I found them in the enormous empty chamber that had been the Hulk's cage — the containment unit Loki had tricked Thor into, and from which he had made his escape. The space still held that particular quality of aftermath.
Tony and Steve were both standing, both looking at the floor, both carrying the expression of men who had just been reminded that the world was capable of winning.
"Well, this is a cheerful gathering," I said.
They turned. Both blinked.
"Spider!" Steve smiled, and genuine relief crossed his face. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"
"Bruised," I said. "The God of Thunder punches very hard. Who knew."
"He's sorry," Steve started.
"He should be," Tony said flatly.
I looked at the blood on the wall. I already knew, of course, whose it was. I looked at it anyway. "Is that where he died?"
Tony couldn't look at it. He nodded once.
Steve spoke quietly. "Was he married?"
"No," Tony said. "There was...someone. Specialist, I think." He paused. "He was an idiot."
"For believing?" Steve said.
"For going after Loki alone. He should have waited."
"He was doing his job."
"He was out of his depth," Tony said. He stared down at the hanging cell below. "He should have waited."
"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."
"Right. Forgot that part."
"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"
"We are not soldiers!"
"Yes we are," I said.
Both of them looked at me.
"We're not Fury's soldiers," I said. "We serve something different. But what we're doing here — this is a war. And Coulson was part of it."
I looked at them. Tony was too angry, and it was the wrong kind of anger — it was pulling him inward rather than forward. He needed to understand something first.
I reached up and released the helmet seal. It came off. I tucked it under my arm.
Tony went still.
"You're just a kid," he said. And the horror in his voice was genuine — not dismissive. Concerned.
"You shouldn't be here," Steve said.
"You were told the same thing, before you were given the serum," I said, looking at Steve. "Every time. But you kept trying. Again and again."
"That was different — it was war—"
"And what would you call what Loki is bringing down on us right now?"
Steve didn't have an answer for that.
"You shouldn't be fighting," Tony said. "You shouldn't even be involved in this."
I looked at them both. I let the silence hold for a moment.
"The first time I got my powers," I said, "I wanted nothing to do with them. Nothing. Then a friend told me — if heroes don't rise, the bad guys won't stop coming. That same week, I was in Harlem when the Hulk tore through it. So many people were hurt. Crying out. In real pain. I couldn't leave. Not when I could do something."
I held their eyes.
"Right then I made a choice. Whatever it costs me — if I can help, I will. My dad used to say: with great power comes great responsibility. My uncle keeps saying it now. They mean slightly different things by it. But for me — it means that if I have the ability to prevent something terrible and I choose not to, then the terrible thing happens because of me. I own that. Every time."
"Loki has to be stopped," I said. "Whatever the cost. My life is not worth more than the hundreds who will die if he wins. It does not matter how old I am. All that matters is that I do everything I can."
A long silence.
"That," Tony said at last, "is the best rallying speech I have ever heard. Not quite Independence Day. But comfortably above Braveheart."
Steve looked at him. "I don't know what either of those references are, but I'll trust you that it's good."
"Oh, it is," Tony confirmed.
I looked between them. "So. Are you two in or out?"
"In," Steve said immediately.
Tony looked down at the blood on the wall for a long moment. Then he looked up. "He made it personal."
"That's not the point," Steve argued.
"No — actually, I think it is," I said. They both turned. "He let himself get captured deliberately. He needed to get inside this carrier, get inside our heads, and break us from the inside out. He wanted to — and then he wanted to watch us fail."
"So — divide and conquer," Steve said.
"Yes," Tony said, something shifting in his expression. "But — he knows he has to beat us, doesn't he? He wants to be seen beating us." He looked up. "That's what he wants. A spectacle. A stage. He wants an audience."
"We got a preview in Stuttgart," Steve said.
"No — Stuttgart was a trailer. Loki wants flowers, monuments, his name written across the skyline—"
Steve's eyes went wide. "Son of a—"
"We need to move," I said, settling the mask back into place and activating the voice modulator.
Tony was already running. "I'll take the suit — I can be there faster."
"Don't engage him alone," Steve called after him.
