Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sora leaned back in his seat, furrowing his brows at the world ahead of them. "Doesn't have many defining features does it?" 

"I think the defining feature is water," Goofy replied.

"Water!?" Donald squaked. "Please tell me it's not gonna be like Atlantica again."

"You didn't like Atlantica? Don't ducks like water?" Sora asked confused, looking over at Goofy for confirmation.

He chuckled in response, casting a glance toward the slowly steaming duck in question. "That they do.''

They both giggled quietly while Donald appeared to be drafting their funeral plans.

Sora's feet were tossed upon the control panel, hands interlocked behind his head as he gazed at the blue orb ahead of them. A shadow passed over his face. There was always a lingering sadness that came with approaching a new world.

Riku should be here. He wanted to explore new worlds more than anyone.

Riku had always felt trapped in their collection of islands. Always interested in geography and space travel, always pestering the teachers about life outside of their world. And sure, Sora was always down for an adventure, but he'd never felt the intense longing Riku had. Sora was content there. Simply happy to be surrounded by people who loved him.

Arrival always made him the saddest.

"What's it called?" he asked.

"Earth, a higher level world. It’s got good oxygen levels and," Donald paused, tilting his head to the side. "They appear to have satellites.” 

“What’s a satellite?” 

Goofy answered that one. “It’s something that circles around the world and gives information to its people. It helps with communication within the world, and outside of it. They probably discovered space travel, or are at least thinking 'bout it.” 

Sighing lightly, Donald said, “It also means that we can't take the ship any closer. We're going to have to teleport down.” 

Sora snapped to attention at that. Teleport? We're gonna teleport? He'd seen The Organization do it before, but he kind of figured it was an evil, dark cloak kind of thing.

Donald stood, stretching his hands out and summoning his staff. “If everyone's got what they need, then we can leave right now. Just make sure you have everything because it's gonna be hard to come back.”

Sora nodded his head excitedly, before bouncing off to grab supplies. He stuffed them into his pockets and hip bags, making sure to grab his other binder as well. Don't want a rerun of The Land of Dragons. Sure, Mulan had been kind enough to help him out, but that whole ordeal was embarrassing enough, no need for a repeat. Donald was more focused on combat magic and didn’t know the right spell to fix the binder, so it had been thrown out. 

Hopefully these remaining two would last him until they could get back to Traverse Town. 

After assuring himself that he had Kairi's keychain, Sora went back to the main cabin and stood beside Donald.

"Since you normally just let the Keyblade guide the ship, I think we should work together to open the portal," Donald stated. 

Bouncing slightly on his toes, Sora nodded eagerly and summoned his Keyblade. Donald rested his free hand lightly on the back of his arm and raised his staff with the other. Sora mirrored his actions.

"Just focus on the feeling of your magic and the feeling of mine." As their breathing synced, Sora focused on the familiar buzz of Donald's magic where they were connected. He shut his eyes to focus. "Now let your heart guide me."

Distilled light filtered in through his closed eyelids and Sora smiled.

“It's gonna feel kind of weird stepping through, but I’ll hold your hand as we go,” Goofy said. “Wouldn’t want you getting lost.” 

Lost?

Before he could ask, Donald was proclaiming, “Portal!” and the air shifted around them.

Sora's eyes flashed open. The air shimmered and he felt a faint buzz run up his arm as an electric blue and gold shape formed where his Keyblade was pointing. Its edges were fuzzy and shifting, seeming to dance with their combined magic. 

Donald cast an amused smirk over at Sora’s wide-eyed wonder. And then he stepped through, disappearing into nothing. 

Sora grinned widely and grabbed Goofy’s hand, waiting for his friend's approval to go through. There was always this level of excitement about visiting a new world, but it was rare he got to experience magic in this way. Let alone participate!

“Now no matter what, don't let go. But if you happen to slip, just visualize the ship and it’ll drop ya back here. We’ll come back for ya.” 

Sora nodded vigorously, grasping onto Goofy with both hands as he led the way through. 

It was somehow the longest and shortest second of Sora’s life. Donald’s magic sparked and tingled across his skin, and all he could see was the clashing electricity surrounding them. Sparkling, swirling gold flowed through the blue, guiding them through the doorway. Sora’s heart called out to it. That's my magic! That's what it looks like! 

There was so much he wanted to learn about magic; maybe this would be a step in getting Donald to train him. As much as he valued combat magic, there was so much more that could be done. It wasn’t like he exactly had time to stop and study though.

