The universe had unraveled. Peter thought that was the end of it. Dr. Strange's attempt to fix his mess backfired and now the universe had to pay for it. But all hope was not lost. He was given the chance to set things right. To make sure all those horrible things never happened in the first place and stop Thanos from causing the indirect death of his mentor. Now if only he can figure out where the Infinity Stones are. Also what the hell is a mutant? He's friends with Harry Osborn? and Gwen Stacy?! Peter knew there had to be a catch somewhere.
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The Weaver (MCU Spider-Man)
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User Total SKaine 27
Chapter 1 - All Day Today, The Same Day Has Come
New
SKaine
Making the rounds.
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- Nov 1, 2020
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Ao3's down, so here I am. The name is different, but it's still the same guy from Ao3. Been meaning to post here anyway and this just gave me the excuse to finally do it. Gonna take a while to paste everything down.
Chapter 1 - All Day Today, The Same Day Has Come
Peter stood beside MJ and Ned, looking at the cracks in the sky nervously. Mr. Strange– No, Stephen was performing the spell that would undo everything; his selfish wish, his mistake would be undone. Peter Two and Peter Three would return to their homes, the same as the rest. They would hopefully be alive this time as they were freed of their respective troubles.
He observed the cracks in the sky, noticing multiple visages and figures. Some looked like they had come from a prehistoric world judging by the furlike and animalistic outfits while others looked futuristic due to hints of high-tech designs he could see.
'To think I'd be this popular with evil people.'
It was surprising yet also wasn't at the same time. It made sense for there to be this many people that knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man. The Multiverse wouldn't be the multiverse if multiple possibilities weren't a thing. He just wished that it wasn't just filled with evil guys trying to take over the world or some other variations of evil plans.
He glanced at Stephen, the man looking at him inquiringly, as if the man was asking if he was ready. He didn't really have much of a choice now, did he? Ready or not, it needed to be done. In order to save the world, the people needed to forget his existence.
With a shuddering breath, he gave the man a nod.
Stephen unleashed the spell, the scriptures in the sky unfolding as the spell was released. Peter was ready to go– it would be bad if MJ and Ned saw his face when the spell was doing its work. Partly because he didn't know what would happen if MJ and Ned were actively seeing him when the spell was erasing their memories, and partly because he couldn't bear to see them visibly forget him.
He shot a web strand and yanked on it before swinging away. He was about to make his way to the city before he heard something.
"What?!"
He immediately turned his head, catching a glimpse of Stephen's panicked visage. Pulling the web, he changed direction and slingshotted himself back towards the sorcerer. "Stephen! What's wrong?!"
"The spell! Something is happening!"
Peter looked around, and the scripture circle thing was wobbling, glitching for lack of a better term. The words inside were jumbling around, and the lights were flickering in and out of existence. "Uh, Stephen, what's happening?"
"The spell! The disturbance between realities did much more damage than I expected! Peter…we're too late…"
Peter's eyes widened, the panicked and apologetic look of Stephen was the last thing he saw before the cracks burst. Light entered his vision as pain spread throughout his body.
Then everything turned black.
[-]
Peter groaned, his eyes fluttering open as he woke up.
It felt hot, almost feverish. His head was pounding inside his skull and everything felt so sharp. It was like there were multiple pieces of shrapnel attempting to penetrate through his skull. The moment he opened his eyes, he immediately shut them again. He'd merely caught glimpses of a bedroom before the sudden prickling feeling assaulted his vision and forced him to look away again.
'It's like the spider bite all over again!' he mentally groaned.
He needed to focus on what had happened when those cracks burst, and why he was now lying in bed, but his body was in so much pain that he couldn't even think properly. The only thing he was grateful for was that it wasn't getting worse.
As if on cue, the pain actually intensified.
His body started to convulse, he would have screamed but it felt like something was constricting his throat. He couldn't even move, the odd feeling of something rippling beneath his skin paired with the sudden rise of heat was making it harder.
'What's happening to me?!'
He couldn't see, he couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't feel anything. There was only pain. Pain, pain, pain, painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain—
Air forced its way through his lungs as he suddenly shot up, taking deep, shuddering breaths as the pain finally receded. Even so, it disappeared so suddenly that he couldn't help but feel suspicious.
'And the dark, empty void around me, yeah, I don't think that's a good thing.' He mentally noted the void around him was eerie and uncomfortable. Wasn't he in a bedroom, or was he hallucinating?
He looked down and blinked. He could see himself perfectly, which was odd, as he was sure there was no source of light around. There was only a complete void.
"Okay, getting creepy now…" he muttered as he slowly got up to his feet. As he did so, he noticed that he wasn't wearing his suit. No, he was actually naked. Naked and alone in a complete void.
His eyes narrowed as he processed that, "Am I dead?"
Suddenly a deep, reverberating chuckle rang out, amused by his words. There were many voices too, but in an eerie way, overlapping with each other that a mere crowd of people never would. "No, you are not dead. In fact, I believe you would enjoy what is in store for you."
Peter suddenly turned around when he realized the voice was right behind him. His eyes widened in fear as he hurriedly took multiple steps back.
"Oh, you're a big one…"
Before Peter stood a massive black spider, its many eyes focusing on him intensely. The mandibles twitched at odd intervals as the giant spider studied him closely. Peter couldn't help but feel oddly nostalgic when he saw it. He wasn't sure why but something about the spider felt oddly familiar. Though he ignored that feeling and focused on the giant spider.
With such a giant thing in front of him, Peter couldn't help but state what was at the forefront of his mind.
"Please don't eat me."
The spider chuckled, the many voices coming from it making it even more eerie.
"I assure you, Peter Parker. I have no intention of doing so. After all, we are one and the same."
Peter blinked at that. How did it know his name? "What are you talking about? What are you? Heck, where are we even?" He asked, looking around, trying to find some sort of escape.
He flinched when the spider began to scuttle off to the side as if circling him. Its giant legs moved quickly despite its size, striking and finding purchase on the nothingness as gracefully as a normal spider. It rounded to Peter's front, ensuring that the young man kept his eyes on it. He would readily admit, it was rather creepy. The nostalgic feeling was also getting rather strong; what even was this thing?
"I have no time for your questions, Peter. So listen close, I will make this quick." The spider hissed, apparently growing impatient. Peter gulped and decided that listening to the giant scary spider was a good idea at the moment.
"The reason why you are here was due to the sorcerer. The sorcerer's attempt to reweave the universe backfired. Reality was already frail with two consecutive usages of the Infinity Stones. The universe's strand was weak and fragile and needed new strands to join its weave to reinforce itself. However, that spell only caused it to further unravel at a faster rate and nearly destroyed it."
Peter's eyes narrowed. He didn't really get it at first, but he was smart. Running the words through his head and considering the giant spider was using some spider-based analogies, he was able to guess what it was trying to say.
"Universe…web…weave? You mean the spell I wished for caused the universe to get weakened even further?" He asked.
The spider chuckled. "You catch on quick, good. Yes, the universe was weak. It was not strong to begin with, but it held promise, woven intricately and delicately. It promised great wonders to be born and to create new stories for the Great Web." The spider gestured as it spoke, waving around its frontmost legs as if to indicate the great wonders that it was trying to convey. Its multiple, beady black eyes looked beyond the void, as if it could see a majestic sight that he could not.
"...However, the strand was tested too soon, too roughly. The usage of the Infinity Stones had unraveled the strand and your two spells unraveled it further, causing the universe to nearly break."
Peter looked down at that, his wish had caused a lot more damage than he realized. Guilt bubbled up as he considered the spider's words. All those deaths, a whole universe….
"What have I done…?"
The spider looked down at him. "Fear not, Peter Parker. The web strand can still be salvaged. There is nothing that has been unraveled that cannot be rewoven."
Peter looked up, his eyes alight with desperate hope.
"How?!"
"The Great Weaver has gathered the other spiders. They have convened and made a decision. The web strand's situation was…unique, incapable of happening ever again. Due to this, a special solution was needed. You shall be sent back in time, back to the time when our strands became intertwined."
Peter tilted his head at that, "Intertwined…what do you mean?"
The spider laughed, "Peter, do you still not realize what I am?" He took a step back as it loomed over him. "I am the thing that you held back. Your very instinct and power given form. The thing you constantly hold back, constantly suppressed. Just as I changed you, you changed me. You define me, in turn, I define you."
As the spider continued to speak, its multi-layered voice slowly changed. The many voices disappeared until only one was left. His own voice.
"You're…you're my powers!" Peter realized.
"Yes, Peter Parker. I am your Other. The Spider to your Man. And this time, I will have you fully embrace me."
Peter looked hesitant, "I– I can't, if I go too far with you, I'll–"
"You'll what?! You were weak! Useless! If you had embraced me, that fight with Thanos would have been settled easily! You suppressed me and forsook your true limits! If you were stronger, you could have pulled that gauntlet from Thanos's hand and saved Tony Stark. If Stark had lived, May's death would never have happened!"
"T-that's…" He took another step back, his own voice hissing and screaming at him was not helping his rampant emotions. He already felt guilty about May's death, his own voice blaming him for Tony's as well did not help.
"You know this to be true. You need me, just as I need you. The web requires you to make sure that the Infinity Stones aren't used until the strand has been properly reinforced. In order to ensure this, you will need the power to fight the threats that would harness the Stones."
"..."
Peter looked down, contemplating the spider… his other self's words. Part of him wanted that power, but it was also the same power that had made him lax, made him arrogant, and cost Uncle Ben his life. If he somehow got full of himself again, if he let his control down for even a second…he was scared that another one of his loved ones would pay the price again.
"...Peter. You have held me back for so long, your discipline and control are to the point you have even forgotten your true power. You have no need to worry about accidents. I do not ask you to let me loose. All I ask is to have the power to protect our loved ones."
Peter looked at the spider, the giant arachnid's beady eyes somehow conveying sympathy and understanding. And with those eyes, he finally saw that the spider was truly another part of him.
He scoffed in amusement. "I'm getting comforted by a giant spider who knows my problems better than I do; what's my life become?"
The spider chuckled as well, "We are but one and the same, Peter. It would be odd for me not to know you. But it is also because I am you that I need to help you see things clearly."
Peter laughed, "Guess helping people was always something in me, huh?"
The spider nodded in response.
"So, now what? What exactly will happen here?"
"The universe's new strand will be rewoven with a better foundation. The strand had actually attempted to heal itself by creating new strands and adding them to itself as a reactionary method when the infinity stones were used. Not that it helped much due to Strange's spell worsening the damage."
Peter couldn't help but wince a little. If he didn't ask for that spell, the universe might have managed to survive.
The Other then continued. "The Great Weaver is hard at work to heal the strand. He had attempted to unweave the new strands so that your journey is easier and more familiar but it was already too late. All he could do was add to the strand along with the new changes in place."
"So what does that mean? How will this affect everything?" Peter asked curiously.
"There will be changes for one. While the world may look familiar to you, there will be things that are different. Even your past life would be different. Some changes would be for the better, others not so much. Be warned, even with the improved foundation the strand is still unstable. Until you reach the point in time where the Infinity Stones were last used in the previous timeline, avoid any extraneous amount of reality warping."
"Great, more problems for me." Peter sarcastically groaned, already dreading to see what kind of changes had been added to his life. Knowing his luck, it's either something bad or something weird.
"Do not be so pessimistic. The Great Weaver has decided to leave some gifts to aid you. Gifts of memories from your other selves."
"My other selves? Peter Two and Peter Three's memories?" He asked, shocked.
"Yes, the Great Weaver believed that their experience and memories will aid you. Your past self also has a power that will aid you. However, it requires you to fully embrace me for it to be properly activated. If not, you will die."
Peter looked alarmed at that, "Power? Wait, you mean if I didn't accept you I would die?! Was that what all that pain was about?!"
"Yes, Peter. The Great Weaver believed it was needed, think of it as a test." The spider spoke, albeit slightly uncomfortably.
"Wait, you said you're just another part of me. Won't you also die?"
"Why did you think I was so desperate to have you accept?"
"Huh, point." Peter sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Okay, any other surprises I should know about? Any other changes?"
"No, I think we covered everything." The spider shrugged. Somehow. He wasn't sure how that worked but the spider managed it.
Peter gave a sigh of relief, rubbing his hands as he did so. "Okay, so how do I get out of here? Do I just walk out of the door or something?"
"Well, now I eat you," came the nonchalant reply.
"Wait, wha–" was all he said before the giant spider abruptly swallowed him whole.
[-]
Peter frightfully opened his eyes, air filling his lungs rapidly as he touched himself. Realizing that his whole body was intact, he realized that he was actually alive.
"That damn bug…" he cursed.
He knew that spiders weren't bugs but arachnids, but he was a bit too angry to care. Was it ironic? Yes. But he didn't care.
'Was it because of the whole holding back thing? It did sound pretty mad about it.'
"Oh, you're awake."
Peter looked to the side of his bed in the direction of the voice. His breath hitched when he saw who it was.
The woman was beautiful. Straight blond hair that reached past her shoulders with dazzling icy blue eyes looking at him with surprising warmth and care. She was wearing a white blouse with blue jeans that did nothing at all to hide the great figure beneath. The blouse was slightly unbuttoned at the top, showing off her massive cleavage.
"You know, May and Ben were worried when the school called about you fainting," The woman – Emma Frost, his memories of the new timeline supplied – approached his bed, sitting on the chair beside it.
Apparently, she'd been his neighbor for a few years now. She had even become his tutor when he had trouble catching up with his History class. After that, May practically dragged her to their house every day for either breakfast, lunch, or even just a simple chat even after she no longer needed to tutor him. Both of them had gotten pretty close after that.
"So Tiger, mind explaining what happened?" Emma asked, calling him by the nickname she'd given him when they first met.
"I'm loving the new changes so far…" Peter muttered to himself.
"Excuse me?" Emma tilted her head in confusion.
"I mean I like what you did with your hair." Peter immediately winged it. He wasn't even sure if she did do her hair, but it looked too well for it not to be.
"Oh, thank you. I had it done yesterday. Thanks for noticing." Emma smiled. He thought he was safe and about to sigh in relief before she dropped it. "Now you're going to answer my question or not?"
Peter took a deep breath; now how should he even answer that? His past selves' memories were still a bit foggy and only barely able to give him bare-bones knowledge of who Emma was. And he sure as fuck couldn't tell her the actual truth.
There was also the fact that his memories were confusing and it was not helping his rising panic. There are four lifetime's worth of memories, including his own, whirling in his head. They were a jumbled mess and he didn't even have a chance to sort them out yet before Emma started to question him.
He was wondering how to answer her question before Emma spoke.
"You okay, Pete?" Emma asked with a concerned tone when she noticed how distracted Peter looked.
Peter nodded, "Yeah, I just…" He paused as an idea came to mind. "My head is spinning at the moment. I think it was the fall."
Emma looked even more concerned, "The teacher did say that you hit your head pretty hard when you fainted. Do you need anything?"
Peter waved it away, "Nah, no need. I think I need some time alone." he excused.
He hoped that would be enough. His mind was actually a bit of a jumbled mess, so hopefully, it'd help stave off the questions for a while as he recollected his thoughts.
Suddenly there was this prickling feeling that assaulted his skull. It felt like something was trying to enter his head. It was small but it was there. His Spidey Sense (a much better name than Peter Tingle, thank you Peter Three) was also oddly active. The tingle at the base of his skull was reverberating, synchronizing even with the sudden wave of pinpricks. The pinpricks were trying to enter his skull but it felt like his Spidey Sense was blocking it.
It didn't feel dangerous though, more probing than anything. The sudden activation of his Spidey Sense was more reactive than anything. It was like how he could feel flies flying near him, his Spidey Sense reacted to it but it was something that can be ignored at the end of the day.
There was a….thread? A connection he could feel connected to the pinpricks. He traced the connection, his eyes blink in confusion when he traced it back to Emma. The woman herself looked rather confusedly at him.
"Emma? You okay?" he called out.
The woman blinked before shaking her head, "I'm fine, I'll tell May that you're awake. Call me if you need anything."
She then left hurriedly, the pinpricks disappearing right as she left the room.
"What the hell was that?" Peter whispered to himself.
The pinpricks were rather concerning to say the least. It didn't feel dangerous but it was still enough for his Spidey Sense to note it down. Kinda like how it reacted to Stephen despite his literal soul not being in his body.
He tried searching through his memories for some answers. However, the sudden info surge caused his head to pound. He groaned as he held his head in pain.
He took deep breaths. Trying to power through the sudden surge, it was painful but it wasn't as bad as getting dusted by Thanos. A pounding headache didn't even compare to the pain he felt when his body turned to dust.
He laid back on the bed as he sorted through all the memories in his head. His own was the sharpest. The clearest. He could even remember what he ate on that one dinner with May and Ben when he was twelve. By contrast, Peter Two and Peter Three's were…fuzzier. Slightly harder to delve into.
But he persevered, going through the memories of their normal lives before their respective bites. He learned how their Uncle Bens died, and how it brutally taught them about responsibility. How Peter Two had to deal with balancing his life with being Spider-Man. How Peter Three coped with losing Gwen Stacy.
With these memories, Peter was humbled. He had of course heard about some of these things from them, but to see and experience those events and more through their memories was another thing entirely.
Then he finally delved into his past self's memories. But when he did go through them, they felt slightly alien. It wasn't like going through the previous sets of memories. Some of them were familiar, but some were so vastly different that he was sure that they belonged to someone else. Like his new relationship with Emma.
There were a lot of changes, a lot of things that he didn't recognize. But as the new memories finally settled in his mind, they slowly became more familiar. It was an odd feeling.
He sat up from his bed, pushing himself away from it as he undressed himself. He grabbed his towel and headed into the shower. He needed to clear his mind and Peter Two had learned that some cold water helped with that.
As he rinsed himself, he looked in the mirror. The facial structure was slightly different, his hair a lot wavier but there was some familiarity to it. But there was no denying that he looked far different than he usually looked.
'Is this really me? Or did I just take over someone's life?' he pondered to himself.
The thought was disturbing to him. While he would love nothing more than to redo his life, replacing someone as a price for it was something he would never be okay with. No matter how tempting the offer was.
He dried himself before exiting the bathroom. He was in the middle of getting dressed when the door was knocked.
"Peter? I heard the shower was running, are you decent?" Emma asked from outside his door.
The thought of Emma seeing him half-naked was embarrassing, and also somewhat tempting. He had gained some muscles after the spider bit him. He went from scrawny and gangly to an Olympic-level athlete. So he was curious if Emma would actually be more attracted to him if he showed off his body.
'Wait a minute….' he paused. He knew his past self was attracted to Emma. She was pretty much his first crush. But while the memories of Peter Two and Peter Three didn't give him any personal feelings, he was surprised to realize that he was actually emotionally affected by his past self's memories.
The realization sent a wave of relief inside him. It seemed more like they had merged together instead of him taking over his past self's life. That was good to know.
"Peter?" Emma called out.
"Uh, yeah! I'm decent!" He replied after quickly wearing his shirt.
Emma entered his room, her eyes scanning him up and down before smirking, clearly liking what she saw. His stomach did flip-flops when he saw that.
'Damn. Even with three lives, teenage hormones still get the better of me.' he mentally groaned. Peter Two was a grown adult and it still wasn't enough to reign it in.
"You filled out that shirt much better than I realized." Emma complimented.
"Hm?" Peter raised an eyebrow, he glanced at his shirt in confusion before his memory filled him in. Or should he say he remembered?
The shirt was a gift from Emma, along with plenty of other clothes in his closet. The woman was fed up with his lack of fashion sense and had dragged him to some clothing store for some actual clothes. He would complain that he didn't have the money for it but Emma had shut him up by saying that she'd be paying for it. The clothes were rather expensive too, so he had ensured that they were used with care.
"Well I had you choosing them for me, so of course it will look great on me." Peter smirked.
"Yeah, and I had to deal with you whining all day to actually get you in them." She teased.
"What can I say, fashion just isn't my thing." Peter shrugged.
"The monstrosity in your closet showed that that's for sure."
"Hey! Those hoodies are comfy." Peter complained.
Emma just rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Now come on, May made some pancakes for us. She wouldn't want you to miss breakfast." She gestured for him to follow as she walked out of the room.
Peter followed her as she exited his room, walking into the kitchen of their apartment.
'Well, the house is at least familiar.' he smiled, glad to see that not everything had changed.
"Peter!" May called as she walked towards him, looking exactly the same as he remembered. Just seeing her again so soon was already causing some of his emotions to well up.
She held him close, "Are you feeling okay?" she asked. As caring as he remembered.
He had to take a deep breath to calm himself before he could actually answer her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Kinda hungry though."
"Well, we got some pancakes. Come on, eat up. I already called the school ahead of time that you won't be attending classes for a few days." May gestured for him to sit.
"Yeah, and uh, May?" He called out.
"Yes, Peter?"
"I– thanks, for everything I mean."
May looked confused, "Peter?"
"I know I'm not exactly the easiest kid to take care of, but you and Ben still tried your best. So yeah, thanks, for everything." Peter smiled, letting out some of his emotions.
This was the same woman that still stayed strong for him after Ben died, while he was still wallowing in his grief it was May who helped him cope with it. The very same woman who acted as his rock, that helped him see the light when he can't. Losing her was hard, he never got to say everything he wanted to her when she died. So he's not gonna let that chance go now that he has it.
May smiled, "Oh Peter, you're welcome. I'll admit, it has its challenges. But you're family, and I wouldn't want it any other way."
Peter nodded at that while wiping away the oncoming tears. "Yeah, just needed to be said. I thought the worst when I suddenly blacked out."
May smiled in understanding, "I see. Well, Peter, I'm glad to see you are doing alright. Now come on, let's eat."
Peter pulled out his seat and sat down right across from Emma. The woman was looking at him intently as if studying him. Peter sent her a questioning look before she shook her head, smiling at him before eating her breakfast.
"Where's Ben?" Peter asked.
"Oh, he already went out to work. You just missed him by a few minutes." May answered before she sat down. Peter was a bit disappointed to hear that, he would have liked to see Ben again after all these years. But he put that to the side and focused on the now.
All three then ate while conversing with each other. May asked him about class and the school trip he went to. She also asked him why he fainted but he told her that even he didn't know, one moment there was pain then another he just fainted.
"That's odd. Maybe we should get you to a hospital to check." May muttered.
Peter waved it off, "Don't worry May, I'm fine. Probably didn't have enough food in me or something."
"Are you sure? People don't usually suddenly faint without warning, you know?" Emma interjected.
"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me okay? Also May, I think you're gonna be late if you don't hurry up." Peter reminded her.
May checked her watch, her eyes widened when she realized Peter was right. "Oh, you're right! I better hurry then." She quickly finished her plate before putting it in the sink. She was actually working in the homeless shelter much earlier in the new timeline, apparently feeling restless after staying at home for too long and wanting to do something.
"Just leave it there May, I'll handle it." Peter assured her, causing May to pause.
"Are you sure?" She asked with some hint of confusion.
"Yeah, just leave it there. You're gonna be late if you don't."
May smiled, "Thank you, Peter. I'll get going then." She then washed up her hands before she grabbed her bag and walked out of the apartment.
"Well someone is charitable today." Emma teased.
Peter smirked, she could understand where she was coming from. His past self was a bit lazy, needing a little bit of 'motivation' to get him to help out around the house. Though he did become a bit more willing to listen when Emma was asking for his help instead, something that both Ben and May noticed and were amused by.
"Yeah, suddenly fainting can do that to you. I genuinely thought I was gonna die." Peter admitted as he took his plate to the sink.
"Well tiger, can you be a dear and do mine too?" She asked sweetly.
Peter rolled his eyes as he grabbed her plate, "Your wish is mine to fulfill my lady." he sarcastically replied.
"Thank you~!"
As Peter washed the dishes, he started to think about his predicament. May and Ben were still alive, he had another chance to fix things. Of course, he still needed to look out for the Infinity Stones but he was just glad that things were looking up. He was ready for the worst part of his life when he asked Stephen to wipe away everyone's memories of him. But to think it actually led him to a second chance…
'I can't waste this.' He paused as he mentally promised himself.
There were a lot of things that he could have done better, things that he regretted. Times he wished he was slightly stronger or faster. Ben and May's death, Tony's sacrifice, he'll make sure none of it happened again.
But if he wanted to be able to do all that, he needed resources. Money, materials, the works. He was broke in his past timeline and still was in this new one. Tony's support had helped him out but he hadn't done the most with it when he had it. A mistake he wouldn't repeat. But first, he needed to figure out where to get said resources in the first place.
His phone suddenly chimed and caught his attention. He glanced at it and realized who it was.
"Hey, Emma, I'm going to go out and meet some friends. They're kinda worried and while I can tell them over text that I'm fine, they'd rather meet me face to face." Peter told her.
Emma was basically family by this point, May even gave her the keys to their house in case she ever needed her help in an emergency. They had known her for years and knew they could trust her. Something that Emma appreciated and reciprocated.
"Sure, but before that, mind if I talk with you for a bit?" She asked from their couch.
Peter looked confused but decided to comply. Wiping his hands with some tissues before walking over towards her.
"What's up?"
Emma gestured to the seat beside her, "Sit."
Peter looked slightly concerned and confused, but he did comply with her request. "Ooookay? You sound serious."
Emma looked at him with a serious look, "Alright be real with me, what's up with you today?"
Peter paused, not sure how to reply to that. "What? What are you talking about Emma?"
"May didn't mention it but I will, something's up with you." Emma bluntly spoke up.
He tried to shrug it off, "Nothing is happening okay?"
Emma leaned towards him in response, the sudden movement gave him an easy view of her cleavage but he ignored it with practiced ease. Guess his past self knew how to reign himself in pretty well when the situation called for it.
She suddenly held his hand, caressing it softly. The action caused Peter's emotions to go into turmoil. A hot pretty girl that he has a crush on was holding his hands rather tenderly and every single one of his memories was in shambles. None of them had any hint on how to get Peter out of this. Sure Peter Two was married to MJ and Peter Three had experience with Gwen Stacy to pull from, but even then both of them had personally thought they had just stumbled their way there.
He ignored the time when Peter Two had Venom on him, that time was rather weird and Peter Two personally never liked reliving it. He was sure the man himself would absolutely not want him to take cues from that phase of his life.
"Peter, I'm not sure what happened, and it's okay if you don't wanna talk about it. But promise me, if you feel like you need to talk to someone but have no one to turn to, I'm here okay?"
Peter blinked, he was confused before he saw the genuine concern in her eyes. His words to May might have made them concerned for him. The way he had spoken and his own words were rather sudden after all.
Peter smiled, and while he couldn't tell her everything, he did appreciate it. The weird feeling he felt earlier was suspicious and a bit weird, he was sure that it came from her. But Emma was genuinely looking out for him, and that alone was enough.
"I'm okay, Emma. And I promise, I'll talk to you if I need to." Peter gently held her hand, trying to show that he understood what she was saying.
Emma studied him intently. As she did, another prickling feeling washed over him again, but unlike previously, it was more…warm for a lack of better word. It felt like it was a nice warm feeling you got when something was going your way and felt like everything would get better now. It wasn't a sudden jump of positivity, but more of a small nudge. A nice small piece of hope that helps make your day. The feeling was oddly nostalgic as if he had felt this multiple times before.
Another odd thing was that his Spidey Sense didn't even activate; it was there but it didn't do anything else. That was enough for him to not worry about it.
"Okay, Peter. Now go on, I'm sure you don't want to keep your friends waiting." Emma smiled.
Peter nodded, "Right. Thanks, Emma."
"Anytime, Tiger."
Chapter 1 - All Day Today, The Same Day Has Come
Peter stood beside MJ and Ned, looking at the cracks in the sky nervously. Mr. Strange– No, Stephen was performing the spell that would undo everything; his selfish wish, his mistake would be undone. Peter Two and Peter Three would return to their homes, the same as the rest. They would hopefully be alive this time as they were freed of their respective troubles.
He observed the cracks in the sky, noticing multiple visages and figures. Some looked like they had come from a prehistoric world judging by the furlike and animalistic outfits while others looked futuristic due to hints of high-tech designs he could see.
'To think I'd be this popular with evil people.'
It was surprising yet also wasn't at the same time. It made sense for there to be this many people that knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man. The Multiverse wouldn't be the multiverse if multiple possibilities weren't a thing. He just wished that it wasn't just filled with evil guys trying to take over the world or some other variations of evil plans.
He glanced at Stephen, the man looking at him inquiringly, as if the man was asking if he was ready. He didn't really have much of a choice now, did he? Ready or not, it needed to be done. In order to save the world, the people needed to forget his existence.
With a shuddering breath, he gave the man a nod.
Stephen unleashed the spell, the scriptures in the sky unfolding as the spell was released. Peter was ready to go– it would be bad if MJ and Ned saw his face when the spell was doing its work. Partly because he didn't know what would happen if MJ and Ned were actively seeing him when the spell was erasing their memories, and partly because he couldn't bear to see them visibly forget him.
He shot a web strand and yanked on it before swinging away. He was about to make his way to the city before he heard something.
"What?!"
He immediately turned his head, catching a glimpse of Stephen's panicked visage. Pulling the web, he changed direction and slingshotted himself back towards the sorcerer. "Stephen! What's wrong?!"
"The spell! Something is happening!"
Peter looked around, and the scripture circle thing was wobbling, glitching for lack of a better term. The words inside were jumbling around, and the lights were flickering in and out of existence. "Uh, Stephen, what's happening?"
"The spell! The disturbance between realities did much more damage than I expected! Peter…we're too late…"
Peter's eyes widened, the panicked and apologetic look of Stephen was the last thing he saw before the cracks burst. Light entered his vision as pain spread throughout his body.
Then everything turned black.
[-]
Peter groaned, his eyes fluttering open as he woke up.
It felt hot, almost feverish. His head was pounding inside his skull and everything felt so sharp. It was like there were multiple pieces of shrapnel attempting to penetrate through his skull. The moment he opened his eyes, he immediately shut them again. He'd merely caught glimpses of a bedroom before the sudden prickling feeling assaulted his vision and forced him to look away again.
'It's like the spider bite all over again!' he mentally groaned.
He needed to focus on what had happened when those cracks burst, and why he was now lying in bed, but his body was in so much pain that he couldn't even think properly. The only thing he was grateful for was that it wasn't getting worse.
As if on cue, the pain actually intensified.
His body started to convulse, he would have screamed but it felt like something was constricting his throat. He couldn't even move, the odd feeling of something rippling beneath his skin paired with the sudden rise of heat was making it harder.
'What's happening to me?!'
He couldn't see, he couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't feel anything. There was only pain. Pain, pain, pain, painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain—
Air forced its way through his lungs as he suddenly shot up, taking deep, shuddering breaths as the pain finally receded. Even so, it disappeared so suddenly that he couldn't help but feel suspicious.
'And the dark, empty void around me, yeah, I don't think that's a good thing.' He mentally noted the void around him was eerie and uncomfortable. Wasn't he in a bedroom, or was he hallucinating?
He looked down and blinked. He could see himself perfectly, which was odd, as he was sure there was no source of light around. There was only a complete void.
"Okay, getting creepy now…" he muttered as he slowly got up to his feet. As he did so, he noticed that he wasn't wearing his suit. No, he was actually naked. Naked and alone in a complete void.
His eyes narrowed as he processed that, "Am I dead?"
Suddenly a deep, reverberating chuckle rang out, amused by his words. There were many voices too, but in an eerie way, overlapping with each other that a mere crowd of people never would. "No, you are not dead. In fact, I believe you would enjoy what is in store for you."
Peter suddenly turned around when he realized the voice was right behind him. His eyes widened in fear as he hurriedly took multiple steps back.
"Oh, you're a big one…"
Before Peter stood a massive black spider, its many eyes focusing on him intensely. The mandibles twitched at odd intervals as the giant spider studied him closely. Peter couldn't help but feel oddly nostalgic when he saw it. He wasn't sure why but something about the spider felt oddly familiar. Though he ignored that feeling and focused on the giant spider.
With such a giant thing in front of him, Peter couldn't help but state what was at the forefront of his mind.
"Please don't eat me."
The spider chuckled, the many voices coming from it making it even more eerie.
"I assure you, Peter Parker. I have no intention of doing so. After all, we are one and the same."
Peter blinked at that. How did it know his name? "What are you talking about? What are you? Heck, where are we even?" He asked, looking around, trying to find some sort of escape.
He flinched when the spider began to scuttle off to the side as if circling him. Its giant legs moved quickly despite its size, striking and finding purchase on the nothingness as gracefully as a normal spider. It rounded to Peter's front, ensuring that the young man kept his eyes on it. He would readily admit, it was rather creepy. The nostalgic feeling was also getting rather strong; what even was this thing?
"I have no time for your questions, Peter. So listen close, I will make this quick." The spider hissed, apparently growing impatient. Peter gulped and decided that listening to the giant scary spider was a good idea at the moment.
"The reason why you are here was due to the sorcerer. The sorcerer's attempt to reweave the universe backfired. Reality was already frail with two consecutive usages of the Infinity Stones. The universe's strand was weak and fragile and needed new strands to join its weave to reinforce itself. However, that spell only caused it to further unravel at a faster rate and nearly destroyed it."
Peter's eyes narrowed. He didn't really get it at first, but he was smart. Running the words through his head and considering the giant spider was using some spider-based analogies, he was able to guess what it was trying to say.
"Universe…web…weave? You mean the spell I wished for caused the universe to get weakened even further?" He asked.
The spider chuckled. "You catch on quick, good. Yes, the universe was weak. It was not strong to begin with, but it held promise, woven intricately and delicately. It promised great wonders to be born and to create new stories for the Great Web." The spider gestured as it spoke, waving around its frontmost legs as if to indicate the great wonders that it was trying to convey. Its multiple, beady black eyes looked beyond the void, as if it could see a majestic sight that he could not.
"...However, the strand was tested too soon, too roughly. The usage of the Infinity Stones had unraveled the strand and your two spells unraveled it further, causing the universe to nearly break."
Peter looked down at that, his wish had caused a lot more damage than he realized. Guilt bubbled up as he considered the spider's words. All those deaths, a whole universe….
"What have I done…?"
The spider looked down at him. "Fear not, Peter Parker. The web strand can still be salvaged. There is nothing that has been unraveled that cannot be rewoven."
Peter looked up, his eyes alight with desperate hope.
"How?!"
"The Great Weaver has gathered the other spiders. They have convened and made a decision. The web strand's situation was…unique, incapable of happening ever again. Due to this, a special solution was needed. You shall be sent back in time, back to the time when our strands became intertwined."
Peter tilted his head at that, "Intertwined…what do you mean?"
The spider laughed, "Peter, do you still not realize what I am?" He took a step back as it loomed over him. "I am the thing that you held back. Your very instinct and power given form. The thing you constantly hold back, constantly suppressed. Just as I changed you, you changed me. You define me, in turn, I define you."
As the spider continued to speak, its multi-layered voice slowly changed. The many voices disappeared until only one was left. His own voice.
"You're…you're my powers!" Peter realized.
"Yes, Peter Parker. I am your Other. The Spider to your Man. And this time, I will have you fully embrace me."
Peter looked hesitant, "I– I can't, if I go too far with you, I'll–"
"You'll what?! You were weak! Useless! If you had embraced me, that fight with Thanos would have been settled easily! You suppressed me and forsook your true limits! If you were stronger, you could have pulled that gauntlet from Thanos's hand and saved Tony Stark. If Stark had lived, May's death would never have happened!"
"T-that's…" He took another step back, his own voice hissing and screaming at him was not helping his rampant emotions. He already felt guilty about May's death, his own voice blaming him for Tony's as well did not help.
"You know this to be true. You need me, just as I need you. The web requires you to make sure that the Infinity Stones aren't used until the strand has been properly reinforced. In order to ensure this, you will need the power to fight the threats that would harness the Stones."
"..."
Peter looked down, contemplating the spider… his other self's words. Part of him wanted that power, but it was also the same power that had made him lax, made him arrogant, and cost Uncle Ben his life. If he somehow got full of himself again, if he let his control down for even a second…he was scared that another one of his loved ones would pay the price again.
"...Peter. You have held me back for so long, your discipline and control are to the point you have even forgotten your true power. You have no need to worry about accidents. I do not ask you to let me loose. All I ask is to have the power to protect our loved ones."
Peter looked at the spider, the giant arachnid's beady eyes somehow conveying sympathy and understanding. And with those eyes, he finally saw that the spider was truly another part of him.
He scoffed in amusement. "I'm getting comforted by a giant spider who knows my problems better than I do; what's my life become?"
The spider chuckled as well, "We are but one and the same, Peter. It would be odd for me not to know you. But it is also because I am you that I need to help you see things clearly."
Peter laughed, "Guess helping people was always something in me, huh?"
The spider nodded in response.
"So, now what? What exactly will happen here?"
"The universe's new strand will be rewoven with a better foundation. The strand had actually attempted to heal itself by creating new strands and adding them to itself as a reactionary method when the infinity stones were used. Not that it helped much due to Strange's spell worsening the damage."
Peter couldn't help but wince a little. If he didn't ask for that spell, the universe might have managed to survive.
The Other then continued. "The Great Weaver is hard at work to heal the strand. He had attempted to unweave the new strands so that your journey is easier and more familiar but it was already too late. All he could do was add to the strand along with the new changes in place."
"So what does that mean? How will this affect everything?" Peter asked curiously.
"There will be changes for one. While the world may look familiar to you, there will be things that are different. Even your past life would be different. Some changes would be for the better, others not so much. Be warned, even with the improved foundation the strand is still unstable. Until you reach the point in time where the Infinity Stones were last used in the previous timeline, avoid any extraneous amount of reality warping."
"Great, more problems for me." Peter sarcastically groaned, already dreading to see what kind of changes had been added to his life. Knowing his luck, it's either something bad or something weird.
"Do not be so pessimistic. The Great Weaver has decided to leave some gifts to aid you. Gifts of memories from your other selves."
"My other selves? Peter Two and Peter Three's memories?" He asked, shocked.
"Yes, the Great Weaver believed that their experience and memories will aid you. Your past self also has a power that will aid you. However, it requires you to fully embrace me for it to be properly activated. If not, you will die."
Peter looked alarmed at that, "Power? Wait, you mean if I didn't accept you I would die?! Was that what all that pain was about?!"
"Yes, Peter. The Great Weaver believed it was needed, think of it as a test." The spider spoke, albeit slightly uncomfortably.
"Wait, you said you're just another part of me. Won't you also die?"
"Why did you think I was so desperate to have you accept?"
"Huh, point." Peter sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Okay, any other surprises I should know about? Any other changes?"
"No, I think we covered everything." The spider shrugged. Somehow. He wasn't sure how that worked but the spider managed it.
Peter gave a sigh of relief, rubbing his hands as he did so. "Okay, so how do I get out of here? Do I just walk out of the door or something?"
"Well, now I eat you," came the nonchalant reply.
"Wait, wha–" was all he said before the giant spider abruptly swallowed him whole.
[-]
Peter frightfully opened his eyes, air filling his lungs rapidly as he touched himself. Realizing that his whole body was intact, he realized that he was actually alive.
