly avoiding her breasts, before resting over the arc reactor. She struggled to breathe, fighting back the urge to snap his wrist. Somebody shifted behind her, and she used the sound to ground herself. They're right here with me, she told herself sternly. They wouldn't let me get hurt.

  “The armored hero with a star in her chest,” Tivan whispered. He moved back with a smarmy half-smile. “Tell me, travelers, do you know which Stone the Aether represents?”

  It was Thor who answered. “Reality.”

  “Indeed,” he said, nodding. Shuffling away from them, he pulled out a container. It looked to be made of wood, but Toni could easily spot the runes etched into it, and the band of blood red that run around it was unmistakable. “If you can prove to me,= that you are powerful enough to hold this Stone, you can have it, free of cost.”

  Toni narrowed her eyes. It couldn't be that easy. Peter had handled the Power Stone, because of his half-Celestial genealogy. Both Thor and Loki were gods, and the latter actually had been in direct contact with both the Tesseract and the Mind Stone. Any of them could adequately hold the Stone, if not use it.

  “What's the catch?”

  He smiled again. “It has to be you, Terran.” Right, there was the catch.

  “No!” Peter exclaimed. “No no no no no no no! Are you crazy? That would kill her!” He turned to her, with a frantic sort of expression. “Toni, don't!”

  “He's right!” Gamora hissed. “We’ll have to offer him something else. You can't hold the Stone.”

  Toni ignored them and turned to Loki, who had a calculating look on his face.

  “The arc reactor had blocked the Mind Stone,” she said. “Will it work the same way now?”

  He shook his head. “I was using it with the intent to harm. The Stone itself and your arc reactor, or rather the element you created, which is based off the Tesseract, recognized each other as sisters and therefore the effects were negated. But the Aether...” he frowned. “It is the most volatile, most unpredictable of all six. It won't realize it's harming you. All it will do is twist reality, let us see what isn't.”

  “What will it show?”

  “Anything it finds inside your mind. It could be Paradise or Hell.”

  “Is it possible to break the illusion?” she asked.

  “In theory,” he hedged.

  “Let me rephrase that, Lokes,” she snapped lightly, taking a deep breath. “Can I break the illusion?”

  His eyes roamed her face, searching for something. After a few seconds, he nodded sadly. “Yes, I believe you can.”

  There was an outburst of protests. “Brother, you can't possibly ask this of her-“

  “Loki, are you out of your-“

  “You guys are nuts if you seriously-“

  “I'm not gonna-“

  “Toni, NO!”

  “I'll do it,” Toni announced loudly over their voices.

  “She's very determined,” Mantis observed, her sweet voice so at odds with everything else.

  “Your funeral,” Rocket muttered, but she could hear the underlying worry.

  “Toni...” Peter called her name weakly. She could tell from the look on his face that he knew he couldn’t stop her.

  “I'll be fine,” she said, more to assure her thundering heart than anyone else. Clenching one hand in a trembling fist, she reached out to the box.

  “Everybody step back,” she heard Loki instruct.

  Praying to whichever god looked over crazy mechanics that she didn’t screw this up too badly, she opened the lid.

  It came off almost anticlimactically.

  “Well, that was-” Don't say it!

  Karma sucked.

  Red mist shot out from the box, flaring towards her. Dark tendrils reached out, flaring as they neared her, almost like hands trying to caress her skin. Toni swallowed, fighting the urge to back away.

  Antonia-aaaaa.

  The red smoke called out to her, the high-pitched girlish voice echoing in her head, and she could sense the childishness, the naïve destructiveness of the Reality Stone. More importantly, as her arc reactor glowed brighter, reacting to FRIDAY’s nervousness, she felt the tell-tale goose bumps on the back of her neck, the sensation of fingertips crawling into her scalp, rummaging through her mind, reading her thoughts. She started to panic, or rather, her controlled anxiety suddenly dialed up to 11. She found her breath coming short, and damn it, where was Stephen when she needed him, or where had Loki gone, where was everybody, why had they left her alo-

  “Toni?”

  Everything stopped. Her heart grew still, the dull roar in her ears faded back. “Steve?” she whispered. It shouldn't have been possible, but there he was, not a hair out of place, dressed in a simple plaid shirt and jeans, just like the day he'd proposed. And just like that day, he was looking at her like she was the most important thing in his life. The only thing out of the ordinary was the cacophony of noises somewhere in the distance, but she couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from.

  “Don't you think it's time for you to come back?” He asked with a fond half-smile. “I mean, we are getting married in around a year.”

  We are? She looked down, her mouth falling open slightly at the solitaire ring on her third finger. The noises had evolved into voices and... Were they calling her name?

  “I mean, I’d like to spend that time with my pretty amazing girlfriend, before I start calling her my wife,” Steve said. He reached for her waist, and she let him pull her in, until she could feel his heart beating against her own chest.

  “We-we’re getting married,” she repeated, needing to hear it. The yelling in the background was making it hard to think.

  He nodded, with a raised eyebrow. “Unless you're having second thoughts?”

  She gave a sheepish laugh, and any such second thoughts that she might have had disappeared, along with the yells, as Steve kissed her. It felt like heaven, his hands pressing into her hips, her fingers buried in his hair. It had been so long since she'd been this close to him, too long- wait!

  She broke the kiss, trying to catch her breath. Why would she think that? Why had it been too long?

  The voices were definitely calling her name now, and she found hear snippets of conversation too: 'Let me get-‘

  ' That thing will kill-'

  ' She's stuck in an illusion-'

  'Trust in her, she'll get out-‘

  Everything seemed a little too hazy in her vision, everything shaded red. Except Steve’s eyes, which were burning blue, like they always had. He was still looking at her, but now he seemed sad and pensive.

  “You could have helped us, Toni,” he said softly. “I was only ever trying to protect you.”

  “I- I know, I know, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-“ Why was she apologizing?  “You lied to me!” she cried, shaking her head and taking two steps away from him. But... Did that matter? In the long run, did it really matter, when he still loved her? After all, she couldn’t possibly be so lucky as to find someone who would want to be with her for herself, twice. The first time alone had been a miracle.

  'Fuck it, I can't just-‘

  ' No! We don't know what might-‘

  'Quill, don't-‘

  'Peter, you can't-‘

  She started to move into Steve’s embrace again, but a gentle pressure on her wrist stopped her.

  “Toni,” a warm voice called her name.

  She turned a bit, and found Peter Quill holding her, but not restraining. He looked scared- no, terrified- and his face was twisted into a frown. What was he even doing here?

  “Please, stop this, try to stop this,” he begged. “This isn't real.”

  Not real. Not real. Not. Real.

  A strangled sob escaped her, as she looked back at Steve. Of course. This wasn’t real. Peter was here. The Guardians. The mission. The Reality Stone.

  Toni screamed, wrenching her hand away from Peter’s grasp. Around her, the world began to splinter, along with her somewhat-healing heart. Steve melted away in a wash of crimson light, his eyes still piercing and burning until he was gone.

  She couldn’t stop screaming, though. She was vaguely aware of words spewing like hellfire from her lips, of something small and sharp cutting into her closed palm, of the need to get up and go on, of everyone around her getting worried and frantic because she was making too much noise. It wasn't until someone mentioned Mantis that her instincts kicked in and she choked out, “No, no don't-“

  Too late. A pair of delicate hands settled over her shoulders. Two beats passed, then a different scream started.

Chapter Text

  For a moment, Toni was frozen. In front her, Mantis had her mouth open in strangled whimpers, the pain too great to let her even scream. Her unnaturally large eyes were filled with fear and shining with tears, and her hands were a vice grip on Toni’s shoulders. Around them, everybody seemed similarly frozen, unsure of how to proceed.

  “Mantis!” Toni yelped, abruptly coming to her senses, throwing her hands off herself. Metal gauntlets wrapped around her arms, up to her elbows, and she cupped the pale face with one hand, the other clenched in a fist at her side, forcing the young empath, who had begun hyperventilating, to look her in the eyes.

  “You're okay,” she forced the words out. “Whatever you felt, it isn't real. You're safe. Come on, girl, breathe for me. Look at me, you're not hurt. You're fine.”

  “It hurts,” she sobbed. Her long fingers shook and with a quick look from Toni, Drax took her hands in her own, projecting a flow of steadying emotions. “It hurts too much.”

  “I know,” Toni said, trying to keep her voice soothing. She could only guess at what exactly  Mantis was feeling: chest pains, aching bones, difficulty breathing, crushing grief, loss, a broken heart. “It isn't you,” she repeated. “None of it is you.”

  Slowly, breath by breath, Mantis calmed down. As the rise and fall of her chest returned to normal, Toni felt everyone's focus shifting to her. Without bothering to check for Tivan, she leapt to her feet and strode out of the cavern.

  Outside, she deftly maneuvered through the throng of partying aliens, before reaching a sort of balcony, looking out beyond the atmosphere of the planet and to the vast expanse of stars.

  Breathing shakily, she rested her elbows on the railing and hid her tears behind her free hand. She could feel the way her sobs wracked her whole body, making her feel like there was a gaping hole in her stomach.

  Well, she thought. There was a hole in her. But nearer to the heart than anywhere else.

  “Drax, you got her?” Peter asked, referring to Mantis.

  He nodded. “I have her.”

  “Go after Toni,” Gamora advised.

  He got to his feet. For a second, it seemed as if Loki was about to stop him, but a subtle motion from Thor had him backing off.

  Peter made his way through the throng outside easily, having an inkling of where Toni was. He was right, finding her on the gallery where he’d danced with Gamora, back when he was in love with her. And now it was Toni. Funny, how he’d ended up here twice with the woman he loved.

  “Hey,” he greeted softly.

  She tensed slightly, but he should see her shoulders shaking as she cried silently into her palm.

  “Is Mantis okay?” She asked, voice muffled.

  “She’s fine,” he assured. “A little shaken, but Drax is surprisingly good at calming her down, helping her keep external emotions under check.” He hesitated before asking, “Are you okay?”

  She looked up, eyes bright and face marked by tears. But her voice was steady as she said, “You saw it all, didn’t you?”

