Destiny Arrives Page 4

  Back at the site of the battle. Strange and Wong conjured protective mandalas as Maw contmued to hurl cars their way. Iron Man zoomed down from the sky, between Wong and Strange, and blasted the oncoming car right back at Maw. Maw effortlessly split the car in half with his languidly raised hand and his powerful telekinesis. In the precious moments before Maw sent another car flying. Iron Man turned back to Strange with a plan.

  "Gotta get that Stone out of here, now," Iron Man said to Strange.

  "It stays with me," Strange protested, his voice resolute.

  "Exactly, bye." Without hesitation, Iron Man launched off the ground and sped toward Ebony Maw. He was going to brmg the fight to him and not just stand there waiting for whatever Maw would throw at them next. Quite literally. If the Time Stone was what Maw really wanted, then Iron Man was going to make the getting of it as annoyingly difficult as possible.

  Cull Obsidian, recovered from the blasts, spotted his opponent and swung his hammer. The blunt end disconnected, attached by a chain, and raced at Iron Man. It hit him square in the chest. With a flick of his wrist. Cull twisted the hammer and it hoisted Iron Man from the ground, sending him crashing through a building.

  Rubble and debris were everywhere, but the streets were cleared of any civilians as Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian continued their path of destruction. Cull chased after Iron Man.

  His rocket guidance systems knocked offline temporarily by Cull Obsidian's blow. Iron Man careened through the sky and crashed into a tree in Washington Square Park. Bruce ran to his fallen friend.

  "Torn; you okay?" he asked. Iron Man's arms and legs were spread out m the miniature crater he had created when he hit the ground. "How we doing? Good? Bad?"

  "Really, really good. Really good," Iron Man said sarcastically. His naive plan to charge Ebony Maw fireworked around in his ringing head. "Do you plan on helping out?"

  "I'm trying. He won't come out," Bruce said, still confused and embarrassed by his inadequacy.

  Before Iron Man could carry on with whatever existential crisis Bruce was currently embroiled in. Cull Obsidian's hammer sped across Washington Square Park, aimed directly at Bruce.

  "Hammer!" Iron Man yelled as he leaped up and pushed Bruce out of the way.

  Cull Obsidian's hammer whizzed past the place Bruce Banner's head had been seconds before. With Bruce out of harm's way. Iron Man turned to Cull Obsidian and fired repulsor beams from each gloved hand. Cull blocked the blasts with his shield, sendmg the energy blasts in different directions.

  One of Cull's ricocheting blasts sliced a tree in half and Bruce had to scramble to avoid being squashed. Really? A fallen tree—and not even a big one, by the way—was all it was going to take to end what used to be one of the most feared creatures in the universe? Bruce crawled out from underneath the fallen sapling and clenched his fists in frustration. "Come on, Hulk, what are you doing to me? Come out, come out, come out!" he demanded, slapping his own face as punctuation to every plea.

  In a blur, Bruce's face morphed into the Hulk's. Hulk let out a mighty' bellow and screamed "NO!" before changing back to Banner. Bruce fell backward, dazed from this ongoing internal mutiny. Lying on his back, surrounded by the branches of the Evil Tree that Almost Killed Him, Bruce screamed in frustration.

  "What do you mean, 'no'?" Bruce was at his wit's end. But there was no answer.

  The battle between Cull Obsidian and Iron Man raged on in the park. To Tony Stark's amazement. Cull Obsidian s thick hide and alien tech weapon staved off most of his blasts. Iron Man had to think of something quick, because whatever this fight was turning into, even he knew that it wasn't going to be sustainable for long. He'd fought pure brawn before and he'd come out on top. This was different. Iron Man was quickly learning that Cull Obsidian was more than just brute strength.

  Cull Obsidian landed a massive blow, sending Iron Man across a small green space. Thankful that it wasn't more concrete. Iron Man came to a stop, sprawled on his stomach, completely vulnerable to the fast-approaching Cull Obsidian. Disoriented and exhausted, Iron Man was slow to notice the massive hammer descending upon him. But Iron Man both felt the lowermg hammer and noticed that its progression toward him had paused at exactly the same moment. Turning, Iron Man saw the person responsible.

  Standing over Iron Man was none other than his youngest recruit, Spider-Man. Spider-Man held back Cull Obsidian's lowermg hammer as if he were pushing open a land of sticky window.

