Real-Life Myth

Seven.

Ebony Maw is interrogating Doctor Strange on the ship. Strange is floating horizontally, face down, and is surrounded by dozens of glassy needles, each about two feet long. "In all the time I've served Thanos, I've never failed him. If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be. . . judgement." The needles start to contact Strange's face, causing an obviously painful whitish subcutaneous glow at each touch. "Give me. . . the stone."

~~~

Iron Man is watching their interaction, hidden, from above. The Cloak of Levitation taps Stark on the arm. He raises his hand to it, ready to shoot, but he sees what it is and stands down.

"Wow you're a seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?" Tony remarks.

"Yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty. . ." Peter drifts off, knowing this is an awkward situation. Iron Man and the Cloak turn to face Spider-Man, dropping down from above.

"What the-"

"I know what you're gonna say," Peter rushes quickly.

"You should not be here." The Cloak moves to "stand" at Iron Man's side.

"Yeah, he's not the only one who 'shouldn't' be here," Lana announces as she and Clint step out of their hiding space. Tony looks to then before rolling his eyes. Peter looks to the two as well, a small smile spreading across his face; he's glad he isn't the only one who snuck on board.

"I was gonna go home-" Peter starts.

"I don't wanna hear it," Tony tells him, "I don't wanna hear it from you two either." Lana raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms.

"In case you haven't noticed this already, dear Stark, I am centuries older than you. You have no place to tell me what to do." Barton!Loki smirks; another reason he loves his twin sister. Now if only they could get Thor to be this quick with his tongue. Loki almost snorts; that's never going to happen. If you can count on Thor for anything, it most certainly isn't his charm.

Tony looks to Clint. The archer shrugs.

"I'm a grown ass adult, Tony. I don't need your permission to go places." The inventor rolls his eyes before looking back to Peter.

"It was such a long way down and I just thought about you on the way. . ." Peter tries explaining again. Lana looks to the spider-boy, tilting her head to one side.

"And now I gotta hear it," Tony remarks, exasperated. The Cloak shakes its collar in sympathy and shrugs.

". . . And I kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way. So if anything, it's kinda your fault that I'm here." The Cloak looks shocked. If cloaks can even look shocked. Lana and Barton!Loki cough to cover up their laughs.

"What did you just say?"

"I take that back," Peter quickly corrects, "and now I'm here in space."

"Yeah." Iron Man crosses to stand right in front of Spidey. "Right where I don't want you to be. This isn't Coney Island. This isn't a field trip. It's a one-way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend like you thought this through. You could not have possibly thought this through."

"No. I did think this through," Peter counters.

"You could not have possibly thought this through," Tony argues. Lana purses her lips.

"It's just- You can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man when there's no neighborhood." He waits for Tony's reaction. "Okay. That didn't really make any sense, but you know what I'm trying to say."