"That damn bug…" he cursed.
He knew that spiders weren't bugs but arachnids, but he was a bit too angry to care. Was it ironic? Yes. But he didn't care.
'Was it because of the whole holding back thing? It did sound pretty mad about it.'
"Oh, you're awake."
Peter looked to the side of his bed in the direction of the voice. His breath hitched when he saw who it was.
The woman was beautiful. Straight blond hair that reached past her shoulders with dazzling icy blue eyes looking at him with surprising warmth and care. She was wearing a white blouse with blue jeans that did nothing at all to hide the great figure beneath. The blouse was slightly unbuttoned at the top, showing off her massive cleavage.
"You know, May and Ben were worried when the school called about you fainting," The woman – Emma Frost, his memories of the new timeline supplied – approached his bed, sitting on the chair beside it.
Apparently, she'd been his neighbor for a few years now. She had even become his tutor when he had trouble catching up with his History class. After that, May practically dragged her to their house every day for either breakfast, lunch, or even just a simple chat even after she no longer needed to tutor him. Both of them had gotten pretty close after that.
"So Tiger, mind explaining what happened?" Emma asked, calling him by the nickname she'd given him when they first met.
"I'm loving the new changes so far…" Peter muttered to himself.
"Excuse me?" Emma tilted her head in confusion.
"I mean I like what you did with your hair." Peter immediately winged it. He wasn't even sure if she did do her hair, but it looked too well for it not to be.
"Oh, thank you. I had it done yesterday. Thanks for noticing." Emma smiled. He thought he was safe and about to sigh in relief before she dropped it. "Now you're going to answer my question or not?"
Peter took a deep breath; now how should he even answer that? His past selves' memories were still a bit foggy and only barely able to give him bare-bones knowledge of who Emma was. And he sure as fuck couldn't tell her the actual truth.
There was also the fact that his memories were confusing and it was not helping his rising panic. There are four lifetime's worth of memories, including his own, whirling in his head. They were a jumbled mess and he didn't even have a chance to sort them out yet before Emma started to question him.
He was wondering how to answer her question before Emma spoke.
"You okay, Pete?" Emma asked with a concerned tone when she noticed how distracted Peter looked.
Peter nodded, "Yeah, I just…" He paused as an idea came to mind. "My head is spinning at the moment. I think it was the fall."
Emma looked even more concerned, "The teacher did say that you hit your head pretty hard when you fainted. Do you need anything?"
Peter waved it away, "Nah, no need. I think I need some time alone." he excused.
He hoped that would be enough. His mind was actually a bit of a jumbled mess, so hopefully, it'd help stave off the questions for a while as he recollected his thoughts.
Suddenly there was this prickling feeling that assaulted his skull. It felt like something was trying to enter his head. It was small but it was there. His Spidey Sense (a much better name than Peter Tingle, thank you Peter Three) was also oddly active. The tingle at the base of his skull was reverberating, synchronizing even with the sudden wave of pinpricks. The pinpricks were trying to enter his skull but it felt like his Spidey Sense was blocking it.
It didn't feel dangerous though, more probing than anything. The sudden activation of his Spidey Sense was more reactive than anything. It was like how he could feel flies flying near him, his Spidey Sense reacted to it but it was something that can be ignored at the end of the day.
There was a….thread? A connection he could feel connected to the pinpricks. He traced the connection, his eyes blink in confusion when he traced it back to Emma. The woman herself looked rather confusedly at him.
"Emma? You okay?" he called out.
The woman blinked before shaking her head, "I'm fine, I'll tell May that you're awake. Call me if you need anything."
She then left hurriedly, the pinpricks disappearing right as she left the room.
"What the hell was that?" Peter whispered to himself.
The pinpricks were rather concerning to say the least. It didn't feel dangerous but it was still enough for his Spidey Sense to note it down. Kinda like how it reacted to Stephen despite his literal soul not being in his body.
He tried searching through his memories for some answers. However, the sudden info surge caused his head to pound. He groaned as he held his head in pain.
He took deep breaths. Trying to power through the sudden surge, it was painful but it wasn't as bad as getting dusted by Thanos. A pounding headache didn't even compare to the pain he felt when his body turned to dust.
He laid back on the bed as he sorted through all the memories in his head. His own was the sharpest. The clearest. He could even remember what he ate on that one dinner with May and Ben when he was twelve. By contrast, Peter Two and Peter Three's were…fuzzier. Slightly harder to delve into.
But he persevered, going through the memories of their normal lives before their respective bites. He learned how their Uncle Bens died, and how it brutally taught them about responsibility. How Peter Two had to deal with balancing his life with being Spider-Man. How Peter Three coped with losing Gwen Stacy.
With these memories, Peter was humbled. He had of course heard about some of these things from them, but to see and experience those events and more through their memories was another thing entirely.
Then he finally delved into his past self's memories. But when he did go through them, they felt slightly alien. It wasn't like going through the previous sets of memories. Some of them were familiar, but some were so vastly different that he was sure that they belonged to someone else. Like his new relationship with Emma.
There were a lot of changes, a lot of things that he didn't recognize. But as the new memories finally settled in his mind, they slowly became more familiar. It was an odd feeling.
He sat up from his bed, pushing himself away from it as he undressed himself. He grabbed his towel and headed into the shower. He needed to clear his mind and Peter Two had learned that some cold water helped with that.
As he rinsed himself, he looked in the mirror. The facial structure was slightly different, his hair a lot wavier but there was some familiarity to it. But there was no denying that he looked far different than he usually looked.
'Is this really me? Or did I just take over someone's life?' he pondered to himself.
The thought was disturbing to him. While he would love nothing more than to redo his life, replacing someone as a price for it was something he would never be okay with. No matter how tempting the offer was.
He dried himself before exiting the bathroom. He was in the middle of getting dressed when the door was knocked.
"Peter? I heard the shower was running, are you decent?" Emma asked from outside his door.
The thought of Emma seeing him half-naked was embarrassing, and also somewhat tempting. He had gained some muscles after the spider bit him. He went from scrawny and gangly to an Olympic-level athlete. So he was curious if Emma would actually be more attracted to him if he showed off his body.
'Wait a minute….' he paused. He knew his past self was attracted to Emma. She was pretty much his first crush. But while the memories of Peter Two and Peter Three didn't give him any personal feelings, he was surprised to realize that he was actually emotionally affected by his past self's memories.
The realization sent a wave of relief inside him. It seemed more like they had merged together instead of him taking over his past self's life. That was good to know.
"Peter?" Emma called out.
"Uh, yeah! I'm decent!" He replied after quickly wearing his shirt.
Emma entered his room, her eyes scanning him up and down before smirking, clearly liking what she saw. His stomach did flip-flops when he saw that.
'Damn. Even with three lives, teenage hormones still get the better of me.' he mentally groaned. Peter Two was a grown adult and it still wasn't enough to reign it in.
"You filled out that shirt much better than I realized." Emma complimented.
"Hm?" Peter raised an eyebrow, he glanced at his shirt in confusion before his memory filled him in. Or should he say he remembered?
The shirt was a gift from Emma, along with plenty of other clothes in his closet. The woman was fed up with his lack of fashion sense and had dragged him to some clothing store for some actual clothes. He would complain that he didn't have the money for it but Emma had shut him up by saying that she'd be paying for it. The clothes were rather expensive too, so he had ensured that they were used with care.
"Well I had you choosing them for me, so of course it will look great on me." Peter smirked.
"Yeah, and I had to deal with you whining all day to actually get you in them." She teased.
"What can I say, fashion just isn't my thing." Peter shrugged.
"The monstrosity in your closet showed that that's for sure."
"Hey! Those hoodies are comfy." Peter complained.
Emma just rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Now come on, May made some pancakes for us. She wouldn't want you to miss breakfast." She gestured for him to follow as she walked out of the room.
Peter followed her as she exited his room, walking into the kitchen of their apartment.
'Well, the house is at least familiar.' he smiled, glad to see that not everything had changed.
"Peter!" May called as she walked towards him, looking exactly the same as he remembered. Just seeing her again so soon was already causing some of his emotions to well up.
She held him close, "Are you feeling okay?" she asked. As caring as he remembered.
He had to take a deep breath to calm himself before he could actually answer her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Kinda hungry though."
"Well, we got some pancakes. Come on, eat up. I already called the school ahead of time that you won't be attending classes for a few days." May gestured for him to sit.
"Yeah, and uh, May?" He called out.
"Yes, Peter?"
"I– thanks, for everything I mean."
May looked confused, "Peter?"
"I know I'm not exactly the easiest kid to take care of, but you and Ben still tried your best. So yeah, thanks, for everything." Peter smiled, letting out some of his emotions.
This was the same woman that still stayed strong for him after Ben died, while he was still wallowing in his grief it was May who helped him cope with it. The very same woman who acted as his rock, that helped him see the light when he can't. Losing her was hard, he never got to say everything he wanted to her when she died. So he's not gonna let that chance go now that he has it.
May smiled, "Oh Peter, you're welcome. I'll admit, it has its challenges. But you're family, and I wouldn't want it any other way."
Peter nodded at that while wiping away the oncoming tears. "Yeah, just needed to be said. I thought the worst when I suddenly blacked out."
May smiled in understanding, "I see. Well, Peter, I'm glad to see you are doing alright. Now come on, let's eat."
Peter pulled out his seat and sat down right across from Emma. The woman was looking at him intently as if studying him. Peter sent her a questioning look before she shook her head, smiling at him before eating her breakfast.
"Where's Ben?" Peter asked.
"Oh, he already went out to work. You just missed him by a few minutes." May answered before she sat down. Peter was a bit disappointed to hear that, he would have liked to see Ben again after all these years. But he put that to the side and focused on the now.
All three then ate while conversing with each other. May asked him about class and the school trip he went to. She also asked him why he fainted but he told her that even he didn't know, one moment there was pain then another he just fainted.
"That's odd. Maybe we should get you to a hospital to check." May muttered.
Peter waved it off, "Don't worry May, I'm fine. Probably didn't have enough food in me or something."
"Are you sure? People don't usually suddenly faint without warning, you know?" Emma interjected.
"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me okay? Also May, I think you're gonna be late if you don't hurry up." Peter reminded her.
May checked her watch, her eyes widened when she realized Peter was right. "Oh, you're right! I better hurry then." She quickly finished her plate before putting it in the sink. She was actually working in the homeless shelter much earlier in the new timeline, apparently feeling restless after staying at home for too long and wanting to do something.
"Just leave it there May, I'll handle it." Peter assured her, causing May to pause.
"Are you sure?" She asked with some hint of confusion.
"Yeah, just leave it there. You're gonna be late if you don't."
May smiled, "Thank you, Peter. I'll get going then." She then washed up her hands before she grabbed her bag and walked out of the apartment.
"Well someone is charitable today." Emma teased.
Peter smirked, she could understand where she was coming from. His past self was a bit lazy, needing a little bit of 'motivation' to get him to help out around the house. Though he did become a bit more willing to listen when Emma was asking for his help instead, something that both Ben and May noticed and were amused by.
"Yeah, suddenly fainting can do that to you. I genuinely thought I was gonna die." Peter admitted as he took his plate to the sink.
"Well tiger, can you be a dear and do mine too?" She asked sweetly.
Peter rolled his eyes as he grabbed her plate, "Your wish is mine to fulfill my lady." he sarcastically replied.
"Thank you~!"
As Peter washed the dishes, he started to think about his predicament. May and Ben were still alive, he had another chance to fix things. Of course, he still needed to look out for the Infinity Stones but he was just glad that things were looking up. He was ready for the worst part of his life when he asked Stephen to wipe away everyone's memories of him. But to think it actually led him to a second chance…
'I can't waste this.' He paused as he mentally promised himself.
There were a lot of things that he could have done better, things that he regretted. Times he wished he was slightly stronger or faster. Ben and May's death, Tony's sacrifice, he'll make sure none of it happened again.
But if he wanted to be able to do all that, he needed resources. Money, materials, the works. He was broke in his past timeline and still was in this new one. Tony's support had helped him out but he hadn't done the most with it when he had it. A mistake he wouldn't repeat. But first, he needed to figure out where to get said resources in the first place.
His phone suddenly chimed and caught his attention. He glanced at it and realized who it was.
"Hey, Emma, I'm going to go out and meet some friends. They're kinda worried and while I can tell them over text that I'm fine, they'd rather meet me face to face." Peter told her.
Emma was basically family by this point, May even gave her the keys to their house in case she ever needed her help in an emergency. They had known her for years and knew they could trust her. Something that Emma appreciated and reciprocated.
"Sure, but before that, mind if I talk with you for a bit?" She asked from their couch.
Peter looked confused but decided to comply. Wiping his hands with some tissues before walking over towards her.
"What's up?"
Emma gestured to the seat beside her, "Sit."
Peter looked slightly concerned and confused, but he did comply with her request. "Ooookay? You sound serious."
Emma looked at him with a serious look, "Alright be real with me, what's up with you today?"
Peter paused, not sure how to reply to that. "What? What are you talking about Emma?"
"May didn't mention it but I will, something's up with you." Emma bluntly spoke up.
He tried to shrug it off, "Nothing is happening okay?"
Emma leaned towards him in response, the sudden movement gave him an easy view of her cleavage but he ignored it with practiced ease. Guess his past self knew how to reign himself in pretty well when the situation called for it.
She suddenly held his hand, caressing it softly. The action caused Peter's emotions to go into turmoil. A hot pretty girl that he has a crush on was holding his hands rather tenderly and every single one of his memories was in shambles. None of them had any hint on how to get Peter out of this. Sure Peter Two was married to MJ and Peter Three had experience with Gwen Stacy to pull from, but even then both of them had personally thought they had just stumbled their way there.
He ignored the time when Peter Two had Venom on him, that time was rather weird and Peter Two personally never liked reliving it. He was sure the man himself would absolutely not want him to take cues from that phase of his life.
"Peter, I'm not sure what happened, and it's okay if you don't wanna talk about it. But promise me, if you feel like you need to talk to someone but have no one to turn to, I'm here okay?"
Peter blinked, he was confused before he saw the genuine concern in her eyes. His words to May might have made them concerned for him. The way he had spoken and his own words were rather sudden after all.
Peter smiled, and while he couldn't tell her everything, he did appreciate it. The weird feeling he felt earlier was suspicious and a bit weird, he was sure that it came from her. But Emma was genuinely looking out for him, and that alone was enough.
"I'm okay, Emma. And I promise, I'll talk to you if I need to." Peter gently held her hand, trying to show that he understood what she was saying.
Emma studied him intently. As she did, another prickling feeling washed over him again, but unlike previously, it was more…warm for a lack of better word. It felt like it was a nice warm feeling you got when something was going your way and felt like everything would get better now. It wasn't a sudden jump of positivity, but more of a small nudge. A nice small piece of hope that helps make your day. The feeling was oddly nostalgic as if he had felt this multiple times before.
Another odd thing was that his Spidey Sense didn't even activate; it was there but it didn't do anything else. That was enough for him to not worry about it.
"Okay, Peter. Now go on, I'm sure you don't want to keep your friends waiting." Emma smiled.
Peter nodded, "Right. Thanks, Emma."
"Anytime, Tiger."
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Chapter 2 - You Shouldn’t Be Drowning On Your Own
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SKaine
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Chapter 2 - You Shouldn't Be Drowning On Your Own
After that small heart-to-heart with Emma, Peter made his way to a pizza place that his friends had agreed on.
As he made his way there, he looked around him. Everything looked so familiar yet so strange at the same time. There wasn't any significant change in terms of tech, everything still looked the same as far as he remembered. But it still doesn't help this alien feeling, that something inside him felt that something wasn't right.
He wasn't sure if it was just the smell in the air or just another thing altogether, but the world around him felt different.
His eyes glanced at a newspaper, his enhanced eyes caught something and made him pause his steps. He walked towards it and grabbed it, reading the headline with incredulity.
'A lynch mob was formed in Fort Washington after a dangerous mutant froze some students?' Peter read. He was even more confused when he saw the picture taken. Three students were completely encased in a block of ice.
He turned the pages and they showed a few more pictures. There was a group of people – probably the lynch mob, that was pretty open about their hatred towards 'Mutants'. The next picture was a bit blurry, but it showed a young man who looked his age running away from the lynch mob. Curiously, his hands were covered in ice.
'No, his hands are generating ice,' Peter corrected when he noticed the large lumps of snow that were dropping from his hands.
Peter checked the next few pages, the newspaper continued to advocate how dangerous mutants were and how their abilities could be a threat to everyone. As he read, he remembered that his past self had also read up a bit about mutants and saw plenty of news about them.
Mutants were a group of humans who had something called the X Gene inside them. A specific genome that allowed a person to manifest powers at a certain age and there was a whole lot of political drama surrounding them. A lot of people liked them because they proved that superpowers were actually real, some were neutral or wanted to exploit their powers, and there were those that considered them as abominations and needed to be purged off the face of the earth for one reason or another.
That last one was disturbingly in the majority, some people said they were abominations of God, some said they weren't natural and others even said they were a threat to society. It made him look back during the time when people still thought that he killed Mysterio. Sure it was bad but this just took the cake.
Fortunately, his past self wasn't part of them. He was actually one of the few people that were excited to learn that superpowers were a real thing, but was a tad disappointed it was only for a specific group of people that had this specific gene.
'Maybe this was the power that the spider told me about?' Peter considered. It did tell him that his past self had a power that could aid him. What the power in question was, it never told him.
Before he could even start regretting not asking about it, the shopkeeper spoke up.
"Heh, not many kids read newspapers these days." he said.
Peter looked up, noticing the old man speaking to him. "Ah, yeah. The headline caught my eye and I was curious."
The man raised an eyebrow, "What are you reading anyway?" he leaned over and saw the headline, "Ah that one. A piece of advice from an old man, don't believe everything they say."
"What do you mean?" Peter asked.
"Look at the first pic kid, those kids are frozen at the back of the school. Why would three bigger kids be at the back of the school with someone smaller than them?" The old man asked.
Peter blinked, "They might be harassing him." He realized.
The old man shrugged, "Or maybe they were just meeting up for something else? Who knows. But what I do know is that not everything is as it seems."
Peter looked down at that. He didn't doubt that the old man could be right. He got his own experience when people harassed him with Mysterio's death and even Peter Two got constantly harassed for being a menace just because people believed blindly in the news. But then again, for all he knew it really didn't end up like how the news described it.
But either way, he couldn't really know for sure. So for now, he'd just put it aside.
"Right, anyway, I should get going."
"What? Not gonna buy anything?" The old man suddenly asked.
Peter looked a bit sheepish, gaping like a fish as he did so. The old man just laughed when he saw that. "I'm just messin' with ya kid, get out of here."
Peter nodded gratefully and hurried his way to the pizza joint.
Making his way through the streets, he finally saw the joint. He walked across the street and pushed the door open, the familiar smell of pizza immediately assaulted his nose.
He looked around until he saw someone waving their hands to catch his attention. He smiled when he saw who it was.
By the table was a brown-haired young man with brown eyes, wearing simple jeans along with a green collared shirt. His name was Harry Osborn. He was kinda surprised when he realized his past self was friends with him. Part of him was a bit wary as both Peter Two and Peter Three didn't exactly have a good history with Harry Osborn, especially with him being responsible for killing Gwen in Peter Three's case.
But he put that thought out of his mind. He had been his past self (or should he say his) best friend since middle school. Sure Harry had almost gotten in with a bad crowd once they went to high school, but he managed to put his head back on the right track. He'd been a solid friend ever since.
"There's the man of the hour," Harry smiled. Peter smirked as he made his way toward their table.
"Hey Harry, you doing good?" Peter greeted him as they did their secret handshake. The very same one he did with Ned in the previous timeline, he realized.
"Doing fine man, but I'm more worried about you. You hit your head pretty hard when you fell during the trip." Harry asked.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it. Though May did tell the school I won't be coming to class for a while since she's worried about me." Peter shrugged.
"Flash gonna have a field day with that, he's already running your name through the mud when we were heading back." Harry sighed.
Peter winced. Even in a rebooted timeline, Flash Thompson would always be a pain in his ass. In this timeline, he was a stereotypical jock. He was tall, blond, handsome, and pretty well-built. It didn't take long for him to become the top dog of the school. If it was any other time, Peter would be dreading coming back to school if it meant facing a more physically intimidating Flash.
But he had fought hardened criminals, aliens, and interdimensional villains. There were also the memories from Peter Two and Peter Three helping him out, Flash was nothing compared to what he had faced.
"What else is new?" Peter groaned.
"Oh well, you'll be fine. Gwen's got your back and he never wants to mess with Gwen, especially if he wants his grades to stay afloat." Harry chuckled.
There's another name that surprised him; he actually knew Gwen Stacy in this timeline. They were friends since middle school and was the one that helped him get Harry's head back on track. Not to mention, his past self and Gwen were really close to the point he wondered if there was more to it but his past self was never brave enough to bring it up.
"Speaking of Gwen, where is she anyways?" Peter looked around, "Isn't she supposed to be here too?"
"Oh she's in the washroom, she'd be here any minute." Harry said, "Anyway, both you and Gwen had a rough fall. I'm surprised both of you got up so quickly."
Peter turned to Harry, confused. "Wait, Gwen fainted too?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah man, a few seconds after you did even. It's why Flash didn't hesitate to run his mouth."
Peter looked slightly alarmed, he tried to remember what happened when he fainted. He remembered trying to slap the spider away but he didn't kill it. No, he saw it scurrying away before everything blacked out.
"Hey Harry, did Gwen say anything about why she blacked out?" Peter asked as a little bit of panic built within his chest.
Harry looked deep in thought, "Yeah, she mentioned a spider bit her before she blacked out. I would have been worried about the bite if it wasn't for the fact that Gwen looked fine. Better than fine even." Harry remarked with an amazed tone.
Peter's blood froze, Gwen was bitten too?! Could she get spider powers like him? If she did, what was he supposed to do?! Get her to join him? Let her live her life? He could be gaining a partner in fighting crime but his goals are much bigger than just stopping a robbery. He's gonna fight some cosmic beings from stealing the Infinity Stones! Even the Hulk and Thor had trouble with that and he wants to drag his best friend into that?!
Before he could contemplate further, a voice spoke up from behind him.
"Oh, Peter you're here!"
He turned around to the source of the voice. There stood Gwen in all her glory. She had long wavy blond hair with a black headband, and her blue eyes lit with warmth and joy when she saw him. She's wearing a simple black shirt and blue jeans that hugged her in all the right places. She was beautiful.
However, that wasn't what he was focusing on. No, because the moment he laid eyes on her, his Spidey Sense immediately started to tingle intensely. His eyes fluttered as he held his head in pain, but despite it, he could still feel it. He could feel a connection, a form of resonance if you will with the woman in front of him.
The pain then slowly disappeared. Peter blinked a couple of times before looking at Gwen, the girl looking at him with wide eyes.
"Woah you two okay? You looked like you were in pain." Harry asked urgently, looking between them with concern in his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Peter answered distractedly.
"Yeah, totally fine." Gwen agreed, staring back at him with an intense look.
'Well, guess that confirms it.' He mentally groaned. It seemed like Gwen also had spider powers.
"Ooookay?" Harry looked between the both of them. "You guys are acting weird, are you sure?"
"Yeah, we just got a lot to talk about." Gwen said as she gave him a serious look, definitely not accepting 'no' as an answer.
Peter couldn't help but dread it.
[-]
The three had decided to pack up the pizza they ordered; Gwen wanted to take their conversation somewhere more private, much to Harry's confusion. Peter on the other hand was trying to figure out how to show off his powers without coming off as too experienced. They literally got bitten yesterday and as far as they knew, he had just woken up. So there was no way he could tell them that he had been practicing in his free time.
As he tried to figure out how to hide his status as a time traveler, Gwen brought them underground and into an abandoned train station. Gwen then walked towards a corner and pulled a lever. Peter blinked as nothing happened when she did.
"Oh! That's bright!" Harry blinked away his eyes when the lights came on. Peter blinked in surprise at that.
'I have night vision?' Peter realized. He stepped further into the train station and looked over the train tracks. As he had expected, he could see the further ends of the train tracks quite clearly. He could even see the rats scurrying around much to his disgust. He noted that down for later investigation as he observed the rest of the train station.
He looked over the station, the place was a mess. They were standing in a rather dirty hallway. The walls and floor were dirty, blemishing the once pristine white hallway. Right beside said hallway was train tracks. There was a single train track with a few train carts that could be seen on the side that led deeper into the train tunnel.
Harry whistled, "Damn, didn't know there was an abandoned train station here."
"There are a few train carts here too. How did you even know about this place, Gwen?" Peter asked curiously.
"My dad busted some gang members hiding in here once. They were just running around like headless chickens and just wanted to find a safe spot to hide. Unfortunately, my dad caught them right as they headed down here. He mentioned it offhandedly once and I came to check it out." Gwen explained as she walked towards one of the train carts.
Without effort, she opened the door and led them inside. Both boys gaped, the cart already heavily personalized by Gwen. The seats and everything were still there, but under the seats were a few bags that clearly belonged to Gwen and there were a few posters here and there hung up.
"Why did you never mention this to us? You got like a whole secret base here!" Harry asked curiously.
Gwen smirked at them, "Because this is the place that I go to when I want to be alone. Not exactly something I want to spread."
"Fair enough," Peter nodded, completely understanding what she meant. He too had a place just for that. "But why did you bring us here?" he asked, though part of him already knew the answer.
"Because we needed an actual private space and I have a feeling we're gonna make use of this place a lot more than I intended." Gwen revealed as she looked at Peter intently.
Harry snapped his finger in realization, "Aha! So that's why you two were acting weirdly!" He smiled triumphantly, he then looked at the two weirdly when he noticed the odd atmosphere between them. "Wait you two won't do anything weird right? Like I'm seeing something odd here, like you guys gonna kiss or something?"
"Wait, what?"
"What, Harry no!" Gwen blushed, "It's not about that! It's– Well, it's…" She sighed, "It's better if I show you."
Both of them looked curiously as she stood before them, then she jumped and proceeded to stick to the ceiling. Peter's mentally whined when he saw this. Her thighs were spread as she braced herself with her foot, a single hand put at the middle while the other was free. A complete copy of one of his wall-crawling poses.
'Yeah, if that doesn't confirm it, I don't know what will.' Peter sighed.
Harry on the other hand was doing his best impression of a fish, "You– what– how?!"
Instead of answering, Gwen was actually looking at him. Her eyes made it perfectly clear that she was waiting for him. Peter sighed, guess he's not gonna escape this. Without hesitation, Peter mimicked her movement. Sticking to the ceiling and mirroring her pose perfectly.
"I knew it," Gwen smiled.
"Yeah that tingling thing was really surprising," Peter admitted.
"You tell me." Gwen sighed.
Harry looked between the two of them with wide eyes, "You two have powers? How? Why? When?"
Both of them dropped down from the ceiling before Gwen spoke, "As far as I know? Just this morning. I woke up, something surprised me, and the next thing I knew I was stuck on the ceiling."
Peter winced, yeah that was exactly what happened when he first got his powers. "Yeah, not exactly a good way to wake up." Peter added sympathetically.
"That still doesn't answer the how." Harry pointed out as he sat on one of the seats, looking completely bewildered.
"I think it was the spider bite," Peter answered, "I managed to test it out a bit. If I'm right, then we should be able to do whatever a spider can," He mock-contemplated, he still couldn't lie properly but adding a little bit of truth would help him a bit.
Gwen nodded, "Yeah it's definitely the spider bites. Those were the only things that could possibly cause this. I definitely don't think it was a mutant awakening, since if I'm right, both of us should have similar powers."
"Crawling on walls, tingly feeling in your skull, and heightened reaction?" Peter listed.
"Check, check, and check." Gwen nodded. "I actually caught a fly before I headed out of the house." She noted with some wonder in her tone.
"All you guys need is super strength, speed, and the ability to shoot webs." Harry pointed out, which caused Gwen to grin.
"You reminded me, watch this." She excitedly flicked her hand forward, a web could be seen shooting out of one of her fingertips. The web caught on to a pipe before Gwen pulled, slinging the pipe to her hands.
"Holy shit, that is so cool. Did that thing come out of you?!" Harry asked.
"Yep! I found out about it when I was trying to catch a shampoo bottle from falling this morning." Gwen replied cheerily.
Without skipping a beat, Peter opened his big fat mouth. "Does that come out of just your fingers or…" he trailed off as he looked down at her hips.
Gwen was confused before she blushed brightly, "What? Peter!"
Harry looked contemplative as he remembered where webs come from when it comes to spiders, "I mean it's a genuine question."
Gwen's blush turned brighter, "No, it doesn't! At least, I hope not…"
"One way to find out." Peter spoke up with a teasing grin.
"I will punch you, no." Gwen firmly replied.
Both boys erupted into laughter, with Gwen joining not a second later.
Once the laughter died down, Harry spoke up. "So, now what?"
"Well now, I'm thinking of actually testing our powers. I mean, we have actual powers, and as far as I know, completely separate from how mutants gain theirs!" Gwen exclaimed, looking completely excited by the prospect. It made sense to Peter, Gwen did have quite a passion for biology.
Harry hummed, "So I don't get why I'm here. I get why Pete is here, even my old man is impressed with his brains so he would definitely be a big help," he muttered a bit bitterly.
Peter didn't blame him, the one time he met Norman Osborn (the one in this timeline at least), the man was very impressed with his smarts after hearing about it from Harry. It made things rather awkward with Harry.
"Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, you kinda have the resources I need for this research." Gwen admitted sheepishly.
"Is that it? I'm just your money bag then?" Harry gasped, though his smile showed that he was joking.
Gwen rolled her eyes in endearment, "If it helps, both you and Pete's geek knowledge should help. You two know more about how to use superpowers than I do anyways, so a second and third opinion would be good if it comes from you two." Gwen sighed.
Harry and Peter looked at each other, their arms outstretched as they held each other dramatically.
"You heard that Peter?" Harry gasped dramatically.
"I thought I was the only one." Peter followed along.
"She said our geek knowledge would be useful!"
"Oh, and she used to complain about us wasting our time with it so many times!"
"Look how much she has grown," Harry gestured to Gwen, who was looking at them with an unimpressed gaze.
"Oh, I'm so proud of her!" Peter wiped a fake tear.
"If you're done being drama queens, you in?"
"Hell yeah! Course we are, what did you take us for?" Harry agreed instantly.
"I'm curious how far I can push myself too." Peter admitted as he looked at his hands, this time he would test and push his limits. That night vision caught him off guard, so he wondered if there were any other new powers he should know about.
"Great! So let's start planning!" Gwen rubbed her hands excitedly.
Harry held up his hands, "Whoa, whoa! Hold yer horses, just wanna say, thanks for being willing to trust us with this Gwen. Usually having superpowers would be something you want to keep to yourself."
Gwen smiled softly, "Of course, I will tell you guys. I know how much you two like these kinds of things and you two can actually help me. We've been best friends since forever, I trust you guys and I know you guys would do the same."
"Damn right, if I had powers I'd be telling you two. God knows I would be worse off if I didn't." Harry winced, reminded of the time when he was in a bad phase of his life. "Right, Pete?"
"Yeah…right." Peter nodded.
The two immediately turned towards him, recognizing the hesitant tone. Peter mentally cursed himself, damn they found out quickly. Was he that bad?
"Peter…" Gwen started.
"Bro…" Harry sighed. "You weren't going to tell us about this?"
Peter sighed, "Look, with all the mutant hate going around, I don't want you guys to get hurt if someone noticed it. It would be dangerous, you guys saw what happened in the streets when people found out. Heck, I saw a newspaper this morning about a kid our age getting run out of town by a mob!"
"But…you guys might not even have the X Gene," Harry pointed out, "You two think it's because of the spiders right?"
"Yeah, but everyone won't see that. Some of them are radical about it. The moment they see me running around with my powers open wide, they would hunt me down. I don't want you guys to get hurt because of me." Peter spoke. He wasn't even lying too, if his past self had gotten it even without his memories, he would still hide it out of concern for them.
Gwen smiled softly, "Oh, Pete. I understand what you mean but aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?" Peter blinked in confusion.
"Dude, my dad owns a multi-billion dollar company and Gwen's dad is a police captain." Harry pointed out, looking at him with patient eyes.
Peter blinked a few times, "....Oh."
"Yeah…" Harry nodded.
"They are not touching us Pete unless they want a drone strike on their house." Gwen pointed out.
Harry looked at her weirdly, "Your dad can order a drone strike?"
"No, but your dad probably can, and with how much he likes Peter, I'm willing to believe he would do it if it means getting Peter into his company."
Harry nodded at that, "I can't argue with that."
"Man, I feel dumb now." Peter sighed.
Harry patted his back, "Don't worry man, we've all been there before. Now you know better."
"Right, now can we get to how we're testing this?" Gwen asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sure!" Harry nodded as Peter gestured for her to continue.
Gwen then led them into another cart, the cart now looked a bit more customized. There were a few tables at the end of it, on top of it filled with various equipment.
"Where did you get all of these?" Peter asked as he scanned through them, these equipments are pretty expensive.
"Remember how Harry's dad offered me a paid internship back at the science convention we went to?" Gwen reminded them. Peter remembered that convention; Harry didn't come with them since he wasn't interested in all the science talk so it was just him and Gwen. That was where he met Norman.
"You mean the not-date you guys had?" Harry smirked teasingly.
Both of them blushed at that, Harry had called it that with how much fun they had.
"Yes, that one." Gwen nodded in slight embarrassment, "They paid pretty well and Norman decided to invest a little more and let me have some equipment of my own if I wanted to do my own research."
"Huh, that's surprisingly charitable of him." Harry muttered in a surprised tone.
Gwen shrugged, "Yeah, apparently he liked what I can bring to the table."
Harry then looked at Peter, "Didn't he offer one to you too? Why did you reject it? If Gwen got something decent out of it, I can just imagine what kind of investment he would put into you."
Peter sighed, "That's because he offered it to me a little bit too late. I already accepted one from Franklin Storm."
"Franklin Storm? The guy that owned Future Foundation?" Harry looked surprised. Peter at first was a bit surprised that Harry knew him but he realized that since he would be inheriting his father's company, he would need to recognize a lot of important people. "Damn, I never even heard of him outright offering anyone a paid internship. Heck, anyone that wanted to work there had to go through lotta hoops just to even be considered."
Gwen gave Peter a look that was a mix of curiosity and pride. Peter found that he liked having Gwen look at him that way. "Yeah, you gotta tell me how you get that. I wasn't there when it happened and you never told me how."
"I, uh, kinda impressed his daughter actually." Peter rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He got mixed responses from that, Gwen gave him a strange look while Harry looked impressed.
"Susan Storm? Hot scientist Susan Storm? You impressed Susan Fucking Storm. How the fuck did you do that?" Harry asked excitedly with a small amount of pride for his best friend.
"Yes Peter, how did you impress her?" Gwen repeated. Peter really didn't like the look she was giving him.
"Shouldn't we put this later and talk about this test plan instead?" Peter attempted to deflect.
"No, no, the testing plans can wait. I'm just curious about this." Gwen crossed her arms as she stared at him expectantly.
Peter looked to Harry for help, but the man just raised his arms in surrender while mouthing 'Sorry, man'. He couldn't even be mad about it, Gwen was scary when she got going.
Peter took a deep breath before continuing, "They brought some really big tech and it suddenly broke down before they were about to show it off. Everyone tried to fix it but wasn't even sure what was wrong in the first place. I noticed why and helped them out. Susan Storm just so happened to be there and she was impressed." Peter hurriedly explained so he could escape this odd interrogation faster.
"And that's it?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. "How did her dad notice you?"
"Well, we talked shop for a bit and his dad overheard." Peter admitted.
"So you were having some fun discussion with her then." Gwen stated.
"...Yes." Peter sighed, knowing full well he sealed his fate.
"I see." Gwen narrowed her eyes. "There's a science exhibition happening near my place, we're going there next week."
"I don't exactly have the money for that yet–"
"Harry's dad paid me plenty, I'm paying."
"Time and place to meet, I'll be there." Peter quickly answered. "Will it be just us or…" he glanced at Harry.
"Nah man, it ain't my thing. You two have fun." Harry quickly escaped the crossfire when Gwen directed her gaze to him.
Gwen nodded, satisfied. She then tapped Peter's chest, "I'll give you the time and place later, but we'll go there and we'll have so much fun that you won't even remember Susan Storm. Are we clear?"
Was that a threat or a promise? Peter wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. "Yes, Ma'am."
Gwen nodded with satisfaction, "Good. Now let's get to planning." She then turned and headed straight to the table of equipment.
Harry approached Peter closely. "Man, she got you on a leash." he whispered.
"I know, it's kinda hot." Peter freely admitted.
Harry looked at him weirdly before shrugging, "I can't judge, I have weird tastes too. But still, I know she has issues when someone approaches her territory as your science partner, but damn it has gotten worse."
"You tell me," Peter sighed. With him being the only one who can keep up with her in terms of her passion for science, Gwen had become really possessive and didn't want to lose him when it comes to that field.
He understood why really, Gwen wasn't as popular as she was now back in Middle School. Since he was the only one who could keep up with her and not feel insulted, he partnered up with her and spent a lot of time with her back then. Harry had just been dragged along and all three of them had become close-knit ever since.
In her eyes, he was the one that helped break her out of her shell just as much as she did with him. This bond of theirs was special and not something they want to lose any time soon.
"You guys wanna help with this or not?" Gwen called from her table.
"Yeah, just a sec!" Peter replied. "We better go."
"Yep," Harry nodded before both of them made their way toward her.
After that small heart-to-heart with Emma, Peter made his way to a pizza place that his friends had agreed on.
As he made his way there, he looked around him. Everything looked so familiar yet so strange at the same time. There wasn't any significant change in terms of tech, everything still looked the same as far as he remembered. But it still doesn't help this alien feeling, that something inside him felt that something wasn't right.
He wasn't sure if it was just the smell in the air or just another thing altogether, but the world around him felt different.
His eyes glanced at a newspaper, his enhanced eyes caught something and made him pause his steps. He walked towards it and grabbed it, reading the headline with incredulity.
'A lynch mob was formed in Fort Washington after a dangerous mutant froze some students?' Peter read. He was even more confused when he saw the picture taken. Three students were completely encased in a block of ice.
He turned the pages and they showed a few more pictures. There was a group of people – probably the lynch mob, that was pretty open about their hatred towards 'Mutants'. The next picture was a bit blurry, but it showed a young man who looked his age running away from the lynch mob. Curiously, his hands were covered in ice.
'No, his hands are generating ice,' Peter corrected when he noticed the large lumps of snow that were dropping from his hands.
Peter checked the next few pages, the newspaper continued to advocate how dangerous mutants were and how their abilities could be a threat to everyone. As he read, he remembered that his past self had also read up a bit about mutants and saw plenty of news about them.
Mutants were a group of humans who had something called the X Gene inside them. A specific genome that allowed a person to manifest powers at a certain age and there was a whole lot of political drama surrounding them. A lot of people liked them because they proved that superpowers were actually real, some were neutral or wanted to exploit their powers, and there were those that considered them as abominations and needed to be purged off the face of the earth for one reason or another.