  Peter sighed, remembering how much it had burned, watching her kiss that blond man, even though he’d known it was an illusion. “Yeah. Yeah, we could all see it.”

  She shut her eyes. “That was Steve,” she whispered, her voice breaking on the name. “Steve Rogers. My former fiancé.”

  Suddenly, so much made sense to Peter. The way she flinched when he asked about Captain America, the grimness in her eyes when he'd joked about marriage. It all clicked.

  “What happened?” He asked gently, resisting the urge to touch her.

  She sniffed, swallowing. “I told you how we fell out over the Accords?”

  He nodded.

  “There was supposed to be a group of five more Winter Soldiers,” she spoke softly. “I broke the Accords to go help Steve and- and Barnes, to kill them. But when we got there, they'd already been shot in their cryochambers. Instead, we were shown a video.” She took a shaky breath. “For almost thirty years, I blamed my father for drinking and driving, killing my mom. And that day, I found that they’d been assassinated, and the murderer was standing right next to me. And Steve had known.”

  Peter breathed in loudly. “Oh my god,” he whispered.

  She shook her head. “I wanted to hurt Barnes,” she admitted. “I wanted to smash his face into metal and choke him, so he’d know how it felt. So Steve knew how it felt. But I wouldn’t have killed him. I know I wouldn’t have. And Steve didn’t.”

  “You fought?” He guessed.

  She laughed bitterly. “We fought. And he managed to lodge his shield into my chest, into the arc reactor. It killed the power to my suit, so I couldn’t move, and he left with Barnes. My own fiancé, and he left me to die in a frozen desert.”

  The last words escaped in a sob and without thinking, Peter pulled her towards him. For a second, he thought she’d move away, but instead she turned to him, wrapping her arms around his torso, and cried into his chest. He held her tight, nose buried in her hair, trying to check the rage he felt on her behalf.

  She seemed so small like this, hiding in his embrace, and he wished he could keep her this way, safe and protected. But he could hear the pain in the way she spoke the name 'Steve' and he couldn’t help but wonder how much of her still loved the man who had hurt her.

  And how could he have? Peter thought bitterly. Here he was, dying for every chance to be close to her and that man, who had held her love, her heart, had thrown it away so casually. How?

Chapter Text

  They walked back to the ship with Toni hovering close to Peter's side. She wasn't crying anymore, but every now and then, a tremor passed through her body and Peter would want to pull her in, tuck her against his chest. When they reached the Milano, the rest of the crew was already there, waiting for them in solemn silence.

  Thor opened his arms as soon as they entered, and Toni burrowed into the god’s embrace, almost hidden by his massive bulk. Loki inched close as well, one hand carding through her hair.

  The rest stayed quiet, even Rocket, respecting the intimacy of the moment. Gamora caught Peter’s eye once and shook her head, and he guessed the Asgardians had explained the events to them.

  It was Loki who broke the silence with a cough. “Toni, love, it’s best if you put the Stone away now. It wouldn't be prudent to carry it around in hand.”

  Toni, pulling away from Thor and trying to compose herself, looked down at her hand that she'd kept clenched in a fist the whole time. The Reality Stone lay in her open palm, small and sharp-edged, like blood against her skin. With a trembling hand, she extended her arm towards the wooden box Loki had taken back from Tivan. She moved slowly, like she was reluctant to part with it, but she managed to tip her hand so it fell in, and Loki shut the lid with as loud snap.

  Immediately, a heaviness seemed to lift and everyone took a deep breath of relief.

  “I think it's best if we return to Asgard,” Loki said. “Again, it isn't very wise for us to wander the Yggdrassil with an Infinity Stone on board.”

  “You're leaving?” Toni bit her lip immediately, seemingly regretting her words.

  “We don’t have much choice,” he murmured, looking carefully blank, but Peter guessed he was feeling horribly guilty.

  “Yes, we have,” Thor said. He looked reluctant too. “One of us can go, one of us shall stay.”

  “No, somebody needs to go to earth and start preparing for the war,” Toni sighed. Looking at the thin mask of bravery over her face, Peter had half an urge to ask one of the gods to stay too. Whatever it took to make sure she was okay.

  “Well, I’ll go to Midgard then,” Thor growled and Toni's eyes widened.

  “Oh, no no no,” she denied. “Nope, not you, Point Break. You go to Asgard, Loki can take care of everything on earth.” As she stared Thor down, Loki nodded behind her, and Thor suddenly looked very contrite.

  “Of course, you’re right,” he agreed, way too smoothly. “Loki will take care of things much better than I can.”

  “Indeed,” Loki chuckled, and Toni suddenly looked nervous.

  “No, you’re right, maybe Thor should-“ She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence before Thor grabbed her in a hug. She stopped talking, melting into him easily.

  “Come walk with me sister,” he said, and Toni followed him out with a dejected expression.

  “May I have a moment with Star-Lord?” Loki asked.

  Peter really would have thought his friends loved him enough to not leave him alone with a god, whose sister he was head over heels for. But nope. Every single one of them filed out towards their rooms, while Rocket headed up to the driving console with a wink and a smirk at him.

  “Um, I’m going to miss you? Kind of?” Peter tried to joke.

  Loki had a perfect poker face. Moving slowly and deliberately, he brought his hand up, a long dagger glinting menacingly in the low lights. Peter swallowed, and forced himself to look him in the eyes. “I know,” he said, as strongly as he could. “I promise. I swear it.”

  He smiled too widely to be friendly. “I'm glad we understand each other,” he drawled, silky and dangerous. “Rest assured, I shall pass on your words to my brother as well.” The dagger vanished and he followed his brother and Toni out. After a few minutes, there was a flash of rainbow colored lights outside. When it faded, Toni walked up the ramp. It closed behind her. Up front, Rocket started take-off.

  “Ladies and not-so-gentle men,” his scratchy voice came up over the ship’s speakers. “Next stop: Sakaar.”

  Peter watched Toni, her armored boots locking onto the floor so she didn’t sway as the ship jostled. She was avoiding his eyes, obviously a bit embarrassed over her breakdown earlier.

  “You know,” he started, wanting to break the awkward silence. “Your gods are really intimidating.”

  She smiled tremulously. “Oh please,” she laughed lightly. “They're harmless sweethearts. What did Loki say to you?”

  “Nothing important,” he lied, not well by the way her eyes narrowed. “Hey, you’re gonna love Sakaar.”

  “Yeah?” She perked up in interest.

  “Yeah. The whole town is surrounded by scrap heaps. Metal, spare parts, damaged machinery, all of that shit. We don’t go there very often, it’s pretty dangerous, if you’re caught by a resident. So Rocket is always really excited when we have to make quick stops there.”

  She nodded, finally giving a proper smile. “Sounds amazing. I can't wait to pick up some alien tech to take back home.”

  Her last words hit him like an avalanche.

  "So what’s the next stop after Sakaar?”

  He sighed. “Nothing. We report back to Xandar, and then we drop you back on Terra Firma.”

  She stared. “Oh.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed softly, staring back at her. “Oh.”

  “Hold on tight, guys,” Peter announced, and Toni startled as Gamora wrapped an arm around her waist in support. “This is a tricky landing.”

  As he and Rocket maneuvered the Milano, Toni craned her neck to better see the stretch of junkyard for miles and miles. “Oh my god,” she whispered in marvel. In her head, she could feel FRIDAY's excited humming. Toni fidgeted, eager to start scavenging as soon as Peter finished passing instructions.

  “Alright, remember, we can't stay too long,” he said. “Gamora, stay here with Groot. Mantis, stick with Drax, search for the items on that list Rocket gave you. Rocket, head out in the direction of the Champions Tower. Toni and I will head towards the opposite direction. Please, be back before night. Especially you, Rocket.” He turned to Toni with a little frown. “Do I have to tell you not to wander off or give me the slip?”

  She raised her hands in surrender, internally cooing at his adorably skeptical expression. “Not at all. I'll stick with you the whole time, sir.”

  He snorted, shifting and adjusting his clothes slightly.

  The group dispersed, Peter following at a relatively sedate pace while she sprinted shortly ahead, trying to contain her glee. “This is it, Star-boy,” she announced. “Paradise. You've brought me to Paradise.”

  He shook his head hopelessly, coming to join her at the top of a heap. “You've been traveling in space for three months,” he reminded, as she got on her knees and started shifting through the pile, grabbing the pieces of shiny circuit boards and sparkly spheres that Rocket had identified as batteries. “You've seen a few of the most impressive sights, though there are obviously galaxies left, and in spite of that, a garage of junk is your idea of heaven.”

  “Nothing more beautiful in all the worlds,” she sang loudly, inspecting a blinking light. “This is pretty. Remind me to ask Rocket about it.” She was pretty sure she heard him mutter the word 'pretty' under his breath in a disbelieving way.

  They went on like this, Toni stuffing every interesting object she could find into her bag, filling Peter’s satchel when she could no longer fit anything into her own. “You're lucky I brought this,” he said, and she absently patted his shoulder in gratitude. As she collected, dumpster diving, as Peter- her Peter, Peter Parker- would have called it, Peter- new Peter, Peter Quill- Jesus, she needed to figure out a different way of referencing them- filled her in about the planet and it’s Grandmaster and his Contest of Champions. The sarcastic disapproval in his voice was palpable.

  As the sun, more orange than she was used to, began to set, Peter frowned, listening intently to his ear piece. She resisted hacking into the communication lines, knowing he’d tell her if it was important.

  He did.

  “Uh, Toni? Rocket's calling us, he says he’s found something you should see.”

  “Oh?” She got to her feet, curious. “Did he say what?”

  “No,” he said, sounding confused. They began walking in Rocket’s direction. “But he says it’s got your name on it.”

  She blinked. “My name?”

  “Yeah, come on. It’s not a long walk.”

  As they neared their destination, a very familiar structure came into her sight. “Oh, no,” she whispered, the only obvious conclusion coming easily to her.

  “What is it?”

  She ignored him, instead running nearer to the quinjet. Her eyes traced over it, noting the chipped black paint and the name ‘Stark’ engraved in arc reactor blue, under a wing, small and near invisible to the unknowing eye.

