Project Reaper

29. I Pray the Lord My Soul To Keep

Had to let that cliffhanger sit.  

But seriously, thanks for 1.6 K Reads guys, this shit's wild.

Ash and Tony walked forwards, both silent, and the two watched the alien pilot the ship while the wizard, who's name was Doctor Strange-Ash thought Tony was shitting her-was suspended behind him. A rustling of cloth had Tony raising his gauntlet, but it was only the cloak.

"Wow, you are one seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you," Tony observed.

Another bit of movement caught Ash's attention, and Spiderman said, "Yeah, speaking of loyal..."

"What the-"

"I was gonna go home-"

"I don't want to hear it!"

"But it was such a way down, and I just thought about you on the way-"

"And now I gotta hear it!"

The cloak, if it had a face, likely would have fixed Ash with a Winchester worthy bitchface. She returned it.

"And then I kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive. So if anything, it's kinda your fault that I'm here."

Stark's face was the visual incarnation of 'Mcscuse me, Bitch?' as the cloak also seemed to be taken aback. "What did you just say?"

The kid put his hands up, face almost terrified, saying quickly, "I take that back. And now I'm here in space."

Asterin grimaced.

"Yeah, right where I don't want you to be. This isn't Coney Island, this isn't a field trip. This is a one way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend that you thought this through, you could not have thought this through!"

The kid opened his mouth to say something. Ash cut him off, saying, "Kid, you don't want to be up here. You don't want this. You don't want to save the world." Her tone wasn't angry, just...sad.

"It's just...you can't be a friendly neighborhood Spiderman if there's no neighborhood." A few moments passed. "Ok, that didn't make sense, but you know what I mean!"

The worst part was it did make sense. This kid, no older than eighteen, just wanted to help, and he was too young and idealistic to realize the shit he had landed himself in. Ash looked up at Stark, who was looking back at her.

An unspoken agreement went between them.

The kid gets home.

"Come on, we got a situation." The three walked back to where they were overlooking Strange, who was now awake and being tortured. "See him down there? He's in trouble. What's your plan? Go."

The kid crouched, the cloak behind him.

He popped back up, saying, "Have you seen that really old movie Aliens?"

____

"Painful, aren't they?" Squidward asked, almost dreamily. "They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them..."

A thud behind the guy alerted him to Iron Man landing behind him, repulsors out and ready to blast.

"...could end your friend's life in an instant."

"I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more a professional courtesy," He admitted.

"You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine."