- The Cab, Angel With A Shotgun

Peter and I watch what is unfolding. We followed the chamber to the main part of the ship, hiding above. Far below us is Strange, surrounded by dozens of glassy needles that look to be two feet long.

Shit, this is serious, I think as Squidward begins to talk. He obviously doesn’t know that we’re here, nor does he know Papa is here, who I can see on the scaffolding below us.

“In all the time I’ve served Thanos,” Squidward says to Strange, who looks to be in a bit of pain. “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. Give me the stone.” The glass needles begin to make contact with Strange’s skin, and the wizard winces.

I look away from the sight, instead focusing on Papa down below. I spot Cape sneaking up on him, tapping his arm. Papa retaliates badly by holding his repulsors up, then puts them down as he sees who it is.

I glance beside me and Peter is slowly making his way down a web towards the pair. “Peter!” I hiss, not wanting Papa to hear me. My helmet retreats, and I rub the bridge of my nose at his stupidity. Sometimes I wonder why I’m dating him, even if he’s an adorable human.

I redirect my attention back to Papa, knowing an argument will break out when he sees Peter. “You’re seriously a loyal piece of outerwear, aren’t you?” He asks Cape. Peter drops down off his web, the sound making Papa turn around. An annoyed look crosses his face, one I’ve seen too many a time.

“What the-”

“I know what you’re gonna say,” Peter interrupts him.

“You should not be here.”

“I was gonna go home-”

“I don’t wanna hear it.”

“But it was such a long way down and I just thought about you on the way…”

“And now I gotta hear it.”

“...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 I’m here.”

“What did you just say?”

“I take that back. And now I’m here in space.”

“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 like you thought this through. You could not have possibly thought this through.”

“No, I did think this through.”

“You could not have possibly thought this through.”

“It’s just...you can’t be a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man if there’s no neighbourhood. Okay, that didn’t really make sense. But you get what I’m trying to say.”

“Come on, we’ve got a situation.” Papa turns and points at Strange. “See him down there? He’s in trouble. What’s your plan? Go.”

“Um. Okay, okay...uh...okay. Did you ever see this really old movie, Aliens?”

Now it’s my turn to drop down. “Peter that’s a really dumb idea.”

“You’re here too?” Papa asks, seemingly even more annoyed at me than Peter.

“What did you want me to do? I couldn’t just leave him, Papa. I saw him make the dumb decision to stick to the ship and I followed him. You and I both know he’s a bit of an idiot.”

“Hey!” Peter retaliates.

“Oh, shush. You know I still love you.”

Squidward’s voice cuts through our conversation, and we look back at him and Strange.

“Painful, aren’t they?” Squidward asks, referring to the glassy needles. “They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them…” 

He’s interrupted by Papa dropping down with his repulsors at the ready. “...Could end your friend’s life in an instant.”

“I gotta tell you,” Papa replies. “He’s not really my friend. Saving his life is more of a professional courtesy.”

Squidward walks slowly towards Papa, moving objects to be weapons. “You’ve saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine.”

“Yeah, but the kid’s seen more movies.”

Papa fires a mini rocket towards a wall of the ship, blasting a hole through to space. The hole causes depressurisation to happen, pulling Squidward out. Strange gets pulled as well, Cape unable to catch him.

I focus on holding on, standing in direct fire of the depressurisation. Peter jumps to catch him with a web, grabbing a pole to stop from going through the hole. The pole breaks, and the pair gets pulled out.

“Peter!” I yell, knowing he will freeze out there. Metal arms sprout from Peter’s back and plant into the ship around the hole. 

“Yes!” Peter triumphs. “Wait. What are those?!”

The metal legs crouch and push back, pulling Peter and Strange back into the ship. Papa sprays the hole with nanites, rendering it good as new. I fly down to the other three, standing next to Peter.

He stands up with his metal arms retracting, noticing Cape floating next to him. “Hey, we haven’t officially met.” He holds his hand out to Cape, who ignores him and moves to Strange. “Cool."