  “Impressive build, Stark,” Rocket commented grudgingly. “It survived the Devil’s Anus, obviously, and not a lot of ships can say the same.”

  “How did it get here?” Peter asked.

  Toni swallowed. “I think I know. FRIDAY, connect to the console, open up the ramp.”

  -Sure, Boss. Shall I also queue up the ship’s log?-

  “Yeah.” The ramp opened up, and the trio walked in. Toni dashed over to the console, tapping across the board.

  “Voice Identification required.”

  “Toni Stark.”

  “Welcome, Iron Woman.”

  “Ship’s log, FRI.”

  The video played, just a short clip of the Hulk throwing out an Ultron.

  “What is that?” Rocket asked.

  “The Hulk,” she replied. “One of the Avengers. Bruce Banner is his alter ego.”

  The clip ended and Natasha Romanoff appeared on-screen. “Bruce, we can't track you in stealth-mode, so I'm going to need you to-“ 

  “Um, Toni?” Peter sounded worried. “Not to alarm you, but... Isn’t that your friend’s face on the Champions Tower?”

  She followed his line of sight and horror struck her as she stared at the much-missed face of the Hulk, engraved into the side of the Tower.

  “Oh no,” she whispered again, her hands gripping the edge of the console. “Oh no no no no no.”

  “Toni, hey, look at me.” Peter grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes.

  “I have to get him,” she hissed. “I can't leave him here, I have to help him!”

  “I know,” he consoled. “Tell us how you want to do this.”

  It was almost ridiculously easy to march into the Tower, though a part of Toni just wanted to fly in and drag Hulk out. But that wasn’t subtle. Or doable. Hence, the easily breakable wrist manacles and the electroshock badge in her neck, tampered with by Rocket, so the voltage was too low to hurt, and Peter pretending to forcibly drag her to the Grandmaster. Now it was all up to how well they could act.

  “Grandmaster of Sakaar!” Peter called loudly, tugging Toni behind him. They came to stand in front of a stout woman with white face paint and a grumpy expression and a man with shockingly white hair who looked too much like Jeff Goldblum. “I am a traveler from afar. In exchange for safe passage, I have brought you a contender for your Contest of Champions.”

  Toni looked around, wondering where the elusive Grandmaster was. Then the Jeff-doppelganger stepped forward with a flourish of his sparkling robes. “Right, right, I see,” he mused, squinting at them. “And uh, you are who, exactly?”

  “I'm just a traveler,” Peter deflected. “This is the contender.”

  “Oh-kay,” he dragged out the word. He turned to Toni. “So, what can you do?”

  Toni snarled, anger reflected on her face. It was easy enough to find that anger. “Get me out of these manacles, Jeffrey, and I'll show you what I can do.”

  “Oooh,” the guy chuckled. “Feisty, huh? I like it. And the nickname's cute too, you can call me Jeffrey, I love it.” He blatantly surveyed her form. "Alrighty, we’ll find someone you can take on and-“

  “With all due respect, sir,” Peter interrupted. “My contender is quite fit to battle your Champion.”

  If possible, the Grandmaster's eyes sparkled with additional glee. “Confident, yeah, that's good, that's very good. Okay.” He clapped his hands, rubbing them together. “What's your name, young lady?”

  “Iron Woman,” she answered coolly.

  “l see, okay. Martha.”

  The grumpy lady stepped forward.

  “Take this Woman of Iron to the armory. And then send word to prepare the Champion for a fight.”

  Peter’s hand twitched at the small of her back. Toni had one split second to see the fear and worry in his green eyes, before she was whisked away by Martha. I'll be okay, she wanted to reassure him. It'll all be fine.

Chapter Text

  Toni was first dragged to the so-called armory, its wall lined with shelves that were filled with all sorts of weapons, ranging from swords and knives to guns to weird hooked spears that she had no name for.

  “Take your pick,” Martha intoned monotonously.

  Toni shook her head. “I don’t need a weapon,” she said. “I'm fine barehanded.” Of course, she wouldn’t actually be without a weapon, but they didn’t need to know that. But Martha insisted, glaring menacingly at her, so, with a sigh, she randomly selected a long dagger. Loki had tried to teach her how to handle blades, but had quickly deemed her hopeless.

  Martha then started leading her down a long hallway. There was an iron gate at the end and, through it, Toni could hear the excited cries of a crowd, reminiscent of the audience at a baseball game. As Martha undid her manacles, Toni peeked out through the gaps of the gate. From the looks of it, the arena was at the heart of the Tower. She could see the dark sky through the glass panes on the ceiling.

  As the gate opened, sliding upwards slowly, Toni stepped forward, dagger ready in her hand, her mind as calm and focused, ready for a fight.

  “Ladies and gentlemen of Sakaar,” the Grandmaster’s voice carried across the arena. “Our contender for tonight: the fiercely confident and dangerously beautiful Woman Of Iron!”

  Toni smiled sharply at the special viewing room, where Peter was watching her with disguised concern, absently waving off the Grandmaster's pathetic attempts at flirting. She tried to convey some form of assurance with a smile, but mostly she turned to the crowd at large, with a press-perfect smile and a mocking bow.

  Oh, she was going to enjoy fucking this show up.

  “And now, it's time,” the Grandmaster continued. “Please welcome the defending champion: the marvelous, the ruthless, the incredible-"

  “HULK!” The sliding doors at the other end of the arena was smashed to pieces and a much-loved green giant came crashing through.

  It was like waking up from a dream. From within the confines of Hulk’s mind, Bruce saw an all too familiar figure, standing directly in front of him, and the haziness he'd trapped himself in disappeared. He regained some form of control again. He had one hand on the steering wheel.

 “Toni?” Hulk roared in question, his massive bulk skidding to a stop at the sight of her.

  “Hey, big guy,” Toni murmured and Bruce groaned. Why, oh why, isn’t she in the armor? “Nice to see you after so long. You enjoying yourself here?”

  “Good place,” Hulk rumbled, a little confused as to how friend Toni was here. “Lots of smashing. People like Hulk.” The answer seemed to throw Toni a little, Bruce observed, as he tried to push Hulk away.

  "You... You like it here, Greenie?” She asked.

  The roaring of the crowds subsided, everyone watching wonder-struck as the strange new woman conversed with the most savage fighter they'd ever had. Hulk growled at Bruce, not wanting to withdraw.

  “Earth doesn’t like Hulk,” he complained. “Hulk likes it here.” He paused, grunting as he reached forward with one large finger to pat the top of Toni’s head. Bruce was beginning to hyperventilate. -Don't touch her, you idiot. You'll hurt her!

  Hulk ignored him, gently patting her hair. “Hulk missed Toni,” he admitted.

  Bruce could see the instant relief in her eyes. “You ready to go home, baby?”

  “What’s going on down there?” The Grandmaster could be heard screaming. “Start the fight!”

  For five seconds, Hulk considered staying. But Puny Banner wasn’t happy here and Toni always kept Hulk safe on Earth. So he nodded.

  “I'm gonna need Bruce for a while then, okay?” She whispered. “On my mark. You ready?”

  "Ready,” Hulk roared in return.

  Toni grinned, sharp and vicious, a gauntlet forming over her hand with the smoothness of silk. “Let's kick some ass, Green Bean.

  A repulsor blast lit up the dim arena. With a sharp cracking sound, a hole appeared in the glass roof. Chaos descended. There was a sharp sizzle of electricity on the skin of Toni’s neck, but she’d felt worse during lab accidents so she ignored it. Instead, armored boots making an appearance, she flew up to the viewing room.

  Covering her head as she broke through the glass, shards cutting into her skin, she grabbed hold of the Grandmaster, vaguely aware of Peter ducking away to get back to the quinjet. Locking his flailing limbs inside her elbows, she dragged him out over the arena. Very aware of the fact that he was a Celestial and, theoretically, could magic her into oblivion, she simply tossed him into the audience.

  Turning back to where she'd been standing, she found Bruce, in the place of the Hulk, very much disoriented and very much naked. Well, good thing neither of them had any shame when it came to the human physique. In one smooth curve, she swooped over to him, hugging him to herself, and took off through the hole in the roof, the rest of the armor forming over her. Bruce, though still mostly out of it, had gained enough lucidity to wrap his arms around her tightly, hiding his face in the crook of her shoulder.

  Leaving behind the loud pandemonium of the arena, she flew over the crowds outside in the direction of the quinjet as fast as she dared without the risk of giving poor Bruce whiplash.
She alighted near the open ramp, almost dragging Bruce along. “Bruce, you gotta hold on, okay?”

  Peter steadied them both as they entered, but she brushed off his hand, the armor sliding back under her skin. They had to get out of here as soon as possible. “Peter, give him the clothes you brought.” She had to give him credit for not even blinking at Bruce's nude state. “Tell Rocket to be ready.”

  She started up the jet, hands moving across the dashboard like lightning. They took off just in time, as large circular planes began appearing, weapons firing without inhibition.

  The Grandmaster's mildly annoyed voice was ringing throughout the grounds. “The green-eyed gorgeous rogue known as Star-Prince and his contender, the dangerously beautiful Woman of Iron, have kidnapped and brainwashed my beloved champion...”

  "It's Star-Lord!" Peter half-growled.

  “I should have broken his jaw,” Toni muttered, piloting the ship as best as she could in its damaged state, all the while dodging open fire from the their pursuers.

  “Toni, Rocket's right behind the fighters!” Peter yelled.

  “On my way,” she called back. The quinjet started off in the direction of the Devil's Anus. She switched on the autopilot, making sure FRIDAY knew when to exit the systems, and joined Peter and Bruce at the bomber doors. “I'm going to deploy flares,” she yelled, grabbing Peter's collar so he could hear her. “Their missiles are heat-seeking and it'll serve as our decoy. Stay on my tail.”

