The Infinite Child

“Rough night, Spider-Man?”

Peter turned around slowly, his heart pounding as he faced whoever stood behind him. His shaking body faced the man behind him.

It was Nick Fury.

As in director of SHEILD Nick Fury.

He was so screwed.

“Y-You must be mistaken. I’m not Spider-Man-“

“I already know who you are Mister Parker. So do me a favor, let’s skip the whole secret identity and get to the point.” Peter’s mouth screwed shut, his eyes falling to the floor unable to look the other man in the eye.

“You’re a very difficult person to contact, Spider-Man.”

The man stepped closer, his eye stuck on the battered teen. Glancing at the nasty bruise on his cheek before the baggy clothes over the kids small body. Clearly meeting Spider-Man in real life didn’t live up to Fury’s expectation.

“You know for being a hero, you’re pretty bad at picking up the phone when the world needs you to.” Peter felt a bitterness hit him. The world always needed saving. It was a never ending cycle.

“So you just gonna stay quiet? Not even gonna ask why I’m here?” Fury prompted.

“With all due respect sir, I don’t really want whatever you’re gonna offer,” Peter snapped. He had just wanted to leave and find a hole to curl up and die in.

“I’m afraid you really don’t got a choice,” Fury states, “You’re the only currently available hero that universe has to protect it.”

“You’re joking.” Of the director was joking he showed no indications. “There’s gotta be somebody else you can use. What about Iron Man?” The mention of his mentor was just rubbing salt on a fresh wound that he had yet to tend to.

“Retired and won’t answer my calls even if somebody put a gun to his head, but you should know that.”

“Thor?”

“Offworld.”

“Captain Marvel?”

“Unavailable.” Peter bit his lip, the thought of Spider-Man going out was dangerous to him. He wanted to scream at the man and tell him no way. He wasn’t ready to don the red spandex again.  However Nick Fury must be truly desperate to come for some low level hero for help. Though the thought of putting on the spandex suit again made him nervous. How could he put that suit on and call himself a hero anymore? He nearly killed somebody and wasn’t strong enough to protect himself from...how was he supposed to protect the whole god damn universe. He was a kid.

“I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” Peter told the man, his voice small and full of guilt. He was shameful of the words leaving his mouth.

“Does it have to do with the fact you look like somebody used your as their personal punching bag or about that criminal who’s claiming Spider-Man nearly killed him?”

Peter tensed, feeling the man hit a raw nerve within him. Why couldn’t Fury just leave and find some other hero? He wasn’t the only one in New York. Why did he have to be so intimidating and pour salt into his fresh wounds?

“Look I don’t care about your personal story or what you’ve done,” Fury announced, “but I need to know now if I’m making a mistake coming to you.”

The hero finally gained the courage to look up at the older man.

“So tell me, are you a hero Mister Parker?” The question sat with him, eating him up alive slowly. It picked at him, poking holes in him. Heros were people who protect people. He’s tried to watch out for the people of New York but right now he didn’t feel like a hero. He felt weak and helpless. How could he trust himself on the battlefield? How could he fight knowing he was unstable? He was scared, worried, confused, lost, angry, sorrowful. He nearly took another's life and couldn’t protect himself from the bad guy.

Peter should walk away.

But he knew he couldn’t walk away.

His feet stayed planted on the ground, his arms folded, eyes falling. What he felt didn’t matter. With great power, comes great responsibility. Those were his Uncle’s exact words to him before dying. Those words shaped who he was. They’re what gave him the power to be a hero in the first place. Even if he was dying on the ground, he still owed to to his Uncle to fight. Now he was turning his back on his Uncle. What happened to him was awful, but that shouldn’t stop him from joining the fight, from protecting people.

He couldn’t allow himself to be a victim if he’s meant to be the hero.

Peter had to fight or he feared he would break.

“Doesn’t matter what you did or what you were, if you step out that door you are an Avenger.” Peter wasn’t hundred percent sure what Mister Hawkeye’s voice was doing in head, but it was enough for him to make his final choice.

The teen glanced one last time towards the alleyway, thinking about all that had happened for a moment, the man’s screaming, his ugly voice, his nasty stench, his saviour, the fear. He wasn’t even actually raped. He was sexually assaulted. The man hadn’t gotten so far before the floating man saved him. He was making a big deal out of nothing. He couldn’t let himself crumble away. He had to keep together.

He just had to.