That last one was disturbingly in the majority, some people said they were abominations of God, some said they weren't natural and others even said they were a threat to society. It made him look back during the time when people still thought that he killed Mysterio. Sure it was bad but this just took the cake.
Fortunately, his past self wasn't part of them. He was actually one of the few people that were excited to learn that superpowers were a real thing, but was a tad disappointed it was only for a specific group of people that had this specific gene.
'Maybe this was the power that the spider told me about?' Peter considered. It did tell him that his past self had a power that could aid him. What the power in question was, it never told him.
Before he could even start regretting not asking about it, the shopkeeper spoke up.
"Heh, not many kids read newspapers these days." he said.
Peter looked up, noticing the old man speaking to him. "Ah, yeah. The headline caught my eye and I was curious."
The man raised an eyebrow, "What are you reading anyway?" he leaned over and saw the headline, "Ah that one. A piece of advice from an old man, don't believe everything they say."
"What do you mean?" Peter asked.
"Look at the first pic kid, those kids are frozen at the back of the school. Why would three bigger kids be at the back of the school with someone smaller than them?" The old man asked.
Peter blinked, "They might be harassing him." He realized.
The old man shrugged, "Or maybe they were just meeting up for something else? Who knows. But what I do know is that not everything is as it seems."
Peter looked down at that. He didn't doubt that the old man could be right. He got his own experience when people harassed him with Mysterio's death and even Peter Two got constantly harassed for being a menace just because people believed blindly in the news. But then again, for all he knew it really didn't end up like how the news described it.
But either way, he couldn't really know for sure. So for now, he'd just put it aside.
"Right, anyway, I should get going."
"What? Not gonna buy anything?" The old man suddenly asked.
Peter looked a bit sheepish, gaping like a fish as he did so. The old man just laughed when he saw that. "I'm just messin' with ya kid, get out of here."
Peter nodded gratefully and hurried his way to the pizza joint.
Making his way through the streets, he finally saw the joint. He walked across the street and pushed the door open, the familiar smell of pizza immediately assaulted his nose.
He looked around until he saw someone waving their hands to catch his attention. He smiled when he saw who it was.
By the table was a brown-haired young man with brown eyes, wearing simple jeans along with a green collared shirt. His name was Harry Osborn. He was kinda surprised when he realized his past self was friends with him. Part of him was a bit wary as both Peter Two and Peter Three didn't exactly have a good history with Harry Osborn, especially with him being responsible for killing Gwen in Peter Three's case.
But he put that thought out of his mind. He had been his past self (or should he say his) best friend since middle school. Sure Harry had almost gotten in with a bad crowd once they went to high school, but he managed to put his head back on the right track. He'd been a solid friend ever since.
"There's the man of the hour," Harry smiled. Peter smirked as he made his way toward their table.
"Hey Harry, you doing good?" Peter greeted him as they did their secret handshake. The very same one he did with Ned in the previous timeline, he realized.
"Doing fine man, but I'm more worried about you. You hit your head pretty hard when you fell during the trip." Harry asked.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it. Though May did tell the school I won't be coming to class for a while since she's worried about me." Peter shrugged.
"Flash gonna have a field day with that, he's already running your name through the mud when we were heading back." Harry sighed.
Peter winced. Even in a rebooted timeline, Flash Thompson would always be a pain in his ass. In this timeline, he was a stereotypical jock. He was tall, blond, handsome, and pretty well-built. It didn't take long for him to become the top dog of the school. If it was any other time, Peter would be dreading coming back to school if it meant facing a more physically intimidating Flash.
But he had fought hardened criminals, aliens, and interdimensional villains. There were also the memories from Peter Two and Peter Three helping him out, Flash was nothing compared to what he had faced.
"What else is new?" Peter groaned.
"Oh well, you'll be fine. Gwen's got your back and he never wants to mess with Gwen, especially if he wants his grades to stay afloat." Harry chuckled.
There's another name that surprised him; he actually knew Gwen Stacy in this timeline. They were friends since middle school and was the one that helped him get Harry's head back on track. Not to mention, his past self and Gwen were really close to the point he wondered if there was more to it but his past self was never brave enough to bring it up.
"Speaking of Gwen, where is she anyways?" Peter looked around, "Isn't she supposed to be here too?"
"Oh she's in the washroom, she'd be here any minute." Harry said, "Anyway, both you and Gwen had a rough fall. I'm surprised both of you got up so quickly."
Peter turned to Harry, confused. "Wait, Gwen fainted too?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah man, a few seconds after you did even. It's why Flash didn't hesitate to run his mouth."
Peter looked slightly alarmed, he tried to remember what happened when he fainted. He remembered trying to slap the spider away but he didn't kill it. No, he saw it scurrying away before everything blacked out.
"Hey Harry, did Gwen say anything about why she blacked out?" Peter asked as a little bit of panic built within his chest.
Harry looked deep in thought, "Yeah, she mentioned a spider bit her before she blacked out. I would have been worried about the bite if it wasn't for the fact that Gwen looked fine. Better than fine even." Harry remarked with an amazed tone.
Peter's blood froze, Gwen was bitten too?! Could she get spider powers like him? If she did, what was he supposed to do?! Get her to join him? Let her live her life? He could be gaining a partner in fighting crime but his goals are much bigger than just stopping a robbery. He's gonna fight some cosmic beings from stealing the Infinity Stones! Even the Hulk and Thor had trouble with that and he wants to drag his best friend into that?!
Before he could contemplate further, a voice spoke up from behind him.
"Oh, Peter you're here!"
He turned around to the source of the voice. There stood Gwen in all her glory. She had long wavy blond hair with a black headband, and her blue eyes lit with warmth and joy when she saw him. She's wearing a simple black shirt and blue jeans that hugged her in all the right places. She was beautiful.
However, that wasn't what he was focusing on. No, because the moment he laid eyes on her, his Spidey Sense immediately started to tingle intensely. His eyes fluttered as he held his head in pain, but despite it, he could still feel it. He could feel a connection, a form of resonance if you will with the woman in front of him.
The pain then slowly disappeared. Peter blinked a couple of times before looking at Gwen, the girl looking at him with wide eyes.
"Woah you two okay? You looked like you were in pain." Harry asked urgently, looking between them with concern in his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Peter answered distractedly.
"Yeah, totally fine." Gwen agreed, staring back at him with an intense look.
'Well, guess that confirms it.' He mentally groaned. It seemed like Gwen also had spider powers.
"Ooookay?" Harry looked between the both of them. "You guys are acting weird, are you sure?"
"Yeah, we just got a lot to talk about." Gwen said as she gave him a serious look, definitely not accepting 'no' as an answer.
Peter couldn't help but dread it.
[-]
The three had decided to pack up the pizza they ordered; Gwen wanted to take their conversation somewhere more private, much to Harry's confusion. Peter on the other hand was trying to figure out how to show off his powers without coming off as too experienced. They literally got bitten yesterday and as far as they knew, he had just woken up. So there was no way he could tell them that he had been practicing in his free time.
As he tried to figure out how to hide his status as a time traveler, Gwen brought them underground and into an abandoned train station. Gwen then walked towards a corner and pulled a lever. Peter blinked as nothing happened when she did.
"Oh! That's bright!" Harry blinked away his eyes when the lights came on. Peter blinked in surprise at that.
'I have night vision?' Peter realized. He stepped further into the train station and looked over the train tracks. As he had expected, he could see the further ends of the train tracks quite clearly. He could even see the rats scurrying around much to his disgust. He noted that down for later investigation as he observed the rest of the train station.
He looked over the station, the place was a mess. They were standing in a rather dirty hallway. The walls and floor were dirty, blemishing the once pristine white hallway. Right beside said hallway was train tracks. There was a single train track with a few train carts that could be seen on the side that led deeper into the train tunnel.
Harry whistled, "Damn, didn't know there was an abandoned train station here."
"There are a few train carts here too. How did you even know about this place, Gwen?" Peter asked curiously.
"My dad busted some gang members hiding in here once. They were just running around like headless chickens and just wanted to find a safe spot to hide. Unfortunately, my dad caught them right as they headed down here. He mentioned it offhandedly once and I came to check it out." Gwen explained as she walked towards one of the train carts.
Without effort, she opened the door and led them inside. Both boys gaped, the cart already heavily personalized by Gwen. The seats and everything were still there, but under the seats were a few bags that clearly belonged to Gwen and there were a few posters here and there hung up.
"Why did you never mention this to us? You got like a whole secret base here!" Harry asked curiously.
Gwen smirked at them, "Because this is the place that I go to when I want to be alone. Not exactly something I want to spread."
"Fair enough," Peter nodded, completely understanding what she meant. He too had a place just for that. "But why did you bring us here?" he asked, though part of him already knew the answer.
"Because we needed an actual private space and I have a feeling we're gonna make use of this place a lot more than I intended." Gwen revealed as she looked at Peter intently.
Harry snapped his finger in realization, "Aha! So that's why you two were acting weirdly!" He smiled triumphantly, he then looked at the two weirdly when he noticed the odd atmosphere between them. "Wait you two won't do anything weird right? Like I'm seeing something odd here, like you guys gonna kiss or something?"
"Wait, what?"
"What, Harry no!" Gwen blushed, "It's not about that! It's– Well, it's…" She sighed, "It's better if I show you."
Both of them looked curiously as she stood before them, then she jumped and proceeded to stick to the ceiling. Peter's mentally whined when he saw this. Her thighs were spread as she braced herself with her foot, a single hand put at the middle while the other was free. A complete copy of one of his wall-crawling poses.
'Yeah, if that doesn't confirm it, I don't know what will.' Peter sighed.
Harry on the other hand was doing his best impression of a fish, "You– what– how?!"
Instead of answering, Gwen was actually looking at him. Her eyes made it perfectly clear that she was waiting for him. Peter sighed, guess he's not gonna escape this. Without hesitation, Peter mimicked her movement. Sticking to the ceiling and mirroring her pose perfectly.
"I knew it," Gwen smiled.
"Yeah that tingling thing was really surprising," Peter admitted.
"You tell me." Gwen sighed.
Harry looked between the two of them with wide eyes, "You two have powers? How? Why? When?"
Both of them dropped down from the ceiling before Gwen spoke, "As far as I know? Just this morning. I woke up, something surprised me, and the next thing I knew I was stuck on the ceiling."
Peter winced, yeah that was exactly what happened when he first got his powers. "Yeah, not exactly a good way to wake up." Peter added sympathetically.
"That still doesn't answer the how." Harry pointed out as he sat on one of the seats, looking completely bewildered.
"I think it was the spider bite," Peter answered, "I managed to test it out a bit. If I'm right, then we should be able to do whatever a spider can," He mock-contemplated, he still couldn't lie properly but adding a little bit of truth would help him a bit.
Gwen nodded, "Yeah it's definitely the spider bites. Those were the only things that could possibly cause this. I definitely don't think it was a mutant awakening, since if I'm right, both of us should have similar powers."
"Crawling on walls, tingly feeling in your skull, and heightened reaction?" Peter listed.
"Check, check, and check." Gwen nodded. "I actually caught a fly before I headed out of the house." She noted with some wonder in her tone.
"All you guys need is super strength, speed, and the ability to shoot webs." Harry pointed out, which caused Gwen to grin.
"You reminded me, watch this." She excitedly flicked her hand forward, a web could be seen shooting out of one of her fingertips. The web caught on to a pipe before Gwen pulled, slinging the pipe to her hands.
"Holy shit, that is so cool. Did that thing come out of you?!" Harry asked.
"Yep! I found out about it when I was trying to catch a shampoo bottle from falling this morning." Gwen replied cheerily.
Without skipping a beat, Peter opened his big fat mouth. "Does that come out of just your fingers or…" he trailed off as he looked down at her hips.
Gwen was confused before she blushed brightly, "What? Peter!"
Harry looked contemplative as he remembered where webs come from when it comes to spiders, "I mean it's a genuine question."
Gwen's blush turned brighter, "No, it doesn't! At least, I hope not…"
"One way to find out." Peter spoke up with a teasing grin.
"I will punch you, no." Gwen firmly replied.
Both boys erupted into laughter, with Gwen joining not a second later.
Once the laughter died down, Harry spoke up. "So, now what?"
"Well now, I'm thinking of actually testing our powers. I mean, we have actual powers, and as far as I know, completely separate from how mutants gain theirs!" Gwen exclaimed, looking completely excited by the prospect. It made sense to Peter, Gwen did have quite a passion for biology.
Harry hummed, "So I don't get why I'm here. I get why Pete is here, even my old man is impressed with his brains so he would definitely be a big help," he muttered a bit bitterly.
Peter didn't blame him, the one time he met Norman Osborn (the one in this timeline at least), the man was very impressed with his smarts after hearing about it from Harry. It made things rather awkward with Harry.
"Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, you kinda have the resources I need for this research." Gwen admitted sheepishly.
"Is that it? I'm just your money bag then?" Harry gasped, though his smile showed that he was joking.
Gwen rolled her eyes in endearment, "If it helps, both you and Pete's geek knowledge should help. You two know more about how to use superpowers than I do anyways, so a second and third opinion would be good if it comes from you two." Gwen sighed.
Harry and Peter looked at each other, their arms outstretched as they held each other dramatically.
"You heard that Peter?" Harry gasped dramatically.
"I thought I was the only one." Peter followed along.
"She said our geek knowledge would be useful!"
"Oh, and she used to complain about us wasting our time with it so many times!"
"Look how much she has grown," Harry gestured to Gwen, who was looking at them with an unimpressed gaze.
"Oh, I'm so proud of her!" Peter wiped a fake tear.
"If you're done being drama queens, you in?"
"Hell yeah! Course we are, what did you take us for?" Harry agreed instantly.
"I'm curious how far I can push myself too." Peter admitted as he looked at his hands, this time he would test and push his limits. That night vision caught him off guard, so he wondered if there were any other new powers he should know about.
"Great! So let's start planning!" Gwen rubbed her hands excitedly.
Harry held up his hands, "Whoa, whoa! Hold yer horses, just wanna say, thanks for being willing to trust us with this Gwen. Usually having superpowers would be something you want to keep to yourself."
Gwen smiled softly, "Of course, I will tell you guys. I know how much you two like these kinds of things and you two can actually help me. We've been best friends since forever, I trust you guys and I know you guys would do the same."
"Damn right, if I had powers I'd be telling you two. God knows I would be worse off if I didn't." Harry winced, reminded of the time when he was in a bad phase of his life. "Right, Pete?"
"Yeah…right." Peter nodded.
The two immediately turned towards him, recognizing the hesitant tone. Peter mentally cursed himself, damn they found out quickly. Was he that bad?
"Peter…" Gwen started.
"Bro…" Harry sighed. "You weren't going to tell us about this?"
Peter sighed, "Look, with all the mutant hate going around, I don't want you guys to get hurt if someone noticed it. It would be dangerous, you guys saw what happened in the streets when people found out. Heck, I saw a newspaper this morning about a kid our age getting run out of town by a mob!"
"But…you guys might not even have the X Gene," Harry pointed out, "You two think it's because of the spiders right?"
"Yeah, but everyone won't see that. Some of them are radical about it. The moment they see me running around with my powers open wide, they would hunt me down. I don't want you guys to get hurt because of me." Peter spoke. He wasn't even lying too, if his past self had gotten it even without his memories, he would still hide it out of concern for them.
Gwen smiled softly, "Oh, Pete. I understand what you mean but aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?" Peter blinked in confusion.
"Dude, my dad owns a multi-billion dollar company and Gwen's dad is a police captain." Harry pointed out, looking at him with patient eyes.
Peter blinked a few times, "....Oh."
"Yeah…" Harry nodded.
"They are not touching us Pete unless they want a drone strike on their house." Gwen pointed out.
Harry looked at her weirdly, "Your dad can order a drone strike?"
"No, but your dad probably can, and with how much he likes Peter, I'm willing to believe he would do it if it means getting Peter into his company."
Harry nodded at that, "I can't argue with that."
"Man, I feel dumb now." Peter sighed.
Harry patted his back, "Don't worry man, we've all been there before. Now you know better."
"Right, now can we get to how we're testing this?" Gwen asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sure!" Harry nodded as Peter gestured for her to continue.
Gwen then led them into another cart, the cart now looked a bit more customized. There were a few tables at the end of it, on top of it filled with various equipment.
"Where did you get all of these?" Peter asked as he scanned through them, these equipments are pretty expensive.
"Remember how Harry's dad offered me a paid internship back at the science convention we went to?" Gwen reminded them. Peter remembered that convention; Harry didn't come with them since he wasn't interested in all the science talk so it was just him and Gwen. That was where he met Norman.
"You mean the not-date you guys had?" Harry smirked teasingly.
Both of them blushed at that, Harry had called it that with how much fun they had.
"Yes, that one." Gwen nodded in slight embarrassment, "They paid pretty well and Norman decided to invest a little more and let me have some equipment of my own if I wanted to do my own research."
"Huh, that's surprisingly charitable of him." Harry muttered in a surprised tone.
Gwen shrugged, "Yeah, apparently he liked what I can bring to the table."
Harry then looked at Peter, "Didn't he offer one to you too? Why did you reject it? If Gwen got something decent out of it, I can just imagine what kind of investment he would put into you."
Peter sighed, "That's because he offered it to me a little bit too late. I already accepted one from Franklin Storm."
"Franklin Storm? The guy that owned Future Foundation?" Harry looked surprised. Peter at first was a bit surprised that Harry knew him but he realized that since he would be inheriting his father's company, he would need to recognize a lot of important people. "Damn, I never even heard of him outright offering anyone a paid internship. Heck, anyone that wanted to work there had to go through lotta hoops just to even be considered."
Gwen gave Peter a look that was a mix of curiosity and pride. Peter found that he liked having Gwen look at him that way. "Yeah, you gotta tell me how you get that. I wasn't there when it happened and you never told me how."
"I, uh, kinda impressed his daughter actually." Peter rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He got mixed responses from that, Gwen gave him a strange look while Harry looked impressed.
"Susan Storm? Hot scientist Susan Storm? You impressed Susan Fucking Storm. How the fuck did you do that?" Harry asked excitedly with a small amount of pride for his best friend.
"Yes Peter, how did you impress her?" Gwen repeated. Peter really didn't like the look she was giving him.
"Shouldn't we put this later and talk about this test plan instead?" Peter attempted to deflect.
"No, no, the testing plans can wait. I'm just curious about this." Gwen crossed her arms as she stared at him expectantly.
Peter looked to Harry for help, but the man just raised his arms in surrender while mouthing 'Sorry, man'. He couldn't even be mad about it, Gwen was scary when she got going.
Peter took a deep breath before continuing, "They brought some really big tech and it suddenly broke down before they were about to show it off. Everyone tried to fix it but wasn't even sure what was wrong in the first place. I noticed why and helped them out. Susan Storm just so happened to be there and she was impressed." Peter hurriedly explained so he could escape this odd interrogation faster.
"And that's it?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. "How did her dad notice you?"
"Well, we talked shop for a bit and his dad overheard." Peter admitted.
"So you were having some fun discussion with her then." Gwen stated.
"...Yes." Peter sighed, knowing full well he sealed his fate.
"I see." Gwen narrowed her eyes. "There's a science exhibition happening near my place, we're going there next week."
"I don't exactly have the money for that yet–"
"Harry's dad paid me plenty, I'm paying."
"Time and place to meet, I'll be there." Peter quickly answered. "Will it be just us or…" he glanced at Harry.
"Nah man, it ain't my thing. You two have fun." Harry quickly escaped the crossfire when Gwen directed her gaze to him.
Gwen nodded, satisfied. She then tapped Peter's chest, "I'll give you the time and place later, but we'll go there and we'll have so much fun that you won't even remember Susan Storm. Are we clear?"
Was that a threat or a promise? Peter wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. "Yes, Ma'am."
Gwen nodded with satisfaction, "Good. Now let's get to planning." She then turned and headed straight to the table of equipment.
Harry approached Peter closely. "Man, she got you on a leash." he whispered.
"I know, it's kinda hot." Peter freely admitted.
Harry looked at him weirdly before shrugging, "I can't judge, I have weird tastes too. But still, I know she has issues when someone approaches her territory as your science partner, but damn it has gotten worse."
"You tell me," Peter sighed. With him being the only one who can keep up with her in terms of her passion for science, Gwen had become really possessive and didn't want to lose him when it comes to that field.
He understood why really, Gwen wasn't as popular as she was now back in Middle School. Since he was the only one who could keep up with her and not feel insulted, he partnered up with her and spent a lot of time with her back then. Harry had just been dragged along and all three of them had become close-knit ever since.
In her eyes, he was the one that helped break her out of her shell just as much as she did with him. This bond of theirs was special and not something they want to lose any time soon.
"You guys wanna help with this or not?" Gwen called from her table.
"Yeah, just a sec!" Peter replied. "We better go."
"Yep," Harry nodded before both of them made their way toward her.
Chapter 3 - The Pictures In My Head Tell Me A Lot Of Stories
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Chapter 3 - The Pictures In My Head Tell Me A Lot Of Stories
After they settled on a plan regarding how to test out their powers, the trio decided to wait until the weekend since they would have plenty of time. Unlike the other two, however, Peter had a few days off since May was too worried about him. So he had a few days to himself to figure out what to do.
Here he was, sitting on his chair in front of his desk while writing down the things he needed to do.
The first order of business was making his suit. Harry would be the one paying for them, so he had made a list of what they should buy. Peter had slipped in a few materials that would be useful for a super suit. Gwen was a bit confused until Harry suggested they use their power for good use, much to his support. And just like that, they need to prepare a suit for two for their incoming vigilantism.
Helped that they would also be technically consistently testing and pushing their abilities, so there was some overlap with their original objective at least.
While he waited for Harry to get the materials for them, he went to the second thing he should do. Like figuring out the differences between this timeline and the previous one. The one with the mutants caught him slightly off guard but he was lucky since he stumbled on it on the sidewalk. It would be disastrous if he realized it during a fight.
His memories had helped a lot in that department but there were still some gaps, things his past self hadn't bothered to check or read more on. Something he planned to rectify.
The first thing he checked was his personal life. The obvious was of course put aside quickly like his friendship with Harry and Gwen. He wasn't sure if they existed in the past timeline, but he'd rather not think about possible existential dreads when it comes to different timelines. He'd just be wasting his time since everything was possible in the Multiverse.
However, it was still a bit disheartening to know that he was still as much of a pariah as he was in the previous timeline. Harry was a social butterfly and Gwen just naturally attracted people to her once she got out of her shell, so both of them had no issue having some friends outside of their circle. Him on the other hand? If he didn't share a class with Harry or Gwen, he would be all by his lonesome. He was still the same awkward and bumbling Peter Parker that people poked fun at.
He should probably feel frustrated about it, but with his goals for the future, it was probably best he keep his circle of friends as small as possible.
There were a few things he was surprised about though. Ned Leeds and MJ did exist but both of them had nothing to do with him. Both of them had their own cliques and didn't even talk to each other. In fact, he would be surprised if they even knew that he existed.
Part of him wanted to regain his friendship with Ned and maybe even continue where he left off with MJ. But that wouldn't be fair to them. They didn't know him and technically had their own separate lives. It wouldn't be fair to impose his dangerous life on them. Let them have their happiness. He was ready to do the same in the past timeline after all and now he could follow through.
He then shook his head and opened his laptop, going through the information he wanted to see. There was that thing with mutants, the movies and games that he liked were still around (thank god), Asgard was still a Norse myth and not an actual realm they needed to worry about at the moment and Tony Stark was still alive.
'Mr. Stark is still alive…' He repeated. The picture of Tony Stark stared at him from the site he was currently on.
It didn't really truly hit him the first time but now that he was looking at his face, it finally hit him that his mentor was still alive. He stared at it for a moment longer, his mind going through all the small moments when he talked and interacted with him until their final conversation before he closed the site.
'Things will change, I'll make sure of it.' He thought to himself before he moved on.
He checked the list he made and wondered what else he had missed. Ah right, the fact that he was actually older than the previous timeline. In the previous timeline, he was bitten when he was fourteen. Right during his first year in high school in 2015.
Currently, it was 2011 and he was 16 years old. Two years older than when he first got bitten but also 4 years earlier than it was supposed to happen.
'The timeline is all messed up,' He mentally groaned. But it wasn't a bad thing. Him being a lot earlier in the timeline actually helped him. He could interfere in a few events much earlier and even ensure some don't even happen if he managed to join the Avengers. Things like the infighting between Avengers, Ultron, and even Thanos. All he had to do was join the fight with the other Avengers during the alien invasion.
'Which will happen next year… or it should at any rate' He paused. His eyes narrowed before he quickly googled Tony Stark again and looked through what had happened to him. He was still kidnapped and had a whole fiasco about being Iron Man. There was also that whole series of explosions in Stark Expo due to the armor suddenly coming to life.
'An event that I also happened to be in.' He idly realized. He had also gone there in his past timeline and Mr. Stark had actually saved him that day. However in this new one, he never really had that experience with Gwen's dad chaperoning them.
He shook his head to focus and glanced at the calendar. He winced a little when he realized it was already July. He had half a year left to establish his presence and train enough to be able to fight an army of aliens. Oh, and he also needed to make sure Gwen was prepared because she was also dragged into this mess.
'No pressure.'
He shook his head, knowing he was starting to spiral a bit. He still had half a year and plenty of things going for him. His memories for one and his friends being there. God knows how much he would have liked having a partner watching his back while on the field and having the resources needed to create the things he severely needed during his early days as Spider-Man. Both Gwen and Harry could fulfill those two things respectively while his memories and experiences would allow him to have quite the upper hand. He was still unsure about this and worried as hell but he was willing to give it a chance.
There was also that power that the Other mentioned to him. His past self would have something he could use on top of whatever the Other provided to him. With the way it had spoken, the spider seemed to imply there was more to his power than he realized and it was up to him to figure it out. The night vision thing was something that surprised him and he wondered if there were any other powers he should be aware of.
He looked down at his hand and contemplated. It would be nice if he had natural web shooters like Peter Two and Gwen had. It would save him quite a bit of time from maintaining his web shooters that's for sure. Playfully, he made his signature devil horn sign and mock shot toward the door of his room.
Suddenly, pressure could be felt from within his wrist, and without warning, something shot out of it and stuck to the edge of his door. Peter looked at it with wide eyes, glancing at his wrist every so often.
"I can shoot webs…" He muttered with some surprise in his tone.
This changed a few things, he would no longer need to make his web shooters! He had already told Harry to buy some materials to make a better web shooter since he thought he still had the same powers but it seemed like it wasn't needed. With Peter Two's memories, he already has a perfect guide on how to use it masterfully.
He grabbed his phone and just as he was about to message Harry not to order those parts, he thought about it again. Even if he relied on his natural webs, he would be losing quite a bit of his arsenal. Mr. Stark had shown him quite a few things he could possibly do with a web shooter, and he had designed several others himself. Sure he could still shoot webs and control how it was released, but adding electric current and such would still require him to have a device.
'Instead of a replacement, make it an addition.' He realized as he grabbed his notebook. He then grabbed a pencil and started designing a new web shooter. One that would use his and Gwen's natural webs, rather than relying on his web fluid formula. He could even make them smaller, or maybe even keep them the same size and just replace the reservoirs with more features.
"Hmmm, maybe a switching feature? Like those cool rotary barrels I saw in a movie once… a Taser Web, maybe some cryo webs for fires like Peter Three came up with… impact webbing maybe? No, Peter Two already figured out how to do that with just his natural webs. Concrete webs then? Make the webs dry faster in case of falling buildings. You never know, and Peter Two DID have to stop that runaway train. Maybe that tracking device that I thought off at the top of the wrist…thinking 'Spider-Tracer' for the name…"
Peter continued to work as he designed the new web shooters. Ideas flowed inside his head as he added features and removed flaws, the memories of Peter Two and Peter Three helped fill in a few gaps and even helped give him ideas through the enemies they faced.
By the time he was done, the design of the web shooters was finished. It was much smaller and compact, it looked more like a watch than a whole glove he can wear now. It doesn't have all the web combinations that were in his old web shooters that Tony made but that can easily be fixed by improving his control over his own natural webbings. The web shooters are there to add to what his webbings can do and even change their properties for a slight few features, acting like a filter of sorts for his webs.
Satisfied with his creation, he sent it to the group chat that he shared with Gwen and Harry.
Suddenly a knock could be heard on his door, "Peter? You decent?"
"Yeah, come in!" He distractedly replied as he quickly hid his notes.
There was a quick jostling from the door before Emma groaned. "I think you locked the door."
Peter looked confused before he remembered that the webbing from earlier had stuck the door.
"Ah, just a sec." He replied before he rushed toward the door. He looked over the webbing and realized that he didn't have anything to cut or dissolve it with.
"Damn it."
"Pete? You okay?" Emma asked with concern as she had overheard his voice.
"Uh yeah," He quickly replied as he tried to pull away the web with his hands before it got stuck. The webs are much more stickier than the ones he had made. Realizing his predicament, he stuffed his voice back in as he balled his fist in frustration.
'Now what?!'
Suddenly, a familiar build-up of pressure could be felt before it sprung out. Instead of webs, however, it was a large bone-like stinger that came out beneath his right wrist.
Peter blinked at that. "Holy shit."
"Peter? Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine!" Peter quickly answered as he used the 'stinger' to cut away the webbing. He then hid the hand away as he opened the door slightly ajar. "What's up?"
Emma blinked and tried to look past him. "What the hell were you doing that took you so long?"
"Stuff." Came the immediate reply, Peter couldn't help but mentally smack his head at the dumb answer.
"Riiiiiight." Emma drawled. "Anyway, you better hurry up to prepare for your internship. How did you even convince May and Ben that you'd be fine to go anyway?"
"It took a bit of begging honestly." Peter admitted. May was ready to deny him but Ben managed to convince her that he was fine and Peter should go since he would still be paid. His body-crushing hug towards his uncle when he came back home might have influenced that decision.
"That sounds about right." She muttered.
"When did you even get inside the house? I didn't even hear you." Peter asked.
"5 minutes ago. May called and told me to check on you since you have your internship to get to. I called for you but you didn't answer, so again what were you doing?" Emma asked with an inquiring gaze.
"I was doing a project."
"I thought you were finished with everything school-related?"
"This is for my internship."
"They already gave you a project to work on?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it's more like a personal project that I plan to show them really." That wasn't a lie, his past self did plan on making something that he could possibly make money from but didn't know what he could offer.
'Maybe I can sell the formula for my webbings to them? Would help me buy some things and not rely on Harry too much.' He considered.
"Aaah I see, so you want to strut your smarts, huh?" Emma smirked, "You want to show off to that pretty scientist you mentioned. What's her name, Susan Storm?"
"It's nothing like that." Peter denied it a tad too quickly.
"Sure it isn't." Emma teased but decided to drop it. "Anyway, hurry up, you might be late."
"Right," He closed the door and released a sigh of relief. He then looked down at the stinger on his wrist. "Now how do I get you to disappear?"
He turned his hand around and could feel something inside his arm. With a twitch of a muscle he didn't even know existed, the pressure was released, and the stinger sheathed back into his arm. He raised an eyebrow at that and looked at both of his arms.
With a twitch, both stingers popped out of them. He then started playing with them to get used to it, constantly sheathing and popping them out at random intervals. He also noticed that there was something dripping slightly from the stingers.
He shook his head and resheath them, he could check on it later. Emma was right, he was going to be late if he kept dawdling.
He quickly prepared himself before he headed out of his room. "Bye Emma!" he said to her when he ran past her.
"Go get 'em, Tiger!"
"Thanks!" Was all he said as the familiar warm feeling that he felt yesterday from Emma flowed inside him, he wasn't sure what it was but he welcomed it.
As he was too distracted by the feeling, he didn't notice the slightly suspicious and worried glance that Emma sent his way.
[-]
Hurrying through the lab that was filled with many scientists, Peter, now in a lab coat, sped past them before he entered an office.
"Sorry for being late, Miss Storm!" He apologized as he entered.
"Didn't I tell you to just call me, Sue?" Came the amused reply.
"Right, sorry Sue." Peter corrected, she did tell him to just call her that but it never really stuck with him. "Still, sorry for being late."
Susan Storm was a blond-haired and blue-eyed woman. She was beautiful in a mature way despite just being in her 20s and just like Peter she also wore a white lab coat. Beneath said coat was a blue blouse that hugged her mature figure nicely along with a black skirt that barely reached past her knees. Finally, she wore a pair of black leggings and black heels.
The woman was currently standing in front of her desk while giving Peter an amused look.
"Actually, you're right on the dot Pete." Sue smirked at him.
Peter looked confused at her words before he glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Huh, I am." He was so used to being late in the previous timeline that the excuse had just slipped out of his mouth the moment he entered.
Sue raised an eyebrow. "Did something happen to make you think you were gonna be late?"
"Yeah, I exited my apartment a bit later than expected." He answered honestly.
Sue nodded. "I see, well you still managed to come on time so that's not an issue. Still, try to manage your time wisely, you might get away this time but you can never know in the future."
"Yes, ma'am, it won't happen again."
"Good, now come on, the others are waiting." Susan gestured for him to follow as she exited her office, Peter followed her soon after.
"So what are we doing today?" Peter asked as he walked beside her.
"We'll be conducting some experiments today. The one we talked about last week. You'll be helping either Reed or me as we conduct it. Feel free to take notes, point out anything you don't understand or just ask any questions in general." Sue listed.
"So just like last week." Peter smirked.
"Yes, like last week." She agreed with amusement.
"Would your brother be here?" Peter asked curiously, reminded of Sue's younger sibling.
"I really hope not." Came the strained reply.
"Come on, he's not that bad."
"You don't live with him twenty-four seven Peter, I assure you he can get annoying real quick." Sue countered.
Peter raised a hand and opened his mouth before he closed it. "You know I can't argue with that."
"I heard that!"
The two turned towards the source and watched as a blonde and blue-eyed young man who looked somewhere near his age made his way toward them. Unlike them, he didn't wear a lab coat and was just wearing a simple orange shirt and black jeans with black boots.
"Seriously sis? Talking behind my back?" Johnny groaned. Sue just rolled her eyes in amusement in response.
"Am I wrong?"
"Nope." He unashamedly admitted.
"Hey Johnny." Peter greeted him. Unlike his older sister, it was much easier to address Johnny casually due to their smaller age difference. The young man was already in a university but Sue always complained that he still acted like an irresponsible teenager sometimes, which Johnny kind of lived up to.
"Pete! My man! I'm surprised you came." Johnny smiled as he slung his arm over Peter's shoulders.
"Why shouldn't he?" Sue piped up curiously. Peter's eyes widened in slight fear as Johnny answered.
"Oh, you didn't know? His aunt called and said he fainted just the other day after a school trip."
"He what?" Sue turned to Peter with wide eyes. "You fainted?"
Johnny looked confused, "Huh, you didn't know? His aunt called a few days ago and said he might not be able to attend."
Peter sighed. "And I'm fiiine, no need to make a big deal about it."
Sue turned her eyes toward him. "Are you sure? I don't want you to suddenly drop in the middle of something dangerous. The experiments we do aren't exactly something normal."
"Yes, I'm fine. Now come on, the rest are waiting for us and I'd rather not make them wait." Peter pleaded.
Sue sighed. "Fine, but promise me if you feel unwell you immediately say something. It might deduct your pay a bit but at least you'll be getting some rest, got it?"
"Got it."
"Good. Now, come on." Sue turned around and walked into the lab.
Johnny smirked, "Been here for a week and she's already so worried about you."
"I mean having a pretty woman being all fussy over me doesn't sound so bad." Peter joked.
"Hey, hey, I like you but that's still my sister you're talking about. Remember the bro code." Johnny warned but his smirk showed that he was slightly joking.
"Yeah, yeah. Now come on, we're already late." Peter walked toward the lab with Johnny following right behind him.
As they entered, Peter laid eyes on two men. One was a bald man, wearing a simple white shirt with jeans, and looked rather well built with how big he was. The other had brown hair and brown eyes, he was wearing a lab coat like him on top of a blue shirt with black pants. Compared to his friend, he was much skinnier but still healthy.
"Peter! There you are, ready for today?" Reed Richards greeted him with a polite smile.
"Ready as I'll ever be, Mr. Richards."
"Please, we're friends Peter. Just call me Reed like the rest." Reed waved it away.
"Ah, right." Peter nodded with an embarrassed smile.
Reed Richards was a renowned scientist and addressing him so casually was still weird to him. It was the same reason why he had a bit of a hard time trying to act casually around Sue. But he was getting there, especially with three lifetime's worth of memories in his head.
"You doing alright, Pete? Sue said you had some health issues?" Ben smiled as he asked him.
"Ah, I'm doing fine Mr. Gri– I mean, Ben." He corrected himself when Ben raised an eyebrow at him.
The man smiled and shook his head. "That's good to hear, wouldn't want you to push yourself just because of some internship. Take care of yourself, you hear?"
Peter nodded gratefully at that before Reed spoke up. "Alright people, let's get to work."
Peter quickly made his way to a computer, right beside him was Sue who was already typing away at the computer, and Johnny who had leaned back on his seat. He would be helping her with monitoring the data from the experiments. Johnny on the other hand was just here to watch.
Peter then watched as both Ben and Reed entered another room, the fortified wall with a glass to see through it allowed him to observe them. Ben was currently helping Reed with setting up the equipment they would be using. Reed would make sure everything was alright before he started.
"Can't you at least go help them, Johnny?" Sue piped up.
"Nah, Ben and Reed got this. Besides, I got a few things I wanna ask Pete here." Johnny replied as he leaned slightly towards him.
Peter raised an eyebrow even as he typed away at the computer in front of him, "What's up?"
"How's school?"
"Could be better, not much to talk about on that front honestly. Not exactly the most popular guy you know?" Peter shrugged with a small smile.
"Really? Not even about a girl or something?"
"Johnny." Sue warned.
"What? Come on, don't tell me you're not curious! He's been here for a whole week and he barely talks about himself." Johnny pointed out which made Sue sigh.
"Didn't I tell you guys about my aunt and uncle?" Peter pointed out.
"Yeah, and nothing else. Come on man there's a limit to how mysterious a guy can be."
Peter rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "That's because there's really not much to say. I don't have a big friend group, though I have two best friends who have been with me since middle school. Harry and Gwen have their quirks but I won't trade them for anything else."
Peter noticed Sue looked a bit more focused on him when he started to talk while Johnny chuckled. "Well, there's something! So Harry and Gwen huh? What are they like?"
"Harry on the outside looks like your spoiled rich kid and to a certain extent he kinda is." Peter answered.
"Sounds like someone I know." Sue added.
"Hey!" Johnny whined.
"I didn't say any names~" Sue teased.
Johnny rolled his eyes while Peter chuckled. "But despite all that, he knows how to talk to people. Like really knows it. Back when we were in middle school, there was this big bully that constantly made trouble. Both of us were about to be his targets but Harry somehow turned it around and we managed not to be his targets for the rest of the year since Harry was his 'Good friend'."
"Damn, having that kind of social skills would have been useful for me in High school." Sue sighed.