  When he nodded in confirmation, Toni grabbed Bruce close again. On her count, they flew together, the flares lighting up behind them. As they escaped the view of the planes, the quinjet was fired at, exploding into pieces. Behind them, Toni spotted the Milano and with a couple banks, all three of them were stumbling through the open bay doors. Before they had even regained their balance, there was an increase in speed, her ears popping as the ship travelled through the Devil’s Anus.

  It lasted for exactly twenty-two seconds, then they were calmly floating along in space.

  Toni unwound from Bruce slowly, warily. Bruce blinked hard. There was an odd fear in his eyes, as he looked around the ship, at Peter, Gamora, Mantis. Everywhere but her.

  “Bruce?” Toni said his name softly. “Are you okay?”

  “You came,” he breathed out.

  She frowned. “Of course, I did, soon as I found out you were there. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

  He gave a tremulous smile. “I haven't been doing any thinking since Ultron.”

  Toni swallowed nervously. “That was, uh, two years ago, buddy.”

  His jaw slackened. “I've been the Hulk for two years?” He asked. “Jesus, I didn't... Christ.” He began shaking again. “I just ran away, didn't I? Damn it, Toni, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I left you alone to deal with everything-“

 “Hey, hey, hey, no, it's okay,” Toni soothed, hugging him tightly. “I know what Romanoff did, she confessed later. It's not your fault. You’re okay. You're okay.”

  Bruce gripped her almost painfully. Toni heard Gamora herd everyone away from the room, and she was grateful for the privacy, as she whispered comforting assurances to Bruce while he wept tears into her clothes.

Chapter Text

  Peter felt someone behind him. Turning around, he found Toni watching him blankly, like she wasn’t actually seeing anything. “Hey, Starlight,” he murmured. “You with me?”

  She blinked and gave a lopsided smile. “Where else would I be?”

  He didn't answer that. “How’s your friend?”

  “Bruce’s fine. At least, he will be.” She sighed, coming to sit next to him. “He's been through so much. And he's been through it alone. Two years, damn it. If I’d just...”

  “I don't think he'd be okay with you blaming yourself,” he cut in.

  She shook her head. “You're right. I should... I should focus on getting him home and... And helping him.”

  He nodded, ignoring the stab of pain at the word 'home’. “Are you going... Do you...?” Do you really want to go back?

  “What is it?”

  “Do you wanna pilot?”

  Her eyes brightened and fuck, but he did that. Not Steve Rogers, or Loki and Thor. Him.

  “Yes! I'd been terrified of space at first, but now? Thank you! Just show me what to do.”

  He laughed at her enthusiasm and began showing her the basic controls. She picked them up easily and was soon flying the ship perfectly, deliberately doing loops and sharp turns to show off.

  “You're a natural!” He beamed. “See, it’s like you belong here.”

  He hadn’t meant to say that, but Toni’s expression shuttered, her eyes gazing faraway. “It... Does feel that way,” she agreed softly.

  He didn’t reply, just sat back and let her fly. “We’ll reach Xandar in less than an hour,” he said instead. “I was thinking... Maybe stay there for a day? I could show you around,” he offered, when she didn’t look quite convinced. “You didn’t really get a lot of time to sight-see the first time around. The market there is pretty well-stocked, you’d love it.”

  “You sure about that?” She teased.

  “I think I can read you pretty well,” he said quietly.

  She looked at him, then. Her state was hard, all of a sudden. Not cold, but calculating. “Yes,” she hummed. “Yes, you really do. It should freak me out.”

  “But it doesn’t?”

  “It should.” She turned away again. “Maybe, we’ll stay a day, yeah. Bruce... He needs the rest. Even if for a short while. Just promise me something?”

  He tilted his head curiously. “What?”

  “When it’s time for me to leave... Please don’t stop me.”

  The one day flew past in a flurry. Peter refused, non-verbally, to leave Toni's side, taking her walking through the whole main city, while the rest of the team rested.

  Toni was ecstatic, dashing through the roads with the excitement of a child. She bargained with the best of them, haggling and negotiating like a pro and Peter could see traces of the genius businesswoman in her, even if she never actually bought anything. Not that Peter wouldn't have bought a few things for her, but, for a billionaire, Toni was surprisingly touchy about money.

  “Do you think Rocket would let me take a few things back home?” She asked, casually inspecting a small marble, strung on a chain, that pulsed with star-light in her hand. “If I let him have an arc reactor core for studying? This is really pretty.”

  “You're gonna have to ask him.” He shrugged. “Rocket is protective of his tech, but he also loves new stuff. And that is called a star-light pendant. Not very inventive, if you think about it.”

  Toni nodded. “I always keep a few cores on me, in case this one is damaged. The reactor itself can be repaired easily, but if the core gets burnt or contaminated, it needs to be replaced.” She placed the marble back. “How did they trap light in it?” She wondered. “There's no visible battery source.”

  “They didn’t trap it,” he told her, as they began moving forward. “The marble itself is made of melted cosmic dust. But the inside is still dust, in dust form. So when the contents are upset, they glow just like cosmic dust does in open space.” As he spoke, the memory of that night came to the forefront of his mind. He could remember it all too clearly: Toni’s small hands warm against his shoulders, her tiny frame swimming in his jacket, the glow of the reactor and the light from the dust outside coagulating into a kaleidoscope in her eyes.

  Beside him, Toni had quieted down, with a pensive look that suggested she was thinking about that same night.

  “Toni-“

  “It’s getting late,” she interrupted. “I told Bruce we’ll be leaving early tomorrow, Gamora agreed. We should get some rest.”

  Peter swallowed. His heart was hammering loudly and he wanted to scream but... “Yeah. Yeah, you're right. We should. Rest.”

  Toni looked at him, and for a few seconds, he thought he saw disappointment flash through her eyes. Then it was gone and she was turning back the way they'd come from.

  “You go ahead, Starlight,” he called. “I'll follow in a few minutes.”

  “Hey.”

  Toni looked up to see Bruce standing awkwardly at the door of her guest room in Xandar. “Hey. You okay?”

  “Yeah, I just...” He came in to sit beside her on the bed and she put her tablet away. “Seems crazy. We’re in actual space. Like, we’re on another planet right now.”

  “You've been on planets before.”

  “Yeah, one,” he snorted. "Or two. Now this is three."

  They sat in silence for some time.

  “Natasha really confessed?” He asked. “That doesn't sound like her.”

  Toni winced, feeling sheepish. “I’d just suspected, to be honest. So, when I couldn't find any trace of you, I...”

  “What?”

  “I invited the team over for dinner and used truth serum in the food,” she said in a rush.

  Bruce stared.

  “I swear, there were no major side effects,” she assured. “They fell asleep, I went into their rooms one by one to wake and interrogate them, then they fell asleep again. None of them remembered anything and I didn't see the point in confronting Romanoff about it.”

  “What did I do to deserve you?” He asked softly.

  She shrugged. “Probably all sorts of gruesome sins.”

  He shook his head. “Don't do that,” he warned. “What happened after Sokovia?”

  “Pietro died in the battle.”

  “I don’t wanna say good riddance, but... What about the sister?”

  “Steve inducted her into the Avengers.”

  “He did what?”

  She sighed, throwing her hands up. “I tried to get her examined, at least, but he wasn’t hearing it. Anyway, I retired from the official team after that, so I figured, maybe, I didn’t have any say in the matter.”

  Bruce groaned. “Is it bad that I don’t really wanna go back to them?”

  They shared a glance, then cracked a smile each.

  “You never wanted to be part of the Avengers, Brucie. That was me.”

  “Yes, but you had Steve, right?” He reminded, leaning back on his hands. “How are you two anyway? Can’t imagine he was too happy about you going off on a space adventure all alone.”

  For a few seconds, she stayed silent. “No, he wasn’t very happy to let me go,” she stated quietly. “He... He proposed... Sometime after Ultron.”

  Bruce smiled at her. “Wow, that... That’s great. Why do you... Oh.” The smile turned into a sympathetic grimace. “Didn’t work out, did it?”

  Toni almost laughed at the phrasing. “Do you remember reading about the Avenger Accords?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “The first drafts started after New York, right?”

  “Well, they really picked up traction after Sokovia and then it was proposed to us after an incident in Lagos. The Sokovia Accords. Steve... Didn’t agree. Took half of the Avengers with him.”

  “Shit,” he cursed. “He thought he could punch his way out of it, didn’t he?”

  She shook her head. “At first, yes. Except I almost got him to sign, but then I mentioned Wanda being under house arrest, for her miscalculation in Lagos, which resulted in eleven people dead.”

  “Why is that a bad thing? The public would have killed her, house arrest was the safest option for her.”

  “Steve thought it would be setting a bad precedent for Bucky Barnes.”

  Bruce blinked. “Barnes? Steve’s best friend who died, Barnes? He’s alive?”

  “He's alive. He was the Winter Soldier, brainwashed and controlled by Hydra.”

  He swore, again, which was actually a rare occurrence. “So what happened?”

  “There was... A huge fight at the airport. Rhodey... Rhodey can’t walk without braces.” She rubbed her forehead, suddenly feeling drained. “Barton, Wilson, Maximoff and a new guy called Lang, were imprisoned. Romanoff had turned on us, so she hightailed. Rogers and Barnes went after five more Winter Soldiers about to be triggered. I went to help them.” She copied his position, leaning back so they were shoulder to shoulder. “Only they were already dead. Instead, we were shown a video. Of December 16, 1991. Howard and Maria Stark were... Assassinated by the Winter Soldier.”

  Bruce sucked in a sharp breath. “Steve knew,” he guessed softly.

  She nodded, surprised that there were no tears. It was funny, but ever since the incident with the Reality Stone, she felt... Lighter. “He knew and thought there was no point telling me. Meaning, that he didn’t trust me not to understand that Barnes had no control. Sure I would have been pissed off initially, but... I wouldn’t have held it against him... Right?”

  He nodded firmly. “No. No, you wouldn’t have. Steve just didn’t want to risk losing his funding for the search.”

  She nodded too. “Well, we fought. Badly. First, I was just trying to hurt them, but... Barnes got to my reactor, I blasted his arm off, Steve thought I was going for the kill and pinned me, destroyed my armor and left.”