Pulling him along, Goofy’s hand truly felt like a lifeline. The distance was infinitely long, stretching beyond imagination. And yet, with one step, they were blinking into the rising sun of a new world.

Donald was standing there, hands on his hips, with a look that would come off as smug to anyone else. Sora just saw the smile.

“Woahhh, that was so cool Donald!” Donald never ceased to amaze Sora with all the magical feats he pulled off. Goofy’s laughter caught Sora's attention. 

"Blast from the past! I haven't worn this since before I was appointed to the royal guard," Goofy said, laughter quick to follow his words. His outfit had changed to an orange sweater and yellow vest. Donald on the other hand had a blue sailors uniform and neck tie. It kind of reminded Sora of their Timeless River outfits.

Looking himself over, he noticed that his shoes were… smaller? But nothing else had been changed.

"l'm confused what the point of these changes are?" Sora asked. He stepped closer to the edge of the roof and looked across the hazy skyline. It was cold this early in the morning. This place is huge! The entire city glimmered under the glass reflections and you could almost taste the mist.

Donald replied, “Yeah, me too."

"Wait? Aren't you supposed to be controlling this?"

"I am. Kind of. My magic taps into this world's magical frequency and alters our appearance to allow us to blend in. But, it takes too much energy to consciously decide and maintain what our appearances should be. So basically whatever happens, happens, and the world’s magic maintains it.” Sora nodded in understanding. It'd make sense that the world would want visitors to conform to its style.

Perched on the edge of the building, Sora had a perfect view of the already bustling city. The abundance of suits and briefcases was new. He'd never been in a big city before, but excitement was already setting in.

"Do ya hear that?" Goofy asked. 

Sora spun around to see Goofy approaching the opposite end of the roof. By the time he reached Goofy's side the noise had risen to a crescendo.

Screams rising up from the streets below.

They all shared a brief glance, followed by a nod, before summoning their weapons and jumping to the adjacent roof. They'd all come to expect mild chaos upon landing. Wind rustled through his hair as Sora and his friends descended slowly from building to building. It was times like these he wished they’d gone back to visit Peter Pan. Flying right now would be super convenient. 

Below, Sora could make out the forms of scattering citizens, rampant Heartless, and a flying red person?

No no, not flying, swinging. From building to building on some kind of ropes. The person pulled civilians out of harm's way, snatching them with his ropes from the path of the Heartless. It was a swarm, flowing down the street, rolling over cars and people.

There were so many Heartless, and yet the rope-swinging-hero never engaged, simply tried to stay out of their reach. When he swung up to a family in a trapped car, Sora knew he needed to get down there faster.

After a sidelong glance at his two friends, Sora casted a quick Aeroga and jumped the remaining 50 feet to the ground.

Chapter Text

Okay, Peter had to admit, this was going slightly worse than he thought it was going to go. That's not to say he didn't call for backup right when the Shadows appeared. Because he did. He did exactly what he’s supposed to do when shit starts going down.

Peter went out for his usual morning patrol before class, and found a group of maybe ten Shadows harassing his fellow New Yorkers. So he reported in with Tony. The Avengers were already off dealing with a bigger incident across the bridge, so he was expected to handle this until they were done.

Which, no big deal.

He could handle ten little Shadows. 

Except it wasn't ten. Except they kept multiplying. And multiplying. Until they were a tidal wave spilling over cars and pedestrians, creeping into the adjacent buildings under the cracks of the doors.

So yeah, this was going a little worse than he thought it was gonna. 

All of this had unfolded in the past two or three minutes, so he was scrambling up the sides of buildings, snatching citizens out of harm's way, darting this way and that looking for a solution.

Distinct cries for help reached his ears, and his targeting system caught on a young couple waving frantically at him from street level. Landing beside them, the problem quickly became apparent. In the chaos, cars were smashed together and a child about six had gotten caught in the backseat. An alert sounded off across his vision, and he turned to see the wave of cars, debris, and worst of all, Shadows, only fifty feet away. After waving the family into the adjacent building, Peter broke the glass on the front window and climbed inside.

The child was visibly shaken, with their right foot pinned by the folded in door. They stared up with tear filled eyes and a wobbly smile. Small hands kept tugging at the seat belt. 

“I gotchu kid, I gotchu. Give me a second and you'll be right back with your parents.” The kid nodded eagerly. After kicking out the jammed left door, Peter turned to work on the jammed seatbelt. “What’s your name?”

