17 17

It's dawn over Humboldt, Deseret. The town barely rises...as there are few settlers to help it along.

Farther south, SHIELD agents still guard Liz's cabin. Quake shakily-no play on words intended-resists the temptation to play rooster with her vibration-control powers.

In the bedroom, Liz slumbers. The covers are off the bed, and she's in the nude.

Tiny Peter lies, in paradise in the vast open space between her navel and the waist of her lace panties-the ONLY thing she wears. He's SO close to making a family with her... And yet, this impulse he must resist. She and he were, shall we say, NOT on the best of terms when she and her mother left Queens for Oregon City...

He feels like telling her that he's Spider-Man. But first, he'd have to tell her that he's here, and that he has an indefinite size issue...

KAREN announces herself, shattering Peter's dream bubble. Peter screams.

Over there, Liz snorts as her eyes pop open. Peter freezes.

Alas, Liz closes them back, and heaves a huge sigh-raising and lowering the twin mountains on her chest in the process. With her giant-yet-beautiful hand, she adjusts her panties; Peter has to roll across her lower belly to avoid her hand.

Frustrated, Peter demands to know why KAREN interrupted him...although he wasn't really doing anything when she spoke. She apologizes, but she's detected a possible threat just outside the cabin.

Peters asks if SHIELD can deal with it. KAREN isn't sure; SHIELD isn't detecting them, or preparing for their attack.

Peter hates to leave Liz. And yet, he'd also hate it if this threat, what or whoever it was, hurt Liz because he wasn't active enough to be there on the front lines to oppose it.

Peter swings onto her upper leg, crawls up it, leaps off her knee, spreads the wingsuit in his suit, and glides across the bedroom, to the windowsill. With his spider-strength, the opens the sash just enough to crawl through it, does so, spins a parachute with his webs, and catches a ride on a breeze.

On the upside, Peter DOES get a quick peek down Quake's blouse, as his web-chute is gliding past the upper slopes of her rack. On the downside, it is just a quick peek-and she won't protect Liz from this new threat if he doesn't try.

Spider-Man follows KAREN to the threat's landing grounds. Within range, he releases the web-chute, and glides towards it via the wingsuit...

From out of nowhere, Iron Man snatches Spider-Man from the sky. Spider-Man wrestles with him...until he realizes that his former mentor is...alive.

"Mr. Stark?! How..."

"It's good to see you alive, Spider-Man," FRIDAY, the AI in the suit, says to Peter on the suit pilot's behalf. "Please wait until we've landed for someone to explain."

The mysterious Iron Man takes Spider-Man to the top of a peak. Once Spider-Man realizes his ride's intent, he abandons her, and glides to a strategic place to receive her.

All around, it seems someone's been busy. There's a cart, and a pair of jackasses (actual ones; not Democratic politicians), and enough manhunting equipment to accommodate for at least two people for the long-term.

Peter gets a closer look at the paperwork they've been using to hunt the man, if you will. He's relieved to find out that this mysterious Iron Man hasn't been manhunting him. But then, it'd be insane if they were. As far as most of the sane world is concerned, Spider-Man is dead.

On the upside, it appears they're hunting the Sacrilegious Six-like Spider-Man. On the downside, Peter does not yet know if the enemy of his enemy is his ally...

"Mr. Parker! Congrats on the survival!"

Maria Hill, a former head of SHIELD, now a fugitive spy, approaches Parker. She's Parker's size-aside from the whole "adult vs child" factor.

At first Peter is confused, because he thinks he's been re-sized to normal...

An eagle flies over both of them, causing Peter to scream. Now Peter's even more confused...

"Ms. Hill?! How are you...!"

"Small? Easy; I called in a favor from the Secret Avengers."

"How'd you figure out I was alive? How'd you find me?"

"First answer: we saw what you did in Cedar Rapids. Second answer: we imagined that if you knew where SHIELD was hiding your ex-aunt, you'd try to go there to protect her." She raises her brows, smiles, and changes her tone. "We just...didn't think you were macho enough to try to cuddle with your ex-girlfriend in your state." She looks up at the mysterious Iron Man. "Looks like I owe you that doubloon after all, Ms. Williams!"

The mysterious Iron Man-who's really Ironheart-lands nearby. Her helmet vanishes; a black girl's head is apparent.

"What can I say? White boys are always down with perving on the biracial."

