Chapter 1
Patrolling has felt…different lately. For lack of better words. Everyday since they had gotten back from space, Peter has felt smaller and smaller.
Obviously he had always been aware of the fact that aliens definitely existed, who hasn’t? Since Thor and Loki stepped foot on earth, aliens were a common topic in everyday conversation. But seeing an honest-to-god alien and being in honest-to-god space, Peter was more aware of how little he mattered in the universe. In the grand scheme of things, what he did really didn’t matter. In the grand scheme of things, he was only a mere particle.
Stopping a robbery just didn’t compare to beating Thanos in space. He wasn’t even a hero, he was just a vigilante. He was nothing special.
Don’t be fooled though! Spider-Man was still out on patrol every night, maybe a little longer than he should (intrusive thoughts are a bitch!). If he let himself think about it too much, he’d get consumed by the thought that he really didn’t matter. (Even though deep down, the thought lived with him.)
Something was off tonight though. His Spidey Sense ( not his Peter Tingle) has been a steady buzz in his temple, his ears ringing with the feeling of vertigo since he stepped foot out of his window. It wasn’t intense enough for him to be anxious over impending danger, but just enough for him to know that something was wrong in the air. He just couldn’t find it.
Peter sat on top of the Empire State Building, gazing upon the city sitting before him. The city was quieter up here, it didn’t overwhelm him. The lights, the sounds, everything was so much sometimes. He liked the peacefulness of being above it all. He leaned back against the point of the building, closing his eyes as he took in a deep breath, his brows furrowing as he noticed that the buzzing of his sixth sense was steadily becoming more apparent.
At the same moment, it felt like there was a drastic change in the atmosphere, a low hum ringing through Peter’s ears. He stood up quickly, balancing himself against the building as he looked around. As far as he could hear, no one was calling for help and there were no alarms going off, but something definitely felt wrong.
He twitched as the hum became more high pitched and his Spidey Sense became more intense. Pulling his mask down over his face, he flung his wrist forward and swung across the streets of New York City, following the feeling of vertigo.
He finally touched down on the soft grass of a clearing that sat right outside the city. The dull hum was a lot louder here and it felt like his Spidey Sense was knocking directly against his skull, but nothing seemed out of place. No one was here waiting for him with a gun or coming up with a scheme to take over New York City. There was absolutely nothing.
Until there wasn’t.
All of the sudden, it felt like all of the air in the atmosphere was getting sucked away and his legs felt like jelly. Peter fell to his knees, his hands wrapped around his head as he pulled at his mask, trying to catch his breath. The hum was now a screech and he genuinely thought his ears would start bleeding at any moment.
But just as fast as it happened, it was over. Within seconds, Peter could take a full breath again and the only sound he could hear was the ringing of his own panic, not even his Spidey Sense was present. He stood up slowly, panting slightly and before he could try to piece together exactly what had just happened, he noticed the two bodies laying in the middle of the field.
Slowly, Peter approached the two bodies, his confusion growing with every step he took. He had no idea where they had come from. The clearing was completely empty when he got there and he had only been (mildly) incapacitated for less than thirty seconds, so there was absolutely no way anyone could have just shown up.
Not to mention, the two bodies weren’t even moving.
“Karen,” He spoke softly as he stopped only a few feet away from them. “Call Mr. Stark.” He looked down at the two unconscious boys sprawled on the ground. “Tell him it’s urgent.”
They did not seem much older than him, if anything they were most likely the same age. “Karen. they’re alive right?”
“ Yes Peter ,” Came the AIs response, “ My scans tell me that they are in REM Sleep.”
Peter tilted his head in curiosity, “They’re just sleeping?” That was…odd. At least they were alive. “Do you know who they are?”
“ My facial scans are coming up as inconclusive.”
Peter noticed the writing on one of the boys shirts- BEACON HILLS LACROSSE . Definitely a hint of where they were from, however before he could have a chance to ask Karen to figure out where Beacon Hills was, the sound of repulsors filled the air. He spun around, watching as the Iron Man suit landed, the War Machine close behind.
The familiar nanites retracted, revealing Tony’s face as the man looked at him with concern. (This was definitely something that Peter was still getting used to but that was a thought for a different time.) “Are you okay?” This being the first question was also something he was getting used to.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I just, I don’t know, I felt the need to come here and then I got here and there was nothing but all of the sudden they were just here! Like literally out of nowhere.” Peter rambled on, his hands exaggerating his words. He looked back at the boys, his mouth opening to continue his explanation before he froze, watching as one of them sat up, staring at them with wide eyes. “Oh fuck.”