“Cristiano.”

“Oh really?” Peter cracked a wry smile. “Do you like soccer Cristiano?” The seatbelt gave way, pulling completely off the metal with a loud snap.

Cristiano began to beam even as the tears tracked down small cheeks. "How’d you know that, Spiderman?”

“Easy. I’m a superhero.” Peter was rewarded with a gap-toothed smile.

“Peter," Karen said, “Would you like me to call Mr. Stark again?" Her timing was impeccable as always.

“Holy crap Karen, that would be-” A rush of air and his body tensing pulled his attention out the front window. 

He hadn’t noticed how dark it had gotten. 

Shadows filled his view, a hulking wall of them blocking out the rising sun. And at their very center, less than fifteen feet from the car, was a teenager holding a sword. A bright spot in the darkness.

And actually holding them back.

“What hero is that?” Cristiano asked. Peter snapped back around, not willing to waste this extra time. Whoever it was was clearly confident in their ability and that’s all that mattered. 

Back to attention, Peter asked, “Does your leg hurt at all?” Cristiano nodded. “Like a lot or a little?” Gloved hands slowly pressed the metal away, careful not to disturb the small leg. 

“Just like it’s being squeezed lots.” 

“Uh Karen,” Peter asked, “Do I have X-ray vision?” The abrupt change in his view responded for him. After a quick scan of the situation, and a warning to Cristiano, Peter kicked the door. The whole car shifted as the door bulged outward, pressing further into the truck that dented it in the first place. And just like that the kid was free and scrambling into Peter’s arms.

Shooting a web out the left door, Peter pulled them quickly to standing on the opposite end of the street. Cristiano sat perched on his hip, staring in wide-eyed amazement at the teen facing off with the Shadows alone, darting from enemy to enemy, striking through them in a flash. Pink hearts dissolved into the air above the defeated enemies. 

That doesn’t usually happen…

Speaking of, a couple of stray Shadows were approaching the pair. Holding Cristiano tighter, Peter webbed them to the top of a nearby truck and began searching for the child’s parents. 

“Donald Duck!” 

Peter furrowed his brow. What? 

He looked down in confusion at the kid clinging to him. Cristiano was beaming from ear to ear, and had a hand outstretched, pointing toward the chaos. 

Huh, Donald Duck.

Peter thought it couldn’t get any weirder after aliens. And radioactive spiders. And superheroes. 

And there’s Goofy too. 

Both fighting in tandem with the mysterious teenager. Peter could tell his reaction to this situation was underwhelming— it might’ve been the adrenaline keeping him calm. But wow holy shit that’s Donald Duck. Tony is going to lose his mind when he finds out. 

“Peter,” Karen interjected. “Do you want me to call Mr. Stark?” 

“Yes. Sorry. Please.” Peter responded, back to searching through the doorways. “Tell him level three, er, well. Level four. Tell him to get over here. Please.” The couple was waving from an archway. 

He gave the couple back their child, with a quick high five from Cristiano on the way out, and then was swinging back into the rush of things. Well, and then he was swinging back into some kind of weird-crossover-Disney-hallucination type situation. It was still a fight, but it was one that involved watching cartoon characters joke with a human teenager and fight shadow monsters like this was just another Friday. It was giving him whiplash.

There was no better way to break the ice than jumping in to help out, so, well, here we go. 

“Need a hand?” Peter asked, skidding to a stop on the pavement next to the odd trio. The teenager whipped around toward Peter, a wide grin on their face. Donald and Goofy were deep into their own fights, but seemed to nod in acknowledgement. Oh my gosh. This is so weird. 

“Sure!” The teen replied, before swiping their key-sword toward another group of Shadows. 

And so off they went. Peter tried his hardest not to stare at Donald and Goofy but… they were very distracting. Being able to see Donald’s feathers and Goofy’s fur and the texture of their clothing was surreal to say the least. 

Goofy seemed to work defense for the group, jumping in to take hits with his shield, and using it in a way that was reminiscent of the Captain. On the other hand, Donald worked mainly with magic and the occasional physical attack. Why he was able to use magic, or why they were all such an efficient team was a mystery to Peter. As Peter zipped through the air, he was able to really assess their teamwork, and the patterns they moved in. It was clear they’d been doing this for a while. That it was second nature at this point.