"If he's already started the teleporter sequence we may already be too late," I said to Steve. "Can we at least delay it?"
"Let's find out," Steve said.
"We need Natasha and Barton first."
"Can Barton be trusted?"
"There's one way to find out," I said. "Come with me."
Minutes later we were airborne in a jet, Natasha at the controls and Clint in the co-pilot's seat. As we banked toward Manhattan I thought about the people on the ground. They were about to be caught in the middle of something they had no part in creating.
I pulled out my SHIELD-issue phone and opened my Spider-Man Twitter account.
TheAmazingSpider: Not a drill. Manhattan about to be targeted by a hostile extraterrestrial event near Stark Tower. If you are near the area — get out. Right now. This is not a joke.
I sent the same message four times.
"What are you doing?" Natasha asked.
"Telling my followers to get out of the city," I said. "Loki's army is going to hit civilians hardest. If even a fraction of them listen—"
"Smart," Steve said, nodding.
I looked at the responses starting to come in.
Dude, @TheAmazingSpider is such a troll.
Leave Manhattan? In the middle of the day?
Is this a marketing stunt?
I stared at the screen. Then I looked at Steve.
"Cap," I said, holding the phone up. "Think you could do me a favour?"
Steve looked uncertain as I turned on the video camera. "Tell them to get out. Tell them it's real."
Steve looked at the camera. Straightened slightly. And then with quiet, absolute authority he told the people of New York exactly what they needed to hear.
I posted it. The response was immediate and seismic.
Is that CAPTAIN AMERICA?
Oh my God we need to GO
WE ALL NEED TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW
People began sharing it everywhere. I replied to as many as I could, answering questions, keeping the panic just below boiling. Steve watched over my shoulder and nodded in approval at how I was threading the needle — urgent but not catastrophic.
But we wouldn't be enough. I dialled Johnny's number.
Two rings. "Hey Peter, what's up?"
"Where are you and the team right now?"
"Germany," Johnny said. "Reed's science conference. Why — what's wrong?"
"Manhattan is about to be hit by an alien army," I said. "I need your team here. Level-one emergency."
"Aliens?!" I heard commotion in the background. Sue's voice cut through: "Peter? What's happening? What aliens?"
I explained as quickly and clearly as I could. The portal, the army, the timeline. Sue went quiet for a moment.
"Peter," she said, "we are in Germany. It would take us eleven hours to—"
"Can Johnny fly here?"
"Absolutely not." She'd said it before he could open his mouth. "Johnny, don't even look like you're considering it! Peter — I'm sorry. We'll find the fastest way back. What can we do from here?"
"Just get back, Sue," I said. "As fast as you can. I have a bad feeling about how long this is going to take."
I hung up, moved to the back of the jet, and dialled Felicia.
"What's he doing?" Clint asked.
Natasha's expression was barely suppressed amusement. "Calling his girlfriend."
I glared at her.
"Hello? Tiger?" Felicia's voice.
"Kitten — listen to me carefully. You need to stay completely clear of Manhattan. Understand?"
"I saw your post — what's going on?"
"It's bad, Felicia. Really bad. I'll explain everything when I'm back. For now, please — just make sure everyone around you is safe."
"Peter," she said. Her voice changed. "Liz is in Manhattan right now."
My stomach dropped. "What? Why?"
"Her summer job."
"Felicia — call her. Right now. Tell her to get out. Don't go in yourself. Do you hear me?"
"Yes," she said. "I'll call her right now." A pause. "Come back to me."
She hung up. I put the phone away. I knew, with absolute certainty, that she was already putting on her suit.
I loved her so much it was sometimes genuinely inconvenient.
We hit Manhattan airspace as a beam of brilliant blue light tore a hole in the sky above Stark Tower. Out of it poured hundreds of craft — alien, angular, alive with blue energy — all of them converging on one small red-gold dot somewhere below.
Tony, alone, with an alien army chasing him across his own city.
I looked at the portal. I looked at the people still on the streets below — the ones who hadn't listened, who had stayed because they always stayed, because that's what people do when the world tells them something impossible is happening.
I pressed my fists together.
I sighed.
This was war.