Tony went to speak, most likely to make a comment about Peter’s language when Rhodey cut him off. “Tony, not the time.” He nodded his head towards the teenagers.
“Wake up!” One of the boys hissed, harshly shaking the one next to him until his eyes opened. “ Dude !” There was a level of hysteria in voice that Peter really couldn’t blame him for. Once the second teen was awake, they both scrambled up, standing defensively against Tony, Rhodey, and Peter.
“Woah, woah, woah, easy there kiddies,” Tony spoke, taking a step towards them only for them to shuffle backwards. “Okay, I won’t come any closer.” He held his hands up in surrender.
“Who the hell are you?” The paler of the two boys questioned, the same amount of panic in his voice as when he was shaking his friend awake. “What did you do?”
“I think we were wanting to know the same thing,” Rhodey raised an eyebrow. “You’re the ones who just appeared, out of nowhere.”
This seemed to startle the two and Peter recognized the way they both seemed to be looking for a way out. Their fight or flight instinct was definitely going off and from the way their heartbeats seemed to increase rapidly, it looked like fight was what they were leaning towards. Considering that both sides were equally confused, an all out brawl between two teenagers and three Avengers (was he still an Avenger? Did a space induction count?) did not seem like a fair fight. So he improvised.
“Are you guys aliens?”
Mr. Stark gave him a weird look, causing Peter to shift his feet sheepishly. It was an honest question and it seemed to do what he intended as it caught the two boys off guard, their heart rates spiking with surprise before the rapid beating began to dissipate.
So he carried on, stepping forward, the lens on his mask squinting to match his curious expression. “I’m sorry,” The pale boy blinked, “What the fuck .”
“Uh,” The second boy finally spoke, his heartbeat leveled out, “No, we’re not but like, are you guys? Except him,” He nodded at Tony, whose helmet was still retracted, “Unless you’re some kind of robot, uh, humanoid?”
This sparked a laugh from the other boy as he slapped his friend’s back, “A humanoid? Seriously, that’s obviously a suit, stupid.”
“Wait, wait, wait, you don’t know who we are?” Tony asked.
The two exchanged a look, “No?” The tan boy responded, “Should we? I mean, I don’t even know how we got here.” He looked towards the boy beside him, his face oddly accusatory. “Stiles?”
“Stiles’” jaw dropped, the panic from earlier nowhere to be seen, “What’re you looking at me for? How would I know?”
Peter watched as Rhodey and Tony looked at each other, obviously not expecting the direction this confrontation was going in. For Peter, it was oddly reminiscent of when he and Mr. Stark had met the Guardians of the Galaxy.
“Alright!” Tony raised his voice, cutting off the squabbling between the two teenagers. “Look, as much as I’d love to stand here and watch you two duke it out, it is…” He paused, “One thirty in the morning,” He cast a questioning glance over to Peter. Great. “And I’d rather get back and figure this out, not outside.”
Right. They were definitely outside and it was definitely the frigid New York winter. If it were just Peter, Rhodey, and Tony, it’d be one thing. Their Stark-sponsored suits were top of the line and insulated. The same couldn’t be said for the two teenage boys, Peter just now realizing that they were both just in sweatpants, t-shirts, and socks.
“Um,” The tan boy began, wrapping his arm around Stiles’ shoulder as the two boys stood close to one another. Yeah, they were definitely cold. “Where is ‘here’?”
-
“What the fuck? ” Stiles bumped his shoulder against Scott’s, his earlier panic making a comeback. They were sitting in the back of a limo (of all things!), driving to god knows where. In fucking New York. New York. “Last time I checked, we went to bed in California!” He snapped, his fists clenching.
Scott was silent for a moment, “Yeah, I got nothing.”
“Nothing?! Nothing ?!” Stiles was for sure freaking out right now. He glanced at the front of the limo, where the driver had pulled the partition closed the moment he saw who had climbed into his backseat.
“Dude, nothing,” If he didn’t recognize the concerning lilt in Scott’s voice, he would be wondering why his friend was not flipping his shit right now. “I seriously don’t know.”