Peter looked at her in confusion. "You had trouble in High school?"
"Being smarter than the majority of your peers doesn't really win me any favors." Sue muttered.
Peter shook his head at that, understanding of her plight. "Yeah, I get that."
"Those braces you used to have also didn't help." Johnny helpfully added.
"Of course, you were going to mention that." Sue sighed.
"Those braces looked awful on you." Johnny laughed.
"And we agreed to forget about it." Sue frustratedly reminded him.
"And let Pete miss out on it? Hell no. I think I still got a picture of it somewhere, hold on." Johnny started to rummage around his pockets.
Sue immediately swiveled her chair with an embarrassed look. "Johnny I swear to god!"
"And that's my cue to go!" Johnny stood up from his seat and he immediately ran away to escape his sister's wrath.
"I swear I'm gonna kill him one day." Sue muttered.
"If the cops ask, I got my lips sealed." Peter chuckled.
"Well, I know who to ask if I want a body to bury." Sue smiled.
"Hey, I can keep my lips sealed but burying a body is hard work."
"I'm sure a young man like you can handle it."
"A young man like me would also appreciate a reward for his hard work."
"I'm sure we can come to an agreement." Sue gave him a suggestive look.
"I-Um, will think about it?" Peter said with an embarrassed look.
Sue laughed with Peter following along with some embarrassment.
"So what about this Gwen?" Sue asked once she controlled her laughter.
"Gwen, huh? I don't know where to start with her." Peter sighed.
"Try with the first thing that comes to mind when you think about her." Sue suggested.
Peter was about to blurt out 'gorgeous' at that. Gwen was beautiful but he wasn't even sure about his own feelings toward her at the moment, so he decided to settle on another.
"She's a genius. Between me and her, I'd say she's the smarter one. Number 1 in Midtown High for a reason." Peter complimented.
"That's pretty high praise, Peter. I've seen your work, is she that good?" Sue asked curiously.
"She's the reason why I'm even here. I was planning to just work with photography before Gwen showed me the 'wonders of science'." Peter said with quotation marks clear in his tone.
"Well, I guess I have to find some way to thank her for that, think an internship offer would do the trick?" Sue asked.
"Nah, Oscorp got to her first. In fact, she got offered the same day your Dad offered one to me."
"Really?"
"Yeah, both of us were at the convention that day. If your Dad hadn't offered one to me I probably would have joined Oscorp too." Peter pointed out.
"Well, I guess we can also thank my father for that. He was always good at seizing chances when he saw them, wished he was better at seizing the chance to spend more time with his family…." Sue muttered quietly at the end.
Peter glanced at Sue with slight concern, something Sue noticed.
"You heard that didn't you?"
"Yeah. Want to talk about it?"
"I'm not sure if I should." Sue hesitated.
"That's fine, but have you at least talked about it with somebody? I'm not sure if I get it with my family situation, but the best I can do is lend an ear if you haven't." Peter offered with a sympathetic smile.
Sue paused and looked at Peter, he was just a teenager who was probably trying to help her. Why should she even bother?
But this was the same teenager who had to handle the loss of his parents at a young age and live with his aunt and uncle. Both of them are good people but from what little she can get out of Peter, it seemed like their financial lives aren't exactly the best and it was a heaven-send for Peter to gain a paid internship.
'It's not like Peter is the worst person to talk to.' Sue decided. She hasn't really talked about it to anyone, not even Reed. It never really came up and when it did, either she or the people around her quickly changed the topic.
Plus Peter had been nothing but helpful throughout the week they had known him and had blended in easily with them. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought Peter had worked here for a while already. Part of her felt like Peter would be a good person to at least talk about it.
"My father is...I won't say he's absent but he's very detached. He spends a lot more time in the lab than with his family. He wasn't always like that though, he used to spend a lot of time with us and even laugh more often too. Then…my mother died and he changed." Sue sighed.
Peter paused but continued to listen, he knew speaking at this moment would be a bad idea. So he let Sue continue.
"She died in a car crash. It was so sudden too. That morning we saw her and that night, the police came by to inform us. I can still remember how devastated my father looked. Since that day, he hasn't been the same since." Sue finished.
"Wow. How old were you and Johnny when it happened?" Peter asked.
"I was in High school, Johnny was still in middle school but he understood what had happened. While my father had retreated into his lab, both Johnny and I just had each other." Sue muttered a bit bitterly. "Sometimes, I wonder if Johnny would have actually turned out better if my father was around. I love my brother but still…"
"Well, I don't know much about siblings." He then got reminded of Peter Three's comment about wanting brothers. "Well, I know a little but you can't really choose family. Also, don't tell him this, but he once admitted that he probably be lost without you." Peter whispered.
Sue looked at him with wide eyes. "When did he say that?"
"Last week, when you helped him with his report. So I'm not sure how he would turn out if your Dad was around more, but I'd say you're already doing a pretty good job with him." Peter smiled.
Sue smiled, "Thanks, Peter. I needed that."
"No problem. I know I'm not the best person to say this, but things do get better. Heck, you have a pretty successful career and plenty of people here that are close friends with you." He said while gesturing to Reed and Ben at the other side of the glass. "So whatever happens with your Dad in the future, I'm sure you can work it out with the people around you."
Sue blinked as she properly looked at Peter, for a moment there he looked…older. He seemed to age the more he talked. His eyes looked like he had seen a lot more than a young man of his age should. It made her wonder what Peter had experienced to have that look in his eyes.
Before she could ponder on it more, Reed and Ben finally made their way out of the testing chamber.
"Alright, we're all set!" Reed announced as he stepped out. "You guys ready?"
"Hey, where's Johnny?" Ben asked curiously.
"Ah, Johnny pushed a few buttons too many and high-tailed it out of here. And we still got a bit to do and we should be good." Peter answered.
Ben scoffed in amusement, "That brat, I swear he's gonna make Sue kill him one day."
Peter laughed a little, "Funny you should mention that…"
While Peter and Ben talked, Reed looked at Sue in concern when he noticed that she looked distracted. "Sue, you okay?"
Sue blinked before she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Hey Peter, thanks for earlier."
"No problem, don't worry about it." Peter just smiled and waved it away.
"Something happened I assumed?" Reed mentioned.
"You could say that." Sue muttered as she gave one last glance at Peter. Their previous talk was still in her mind, especially that strange look in Peter's eyes.
'Who are you really, Peter Parker?' She wondered.
[-]
"Peter, this is incredible. How did you even come up with this?" Gwen asked curiously as she inspected the new web shooter design he made.
Peter on the other hand was currently lifting a metal container. The two of them were currently in an abandoned warehouse testing out their capabilities. They had done plenty already, from testing their speed, durability, and even their organic webbings. He had even shown off his stingers, which apparently had enough venom to put down an adult man with a single nick. He should probably be careful with that.
Oh, and he had also managed to convince Gwen to give web swinging a try! Hearing her scream in fear at the start was oddly nostalgic and hilarious. The pout she gave him for laughing was worth it.
Now he was testing his strength, Gwen had already done hers so all that was left was him. Which was why he was lifting a metal container without breaking a sweat.
'Hmmm, I don't feel any strain.' Peter realized, usually he would be pretty tired by now. 'Did the Other boost my base powers too?' He privately wondered.
"Peter?" Gwen called out.
"Uh, yeah I was just thinking about making something that can add to the webbings. I mean a spider's webs are useful and all for a lot of things, but it still has weaknesses. So I wondered if we can do anything about it and I came up with that." Peter answered.
"I see, but still why did you come up with this anyway?" Gwen asked as she observed the designs. "There's a special coating formula to help with fires and fortify buildings! I thought we were just testing our powers, not adding to them?"
"Because you two are going out there as a vigilante," Harry answered as he came back from the washroom and sat on the chair beside Gwen. In front of them was a table with a tablet and a laptop. "And Peter here had the right idea of being prepared for everything."
"I still doubt that," Gwen muttered. "Why would we even be out there?"
Harry sighed."Tell me, Gwen, if you see an old lady across the street struggling with her groceries, would you help her?"
"Course I will." Gwen answered as if it was the obvious thing.
"Good. I would be worried if you didn't and your Dad would be disappointed." Harry smirked while Gwen gave him a mock glare. "But picture this now, there's a bank robbery happening before you. On any other day, you would have just called the police and waited in a safe place. But you have your powers now, you have what it takes to stop them. Why shouldn't you?"
Gwen looked down at that. "Fine, I can see what you mean. But a vigilante? Helping people when it's right in front of me is a given but going around with a costume and looking for trouble?"
Harry smiled as if he was prepared for that question. "Well you say that but look at Peter."
Both turned toward Peter, who had dropped the container and was looking at his hands in deep thought.
"You remember when I suggested you two be heroes? I was joking but Peter took it seriously." Harry reminded her with a serious look. "I never really took him as the heroic type but both of us had seen the look in his eyes. Remember what he said?"
"With great powers, comes great responsibility." Gwen muttered as she looked at Peter with a strange look in her eyes.
"Exactly. He's serious about this. I reckon if we didn't know about his powers like he originally planned, he would be out there all alone. And I think we both agree that won't happen."
Gwen narrowed her eyes. Multiple possibilities ran through her mind as she considered what would happen if Peter went out there alone. Even with his powers, part of her can't help but worry. At best he would get a few scratches but at worst he could die. They might be fast, but they're not bulletproof. All a person would need was a well-placed shot and Peter would be gone.
The thought frightened her.
Gwen's eyes narrowed even further. "You're right, I'm not letting him go alone."
Harry smiled as he leaned back in his seat. "Then we have an agreement."
Gwen nodded before she noticed that Peter was making his way toward them. "So what's the results?"
Gwen grabbed the tablet. "First, we seemed to have a danger sense–"
"Spider-Sense." Peter interrupted, Gwen gave him an unimpressed look. "What? It's a better name!"
"He ain't wrong." Harry agreed with a smile.
Gwen rolled her eyes."–Spider-Sense that can warn us about danger. In terms of physical ability it's clear that between the both of us, you are much more physically powerful. Strength and durability far exceed mine but I make up for it with my superior speed and agility."
Peter nodded as he cupped his chin. "I see. Odd though, female spiders are usually bigger than their male counterparts. I would have thought you'd be stronger than me."
Gwen shrugged. "We have spider powers, but it doesn't seem we get every trait. Something to be noted then. There's also a difference on our webbings."
Peter nodded. "Right. Mine came out from under my wrists while yours came out of your fingertips."
"That's not all, I…seem to have better control over it." Gwen looked down at her fingertips.
"Better control?" Peter asked curiously.
"Yeah, it feels like my webs are…connected to me. It follows what my mind wants easily." She muttered as she shot out a few web strands from her fingertips. An intense jolt ran through her body as she focused, the strands moved with a mind of its own and formed into a makeshift glove of webbings.
Peter gasped. "Woah."
"Yeah, that's kinda freaky though." Harry admitted.
Gwen couldn't help but agree with that. "True, it kinda felt weird. Like there was something that flowed through me when I did that…"
"Something?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, it feels tingly…" She trailed off as she focused on the feeling. She called upon it and felt it answering. Instead of letting it flow through her webs, she let it out through her hand.
BZZZTT
Without warning, blue sparks erupted from her hand.
"Woah!"
"What the hell?!" Harry quickly stood up and took a few steps away from Gwen.
Gwen laughed as she looked excitedly at both of her friends. "Did you see that?!"
"Can you do that again?" Peter asked curiously.
"I can try." Gwen spoke as she held up her hand. She focused on the previous feeling and without fail, blue electrical sparks erupted from her hand for a moment before dying down.
"Holy shit." Harry breathed out in amazement.
"Bio-electricity." Gwen realized with a happy look.
"Do webs even react that way with electricity?" Harry asked curiously.
"I don't care, I can shoot lightning out of my hands!" Gwen celebrated.
"Oh, that's just not fair." Peter instead whined.
Gwen gave him a smug look. "Jealous Pete?"
"I have venomous stingers and night vision. You have mind powers over your web and lightning coming out of your palms." Peter stated with an unimpressed look.
"Don't worry, Peter. I'm sure your charming personality makes up for it." Gwen quipped.
"Oh haha." Peter mock laughed as he shook his head.
Harry rolled his eyes in amusement, "If the both of you are done, I got something to tell you guys."
"What is it?" Peter asked as Gwen looked at him curiously.
"I ordered the supplies you two wanted, I should have it sent to somewhere near our little base and we can start making your suits by tomorrow!" Harry spread out his arms as he celebrated.
"That fast?" Gwen asked with shock in her tone.
"Of course! Osborns always deliver their promises on time." Harry boasted smugly.
"Like that time when you were late to our outing last week?" Peter innocently pointed out.
"Well, that–"
"Or that time you bailed on us to hit on a girl despite promising to spend time with us?" Gwen added innocently.
"Well, you see–"
"Or that time when he canceled our trip last minute last summer." Peter hammered the final nail in the coffin.
Harry sighed as he gave them an unimpressed look. "You two are impossible. You just can't let me have this can you?"
Gwen looked at Peter with a teasing smile."Well, we can't exactly let you grow a big ego now can we?"
"We don't want our precious Harry to become the next elitist on their crystal tower. We like to keep you on the dirt with us peasants." Peter gave him a smirk.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, this would-be-elitist also just got us tickets to the new Batman movie. But since you guys want me to stay on the dirt with the peasants, I guess I'll just give it away."
Peter paused. "You're kidding right?"
Harry pulled out three tickets from his pockets. "Am I?"
Peter then turned toward Gwen with a pleading look. "Maybe we let his ego grow just this one time?"
"Seriously?" Gwen looked at him in disbelief.
"Come on, Gwen, it'll be fun." Peter pleaded.
Gwen pursed her lips and looked away, she was always weak when Peter pleaded to her so earnestly. "Fine!"
Peter pumped his fist before pointing at Harry. "Yes! You heard her!"
Harry smiled. "I'll buy popcorn and drinks?"
"You always buy popcorn and drinks." Gwen reminded him.
"Damn right." Harry smiled.
"I better call home then." Peter said as he pulled out his phone.
"Same here, Dad would kill me if I don't." Gwen muttered as she pulled out her own.
"This gonna be fun!" Harry whooped.
Peter shook his head as he waited for Aunt May to pick up. In his past life, he had mostly spent time with Ned and even then the most they did was small movie nights and building Lego sets. He enjoyed those times but he also would privately admit that his friendship with Harry allowed for a lot more fancy outings.
He liked Ned, he was his best friend. But for a moment, he liked Harry more. Of course, their friendship wasn't just based on money but it certainly helped to have fun with his two best friends.
'Money can't buy happiness but it sure can help bring that happiness closer.' He privately joked inside his head.
After they settled on a plan regarding how to test out their powers, the trio decided to wait until the weekend since they would have plenty of time. Unlike the other two, however, Peter had a few days off since May was too worried about him. So he had a few days to himself to figure out what to do.
Here he was, sitting on his chair in front of his desk while writing down the things he needed to do.
The first order of business was making his suit. Harry would be the one paying for them, so he had made a list of what they should buy. Peter had slipped in a few materials that would be useful for a super suit. Gwen was a bit confused until Harry suggested they use their power for good use, much to his support. And just like that, they need to prepare a suit for two for their incoming vigilantism.
Helped that they would also be technically consistently testing and pushing their abilities, so there was some overlap with their original objective at least.
While he waited for Harry to get the materials for them, he went to the second thing he should do. Like figuring out the differences between this timeline and the previous one. The one with the mutants caught him slightly off guard but he was lucky since he stumbled on it on the sidewalk. It would be disastrous if he realized it during a fight.
His memories had helped a lot in that department but there were still some gaps, things his past self hadn't bothered to check or read more on. Something he planned to rectify.
The first thing he checked was his personal life. The obvious was of course put aside quickly like his friendship with Harry and Gwen. He wasn't sure if they existed in the past timeline, but he'd rather not think about possible existential dreads when it comes to different timelines. He'd just be wasting his time since everything was possible in the Multiverse.
However, it was still a bit disheartening to know that he was still as much of a pariah as he was in the previous timeline. Harry was a social butterfly and Gwen just naturally attracted people to her once she got out of her shell, so both of them had no issue having some friends outside of their circle. Him on the other hand? If he didn't share a class with Harry or Gwen, he would be all by his lonesome. He was still the same awkward and bumbling Peter Parker that people poked fun at.
He should probably feel frustrated about it, but with his goals for the future, it was probably best he keep his circle of friends as small as possible.
There were a few things he was surprised about though. Ned Leeds and MJ did exist but both of them had nothing to do with him. Both of them had their own cliques and didn't even talk to each other. In fact, he would be surprised if they even knew that he existed.
Part of him wanted to regain his friendship with Ned and maybe even continue where he left off with MJ. But that wouldn't be fair to them. They didn't know him and technically had their own separate lives. It wouldn't be fair to impose his dangerous life on them. Let them have their happiness. He was ready to do the same in the past timeline after all and now he could follow through.
He then shook his head and opened his laptop, going through the information he wanted to see. There was that thing with mutants, the movies and games that he liked were still around (thank god), Asgard was still a Norse myth and not an actual realm they needed to worry about at the moment and Tony Stark was still alive.
'Mr. Stark is still alive…' He repeated. The picture of Tony Stark stared at him from the site he was currently on.
It didn't really truly hit him the first time but now that he was looking at his face, it finally hit him that his mentor was still alive. He stared at it for a moment longer, his mind going through all the small moments when he talked and interacted with him until their final conversation before he closed the site.
'Things will change, I'll make sure of it.' He thought to himself before he moved on.
He checked the list he made and wondered what else he had missed. Ah right, the fact that he was actually older than the previous timeline. In the previous timeline, he was bitten when he was fourteen. Right during his first year in high school in 2015.
Currently, it was 2011 and he was 16 years old. Two years older than when he first got bitten but also 4 years earlier than it was supposed to happen.
'The timeline is all messed up,' He mentally groaned. But it wasn't a bad thing. Him being a lot earlier in the timeline actually helped him. He could interfere in a few events much earlier and even ensure some don't even happen if he managed to join the Avengers. Things like the infighting between Avengers, Ultron, and even Thanos. All he had to do was join the fight with the other Avengers during the alien invasion.
'Which will happen next year… or it should at any rate' He paused. His eyes narrowed before he quickly googled Tony Stark again and looked through what had happened to him. He was still kidnapped and had a whole fiasco about being Iron Man. There was also that whole series of explosions in Stark Expo due to the armor suddenly coming to life.
'An event that I also happened to be in.' He idly realized. He had also gone there in his past timeline and Mr. Stark had actually saved him that day. However in this new one, he never really had that experience with Gwen's dad chaperoning them.
He shook his head to focus and glanced at the calendar. He winced a little when he realized it was already July. He had half a year left to establish his presence and train enough to be able to fight an army of aliens. Oh, and he also needed to make sure Gwen was prepared because she was also dragged into this mess.
'No pressure.'
He shook his head, knowing he was starting to spiral a bit. He still had half a year and plenty of things going for him. His memories for one and his friends being there. God knows how much he would have liked having a partner watching his back while on the field and having the resources needed to create the things he severely needed during his early days as Spider-Man. Both Gwen and Harry could fulfill those two things respectively while his memories and experiences would allow him to have quite the upper hand. He was still unsure about this and worried as hell but he was willing to give it a chance.
There was also that power that the Other mentioned to him. His past self would have something he could use on top of whatever the Other provided to him. With the way it had spoken, the spider seemed to imply there was more to his power than he realized and it was up to him to figure it out. The night vision thing was something that surprised him and he wondered if there were any other powers he should be aware of.
He looked down at his hand and contemplated. It would be nice if he had natural web shooters like Peter Two and Gwen had. It would save him quite a bit of time from maintaining his web shooters that's for sure. Playfully, he made his signature devil horn sign and mock shot toward the door of his room.
Suddenly, pressure could be felt from within his wrist, and without warning, something shot out of it and stuck to the edge of his door. Peter looked at it with wide eyes, glancing at his wrist every so often.
"I can shoot webs…" He muttered with some surprise in his tone.
This changed a few things, he would no longer need to make his web shooters! He had already told Harry to buy some materials to make a better web shooter since he thought he still had the same powers but it seemed like it wasn't needed. With Peter Two's memories, he already has a perfect guide on how to use it masterfully.
He grabbed his phone and just as he was about to message Harry not to order those parts, he thought about it again. Even if he relied on his natural webs, he would be losing quite a bit of his arsenal. Mr. Stark had shown him quite a few things he could possibly do with a web shooter, and he had designed several others himself. Sure he could still shoot webs and control how it was released, but adding electric current and such would still require him to have a device.
'Instead of a replacement, make it an addition.' He realized as he grabbed his notebook. He then grabbed a pencil and started designing a new web shooter. One that would use his and Gwen's natural webs, rather than relying on his web fluid formula. He could even make them smaller, or maybe even keep them the same size and just replace the reservoirs with more features.
"Hmmm, maybe a switching feature? Like those cool rotary barrels I saw in a movie once… a Taser Web, maybe some cryo webs for fires like Peter Three came up with… impact webbing maybe? No, Peter Two already figured out how to do that with just his natural webs. Concrete webs then? Make the webs dry faster in case of falling buildings. You never know, and Peter Two DID have to stop that runaway train. Maybe that tracking device that I thought off at the top of the wrist…thinking 'Spider-Tracer' for the name…"
Peter continued to work as he designed the new web shooters. Ideas flowed inside his head as he added features and removed flaws, the memories of Peter Two and Peter Three helped fill in a few gaps and even helped give him ideas through the enemies they faced.
By the time he was done, the design of the web shooters was finished. It was much smaller and compact, it looked more like a watch than a whole glove he can wear now. It doesn't have all the web combinations that were in his old web shooters that Tony made but that can easily be fixed by improving his control over his own natural webbings. The web shooters are there to add to what his webbings can do and even change their properties for a slight few features, acting like a filter of sorts for his webs.
Satisfied with his creation, he sent it to the group chat that he shared with Gwen and Harry.
Suddenly a knock could be heard on his door, "Peter? You decent?"
"Yeah, come in!" He distractedly replied as he quickly hid his notes.
There was a quick jostling from the door before Emma groaned. "I think you locked the door."
Peter looked confused before he remembered that the webbing from earlier had stuck the door.
"Ah, just a sec." He replied before he rushed toward the door. He looked over the webbing and realized that he didn't have anything to cut or dissolve it with.
"Damn it."
"Pete? You okay?" Emma asked with concern as she had overheard his voice.
"Uh yeah," He quickly replied as he tried to pull away the web with his hands before it got stuck. The webs are much more stickier than the ones he had made. Realizing his predicament, he stuffed his voice back in as he balled his fist in frustration.
'Now what?!'
Suddenly, a familiar build-up of pressure could be felt before it sprung out. Instead of webs, however, it was a large bone-like stinger that came out beneath his right wrist.
Peter blinked at that. "Holy shit."
"Peter? Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine!" Peter quickly answered as he used the 'stinger' to cut away the webbing. He then hid the hand away as he opened the door slightly ajar. "What's up?"
Emma blinked and tried to look past him. "What the hell were you doing that took you so long?"
"Stuff." Came the immediate reply, Peter couldn't help but mentally smack his head at the dumb answer.
"Riiiiiight." Emma drawled. "Anyway, you better hurry up to prepare for your internship. How did you even convince May and Ben that you'd be fine to go anyway?"
"It took a bit of begging honestly." Peter admitted. May was ready to deny him but Ben managed to convince her that he was fine and Peter should go since he would still be paid. His body-crushing hug towards his uncle when he came back home might have influenced that decision.
"That sounds about right." She muttered.
"When did you even get inside the house? I didn't even hear you." Peter asked.
"5 minutes ago. May called and told me to check on you since you have your internship to get to. I called for you but you didn't answer, so again what were you doing?" Emma asked with an inquiring gaze.
"I was doing a project."
"I thought you were finished with everything school-related?"
"This is for my internship."
"They already gave you a project to work on?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it's more like a personal project that I plan to show them really." That wasn't a lie, his past self did plan on making something that he could possibly make money from but didn't know what he could offer.
'Maybe I can sell the formula for my webbings to them? Would help me buy some things and not rely on Harry too much.' He considered.
"Aaah I see, so you want to strut your smarts, huh?" Emma smirked, "You want to show off to that pretty scientist you mentioned. What's her name, Susan Storm?"
"It's nothing like that." Peter denied it a tad too quickly.
"Sure it isn't." Emma teased but decided to drop it. "Anyway, hurry up, you might be late."
"Right," He closed the door and released a sigh of relief. He then looked down at the stinger on his wrist. "Now how do I get you to disappear?"
He turned his hand around and could feel something inside his arm. With a twitch of a muscle he didn't even know existed, the pressure was released, and the stinger sheathed back into his arm. He raised an eyebrow at that and looked at both of his arms.
With a twitch, both stingers popped out of them. He then started playing with them to get used to it, constantly sheathing and popping them out at random intervals. He also noticed that there was something dripping slightly from the stingers.
He shook his head and resheath them, he could check on it later. Emma was right, he was going to be late if he kept dawdling.
He quickly prepared himself before he headed out of his room. "Bye Emma!" he said to her when he ran past her.
"Go get 'em, Tiger!"
"Thanks!" Was all he said as the familiar warm feeling that he felt yesterday from Emma flowed inside him, he wasn't sure what it was but he welcomed it.
As he was too distracted by the feeling, he didn't notice the slightly suspicious and worried glance that Emma sent his way.
[-]
Hurrying through the lab that was filled with many scientists, Peter, now in a lab coat, sped past them before he entered an office.
"Sorry for being late, Miss Storm!" He apologized as he entered.
"Didn't I tell you to just call me, Sue?" Came the amused reply.
"Right, sorry Sue." Peter corrected, she did tell him to just call her that but it never really stuck with him. "Still, sorry for being late."
Susan Storm was a blond-haired and blue-eyed woman. She was beautiful in a mature way despite just being in her 20s and just like Peter she also wore a white lab coat. Beneath said coat was a blue blouse that hugged her mature figure nicely along with a black skirt that barely reached past her knees. Finally, she wore a pair of black leggings and black heels.
The woman was currently standing in front of her desk while giving Peter an amused look.
"Actually, you're right on the dot Pete." Sue smirked at him.
Peter looked confused at her words before he glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Huh, I am." He was so used to being late in the previous timeline that the excuse had just slipped out of his mouth the moment he entered.
Sue raised an eyebrow. "Did something happen to make you think you were gonna be late?"
"Yeah, I exited my apartment a bit later than expected." He answered honestly.
Sue nodded. "I see, well you still managed to come on time so that's not an issue. Still, try to manage your time wisely, you might get away this time but you can never know in the future."
"Yes, ma'am, it won't happen again."
"Good, now come on, the others are waiting." Susan gestured for him to follow as she exited her office, Peter followed her soon after.
"So what are we doing today?" Peter asked as he walked beside her.
"We'll be conducting some experiments today. The one we talked about last week. You'll be helping either Reed or me as we conduct it. Feel free to take notes, point out anything you don't understand or just ask any questions in general." Sue listed.
"So just like last week." Peter smirked.
"Yes, like last week." She agreed with amusement.
"Would your brother be here?" Peter asked curiously, reminded of Sue's younger sibling.
"I really hope not." Came the strained reply.
"Come on, he's not that bad."
"You don't live with him twenty-four seven Peter, I assure you he can get annoying real quick." Sue countered.
Peter raised a hand and opened his mouth before he closed it. "You know I can't argue with that."
"I heard that!"
The two turned towards the source and watched as a blonde and blue-eyed young man who looked somewhere near his age made his way toward them. Unlike them, he didn't wear a lab coat and was just wearing a simple orange shirt and black jeans with black boots.
"Seriously sis? Talking behind my back?" Johnny groaned. Sue just rolled her eyes in amusement in response.
"Am I wrong?"
"Nope." He unashamedly admitted.
"Hey Johnny." Peter greeted him. Unlike his older sister, it was much easier to address Johnny casually due to their smaller age difference. The young man was already in a university but Sue always complained that he still acted like an irresponsible teenager sometimes, which Johnny kind of lived up to.
"Pete! My man! I'm surprised you came." Johnny smiled as he slung his arm over Peter's shoulders.
"Why shouldn't he?" Sue piped up curiously. Peter's eyes widened in slight fear as Johnny answered.
"Oh, you didn't know? His aunt called and said he fainted just the other day after a school trip."
"He what?" Sue turned to Peter with wide eyes. "You fainted?"
Johnny looked confused, "Huh, you didn't know? His aunt called a few days ago and said he might not be able to attend."
Peter sighed. "And I'm fiiine, no need to make a big deal about it."
Sue turned her eyes toward him. "Are you sure? I don't want you to suddenly drop in the middle of something dangerous. The experiments we do aren't exactly something normal."
"Yes, I'm fine. Now come on, the rest are waiting for us and I'd rather not make them wait." Peter pleaded.
Sue sighed. "Fine, but promise me if you feel unwell you immediately say something. It might deduct your pay a bit but at least you'll be getting some rest, got it?"
"Got it."
"Good. Now, come on." Sue turned around and walked into the lab.
Johnny smirked, "Been here for a week and she's already so worried about you."
"I mean having a pretty woman being all fussy over me doesn't sound so bad." Peter joked.
"Hey, hey, I like you but that's still my sister you're talking about. Remember the bro code." Johnny warned but his smirk showed that he was slightly joking.
"Yeah, yeah. Now come on, we're already late." Peter walked toward the lab with Johnny following right behind him.
As they entered, Peter laid eyes on two men. One was a bald man, wearing a simple white shirt with jeans, and looked rather well built with how big he was. The other had brown hair and brown eyes, he was wearing a lab coat like him on top of a blue shirt with black pants. Compared to his friend, he was much skinnier but still healthy.
"Peter! There you are, ready for today?" Reed Richards greeted him with a polite smile.
"Ready as I'll ever be, Mr. Richards."
"Please, we're friends Peter. Just call me Reed like the rest." Reed waved it away.
"Ah, right." Peter nodded with an embarrassed smile.
Reed Richards was a renowned scientist and addressing him so casually was still weird to him. It was the same reason why he had a bit of a hard time trying to act casually around Sue. But he was getting there, especially with three lifetime's worth of memories in his head.
"You doing alright, Pete? Sue said you had some health issues?" Ben smiled as he asked him.
"Ah, I'm doing fine Mr. Gri– I mean, Ben." He corrected himself when Ben raised an eyebrow at him.
The man smiled and shook his head. "That's good to hear, wouldn't want you to push yourself just because of some internship. Take care of yourself, you hear?"
Peter nodded gratefully at that before Reed spoke up. "Alright people, let's get to work."
Peter quickly made his way to a computer, right beside him was Sue who was already typing away at the computer, and Johnny who had leaned back on his seat. He would be helping her with monitoring the data from the experiments. Johnny on the other hand was just here to watch.
Peter then watched as both Ben and Reed entered another room, the fortified wall with a glass to see through it allowed him to observe them. Ben was currently helping Reed with setting up the equipment they would be using. Reed would make sure everything was alright before he started.
"Can't you at least go help them, Johnny?" Sue piped up.
"Nah, Ben and Reed got this. Besides, I got a few things I wanna ask Pete here." Johnny replied as he leaned slightly towards him.
Peter raised an eyebrow even as he typed away at the computer in front of him, "What's up?"
"How's school?"
"Could be better, not much to talk about on that front honestly. Not exactly the most popular guy you know?" Peter shrugged with a small smile.
"Really? Not even about a girl or something?"
"Johnny." Sue warned.
"What? Come on, don't tell me you're not curious! He's been here for a whole week and he barely talks about himself." Johnny pointed out which made Sue sigh.
"Didn't I tell you guys about my aunt and uncle?" Peter pointed out.
"Yeah, and nothing else. Come on man there's a limit to how mysterious a guy can be."
Peter rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "That's because there's really not much to say. I don't have a big friend group, though I have two best friends who have been with me since middle school. Harry and Gwen have their quirks but I won't trade them for anything else."
Peter noticed Sue looked a bit more focused on him when he started to talk while Johnny chuckled. "Well, there's something! So Harry and Gwen huh? What are they like?"
"Harry on the outside looks like your spoiled rich kid and to a certain extent he kinda is." Peter answered.
"Sounds like someone I know." Sue added.
"Hey!" Johnny whined.
"I didn't say any names~" Sue teased.
Johnny rolled his eyes while Peter chuckled. "But despite all that, he knows how to talk to people. Like really knows it. Back when we were in middle school, there was this big bully that constantly made trouble. Both of us were about to be his targets but Harry somehow turned it around and we managed not to be his targets for the rest of the year since Harry was his 'Good friend'."
"Damn, having that kind of social skills would have been useful for me in High school." Sue sighed.
Peter looked at her in confusion. "You had trouble in High school?"
"Being smarter than the majority of your peers doesn't really win me any favors." Sue muttered.
Peter shook his head at that, understanding of her plight. "Yeah, I get that."
"Those braces you used to have also didn't help." Johnny helpfully added.
"Of course, you were going to mention that." Sue sighed.
"Those braces looked awful on you." Johnny laughed.
"And we agreed to forget about it." Sue frustratedly reminded him.
"And let Pete miss out on it? Hell no. I think I still got a picture of it somewhere, hold on." Johnny started to rummage around his pockets.
Sue immediately swiveled her chair with an embarrassed look. "Johnny I swear to god!"
"And that's my cue to go!" Johnny stood up from his seat and he immediately ran away to escape his sister's wrath.
"I swear I'm gonna kill him one day." Sue muttered.
"If the cops ask, I got my lips sealed." Peter chuckled.
"Well, I know who to ask if I want a body to bury." Sue smiled.
"Hey, I can keep my lips sealed but burying a body is hard work."
"I'm sure a young man like you can handle it."
"A young man like me would also appreciate a reward for his hard work."
"I'm sure we can come to an agreement." Sue gave him a suggestive look.
"I-Um, will think about it?" Peter said with an embarrassed look.
Sue laughed with Peter following along with some embarrassment.
"So what about this Gwen?" Sue asked once she controlled her laughter.
"Gwen, huh? I don't know where to start with her." Peter sighed.
"Try with the first thing that comes to mind when you think about her." Sue suggested.
Peter was about to blurt out 'gorgeous' at that. Gwen was beautiful but he wasn't even sure about his own feelings toward her at the moment, so he decided to settle on another.
"She's a genius. Between me and her, I'd say she's the smarter one. Number 1 in Midtown High for a reason." Peter complimented.
"That's pretty high praise, Peter. I've seen your work, is she that good?" Sue asked curiously.
"She's the reason why I'm even here. I was planning to just work with photography before Gwen showed me the 'wonders of science'." Peter said with quotation marks clear in his tone.
"Well, I guess I have to find some way to thank her for that, think an internship offer would do the trick?" Sue asked.
"Nah, Oscorp got to her first. In fact, she got offered the same day your Dad offered one to me."
"Really?"
"Yeah, both of us were at the convention that day. If your Dad hadn't offered one to me I probably would have joined Oscorp too." Peter pointed out.
"Well, I guess we can also thank my father for that. He was always good at seizing chances when he saw them, wished he was better at seizing the chance to spend more time with his family…." Sue muttered quietly at the end.
Peter glanced at Sue with slight concern, something Sue noticed.
"You heard that didn't you?"
"Yeah. Want to talk about it?"
"I'm not sure if I should." Sue hesitated.
"That's fine, but have you at least talked about it with somebody? I'm not sure if I get it with my family situation, but the best I can do is lend an ear if you haven't." Peter offered with a sympathetic smile.
Sue paused and looked at Peter, he was just a teenager who was probably trying to help her. Why should she even bother?
But this was the same teenager who had to handle the loss of his parents at a young age and live with his aunt and uncle. Both of them are good people but from what little she can get out of Peter, it seemed like their financial lives aren't exactly the best and it was a heaven-send for Peter to gain a paid internship.
'It's not like Peter is the worst person to talk to.' Sue decided. She hasn't really talked about it to anyone, not even Reed. It never really came up and when it did, either she or the people around her quickly changed the topic.
Plus Peter had been nothing but helpful throughout the week they had known him and had blended in easily with them. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought Peter had worked here for a while already. Part of her felt like Peter would be a good person to at least talk about it.
"My father is...I won't say he's absent but he's very detached. He spends a lot more time in the lab than with his family. He wasn't always like that though, he used to spend a lot of time with us and even laugh more often too. Then…my mother died and he changed." Sue sighed.
Peter paused but continued to listen, he knew speaking at this moment would be a bad idea. So he let Sue continue.
"She died in a car crash. It was so sudden too. That morning we saw her and that night, the police came by to inform us. I can still remember how devastated my father looked. Since that day, he hasn't been the same since." Sue finished.
"Wow. How old were you and Johnny when it happened?" Peter asked.
"I was in High school, Johnny was still in middle school but he understood what had happened. While my father had retreated into his lab, both Johnny and I just had each other." Sue muttered a bit bitterly. "Sometimes, I wonder if Johnny would have actually turned out better if my father was around. I love my brother but still…"
"Well, I don't know much about siblings." He then got reminded of Peter Three's comment about wanting brothers. "Well, I know a little but you can't really choose family. Also, don't tell him this, but he once admitted that he probably be lost without you." Peter whispered.
Sue looked at him with wide eyes. "When did he say that?"
"Last week, when you helped him with his report. So I'm not sure how he would turn out if your Dad was around more, but I'd say you're already doing a pretty good job with him." Peter smiled.
Sue smiled, "Thanks, Peter. I needed that."
"No problem. I know I'm not the best person to say this, but things do get better. Heck, you have a pretty successful career and plenty of people here that are close friends with you." He said while gesturing to Reed and Ben at the other side of the glass. "So whatever happens with your Dad in the future, I'm sure you can work it out with the people around you."
Sue blinked as she properly looked at Peter, for a moment there he looked…older. He seemed to age the more he talked. His eyes looked like he had seen a lot more than a young man of his age should. It made her wonder what Peter had experienced to have that look in his eyes.
Before she could ponder on it more, Reed and Ben finally made their way out of the testing chamber.
"Alright, we're all set!" Reed announced as he stepped out. "You guys ready?"
"Hey, where's Johnny?" Ben asked curiously.
"Ah, Johnny pushed a few buttons too many and high-tailed it out of here. And we still got a bit to do and we should be good." Peter answered.
Ben scoffed in amusement, "That brat, I swear he's gonna make Sue kill him one day."
Peter laughed a little, "Funny you should mention that…"
While Peter and Ben talked, Reed looked at Sue in concern when he noticed that she looked distracted. "Sue, you okay?"
Sue blinked before she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Hey Peter, thanks for earlier."
"No problem, don't worry about it." Peter just smiled and waved it away.
"Something happened I assumed?" Reed mentioned.
"You could say that." Sue muttered as she gave one last glance at Peter. Their previous talk was still in her mind, especially that strange look in Peter's eyes.
'Who are you really, Peter Parker?' She wondered.
[-]
"Peter, this is incredible. How did you even come up with this?" Gwen asked curiously as she inspected the new web shooter design he made.