The leader seemed to be the teenager, if they had one at all, occasionally calling out directions or attacks to the other two. They worked like a well oiled machine. Only the sword-key thing seemed to release the pink hearts. The hearts floated into the sky before fading into nothing. 

I wonder what that means… 

The teen also wasn’t afraid to ask Peter for assistance, or offer suggestions. At one point the group called Peter to the ground, asking him to web up the straggling groups of Shadows and toss them over. The trio grouped together, the Disney characters using the shield as a launch pad for the teenager to propel off of and drive the sword through the bundles of Shadows like a needle through fabric. This went on until they were all left panting in the aftermath of the battle. 

“Wow!” Peter exclaimed, jogging up to the exhausted group. “I think that was the most Shadows I’ve ever seen in one place! Thanks for the help!” 

The teenager beamed up from where the group sat on the asphalt and Peter couldn’t help but beam back from behind the mask. The smile was contagious—bright and genuine and wow, so happy.

“I know right? It was great!”

“I think you could use a little more work with your Aeroga. That landing could’ve been nasty!” Donald said, his voice as nasally and difficult to understand as ever. It was weird to watch his bill bend to form the words, and to clearly read the disappointment on his face.

“Yeah Sora,” Goofy said, “You really ought to be more careful!” 

Sora. 

God this is weird. I don’t think they’re aware how weird this is. Clearly, they aren’t from here or they wouldn’t be acting this casual. They have to know right? That they aren’t… real? I mean I guess they are but they should realize that they don't exactly blend in and anthropomorphic animals don’t exist. Here. Don't exist here. They’re probably aliens that disguise themselves as something recognizable to blend in but boy did they fuck up.

“I was careful!” Sora exclaimed, indignant, voice rising a pitch to defend themself and then dropping down again. 

Closer now, it was easier for Peter to take in the strange group. They were all clearly tired, but in great spirits. Donald and Goofy teased Sora over the voice crack while Sora tried to bring them back to the topic of training. It was all very friendly and nearly parental and was weirding Peter out to be honest.

It was also probably going to weird out the New Yorkers emerging from their hiding places. And it would especially weird out incoming police officers. The thought of Donald Duck in handcuffs was nearly too much for Peter to handle.

“Sora, Donald, Goofy? Any chance we could chat?” The three nodded agreeably and Peter exhaled. I can’t imagine arguing with them.  “Um, at the top of this building? I can pull you up if you need.” Peter pointed skyward. The building loomed nearly 30 stories overhead. 

Sora glanced up briefly before turning back with a smile. “Sure!” 

The all stood, dusting themselves off and walking into an alcove beside the building. Peter nodded, and asked them all to put their hands out. Being this close to Donald and Goofy was surreal, and the display inside his mask was going crazy trying to catalogue what he was looking at. He webbed up their forearms and had them hold the web firmly before zipping to the top. Getting them out of the public eye was a priority right now, so he wasted no time pulling them up. Even if his mind was spinning with questions, Peter wanted to be responsible and Tony would probably want him to do this. 

Sora was already talking a mile a minute when he landed on the rooftop. “Oh my gosh that was so fun! And these are so sticky that I knew there was no way you’d drop us. You must have a lot of fun swinging around like that!” The unfiltered positivity was refreshing. Peter knew they could be good friends and had no doubt they’d be seeing a lot of each other. Their arrival in New York during a rising disaster was sure to be a source of excitement in coming weeks. 

Peter moved forward to help remove the webbing that continued to cling to them. Donald was flapping his arm around trying to yank it off only to have his other hand stick to it as well. Goofy was just laughing at his struggle. 

“I can help you. I’m just about the only one who can get these unstuck.” 

Donald looked up in confused apprehension at Peter. “And why’s that?”

His grouchy, distrustful demeanor was very in character and made Peter laugh at the sheer familiarity and comfort he felt among these two childhood memories. 

Waggling his fingers, Peter replied, “Sticky fingers. My name’s Spiderman by the way. Oh and I like he/him pronouns.” Turning to Sora he asked, “What are yours?”

“What’s that mean?” There was true confusion written across Sora’s face, something Peter hadn’t encountered in a long while regarding the topic of pronouns. It’d become such a global conversation in recent years that it was strange to meet someone without that knowledge. It’d also become a casual part of greetings at Midtown, and something that the teachers encouraged. 

“It’s like, how you want to be referred to? So for me you’d say, ‘Oh Spiderman? Yeah he’s really cool.' Some people like she or he or they or they want the pronouns mixed up. There’s lots of options. It’s just what makes you comfortable I guess.”