“And now we’re just going off to god knows where with random people. Random people, who if I remember clearly, and I do, that consist of two men in metal fucking armor and some spider-looking motherfucker.” He slid down in his seat, covering his face with his hands. “We are so fucked right now.”
“I think they can help us, I mean, they didn’t give me a bad feeling.” Stiles peeked through his fingers, glancing over at his best friend.
“Maybe your senses are haywire from spontaneous teleportation.” He mumbled.
Scott stayed quiet, rubbing Stiles’ shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. How his best friend was able to stay level-headed in situations like these was beyond him. Out of everything that has happened to them in the past year, somehow ending up in New York was pretty high on the list of messed up shit.
The limo came to a stop and he quickly sat up, awaiting what was coming next. The partition slid open, the driver glancing at them through the rearview mirror. “You guys can get out now.” Stiles pulled a face at the grumpy man’s attitude, opening the door to get out.
“Uh, thanks?” Scott said as he followed Stiles out. Once outside of the vehicle, they were met with Tony. This time, however, he was out of the red and gold suit and significantly less intimidating. All in all, he was just a man and it somehow made Stiles feel a little bit better about the situation.
He held up a hand, signaling for Scott and Stiles to wait for a moment as he approached the front of the limo, tapping twice against the passenger window. “Thanks Hap,” He said, flashing a grin at the man inside. “I owe you one.”
“I told you I’m done with this chauffeuring stuff, Tony, I have a real job now.” ‘Hap’ stated, his tone a lot more aggressive.
“Yeah, yeah, go home and get your beauty sleep. I’ll see you.” With that, Tony turned away and walked back over. “Now, I didn’t quite catch your names and I’m really tired of calling you Thing 1 and Thing 2.” He gestured to each respective boy.
“I’m Scott and this is Stiles,” He didn’t even care that Scott was speaking for him, he was too focused on the fact that they were once again outside and that he was only in his pajamas. He didn’t even have shoes on and his toes were freezing.
“Right,” Tony glanced between them, “Well, Scott and Stiles, we definitely have a lot of things to talk about and I’m sure you guys could use something warm to drink. Why don’t we head in?” Stiles waited a moment to follow Scott and Tony into the building, looking up as he examined the skyscraper and was intrigued to notice the giant A that was on the side. If he had any doubts before, this solidified the idea that this man was rich.
The lobby of the building was majestic and he couldn’t help but think about how out of place he and Scott were, especially with the way their wet socks squelched along the tile floor. There was honestly so much going on and his head was spinning. Just the day before, Stiles had stared down the barrel of a gun and almost lost all of his friends and now, he was in some rich guy’s building, probably meeting up with the other superhero looking people.
Since when did superheroes even exist?
“So like,” He didn’t even realize he was speaking. “What are you?”
Tony raised his eyebrow from across the elevator, a sly smirk crossing his face, “Genius, billionaire, philanthropist. The works.”
Stiles made a face as Scott snickered next to him, “Yeah, that’s great and all but that doesn’t answer my question. What’s up with the suit? Are you Batman or something?” He wasn’t expecting the silent, scrutinizing stare from the older man. He didn’t even get an answer to his question as the elevator stopped and he was following Tony off the elevator, Scott close behind him. Something was seriously off, even more so than the fact that they magically ended up on the east coast.
Right off the elevator, they were met with a tall, dark skinned man and a teenage boy that was a few inches shorter than him. Stiles gave him a curious look, “You’re the spider-guy.” He stated. It was obvious, he had the same stature and the man was probably the one who wore the gray metal suit.
“Well, so much for that.” He heard Tony mumble as he walked over to join the two.
The spider-guy smiled sheepishly, “It’s actually Spider-Man. But I’m Peter, uh, Peter Parker.”
“Right.” Stiles glanced between Peter and Scott. “I’m Stiles.”
“Scott,” His best friend offered a warm smile. They both turned to look towards the older man with questioning eyes.
“Colonel Rhodes,” He paused for a second, as if he were weighing them, “But you can call me Rhodey.”
Before anyone could say anything else, Tony clapped his hands, gathering all their attention. “Great, now that we have that out of the way, we have some more people who want to figure out what exactly is going on here.”