Peter just wanted to forget of all that happened. Push away the memory, locking it away in dark closet and throw away the key. Now was no time to sulk. He could do that all day, but the world will always keep spinning. It wouldn’t change anything if he let his emotions consume him. Dwelling on the past was a dark scary path that Peter couldn’t afford to walk down. He just had to get over it and move on.

Though despite it all, the teen knew all too well that he would never forget what happened tonight.

“What’s the mission?”

Peter was sitting dozens of feet off the ground in a private jet now wearing Shield borrowed clothing. He had yet to put on the suit, trying to wear the suit as least as possible. He rubbed his fingers gently at the stitches that laid on his forehead blindly.

“Careful this will sting,” The shield doctor told him, pulling out a disinfectant wipe. Gently the woman cleaned the wound, surprised by the lack of reaction from the teen.

Peter could feel her grow curious as she prepared the needle. Infact Peter even knew what she was about to say before the words left her mouth.

Done this before?

“Done this before?” She asked.

“More that I can count,” He muttered, shifting his body away from the womans touch. He hated the way her hands felt on his body, they were all too cold. They were unlike his Aunt’s soft warm hands. The woman's eyes wandered down downwards towards Peter’s arm, noting the hand brusings like somebody grabbed him hard.

“So how did you say that you got hurt again?”

“I didn’t,” Peter snipped. The woman sighed, her eyes focused on the stiches, occasionally looking at the bruises that marked the kids body. She seemed to get the idea that Peter wasn’t gonna speak.

The doctor finished the stiching, placing a bandage over it to ensure no outside bacteria would cause an infection. “Thank you,” He said in a small voice. “You’re welcomed.” The doctor flashed him a small but quick smile.

The kid slowly sat up, ignoring his body’s protest to stay laid down. “Is that your bag?” The doc asked, glancing at the backpack laying forgotten on the floor beside a bag full of clothes.

Peter nodded, sliding off the bed. He stood up, picking up the bags, and moving towards the door. Before he left, the teen dropped the bag of clothes in the bin, before leaving without a word.

Peter snapped out of his memory when he felt the helicopter drop for a few seconds before returning normal. His eyes widened, his fingers digging into the seat underneath him.

“It’s just turbulence,” Miss Hill told him, “No need to worry.”

Just turbulence . The plane wasn’t failing, it was just shaking a bit . No worries.

Peter repeated that to himself. He wasn’t gonna die. He was perfectly fine. He looked Miss Hill who was watching him with an amused smirk. The teen gave her a forced awkward nervous smile trying his best to look like he was scared out of his mind.

Mister Fury (?) suddenly looked his way handing him a folder after spending a few minutes looking through it. “W-What’s this?” Peter asked, taking the folder into his own hands. He grabbed the corner of the folder, peeling it open. Inside were photos of the whole world. Different places on the world were marked with different colors. Some were marked green, which according to the bottom of the paper meant good. Other parts were yellow, red, or purple. Yellow meaning moderate, red being high, purple being unnaturally high. However none of this made sense to him. It was just a bunch of colors to him without any context.

“I don’t get it, what does this mean?” Peter asked.

“There readings.”

“Readings of what?”

“Energy levels.” Peter glances upward, his mouth pursed but slightly open and loose. His eyes are fixed as if he’s looking at something a yard behind Fury’s head. “Our world gives out a specific energy reading. Normally readings are below the hundreds in what we call the green zone,” Hill explained.

“But this shows different colors?” Peter thought a loud.

“I’m getting there.” Peter sunk down in his seat, embarrassed. “Now these readings have modulated before, the first recorded reading being the time being the Battle of New York when Loki invaded our world.” Peter remembered the battle. He was a kid at the time and remembered being out with his Aunt when the aliens first invaded. They were watching the news when they saw what was happening. May had dropped everything in shock when she saw the first signs of alien reaching Queens zoom past their window. She rushed home with Peter, locking themselves in the bathroom incase. They spent what felt like hours hiding, wondering if Ben was alright. It wasn’t until Ben came home, calling their names out did they come out of hiding and wrap their arms around him. Though he didn’t see the full fight, Peter knew exactly what happened thanks to his little chats with Mister Stark. “At the time we assumed the reading was affected by the presences of the Asgardian and Chitari. However long after their departure, the readings didn’t go down. Which meant something else was causing the readings.”

Peter looked back down at the photo, picking it up and looking underneath it. There were more photos with different labels. Ultron invasion, Civil War, Hong Kong spike -levels rise.

“But by Ultron we knew something else was going on. These readings were being caused by something else.” Peter’s heart skipped a beat when he glimpsed at the last photo.

‘ The Snap ’ was written in large sharpe letters on the top.