  “Left?” He repeated. “What, he just left you there?” There was a dangerous glint in his eyes, tinged green, that she didn’t notice.

  “Let’s forget about that,” she pleaded. “I don’t wanna think about it.”

  He took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s talk about something else.” He thought about it for a minute, then smirked. “Hey. How badly do you think Steve is gonna react when he realizes you've got an alien admirer?”

  “Groot?” She chuckled. “I can’t imagine he’d see a talking tree as competition, though, to be fair, I’d take Groot over him any day.”

  He stared. “Toni. Toni, you poor, innocent, naïve, blind, person.”

  “Uh, what?”

  “I'm not talking about Groot!” He cried. “Quill, Toni. Peter Quill. The guy looks at you with literal hearts in his eyes.”

  She stared back. “Quill? That's not... He doesn’t.”

  “He kinda does.”

  “But that's... Oh fuck.” She suddenly went pale as a sheet. “That... That explains... So much... Like... Everything.”

  He rolled his eyes. “What a heartbreaker,” he muttered. “Listen, Peter might be good for you,” he told her. “I mean, there’s the part where you live literal light years away from each other, but... Just think about it.”

  “What, long distance?” She demanded, hysteric. “Or are you saying that I should just leave earth and stay with them full-time? Or I should ask Peter to stay back on earth for me?”

  “Yes,” he answered calmly.

  She paused. “Yes, what?”

  He shrugged. “Whatever you think is right. But I’d like to point out: you didn't mention that you don't have feelings for him, nor did you argue the fact that he's good for you.”

  In the end, Peter volunteered to be the one to fly them back to earth, dropping them off in a pod just above the atmosphere. It had the advantage of Toni having a large piece of alien tech to study.

  “Peter?” Gamora was standing with her arms crossed. “Are you sure you can do this?”

  “Yeah, of course.” He scoffed. “It's just a taxi job.”

  “It's a taxi job for Toni,” she pointed out.

  He rolled his eyes. “What do you want me to say, Gamora? Yes, she’s mind-blowingly amazing, in every way. Yes, she makes a pretty awesome addition to the team. Yes, I like her. Way more than I should. No, I can't do anything about it, because, she's still in love with the asshole who hurt her.”

  “I think she at least deserves to know.”

  “Why, so she can let me down easy?”

  The lime-skinned assassin gave him a stern look. “Give her a chance.” With the end of that cryptic sentence, the rest of the team came in, Drax carrying two large bags, each belonging to Toni and Bruce.

  “Alright, this is it, humies,” Rocket announced. “No second chances here: you sure you wanna go back to that dump of a planet?”

  Toni snorted. “What, and leave behind a shining personality like you? Why would I ever wanna do that?” The words would have seemed hurtful, but Rocket snickered, holding out a small paw for a fist bump, which she returned enthusiastically.

  “If you don’t want to leave, then why are you?” Drax asked, confusion clear in his voice at the exchange of friendly barbs.

  Immediately, there was a look of sudden tension between Toni and Bruce. It was almost imperceptible, just a tightening of the lips, a flicker of the eyes, but Peter had been too observant of her not to notice.

  “Duty calls, Mr Clean,” Toni said with a grin that seemed too forced and just like that Peter felt his hopes rise. He squashed it down instantly.

  The final good-byes were exchanged. As Toni and Bruce went to their rooms, Gamora herded the rest of them out, throwing another stern look at Peter. Only Groot stayed behind.

  “You coming with us, Woody?” Peter asked, as he took his seat at the console and took off quickly. The sooner he got this done, the faster he’d be able to get over it.

  The kid sniffled, his eyes suddenly watery. “I am Groot.” He even sounded miserable. “I am Groot.”

  Peter sighed, taking the shortest jump point. “Yeah, I know,” he said sadly. “I don’t want her to go either.”

  “I am Groot?”

  “No, she has to go. She has work. That’s her home.”

  “I am Groot.”

  “Oh, kiddo.” They both startled, finding Toni approaching them and taking a seat next to Peter. “I'm gonna miss you too, you know that.”

  Groot sniffled again, climbing up her torso and settling into the curve of her shoulder. Toni patted his head with a smile, but her eyes were fixed on Peter. “You don’t want me to go, do you?”

  He shrugged, not surprised that she’d already seen that in him. “Where'd you get that idea?”

  “Bruce mentioned something. Haven't been able to get it out of my head.”

  He reassessed his thoughts: Toni was way too oblivious to have noticed.

  “You... You could try asking me to stay,” she offered.

  “I already know what you'll say,” he said.

  She looked out the glass at the approaching planet. “They need me,” she said quietly.

  “They don't deserve you,” he argued. He turned to her with a sudden frenzy. “You actually don’t have to go back. You can stay here with us. Stay with me.”

  “Peter-“

  “Do you love him?”

  She choked. “WHAT?”

  “Captain America, your ex, Rogers. Do you still love him?”

  She sighed. “Three months ago, I would have said 'yes’.” She paused. “Three months ago... I would have been wrong.”

  “And now?” He wondered.

  “I don’t think I’ve been in love with him for two years. Not since... Not since we fought.”

  “Then why?” Peter snapped, not wanting to beg. “Why won’t you... Star-light, do you want to go back?”

  She opened her mouth, then closed it again and shook her head. “I'm happy here,” she confessed timidly, her voice breaking. “I've been happier here in the last three months than I’ve been in five years. But...” She took a deep breath. “But the Avengers are earth’s best chance. And I’m their first line of defense.”

  There was a knock on the wall. Bruce was standing, one bag in his hand, the other slung over his shoulder, looking a mix of sad and uncomfortable. “Toni... I'm waiting in the pod, okay?”

  He left and Toni sighed, getting up and letting Groot scramble back on the console. Berating himself for his impulsiveness, Peter grabbed her wrist, loosening his hold when she stiffened, and stood up, his other hand clenched in his pocket.

  “Toni, I-“

  “Don't. Please, don't.” She swallowed. “I wish we had more time.”

  He nodded, his throat closing up. “Take care of yourself, Star-light.”

  For a few seconds, they stared at each other. Peter closed his eyes. He didn’t want her to see his tears and he wouldn’t be able to see hers.

  Instead, he brought her hand up, placing a kiss over her knuckles, holding her there for as long as she let him. He sensed her step closer, felt delicate fingers on his neck and warm lips over his jaw. Then her hand slipped away and she left.

  Peter stayed where his was. There was the sound of the pod detaching from the Milano, the faint sound of engines. His eyes remained close, no tears slipping, and his hand stayed in his pocket, grasping the star-light pendant that Toni had admired just a day ago.

  "I am Groot?"

  He swallowed back a sob. "Yeah. Yeah, I do," he whispered.

Chapter Text

T minus 78 days (3 months)

  Peter watched the meeting with concerned eyes hidden by the mask. The blue alien with the cool fin looked utterly bored. The Crap-tain had a very peeved look, along with the rest of the Rogues, while the Iron Fam looked tired and annoyed.

  “You're not seriously saying we let you go up there alone?” Rogers was saying. “We don’t have any leverage there, we don’t have any intel; you’re not going up there, Toni, I’m serious ab- mmphh!”

  A web covered his mouth, effectively silencing him. “She told you not to call her that,” Peter reminded cheerfully. “You have to call her Miss Stark. Or Dr Stark, if you wanna get accurate.”

  Rhodey snickered, while Toni glared slightly. “Behave yourself, Spider-Man,” she reprimanded, while Dr Wizard vanished the webbing away with a flick of his fingers, not even bothering to hide his smile.

  “So, it’s decided, then,” Romanoff intervened. “Toni-“

  Peter cleared his throat.

  “Miss Stark will be leaving on this mission to travel with the Guardians of the Galaxy for three months.”

  The meeting over, they all filed out, Mr Dory heading back to his pod while Toni went to pack. Like rehearsed, Peter followed, only to find Harley already waiting in her room.

  “So you’re really leaving?” Harley asked, obviously having been watching the live feed, courtesy of FRIDAY.

  “Don't see that I have much choice, kiddo,” Toni said. “Thanos is coming. Earth is seriously under-prepared. This is a good diplomatic mission to make friends.”

  “Hey, you know what this means.” Peter nudged his brother, taking off his mask to wiggle his eyebrows.

  “It means nothing,” Toni cut in. “Just because I'm gone, doesn’t mean you guys are off the hook. When I come back, you’d better still be up to date with all your schoolwork, training should have been regular, and my lab had better be in pristine condition, with no tampering from either of you. Capiche?”

  “Yes, mom,” both of them chorused, absolutely delighted at the small smile that crossed her face. They didn’t call her mom very often, due to some sort of hidden fear that that kind of display of love was taboo, but when they did, it was worth it.

  In an hour’s time, they were saying their goodbyes. FRIDAY had somehow barred the Rogues from leaving the building, so it was just them, Rhodey and Dr Strange.

  “You'll be okay, yes?” Dr Strange was saying, hugging Toni tightly. Even Levi had wrapped her hems around her. “Anything goes wrong, you know how to contact me.” He tapped her wrist, indicating the bracelet he’d given her long ago. “You'll have an escape portal in a jiffy, one way or another.”

  “Of course.” She smiled. “Thanks, Awesome Facial Hair Bro.” She held out a hand for a high five, and he obliged, even as he groaned.

  “We agreed not to talk about that dimension,” he muttered, as she clasped his hand lightly.

  She turned to Rhodey, giving him an even longer hug and a kiss on the cheeks. “See you soon, honey bear.”

  “See you soon, Tones.” They never said the word goodbye to each other; it was a thing between them.

  “Give my love to Pep and Happy. Stay good, boys. Don’t harass the others.”

  They all stayed and watched as the pod took off.

  For a few seconds, there was silence. Then: “We’re going to make their lives hell, right?”

  Everyone turned to Harley, then exchanged glances.

  “I'll call Shuri,” Peter volunteered. “She has the best ideas.”

T minus 71 days

  It started small, as all things do.

  Steve always had a cup of coffee when he came back from his morning run, having left it to brew slowly on a pre-set timer after waking up.