  "Hey, man." Spider-Man nodded to Cull Obsidian. Turning back to the still-recumbent Iron Man, Spider-Man spoke with only slightly hidden reverence. "What's up, Mr. Stark?"

  Peter's voice was as exuberant and light as ever, something Tony both secretly admired and feared. He felt responsible for the kid and, while he was thankful for his help, he felt an immediate burning urge to command Spider-Man to get as far away from this Thanos business as possible. If what Bruce said was true, this battle would be no place for someone as green and unbroken as Peter Parker.

  At the same time, Tony knew there was nothing he could do to keep Peter away. Just like Tony, Peter had a code. Save people. Stop bad things. Who was Tony to stand in the way of a man and his code? Even if that man was actually a teenaged boy, and that "code" was more a set of concepts that the kid probably knew how to best articulate through a series of tweets and Instagram updates.

  Working rapidly through the scenario at hand, Tony resolved to let Peter fight, but he would also not hesitate to bench him should things get beyond what Peter could handle. He vowed to keep him safe. Whatever that meant for people like Tony and Peter.

  "Kid! Where'd you come from?" Iron Man asked, his voice sounding a little too relieved and grateful for his taste.

  "A field trip to MoMA," Spider-Man answered just as Cull Obsidian's gigantic hand curled around the kid and hurled him across the park. Spider-Man crashed into a nearby fountain several feet away. He bounced back up, webbmg a tree and bounding back into the fight.

  "What's this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?" Peter asked as Iron Man circled around Cull, trying to find a weak spot as he blasted the menace.

  "Uh, he's from space. He came to steal a necklace from a wizard." If there was a more ridiculous sentence ever uttered, Tony hadn't heard it.

  Thwipping and buzzing around Cull, Spider-Man quickly found himself inconveniently trapped mside Cull Obsidian's massive clawlike weapon.

  "Hey, hey, hey!" Spider-Man yelled as Cull spun the captured Super Hero around and around, finally hurtling the boy to places unknown, followed by half a cab just for good measure.

  But Spider-Man not only gained control of his own violent and quite unwelcome trajectory, he saw the cab flying toward him and deftly used his web-shooters to lasso the cab and aim it right back at Cull Obsidian. The cab slammed down on top of Cull, finally offering Spidey and Iron Man a second to breathe and try to recuperate before Round Two.

  Outside the Sanctum Sanctorum, Doctor Strange and Wong were facing attacks from Ebony Maw. Using his powers. Ebony Maw transformed a pile of bricks into sharpened spikes and sent them hurtling at the mystics. Strange opened a portal m front of him as Wong opened another m front of himself. The sharp spikes flew mto Strange's portal and immediately out of Wong's, hurtling right back toward Maw. Hie creature was shocked to find his own weapons speedmg back at his own elongated face. Maw, unused to bemg challenged in any way, was uncharacteristically slow to act, and that's when one of his own spikes traced a bloody canyon across his grayish, wrinkled visage. His cloyingly impenetrable veneer now gone. Maw targeted a nearby fire hydrant and took out Wong. All of his attention was now back on Strange, and that Time Stone.

  But in the one millisecond that Maw was focused on Wong, Doctor Strange swung his hand and conjured a magical whip. He snapped it at Maw and the golden energy weapon encircled the alien. Strange pulled the whip back and forcibly brought Maw toward him.

  Maw flew toward Strange, but to Strange's horror. Maw had made the magical whip disappear. Strange braced for impact
, only to find himself lifted off the ground. Maw used his telekinesis to slam the mystic against the brick wall of a nearby building. Both now upside down. Maw planted Strange into the wall, covering the mystic's body brick by brick.

  "Your powers are quaint. You must be popular with the children," Maw taunted.

  With a smug smile. Maw reached for the Eye of Agamotto, eyes glinting at the sight of the Time Stone. But as his hand touched it, he screamed in pain. The necklace had burned itself mto the palm of Maw's hand.

  "It's a simple spell, but quite unbreakable," said Strange confidently, still partially buried in bricks.