Peter on the other hand was currently lifting a metal container. The two of them were currently in an abandoned warehouse testing out their capabilities. They had done plenty already, from testing their speed, durability, and even their organic webbings. He had even shown off his stingers, which apparently had enough venom to put down an adult man with a single nick. He should probably be careful with that.
Oh, and he had also managed to convince Gwen to give web swinging a try! Hearing her scream in fear at the start was oddly nostalgic and hilarious. The pout she gave him for laughing was worth it.
Now he was testing his strength, Gwen had already done hers so all that was left was him. Which was why he was lifting a metal container without breaking a sweat.
'Hmmm, I don't feel any strain.' Peter realized, usually he would be pretty tired by now. 'Did the Other boost my base powers too?' He privately wondered.
"Peter?" Gwen called out.
"Uh, yeah I was just thinking about making something that can add to the webbings. I mean a spider's webs are useful and all for a lot of things, but it still has weaknesses. So I wondered if we can do anything about it and I came up with that." Peter answered.
"I see, but still why did you come up with this anyway?" Gwen asked as she observed the designs. "There's a special coating formula to help with fires and fortify buildings! I thought we were just testing our powers, not adding to them?"
"Because you two are going out there as a vigilante," Harry answered as he came back from the washroom and sat on the chair beside Gwen. In front of them was a table with a tablet and a laptop. "And Peter here had the right idea of being prepared for everything."
"I still doubt that," Gwen muttered. "Why would we even be out there?"
Harry sighed."Tell me, Gwen, if you see an old lady across the street struggling with her groceries, would you help her?"
"Course I will." Gwen answered as if it was the obvious thing.
"Good. I would be worried if you didn't and your Dad would be disappointed." Harry smirked while Gwen gave him a mock glare. "But picture this now, there's a bank robbery happening before you. On any other day, you would have just called the police and waited in a safe place. But you have your powers now, you have what it takes to stop them. Why shouldn't you?"
Gwen looked down at that. "Fine, I can see what you mean. But a vigilante? Helping people when it's right in front of me is a given but going around with a costume and looking for trouble?"
Harry smiled as if he was prepared for that question. "Well you say that but look at Peter."
Both turned toward Peter, who had dropped the container and was looking at his hands in deep thought.
"You remember when I suggested you two be heroes? I was joking but Peter took it seriously." Harry reminded her with a serious look. "I never really took him as the heroic type but both of us had seen the look in his eyes. Remember what he said?"
"With great powers, comes great responsibility." Gwen muttered as she looked at Peter with a strange look in her eyes.
"Exactly. He's serious about this. I reckon if we didn't know about his powers like he originally planned, he would be out there all alone. And I think we both agree that won't happen."
Gwen narrowed her eyes. Multiple possibilities ran through her mind as she considered what would happen if Peter went out there alone. Even with his powers, part of her can't help but worry. At best he would get a few scratches but at worst he could die. They might be fast, but they're not bulletproof. All a person would need was a well-placed shot and Peter would be gone.
The thought frightened her.
Gwen's eyes narrowed even further. "You're right, I'm not letting him go alone."
Harry smiled as he leaned back in his seat. "Then we have an agreement."
Gwen nodded before she noticed that Peter was making his way toward them. "So what's the results?"
Gwen grabbed the tablet. "First, we seemed to have a danger sense–"
"Spider-Sense." Peter interrupted, Gwen gave him an unimpressed look. "What? It's a better name!"
"He ain't wrong." Harry agreed with a smile.
Gwen rolled her eyes."–Spider-Sense that can warn us about danger. In terms of physical ability it's clear that between the both of us, you are much more physically powerful. Strength and durability far exceed mine but I make up for it with my superior speed and agility."
Peter nodded as he cupped his chin. "I see. Odd though, female spiders are usually bigger than their male counterparts. I would have thought you'd be stronger than me."
Gwen shrugged. "We have spider powers, but it doesn't seem we get every trait. Something to be noted then. There's also a difference on our webbings."
Peter nodded. "Right. Mine came out from under my wrists while yours came out of your fingertips."
"That's not all, I…seem to have better control over it." Gwen looked down at her fingertips.
"Better control?" Peter asked curiously.
"Yeah, it feels like my webs are…connected to me. It follows what my mind wants easily." She muttered as she shot out a few web strands from her fingertips. An intense jolt ran through her body as she focused, the strands moved with a mind of its own and formed into a makeshift glove of webbings.
Peter gasped. "Woah."
"Yeah, that's kinda freaky though." Harry admitted.
Gwen couldn't help but agree with that. "True, it kinda felt weird. Like there was something that flowed through me when I did that…"
"Something?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, it feels tingly…" She trailed off as she focused on the feeling. She called upon it and felt it answering. Instead of letting it flow through her webs, she let it out through her hand.
BZZZTT
Without warning, blue sparks erupted from her hand.
"Woah!"
"What the hell?!" Harry quickly stood up and took a few steps away from Gwen.
Gwen laughed as she looked excitedly at both of her friends. "Did you see that?!"
"Can you do that again?" Peter asked curiously.
"I can try." Gwen spoke as she held up her hand. She focused on the previous feeling and without fail, blue electrical sparks erupted from her hand for a moment before dying down.
"Holy shit." Harry breathed out in amazement.
"Bio-electricity." Gwen realized with a happy look.
"Do webs even react that way with electricity?" Harry asked curiously.
"I don't care, I can shoot lightning out of my hands!" Gwen celebrated.
"Oh, that's just not fair." Peter instead whined.
Gwen gave him a smug look. "Jealous Pete?"
"I have venomous stingers and night vision. You have mind powers over your web and lightning coming out of your palms." Peter stated with an unimpressed look.
"Don't worry, Peter. I'm sure your charming personality makes up for it." Gwen quipped.
"Oh haha." Peter mock laughed as he shook his head.
Harry rolled his eyes in amusement, "If the both of you are done, I got something to tell you guys."
"What is it?" Peter asked as Gwen looked at him curiously.
"I ordered the supplies you two wanted, I should have it sent to somewhere near our little base and we can start making your suits by tomorrow!" Harry spread out his arms as he celebrated.
"That fast?" Gwen asked with shock in her tone.
"Of course! Osborns always deliver their promises on time." Harry boasted smugly.
"Like that time when you were late to our outing last week?" Peter innocently pointed out.
"Well, that–"
"Or that time you bailed on us to hit on a girl despite promising to spend time with us?" Gwen added innocently.
"Well, you see–"
"Or that time when he canceled our trip last minute last summer." Peter hammered the final nail in the coffin.
Harry sighed as he gave them an unimpressed look. "You two are impossible. You just can't let me have this can you?"
Gwen looked at Peter with a teasing smile."Well, we can't exactly let you grow a big ego now can we?"
"We don't want our precious Harry to become the next elitist on their crystal tower. We like to keep you on the dirt with us peasants." Peter gave him a smirk.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, this would-be-elitist also just got us tickets to the new Batman movie. But since you guys want me to stay on the dirt with the peasants, I guess I'll just give it away."
Peter paused. "You're kidding right?"
Harry pulled out three tickets from his pockets. "Am I?"
Peter then turned toward Gwen with a pleading look. "Maybe we let his ego grow just this one time?"
"Seriously?" Gwen looked at him in disbelief.
"Come on, Gwen, it'll be fun." Peter pleaded.
Gwen pursed her lips and looked away, she was always weak when Peter pleaded to her so earnestly. "Fine!"
Peter pumped his fist before pointing at Harry. "Yes! You heard her!"
Harry smiled. "I'll buy popcorn and drinks?"
"You always buy popcorn and drinks." Gwen reminded him.
"Damn right." Harry smiled.
"I better call home then." Peter said as he pulled out his phone.
"Same here, Dad would kill me if I don't." Gwen muttered as she pulled out her own.
"This gonna be fun!" Harry whooped.
Peter shook his head as he waited for Aunt May to pick up. In his past life, he had mostly spent time with Ned and even then the most they did was small movie nights and building Lego sets. He enjoyed those times but he also would privately admit that his friendship with Harry allowed for a lot more fancy outings.
He liked Ned, he was his best friend. But for a moment, he liked Harry more. Of course, their friendship wasn't just based on money but it certainly helped to have fun with his two best friends.
'Money can't buy happiness but it sure can help bring that happiness closer.' He privately joked inside his head.
Chapter 4 - I Will Not Doubt Myself Anymore
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Chapter 4 - I Will Not Doubt Myself Anymore
Peter looked at the excited faces of Harry and Gwen with some trepidation. The three of them were currently in their subway base and they had just finished their suits yesterday. It took a lot of work, but memories and experiences from three lifetimes aided him. Gwen and Harry were surprised that he was so good at it, but he had just waved it away as something he learned from Aunt May and they didn't know about it because it was never brought up.
The suits they had made were much more advanced than his first starter suit. Not much of an achievement since that one had just been a hoodie and whatever thicker cloth he could find for protection. But with Harry's resources and Gwen's aide, he was bold enough to say that the suit they made might even match the first suit that Tony had made for him.
"Well, what are you two waiting for? Suit up!" Harry gestured with an excited smile.
Gwen didn't need to hear anything else as she grabbed her suit and exited the train cart. Peter shook his head in amusement as he was reminded of how excited he was when he gained his new suit. It didn't take long for him to grab his suit and make his way outside the train cart.
He then started to change after he found a hidden place, putting away his casual outfit and getting into his suit. It took a bit but he managed. He could do this with his eyes closed even if the suit was a lot different than the one he used to. Peter sighed as he zipped the suit, the mask lay limp in his hands. He looked down at it with some trepidation.
This was his final chance to back out, to get out of this life. He had never known how much he needed to sacrifice when he took up the mantle. He still hadn't until Aunt May died in the previous timeline. The memories of both Peter Two and Peter Three showed how much they had to give up to keep wearing the mask. To keep being Spider-Man.
There were plenty of moments when they had thought of giving up. To just stop and let things be as they should be. He could do that right now, no one would stop him. He knew both Harry and Gwen were mostly doing this because of him and if he put a stop to it right now, they would listen.
But then he remembered how much was at stake. It wasn't just his life, but there were so many things that could have been better if someone had just done something right. Could he really abandon all those people just because he wanted to be selfish?
'No, I can't do that. Uncle Ben died because of that. I can't do that to someone else.' He closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath and put on the mask. He stood before a reflection of himself that he could see on the window of the train cart.
The upper part of his suit was a high-collared jacket that reached his waist. The front part of the jacket was fully red and trailed straight to the end. The sides, under his arms, and his back were black instead. The lower part of his suit was fully black with red covering the side of his hips before trailing down to his shoes and covering the shoe soles. A small black spider symbol could be seen on the front of his suit while a red bigger and rounder spider symbol could be seen at the back if he turned around. The mask was finally fully red and had white lenses with black accents. Curiously enough, the suit lacked the usual web patterns of his older suits.
The design of the suit was based on a spare suit that Peter Two had made. It was pretty straightforward. It's just a red jacket with black jeans. It was rather simplistic but it appealed to him.
His suit looked a tad loose but it was actually very comfortable and form-fitting. They had made it out of reinforced and thicker materials with some being made out of carbon fibers added in certain parts of his suit as protection. They couldn't get as many as they wanted, so they had to be smart with where they placed them. The cuffs around his arms were also loosened a little to allow his stingers to exit without issue in case he needed them.
Outside of the materials, they had also installed a communication system and a HUD of sorts to their mask. The eyes, of course, were able to expand or shrink inward to match his expression. There's also a utility belt that was hidden by his jacket since it reached his waist.
Peter looked down at his suit. It was in his opinion, much cooler than his previous suit. Not that he didn't appreciate what Tony had made for him of course, but it felt nice to have a suit that was completely his.
He shook his head, "Enough admiring, I should get back inside."
"I don't know about that, I think I would like to stay a little longer." A voice spoke up.
Peter turned to the side and noticed who it was. There Gwen stood in her suit. It was fully black from her chest to her lower body. The hooded upper part was white with the inside of the hoodie and underarms being magenta and covered in cyan web patterns. The lenses were white with magenta accents. The suit itself had the same features as his but was slicker and streamlined since Gwen's powers had more focus on speed and agility.
He's not complaining about it though because the suit was doing wonders highlighting her curvy figure.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Gwen suggested teasingly.
Peter shook his head, "Sorry."
"Don't be, I was appreciating the view too." The comment made him blush a little under his mask. He wasn't sure how but he was pretty sure that Gwen was smirking behind that mask. "Come on, can't keep Harry waiting."
"Right." Peter nodded as he entered the train cart along with her.
Harry turned towards them when he heard them enter. "Finally! Took you two long enough— Holy shit." Harry's jaw dropped when he noticed them. "Damn, you two looked much better than I expected."
"I know right?" Gwen nodded as she looked down at her suit. "A bit tight though."
However, Peter ignored them as he looked at the setup they had built. There were multiple monitors along with a single keyboard and a wireless mouse on the table. Right beside the table was another table where they had put their equipment for the power testing.
"You sure about this, Harry?" Peter glanced at his friend.
"Hmm?" Harry looked at him in confusion before he noticed where Peter was looking. "Oh, those things. Of course, I am! I'll be the guy in the chair. I don't exactly have superpowers but at least with this I can help out."
Gwen hurried over and looked over the computer, typing away as she spoke. "I've connected it to our comms and Harry should be able to access everything we need. Maps, building plans, radio signals, and the like. You still remember what I taught you, right?"
Harry nodded, "Yep! And If I don't, I do have my notes there!" He gestured to the sticky notes he had plastered at the side of the monitor.
Gwen shrugged at that, "Well just make sure you can access them fast when we need it."
"Right." Harry nodded as he sat down in front of the monitors. "With this, both Spider-Man and Ghost Spider are ready for action." He smirked in satisfaction.
"Still can't believe you're going with Spider-Man of all things." Gwen shook her in disappointment.
"It's simple and direct. I think it's catchy. Plus I don't think calling myself Ghost Spider would be any accurate since we'd be pretty out in the open." Peter shot back.
"You'd be pretty out in the open. I don't want to be seen and get shot at."
"That better not make me the meat shield."
"You have the better durability so…"
"Gwen!"
"Hey, you said it, not me!"
"Guys!" Harry clapped his hands which caught the two's attention. "If you're done, I take it you two are ready for this?"
Silence pressed down on them, both Harry and Gwen glanced at Peter as they noticed that he was slightly more tense today. He looked tense and slightly afraid even.
"...Are you two sure you want to join me? I can go out there on my own, you know? You guys can find another way to test out Gwen's powers." Peter suggested.
"No." Gwen firmly rejected it. "I'm joining you, Peter. I don't know why you're so adamant on going out there as a vigilante but someone needs to watch your back."
Peter looked at her and then at Harry; he could see they were serious about it. He sighed as he knew that he wouldn't change their minds about it. Not like he could just go and be Spider-Man all on his own, both of them would immediately narrow down on him once they heard someone with spider powers was going around saving people.
"Fine, but we'll see if you're feeling the same way once we start swinging." He smirked.
Gwen paused at that, "...Do we have to web swing? Why can't we just, I don't know, parkour around the roof?" she asked with some trepidation in her tone.
"Of course we do! It's faster and I kinda enjoy it." Peter shrugged as he smirked underneath his mask.
"Course you do…" Gwen muttered.
"Now come on, just remember my advice and you should be good." Peter chuckled as he patted her back and made his way out of the train cart. Gwen grumbled about 'adrenaline freaks' before following after him.
Harry merely chuckled as he watched them go.
[-]
THWIP
"Woah, what's that?!"
THWIP
"Are those mutants?!"
THWIP
"Whooo!" Peter whooped as he swung through the buildings. He launched another web strand and swung into a corner, without effort he released the web and launched himself high in the air. He let gravity take over before he gracefully landed on a roof.
'God I missed that.' He smiled. The feeling of air rushing through him as he swings was always one of the best parts of being Spider-Man.
"Oof!" Gwen stumbled when she landed right beside him. Gwen then pulled her mask over her face so she could take deep breaths to calm her rapidly beating heart.
"Haha, You okay?" Peter asked as he chuckled.
Gwen turned towards him with wide eyes. "How are you so good at this?! I thought I was going to die every time I let go!"
Peter shrugged, "Talent I guess. Always wanted to be a stuntman." He wasn't lying on that part. His past self had apparently thought about it before he discovered photography. Then Gwen dragged him into the science field and here he was. "You remembered what I said?"
Gwen nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Work with momentum and trust the Spidey-Sense. Does this get any easier?"
"Way easier. You'll learn to love it." Peter said before he looked over the edge of the building. "Harry, you got anything?" He asked as he pressed his comms.
"Nothing much— Wait, the cops were called. Someone heard a call for help and a gunshot."
"Where?" Gwen asked in alarm.
"I've set it down on the map. You should see it." Harry answered. As if on cue a map appeared at the corner of their vision and showed the location of the phone call.
"Got it! Ready for our first action?" Peter glanced at Gwen with some concern in his tone.
Gwen pulled down her mask and nodded, "Let's do this."
Both shot out their webs and pulled. Peter flowed into the rhythm of the swing easily as he shot and released the web at a certain tempo as he swung. Gwen on the other hand lagged behind as she wasn't used to it but she was getting there.
Gwen released a breath as she released the web and shot out another. She was fully aware that she should feel some strain due to the momentum and weight of her body. But with her enhanced physique, all she could feel instead was the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her as she swung through the air. She kinda started to like it. The air that flowed around her and the feeling of freedom. It made her excited.
'I can see why Peter is so into this.' She laughed as she glanced ahead toward her partner. Who was much faster and much more of a natural at this. 'Still freaky with how good he is at this though, it's like he's been doing this his whole life…'
She turned at the corner and landed at a building that Peter perched on. Peter glanced behind him and gestured for her to be quiet. Gwen couldn't help but narrow her eyes in suspicion as she looked down from the perch right beside him.
Below them was a pretty big alleyway. On one side she could see a truck parked at the edge of the alleyway. Around the vehicle were four casually dressed people. If it weren't for the weapons in their hands, she would think they were having a smoke break.
"Please, we were just passing through. Let us go."
"Let you go? Something tells me you won't really keep this to yourself out of the goodness of your heart, so why should I?"
Gwen looked to the other side of the alley where she could see three guys threatening a family of three. The husband was trying to reason with the thug in front of him while he moved his wife and son behind him.
The thug aimed his gun at the man, "Drop everything you got and I might just spare you."
The husband hurriedly nodded, "Of course, just please don't hurt us."
"We gotta help them." Gwen urged.
Peter nodded, "I'll take the ones by the family, you'll take the ones by the truck. Watch your strength, you are stronger than them. You could kill them if you're not careful."
Gwen nodded, Peter had mentioned it when they tested their powers. "I'll try."
"I'll distract them first, then you drop down when I give the signal alright?" Peter suggested.
Gwen hesitated before she nodded. "Be safe."
"I will." With that, Peter leaped forward. Without pause, he launched a web line toward the thug's gun and pulled.
"What the–?!" The thug exclaimed as the gun was snatched from his hand. Peter caught it as he landed right beside him; the thug wasn't even able to widen his eyes before he spun and kicked him right in the stomach as Peter tossed away the gun.
The thug flew away from the force and crashed into his friend. The two crashed into the wall and fell down with a groan.
"Woah!"
"What the fuck?!"
"Hands in the air freak!" The final one of the three thugs by the family aimed his gun at Peter. "The fuck are you? One of those muties?!"
"Woah dude! Chill on the slur, we have kids here." Peter admonished as he gestured toward the terrified kid. He looked completely relaxed despite the gun pointed at him to the point Gwen wondered where he even got that bravery from. "They call me Spider-Man."
"They? Who's they?" The thug asked in confusion. "I ain't never heard of you."
"Well of course you didn't, kinda my first day so would appreciate it if you go easy on me." Peter— No, Spider-Man said as he loosened himself.
"What are you doing?"
"Stretching!" He casually replied as he stretched his arms.
"Stretching?!" Some of them exclaimed, clearly confused.
"Yeah, don't wanna hurt myself from beating all of you." Spider-Man replied as he cracked his neck and walked forward. The thug shifted his aim to follow and as Gwen noticed, away from the family.
"You are stretching, because you don't wanna hurt yourself?" The thug that had aimed his gun at Spider-Man muttered, completely baffled by what he was experiencing.
"Yeah, kinda obvious. Why are you guys so— OH! I see the problem now." Spider-Man nodded as if something had just dawned on him.
"Oh, do you now?" One of the thugs by the trucks sarcastically replied. Gwen couldn't help but agree with him.
"What the hell…?" Gwen whispered with shock.
"Okay, so I'm not seeing things. Good." Harry muttered in their comms.
"Oh my bad guys, should have done this from home." Spider-Man waved his hand as if to apologize. Gwen idly noticed that the thug beside Peter had also lowered his gun. "Yeah, we should probably get this on NOW!" He exclaimed as he shot a web line at the gun aimed at him and pulled it away before webbing the thug to the wall with his other hand.
Gwen didn't hesitate to follow as she jumped from the roof the moment Peter shouted. She launched a web line towards the two guns from the thugs' hands and pulled them away before she landed between them.
"Oh shit!"
"There's another one–!"
The two didn't manage to say more before she swept their feet off the ground and webbed them to it just like Peter did.
Gwen looked up when her Spidey-Sense tingled and widened her eyes when she noticed two more thugs aimed their guns at her from beside the truck. Fear gripped her heart as her eyes met their barrels. Her nerves were alight, ready to make her move before her Spidey-Sense calmed down just as fast as it tingled.
"Danger from above!" Peter's voice can be heard as two web shots sped past her and webbed the two guns to the wall. Gwen could then see Peter somersaulting above her as he fired two more web lines at the thugs. With the web line attached to them, he pulled them up and webbed them on top of the truck as he landed right beside them.
Gwen released a breath she didn't even know she was holding. It was over, just like that….
"Damn, all of that in a few seconds? They didn't stand a chance…" Harry spoke up in their comms, clearly impressed. But Gwen was too distracted to notice.
Peter chuckled when he heard that. "Hey Ghost Spider, you doing okay?" He called her codename but got worried when he didn't get a response.
Gwen took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before she nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. The guns freaked me out a bit." She had seen guns multiple times, seeing as her dad was a cop. But having one aimed at her was still a bit nerve-racking. She wondered how Peter managed to handle it.
She mentally berated herself for freezing up. She would have collected herself quickly and she was sure her Spidey-Sense was ready to move her body for her at the last second. But a second was precious when in a fight. That lesson was drilled extensively by her father and her self-defense teacher. If Peter wasn't there to help, it might have gone a lot worse if she was a tad slower.
"Hey, you sure you're okay?" Peter asked from right beside her. He must have dropped down from the truck when she was busy collecting herself.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Check on the family first." She urged him. She would do it but she wasn't confident that she would be able to pull it off at her current state.
Peter hesitated before he nodded, "Okay then if you're sure." He said before he headed toward the family.
The family looked up in slight alarm when they saw him. "Oh god." The husband muttered.
Peter held up his hand as he stopped at a safe distance. "Hey, hey relax. I'm not gonna hurt you."
"You aren't?" The man asked with a mix of hope and suspicion in his tone.
"Nope. You guys are safe now. You guys better go though, at least until the cops show up." He advised.
"Are– Are you a mutant?" The wife suddenly blurted out.
Peter paused, "Well, no."
"How come?" She asked while her husband looked at her incredulously.
Peter chuckled, "Well I got my powers from a radioactive spider bite for one."
"Riiiiight." The wife drew out. She clearly didn't believe him.
"Are you like a superhero?" The kid now asked curiously.
"Yeah like a superhero!" Peter nodded.
"Cool!"
"I know right!"
"Well, in any case, we should go. Come on." The husband urged as he pulled away his family from the alley. The child glanced behind him once in a while with a large smile.
Peter shook his head in amusement before he walked toward Gwen. The young woman was distracted as she was checking on the thugs' bodies. She then pulled out their phones and looked through them. She checked them over and hummed in realization.
"Something on your mind?" He asked as he stood beside her.
"These are burner phones," Gwen stated before she stared at the truck. "Check the back of the truck."
Peter didn't question it as he headed to the back and lifted the covers. His lenses narrowed. "Guns. Lots of them."
"Arms dealing? But in such an open place?" Gwen asked as she looked around. The alley was a bit hidden but wasn't like it wasn't accessible to the public.
"They were probably just about to transport it." Peter stated as he looked around. "And the family just so happens to see them putting the last of them in here." He finished as he saw an unused barrel at the side of the truck. He lifted it and could smell the faint scent of gunpowder inside. "Yep, they were using barrels to transport it into the truck."
"And the gunshot?" Gwen asked curiously.
"Probably nerves or trying to stop the family from running away." Peter speculated. "Either way, it seems like these people were amateurs because they were doing a shitty job at this." He remarked.
"Amateurs or not, how the hell did they even get their hands on these?" Gwen asked.
"Probably as a third party, they were just transporting the goods. It didn't belong to them. I'm guessing some insider gave them the work to prove themselves." Peter speculated before they heard the sound of sirens. "But that's for later."
"We should go then. Should we take the phones? The cops might be able to use them."
Peter narrowed his eyes. "I'm trusting my gut on this one, leave some for them but we'll take the rest. Oh and don't forget to remove the batteries."
Gwen hesitated but decided to comply. Peter sounded so sure and it's affecting her.
She left two burner phones and removed the batteries from the ones that she took before she followed Peter. Both of them shot out web lines toward the top of the building and pulled themselves upward and onto the roof.
"What are you guys gonna do with those phones?" Harry asked in their comms.
"Put them in safekeeping for now." Peter held out his hand for the phones. Gwen hurriedly gave them to him and he put them inside one of the pouches on his utility belt. "We'll start cracking them when we get back. For now, we'll continue our patrol."
"Would that be okay? Won't we be wasting time?" Gwen asked with some concern.
"Helping people is never a waste of time." Peter softly admonished. "Plus if the cops manage to get a lead and start to move, Harry will hear it on the radio. If they don't… well it just means we need to pick up the slack."
"Right, one thing at a time I guess."
"Exactly. Can't be everywhere at once after all, so we do our best." Peter advised, though with how he had spoken it seemed more like he was trying to say that to himself.
Gwen sighed before lifting her mask to look at Peter properly. "How are you so good at this? You're so calm, even when a gun is literally aimed at you!"
Peter paused before he glanced at her, "I'm terrified actually but the jokes kept me collected. Helps mess with their minds too."
"Makes sense I guess." Gwen muttered but it was clear she didn't believe him.
"Uh, guys. You two better make a move on. The cops are almost there." Harry spoke up.
Both of them noticed that the sound of sirens was getting louder. Peter and Gwen looked at each other before they made a move toward the edge of the building.
"We'll talk about this later," Gwen said as she pulled her mask back down and shot a web line.
"Right." Peter muttered as he swung away.
'I need to dial myself down a bit, Gwen is getting suspicious.' Peter realized. Part of him can't help but feel like that would be much harder said than done.
[-]
The rest of the patrol wasn't as exciting after that. They helped a tourist find their way, helped an old lady cross the street with her groceries, and took a cat down from a tree. There wasn't even any mugging! Gwen was a bit disappointed but Peter was relieved. He'd rather not put Gwen into any danger much more than necessary after all.
'Was this how Mr.Stark felt with me back then?' He pondered to himself as he swung through the subway system. He was planning to head straight to the entrance of their base but Gwen had suggested they use a different entrance instead. If someone saw them enter and Gwen and Peter headed out a few minutes later, it wouldn't take much to connect the dots if they investigated a little.
Peter did notice that Gwen was a bit quiet when they swung back to their base. He wondered if she was still suspicious about his skills. The fight from before was already a close call, so he was glad there wasn't anything as bad as that.
Both of them then arrived at the station, quickly entering the cart as they did so.
"Might need to repurpose the other carts into a changing room or something." Gwen finally talked.
"If we're planning to start changing from here every day, sure." Peter agreed as he took off his mask now that they were in a hidden area.
Gwen quickly followed suit and pulled her mask off as they entered their lab/communications room.
"The two heroes finally return." Harry smirked as he turned toward them. "So, how does it feel?"
Gwen sighed as she slumped on a nearby seat. "Surprisingly mentally tiring." She replied with a tired look.
'Oh, so that's why she's so quiet.' Peter realized as he sat beside her. "Outside of that gunfight earlier, all we did was do the small stuff." Peter pointed out.
"Yeah, but it's just…kinda tiring. But also fulfilling in its own way. We didn't do anything big, but just the little things…it feels nice." Gwen smiled as she remembered all the grateful smiles she received.
Peter smiled, he could understand where she was coming from. In the previous timeline, he had been more focused on 'helping the little guys' after the whole Vulture fiasco. Sure he had enjoyed helping people before but he gained a new appreciation for it. Throughout that time, he realized that he didn't need to go around and prove himself to Mr. Stark just so he could belong and be accepted. He has already proven that he belonged in New York.
Thinking of Liz's dad reminded him of the burner phones they had taken before. He then sat up and made his way to the computers. He then took the phones out of his utility belt and plugged the cables into the phones.
"Are those the–?" Harry asked.
"Yep, it was the burner phones from before." He said as he started to type into the computer. He looked around and found the program he needed. He didn't hesitate to input the commands needed to run the program.
"What are you doing?" Gwen sat up and stood beside him with an inquiring look.
"Pulling the contacts and trying to see when and where was the last time the phones were used and who they were contacting." Peter answered as he ran the program. His eyes narrowed when multiple results came up.
"One of them called Pizza Hut yesterday…" Harry remarked dryly.
"Why would you use burner phones to have pizza delivered to you…?" Gwen asked incredulously.
"You think we can try to look for receipts or something and see where they sent that? Maybe they ordered that at their base of operations or something." Harry ignored her question and asked curiously.
"Or we could get that guy's home address instead." Gwen pointed out as she shook her head. "But it's still Peter's game here, what are you trying to do anyways?" She looked toward him with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm trying to see if we can minimize our search area." Peter answered as he looked through the contacts and put them on the map. Yes, including the pizza delivery call, they can't really ignore where the call had come from in case they missed anything. He managed to pinpoint when and where the calls took place and—
PING PING PING PING PING
Gwen looked closely at the marked locations. "These calls, they're very far apart from each other location-wise."
"Are we gonna have a stakeout session?" Harry asked excitedly.
"Yes, we are." Peter confirmed with a smirk. "The question is when."
"As soon as we can. After we get everything, we can give an anonymous tip to my dad." Gwen suggested.
"We still need to clean them up to make things easier for them. Wouldn't want your dad to arrive and see guns aimed at him." Harry pointed out.
Gwen winced as she imagined that scenario. "And here I thought we could avoid fighting altogether."
"Tomorrow, we can start the stakeout. We can split up and cover two locations each before rejoining at the last one." Peter suggested. "It's already getting late, so try to rest up for tomorrow. Especially since I'll be rejoining classes tomorrow…" He sighed.
"Oh yeah, Flash…" Harry grimaced as he patted his best friend's back. Both of them knew that Flash would open his mouth once Peter came back to school.
"He can try opening his mouth. We'll see if he likes to mock you when I'm around." Gwen narrowed her eyes.
Peter smiled but shook his head. "No need, Gwen. I'll just ignore him like always, it'll be fine."
Gwen gave him a look. "Peter, you can't let him walk all over you like this."
"She's right man, I mean you got superpowers now! You could just toss him around a little to show what's up." Harry smirked a little vindictively.
Gwen looked at Harry with narrowed eyes, but Peter spoke before she could.
"No!" He shouted. The two looked at him in shock. "No. I can't do that. Not ever. I won't hurt him or anyone without a good reason for that matter."
"Pete–" Harry began but Peter cut him off.
"No. That's the end of that." Peter firmly replied as he got out of his suit and made his way out of the cart.
"Peter!" Gwen called out but he ignored her and walked out of the cart. He stepped into the station and took a deep shuddering breath.
He remembered the last time he used his powers selfishly and what it had cost. He's in a new timeline now and he planned to not repeat his mistakes. Especially one that has cost him his surrogate father.
'Uncle Ben…' He still remembered that night when he lost him.
"Peter!" Gwen called out behind him. Peter sighed and turned toward her.
"What?"
"What was that all about? I get not wanting to use your powers irresponsibly but back there…" She glanced behind her and looked back at him with a questioning gaze.
"It's nothing, Gwen. I just…" He trailed off.
Gwen looked concerned as she stepped closer to him. She took his hands and held them gently. "You know you can talk to me right? What is it, Peter? You've been off ever since we gained these powers."
Peter became conflicted. He looked her in the eyes and was tempted to just spill everything. How he was from the future, how he had messed up, how he had lost his life, how he had died and even been framed for murder, and how he had lost his aunt and uncle.
But he didn't. He couldn't just unload that on her. He barely even knew what he was doing, he didn't even have a proper plan on how to tackle this new chance of his. He couldn't just tell her all of that.
"I think I'm just…a little overwhelmed." He lied.
Gwen looked him over. "Well, you have been oddly calm about this whole thing for the whole day."
"Yeah." Peter nodded. "I think I just need to unwind for a bit. Get back home, you know?"
"Yeah, sure Pete." Gwen nodded hesitantly as they let go of each other's hands. Peter turned and was about to leave before Gwen called him. "Hey Peter?"
"Yeah?" He looked back at her.
"I know that you're not telling me everything…" Peter widened his eyes a little but she cut him off. "You don't need to explain. Just…know that we're both here for you. That I am here for you."
Peter hesitated before he nodded and gave her a grateful smile. "Yeah. Thanks, Gwen. Good night."
"No problem, good night." Gwen returned the smile.
Peter turned back and made his way out of the station. He could feel Gwen's concerned gaze burning at the back of his head until he stepped out of the stairs. He took a deep breath and looked up at the dark night sky.
He looked around and wondered if he did the right thing by not telling her. It's one of those times that he wasn't sure if he was even doing the right thing.
'If Uncle Ben was here….wait a minute!' He paused. If Uncle Ben was here? He was still alive now! 'I could ask him for advice!'
There were moments in the previous timeline where he had wondered what Uncle Ben would have wanted him to do. This was one of those times and he can actually ask him about it!
Without pause, he started to run back home. Back to the man who has the answers he seeks.
[-]
"I'm home!" Peter called out as he entered the house.
"Welcome back! Why were you out so late?" A familiar voice replied.
Peter walked toward the living room and saw Uncle Ben sitting on the sofa. The man looked old, wrinkles could be seen on his aging face and white strands on his still black hair. But despite all of that, he looked happy and healthy.
Peter smiled as he walked over and gave his Uncle a hug. The man chuckled as he returned it. He had been giving the man a hug ever since he had come back to the past. Just to ensure the man was still there and everything was real.
"Not that I don't enjoy this, but you haven't answered the question." Ben gently reminded him.
"Ah right." Peter nodded, his mind a little frantic as he released him. "I was hanging out with Harry and Gwen. I had a bit too much fun that I didn't realize it was getting late." He excused.
Ben nodded at that. "Ah, I understand. Still, try to keep track of time next time."
Peter nodded, "Yeah, sure. Where's May by the way?"
"Asleep, she had a busy day at the center. Came back home and went right to bed." He chuckled good-naturedly before he noticed Peter's distracted look. Ben sighed and patted the seat next to him. "Why don't you take a seat, son? You look like something is on your mind."
Peter looked surprised before he complied with Ben's request. He sat beside him and leaned back into his seat with a sigh.
"Now why don't you tell me what happened?" Ben asked as he looked at him with gentle and warm eyes.
Peter looked at him with trepidation. His mouth opened and closed multiple times as he wondered what to even ask. Ben waited patiently, letting the young man beside him gather his thoughts.
"Uncle Ben…what would you do if you had this really great power? You could do a lot of things with it. Help a lot of people and even make the world a better place with this power. You always say that with great power comes great responsibility. So what would your responsibility be in that situation?" Peter asked as he looked at his uncle with pondering eyes.
He had always wondered if he was using his powers the right way. If he was ever using it responsibly. But now with Uncle Ben in front of him, he can have his answers.
Ben looked at him with a weird look at that. His eyes searched for something as he looked over him suspiciously before he stopped. Peter was confused. Did he say something wrong?
However, Ben didn't give him the time to think it over as he hummed. "That's a tough question, Peter. Well, I could just say I would help people or something along those lines but I don't think that's an answer you need." Ben paused as he looked at Peter with a considering expression.
Peter looked confused but waited for him to finish.
Ben thought it over before he nodded with a smile. "Yes, I think I would focus on myself first."
Peter widened his eyes at that. "W-what?! I thought we should use those powers responsibly, not for ourselves."
Ben raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, that is one way to decipher it but I feel like that isn't quite true." He noticed Peter looking a lot more focused when he heard that.
"What do you mean Uncle Ben?"
"It's true we shouldn't use that power selfishly and be mindful. That's what it means to be responsible with it, to use those powers to help people. But what I meant is that I should use that power to help myself first before I can help others."
"I'm still confused."
Ben chuckled but decided to elaborate. "Well think about the homeless shelter that May worked on. How are they helping the homeless?"
"By giving them a place to stay and even food until they can get back on their feet." Peter answered.
"And where do you think the shelter gets those?"
"With money?"
"And where is all that money coming from?
"From charity and the company that sponsors them."
"And how does the company and the people that donate that money gain them?"
"By working." Peter blinked in confusion. "I don't see where this is going."
Ben chuckled. "For someone so smart, you sure can still miss a few things. But that's okay, you're young. You're still learning."
Peter looked down. "But I still don't understand." He remarked frustratedly.
"I'll get straight to the point then. Sometimes, in order to help other people, you need to help yourself first. The analogy I was trying to make? Those people and that very company would not be able to fund the homeless shelter if they didn't build themselves up first. How can they give even a single dollar if they can't even put a roof over their head?"
Peter blinked as he thought it over. "I think I get what you're trying to say. So you're saying that I need to help myself first, like build myself up and be successful and everything, before I can truly help other people?"
Ben made a so-so gesture. "Close enough. It doesn't mean you can't help others as you build yourself up, but you still need to learn to prioritize yourself."
"But what if you can't help yourself? What if there's really nothing you can do to make things better?" He asked a little bit desperately.
"Well, that's when you ask for help from the people around you. You're not in this alone Peter, you're a great young man who has many great people around him. Ask for their help and they won't hesitate to aid you. Because when they help you, they know they help everyone else because of your kind heart."
Peter looked at his uncle as a saying echoed through his mind. "When you help someone, you help everyone."
Ben smiled and nodded. "Yes, that's one way to say it. Where did you get that?"
"Aunt May."
"Huh, I never heard that. She must have picked it up somewhere. That is a good saying." Ben smiled.
"Yeah, it is." He agreed as he tried to hold back the feelings inside him. It was a saying from his past timeline. He was pretty sure Aunt May picked it up when she worked in the homeless shelter.
"...What brought this on Peter?" Ben asked gently.
Peter looked at him and subtly rubbed his eyes to stop the tears from flowing. "Just…I was talking about something similar with Gwen and Harry. I…accidentally snapped at them about it and I kinda don't know what to do or what even is the right answer."
Ben nodded understandingly. "The three of you have been friends for so long, something like this won't destroy your friendship with them if that's what you're worried about."