  That day, he came back from his run, exhausted and sweating, only to find the brewer empty. “Did... Did someone drink my coffee?” He asked.

   The only one present was Strange, who was reading the paper. “I beg your pardon?” He looked up, with a blank expression.

  “Did someone drink my coffee?” He repeated. “I always leave a cup on before going for a run, but...”

  “You must have forgotten,” he replied. “Nobody else is up at this time and I drink tea.”

  Steve blinked, unsure. “Maybe,” he murmured. He left another cup to brew again, then decided to take a shower.

  When he came back, feeling wonderfully refreshed, even though his mind, as was usual these days, was preoccupied with Toni, he went straight for the coffee machine. Except...

  “What?” He exclaimed. “It's gone again.”

  Strange looked up at him in annoyance. “What is it now, Rogers?”

  “My coffee,” he said. “I left another cup to brew before showering, and now it’s gone.”

  The wizard looked at him with a very unimpressed glare. “I was sitting right here, Mr Rogers. You didn’t leave any coffee in the machine at all.”

  “I'm very sure I did.”

  He sighed. “Look, just put another cup on. It’ll be done by the time you finish with breakfast.”

  Puzzled, but clueless as to what else he could do, Steve did as suggested. He put another cup of coffee to brew, then went about breakfast.

  He ate in silence, Strange opposite him immersed in the paper. Clint and Natasha walked in, the former yawning as they joined them at the table, both of them ignoring Strange.

  After a few minutes, Steve stood up to get his coffee.

  “Okay, this is ridiculous!” He threw his hands up in frustration. “Strange! Are you playing a game with me?”

  “Now what?” Stephen looked up with a long-suffering sigh.

  “The coffee is gone,” he growled. “Again.”

  “Did you even put any coffee grounds in it, when I told you to?”

  “You saw me!”

  He raised a judging eyebrow. “I was a little busy with the news, Mr Rogers,” he spoke slowly, as if explaining to a child.

  “But I did put it in,” Steve insisted. “FRIDAY, show me the footage from ten minutes ago.”

  The AI obliged. A hologram lit up, showing Steve talking with Strange, then immediately putting breakfast together. There were no signs of coffee anywhere.                       

  “I don’t know, man, seems like you imagined it,” Clint said in amusement.

  Steve stammered “But... But, I did... I did put it in.”

  “I've said it before and I'll say it again.” Strange stood up, his ridiculous cloak settling around his shoulders. “You need help, Mr Rogers. Or perhaps you've simply grown senile.” He disappeared through a portal before any of them could reply.

T minus 65 days

  Wanda watched in pondering silence as the brunet diligently poured packets of glitter into a large bowl, sheets of colored paper spread around him.

  “What are you doing?” She asked, mostly bored. 

  There was no response.

  “Hey, I’m talking to you.” She snapped her fingers, careful not to use her magic.

  Harley looked up in surprise. “Yes, Wendy?” He asked politely.

  “My name is Wanda,” she corrected through grit teeth. For some reason, lots of the new Avengers had trouble remembering her name. She wasn’t stupid. Wanda wasn’t exactly a complicated name. “I asked what you’re doing.”

  “I am doing a project,” he replied calmly. “For school.”

  “Hmm.” Something about his flippant attitude bothered her, reminding her of Stark. “Do you have to do it in the common room? You’re getting glitter everywhere.”

  “It's called common room for a reason, Winnie,” he said. “Why is it bothering you?”

  “Because,” she said, annoyed. “Glitter gets on everything. It's ridiculously hard to get rid off and I don't want it on my clothes or hair.”

 Harley looked up at her thoughtfully. “You know what, Wilhelmina?” He stood up, gathering his stuff. “You're absolutely right. I’ll get out of your hair.” Saying that, he left.

  Wanda relaxed and turned on the television, playing with red mist twisting between her fingers. It was almost two hours before she started feeling sleepy. Stretching, she got to her feet and made her way to her room.

  As she opened the door, something blew up at her feet in a cloud of... Pink? She frowned then looked up at her room. Her red and gold, sparkling room.

  Needless to say, she screeched.

T minus 59 days

  Clint crawled along the vents as silently as he always did. For all of Stark’s paranoia, she didn’t have the vents under surveillance. And now that she wasn’t here, it was the perfect time to get into the lab so he could get started on those reports Fury wanted about what she got up to nowadays.

  “Nat, is FRIDAY down yet?” He asked in a low voice.

  The reply came in his ear. “Almost. This is Stark we’re talking about. It’s pretty complicated.” He heard a few faint taps of keys. “Okay, it’s done. All security systems are disabled. Get in and be quick.”

  Clint lifted the grate and swiftly dropped down in the lab. Natasha had left the lights on, so he don’t have much trouble finding her tablet. He tapped the screen. “Nat, it’s asking for a password.”

  “Try Edwin or Jarvis,” she suggested.

  It was the second that worked. Or, at least, he thought it did, until he read the message that popped up:

                      TRY HARDER, DOOFUS

  “Um, I don’t think it worked,” he muttered.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, it's showing me this-“

  He froze. There was a whirring sound behind him, a sound that was all too familiar from battles fought together.

  “Clint? What's going on?”

  He didn't reply immediately. Gingerly, he set the tablet back down and turned around slowly, hand steady on his gun. Behind him, there was a row of five Iron Woman suits stood inside their glass cases. He wondered briefly why she still had them, when the suit now resided inside her. Probably sentiment, going by the damaged conditions of them.

  That was all he had time to think of, before the lights went out. It was pitch black, except... Except the glowing blue arc reactors in each of the suits.

  “Nat? Hey, Tasha, I need the lights back up, pronto.” He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the glow, and he couldn’t quite keep the fear out of his voice either. “Tasha?” He repeated when there was no answer.

  Another whirring sound. This time there was no mistaking it. Five suits of armor raised their arms, repulsors aiming straight for him as the glass barriers slid away.

  Clint gasped, panic flooding him, and turned on his heel, running blindly in the direction of the exit. There was the clank of heavy machinery from behind him. Mercifully, the door slid open on its own and he dashed out, just as there was a low female chuckle echoing around the lab with a slightly mechanical tone to it.

  He didn’t stay long enough to ponder it, choosing instead to run up the stairs.

  “Natasha!” He yelled, skidding into her room. “Natasha, there are actual TERMINATORS in there!”

T minus 52 days

  Natasha walked into the training room with the intention of working off some stress. She has not expected to find the Princess of Wakanda already there. Natasha had a moment of disorientation when she realized the teen was wearing loose slacks and a comfortable blouse, obviously for training.

  “Miss Romanoff,” she greeted cordially.

  “Princess Shuri.” She inclined her head respectfully. “It's a surprise seeing you here.”

  “Well, to be truthful, I was hoping to have a chance to spar with you,” she admitted. “After all, if I am to become the Black Panther one day, I will need to be proficient in all ways of fighting.”

  Natasha was strangely honored at the request. With a firm nod, they got into position.

  Within an hour, with her body aching in places she hadn’t realized existed, bruises decorating her face like a gory mask, and a gruesome cut on her lip, she re-evaluated that feeling.

T minus 47 days

  There was absolutely no hot water in the entire Compound. The Iron Family has retreated to the Tower two days earlier. When Steve called Rhodey with a plea to get it fixed, all he got in response was, “We’re on vacation, Mr Rogers. Unless it's a world threatening emergency, you’d do well not to call again.”

T minus 42 days

  After almost a week of cold showers, they left for the Tower, intending to demand Rhodes' help. Happy informed them that he was resting in Toni's penthouse and advised they take the stairs. As the elevator was in perfect condition, they ignored his words.

  It broke down on the fourth floor.

  They spent thirty-five minutes to be rescued, then climbed up to the eightieth floor, only to meet Pepper Potts.

  “Rhodey left for a meeting with the Council ten minutes ago, in his suit, obviously,” she informed them calmly. “The kids are at school. Stephen is at the Sanctum. Unless you're eager to help me with paperwork, I suggest you all leave.”

  They didn't dare argue with her.

T minus 36 days

  Sam swore on his mother that he’d woken up in the middle of the night on the roof. He vaguely recalled the feeling of cloth wrapped around him before waking, but there was no way to prove it had been Strange’s cape. Security cameras showed nothing.

T minus 29 days

  Food in the Compound ran out. FRIDAY wasn’t taking any orders from them, and kept citing “Security Measure” every time their attempt at online orders failed. Since none of them were very popular with the public, Scott had to be the one to get all the grocery.

T minus 23 days

  Bucky couldn’t find his comb. Deciding to borrow Natasha’s, he walked into her room, knowing the Widow wouldn’t really have a problem.

  He froze when he found Stark’s kid inside, upside down the ceiling as he applied some sort of gooey paste to the panels. The kid stared back at him, eyes wide but defiant, as he whispered into an ear-piece. “I may have to abort, Harley,” he murmured, not looking away from him. “Mr Winter is here.”

  Bucky looked closely at the paste. “That's going to blow into bubbles and keep popping with a large sound every now and then?” He asked, remembering he’d read it in some books.

  The kid nodded slowly.

  Bucky just hummed and picked up the comb he’d come for. “It's a neat trick,” he called out before leaving. He grinned to himself when he heard the kid whisper in excitement: “I think Mr Winter is kind of in the Iron Family too, Harl!”

T minus 14 days

  “I miss mom,” Harley whined, swinging his feet.

  Stephen looked up from his book. “Two weeks,” he consoled. “Peter, stop touching that Cauldron!”

  The kid froze. “What'll happen?”

  “You'll be sucked into a black vortex forever.”

  “Shit!”

T minus 4 days

  Wanda sat up. Was that... Was that a mouse in the bedroom? She could hear it scratching away. Was it under the bed?

 She didn’t notice the pale golden most from under her closed door, or the faint traces of magic in the air.

T minus 0

  There was a pod making its way into earth's atmosphere. As FRIDAY identified it as the same one from three months ago, and Toni's voice filtered through the communication systems, they all went out to greet her.

   Harley and Peter reached first, Rhodey right on their heels.

  “Who's going to tell her what we did to them?” Peter asked softly.

  “Not it.”