They were led into a large room, a giant table surrounded by chairs that were all filled by various people, none of which looked happy to be there. That is, until Scott and Stiles stepped into the room and suddenly all attention was on them. Stiles felt intimidated by the stares as he took in the six occupants. To his left, there was a large man with short blonde hair, a Black man sitting on one side of him and a White man on the other. To his left, there was a red-haired woman, another man with curly salt-and-pepper hair, and a White man with hearing aids. All of them were intimidating.
“Feel free to take a seat,” The blonde man gestured to the empty chairs. He had an aura of authority to him. Probably their leader.
Stiles made a point to sit the farthest away that he could because while there was no evidence that these people would harm them, he wasn’t one to completely let his guard down. Scott took the seat beside him while Rhodey, Tony and Peter sat near the others.
“So,” Blondie started again, “Before we begin, I’m Steve, this is-”
“Look, I’m not really interested in more of these introductions,” Stiles groaned, falling back into his chair. “I’m Stiles, this is Scott, yadda yadda yadda, I’m more interested in how we got here and even more interested in how we’re getting back. What’s the plane? Throw us onto a plane back to Cali? Call our parents? I don’t really care but I’d just like to know.” Stiles ended his interruption with what he assumed was a sweet and endearing smile. (It wasn’t.)
From beside him, Scott dropped his head onto the table with an unimpressed huff as Tony audibly laughed at the shocked look that crossed Steve’s face.
“We get that you want to go home,” The red-haired woman spoke up, capturing everyone’s attention. “And while we’d like to do that for you, we are concerned about how exactly you got here.”
“We don’t know how we got here.” Scott countered. “I’m not sure we can be of much help.”
“Why don’t you start out by telling us what’s the last thing you remember?” She looked between the two of them.
Scott and Stiles shared a look, their ability to silently communicate as helpful as ever. There was no way they could truly share the last thing they remembered. Somehow, the fact that they had ended the previous day sitting across from each other with a duffel bag stuffed with blood money sitting between them seemed like the wrong thing to share.”We went to bed. In California.” Scott pretty much echoed Stiles’ words from earlier. “And then we woke up outside, here, in New York.” The waver was back in Scott’s voice.
He could tell that Scott also felt helpless in this situation, However much power that the True Alpha held, it seemed useless here. Stiles honestly didn’t think that their lives could get any worse, especially considering how their PSATs went, yet the universe seemed to take that as a challenge.
“You guys just teleported here out of nowhere?” The man with the hearing aids asked, raising an eyebrow. “Honestly, not the craziest thing I’ve heard.”
“Unfortunately it’s not,” Steve sighed. “Tony?”
The man in question sighed as well, “I got FRIDAY scanning the area, I’ll hit ya back. As for you two,” He swiveled in his chair, eyeing the two boys. “You say you’re from California?”
What kind of question? Stiles has been around long enough to recognize the accusatory tone that adults held when they thought he was lying and to be honest, it offended him every time. Stiles considered himself to be a good liar and also, why would he lie about something as mundane as being from California? Regardless, he stayed silent as he and Scott nodded.
“I’m going to be frank, from what I’m hearing, there’s no record of a Scott or a Stiles in California,” He gestured to Stiles’ shirt, “Or a Beacon Hills in California.”
This definitely ignited something in Scott, “What?” The werewolf questioned, his tone both dark and panicked. “That’s impossible. Try Scott McCall. Beacon Hills is in Beacon County.”
The curly haired man raised both his hands, obviously trying to lessen the increasingly stressful situation. “I don’t think he’s saying you’re lying,” He said softly. “None of us are.” Stiles didn’t miss the hard look he gave the other occupants in the room. “But-”
“But it’s a little odd that you just end up in the middle of a park in March of all things. Don’t get me wrong, 2018 truly is shaping up to be the weirdes-”
It was like the world dissolved into white noise, Stiles’ entire body freezing up as his head snapped towards Tony, his chest heaving as the man’s words repeated in his mind. “What did you just say?” He asked, his voice shaking. He could tell that Scott was sharing his same panic, his best friend staring at Tony intently. Stiles hoped that the man had somehow fumbled his wording, maybe messed his months up, because there was absolutely no way in hell that it was 2018.
“What?” Tony questioned, the critical tone now gone. Stiles was sure that everyone was staring at them, much more concerned this time but he couldn’t focus on that.
“What year did you say it was?” It was Scott’s turn to speak as Stiles could feel his heartbeat rapidly increasing. Nonononono.
“2018?” And just like that, his world stopped.