Peter shook his head. "No, no. I had a talk with Gwen after that, she just wanted to know what was wrong and I kinda told her it was fine. I'm already planning on apologizing tomorrow."
Ben nodded as he patted Peter's shoulder. "Then you are already doing a good job of handling it as far as I see."
"Yeah. Thanks, Uncle Ben."
"You're welcome, Peter. I'm glad I could help. Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah, I feel a lot better now."
And for once in his life, Peter could comfortably say that he does feel better. He knew that there would be hardships he needed to face, especially to stop Thanos and hide the Infinity Stones. But for once, he felt like he finally knew what he was doing.
Peter looked at the excited faces of Harry and Gwen with some trepidation. The three of them were currently in their subway base and they had just finished their suits yesterday. It took a lot of work, but memories and experiences from three lifetimes aided him. Gwen and Harry were surprised that he was so good at it, but he had just waved it away as something he learned from Aunt May and they didn't know about it because it was never brought up.
The suits they had made were much more advanced than his first starter suit. Not much of an achievement since that one had just been a hoodie and whatever thicker cloth he could find for protection. But with Harry's resources and Gwen's aide, he was bold enough to say that the suit they made might even match the first suit that Tony had made for him.
"Well, what are you two waiting for? Suit up!" Harry gestured with an excited smile.
Gwen didn't need to hear anything else as she grabbed her suit and exited the train cart. Peter shook his head in amusement as he was reminded of how excited he was when he gained his new suit. It didn't take long for him to grab his suit and make his way outside the train cart.
He then started to change after he found a hidden place, putting away his casual outfit and getting into his suit. It took a bit but he managed. He could do this with his eyes closed even if the suit was a lot different than the one he used to. Peter sighed as he zipped the suit, the mask lay limp in his hands. He looked down at it with some trepidation.
This was his final chance to back out, to get out of this life. He had never known how much he needed to sacrifice when he took up the mantle. He still hadn't until Aunt May died in the previous timeline. The memories of both Peter Two and Peter Three showed how much they had to give up to keep wearing the mask. To keep being Spider-Man.
There were plenty of moments when they had thought of giving up. To just stop and let things be as they should be. He could do that right now, no one would stop him. He knew both Harry and Gwen were mostly doing this because of him and if he put a stop to it right now, they would listen.
But then he remembered how much was at stake. It wasn't just his life, but there were so many things that could have been better if someone had just done something right. Could he really abandon all those people just because he wanted to be selfish?
'No, I can't do that. Uncle Ben died because of that. I can't do that to someone else.' He closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath and put on the mask. He stood before a reflection of himself that he could see on the window of the train cart.
The upper part of his suit was a high-collared jacket that reached his waist. The front part of the jacket was fully red and trailed straight to the end. The sides, under his arms, and his back were black instead. The lower part of his suit was fully black with red covering the side of his hips before trailing down to his shoes and covering the shoe soles. A small black spider symbol could be seen on the front of his suit while a red bigger and rounder spider symbol could be seen at the back if he turned around. The mask was finally fully red and had white lenses with black accents. Curiously enough, the suit lacked the usual web patterns of his older suits.
The design of the suit was based on a spare suit that Peter Two had made. It was pretty straightforward. It's just a red jacket with black jeans. It was rather simplistic but it appealed to him.
His suit looked a tad loose but it was actually very comfortable and form-fitting. They had made it out of reinforced and thicker materials with some being made out of carbon fibers added in certain parts of his suit as protection. They couldn't get as many as they wanted, so they had to be smart with where they placed them. The cuffs around his arms were also loosened a little to allow his stingers to exit without issue in case he needed them.
Outside of the materials, they had also installed a communication system and a HUD of sorts to their mask. The eyes, of course, were able to expand or shrink inward to match his expression. There's also a utility belt that was hidden by his jacket since it reached his waist.
Peter looked down at his suit. It was in his opinion, much cooler than his previous suit. Not that he didn't appreciate what Tony had made for him of course, but it felt nice to have a suit that was completely his.
He shook his head, "Enough admiring, I should get back inside."
"I don't know about that, I think I would like to stay a little longer." A voice spoke up.
Peter turned to the side and noticed who it was. There Gwen stood in her suit. It was fully black from her chest to her lower body. The hooded upper part was white with the inside of the hoodie and underarms being magenta and covered in cyan web patterns. The lenses were white with magenta accents. The suit itself had the same features as his but was slicker and streamlined since Gwen's powers had more focus on speed and agility.
He's not complaining about it though because the suit was doing wonders highlighting her curvy figure.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Gwen suggested teasingly.
Peter shook his head, "Sorry."
"Don't be, I was appreciating the view too." The comment made him blush a little under his mask. He wasn't sure how but he was pretty sure that Gwen was smirking behind that mask. "Come on, can't keep Harry waiting."
"Right." Peter nodded as he entered the train cart along with her.
Harry turned towards them when he heard them enter. "Finally! Took you two long enough— Holy shit." Harry's jaw dropped when he noticed them. "Damn, you two looked much better than I expected."
"I know right?" Gwen nodded as she looked down at her suit. "A bit tight though."
However, Peter ignored them as he looked at the setup they had built. There were multiple monitors along with a single keyboard and a wireless mouse on the table. Right beside the table was another table where they had put their equipment for the power testing.
"You sure about this, Harry?" Peter glanced at his friend.
"Hmm?" Harry looked at him in confusion before he noticed where Peter was looking. "Oh, those things. Of course, I am! I'll be the guy in the chair. I don't exactly have superpowers but at least with this I can help out."
Gwen hurried over and looked over the computer, typing away as she spoke. "I've connected it to our comms and Harry should be able to access everything we need. Maps, building plans, radio signals, and the like. You still remember what I taught you, right?"
Harry nodded, "Yep! And If I don't, I do have my notes there!" He gestured to the sticky notes he had plastered at the side of the monitor.
Gwen shrugged at that, "Well just make sure you can access them fast when we need it."
"Right." Harry nodded as he sat down in front of the monitors. "With this, both Spider-Man and Ghost Spider are ready for action." He smirked in satisfaction.
"Still can't believe you're going with Spider-Man of all things." Gwen shook her in disappointment.
"It's simple and direct. I think it's catchy. Plus I don't think calling myself Ghost Spider would be any accurate since we'd be pretty out in the open." Peter shot back.
"You'd be pretty out in the open. I don't want to be seen and get shot at."
"That better not make me the meat shield."
"You have the better durability so…"
"Gwen!"
"Hey, you said it, not me!"
"Guys!" Harry clapped his hands which caught the two's attention. "If you're done, I take it you two are ready for this?"
Silence pressed down on them, both Harry and Gwen glanced at Peter as they noticed that he was slightly more tense today. He looked tense and slightly afraid even.
"...Are you two sure you want to join me? I can go out there on my own, you know? You guys can find another way to test out Gwen's powers." Peter suggested.
"No." Gwen firmly rejected it. "I'm joining you, Peter. I don't know why you're so adamant on going out there as a vigilante but someone needs to watch your back."
Peter looked at her and then at Harry; he could see they were serious about it. He sighed as he knew that he wouldn't change their minds about it. Not like he could just go and be Spider-Man all on his own, both of them would immediately narrow down on him once they heard someone with spider powers was going around saving people.
"Fine, but we'll see if you're feeling the same way once we start swinging." He smirked.
Gwen paused at that, "...Do we have to web swing? Why can't we just, I don't know, parkour around the roof?" she asked with some trepidation in her tone.
"Of course we do! It's faster and I kinda enjoy it." Peter shrugged as he smirked underneath his mask.
"Course you do…" Gwen muttered.
"Now come on, just remember my advice and you should be good." Peter chuckled as he patted her back and made his way out of the train cart. Gwen grumbled about 'adrenaline freaks' before following after him.
Harry merely chuckled as he watched them go.
[-]
THWIP
"Woah, what's that?!"
THWIP
"Are those mutants?!"
THWIP
"Whooo!" Peter whooped as he swung through the buildings. He launched another web strand and swung into a corner, without effort he released the web and launched himself high in the air. He let gravity take over before he gracefully landed on a roof.
'God I missed that.' He smiled. The feeling of air rushing through him as he swings was always one of the best parts of being Spider-Man.
"Oof!" Gwen stumbled when she landed right beside him. Gwen then pulled her mask over her face so she could take deep breaths to calm her rapidly beating heart.
"Haha, You okay?" Peter asked as he chuckled.
Gwen turned towards him with wide eyes. "How are you so good at this?! I thought I was going to die every time I let go!"
Peter shrugged, "Talent I guess. Always wanted to be a stuntman." He wasn't lying on that part. His past self had apparently thought about it before he discovered photography. Then Gwen dragged him into the science field and here he was. "You remembered what I said?"
Gwen nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Work with momentum and trust the Spidey-Sense. Does this get any easier?"
"Way easier. You'll learn to love it." Peter said before he looked over the edge of the building. "Harry, you got anything?" He asked as he pressed his comms.
"Nothing much— Wait, the cops were called. Someone heard a call for help and a gunshot."
"Where?" Gwen asked in alarm.
"I've set it down on the map. You should see it." Harry answered. As if on cue a map appeared at the corner of their vision and showed the location of the phone call.
"Got it! Ready for our first action?" Peter glanced at Gwen with some concern in his tone.
Gwen pulled down her mask and nodded, "Let's do this."
Both shot out their webs and pulled. Peter flowed into the rhythm of the swing easily as he shot and released the web at a certain tempo as he swung. Gwen on the other hand lagged behind as she wasn't used to it but she was getting there.
Gwen released a breath as she released the web and shot out another. She was fully aware that she should feel some strain due to the momentum and weight of her body. But with her enhanced physique, all she could feel instead was the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her as she swung through the air. She kinda started to like it. The air that flowed around her and the feeling of freedom. It made her excited.
'I can see why Peter is so into this.' She laughed as she glanced ahead toward her partner. Who was much faster and much more of a natural at this. 'Still freaky with how good he is at this though, it's like he's been doing this his whole life…'
She turned at the corner and landed at a building that Peter perched on. Peter glanced behind him and gestured for her to be quiet. Gwen couldn't help but narrow her eyes in suspicion as she looked down from the perch right beside him.
Below them was a pretty big alleyway. On one side she could see a truck parked at the edge of the alleyway. Around the vehicle were four casually dressed people. If it weren't for the weapons in their hands, she would think they were having a smoke break.
"Please, we were just passing through. Let us go."
"Let you go? Something tells me you won't really keep this to yourself out of the goodness of your heart, so why should I?"
Gwen looked to the other side of the alley where she could see three guys threatening a family of three. The husband was trying to reason with the thug in front of him while he moved his wife and son behind him.
The thug aimed his gun at the man, "Drop everything you got and I might just spare you."
The husband hurriedly nodded, "Of course, just please don't hurt us."
"We gotta help them." Gwen urged.
Peter nodded, "I'll take the ones by the family, you'll take the ones by the truck. Watch your strength, you are stronger than them. You could kill them if you're not careful."
Gwen nodded, Peter had mentioned it when they tested their powers. "I'll try."
"I'll distract them first, then you drop down when I give the signal alright?" Peter suggested.
Gwen hesitated before she nodded. "Be safe."
"I will." With that, Peter leaped forward. Without pause, he launched a web line toward the thug's gun and pulled.
"What the–?!" The thug exclaimed as the gun was snatched from his hand. Peter caught it as he landed right beside him; the thug wasn't even able to widen his eyes before he spun and kicked him right in the stomach as Peter tossed away the gun.
The thug flew away from the force and crashed into his friend. The two crashed into the wall and fell down with a groan.
"Woah!"
"What the fuck?!"
"Hands in the air freak!" The final one of the three thugs by the family aimed his gun at Peter. "The fuck are you? One of those muties?!"
"Woah dude! Chill on the slur, we have kids here." Peter admonished as he gestured toward the terrified kid. He looked completely relaxed despite the gun pointed at him to the point Gwen wondered where he even got that bravery from. "They call me Spider-Man."
"They? Who's they?" The thug asked in confusion. "I ain't never heard of you."
"Well of course you didn't, kinda my first day so would appreciate it if you go easy on me." Peter— No, Spider-Man said as he loosened himself.
"What are you doing?"
"Stretching!" He casually replied as he stretched his arms.
"Stretching?!" Some of them exclaimed, clearly confused.
"Yeah, don't wanna hurt myself from beating all of you." Spider-Man replied as he cracked his neck and walked forward. The thug shifted his aim to follow and as Gwen noticed, away from the family.
"You are stretching, because you don't wanna hurt yourself?" The thug that had aimed his gun at Spider-Man muttered, completely baffled by what he was experiencing.
"Yeah, kinda obvious. Why are you guys so— OH! I see the problem now." Spider-Man nodded as if something had just dawned on him.
"Oh, do you now?" One of the thugs by the trucks sarcastically replied. Gwen couldn't help but agree with him.
"What the hell…?" Gwen whispered with shock.
"Okay, so I'm not seeing things. Good." Harry muttered in their comms.
"Oh my bad guys, should have done this from home." Spider-Man waved his hand as if to apologize. Gwen idly noticed that the thug beside Peter had also lowered his gun. "Yeah, we should probably get this on NOW!" He exclaimed as he shot a web line at the gun aimed at him and pulled it away before webbing the thug to the wall with his other hand.
Gwen didn't hesitate to follow as she jumped from the roof the moment Peter shouted. She launched a web line towards the two guns from the thugs' hands and pulled them away before she landed between them.
"Oh shit!"
"There's another one–!"
The two didn't manage to say more before she swept their feet off the ground and webbed them to it just like Peter did.
Gwen looked up when her Spidey-Sense tingled and widened her eyes when she noticed two more thugs aimed their guns at her from beside the truck. Fear gripped her heart as her eyes met their barrels. Her nerves were alight, ready to make her move before her Spidey-Sense calmed down just as fast as it tingled.
"Danger from above!" Peter's voice can be heard as two web shots sped past her and webbed the two guns to the wall. Gwen could then see Peter somersaulting above her as he fired two more web lines at the thugs. With the web line attached to them, he pulled them up and webbed them on top of the truck as he landed right beside them.
Gwen released a breath she didn't even know she was holding. It was over, just like that….
"Damn, all of that in a few seconds? They didn't stand a chance…" Harry spoke up in their comms, clearly impressed. But Gwen was too distracted to notice.
Peter chuckled when he heard that. "Hey Ghost Spider, you doing okay?" He called her codename but got worried when he didn't get a response.
Gwen took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before she nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. The guns freaked me out a bit." She had seen guns multiple times, seeing as her dad was a cop. But having one aimed at her was still a bit nerve-racking. She wondered how Peter managed to handle it.
She mentally berated herself for freezing up. She would have collected herself quickly and she was sure her Spidey-Sense was ready to move her body for her at the last second. But a second was precious when in a fight. That lesson was drilled extensively by her father and her self-defense teacher. If Peter wasn't there to help, it might have gone a lot worse if she was a tad slower.
"Hey, you sure you're okay?" Peter asked from right beside her. He must have dropped down from the truck when she was busy collecting herself.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Check on the family first." She urged him. She would do it but she wasn't confident that she would be able to pull it off at her current state.
Peter hesitated before he nodded, "Okay then if you're sure." He said before he headed toward the family.
The family looked up in slight alarm when they saw him. "Oh god." The husband muttered.
Peter held up his hand as he stopped at a safe distance. "Hey, hey relax. I'm not gonna hurt you."
"You aren't?" The man asked with a mix of hope and suspicion in his tone.
"Nope. You guys are safe now. You guys better go though, at least until the cops show up." He advised.
"Are– Are you a mutant?" The wife suddenly blurted out.
Peter paused, "Well, no."
"How come?" She asked while her husband looked at her incredulously.
Peter chuckled, "Well I got my powers from a radioactive spider bite for one."
"Riiiiight." The wife drew out. She clearly didn't believe him.
"Are you like a superhero?" The kid now asked curiously.
"Yeah like a superhero!" Peter nodded.
"Cool!"
"I know right!"
"Well, in any case, we should go. Come on." The husband urged as he pulled away his family from the alley. The child glanced behind him once in a while with a large smile.
Peter shook his head in amusement before he walked toward Gwen. The young woman was distracted as she was checking on the thugs' bodies. She then pulled out their phones and looked through them. She checked them over and hummed in realization.
"Something on your mind?" He asked as he stood beside her.
"These are burner phones," Gwen stated before she stared at the truck. "Check the back of the truck."
Peter didn't question it as he headed to the back and lifted the covers. His lenses narrowed. "Guns. Lots of them."
"Arms dealing? But in such an open place?" Gwen asked as she looked around. The alley was a bit hidden but wasn't like it wasn't accessible to the public.
"They were probably just about to transport it." Peter stated as he looked around. "And the family just so happens to see them putting the last of them in here." He finished as he saw an unused barrel at the side of the truck. He lifted it and could smell the faint scent of gunpowder inside. "Yep, they were using barrels to transport it into the truck."
"And the gunshot?" Gwen asked curiously.
"Probably nerves or trying to stop the family from running away." Peter speculated. "Either way, it seems like these people were amateurs because they were doing a shitty job at this." He remarked.
"Amateurs or not, how the hell did they even get their hands on these?" Gwen asked.
"Probably as a third party, they were just transporting the goods. It didn't belong to them. I'm guessing some insider gave them the work to prove themselves." Peter speculated before they heard the sound of sirens. "But that's for later."
"We should go then. Should we take the phones? The cops might be able to use them."
Peter narrowed his eyes. "I'm trusting my gut on this one, leave some for them but we'll take the rest. Oh and don't forget to remove the batteries."
Gwen hesitated but decided to comply. Peter sounded so sure and it's affecting her.
She left two burner phones and removed the batteries from the ones that she took before she followed Peter. Both of them shot out web lines toward the top of the building and pulled themselves upward and onto the roof.
"What are you guys gonna do with those phones?" Harry asked in their comms.
"Put them in safekeeping for now." Peter held out his hand for the phones. Gwen hurriedly gave them to him and he put them inside one of the pouches on his utility belt. "We'll start cracking them when we get back. For now, we'll continue our patrol."
"Would that be okay? Won't we be wasting time?" Gwen asked with some concern.
"Helping people is never a waste of time." Peter softly admonished. "Plus if the cops manage to get a lead and start to move, Harry will hear it on the radio. If they don't… well it just means we need to pick up the slack."
"Right, one thing at a time I guess."
"Exactly. Can't be everywhere at once after all, so we do our best." Peter advised, though with how he had spoken it seemed more like he was trying to say that to himself.
Gwen sighed before lifting her mask to look at Peter properly. "How are you so good at this? You're so calm, even when a gun is literally aimed at you!"
Peter paused before he glanced at her, "I'm terrified actually but the jokes kept me collected. Helps mess with their minds too."
"Makes sense I guess." Gwen muttered but it was clear she didn't believe him.
"Uh, guys. You two better make a move on. The cops are almost there." Harry spoke up.
Both of them noticed that the sound of sirens was getting louder. Peter and Gwen looked at each other before they made a move toward the edge of the building.
"We'll talk about this later," Gwen said as she pulled her mask back down and shot a web line.
"Right." Peter muttered as he swung away.
'I need to dial myself down a bit, Gwen is getting suspicious.' Peter realized. Part of him can't help but feel like that would be much harder said than done.
[-]
The rest of the patrol wasn't as exciting after that. They helped a tourist find their way, helped an old lady cross the street with her groceries, and took a cat down from a tree. There wasn't even any mugging! Gwen was a bit disappointed but Peter was relieved. He'd rather not put Gwen into any danger much more than necessary after all.
'Was this how Mr.Stark felt with me back then?' He pondered to himself as he swung through the subway system. He was planning to head straight to the entrance of their base but Gwen had suggested they use a different entrance instead. If someone saw them enter and Gwen and Peter headed out a few minutes later, it wouldn't take much to connect the dots if they investigated a little.
Peter did notice that Gwen was a bit quiet when they swung back to their base. He wondered if she was still suspicious about his skills. The fight from before was already a close call, so he was glad there wasn't anything as bad as that.
Both of them then arrived at the station, quickly entering the cart as they did so.
"Might need to repurpose the other carts into a changing room or something." Gwen finally talked.
"If we're planning to start changing from here every day, sure." Peter agreed as he took off his mask now that they were in a hidden area.
Gwen quickly followed suit and pulled her mask off as they entered their lab/communications room.
"The two heroes finally return." Harry smirked as he turned toward them. "So, how does it feel?"
Gwen sighed as she slumped on a nearby seat. "Surprisingly mentally tiring." She replied with a tired look.
'Oh, so that's why she's so quiet.' Peter realized as he sat beside her. "Outside of that gunfight earlier, all we did was do the small stuff." Peter pointed out.
"Yeah, but it's just…kinda tiring. But also fulfilling in its own way. We didn't do anything big, but just the little things…it feels nice." Gwen smiled as she remembered all the grateful smiles she received.
Peter smiled, he could understand where she was coming from. In the previous timeline, he had been more focused on 'helping the little guys' after the whole Vulture fiasco. Sure he had enjoyed helping people before but he gained a new appreciation for it. Throughout that time, he realized that he didn't need to go around and prove himself to Mr. Stark just so he could belong and be accepted. He has already proven that he belonged in New York.
Thinking of Liz's dad reminded him of the burner phones they had taken before. He then sat up and made his way to the computers. He then took the phones out of his utility belt and plugged the cables into the phones.
"Are those the–?" Harry asked.
"Yep, it was the burner phones from before." He said as he started to type into the computer. He looked around and found the program he needed. He didn't hesitate to input the commands needed to run the program.
"What are you doing?" Gwen sat up and stood beside him with an inquiring look.
"Pulling the contacts and trying to see when and where was the last time the phones were used and who they were contacting." Peter answered as he ran the program. His eyes narrowed when multiple results came up.
"One of them called Pizza Hut yesterday…" Harry remarked dryly.
"Why would you use burner phones to have pizza delivered to you…?" Gwen asked incredulously.
"You think we can try to look for receipts or something and see where they sent that? Maybe they ordered that at their base of operations or something." Harry ignored her question and asked curiously.
"Or we could get that guy's home address instead." Gwen pointed out as she shook her head. "But it's still Peter's game here, what are you trying to do anyways?" She looked toward him with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm trying to see if we can minimize our search area." Peter answered as he looked through the contacts and put them on the map. Yes, including the pizza delivery call, they can't really ignore where the call had come from in case they missed anything. He managed to pinpoint when and where the calls took place and—
PING PING PING PING PING
Gwen looked closely at the marked locations. "These calls, they're very far apart from each other location-wise."
"Are we gonna have a stakeout session?" Harry asked excitedly.
"Yes, we are." Peter confirmed with a smirk. "The question is when."
"As soon as we can. After we get everything, we can give an anonymous tip to my dad." Gwen suggested.
"We still need to clean them up to make things easier for them. Wouldn't want your dad to arrive and see guns aimed at him." Harry pointed out.
Gwen winced as she imagined that scenario. "And here I thought we could avoid fighting altogether."
"Tomorrow, we can start the stakeout. We can split up and cover two locations each before rejoining at the last one." Peter suggested. "It's already getting late, so try to rest up for tomorrow. Especially since I'll be rejoining classes tomorrow…" He sighed.
"Oh yeah, Flash…" Harry grimaced as he patted his best friend's back. Both of them knew that Flash would open his mouth once Peter came back to school.
"He can try opening his mouth. We'll see if he likes to mock you when I'm around." Gwen narrowed her eyes.
Peter smiled but shook his head. "No need, Gwen. I'll just ignore him like always, it'll be fine."
Gwen gave him a look. "Peter, you can't let him walk all over you like this."
"She's right man, I mean you got superpowers now! You could just toss him around a little to show what's up." Harry smirked a little vindictively.
Gwen looked at Harry with narrowed eyes, but Peter spoke before she could.
"No!" He shouted. The two looked at him in shock. "No. I can't do that. Not ever. I won't hurt him or anyone without a good reason for that matter."
"Pete–" Harry began but Peter cut him off.
"No. That's the end of that." Peter firmly replied as he got out of his suit and made his way out of the cart.
"Peter!" Gwen called out but he ignored her and walked out of the cart. He stepped into the station and took a deep shuddering breath.
He remembered the last time he used his powers selfishly and what it had cost. He's in a new timeline now and he planned to not repeat his mistakes. Especially one that has cost him his surrogate father.
'Uncle Ben…' He still remembered that night when he lost him.
"Peter!" Gwen called out behind him. Peter sighed and turned toward her.
"What?"
"What was that all about? I get not wanting to use your powers irresponsibly but back there…" She glanced behind her and looked back at him with a questioning gaze.
"It's nothing, Gwen. I just…" He trailed off.
Gwen looked concerned as she stepped closer to him. She took his hands and held them gently. "You know you can talk to me right? What is it, Peter? You've been off ever since we gained these powers."
Peter became conflicted. He looked her in the eyes and was tempted to just spill everything. How he was from the future, how he had messed up, how he had lost his life, how he had died and even been framed for murder, and how he had lost his aunt and uncle.
But he didn't. He couldn't just unload that on her. He barely even knew what he was doing, he didn't even have a proper plan on how to tackle this new chance of his. He couldn't just tell her all of that.
"I think I'm just…a little overwhelmed." He lied.
Gwen looked him over. "Well, you have been oddly calm about this whole thing for the whole day."
"Yeah." Peter nodded. "I think I just need to unwind for a bit. Get back home, you know?"
"Yeah, sure Pete." Gwen nodded hesitantly as they let go of each other's hands. Peter turned and was about to leave before Gwen called him. "Hey Peter?"
"Yeah?" He looked back at her.
"I know that you're not telling me everything…" Peter widened his eyes a little but she cut him off. "You don't need to explain. Just…know that we're both here for you. That I am here for you."
Peter hesitated before he nodded and gave her a grateful smile. "Yeah. Thanks, Gwen. Good night."
"No problem, good night." Gwen returned the smile.
Peter turned back and made his way out of the station. He could feel Gwen's concerned gaze burning at the back of his head until he stepped out of the stairs. He took a deep breath and looked up at the dark night sky.
He looked around and wondered if he did the right thing by not telling her. It's one of those times that he wasn't sure if he was even doing the right thing.
'If Uncle Ben was here….wait a minute!' He paused. If Uncle Ben was here? He was still alive now! 'I could ask him for advice!'
There were moments in the previous timeline where he had wondered what Uncle Ben would have wanted him to do. This was one of those times and he can actually ask him about it!
Without pause, he started to run back home. Back to the man who has the answers he seeks.
[-]
"I'm home!" Peter called out as he entered the house.
"Welcome back! Why were you out so late?" A familiar voice replied.
Peter walked toward the living room and saw Uncle Ben sitting on the sofa. The man looked old, wrinkles could be seen on his aging face and white strands on his still black hair. But despite all of that, he looked happy and healthy.
Peter smiled as he walked over and gave his Uncle a hug. The man chuckled as he returned it. He had been giving the man a hug ever since he had come back to the past. Just to ensure the man was still there and everything was real.
"Not that I don't enjoy this, but you haven't answered the question." Ben gently reminded him.
"Ah right." Peter nodded, his mind a little frantic as he released him. "I was hanging out with Harry and Gwen. I had a bit too much fun that I didn't realize it was getting late." He excused.
Ben nodded at that. "Ah, I understand. Still, try to keep track of time next time."
Peter nodded, "Yeah, sure. Where's May by the way?"
"Asleep, she had a busy day at the center. Came back home and went right to bed." He chuckled good-naturedly before he noticed Peter's distracted look. Ben sighed and patted the seat next to him. "Why don't you take a seat, son? You look like something is on your mind."
Peter looked surprised before he complied with Ben's request. He sat beside him and leaned back into his seat with a sigh.
"Now why don't you tell me what happened?" Ben asked as he looked at him with gentle and warm eyes.
Peter looked at him with trepidation. His mouth opened and closed multiple times as he wondered what to even ask. Ben waited patiently, letting the young man beside him gather his thoughts.
"Uncle Ben…what would you do if you had this really great power? You could do a lot of things with it. Help a lot of people and even make the world a better place with this power. You always say that with great power comes great responsibility. So what would your responsibility be in that situation?" Peter asked as he looked at his uncle with pondering eyes.
He had always wondered if he was using his powers the right way. If he was ever using it responsibly. But now with Uncle Ben in front of him, he can have his answers.
Ben looked at him with a weird look at that. His eyes searched for something as he looked over him suspiciously before he stopped. Peter was confused. Did he say something wrong?
However, Ben didn't give him the time to think it over as he hummed. "That's a tough question, Peter. Well, I could just say I would help people or something along those lines but I don't think that's an answer you need." Ben paused as he looked at Peter with a considering expression.
Peter looked confused but waited for him to finish.
Ben thought it over before he nodded with a smile. "Yes, I think I would focus on myself first."
Peter widened his eyes at that. "W-what?! I thought we should use those powers responsibly, not for ourselves."
Ben raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, that is one way to decipher it but I feel like that isn't quite true." He noticed Peter looking a lot more focused when he heard that.
"What do you mean Uncle Ben?"
"It's true we shouldn't use that power selfishly and be mindful. That's what it means to be responsible with it, to use those powers to help people. But what I meant is that I should use that power to help myself first before I can help others."
"I'm still confused."
Ben chuckled but decided to elaborate. "Well think about the homeless shelter that May worked on. How are they helping the homeless?"
"By giving them a place to stay and even food until they can get back on their feet." Peter answered.
"And where do you think the shelter gets those?"
"With money?"
"And where is all that money coming from?
"From charity and the company that sponsors them."
"And how does the company and the people that donate that money gain them?"
"By working." Peter blinked in confusion. "I don't see where this is going."
Ben chuckled. "For someone so smart, you sure can still miss a few things. But that's okay, you're young. You're still learning."
Peter looked down. "But I still don't understand." He remarked frustratedly.
"I'll get straight to the point then. Sometimes, in order to help other people, you need to help yourself first. The analogy I was trying to make? Those people and that very company would not be able to fund the homeless shelter if they didn't build themselves up first. How can they give even a single dollar if they can't even put a roof over their head?"
Peter blinked as he thought it over. "I think I get what you're trying to say. So you're saying that I need to help myself first, like build myself up and be successful and everything, before I can truly help other people?"
Ben made a so-so gesture. "Close enough. It doesn't mean you can't help others as you build yourself up, but you still need to learn to prioritize yourself."
"But what if you can't help yourself? What if there's really nothing you can do to make things better?" He asked a little bit desperately.
"Well, that's when you ask for help from the people around you. You're not in this alone Peter, you're a great young man who has many great people around him. Ask for their help and they won't hesitate to aid you. Because when they help you, they know they help everyone else because of your kind heart."
Peter looked at his uncle as a saying echoed through his mind. "When you help someone, you help everyone."
Ben smiled and nodded. "Yes, that's one way to say it. Where did you get that?"
"Aunt May."
"Huh, I never heard that. She must have picked it up somewhere. That is a good saying." Ben smiled.
"Yeah, it is." He agreed as he tried to hold back the feelings inside him. It was a saying from his past timeline. He was pretty sure Aunt May picked it up when she worked in the homeless shelter.
"...What brought this on Peter?" Ben asked gently.
Peter looked at him and subtly rubbed his eyes to stop the tears from flowing. "Just…I was talking about something similar with Gwen and Harry. I…accidentally snapped at them about it and I kinda don't know what to do or what even is the right answer."
Ben nodded understandingly. "The three of you have been friends for so long, something like this won't destroy your friendship with them if that's what you're worried about."
Peter shook his head. "No, no. I had a talk with Gwen after that, she just wanted to know what was wrong and I kinda told her it was fine. I'm already planning on apologizing tomorrow."
Ben nodded as he patted Peter's shoulder. "Then you are already doing a good job of handling it as far as I see."
"Yeah. Thanks, Uncle Ben."
"You're welcome, Peter. I'm glad I could help. Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah, I feel a lot better now."
And for once in his life, Peter could comfortably say that he does feel better. He knew that there would be hardships he needed to face, especially to stop Thanos and hide the Infinity Stones. But for once, he felt like he finally knew what he was doing.
Chapter 5 - If You Don’t Speak Out Clearly, You’re No Different Than A Doll
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SKaine
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Chapter 5 - If You Don't Speak Out Clearly, You're No Different Than A Doll
Peter released a deep breath as he finally arrived at his school. It would technically be his first day of school since the unraveling and he was pretty nervous about it.
"You gonna be okay champ?" Ben asked with a worried tone when he noticed Peter's nervousness.
Peter glanced at his uncle and gave him a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just thinking about what to say to Harry and Gwen."
Ben had decided to drive him to school today since both of them were up early. Peter appreciated it and was more than happy to spend time with his uncle.
Ben smiled reassuringly. "It'll be fine Peter. Gwen and Harry will understand."
Peter nodded. His uncle's advice still rang in his head. He still wasn't sure how to work on himself but making sure his relationship with his friends remained solid would be a good start.
"You're right, I'll get going then."
"See ya at home then bud."
Peter opened the door and was about to leave. He hesitated for a moment before he went back in and gave his uncle a hug. Ben was surprised but chuckled as he patted the young man's back. He wasn't sure why his nephew had become so affectionate but he was more than happy to accept this new change.
Peter released his uncle and gave him a bright smile. "Bye Uncle Ben!"
"Bye, Peter!"
Peter got out of the car and made his way to his school. He glanced back and gave a final wave to Uncle Ben as he drove off. He could see Uncle Ben smiling at him as he left. It felt good.
"Well if it isn't Puny Parker."
'Well, at least that's better than Penis Parker.' Peter sighed. His good mood was immediately ruined when he heard that voice.
He turned around and saw Eugene 'Flash' Thompson making his way toward him with the rest of his goons. A smug smirk could be seen on his face.
"What do you want, Flash?"
Flash scoffed, "Just surprised to see you, that's all. I knew you were a wimp but to faint from a spider of all things? That's just pathetic. If that happened to me I would never show my face ever again."
The rest of his goons laughed. He was pretty sure he knew their names but currently, he didn't really feel like remembering.
"Come on Flash, do we really have to do this? I'd rather do anything else right now."
Peter glanced over at the source and saw Liz Allan. Unlike in the previous timeline, she was blond and blue-eyed. She looked much more attractive than the Liz he remembered but she also seemed much more…bitchier for a lack of a better word.
However, it didn't seem like Liz was focused on him. No, in fact she looked rather distracted, her eyes looking over the area as if she were trying to find someone.
"Looking for Harry?" Peter blurted out. It wasn't much of a secret that Liz was into Harry. Harry was charming after all and had made a pass at a few girls at school.
Between Flash and Harry, he was willing to bet that half of the girls at Midtown were admirers of them.
Liz's eyes scrutinized him for a moment before her eyes softened. "Yes actually. Seen him around?"
"Really Liz?" Flash groaned, not hiding his jealousy at all. "What do you even see in that guy anyway? He hangs out with Puny Parker all the time and for all we know, the guy is into Stacy!"
Liz narrowed her eyes at Flash. "You don't know that for sure!"
Flash winced when he saw her look and glanced at Peter. "Parker, you always hang out with them. Tell her what I say is true." Liz and the rest looked at Peter with an inquiring look at that.
A part of Peter couldn't help but feel a bit nervous with all the people looking at him. But another part of him decided to follow a little bit of Harry's advice and try to fight back.
Peter raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "And why should I do that?"
"Parker." Flash growled threateningly. Peter stood his ground and narrowed his eyes which caused Flash to look surprised.
'Since when did he grow a backbone?' Flash thought to himself.
"You better not be doing what I think you're doing Flash."
Everyone looked to the source and saw Gwen and Harry making their way toward them. Gwen was glaring daggers at Flash while Harry looked amused.
"...I hadn't done anything." Flash muttered as he took a step back from Peter.
"Uhuh." Gwen looked unconvinced and glanced at Peter.
Peter managed to detect the inquiring look and shrugged. "He didn't, don't worry. They were just asking if you and Harry were a thing or not."
"I could do better." Came the immediate reply from Gwen and Harry respectively. Both of them glanced at each other and smirked in amusement at their shared thoughts. However, the scoff from Liz made it clear that she didn't share that sentiment in the slightest.
Peter looked at Flash and a little subtly at Liz. "You got your answer."
"Whatever." Flash scoffed before he walked away. The rest of the jocks joined him. Which left Liz and her followers with them.
Some of the girls clearly wanted to talk to Harry but Liz's glare made them stop. She then made her way to Harry with a sweet smile as if she hadn't just told a bunch of girls to back off with a look.
"Hey, Harry~" Liz greeted.
"Liz." Harry returned it cordially. "What can I help you with?"
"So Mr. Cobbwell told us in the last class that we'd be having pair work today and I thought I could be your partner." Liz requested while she played with her hair.
Harry still maintained his cordial and charming smile but years of friendship allowed both Gwen and Peter to see that Harry was a bit hesitant with the idea.
"You sure? My pal Pete here is much better at chemistry you know? I'm sure he can help out." Harry suggested. Liz clearly didn't like that with the slightly distasteful glance she threw at him.
In the previous timeline, that would have broken his heart in a million pieces. But in this new timeline, Peter had gotten rid of his crush on her a long time ago when Liz had taken amusement from Flash's bullying of him.
"Thanks but no thanks, Harry. Gwen had already taken permanent dibs as my science partner, remember?" Peter smiled innocently.
"Yes Harry, permanent dibs." Gwen gritted out as she hugged one of Peter's arms to her chest. She gave a dark look to Harry for even daring to suggest it.
"Right, forgot about that. Sorry, Gwen." Harry quickly apologized.
"Make sure to remember it next time."
"Of course." Harry looked at Liz, who had an expectant look on her face. "I'll think about it, Liz."
"Great! I'll see you in class later~!" Liz winked at Harry before hurrying away from them. She gave a small look of gratitude toward Peter before she walked away. The rest of her little followers giggled right behind her as they waved at Harry before following Liz.
Peter shook his head. He guessed Liz had thought it was him giving her a chance with Harry. He's not gonna change her mind on that, the less chance of incurring her wrath the better.
Between Flash and Liz, he'd rather deal with a pissed off Flash before he'd deal with an irate Liz.
'Girls can be vindictive.'
"I will never understand why you can't just say no to her." Gwen muttered as she gave an unimpressed look to Harry.
"She has rich parents, Gwen. I won't hear the end of it if my father finds out I passed out on a chance to make some connections with her." Harry sighed.
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Peter muttered.
Liz's parents thankfully weren't criminals in this timeline. Well at least as far as he knew anyway. But his past self had seen them before and both of her parents were the stereotypical rich parents that probably had doted a little too much on their daughter. He doesn't know what kind of business they do but judging by Harry's words, it was enough for his father to be interested in making connections with them.
Silence fell on the trio as they realized it was finally just them. Gwen gave a nervous look at the two as Harry and Peter glanced at each other.
"Sorry." They both paused when they realized that both of them had said it at the same time.
"You go first." Harry suggested.
"Nah, you do it."
"Pete, you go first."
"Nope, you go."
"One of you better say something else or I will smack you two." Gwen interrupted with an unimpressed tone.
The two gave a sheepish laugh before they glanced back at each other.
"Sorry Harry, I shouldn't have snapped at you yesterday like that. You just wanted to help." Peter began first.