Chapter Text

  “So, what's our timeline?” Rogers asked.

  Toni shrugged. “There's no telling. Five out of six stones are accounted for. We don't know where the Soul Stone is. He needs to have all six to do whatever he wants to.”

  As the meeting progressed, Rhodey watched his best friend with concern. She looked... Healthy. Healthier than he remembered her being for a long time. But there was also no missing the sadness in her eyes.

  “Well,” Rogers sighed. “In any case, it’s good to have you back, Toni.”

  Before Peter could reprimand him, as he always did, Toni met the soldier’s eyes, hard and stern. “Is that it?” She demanded coldly. “That's not gonna cut it, Rogers. I want an apology.”

  “A... An apology?”

  “Yep.” She popped the 'p' in an obnoxious way. “See, I told you this was coming. I called it years ago. You didn't believe me and now? We are woefully, hopelessly, under-prepared. So, yes, I want you to say you’re sorry.” She seemed to consider for a while. “I'll accept it in writing if you're more comfortable that way, but there's nothing stopping you from making a public statement.”

  Rhodey snickered, eyes darting between the two of them, one expectant and confident, the other confused and floundering. Everyone else in the room seemed to be holding their breath, watching the scene.

  “Is this really the time for that?” Rogers asked weakly. “I'm sorry, Toni, if that's really what you want to hear. I am sorry. But all I ever wanted was for you to stop meddling with alien tech. That was it.”

  Toni smirked, shaking her head. “Even now, you just can't make an apology without defending yourself or putting me down. What did I ever see in you?” She muttered the last part to herself, like an afterthought. “Anyway, this meeting is adjourned. Friendly reminder: don't try getting into the med-bay, Bruce forbid visitors before collapsing. FRIDAY will stop you, by any means necessary.”

  As they all left, with Toni deftly escaping Rogers’ attempts at catching up to her, Rhodey stayed by her side, watching her converse quietly with the kid, until Peter swung away and she turned to him.

  “What's up, sugar bun?” She asked.

  “I should be asking you that,” he mused, observing her. “You wanna tell me why you look like you found another new element?”

  Tony chuckled. “I had a good time, Rhodey. The Guardians, they’re... They're amazing people.”

  He hummed, as they walked into her lab. As the bots all converged on her, beeping and whirring excitedly, he recognised the sadness in her.

  “Holy shit,” he cursed softly, amazed.

  She turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

  Rhodey approached her, placing his hands on her shoulders and bending slightly to look her in the eyes. “Please tell me it's not an alien,” he pleaded.

  She blinked. “What?”

  “You're in love,” he wondered. “You’re in love and I'm just hoping, for my sanity, that it’s not with an alien.”

  Several emotions flitted across her face, before she sighed in resignation. “Only half-alien,” she muttered. “He's human where it matters.”

  Rhodey sighed. “Does he take care of you?”

  She chuckled, eyes hazy in memory. “Oh yeah. He really does.”

  “Does he know? That you love him?”

  “I don't know. But I know he loves me.”

  Rhodey pulled her into a hug. “You should have told him, don't you think?”

  She shook her head in his chest. “I don’t wanna hurt him.”

  “Oh, baby girl,” he sighed, holding her tightly.

  Toni's hand trembled as she fiddled with the disk Gamora had given to her. It was removed from a Ravager communication device and theoretically, it could allow Toni to contact Gamora, provided she could tune the technology to sync with Earth's satellites.

  As she made the final adjustments, Toni held her breath. Even if this worked, there was no way she was going to speak to Peter. She'd promised herself, even though the back of her hand still seemed to tingle with the touch of his lips. She couldn't hurt him like that. It would be just between her and Gamora, just to way of staying abreast of things on both ends.

  The screen flashed black. Toni, swallowing nervously, tapped in a message.

  Once she hit send, she sighed, dragging a hand down her face. There was a lump in her throat that she was ignoring, because as much as she'd missed the kids and her friends, she felt restless.

  She looked back at the screen. It was time to wait. Unless and until Gamora saw her message and replied, there was no way of knowing if the connection was working.

  Gamora saw it when she was getting ready for bed. The messaging unit she'd bought from Contraxia blinked with a message from its pair. Closing the door casually, she read the hopeful words from Toni.

TS: Gamora? This is Toni Stark, testing. Do you receive?

  Thankful for the rare genius that had synchronized Terra's technology with Ravager’s technology, she typed out her reply.

G: This is Gamora, receiving... How are you, Toni?

  The reply was almost instantaneous.

TS: I'm fine, I guess. The Avengers are caught up on the situation. We've begun work on training, recruiting. I've roped in more scientists to help with planetary defense. How’s the team? Miss me yet?

G: We actually do.

  There was no reply at first, like Toni hadn't been expecting that answer.

TS: Oh? Is that so?

G: Rocket has been mumbling about useless teammates and how some measly Terran dared to be as good as him with tech and then had the nerve to leave him to take care of everything alone.

TS: Well, tell that Build-A-Bear he’d better have some new tech for me next time you guys come for a visit.

G: Will do. Groot’s been very mopey too.

TS: He's a sweetheart. I miss him too.

G: Peter’s been really quiet.

  There was another pause. Gamora waited patiently for Toni to reboot herself.

TS: He'll get over it soon. Don't worry.

G: I don't think he wants to. He loves you too much to want to move on.

TS: Listen, Lima Girl, you can’t let Peter pine like this, okay? Please!

G: You think I enjoy seeing him miserable? And for the record, do you think I want you to be miserable?

TS: Gami... Peter deserves better.

G: He deserves the best. And so do you. What better match?

  She waited. There was no reply.

  Peter looked out at the stars, not even trying to think about something else than gold eyes reflecting the void.

  “I am Groot?”

  He looked down to see Groot had snuck into his room and was next to him on the bed. His small twigs reached out towards him and Peter smiled sadly. “Here you go, buddy,” he murmured, taking off one side of the headphones and holding it to Groot’s ear.

  Waiting For A Girl Like You played and Peter closed his eyes, pretending he could feel small hands cradling his jaw, the touch of warm lips on his cheek.

Chapter Text

G: Toni? I’m on my way to Terra in a while with Thor, Rocket and Groot. Father has Nebula and I think he plans on getting the location of the Soul Stone out of her. I don’t want to think about how much more pain she can take.

G: I need you to be ready to leave with me, as soon as I arrive. If I go alone, he might use Nebula to get it out of me. I need you to make sure that doesn’t happen.

G: Toni, are you there?

G: Toni?

  “Stephen!” Toni gasped, as she stumbled forward to help him up. “You okay?”

  He nodded, steadying himself with her help. “Yes, I’m fine. You?”

  She nodded. “I owe you one.” She looked around at the ruined interior of the donut ship. “I guess we’ve landed.”

  “Hey, guys?” Peter descended upside down from the ceiling. “If I end up eating one of you, I’m sorry.”

  “Okay, I don’t want to hear another single pop culture reference out of you for the rest of the trip.” Toni glared at the kid. “You get me?”

  “I'm trying to say something’s coming,” he explained.

  Before the words registered, the wall of the ship was blasted through and three people leapt in, already ready to attack.

  Peter yelped as something scurried after him, Stephen's hands glowed while Levi wrapped around a bulking figure and Toni’s helmet snapped into place before she recognised the red-eyed mask and leather coat on the guy aiming a gun at her.

  “Peter?!”

  “Yeah, Miss Stark?!”

  “Wh- Toni?!

  “Wait, what?!”

  “Get this carpet away from me!”

  “Oh, you're a talking insect??!”

  “It's a cloak!”

  “Arachnid!”

  “EVERYBODY, STOP!” Stephen’s deep voice rang through the air and they all froze.

  Peter's mask slipped away first. He looked at Toni with something like wonder and relief, warming her to the core. “Toni,” he breathed out.

  Her own helmet melted away. “Hey, Peter,” she smiled faintly. “Mantis. Drax- you might wanna stop struggling, you’re just tangling Levi up.” She nodded at them in turn, returning Mantis' cheerful wave. “Calm down, Pete, she’s not gonna hurt you. And he’s not an insect, honey, he’s human.”

  In a few seconds, everybody was on their feet, looking at each other in confusion.

  Toni sighed. “Okay, guys, these are a few members of the Guardians of the Galaxy. That’s Peter Quill, he’s half-human, Mantis is an empath, and Drax is a Destroyer. He does not understand metaphors, completely literal, so... Spidey, no memes or Gen-Z stuff. Stephen, just tone down the sarcasm.”

  Both of them looked fairly put out at her words.

  “And this is one of my best friends, Dr Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. And that’s Peter Parker, my son, aka Spider-Man.”

  “So you’re my namesake, hunh?” Peter mused, eyeing the teen speculatively. He turned to Toni. “Did Thor arrive on earth with Rocket, Groot, and Gamora yet?”

  She frowned. “No. Two guys just arrived in this spaceship and attacked earth out of the blue, demanding the Time Stone.”

  “They called themselves the children of Thanos,” Stephen reminded. “And this planet was a pre-set destination.”

  “Okay, well, we ran into Thor,” Peter said. His eyes looked apologetic. “He said, Odin had died while we were on our trip and once his power was no longer feeding Asgard, the realm was falling into ruin. They’d formed a mass exodus and were on the way to Terra when the main ship was attacked by Thanos.” He hesitated. “He killed Loki,” he whispered. “I'm sorry, Toni.”

  Toni felt her world spin for a few seconds. “What?” She whispered hotly. “He... He just...” She shook herself, trying to focus. “What then? What about Thor? And the Stones?”

  “Thor was carrying the Reality Stone and Loki had retrieved the Space Stone before escaping Asgard. There was a secondary ship, carrying women and children, and a few warriors, they escaped. But everyone on the main ship was killed, including Heimdall. Thor survived, somehow, but he said his hammer was destroyed by Thanos, so he needed to go to Nidavellir to get another weapon. Rocket, Groot and Gamora went with him. We decided to come here and fight Thanos.”

  She took a deep breath, trying to think. Gamora hadn’t sent her any messages when she’d last checked. So either she’d been in too much of a hurry, or she’d sent it after Toni had already left Earth. Either way, there was nothing they could do to help them.