  Ebony Maw's dark eyes narrowed to slits and his lip curled in hatred. "Then I'll take it off your corpse." In a fit of frustration. Ebony Maw grabbed Strange by the collar and threw him to the street down below. Strange hit the ground and rolled to safety, finally coming to a kneeling position. His face a mask of intense concentration. Strange crossed his arms and then shot them out to his sides, quickly and efficiently activating the Eye of Agamotto. It opened, revealing the now glowing Time Stone. The glowing green bands encircled the mystic's forearms, but before he could call up its power a deep rumbling came from the ground as dozens of metal pipes and rebar rods shot through the pavement, wrapping around Doctor Strange's body. The Eye of Agamotto closed as a metal pipe twisted around Strange's neck. As the metal tightened, binding him. Strange let out a pained grunt.

  Struggling against the bonds. Strange looked to Maw. "You'll find removing a dead man's spell troublesome." Strange's words might have been strong, but his inability to breathe made the uttering of them sound weak and completely declawed. Maw grinned maliciously.

  "You'll only wish you were dead." Maw tightened his grip and the metal cage encircling Strange contracted around him, fully incapacitating the mystic. Strange fell to the ground, unconscious and utterly vulnerable to whatever Maw had m store for him. Using his powers of telekmesis. Maw detached the chunk of cement from beneath Strange's body and lifted it into the air. He beckoned the cement, along with Strange, to follow him. Maw was relieved that he'd finally gotten what he came for. Just then, Strange's Cloak of Levitation wormed itself free and, attaching itself to its master, pulled the mystic through the coils.

  "No!" Maw was furious at the sight of his prey escapmg and zoommg away toward Washington Square Park.

  In the park. Iron Man was blocking blow after blow from Cull Obsidian with a shield formed from the nanites in his suit. He glanced up to see a barely conscious Doctor Strange fly through the air, guided by the Cloak.

  "Kid!" Still fighting the apparently tireless Cull Obsidian, Tony pointed to Strange. "That's the wizard! Get on it!" Tony's voice was ragged.

  Peter spun and his jaw dropped at the sight. He was still relatively new to the Super Hero game, but having fought with and against Avengers made him think he'd seen it all. He was wrong. First aliens and a spaceship, now a magic cape carrying a wizard through Washington Square Park. He thwipped his webs and caught the cape like a fisherman hooking a bass.

  "On it!" Peter answered. But the Cloak of Levitation had other priorities. Chief among these was getting Strange away from Ebony Maw, who was hot on their trail. So, while the Cloak and Strange flew away from Ebony Maw, Spider-Man chased them both. Once Ebony Maw realized he was being followed, he began hurtling anything he could find back at his pursuer. Spider-Man zigged and zagged, barely dodging an errant billboard that'd been tossed dismissively at him by Maw.

  "Not cool!" Peter called out as he doubled his efforts.

  As the Cloak of Levitation sped Strange to safety. Maw bent a handful of streetlamps into their path. One of these streetlamps caught the Cloak by the edge, knocking Strange out cold and leaving him open and vulnerable for Maw to intercept. Except before Maw could snatch up Strange—and the Time Stone—Spider-Man used his web-shooters to lasso the mystic himself.

  "Gotcha," Spider-Man said to the now-unconscious man. With Strange in tow, Peter swung through the city back toward Iron Man.

  But then everything changed in an instant. Doctor Strange was caught m a blue beam that shot down from Ebony Maw's spaceship overhead. Slowly, they began to rise, dust and debris climbing to the heavens with them. Peter had seen enough outer-space movies to know a tractor beam when he saw one.

  "Wait!" Spider-Man bellowed. Looking around, he spotted a target: a nearby streetlamp. He fired his webs at it and pulled, the lamp acting as an anchor. The Cloak of Levitation flicked and worried just outside the shaft of light as its helpless master was lifted higher and higher away from New York City. With an effortless flick of his hand. Maw eased the streetlamp from the ground and, with it, Spider-Man followed Strange and the Cloak of Levitation into the blue shaft of light and on toward the awaiting spaceship.

  Spider-Man's voice activated the communication radio in his mask. "Uh, Mr. Stark, I'm being beamed up."

  In the park. Iron Man was still holdmg his ground against Cull Obsidian, who was delivering blow after blow. "Hold on, kid!" he managed to grunt.