Then it hit him, smacking him right in the face. All of these events had one thing in common. According to Mister Stark, Loki possessed two stones when coming to earth. Space and Mind . During Ultron, Banner and Stark created Vision using the Mind Stone . During the battle of the Civil War, Vision was among one of the many fighters on Stark’s team fighting for the side of justice. Then during the snap, Thanos had all six stones and used them all to wipe him out along with half the universe.

“The stones,” Peter muttered, his eyes dawning in realization.

“Yes. During each event there was only one common factor. The infinity stones. At least one of the stones were active during all those period. So we modified our computers to pick up and scan stone energy spikes.” Peter glanced at the most recent photo, looking at the date. It was taken a week ago, right before he ran off around the time he stopped the robbery. It was far worse than the other photos, there was more color than there was actual green. Everything off balance.
“B-But these readings don’t make sense. The stones are gone. Mister Stark destroyed them after snapping Thano’s army out of existence.”

“We think that the snap ripped tears into our world.”

“No offense but what do you think I can do? I’m a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man not a magician, that’s more of Strange’s specialty. Wouldn’t he have been a better hero to bring?”

“Strange has made it very clear that he’s not a people person,” Fury spoke up suddenly. “So that leaves you.”

“Great,” Peter sighed, glancing out the window, watching the clouds in the sky, effectively ending the conversation for the moment.

When they landed, Peter in awe looking at the city buildings above. Europe was far different from America. For starters it looked far less crowded, and had much more green. Though it could just be where he was in Europe.

“We’ve sent an agent to inform your aunt that you’re well. We won’t give her specifics like you location incase Stark decides to come hunt you down. However we will allow five minute calls from a Shield phone. It’s programed to bounce off of different cell towers, making you untraceable.” Peter took the phone awkwardly examining the bland ugly flip phone wondering how this could be so advanced. Stark phones are so much better he sneakily thought to himself. He felt a wave of sadness hit him. He promised himself to focus on the mission and not let himself look back. However the thought of his late mentor caused him to leak emotions.

“Still with me Spider-Man?”

“Y-Yeah, “ Peter sucked in his emotions with a deep inhale, “c-could you stop calling me that? I-I still have a secret identity to protect.” He voice turned into a whisper towards the end.

“Sure. Is Mister Parker okay?”

“P-Peter please. Mister Parker sounds too…”

“Grown up?” Hill offered, sparing a glance at the young teen. Peter sheepishly nodded. The agent chuckled, making a mental note to call the boy by his first name. The two met Fury by a car where the Shield director was currently speaking to somebody. The girl he was speaking to looked like a soldier, her shoulders squared, back straight, making eye contact, nodding her head along.

“ Make sure to tell Agents Westcott and Porter to return to base. Their mission is done. ”

“ Yes sir.” The girl turned towards him and walked away, briefly making eye contact with him before she passed him. Peter watched her go before turning his attention back on the Fury and Hill.

“Let’s go, all this fresh air is killing me,” Fury stated, his serious tone fixed. Hill smiled, clearly taking his statement light hearted. Peter stayed quiet, not knowing whether or not the man was actually joking. Instead he followed the older adults into a car, clenching the phone in his hands tightly. Fury and Hill were in the front while Peter was sat in the back. The teen stayed silent, feeling his mind drift off. He hadn’t noticed how tired he was until now. The humming of the car and the bumpy road was enough to make his eyes grow heavy.

The last thing he remembered was watching the road before his eyes closed.

Peter was floating.

The twinkling lights hypnotized him. As he passed through the worlds, supernovas and galaxies, everything exploded into his vision with endless colour and energy radiating off them. He could feel the energy run through him, coursing through his veins, living inside him.

Peter never felt more at home.

“Do you feel it? My power brushing upon your soul?”  

Peter could see an orange light. It shun above him, radiating so close to his pale skin, yet felt so far. He could feel it. It felt so great, like life pumping through him.

“I send you message. Hear my call.”

Peter watched as the light formed a picture before his eyes. It was the Avengers compound. The battle ground reeked of death and ruin. The dust of their enemies blew through the air letting the calm take over.

Peter could see himself. He was walking through the rubble, the mask on his face coming off revealing a large smile. He could feel the pride. They had won he heard himself think. His doppelgangers eyes turned, searching for his mentor to exclaim the good news.

The smile on his face fell.

Both Peter’s eyes fell onto the dying figure of their mentor. The waterworks began to build up as he watched himself run to his mentor. His feet moving across the field desperately to reach his father. A group of people already begun to surround the mentor, their eyes saying it all.