The three of them seemed to mule this over for a few moments, with a couple significant glances from Donald and Goofy toward Sora who seemed deep in thought.

Wow, how weird is my life? Discussing pronouns on a Queens rooftop with Donald Duck and Goofy after a fight with shadow monsters. Peter finished removing the last strands of webbing from their hands as Sora continued to think over the question. 

“Peter,” Karen said, and Peter put his hand to his ear. “You have an incoming call from Mr. Stark.” 

“Alright Karen, put him through.” Excusing himself, Peter walked to the other end of the roof as Tony’s voice came through. 

“Hey kid, sorry, we were really tied up over here with those Shadow things. Do you still need me? I can be there in two minutes.” Tony sounded as tired as Peter felt, but his usual concern dripped from his voice. Fighting the Shadows always left Peter feeling drained of energy, and Peter had to imagine Tony, Bruce, and Rhodey had all been involved in today’s fight across the bridge. 

“No no, it’s uh… we’re all good. I need you to watch my battle footage though. And probably do some social media clean-up.”

“What happened?”

“Uhh,” he glanced over at the Disney-characters-come-to-life who were chatting with Sora like it was just another day. “I’m gonna sound reeeally ridiculous if I tell you. I’m bringing some guests to the tower. We’ll be there in a bit.” 

“Alright Pete. Be careful.” The line cut out. 

Peter stood rubbing his temples for a moment before turning back to the unlikely trio. Sora’s hesitant smile looked out of place on the usually joyful face. 

“I usually use he pronouns so we can just use that.” Sora’s uncertainty told Peter that he had some deeper opinions on this matter but didn’t want to go looking into them that deeply on a rooftop with a stranger. 

“Okay,” Peter replied. “Sounds good Sora. You can always tell me if you change your mind.” Sora nodded quickly, his grin sprouting to full bloom once again. 

“Say, how’d you know our names earlier?” Goofy asked. “And didn’t ask for me and Donald’s pro-ee-nouns? ”

Peter winced, unsure how to break the news. “You see uh, well... I already know who you are? And I know about Mickey and Minnie and Pluto. And Scrooge and your nephews?” Peter gestured to Donald whose jaw had nearly hit the floor at this point, before turning to Goofy, “And your son. So I didn’t feel like I needed to ask.”

There was a moment of silence, a moment where Peter thought that maybe these names meant nothing to them and maybe they were just the work of some crazy scientist and not actual fully fledged individuals with complex social circles. Maybe this would be easy and Earth wasn’t colliding with the Disney Universe. 

Donald spoke then, nearly whispering as if to shield his words from prying ears, a tinge of surprise in his voice, “How’d you know all this?” 

Of course nothing was ever that easy. 

“You have a SON?!” Sora exclaimed.

The three of them devolved into chaos for a bit. Chaos seemed to be their default state of communication. 

“This is a matter of maintaining the World Order,” Donald said firmly, silencing the other two. He stuck out a hand and his staff from earlier reappeared. When had they put their weapons away? How were they doing that? A pocket dimension? Donald’s staff in his face snapped Peter from his thoughts and caused his hands to instinctively raise in a surrender. “How do you know all of this?”

Peter’s brain was empty, absolutely no thoughts in the face of Donald Duck threatening him. “Um, because you’re not real?”

“What does that mean?”

“Like you’re fake?” Every sentence tilted upward like a question, palpable with uncertainty. “Like you’re just cartoon characters? A fairytale. Created by some guy with a lot of time on his hands. You’re very famous. Too famous to be walking the streets, it would be mayhem. That’s why I pulled you to the rooftop.” 

“But you didn’t know me?” Sora asked. 

Peter shook his head. “No, you just look like a regular human to me. You are a regular human right?”

“I- I think so? Some strange stuff has happened in my life the last few years though.”

“Ha. Yeah, me too,” Peter replied. “Look, we can keep talking about this but we really need to get inside. I can take you back to my boss’s place; it’s super secure. And we can chat there. It really wouldn’t be a good idea to be spotted by any civilians though.”

Donald lowered his staff slowly, eyeing Peter up and down before nodding. 

“Ok. Thank you. Are you all good to travel by rooftop for a bit? I'll help where you need it.”