  “Alright,” she announced. “Let's figure out a way to take out this son of a bitch.”

  “How sure are you really?” Peter asked quietly, coming to stand beside her. “That this is gonna work? Especially with your wizard's estimate of only 28 out of 14,000,604 possibilities.”

  Toni sighed. “I've run the numbers,” she said. “If what Stephen said is true, then any plan we cook up will still have a really low chance of succeeding.”

  “How low?” He pressed.

  She pursed her lips in displeasure. “0.0002%.”

  He whistled. “Wow.”

  They stayed quiet for a few minutes, watching her Peter join Mantis in bouncing around, taking advantage of the gravitational anomalies scattered around the surface of the planet. Drax was watching over them and Stephen was meditating.

  “I know the circumstances are less than optimal,” Peter said softly, not looking at her. “But I’m really happy to see you.”

  Toni turned to him, carefully observing the side of his face. “I missed you,” she admitted.

  He faced her, eyes sparkling with hope. “I was kinda hoping-"

  “He's on his way,” Stephen announced, standing up.

  “Yeah, not so strong now, are you?” Toni growled, coming to a stand in front of Thanos.

  As the kid tugged at the gauntlet, Peter held his large purple arm steady for him, but he kept watching Toni warily. Rage burned in her eyes as she gripped his panini chin, forcing his head back to grant Mantis better access to his temples.

  “You are so lucky,” she seethed. “That we need you to remain calm. Because you have no idea how much I want to choke the life out of you for Loki.”

  “Toni,” Peter spoke through grit teeth. “Don't... Do anything. Not yet. Just... Stay cool, Starlight.”

  She didn’t reply, but her fingers tightened on the Titan's skin. “You killed Nebula too, didn’t you? For the Soul Stone?” She demanded. “Gamora told me you would torture her. I didn’t think you’d go so far as killing her, but then again... Death can be preferable.”

  Her taunt angered him. Fury and pain took over the lethargy in Thanos' eyes and he roared, standing upright and throwing Mantis off him.

  But it was too late.

  The gauntlet shone between Peter Quill's hands.

  “Gather around, quick,” he yelled. “Hold hands.”

  Like clockwork, they all converged on him. Toni gripped his free hand, helping him slip the gauntlet on, just as Stephen took her other hand. In split seconds, as Thanos regained his footing and raged wordlessly in defeat, they formed a chain.

  “Ready?” Peter smirked.

  Toni squeezed his hand. “Ready.”

  A sharp snap echoed over the battlefield.
Electricity flowed through her veins, engulfing her, fire rushing through her muscles, destroying who she was and remaking her in a second, ice and light crowding her vision, infinity itself clamouring in her mind, the multiverse flashing before her eyes... All she knew in those moments was the warmth of Peter’s hand in her own.

  The aftermath was strangely silent. They watched in shocked silence as Thanos crumbled into dust, his eyes watching them almost mournfully until the end. Then Stephen drew a circle in the air and on the other side, there was Wakanda, the entire army of aliens disintegrating one by one, the Avengers looking around in awe and confusion.

  Rhodey was the first to see them. “Toni!” He called, flying over to them and disengaging the suit in a second to gather Toni into a hug. “You idiot!” He hissed. “You can’t just leave the planet like that. If you want a vacation, you go to Paris, or Cipriani, or Puerto Rico!”

  She chuckled, shrugging off his worry. “I'm fine, Platypus,” she promised, kissing his cheeks. “Just fine.”

  She didn’t notice Steve trying to step towards her. Just as well, too.

  “Hey, you're Steve Rogers, right?” Peter quickly stepped into his path. “I wanna talk to you for a minute.” He spotted Gamora approaching and gave her a carefully measured look, which she responded to with a nod.

  “Um, yes, but we can talk later, I have-" Rogers’ words were cut off by the sword suddenly pressed to his back. His eyes went wide. “What do you think you are doing?” He asked evenly.

  “Making sure you listen,” Gamora hissed and Peter sent a silent thanks for effortlessly scary assassins.

  “First off,” he said. “You're an idiot and I hate you. I want you to know that as facts.” He waited for realization to cross the blond’s face.

  “Toni told you,” Rogers guessed.

  “Everything,” he confirmed. “Which is why this is going to be my only warning: Stay. Away. From her.” His gaze hardened into a glare, though he took a second to make sure Toni was still preoccupied with her friends. “You're not going to hurt her again,” he swore. “I'm not gonna let you. You’re not even going to talk to her. You don’t even look at her. Do you get me?”

  Rogers was a tall man, but Peter had at least half-an-inch on him and it definitely gave him an advantage.

  “Because you destroyed every last bit of her heart that she gave you,” he went on, his voice softer and harder. “Because you used her and you hurt her and you punished her for the simple mistake of loving you. So much so, that I don’t know if she can ever love someone that way again.” He was not going to let his voice break. He was not letting this bastard see his pain.

  Though, judging by the suddenly mournful look on Rogers’ face, he hadn’t succeeded.

  “I want to apologize,” he finally said, not meeting his eyes. “Just that. Please.”

  Peter stepped away. “Yeah, you’d better,” he grudgingly agreed. He gave him a look full of pure hate. “Gods, I wish I could teach you just how much you hurt her,” he muttered. “You really have no idea what you lost.”

  Yes, Steve thought to himself. I actually sort of do.

  After the clean-up, it was only natural to celebrate. So Toni, in true Stark fashion, organized an informal gala for all the Avengers, all the unknown Enhanced who'd helped on the streets, all the Wakandans. The grief of the ones they’d lost momentarily overpowered their joy of victory and everyone turned up.

  Toni danced with pretty much everyone; Rhodey, Stephen, Pepper, T'Challa, Happy, Thor and Bruce. Even Peter, having tugged May along, shyly asked her for a quick spin, handing his camera to Harley.

  Of course, she couldn't avoid a certain Captain forever.

  “Toni,” he greeted softly. “Can I have a dance, please?”

  She sighed, unable to refuse anyone tonight. “Just one,” she warned in a tight voice.

  He smiled, unsure, and took her hand in his own. She fought the urge to flinch. Well, she had to give him credit for keeping a respectable distance between them.

  “I have something to say to you,” he started. “You don’t have to answer, just hear me out?” He waited for her slow nod. “I don’t deserve you,” was what he said and she blinked in shock. “I never did. And a part of me always knew that. Maybe... Maybe, that’s why I, I always tried to, to control you, in a way, I guess.”

  The admission looked like it pained him to say, but he didn’t falter as they swayed gently.

  “And I'm sorry for that,” he admitted. “I'm really sorry for that. It’s probably way too late to make a difference, but it’s true. I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for not trusting you. And I’m sorry for every time I made you feel any less than what you are.”

  Toni swallowed, throat clamming up. “I can’t...” She cleared her throat. “Steve, I can’t forgive you.”

  He closed his eyes, like it hurt to hear. “I know,” he whispered. He let go of her with a deep breath. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad I didn’t break you completely.”

  She blinked. “What makes you say that?” She asked, curious despite herself.

  A ghost of a smile, crooked and earnest like it used to be when they were in love, formed on his face. “Because you’re Toni Stark,” he said simply. “I'm not nearly powerful enough to break something so strong.”

  He left before she could fully compute his sentence.

  “He give you any trouble?”

  She turned around at the voice to find Peter watching her with worry.

  Toni smiled, soft happiness settling into her chest. “No,” she smiled, extending a hand towards him. “Aren't you gonna ask me to dance?”

  Hope shining in his eyes, Peter pulled her in gracefully, making her thankful for wearing jeans as she stumbled into his chest. She looked up with a blush while he grinned smugly, the obvious joke forming on his lips.

  “If you make a quip about 'falling', I will castrate you,” she threatened.

  He pouted. “You've spent too much time with Gamora.”

  She laughed and he spun her, hands gripping her waist to keep her close.

  “So what are you going to do after all this?” He asked, nervous.

  She shrugged, not looking away. “I don’t really know yet. When are you guys leaving?”

  He made an inquisitive sound. “Probably after two days. Ship’s back on Titan, so your friend will need to make us a portal?” He hesitated briefly. "It's over, you know,” he said slowly. “Thanos, the war you were always afraid of, it’s over.”

  “I know.”

  “So... Will you come with us?” He winced subtly right as he said it. “I mean, you said you were earth’s first line of defence. There’s no huge need for that anymore, though, right?”

  Toni shifted, hiding her smile. She’d made up her mind hours ago, with Rhodey and Pepper’s full blessings. “You know you don’t have to save me?” She asked. No one said she couldn’t have a little fun.

  “Of course not,” he agreed. “But you never know, I might need you to save me. What if I’m kidnapped by a bunch of space pirates? Won’t you fly in, guns blazing, and carry me to safety?”

  She laughed lightly. “I though you guys were space pirates!”

  “Hey!” Peter exclaimed. “We’re super heroes.”

  “Oh, and humble, I see,” she teased.

  “Just like you,” he said solemnly. “Which is why we make a great team.” His smile grew softer, more appeasing. “Look, I know it’s asking a lot. You’d have to leave everything: your company, your friends, your kids, your home. But... But I’m still gonna be selfish and ask you to come with us. You can visit here whenever you want, you can come back permanently if you change your mind. Or...” He swallowed. “Or, if you say 'no', then I’ll come visit you here. But even so, please, just consider it.”

  Toni sighed, leaning slightly into him. “If I've got so much here to stay for,” she said. “Give me just one good reason to come with you.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Just one?”

  “Just one,” she repeated. The words had hardly left her mouth before Peter was kissing her. There was no hurry in it, no urgency. The kiss was a plea, an offer, and a promise all in one.

  And Toni gave her answer in kind, her arms wrapping around his broad shoulders to pull him closer, melting into him as his tongue curled over the roof of her mouth.

  The sound of whistles and cheering catcalls broke them apart.

  Peter's eyes glistened with unbridled excitement as he stared at her. “Come away with me?” He asked again in a whisper.

  Toni grinned and kissed him more.