"No, I should be saying that. You were pretty serious about using them responsibly, I should have thought it through." Harry smiled.
"We'll call it even then. So, are we cool?" Peter smirked as he held out his hand.
"Yeah, we're cool." Harry nodded as they did their secret handshake.
Gwen smiled. "Feel better now?"
"Yup."
"A little bit, yeah."
"Good, now come on. We're gonna be late for class, I also got a few things I want to ask Peter here." Gwen gestured for them to follow. The two followed her as they made their way inside.
"What do you want to ask?" Peter asked curiously.
"So about those tracers, I can't even understand some of the mechanisms inside." Gwen began.
"Oh, those are for our Spidey-Sense." Peter whispered low enough so no one overheard them.
"Wait, what? How the hell is that even possible?!"
"You see the mechanism works like this–"
Peter's voice trailed off as the three went deeper into the school. Behind them, there was a silver-haired girl who looked at them curiously before she looked at the school with a sigh.
"First day on Midtown High, yay." The girl drew out in a bored way before she made her way inside.
[-]
Peter sat at the lab and brought out his books and school appliances. He set them on the table and did a mental check on all of them before he nodded in satisfaction. Everything was on the table and accounted for.
He looked around the lab. He could see Harry sitting next to Liz. The pair was sitting at the table to his right. The girl had taken the chance to talk his ears off while Harry tried to politely listen and looked like he cared about the brand of fingernail paint she was using. He doesn't envy his best friend in the slightest.
He could see Harry glancing at him, for a moment his cordial facade cracked a little as his eyes screamed at him.
'Help me!'
The message was clear to him, but all he could do was give him a smile.
'Sucks to be you.'
One of Harry's eyes twitched. 'You bitch!'
"Harry? Are you listening?" Liz suddenly asked.
"Uh yeah Liz, you were talking about that skirt you just bought."
"Yeah, it's pretty expensive but it has like, the cutest color so I had to have it–"
Peter drowned them out, not at all interested in their discussion topic. He then looked to the front and noticed Gwen having a pretty heated discussion with Mr. Cobbwell. He had called up Gwen to the front when he entered the class and was talking about something he didn't bother to focus on.
He glanced to the side and noticed a silver-haired girl looking rather nonchalant standing there. She wore an expensive-looking leather jacket on top of her black shirt with a V-line that was low enough to show off her bountiful chest. She wore blue jeans that hugged her long legs nicely and finished it off with black shoes.
She looked beautiful, in a bad girl sort of way. That fact was not missed by the rest of the class. He could see the guys and even a few girls looking at the girl with interest. He didn't even blame them, he was staring at her too.
The girl seemed to realize that she was being stared at. Her eyes looked away from the argument happening before her (with how passionate Gwen was expressing herself, it had definitely evolved from a discussion to an argument) and trailed over the classroom. Some looked away, some gave her a suggestive smile or some such when she noticed them but she paused when her eyes landed on Peter.
He didn't know why but he maintained eye contact with her. Either because he refused to be embarrassed or because he was caught in the act and was too caught up in his nerves to actually look away. It's a fifty-fifty chance.
The girl looked slightly amused and gave him a wink. He was sure he was blushing since her smirk widened before she focused back on the argument. He decided to do the same, all that passion from Gwen was making him worry.
"Okay, I can get not partnering with Peter but why not just make her my partner?" Gwen gestured toward the new girl. The girl looked a bit confused but didn't say anything.
Mr. Cobwell sighed, clearly exhausted from reasoning with Gwen. He can relate there. "Miss Stacy, between you and Mr. Parker you have the higher score in your test results and Mr. Davis could use the help. You have experience with tutoring Mr. Thompson correct?"
"...Yes." Peter could visibly see the effort it took for Gwen to say that.
"Then you can see why I'd rather have you help the struggling student and have Mr. Parker help the new student catch up?"
"...Yes." Sheesh, he can actually taste that now.
"Good. Can you please make your way to the seat beside Mr. Davis? I need to start my class 2 minutes ago."
Gwen's shoulders slumped. "Yes sir."
Gwen made her way to the seat at his back, he gave her a reassuring smile when she walked past him. She returned the smile and then dropped it when she saw the excited look of Brad Davis. He glanced behind him and could see Brad attempting to make some small talk with Gwen. He looked around and noticed some girls glaring daggers at Gwen. It wasn't a hidden secret that Brad was into Gwen.
In the theoretical 'popular and hot guys' list in Midtown High, both Flash and Harry tied at first. Below them in second place was Brad Davis. Apparently, in this new timeline, Brad was the same age as him instead of being a few years younger.
He still had the same effect on the girls as he did in the previous timeline though. He looked fit and handsome, so of course the girls would be after him. Gwen on the other hand was as interested in him as she was interested in watching paint dry. She tried to let him down gently of course but it never seemed to stick. He was betting that Gwen would explode on him sometime soon.
He'd pity the poor guy if it wasn't for the fact that in the previous timeline, he'd nearly ruined his chances with MJ and destroyed his social life forever. Sure it's a different timeline but he liked to think he was justified in being so vindictive.
'Shows him for trying to show MJ a really compromising pic of me.' He mentally cheered.
"Now then class, if I may have your attention." Mr. Cobbwell called out. The class looked at him curiously. "As you can see we have a new transfer student. Please introduce yourself."
"Sup, the name's Felicia Hardy." She smiled at them. The guys looked excited when they heard this but Peter was more worried about the brief but lingering look she sent him.
He could hear Mr. Cobbwell mutter "Good enough" before he spoke to the class. "If you have any questions for Miss Hardy, save it for after class. Mr. Parker, raise your hand please."
He swore he could see Felicia's eyes twinkle when he raised his hand.
"Thank you. Miss Hardy, Mr. Parker will be your lab partner for today's activity. You can take your seat."
"Thanks, teach." Felicia thanked him before quickly making her way toward him. Each step she took caused his nervous level to rise.
She then took a seat beside him. She pulled out her own stuff and sorted them on the table. She glanced at him and could see the nervous look in his eyes.
She chuckled. "Relax, I'm not gonna bite you. Unless you're into that~"
Peter groaned, which caused her to laugh a little. She then offered her hand. "Felicia Hardy."
Peter looked at the hand and shrugged. What the hell, might as well roll along. "Peter Parker, nice to meet you." He shook her hand.
"Soooo, Peter Parker." She began before she leaned in close to him. "Mind telling me why the blondie at the back is giving me the death glare?" She whispered.
Peter looked at her in confusion. In response, she gestured to the back with her eyes. Peter glanced behind him, Brad was still trying (and failing) to get Gwen's attention because she was actually busy glaring holes at the back of Felicia's head.
Gwen noticed that he noticed her glaring at Felicia. Peter gave her a worried look. Gwen looked embarrassed that she got caught and looked away with a blush. Which seemed to be a bad move because Brad had thought it was because of him and renewed his efforts.
Peter turned back to his table, a bit exasperated by her actions. "She's a bit…possessive about being my lab partner."
Felicia raised an eyebrow. "You two an item or something?"
"What? Oh no, she could do better anyway." Peter waved it away.
"Low confidence isn't attractive Petey. There's gotta be a reason why she's so adamant about partnering with you. She was pretty passionate about it with the teacher there, and it takes a lot for a pretty girl like her to be so adamant about it." Felicia inquired.
Peter looked at her, she could see the curiosity in her eyes. Peter then sighed and decided to elaborate. "Gwen is smart, really smart. Didn't really make many friends in middle school because of it until I came along. Not to brag, but I'm pretty smart too."
"Ah, so two lonely nerds discover each other and make a bond that lasts a lifetime. Tell me, am I in the proverbial ballpark?"
Peter snorted. "No, that's pretty much it. Just toss in a problematic rich kid and you got the disaster trio."
Felicia laughed at that. Peter matched her mirth as he noticed how beautiful her laugh was.
Mr. Cobbwell had given them their task and Felicia had impressed him with how smart she was. She wasn't Gwen but she was somewhat keeping up with him. She was a bit of a flirt though but he could tell it was all in good fun, something that he got used to and played along with.
"You're doing much better than I thought." Peter complimented.
"You can thank Mother dearest for that." Felicia smiled at him. Though he noticed a slight bitterness to it. "Can't have her daughter slipping her grades."
"Well, I don't think you'll need my help much. You'd probably be fine on your own." Peter smiled at her.
Felicia didn't seem to like that. "And lose your pleasant company? Guess I need to let my grades slip a little."
Peter scoffed in amusement. "You know a simple request of wanting to hang out would be enough right?"
"Yeah, but having you come over as a private tutor sounds spicy." Felicia gave him a suggestive smile.
"Shut up." Peter chuckled as he shoved her gently. Felicia laughed along with him.
The two had fun as they worked together, completely oblivious to all the stares they were getting from the rest of the students. Everyone was completely surprised that the unassuming Peter Parker was making the beautiful Felicia Hardy interested in him.
Well, not everyone was surprised by it. Harry looked proud of his best friend for charming a beautiful girl like Felicia while Gwen looked decidedly unimpressed. A part of her was even annoyed by it. It didn't help that Brad didn't seem to get the hint and continued to hit on her.
The class finally ended and everyone quickly packed up for their next class.
"Hey, Peter. What's your next class?" Felicia suddenly asked.
"Art class. Yours?" Peter answered. He was fine with the class but it's not one he shared with Gwen and Harry. So he wasn't exactly thrilled about it since he knew he would spend the majority of the time by himself.
Felicia smiled at that. "Lucky you, that's my next class too."
"Really?" Peter asked curiously as he packed his stuff.
"Check it." She pulled out her schedule and showed it to him.
Peter studied it carefully. "Huh, I'm gonna be sharing a lot of classes with you."
"Looks like you're stuck with me, Parker."
"Please, more like you're stuck with me instead."
The two made their way out of the class and into their next one as they joked and talked with each other. Harry and Gwen looked at them with mixed reactions.
"That's my boy." Harry wiped away a fake tear. The sheer pride he felt for his best friend was enough to bring him to tears. Gwen elbowed his side at that.
"Ow! What's that for?" Harry gave her an incredulous look as he rubbed his side.
"You know what that's for."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Not my fault that another girl saw what you saw in Pete. Peter is a great guy if some girls bothered to focus on him and I warned you someone will sooner or later."
"I didn't think it was gonna be this soon…" Gwen muttered.
"Yeah well, Hardy looked like she noticed and I'm betting it won't take long for her to consider dating him."
Gwen glared at Harry but he stood his ground. "You know I'm right, Gwen."
Gwen didn't answer as she looked in the direction Peter had gone with a complicated look.
"Hey Harry, ready for our next class?" Liz asked as she stood beside Harry. Harry did not miss the slightly displeased stare she sent toward Gwen. He should probably address that but Gwen did not put him in a good mood. So he decided to follow Liz and let Gwen sort herself out.
For once, he actually gave Liz a genuine reply. "Sure, Liz!"
"Great~!" Liz was a bit surprised by the sudden enthusiasm but took it as her having a chance with Harry.
Gwen watched them go but didn't stop them. She knew she had probably made Harry a little mad and decided that it was pretty fair of him. She shouldn't have vented her stress at him like that, especially so physically.
"Hey, Gwen."
Speaking of stress, the source of it had thought it was wise to actually continue interacting with her despite every attempt of her to let him down gently.
"What do you want, Davis?" Gwen turned to him with an icy stare.
Brad was a bit surprised by the sudden hostility. "Uh, I just want to ask if you're ready for the next class. We could go there together since Osborn and Parker left you."
Gwen sighed and took a deep breath. "I don't know how else to lay it out for you so listen to me. I'm not interested, Davis."
"What? Come on, Gwen–"
"No, you're not listening. I am not interested. You are annoying and your attempts at flattery and romanticism are irritating. Get it through your thick skull and leave me alone." With her words spoken, she left Brad to his devices and walked her way out of the class.
She could hear the students in the class gossiping about it but she could care less. She had a few classes to go through by herself before she could meet back with Peter. She just hoped Felicia and Peter hadn't made too much of an impression on each other.
[-]
Classes were finally over and Peter sighed as he walked out. Felicia chuckled slightly as she walked beside him.
"You doing okay?"
"I'm fine, just glad everything is over." Peter waved it away.
"Were you tired of those classes? You were breezing through them." Felicia remarked with an impressed tone.
"Tired? More like boredom. There's nothing that's really…challenging you know?" Peter glanced at Felicia, who gave him an impressed look.
With three lifetimes' worth of info in his head, school was much more of a joke than it was in his previous timeline. If he had thought he had an easy time before, now he was actually breezing through them to the point of boredom.
The only subject he needed to actually worry about was History and even then he was sure he could ask Emma for help on that front.
"Yeah, I'm sticking by you if I want my grades to be good."
"Is that all I am now? Just your personal answer scheme?"
"Didn't I tell you? You're my personal tutor now and we'll be having a lot of personal sessions." Felicia gave him a saucy smile.
Peter chuckled. "You're impossible Felicia."
"Amazing, actually." She retorted. "So, where are we going?"
Peter paused and looked at her. "No one gave you a tour?"
Felicia shook her head. "Nah, they just gave me my schedule and told me good luck. The only reason I managed to reach class on time was because Mr. Cobbwell stumbled on me. And even then, I was already in front of his class."
Peter blinked at that. "Huh, that is some pretty good luck."
"What can I say, I'm a walking lucky charm." Felicia boasted.
"Yeah right."
"I'm serious! Some of the things that happened to me can only be described as good luck."
"Like what?"
"Okay, there was this one time when I was on the sidewalk. I stumbled on a fifty-dollar bill down on the road."
"You're pulling my leg." Peter jokingly replied.
"I'm serious!" Felicia chuckled.
"Okay, let's say I believe you. Then what?"
"Then when I dropped down to pick it up, a literal frisbee flew past my head and crashed into the window of the shop beside me."
"Geez, were you okay?" Peter looked at her with concern.
"I made out fine. Not even a scratch on me. Now this is the part where you really won't believe me."
"I already don't but go on." He quipped.
"Jerk." She chuckled but continued. "So apparently the shop was actually a cover for some criminals. The window breaking caused the alarms to activate. So there was this bunch of guys with guns running out and the first thing they saw was me in front of the broken window with a fifty dollar bill in my hand."
"That is clearly not a good look."
"They would agree since they immediately aimed their guns at me. But one of them stepped on the frisbee and somehow slipped on it." Felicia described with some incredulity.
"No way."
"Yes way."
"How did they slip on that?"
"That's not even the good part. The guy slipped on it and actually crashed into another guy. Apparently, they didn't learn about gun safety since their fingers were on the trigger and accidentally shot the other guys."
"W-what? How?"
"Yeah. By the end of it, everyone was on the ground nursing their bullet wounds as I stood there in the chaos of my good fortune."
"All that for fifty dollars…"
"And a pretty sweet cat necklace that I swiped off the counter." Felicia whispered conspiratorially as she pulled out a small necklace with the shape of a black cat's head.
"Isn't that illegal?"
"It's only illegal if you get caught~"
"Felicia!"
Felicia just rolled her eyes. "Relax, will you? They were criminals, it was fine."
Peter sighed. "Still, it's kinda hard to believe this story."
"Lucky for you, or me I guess, I still keep pics of it."
Peter looked at her expectantly. Felicia immediately showed it off once she found it on her phone. There he could see a selfie she took. Felicia was doing the peace sign and behind her, a bunch of men were on the ground on top of broken glass, the offending frisbee right beside one of them.
"Felicia."
"Yeah?"
"Can I keep you as my lucky charm?"
Felicia gave him a suggestive look. "I'm not that easy Parker."
Peter snorted. "No, I'm serious. I wished I could have luck as good as yours; god knows I could use it." Peter trailed off.
Felicia would have made a joke but noticed the look in Peter's eyes. "That bad?" She hesitantly asked.
Peter gave her a dry smile. "My family calls it the Parker luck for a reason." His eyes then looked to the front and groaned. "And speak of the devil…"
Felicia looked to where Peter had looked and noticed Flash making his way toward them. Judging by Flash's smirk, it didn't seem like he was here for small talk.
"Well, well, well. I thought it was just gossip but you really did charm the new girl." Flash laughed incredulously as he crossed his arms.
"I'm not sure which one I want to be flattered about, the fact that you kept such a close eye on me or the fact you believe in me so much to actually get a girl." Peter quipped much to Felicia's amusement.
Flash dropped his smile and growled. "Don't give yourself too much credit Parker."
Peter rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Flash?"
"Just giving a warning to your lady friend here." Flash glanced at Felicia. The girl merely scoffed at his words.
"I think I can take care of myself just fine." Felicia retorted.
"Yeah, sure." Flash clearly didn't believe her. "You can do a lot better than Parker here. He's broke and sure as shit can't treat you right."
"Is he now?" Felicia kept her features passive as she glanced at Peter.
Peter on the other hand can't help but look away. It was a bit of a sore spot after all. He was still figuring out how to get some income and help his surrogate parents. So far he only had his paid internship and the idea of patenting his Web Fluid.
'I need to get on that when I have the chance.' Peter mentally noted it to himself.
"Yeah, he is. Hanging with Parker would just be a waste of your time and you could do a lot better. If you talk with the right people, you could go far in life." Judging by the smile, by 'right people' he meant him and his goons.
Peter would love to point out that Felicia won't actually gain anything by hanging with Flash and his cronies. Judging by her passion for their Art class, she would be better off without them. Some of them were smart but the majority of them only excelled in the physical department.
Not that had stopped the students from forming your basic high school hierarchy around Flash. The Jocks did bring a lot of fame to the school due to their performance. Peter would have probably gotten caught up in it again in this new timeline but Peter Two's adult life showed that it was kinda pointless as he never really met any of the people in high school ever again and just moved on with his life.
Except for Peter Three. Apparently, he was best friends with his Flash Thompson and kept in contact.
But he was rambling now. He glanced at Felicia and waited for her decision. Sure he had fun talking to her but with how amazing she looked he had half expected someone to try and drag her into their social circle. By the end of the day, it was up to her, he had no control over who she should interact with.
Felicia looked at Flash and gave him a smile. "Thanks but no thanks."
"Huh?"
"Whether Peter here is good or not for me, I think I can decide that for myself." Felicia circled one of her arms around his own, hugging his arm to her chest before she dragged him away. "So buzz off will ya?"
Flash didn't seem to like that as he tried to block their path. "You're making a mistake."
"Girls don't like pushy guys you know? And besides, you're not my type anyway." Felicia gave Flash an unimpressed look before she brushed him off.
Peter looked back and could see Flash fuming before he scoffed and walked away. Peter then looked back at Felicia and gave her an impressed smile.
"That went better than I expected." Peter remarked.
"You really think I'm gonna go with the dumb brute? Please, I have better standards than that."
"The rest of the girls in school would disagree with you if they heard that."
"Well, I'm not like the rest of the girls am I?"
Peter snorted. "True."
Felicia nodded with satisfaction as she unconsciously leaned her head on his shoulder. "Glad we got that sorted out. Now show me the cafeteria, my treat." She winked at him.
Peter gave him an unimpressed look. "If this is about Flash's comment then you don't need to–"
"No actually, I just wanted to thank you for being so kind to show me around. Consider it my reward for you. Unless you want something else~?" She asked innocently. Though the twinkle in her eyes made him pretty sure it wasn't as innocent as he liked to think.
"Fine." He sighed.
"Good, now lead the way because I'm starving."
"Right this way." Peter chuckled and guided her to the cafeteria.
It wasn't until they reached there and noticed all the stares did they finally realized that Felicia was still hugging his arm.
Gwen was unamused. Harry on the other hand was even prouder.
[-]
THWIP
Peter swung through the air with practiced ease. He scanned through his surroundings for any trouble as he web-slinged through the buildings. He was currently in his costume and had just finished staking out two possible arms-dealing locations that they had located yesterday.
He was on his way to meet up with Gwen at the last location. Ironically enough, it was the same place where the caller had ordered a pizza delivery.
Peter couldn't help but be worried when he was reminded of Gwen. She had been oddly quiet when they were about to patrol. It wasn't like she was mad at him (he would know if she was) but more so she looked like she was deep in thought. He had asked Harry about it and thankfully his best friend had told him that Gwen was just dealing with some things she had just realized about herself. He was a bit worried but Harry had told him that she would be fine.
He didn't really believe him but he decided to trust him on that.
Speaking of his best friend, he could hear Harry's voice speak through his comm.
"Okay, we're on a private channel so Gwen won't overhear us and I can't wait any longer. So spill."
Peter's lenses narrowed in confusion. "Spill what?"
"'Spill what' he says. Felicia Hardy? Dude we were gone for a few classes and by recess she was holding your arm and leaning on your shoulder like you're an item. So spill."
"I'm in the middle of patrol, can't this wait for later?" He groaned incredulously.
"Not when my hopeless best friend suddenly bagged down probably the hottest girl in our year. Don't tell anyone I said that by the way, I got a reputation to uphold."
Peter chuckled. "My lips are sealed. Also 'hopeless'?!"
"Peter, you might have gained superpowers but you are not winning any awards with your nonexistent love story."
"I'm not that bad…"
"Remember Carlie?"
"We promised not to talk about that! Besides, I was stupid back then!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night buddy."
"Oh, we're gonna do this now? We're talking about my nonexistent love life and yet you are in the same boat as I am." Peter remarked as he swung into a corner.
"That's different. I'm just keeping my options open."
"You sound like an indecisive girl trying to figure out which guy she would date just now, you know that right?" Peter chuckled.
"Yeah, I realized it right as it came out of my mouth."
"Anyway, I'm just around the corner to the last location. Better switch back to the normal channel." Peter suggested.
"Fine, fine. But we're not done with this."
The comm went silent and Peter sighed in exasperation as he swung in between two buildings as a shortcut. He wasn't that hopeless with romance, was he? He did pretty well in the last timeline. There was Liz— Wait no, he stood her up during the Homecoming dance and probably ruined any chance he had with her. He liked to think that his time on the Decathlon team had allowed him some progress with her but he had screwed that up when he prioritized being Spider-Man over being Peter Parker.
Then there's MJ. They had something good going on, well until Mysterio screwed up everything and became the indirect cause of the unraveling. His relationship barely even lasted a few months. A good chunk of the early parts of their relationship was worrying over his 'crimes' since Quentin revealed his identity to everyone and framed him for murder. He swore if he saw Quentin Beck in this new timeline and he's still evil, he might actually consider murdering him purely out of precaution.
Peter sighed as he landed on a rooftop, he wondered if he actually should even bother pursuing romance in this new timeline. He already had trouble managing his life as Spider-Man and Peter Parker, adding Thanos and the Infinity Stones he might not actually have a personal life.
The thought kinda scared him.
"Spider-Man?"
Peter glanced behind him and noticed Gwen. The young woman had crossed her arms and her lenses were looking at him worriedly. "You doing okay?"
Peter nodded hurriedly. "Yeah, yeah. Just deep in thought. Come on, let's get this over with." He then walked toward the warehouse in front of him. He'd think about the possible eradication of his social life later. He had a crime ring to bust.
Gwen looked at her partner with a worried look. Whatever Peter was thinking, it seemed to disturb him. She'd let it go for now but would be keeping a closer eye on him out of worry.
The two quickly leaped up to the warehouse's roof. It was already getting dark so they could use the shadows as a cover. Peter and Gwen looked through one of the windows on the roof.
"Bingo." Peter whispered.
They could see a lot of suspicious men down there, some of them stood guard and patrolled the warehouse while the rest were handling weapons. He looked around and noticed one large man. He was big, capital B big. The man was wearing a rather nice two-piece suit with the collars unbuttoned. However, what took his attention the most was his head.
"Is it just me or does his head look like a square?" Harry asked through their comms.
"No, it's not just you. I can see it." Peter remarked.
The man had a completely square head and good lord the materials he could make from this guy alone. He then tilted his head when he realized that there were a few armed bodyguards following the large man. He's probably the boss then. Said boss was walking pretty angrily toward one of the people there.
"That looks important, let's get inside." Peter suddenly said.
"What?!" Gwen whispered harshly but Peter didn't mind her as he immediately opened the window with surprising stealth. A plan was already in his head. If this square head was actually their boss then it would make it easier for them to bust down the rest of their operations. Relying on his Spidey-Sense, he crawled on the ceiling and reached a dark spot so that no one could see him.
He then crawled deeper into the warehouse as he followed the square-headed man. A small sound caught his attention and caused him to look behind, he saw Gwen finally following him on the ceiling albeit begrudgingly.
His Spidey Sense didn't tingle, so he took it as a good sign that no one noticed. He then glanced back at the people below him.
"Mr. Hammerhead sir, I didn't expect you to be here today." One of the men, probably the leader here, greeted Hammerhead. It was hidden but Peter noticed that the man looked rather nervous.
"Hammerhead? Well, that explains his eight head." Peter quipped. Though the name did sound familiar. Maybe Peter Two or Peter Three had encountered a version of him somewhere before? Before he could speculate further, Gwen shushed him so she could hear them without interruption.
"Yer know why I'm here today Lorenzo. There was supposed to be a delivery yesterday but they were no show. And I know the ones doin' them were your boys." Hammerhead growled threateningly.
Lorenzo took a few steps back as he noticed the bodyguards circling him. "I-I can explain, boss."
"I'll give yer ten seconds."
"Look there were some costumed freaks! My boys were caught by them and got webbed up for the pigs!" Lorenzo explained hurriedly.
"I think he's talking about us." Peter quipped.
Gwen gave him an unamused look. "Gee, what makes you say that?"
Hammerhead raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Ya tellin' me some costumed freaks caught a bunch of armed men pants down?"
"Could be muties boss." One of the bodyguards spoke up. "There were some rumors about swinging spider freaks 'round the city playin' hero."
"Hey, hey, watch your mouth, Leo. I got a nephew who's a mutant." Another bodyguard piped up who was clearly offended by the slur.
The previous bodyguard, Leo merely scoffed. "Didn't know we got a mutie lover here."
"Why you little–"
"Enough!" Hammerhead roared. The bodyguards flinched back when they realized that they were speaking out of turn in front of their boss. "I don't care if yer a mutant lover or a fish lover, get me info on these 'spiders'. Those freaks cost me my deal with Gargan and god knows what that psychopath will do to us for not deliverin' his toys." He ordered the men behind him.
"Yes boss." The two of his bodyguards nodded before they made their way out of the warehouse.
Hammerhead then turned to Leo and the other bodyguard. "I'm leavin' you two a warnin' since ya do yer job right. Speak out of turn again and yer sleepin' with the fishes. Got it?"
"Yes boss!" The two nodded fearfully.
"Lorenzo?" Hammerhead turned toward Lorenzo.
"Yes Boss?"
Without pause, Hammerhead pulled out a gun and shot Lorenzo's head off. Peter's Spidey-Sense saved him as one of his hands shot out and covered Gwen's mouth. Just in time too as Gwen gasped in surprise and fear. If he hadn't done that, it would have alerted the whole warehouse.
Peter himself wasn't as composed either though, he bit down on his emotions even as guilt racked through him. He probably could have saved that man instead of sticking around and watching, but if they revealed themselves now it would be disastrous. There's a plan inside his head and he must stick to it even as guilt gnaws at him.
"That's for hirin' idiots." Hammerhead growled as he lowered his smoking gun. Peter could hear Hammerhead mutter "A fuckin' pizza delivery…" under his breath before he looked around the warehouse.
"Aight ya lowlives, pack up everything! This place is compromised and we are movin'." Hammerhead ordered. The rest of the thugs quickly followed his orders as they packed up everything. They didn't want to be next on the chopping block after all.
"We need to stop him." Harry said through their comms. Steel-like determination could be heard in his tone.
"Couldn't agree more." Gwen growled as Peter pulled away his hand from her mouth.
"No, not yet." Peter stopped them. Gwen looked at him questionably. Peter held up his hand before she could speak. "Gwen, quickly get out and plant a Spider-Tracer on Hammerhead. If not him then on any of his guards."
Gwen's lenses narrowed in confusion before she widened them in understanding. She then nodded and quickly crawled out of the warehouse.
"What are you planning?" Harry asked in slight confusion.
"Just busting down Hammerhead now won't do much, his operations would still be at large and it would give him enough money to buy his way out of a life sentence." Peter began as his mind used the memories and experiences in his head as a reference point.
Peter Two and Peter Three had busted down a lot of crime rings and he was putting that knowledge to good use.
"If Gwen plants a Spider-Tracer on Hammerhead, we'd be able to track down every location and bust down every single one of them in one fell swoop."
"I thought your Spidey-sense can only sense it up to 100 yards? You guys would still be looking for a needle in a haystack." Harry remarked. He might have not understood the mechanics behind their gadgets but he paid extra attention to details that he did understand.
"That's where you come in, Harry." Peter smirked. "There are two signals it can emit. One that our Spidey-Sense can detect and another with a bigger range that the computer can detect. You just track it and mark down any location that Hammerhead had stopped at even if it looks normal."
"What's stopping Hammerhead from detecting it too?"
"The frequency is pretty damn hidden, so unless he got some state-of-the-art radio detector or something he's not gonna detect it for a while."
"Damn, you're a genius, Pete." Harry complimented. Peter could hear him furiously typing in the background. Gwen must have planted them already and Harry had just started tracking the signal.
"I try."
"Harry? Peter? This is Gwen. I planted the trace on Hammerhead and some of the guards. They won't suspect a thing." Gwen spoke through their comms.
"Good. Stand by at the entrance of the building, where the trucks are. Harry, inform us when Hammerhead is far enough from the building. We don't want him to suddenly come back now do we?"
"Got it!"
"Roger that!"
Peter released a breath as he leaned on the ceiling. Damn, that came much more naturally than he thought it would. He might be cut out for this leading shtick. He then waited for what he considered to be an eternity but he was sure that was just his nerves talking. His comms then blared to life.
"I'm in position."
"Hammerhead's pretty far out too. Ready when you are Spider-Man."
"Copy that." Peter took a deep breath as he looked down. He mentally counted that there were twenty people at most. Probably another ten near the entrance if he was being generous.
This would be their first fight where guns were actually fired. He wasn't religious but he prayed to any god out there so that Gwen stayed safe and for her to listen to her Spidey-Sense as he told her to.
With another deep exhale, he let go.
"Prepare for trouble!" He called out as he dropped from the ceiling and shot out multiple impact webs to certain areas.
As if on cue, Gwen landed on top of the truck. "And make it double!"
The impact webs exploded as Peter landed on a crouch. He looked around and did a mental count. The webs managed to explode and caught six of them. Good.
"Oh shit!"
"It's the Spider muties!"
"Shoot 'em!"
Peter leaped above their heads as the thugs started to fire their guns. Peter released multiple web shots to slam three more thugs to the walls with enough force for them to release their guns.
"Hey, you kiss your mother with that mouth?!" Peter quipped as he landed before he continued to move. Deftly avoiding gunfire as his Spidey-Sense guided him through the danger.
"Bold of you to assume he has a mother to kiss Spidey!" Gwen joined in as she somersaulted through the air. She released multiple strands of webbing and controlled them to ensnare the thugs around her.
"Hah! True that, Ghost!" Peter laughed.
"Keep my mother out of your damn mouth!" The thug angrily retorted as he tried to shoot down Spider-Man.
"Ouh touched a nerve did we? Does mommy know you're with these questionable strangers?" Peter mockingly asked as he webbed up one more thug to the wall.
"Did you get your stranger danger lesson from her yet?" Gwen added as her webs came alive and caught five thugs. Bioelectricity surged through the web line and shocked the thugs until they were unconscious.
"Look how dark it is outside, your bedtime is coming pretty close!" Peter webbed the thug that he was talking to. He then pulled the web line and launched the thug toward him. "Let me tuck you in!"
With a soft tap on his forehead, the thug was knocked out and webbed to the floor. Spidey then leaped away to avoid the incoming gunfire.
"Damn, they humiliated him." One of the thugs whispered incredulously.
"Don't think you're out of this either, bucko." Gwen spoke up and ensnared him and another five thugs and sent them to dreamland via electric shock.
Peter wasn't far behind as he leaped above five thugs, launching a web bomb in the middle of the group. The web exploded and covered all five of them in a large ball of webbing. Right as Peter landed, he turned toward the final four. Without pause, he released two web strands from each of his arms toward them.
Once they stuck to their respective targets, he pulled on the web as he flipped forward. He leaped over their heads as they smashed into the giant web ball. Peter immediately turned around and shot enough webbings to leave the four stuck to it.
"And that's that!" Peter cheered once his Spidey-Sense stopped tingling. God, it was so damn handy.
"You sure? They got guns inside that web ball." Gwen pointed out as she walked toward him and eyed the giant ball of webbing with some suspicion.
"Those webbings have higher tensile strength than steel and they have multiple layers of it pressing down on them. If they try to shoot their way out, they would just blow up their hands instead. And we don't want that now do we?" Peter aimed that question at the thugs inside the web ball.
They all hurriedly shook their heads in fear.
"Good. Now be good boys and wait for the boys in blue for us." Peter then walked away, his eyes landed on the sole dead body. Peter studied Lorenzo's face carefully before he closed his eyes and released a frustrated sigh.
Peter forced himself to look away from it. Hammerhead killed Lorenzo, it wasn't his fault. But it sure as hell felt like it. He wondered if he should have just said screw the plan and confront Hammerhead directly, they could take him that he knew for sure.
But he also knew that it would cost them their only lead to all of Hammerhead's operations around the city. If they don't cut off the money, Hammerhead would just buy himself out. Both Peter Two and Peter Three learned that the hard way when they had to deal with their own mafia bosses.
It's time like these he wondered if there was a better way he could have picked. Despite all the memories, he was still the kid from Queens that was way over his head.
"Spider-Man? You okay?" Gwen called out with worry in her tone. She had seen him looking at the corpse of Lorenzo and suddenly looking away after giving it a look long.
"...It's nothing, Ghost-Spider. Let's check on the truck and see what they were packing." Peter hurriedly made his way to the trucks at the entrance, ignoring the concerned lens of his partner.
Gwen sighed when she saw this. A bit frustrated that Peter was hiding things from her but decided to let him talk it out at his own pace. She glanced at the dead body before looking away just as quickly. She wasn't sure how to feel about Lorenzo. She just saw someone die and all she could feel from it was…nothing.
Rather than dwelling on it, she decided to join her partner.
They checked through the trucks and they could find a lot of weapons. Peter and Gwen grew increasingly worried as they checked the other trucks and saw more of them.
"Who would want all these weapons?" Peter asked aloud.
"Multiple buyers maybe?" Gwen suggested.
One of the thugs who was still conscious snorted at that.
Peter looked toward the source. "Something funny?"
The thug just shook his head. "Just somethin' yer said, don't worry about it."
"See you say that but now I'm just gonna worry." Peter mock gasped as he quickly made his way to the thug, who was stuck on the wall due to his webbing. "So, buddy ol' pal, can you tell us anything about who you're selling these to?"
"I ain't your 'buddy', bug." Thug sneered.
"Okay, firstly, Spiders are arachnids, not bugs. Where did you even get your education?" Peter asked.
"I dropped out." The thug casually mentioned it.
"Well, that certainly explains the stupidity." Gwen casually retorted.
"The fuck you say to me bitch?!"
"Okay! Let's calm down here!" Peter quickly got between them when Gwen looked ready to tear the thug's head off. "Ghost, calm down. And you, please try not to piss off the woman who can casually rip your head off from your shoulders okay?"
The thug looked at him incredulously. "She can't do that….can she?"
Peter gave him an incredulous look. "D- Did you hit your head too hard or something? Have you looked around you yet? Try doing that and ask that question again."
The thug blinked and actually looked around. His eyes widened when he realized the mess around him.
"Oh."
"Maybe Ghost has a point about you being stupid…" Peter muttered under his breath, which caused Gwen to snort.
"L-Look man, I'm really sorry about that comment. Please don't kill me." The thug started to beg much to Gwen's amusement judging by how smugly she crossed her arms.
"Upupupupup." Peter raised his hand. "Shush. As much as hearing you apologize is amusing–" He gave a brief glance at Gwen at that, who merely shrugged at him. "–we still need to know who Hammerhead is selling these weapons to."
"Sure man, whatever ya need."
"Good, now start explaining."
"Some guy named Mac Gargan was making these big orders. The boss at first didn't want anything to do with it, it attracts too much attention see? But he suddenly changed his mind. We don't know why but the boss said he has a plan, if he succeeds we can control the city." The thug quickly explained.
Peter narrowed his lenses, he recognized that name. He had thought it was just a coincidence when Hammerhead first mentioned the name but it seemed like Mac Gargan was still making some shady weapons dealing in this new timeline.
The thug had interpreted his narrowed lenses in the wrong way because the guy immediately started to babble. "There was something else though! I heard there was some secret weapon that Hammerhead had personally prepared for Gargan! It was made out of some rip-off Iron Man suit that Hammertech made a few months ago! I swear that's all I know!"
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Thank…you for that extra information. Don't be so scared man, I'm not gonna hurt you. Well much more than I already did anyways." Peter remarked.
"To be fair, you do have the scarier costume." Gwen pointed out.
"But I'm not the one that was ready to tear a guy's head off." Peter shot back.
"Touche'."
The two immediately made their way to the trucks and left the thug alone, much to his relief.
"Harry, have you called the cops?" Peter whispered.
"Done that right after you finished with them actually. They should be there in a few minutes. Also, we need a code name for me."
"We'll figure that out later. In the meantime, let's get out of here and leave this to the cops, Ghost. Something tells me we're gonna have a lot more things to deal with after this." Peter remarked as he leaped and swung his way out of the warehouse and into the outside world.
Gwen immediately followed him, "God, I'm more worried about how my dad is going to handle this. It sounds like there's gonna be a war on the streets." She worriedly said as she swung beside him.
"Let's pray it doesn't come to that."
Peter released a deep breath as he finally arrived at his school. It would technically be his first day of school since the unraveling and he was pretty nervous about it.
"You gonna be okay champ?" Ben asked with a worried tone when he noticed Peter's nervousness.
Peter glanced at his uncle and gave him a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just thinking about what to say to Harry and Gwen."
Ben had decided to drive him to school today since both of them were up early. Peter appreciated it and was more than happy to spend time with his uncle.
Ben smiled reassuringly. "It'll be fine Peter. Gwen and Harry will understand."
Peter nodded. His uncle's advice still rang in his head. He still wasn't sure how to work on himself but making sure his relationship with his friends remained solid would be a good start.
"You're right, I'll get going then."
"See ya at home then bud."
Peter opened the door and was about to leave. He hesitated for a moment before he went back in and gave his uncle a hug. Ben was surprised but chuckled as he patted the young man's back. He wasn't sure why his nephew had become so affectionate but he was more than happy to accept this new change.
Peter released his uncle and gave him a bright smile. "Bye Uncle Ben!"
"Bye, Peter!"
Peter got out of the car and made his way to his school. He glanced back and gave a final wave to Uncle Ben as he drove off. He could see Uncle Ben smiling at him as he left. It felt good.
"Well if it isn't Puny Parker."
'Well, at least that's better than Penis Parker.' Peter sighed. His good mood was immediately ruined when he heard that voice.