The group, somber and quiet, had a moment of silent conversation that reminded Peter of his conversations with Ned and MJ. Holding onto his Spiderman secret for almost two years now had required a lot of whispering. MJ just straight told Peter she knew his secret during class one day. Said his disappearing act in DC had tipped her off and that he needed to stop being so obvious. Having two people running excuses for him was a huge weight off his shoulders. It also meant Ned was hanging out in the tower working on tech with him and Tony while MJ was using the Black Widow’s training program. She never wanted to be a liability to him, but knew she wouldn’t just sit back while he got his ass handed to him, so training and some Stark gadgets was the best they could do for her. 

Having come to a consensus, the group nodded at him and the four of them took off across the rooftops. 

Tony’s voice rang in his ear after a moment, “Hey kid? Bring them up the back way.”

“You read my mind.”

Chapter Text

“What’s going on Tones? I’m usually the one calling for a post-battle meeting while you fuss and argue about how you need a nap first,” Rhodey said, plopping down onto the sofa. Bruce nearly collapsed next to him, still a little green around the edges and visibly worn down from the battle, but still able to giggle at the domestic teasing.

Tony on the other hand stood with his hand propped under his chin, his brows pulled together and lips pursed while he thought. He wasn’t used to being this pensive and decided that sitting in that feeling was doing nothing to help the situation. Instead he spoke, “I know we don't normally debrief but it's about Peter. He-”

“What happened?”

“Is he okay?” 

Both men were sitting alert on the couch now, ready to spring into action again. Peter had only been active around the tower for a little over a year now, but the remaining Avengers had grown to love the boy. It really warmed Tony’s heart. 

“Oh he’s fine. Better than fine probably,” Tony laughed, the absurdity of a 16 year old superhero hanging out with Donald Duck and Goofy finally settling in. Tony’s laughter did nothing to relax his two companions. Tony laughing usually meant bad news. “In fact, he’ll probably enjoy this situation more than any of us.”

Rhodey repeated his question in a much more exasperated tone this time, “What happened?”

Tony just called up JARVIS to playback the final minutes of Peter’s battle in Queens. The two worn out Avengers slowly sunk back into the couch, weary hands passing over their faces and rubbing their eyes.

“Did I just see Donald Duck using magic?”

“That you did.”

“Where are they now?”

“JARVIS?”

“They’ve gone over the bridge without any incident sir,” JARVIS responded promptly. “About three minutes out at their current speed.”

Bruce scrunched his brow in thought. “They have to be shapeshifting aliens right? Really terrible ones, but still.”

“Maybe. Could be trying to blend in,” Tony replied. “Or, we just found out that the multiverse exists.”

Rhodey sighed. “I see why you wanted to talk now.”

“Peter’s gonna be bringing them up the back elevator that exits directly onto this floor. So… what do we do?” Tony was worried. Genuinely worried. It was written in the creases of his brow and the lip caught between his teeth. There existed the potential for this to be too big for them to handle. This on top of the recent crisis. The group had seemed genuine enough on the recording, and the kid looked human, but the possibility of inviting disaster into their home couldn’t be overlooked. 

Tony was snapped from his thoughts by the warmth of a hand on his own. 

Rhodey pulled his hands apart, rubbing soft circles into the crevices his nails had dug. He massaged each finger for a moment before clasping their hands and coaxing Tony’s gaze upward. 

Upon meeting Rhodey’s eyes, Tony’s stress fell away. His shoulders relaxed, his jaw unclenched, and a smile returned when Bruce appeared over Rhodey’s shoulder.

“We deal with it.” 

It was as simple as that. Rhodey’s reassurance was a balm to Tony’s tangled mind.

Bruce nodded, coming in closer to rest a hand on Tony’s arm, “Together.”

Fondness nearly overwhelmed him in that moment. I’m not alone. I don’t have to do this alone. They won’t let me do this alone.

Releasing a shaky breath, Tony nodded too. “We deal with it.”

“One minute out, sir.”

Rhodey nodded, straightening out his back and looking toward the balcony where the Iron Patriot and Mark XLVI stood in standby mode. In moments like these it was obvious that his military ranking was earned. “Tones, me and you are gonna have a gauntlet on and be ready to summon the rest of the armor. Bruce, I want you to hang back and remove yourself from the situation if it gets heated. If it turns into a fight, don’t intervene unless we move outside.”

“Can do.”

Tony and Rhodey both summoned a gauntlet, and the trio turned to the elevator, uncertainty hanging in the air as it moved ever closer.