The new trio sits on a bluff to discuss what will happen next. For this, Peter hangs upside-down in a sitting position.

"So," Hill elaborates, "all of the ex-husbands have been killed, except one. From what we've found, the Sacrilegious Six still hasn't found him."

"Don't get your hopes up, though," Williams recommends. "That could literally change at any sec."

Peter's eyes are closed. For this, he relies on his spider-hearing.

"Do we know why they're widowing themselves? Do their husbands have fortunes they want for themselves?"

"That's not practical. Their ex-husbands were stripped of their wealth sometime before their exiles. The Sacrilegious Six are no ordinary Band of Bonnies; they're not after money. They're after something MUCH more fashionable..."

"They've already told me what," Peter reveals. "Somewhere in the woods, Mr. Stark has built a steam factory with the Reality Stone. The Six plan to use the Reality Stone to transform Deseret into some kind of Jannah on Earth. They said that their ex-husbands had a better vision for Afroasia, which is the reason why their people exiled them."

Hill gapes. "O my god; if they plan to use the Reality Stone, then the whole world is in serious danger."

"Tell me about it," Williams agrees. She looks around. "I think we should tell Clint and Bobbi. I'll be back..."

Hill raises her arm, calling off Williams's messaging trip. "We don't know where the Six are. If we try to attack them when they have the Stone, they might not take it maturely. Whatever it is we do next, we've got to do it in baby steps."

Williams sighs; she studies Peter. "How'd you get small, anyway?"

"Mystria," Peter answers. "Or at least, that's how it happened the first time. When I met them, the Reality Stone was there, and for a short time, it re-sized me back to normal. But then they cornered me; I shrunk myself back to elude them."

Williams chuckles. "I would've wished they were blind."

"Daredevil's blind," Peter reminds her. "Doesn't mean I'd want to get stuck in a cage with him."

"That was dangerous, Peter," Hill tells him. "I know you're a man, but the Reality Stone is one of the six most powerful objects in the universe."

"For the record, I didn't try to resize myself back to normal when I discovered Stark's imaginary steam factory. It just...saw right through me, somehow... But I did shrink myself to get away. I tried to only use part of the Stone, so I wouldn't kill myself while escaping."

"Smart," Williams admits. "Those Infinity Stones don't mess around."

Peter sighs. "Using the Reality Stone to create Jannah on Earth makes sense. What doesn't make sense is why they'd kill their ex-husbands before making their visions a reality. Wives usually make their husbands' dreams come true to share with them-not to take from them."

Williams chuckles. "Poor Mr. Lover. He can't even imagine why a girl would hate her husband. I'm starting to wonder how you survived your encounter with the Sacrilegious Six at all."

"We've found that out, actually," Hill reveals. "In order to turn Deseret into exactly what their exes had envisioned, the Sacrilegious Six need the blood of all six of the vision's creators. They don't need to kill them; they just need their blood. With their blood, they could use the Reality Stone to wish their ex-husbands back to life."

Williams scoffs. "I wouldn't recommend it."

"We need to find them before that happens," Peter urges. "We've got to get to Mr. Stark's campfire before they do!"

"Relax, Peter. As much luck as we've all had finding the six ex-husbands, I doubt we'll have anything serious to worry about for a while."

Alas, Hill couldn't be farther from correct. Tonight, the SacrilegeMobile will deploy a bionic nanobot. It'll look and move like a flea. It'll wait for the Six's command...who, as we speak, scout all of Ulvgaard, in the guise of fleas on the lobo/berserkers' backs.

All Metcalfe has to do is pose as an Asgardian merman for as long as it takes. And since he seems to enjoy his baths with the ladies more than he should, especially in the heat of the day, the Sacrilegious Six should only take until then to find their quarry.

With their target acquired, and being too small to take on such a big man in a hand-to-hand fight, the Six will deploy the nanite. It'll hitch a ride on She-Vulture. It'll HALO-jump onto the seal/berserker's back. Once landed, all it'll need is a blood sample. Drunk on beer and the lake's soul-altering nourishment, the other seals won't suspect a thing. In their bad eyesight, the nanite will take what little it needs-enough to potentially destroy the world, and hitch the next Mystria ride out of Ulvgaard.

Alas, the plotting Sacrilegious Six now have everything they need. Now they have a dusk appointment with Stark Industries' campfire in the woods.

There'll be no dawn for Deseret-or Earth, if things go badly for both sides at the same time.