  But Iron Man needed to take his own advice. The brutal truth was that he was losmg. He'd lost Spider-Man, he'd lost Strange and the Time Stone, and now he was having trouble just staying in what was turning out to be some kind of pay-per-view heavyweight boxing match with someone who outgunned him in every possible way. He'd been a distraction, all right. But not quite the way he'd planned. Ebony Maw had distracted Iron Man with Cull Obsidian in order to get to Strange and the Time Stone. He'd been had.

  His own words to Doctor Strange telling him to get the Time Stone out of there bounced around in his brain, taunting him. Bruce had warned him that this threat was different than anything they'd faced. That Thanos was different. Why hadn't he listened?

  A piece of Cull Obsidian's armor wrapped around Iron Man's own body armor, jolting and electrifying Tony mto submission. As Torn- struggled against the iron shackles he could only watch as Cull Obsidian produced a giant metal sword that extended out of his body. Great. Tony's mind filled with exit plans, elaborate schemes, and possible scenarios as his enemy charged into him. In the end, all he could do was try to roll out of the way of the oncoming blow. Instead he was stunned when a portal of energy swirled in the air and enveloped the goliath.

  There was a frozen tundra visible for a moment on the other side of the portal before it closed, cleanly cutting off one of Cull's hands.

  "Whoa," Bruce said, as Cull's hand rolled over toward him. He kicked it away in disgust.

  Bruce and Tony turned to see Wong, mystical golden energy surroundmg him, finishing the spell of banishment. Tony leaped up, newly invigorated. He could still fix this. He could still win this. He hadn't lost yet.

  "Wong, you're invited to my wedding," Tony said to the mystic as he sped away after all that he'd lost.

  Spider-Man and Doctor Strange were still on the trajectory to the spaceship, which had begun to take off. Tony cursed silently. Ebony Maw must have boarded the ship and started piloting it to Thanos, taking Doctor Strange and the Time Stone with him. His stomach dropped even more when he realized that the other cargo Maw had m his tractor beam wouldn't be able to survive for that long in space.

  If Tony didn't act quickly, Peter Parker would die. And it would be all his fault.

  With the telescopic vision in his visor. Iron Man saw that Peter Parker had managed to climb up his web and cling to the ship. Doing a fast calculation, he determined Peter had exactly 8.6 seconds to live before the spaceship broke the atmosphere, cutting off his air supply.

  "Give me a little juice, FRIDAY," he ordered, and immediately personal rockets unfolded from his suit and boots, propelling him with a BOOM into the air.

  Trying not to panic, Tony barked, "Unlock 17-A."

  FRIDAY complied with the order, and miles away, in the former Avengers headquarters, a storage bay marked 17-A opened. A pod sped out faster than sound, its target locked on Spider-Man.

  In the meantime, Peter was getting tired, cold, and light-headed from lac
k of air. His ears were rmging, which was why he thought Iron Man was crazy when he heard him next.

  "Pete, you gotta let go. I'm gonna catch you," Tony said, focused and urgent.

  "But you said save the wizard!" Peter yelled into the thinning atmosphere. It was difficult to talk. Desperate and panicking, he pulled off his mask. "I can't breathe," he gasped, still holding on to the spaceship with one hand.

  "We're too high up. You're running out of air," Tony said, speeding closer and closer to Peter. Even through Tony's fear at what was about to happen, he turned to logic and explanation, his own particular way of attempting to keep Peter calm. What he actually wanted to say was that he was scared and worried. And Tony was scared and worried because he was quickly realizing that, despite his better judgment, he cared for the boy. Felt responsible for him. And those feelings were much more difficult to communicate than the science and facts about what happens to a human bemg when they fly too high without the proper gear.

  "Yeah, that makes sense," Peter said, and Tony's heart broke. Even hanging off the side of a spaceship hurtling into space, seconds from dying, Peter Parker was still just as open and trusting as he'd always been.

  After Peter uttered that final sentence, he promptly fell off"the ship and slipped down into Earth's atmosphere. Tony was too far away to catch him, but the object from 17-A was right on time. Slamming into Peter's back, it began to form a metallic-like suit that looked like a modified version of his own.

  Tony had designed a suit for Spider-Man.

  The suit fully formed around Peter, mask included. Spider-Man bounced off the circular ship... and stuck like a magnet. Well, more like a spider, Peter thought, as oxygen from the internal systems filled his lungs and his faculties returned to him.