Waking up
He woke with a start, hands trembling on his shoulders.
“Peter, you have to wake up, you’ve a job to do.”
Opening his eyes he struggled to remember where he was, but as he adjusted to the harsh orange light and noted the pain in his back, he remembered — Titan. Doctor Strange hovered over him, urgency in his expression.
“What happened? How long have I been asleep?” Peter asked, groggily. He’d had the kind of deep sleep that you feel after surgery, as if you’d had five minutes rest but actually it was five hours.
“Thanos was successful in obtaining the stones and snapped half the universe into oblivion. The surviving Avengers have just completed a time heist to regain the stones and reverse the snap,” the mystic master replied, solemnly. “It took them five years to achieve this.”
“WHAT?” Peter exclaimed.
“There’s no time to discuss it further. We don’t have long.”
“Long for what?” Peter was totally confused now. Looking round he saw the people he felt like he’d only met yesterday - Mr Lord, the antenna lady and the big green guy who always seemed like he was on another planet - all coming round with the same discombobulation he was feeling.
“For the coming conflict. For the one.” Strange looked at Peter with deep intent, eyes focused on his, as if he was looking into the boy’s soul. But instead of feeling intimidated, a deep calm washed over him. The one, he said. Peter remembered, of 14 million 605 thousand possibilities, there was a chance of the one?
“Where’s Mr Stark, the blue lady?” Peter was sitting up now, rubbing his eyes and trying to get his head around the last 30 seconds of his existence. His body felt weird, aching and stiff, his heartbeat skipping. He felt as if he would pass out if he tried to stand.
“They avoided what we went through, they did not turn to dust. They went on with their lives, but now they are about to fight the final battle. We need to join them.”
“When did you wake up, Doctor?”
“About five minutes ago. I’ve already portalled to all our affected realms to assemble our armies. The battle will be beyond anyone’s imagination. We will see acts of great heroism and devastating sacrifice. Are you ready, child?”
“Of course. Anything for Mr Stark, and anything for my home and my friends and my family - my neighbourhood. I have to protect them.”
“Good.”
Strange proceeded to give Peter, Star Lord, Drax and Mantis strict instruction to step through the portal, to await the signal from Captain America, and then charge. Aside from the general confusion, he felt he was in complete trust of the man before him. The sorcerer had produced magic spells he’d never seen before on Titan — heck he’d even turned a black hole into butterflies. There was no doubt Strange knew his stuff and with no other option, the quartet of awoken heroes listened to his every word.
Strange did the thing he did with his hands — Peter wondered if he’d ever be able to do that, with a little training, he’d have to ask one day — and a portal emerged. Looking through, all he could see was darkness, ominous clouds, the sounds of an army, chanting and in the distance, Thanos facing what looked like Captain America, with a broken shield?
It was time.