Peter didn’t remember this.

“I feel your pain, your suffering, your heart break. You mourn for the dying.”

Peter was now standing over his mentor, bending down to meet the dead man's eyes. Tears had already begun to fall.

“We won,” Peter’s clone said, his tears falling onto the ground below.

“The universe hears your cries. We offer you an accord.”

Peter watched as he was pulled away by Pepper. He watched himself break down in a moment he didn’t remember. Everything seemed so real. All of it was like a memory longing to be remembered. Through all of the sorrow he saw it. The bright orange light. He could feel it fading, its equals dying beside it.
Peter could see life fading from them. It was unlike anything he’s ever seen before.

They were alive.

“I will cease to exist along with my brethren. Our power will be set free and there will be no balance.”

He could see them. Sentient beings. Their form within the stones, living and now dying. They were gods in the shape of small rocks. He saw them place a piece of their themselves inside each stone, creating a balance as each sentient being took their final breath.

“The universe has chosen you to be be the carrier of our power. You will be gifted with the power of the gods and the choice to save your father.”

Peter watched as himself turned towards the soul stone, he eyes widened as if he actually was hearing the voice speak. His face showed how desperate he was but it also was full of understanding.

“Be warn my child as there is a great price to be faced when taking our gift.”

Peter’s clone stepped towards the stone, catching the attention of Pepper and the other people around. However his decision was made already. He could no longer watch the scene play out in front of him. He couldn’t loose another father.

Not this time.

Peter could see the desperateness on his own face, the fear of losing another barring on him. His hand grasped the stone, opening his soul to the stone.

Peter could only watch himself. 

He watched himself glow as he bent down towards his mentor, holding his hand out to grab his mentors cheek. Then the light filled the scene blinding all who watched. He watched his body collapse on the side like a limp doll.

Stark opened his eyes

“Listen well! I speak the future! A prophecy for all to hear! A boy with the purest of heart will be chosen from the deeps of rubble. His body transformed, reborn on earth becoming one with mind and soul.”

Peter could see himself standing, behind him was six ginormous seats hidden in the shadows. All that could be seen was the glowing eyes, each one representing a stone. His eyes not the brown ones he know but replaced with the universe. Dozens of stars scattered across his eyes, always moving.

“He will set on a journey, a trial that tests the heart and soul. The Child of Infinite shall be the universe’s salvation…”

Peter watched as the scene faded. He saw the whole universe. Every single intricate thread in the large web of life. Every soul that lives. He could hear the life bouncing off it. He could feel it all.

Time.

Mind.

Space.

Soul.

Reality.

Power.

“Or the cause of its destruction.”

Peter’s finger reached to touch the web. However as soon as his fingers brushed upon the web, the web wilted. He watched in horror as the web crippled, its color fading away, the singing twisted into awful screaming. He backed away as the web crumbled, fading to dust before his very eyes.

Images flashed before his eyes. Shield logo printed on a uniform, Doctor Strange floating above with his hands held out holding something down with his magic, Iron Man in midair with dozens of helicopters behind him, green gas, tears in the universe, and Peter standing on top of a cliff on planet where the sky’s were dark.

“Peter….?”

Peter tried to scream, but he was forced to watch as images flashed. His eyes burned, and his brain cried out. He could feel all of it fill his skull, flooding his conscious. It felt like his brain was being teared apart and pulled back together again.

“PETER!”

Peter shot awake, his eyes flying wide open as the sudden yank on his shoulder. His heart banged like a drum and his body sweat like is Niagara Falls.

His eyes met Hills face who held onto his shoulder, concerned laced all over her

“Don’t touch me!” Peter hissed, pulling away from the agents touch. He hated the way anybody’s hand felt on his body. It felt wrong.

“I’m sorry,” Hill apologized, holding her hands up in surrender. “You were having a nightmare and were here at the base.”

Peter felt bad for snapping at the woman, he should never have yelled her. He couldn’t help but feel like a burden.

“N-No I’m sorry. I-I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“No it’s okay. I crossed a boundary. I’m sorry.” Peter sighed, rubbing his tired eyes, feeling a headache come on.

“Come on, Fury wants you to meet someone,” Hill said, changing the subject. Peter halfheartedly nodded. He followed the agent out of the car, following her inside to the secret Shield base. The words of his vision echoing through his head, feeling far too real to be just a dream.

“The Child of Infinite shall be the universe’s salvation or the cause of its destruction.”

It only left him with more questions than answers. What had really happened during that final battle with Thanos and why was he seeing visions?