He turned around and saw Eugene 'Flash' Thompson making his way toward him with the rest of his goons. A smug smirk could be seen on his face.
"What do you want, Flash?"
Flash scoffed, "Just surprised to see you, that's all. I knew you were a wimp but to faint from a spider of all things? That's just pathetic. If that happened to me I would never show my face ever again."
The rest of his goons laughed. He was pretty sure he knew their names but currently, he didn't really feel like remembering.
"Come on Flash, do we really have to do this? I'd rather do anything else right now."
Peter glanced over at the source and saw Liz Allan. Unlike in the previous timeline, she was blond and blue-eyed. She looked much more attractive than the Liz he remembered but she also seemed much more…bitchier for a lack of a better word.
However, it didn't seem like Liz was focused on him. No, in fact she looked rather distracted, her eyes looking over the area as if she were trying to find someone.
"Looking for Harry?" Peter blurted out. It wasn't much of a secret that Liz was into Harry. Harry was charming after all and had made a pass at a few girls at school.
Between Flash and Harry, he was willing to bet that half of the girls at Midtown were admirers of them.
Liz's eyes scrutinized him for a moment before her eyes softened. "Yes actually. Seen him around?"
"Really Liz?" Flash groaned, not hiding his jealousy at all. "What do you even see in that guy anyway? He hangs out with Puny Parker all the time and for all we know, the guy is into Stacy!"
Liz narrowed her eyes at Flash. "You don't know that for sure!"
Flash winced when he saw her look and glanced at Peter. "Parker, you always hang out with them. Tell her what I say is true." Liz and the rest looked at Peter with an inquiring look at that.
A part of Peter couldn't help but feel a bit nervous with all the people looking at him. But another part of him decided to follow a little bit of Harry's advice and try to fight back.
Peter raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "And why should I do that?"
"Parker." Flash growled threateningly. Peter stood his ground and narrowed his eyes which caused Flash to look surprised.
'Since when did he grow a backbone?' Flash thought to himself.
"You better not be doing what I think you're doing Flash."
Everyone looked to the source and saw Gwen and Harry making their way toward them. Gwen was glaring daggers at Flash while Harry looked amused.
"...I hadn't done anything." Flash muttered as he took a step back from Peter.
"Uhuh." Gwen looked unconvinced and glanced at Peter.
Peter managed to detect the inquiring look and shrugged. "He didn't, don't worry. They were just asking if you and Harry were a thing or not."
"I could do better." Came the immediate reply from Gwen and Harry respectively. Both of them glanced at each other and smirked in amusement at their shared thoughts. However, the scoff from Liz made it clear that she didn't share that sentiment in the slightest.
Peter looked at Flash and a little subtly at Liz. "You got your answer."
"Whatever." Flash scoffed before he walked away. The rest of the jocks joined him. Which left Liz and her followers with them.
Some of the girls clearly wanted to talk to Harry but Liz's glare made them stop. She then made her way to Harry with a sweet smile as if she hadn't just told a bunch of girls to back off with a look.
"Hey, Harry~" Liz greeted.
"Liz." Harry returned it cordially. "What can I help you with?"
"So Mr. Cobbwell told us in the last class that we'd be having pair work today and I thought I could be your partner." Liz requested while she played with her hair.
Harry still maintained his cordial and charming smile but years of friendship allowed both Gwen and Peter to see that Harry was a bit hesitant with the idea.
"You sure? My pal Pete here is much better at chemistry you know? I'm sure he can help out." Harry suggested. Liz clearly didn't like that with the slightly distasteful glance she threw at him.
In the previous timeline, that would have broken his heart in a million pieces. But in this new timeline, Peter had gotten rid of his crush on her a long time ago when Liz had taken amusement from Flash's bullying of him.
"Thanks but no thanks, Harry. Gwen had already taken permanent dibs as my science partner, remember?" Peter smiled innocently.
"Yes Harry, permanent dibs." Gwen gritted out as she hugged one of Peter's arms to her chest. She gave a dark look to Harry for even daring to suggest it.
"Right, forgot about that. Sorry, Gwen." Harry quickly apologized.
"Make sure to remember it next time."
"Of course." Harry looked at Liz, who had an expectant look on her face. "I'll think about it, Liz."
"Great! I'll see you in class later~!" Liz winked at Harry before hurrying away from them. She gave a small look of gratitude toward Peter before she walked away. The rest of her little followers giggled right behind her as they waved at Harry before following Liz.
Peter shook his head. He guessed Liz had thought it was him giving her a chance with Harry. He's not gonna change her mind on that, the less chance of incurring her wrath the better.
Between Flash and Liz, he'd rather deal with a pissed off Flash before he'd deal with an irate Liz.
'Girls can be vindictive.'
"I will never understand why you can't just say no to her." Gwen muttered as she gave an unimpressed look to Harry.
"She has rich parents, Gwen. I won't hear the end of it if my father finds out I passed out on a chance to make some connections with her." Harry sighed.
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Peter muttered.
Liz's parents thankfully weren't criminals in this timeline. Well at least as far as he knew anyway. But his past self had seen them before and both of her parents were the stereotypical rich parents that probably had doted a little too much on their daughter. He doesn't know what kind of business they do but judging by Harry's words, it was enough for his father to be interested in making connections with them.
Silence fell on the trio as they realized it was finally just them. Gwen gave a nervous look at the two as Harry and Peter glanced at each other.
"Sorry." They both paused when they realized that both of them had said it at the same time.
"You go first." Harry suggested.
"Nah, you do it."
"Pete, you go first."
"Nope, you go."
"One of you better say something else or I will smack you two." Gwen interrupted with an unimpressed tone.
The two gave a sheepish laugh before they glanced back at each other.
"Sorry Harry, I shouldn't have snapped at you yesterday like that. You just wanted to help." Peter began first.
"No, I should be saying that. You were pretty serious about using them responsibly, I should have thought it through." Harry smiled.
"We'll call it even then. So, are we cool?" Peter smirked as he held out his hand.
"Yeah, we're cool." Harry nodded as they did their secret handshake.
Gwen smiled. "Feel better now?"
"Yup."
"A little bit, yeah."
"Good, now come on. We're gonna be late for class, I also got a few things I want to ask Peter here." Gwen gestured for them to follow. The two followed her as they made their way inside.
"What do you want to ask?" Peter asked curiously.
"So about those tracers, I can't even understand some of the mechanisms inside." Gwen began.
"Oh, those are for our Spidey-Sense." Peter whispered low enough so no one overheard them.
"Wait, what? How the hell is that even possible?!"
"You see the mechanism works like this–"
Peter's voice trailed off as the three went deeper into the school. Behind them, there was a silver-haired girl who looked at them curiously before she looked at the school with a sigh.
"First day on Midtown High, yay." The girl drew out in a bored way before she made her way inside.
[-]
Peter sat at the lab and brought out his books and school appliances. He set them on the table and did a mental check on all of them before he nodded in satisfaction. Everything was on the table and accounted for.
He looked around the lab. He could see Harry sitting next to Liz. The pair was sitting at the table to his right. The girl had taken the chance to talk his ears off while Harry tried to politely listen and looked like he cared about the brand of fingernail paint she was using. He doesn't envy his best friend in the slightest.
He could see Harry glancing at him, for a moment his cordial facade cracked a little as his eyes screamed at him.
'Help me!'
The message was clear to him, but all he could do was give him a smile.
'Sucks to be you.'
One of Harry's eyes twitched. 'You bitch!'
"Harry? Are you listening?" Liz suddenly asked.
"Uh yeah Liz, you were talking about that skirt you just bought."
"Yeah, it's pretty expensive but it has like, the cutest color so I had to have it–"
Peter drowned them out, not at all interested in their discussion topic. He then looked to the front and noticed Gwen having a pretty heated discussion with Mr. Cobbwell. He had called up Gwen to the front when he entered the class and was talking about something he didn't bother to focus on.
He glanced to the side and noticed a silver-haired girl looking rather nonchalant standing there. She wore an expensive-looking leather jacket on top of her black shirt with a V-line that was low enough to show off her bountiful chest. She wore blue jeans that hugged her long legs nicely and finished it off with black shoes.
She looked beautiful, in a bad girl sort of way. That fact was not missed by the rest of the class. He could see the guys and even a few girls looking at the girl with interest. He didn't even blame them, he was staring at her too.
The girl seemed to realize that she was being stared at. Her eyes looked away from the argument happening before her (with how passionate Gwen was expressing herself, it had definitely evolved from a discussion to an argument) and trailed over the classroom. Some looked away, some gave her a suggestive smile or some such when she noticed them but she paused when her eyes landed on Peter.
He didn't know why but he maintained eye contact with her. Either because he refused to be embarrassed or because he was caught in the act and was too caught up in his nerves to actually look away. It's a fifty-fifty chance.
The girl looked slightly amused and gave him a wink. He was sure he was blushing since her smirk widened before she focused back on the argument. He decided to do the same, all that passion from Gwen was making him worry.
"Okay, I can get not partnering with Peter but why not just make her my partner?" Gwen gestured toward the new girl. The girl looked a bit confused but didn't say anything.
Mr. Cobwell sighed, clearly exhausted from reasoning with Gwen. He can relate there. "Miss Stacy, between you and Mr. Parker you have the higher score in your test results and Mr. Davis could use the help. You have experience with tutoring Mr. Thompson correct?"
"...Yes." Peter could visibly see the effort it took for Gwen to say that.
"Then you can see why I'd rather have you help the struggling student and have Mr. Parker help the new student catch up?"
"...Yes." Sheesh, he can actually taste that now.
"Good. Can you please make your way to the seat beside Mr. Davis? I need to start my class 2 minutes ago."
Gwen's shoulders slumped. "Yes sir."
Gwen made her way to the seat at his back, he gave her a reassuring smile when she walked past him. She returned the smile and then dropped it when she saw the excited look of Brad Davis. He glanced behind him and could see Brad attempting to make some small talk with Gwen. He looked around and noticed some girls glaring daggers at Gwen. It wasn't a hidden secret that Brad was into Gwen.
In the theoretical 'popular and hot guys' list in Midtown High, both Flash and Harry tied at first. Below them in second place was Brad Davis. Apparently, in this new timeline, Brad was the same age as him instead of being a few years younger.
He still had the same effect on the girls as he did in the previous timeline though. He looked fit and handsome, so of course the girls would be after him. Gwen on the other hand was as interested in him as she was interested in watching paint dry. She tried to let him down gently of course but it never seemed to stick. He was betting that Gwen would explode on him sometime soon.
He'd pity the poor guy if it wasn't for the fact that in the previous timeline, he'd nearly ruined his chances with MJ and destroyed his social life forever. Sure it's a different timeline but he liked to think he was justified in being so vindictive.
'Shows him for trying to show MJ a really compromising pic of me.' He mentally cheered.
"Now then class, if I may have your attention." Mr. Cobbwell called out. The class looked at him curiously. "As you can see we have a new transfer student. Please introduce yourself."
"Sup, the name's Felicia Hardy." She smiled at them. The guys looked excited when they heard this but Peter was more worried about the brief but lingering look she sent him.
He could hear Mr. Cobbwell mutter "Good enough" before he spoke to the class. "If you have any questions for Miss Hardy, save it for after class. Mr. Parker, raise your hand please."
He swore he could see Felicia's eyes twinkle when he raised his hand.
"Thank you. Miss Hardy, Mr. Parker will be your lab partner for today's activity. You can take your seat."
"Thanks, teach." Felicia thanked him before quickly making her way toward him. Each step she took caused his nervous level to rise.
She then took a seat beside him. She pulled out her own stuff and sorted them on the table. She glanced at him and could see the nervous look in his eyes.
She chuckled. "Relax, I'm not gonna bite you. Unless you're into that~"
Peter groaned, which caused her to laugh a little. She then offered her hand. "Felicia Hardy."
Peter looked at the hand and shrugged. What the hell, might as well roll along. "Peter Parker, nice to meet you." He shook her hand.
"Soooo, Peter Parker." She began before she leaned in close to him. "Mind telling me why the blondie at the back is giving me the death glare?" She whispered.
Peter looked at her in confusion. In response, she gestured to the back with her eyes. Peter glanced behind him, Brad was still trying (and failing) to get Gwen's attention because she was actually busy glaring holes at the back of Felicia's head.
Gwen noticed that he noticed her glaring at Felicia. Peter gave her a worried look. Gwen looked embarrassed that she got caught and looked away with a blush. Which seemed to be a bad move because Brad had thought it was because of him and renewed his efforts.
Peter turned back to his table, a bit exasperated by her actions. "She's a bit…possessive about being my lab partner."
Felicia raised an eyebrow. "You two an item or something?"
"What? Oh no, she could do better anyway." Peter waved it away.
"Low confidence isn't attractive Petey. There's gotta be a reason why she's so adamant about partnering with you. She was pretty passionate about it with the teacher there, and it takes a lot for a pretty girl like her to be so adamant about it." Felicia inquired.
Peter looked at her, she could see the curiosity in her eyes. Peter then sighed and decided to elaborate. "Gwen is smart, really smart. Didn't really make many friends in middle school because of it until I came along. Not to brag, but I'm pretty smart too."
"Ah, so two lonely nerds discover each other and make a bond that lasts a lifetime. Tell me, am I in the proverbial ballpark?"
Peter snorted. "No, that's pretty much it. Just toss in a problematic rich kid and you got the disaster trio."
Felicia laughed at that. Peter matched her mirth as he noticed how beautiful her laugh was.
Mr. Cobbwell had given them their task and Felicia had impressed him with how smart she was. She wasn't Gwen but she was somewhat keeping up with him. She was a bit of a flirt though but he could tell it was all in good fun, something that he got used to and played along with.
"You're doing much better than I thought." Peter complimented.
"You can thank Mother dearest for that." Felicia smiled at him. Though he noticed a slight bitterness to it. "Can't have her daughter slipping her grades."
"Well, I don't think you'll need my help much. You'd probably be fine on your own." Peter smiled at her.
Felicia didn't seem to like that. "And lose your pleasant company? Guess I need to let my grades slip a little."
Peter scoffed in amusement. "You know a simple request of wanting to hang out would be enough right?"
"Yeah, but having you come over as a private tutor sounds spicy." Felicia gave him a suggestive smile.
"Shut up." Peter chuckled as he shoved her gently. Felicia laughed along with him.
The two had fun as they worked together, completely oblivious to all the stares they were getting from the rest of the students. Everyone was completely surprised that the unassuming Peter Parker was making the beautiful Felicia Hardy interested in him.
Well, not everyone was surprised by it. Harry looked proud of his best friend for charming a beautiful girl like Felicia while Gwen looked decidedly unimpressed. A part of her was even annoyed by it. It didn't help that Brad didn't seem to get the hint and continued to hit on her.
The class finally ended and everyone quickly packed up for their next class.
"Hey, Peter. What's your next class?" Felicia suddenly asked.
"Art class. Yours?" Peter answered. He was fine with the class but it's not one he shared with Gwen and Harry. So he wasn't exactly thrilled about it since he knew he would spend the majority of the time by himself.
Felicia smiled at that. "Lucky you, that's my next class too."
"Really?" Peter asked curiously as he packed his stuff.
"Check it." She pulled out her schedule and showed it to him.
Peter studied it carefully. "Huh, I'm gonna be sharing a lot of classes with you."
"Looks like you're stuck with me, Parker."
"Please, more like you're stuck with me instead."
The two made their way out of the class and into their next one as they joked and talked with each other. Harry and Gwen looked at them with mixed reactions.
"That's my boy." Harry wiped away a fake tear. The sheer pride he felt for his best friend was enough to bring him to tears. Gwen elbowed his side at that.
"Ow! What's that for?" Harry gave her an incredulous look as he rubbed his side.
"You know what that's for."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Not my fault that another girl saw what you saw in Pete. Peter is a great guy if some girls bothered to focus on him and I warned you someone will sooner or later."
"I didn't think it was gonna be this soon…" Gwen muttered.
"Yeah well, Hardy looked like she noticed and I'm betting it won't take long for her to consider dating him."
Gwen glared at Harry but he stood his ground. "You know I'm right, Gwen."
Gwen didn't answer as she looked in the direction Peter had gone with a complicated look.
"Hey Harry, ready for our next class?" Liz asked as she stood beside Harry. Harry did not miss the slightly displeased stare she sent toward Gwen. He should probably address that but Gwen did not put him in a good mood. So he decided to follow Liz and let Gwen sort herself out.
For once, he actually gave Liz a genuine reply. "Sure, Liz!"
"Great~!" Liz was a bit surprised by the sudden enthusiasm but took it as her having a chance with Harry.
Gwen watched them go but didn't stop them. She knew she had probably made Harry a little mad and decided that it was pretty fair of him. She shouldn't have vented her stress at him like that, especially so physically.
"Hey, Gwen."
Speaking of stress, the source of it had thought it was wise to actually continue interacting with her despite every attempt of her to let him down gently.
"What do you want, Davis?" Gwen turned to him with an icy stare.
Brad was a bit surprised by the sudden hostility. "Uh, I just want to ask if you're ready for the next class. We could go there together since Osborn and Parker left you."
Gwen sighed and took a deep breath. "I don't know how else to lay it out for you so listen to me. I'm not interested, Davis."
"What? Come on, Gwen–"
"No, you're not listening. I am not interested. You are annoying and your attempts at flattery and romanticism are irritating. Get it through your thick skull and leave me alone." With her words spoken, she left Brad to his devices and walked her way out of the class.
She could hear the students in the class gossiping about it but she could care less. She had a few classes to go through by herself before she could meet back with Peter. She just hoped Felicia and Peter hadn't made too much of an impression on each other.
[-]
Classes were finally over and Peter sighed as he walked out. Felicia chuckled slightly as she walked beside him.
"You doing okay?"
"I'm fine, just glad everything is over." Peter waved it away.
"Were you tired of those classes? You were breezing through them." Felicia remarked with an impressed tone.
"Tired? More like boredom. There's nothing that's really…challenging you know?" Peter glanced at Felicia, who gave him an impressed look.
With three lifetimes' worth of info in his head, school was much more of a joke than it was in his previous timeline. If he had thought he had an easy time before, now he was actually breezing through them to the point of boredom.
The only subject he needed to actually worry about was History and even then he was sure he could ask Emma for help on that front.
"Yeah, I'm sticking by you if I want my grades to be good."
"Is that all I am now? Just your personal answer scheme?"
"Didn't I tell you? You're my personal tutor now and we'll be having a lot of personal sessions." Felicia gave him a saucy smile.
Peter chuckled. "You're impossible Felicia."
"Amazing, actually." She retorted. "So, where are we going?"
Peter paused and looked at her. "No one gave you a tour?"
Felicia shook her head. "Nah, they just gave me my schedule and told me good luck. The only reason I managed to reach class on time was because Mr. Cobbwell stumbled on me. And even then, I was already in front of his class."
Peter blinked at that. "Huh, that is some pretty good luck."
"What can I say, I'm a walking lucky charm." Felicia boasted.
"Yeah right."
"I'm serious! Some of the things that happened to me can only be described as good luck."
"Like what?"
"Okay, there was this one time when I was on the sidewalk. I stumbled on a fifty-dollar bill down on the road."
"You're pulling my leg." Peter jokingly replied.
"I'm serious!" Felicia chuckled.
"Okay, let's say I believe you. Then what?"
"Then when I dropped down to pick it up, a literal frisbee flew past my head and crashed into the window of the shop beside me."
"Geez, were you okay?" Peter looked at her with concern.
"I made out fine. Not even a scratch on me. Now this is the part where you really won't believe me."
"I already don't but go on." He quipped.
"Jerk." She chuckled but continued. "So apparently the shop was actually a cover for some criminals. The window breaking caused the alarms to activate. So there was this bunch of guys with guns running out and the first thing they saw was me in front of the broken window with a fifty dollar bill in my hand."
"That is clearly not a good look."
"They would agree since they immediately aimed their guns at me. But one of them stepped on the frisbee and somehow slipped on it." Felicia described with some incredulity.
"No way."
"Yes way."
"How did they slip on that?"
"That's not even the good part. The guy slipped on it and actually crashed into another guy. Apparently, they didn't learn about gun safety since their fingers were on the trigger and accidentally shot the other guys."
"W-what? How?"
"Yeah. By the end of it, everyone was on the ground nursing their bullet wounds as I stood there in the chaos of my good fortune."
"All that for fifty dollars…"
"And a pretty sweet cat necklace that I swiped off the counter." Felicia whispered conspiratorially as she pulled out a small necklace with the shape of a black cat's head.
"Isn't that illegal?"
"It's only illegal if you get caught~"
"Felicia!"
Felicia just rolled her eyes. "Relax, will you? They were criminals, it was fine."
Peter sighed. "Still, it's kinda hard to believe this story."
"Lucky for you, or me I guess, I still keep pics of it."
Peter looked at her expectantly. Felicia immediately showed it off once she found it on her phone. There he could see a selfie she took. Felicia was doing the peace sign and behind her, a bunch of men were on the ground on top of broken glass, the offending frisbee right beside one of them.
"Felicia."
"Yeah?"
"Can I keep you as my lucky charm?"
Felicia gave him a suggestive look. "I'm not that easy Parker."
Peter snorted. "No, I'm serious. I wished I could have luck as good as yours; god knows I could use it." Peter trailed off.
Felicia would have made a joke but noticed the look in Peter's eyes. "That bad?" She hesitantly asked.
Peter gave her a dry smile. "My family calls it the Parker luck for a reason." His eyes then looked to the front and groaned. "And speak of the devil…"
Felicia looked to where Peter had looked and noticed Flash making his way toward them. Judging by Flash's smirk, it didn't seem like he was here for small talk.
"Well, well, well. I thought it was just gossip but you really did charm the new girl." Flash laughed incredulously as he crossed his arms.
"I'm not sure which one I want to be flattered about, the fact that you kept such a close eye on me or the fact you believe in me so much to actually get a girl." Peter quipped much to Felicia's amusement.
Flash dropped his smile and growled. "Don't give yourself too much credit Parker."
Peter rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Flash?"
"Just giving a warning to your lady friend here." Flash glanced at Felicia. The girl merely scoffed at his words.
"I think I can take care of myself just fine." Felicia retorted.
"Yeah, sure." Flash clearly didn't believe her. "You can do a lot better than Parker here. He's broke and sure as shit can't treat you right."
"Is he now?" Felicia kept her features passive as she glanced at Peter.
Peter on the other hand can't help but look away. It was a bit of a sore spot after all. He was still figuring out how to get some income and help his surrogate parents. So far he only had his paid internship and the idea of patenting his Web Fluid.
'I need to get on that when I have the chance.' Peter mentally noted it to himself.
"Yeah, he is. Hanging with Parker would just be a waste of your time and you could do a lot better. If you talk with the right people, you could go far in life." Judging by the smile, by 'right people' he meant him and his goons.
Peter would love to point out that Felicia won't actually gain anything by hanging with Flash and his cronies. Judging by her passion for their Art class, she would be better off without them. Some of them were smart but the majority of them only excelled in the physical department.
Not that had stopped the students from forming your basic high school hierarchy around Flash. The Jocks did bring a lot of fame to the school due to their performance. Peter would have probably gotten caught up in it again in this new timeline but Peter Two's adult life showed that it was kinda pointless as he never really met any of the people in high school ever again and just moved on with his life.
Except for Peter Three. Apparently, he was best friends with his Flash Thompson and kept in contact.
But he was rambling now. He glanced at Felicia and waited for her decision. Sure he had fun talking to her but with how amazing she looked he had half expected someone to try and drag her into their social circle. By the end of the day, it was up to her, he had no control over who she should interact with.
Felicia looked at Flash and gave him a smile. "Thanks but no thanks."
"Huh?"
"Whether Peter here is good or not for me, I think I can decide that for myself." Felicia circled one of her arms around his own, hugging his arm to her chest before she dragged him away. "So buzz off will ya?"
Flash didn't seem to like that as he tried to block their path. "You're making a mistake."
"Girls don't like pushy guys you know? And besides, you're not my type anyway." Felicia gave Flash an unimpressed look before she brushed him off.
Peter looked back and could see Flash fuming before he scoffed and walked away. Peter then looked back at Felicia and gave her an impressed smile.
"That went better than I expected." Peter remarked.
"You really think I'm gonna go with the dumb brute? Please, I have better standards than that."
"The rest of the girls in school would disagree with you if they heard that."
"Well, I'm not like the rest of the girls am I?"
Peter snorted. "True."
Felicia nodded with satisfaction as she unconsciously leaned her head on his shoulder. "Glad we got that sorted out. Now show me the cafeteria, my treat." She winked at him.
Peter gave him an unimpressed look. "If this is about Flash's comment then you don't need to–"
"No actually, I just wanted to thank you for being so kind to show me around. Consider it my reward for you. Unless you want something else~?" She asked innocently. Though the twinkle in her eyes made him pretty sure it wasn't as innocent as he liked to think.
"Fine." He sighed.
"Good, now lead the way because I'm starving."
"Right this way." Peter chuckled and guided her to the cafeteria.
It wasn't until they reached there and noticed all the stares did they finally realized that Felicia was still hugging his arm.
Gwen was unamused. Harry on the other hand was even prouder.
[-]
THWIP
Peter swung through the air with practiced ease. He scanned through his surroundings for any trouble as he web-slinged through the buildings. He was currently in his costume and had just finished staking out two possible arms-dealing locations that they had located yesterday.
He was on his way to meet up with Gwen at the last location. Ironically enough, it was the same place where the caller had ordered a pizza delivery.
Peter couldn't help but be worried when he was reminded of Gwen. She had been oddly quiet when they were about to patrol. It wasn't like she was mad at him (he would know if she was) but more so she looked like she was deep in thought. He had asked Harry about it and thankfully his best friend had told him that Gwen was just dealing with some things she had just realized about herself. He was a bit worried but Harry had told him that she would be fine.
He didn't really believe him but he decided to trust him on that.
Speaking of his best friend, he could hear Harry's voice speak through his comm.
"Okay, we're on a private channel so Gwen won't overhear us and I can't wait any longer. So spill."
Peter's lenses narrowed in confusion. "Spill what?"
"'Spill what' he says. Felicia Hardy? Dude we were gone for a few classes and by recess she was holding your arm and leaning on your shoulder like you're an item. So spill."
"I'm in the middle of patrol, can't this wait for later?" He groaned incredulously.
"Not when my hopeless best friend suddenly bagged down probably the hottest girl in our year. Don't tell anyone I said that by the way, I got a reputation to uphold."
Peter chuckled. "My lips are sealed. Also 'hopeless'?!"
"Peter, you might have gained superpowers but you are not winning any awards with your nonexistent love story."
"I'm not that bad…"
"Remember Carlie?"
"We promised not to talk about that! Besides, I was stupid back then!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night buddy."
"Oh, we're gonna do this now? We're talking about my nonexistent love life and yet you are in the same boat as I am." Peter remarked as he swung into a corner.
"That's different. I'm just keeping my options open."
"You sound like an indecisive girl trying to figure out which guy she would date just now, you know that right?" Peter chuckled.
"Yeah, I realized it right as it came out of my mouth."
"Anyway, I'm just around the corner to the last location. Better switch back to the normal channel." Peter suggested.
"Fine, fine. But we're not done with this."
The comm went silent and Peter sighed in exasperation as he swung in between two buildings as a shortcut. He wasn't that hopeless with romance, was he? He did pretty well in the last timeline. There was Liz— Wait no, he stood her up during the Homecoming dance and probably ruined any chance he had with her. He liked to think that his time on the Decathlon team had allowed him some progress with her but he had screwed that up when he prioritized being Spider-Man over being Peter Parker.
Then there's MJ. They had something good going on, well until Mysterio screwed up everything and became the indirect cause of the unraveling. His relationship barely even lasted a few months. A good chunk of the early parts of their relationship was worrying over his 'crimes' since Quentin revealed his identity to everyone and framed him for murder. He swore if he saw Quentin Beck in this new timeline and he's still evil, he might actually consider murdering him purely out of precaution.
Peter sighed as he landed on a rooftop, he wondered if he actually should even bother pursuing romance in this new timeline. He already had trouble managing his life as Spider-Man and Peter Parker, adding Thanos and the Infinity Stones he might not actually have a personal life.
The thought kinda scared him.
"Spider-Man?"
Peter glanced behind him and noticed Gwen. The young woman had crossed her arms and her lenses were looking at him worriedly. "You doing okay?"
Peter nodded hurriedly. "Yeah, yeah. Just deep in thought. Come on, let's get this over with." He then walked toward the warehouse in front of him. He'd think about the possible eradication of his social life later. He had a crime ring to bust.
Gwen looked at her partner with a worried look. Whatever Peter was thinking, it seemed to disturb him. She'd let it go for now but would be keeping a closer eye on him out of worry.
The two quickly leaped up to the warehouse's roof. It was already getting dark so they could use the shadows as a cover. Peter and Gwen looked through one of the windows on the roof.
"Bingo." Peter whispered.
They could see a lot of suspicious men down there, some of them stood guard and patrolled the warehouse while the rest were handling weapons. He looked around and noticed one large man. He was big, capital B big. The man was wearing a rather nice two-piece suit with the collars unbuttoned. However, what took his attention the most was his head.
"Is it just me or does his head look like a square?" Harry asked through their comms.
"No, it's not just you. I can see it." Peter remarked.
The man had a completely square head and good lord the materials he could make from this guy alone. He then tilted his head when he realized that there were a few armed bodyguards following the large man. He's probably the boss then. Said boss was walking pretty angrily toward one of the people there.
"That looks important, let's get inside." Peter suddenly said.
"What?!" Gwen whispered harshly but Peter didn't mind her as he immediately opened the window with surprising stealth. A plan was already in his head. If this square head was actually their boss then it would make it easier for them to bust down the rest of their operations. Relying on his Spidey-Sense, he crawled on the ceiling and reached a dark spot so that no one could see him.
He then crawled deeper into the warehouse as he followed the square-headed man. A small sound caught his attention and caused him to look behind, he saw Gwen finally following him on the ceiling albeit begrudgingly.
His Spidey Sense didn't tingle, so he took it as a good sign that no one noticed. He then glanced back at the people below him.
"Mr. Hammerhead sir, I didn't expect you to be here today." One of the men, probably the leader here, greeted Hammerhead. It was hidden but Peter noticed that the man looked rather nervous.
"Hammerhead? Well, that explains his eight head." Peter quipped. Though the name did sound familiar. Maybe Peter Two or Peter Three had encountered a version of him somewhere before? Before he could speculate further, Gwen shushed him so she could hear them without interruption.
"Yer know why I'm here today Lorenzo. There was supposed to be a delivery yesterday but they were no show. And I know the ones doin' them were your boys." Hammerhead growled threateningly.
Lorenzo took a few steps back as he noticed the bodyguards circling him. "I-I can explain, boss."
"I'll give yer ten seconds."
"Look there were some costumed freaks! My boys were caught by them and got webbed up for the pigs!" Lorenzo explained hurriedly.
"I think he's talking about us." Peter quipped.
Gwen gave him an unamused look. "Gee, what makes you say that?"
Hammerhead raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Ya tellin' me some costumed freaks caught a bunch of armed men pants down?"
"Could be muties boss." One of the bodyguards spoke up. "There were some rumors about swinging spider freaks 'round the city playin' hero."
"Hey, hey, watch your mouth, Leo. I got a nephew who's a mutant." Another bodyguard piped up who was clearly offended by the slur.
The previous bodyguard, Leo merely scoffed. "Didn't know we got a mutie lover here."
"Why you little–"
"Enough!" Hammerhead roared. The bodyguards flinched back when they realized that they were speaking out of turn in front of their boss. "I don't care if yer a mutant lover or a fish lover, get me info on these 'spiders'. Those freaks cost me my deal with Gargan and god knows what that psychopath will do to us for not deliverin' his toys." He ordered the men behind him.
"Yes boss." The two of his bodyguards nodded before they made their way out of the warehouse.
Hammerhead then turned to Leo and the other bodyguard. "I'm leavin' you two a warnin' since ya do yer job right. Speak out of turn again and yer sleepin' with the fishes. Got it?"
"Yes boss!" The two nodded fearfully.
"Lorenzo?" Hammerhead turned toward Lorenzo.
"Yes Boss?"
Without pause, Hammerhead pulled out a gun and shot Lorenzo's head off. Peter's Spidey-Sense saved him as one of his hands shot out and covered Gwen's mouth. Just in time too as Gwen gasped in surprise and fear. If he hadn't done that, it would have alerted the whole warehouse.
Peter himself wasn't as composed either though, he bit down on his emotions even as guilt racked through him. He probably could have saved that man instead of sticking around and watching, but if they revealed themselves now it would be disastrous. There's a plan inside his head and he must stick to it even as guilt gnaws at him.
"That's for hirin' idiots." Hammerhead growled as he lowered his smoking gun. Peter could hear Hammerhead mutter "A fuckin' pizza delivery…" under his breath before he looked around the warehouse.
"Aight ya lowlives, pack up everything! This place is compromised and we are movin'." Hammerhead ordered. The rest of the thugs quickly followed his orders as they packed up everything. They didn't want to be next on the chopping block after all.
"We need to stop him." Harry said through their comms. Steel-like determination could be heard in his tone.
"Couldn't agree more." Gwen growled as Peter pulled away his hand from her mouth.
"No, not yet." Peter stopped them. Gwen looked at him questionably. Peter held up his hand before she could speak. "Gwen, quickly get out and plant a Spider-Tracer on Hammerhead. If not him then on any of his guards."
Gwen's lenses narrowed in confusion before she widened them in understanding. She then nodded and quickly crawled out of the warehouse.
"What are you planning?" Harry asked in slight confusion.
"Just busting down Hammerhead now won't do much, his operations would still be at large and it would give him enough money to buy his way out of a life sentence." Peter began as his mind used the memories and experiences in his head as a reference point.
Peter Two and Peter Three had busted down a lot of crime rings and he was putting that knowledge to good use.
"If Gwen plants a Spider-Tracer on Hammerhead, we'd be able to track down every location and bust down every single one of them in one fell swoop."
"I thought your Spidey-sense can only sense it up to 100 yards? You guys would still be looking for a needle in a haystack." Harry remarked. He might have not understood the mechanics behind their gadgets but he paid extra attention to details that he did understand.
"That's where you come in, Harry." Peter smirked. "There are two signals it can emit. One that our Spidey-Sense can detect and another with a bigger range that the computer can detect. You just track it and mark down any location that Hammerhead had stopped at even if it looks normal."
"What's stopping Hammerhead from detecting it too?"
"The frequency is pretty damn hidden, so unless he got some state-of-the-art radio detector or something he's not gonna detect it for a while."
"Damn, you're a genius, Pete." Harry complimented. Peter could hear him furiously typing in the background. Gwen must have planted them already and Harry had just started tracking the signal.
"I try."
"Harry? Peter? This is Gwen. I planted the trace on Hammerhead and some of the guards. They won't suspect a thing." Gwen spoke through their comms.
"Good. Stand by at the entrance of the building, where the trucks are. Harry, inform us when Hammerhead is far enough from the building. We don't want him to suddenly come back now do we?"
"Got it!"
"Roger that!"
Peter released a breath as he leaned on the ceiling. Damn, that came much more naturally than he thought it would. He might be cut out for this leading shtick. He then waited for what he considered to be an eternity but he was sure that was just his nerves talking. His comms then blared to life.
"I'm in position."
"Hammerhead's pretty far out too. Ready when you are Spider-Man."
"Copy that." Peter took a deep breath as he looked down. He mentally counted that there were twenty people at most. Probably another ten near the entrance if he was being generous.
This would be their first fight where guns were actually fired. He wasn't religious but he prayed to any god out there so that Gwen stayed safe and for her to listen to her Spidey-Sense as he told her to.
With another deep exhale, he let go.
"Prepare for trouble!" He called out as he dropped from the ceiling and shot out multiple impact webs to certain areas.
As if on cue, Gwen landed on top of the truck. "And make it double!"
The impact webs exploded as Peter landed on a crouch. He looked around and did a mental count. The webs managed to explode and caught six of them. Good.
"Oh shit!"
"It's the Spider muties!"
"Shoot 'em!"
Peter leaped above their heads as the thugs started to fire their guns. Peter released multiple web shots to slam three more thugs to the walls with enough force for them to release their guns.
"Hey, you kiss your mother with that mouth?!" Peter quipped as he landed before he continued to move. Deftly avoiding gunfire as his Spidey-Sense guided him through the danger.
"Bold of you to assume he has a mother to kiss Spidey!" Gwen joined in as she somersaulted through the air. She released multiple strands of webbing and controlled them to ensnare the thugs around her.
"Hah! True that, Ghost!" Peter laughed.
"Keep my mother out of your damn mouth!" The thug angrily retorted as he tried to shoot down Spider-Man.
"Ouh touched a nerve did we? Does mommy know you're with these questionable strangers?" Peter mockingly asked as he webbed up one more thug to the wall.
"Did you get your stranger danger lesson from her yet?" Gwen added as her webs came alive and caught five thugs. Bioelectricity surged through the web line and shocked the thugs until they were unconscious.
"Look how dark it is outside, your bedtime is coming pretty close!" Peter webbed the thug that he was talking to. He then pulled the web line and launched the thug toward him. "Let me tuck you in!"
With a soft tap on his forehead, the thug was knocked out and webbed to the floor. Spidey then leaped away to avoid the incoming gunfire.
"Damn, they humiliated him." One of the thugs whispered incredulously.
"Don't think you're out of this either, bucko." Gwen spoke up and ensnared him and another five thugs and sent them to dreamland via electric shock.
Peter wasn't far behind as he leaped above five thugs, launching a web bomb in the middle of the group. The web exploded and covered all five of them in a large ball of webbing. Right as Peter landed, he turned toward the final four. Without pause, he released two web strands from each of his arms toward them.
Once they stuck to their respective targets, he pulled on the web as he flipped forward. He leaped over their heads as they smashed into the giant web ball. Peter immediately turned around and shot enough webbings to leave the four stuck to it.
"And that's that!" Peter cheered once his Spidey-Sense stopped tingling. God, it was so damn handy.
"You sure? They got guns inside that web ball." Gwen pointed out as she walked toward him and eyed the giant ball of webbing with some suspicion.
"Those webbings have higher tensile strength than steel and they have multiple layers of it pressing down on them. If they try to shoot their way out, they would just blow up their hands instead. And we don't want that now do we?" Peter aimed that question at the thugs inside the web ball.
They all hurriedly shook their heads in fear.
"Good. Now be good boys and wait for the boys in blue for us." Peter then walked away, his eyes landed on the sole dead body. Peter studied Lorenzo's face carefully before he closed his eyes and released a frustrated sigh.
Peter forced himself to look away from it. Hammerhead killed Lorenzo, it wasn't his fault. But it sure as hell felt like it. He wondered if he should have just said screw the plan and confront Hammerhead directly, they could take him that he knew for sure.
But he also knew that it would cost them their only lead to all of Hammerhead's operations around the city. If they don't cut off the money, Hammerhead would just buy himself out. Both Peter Two and Peter Three learned that the hard way when they had to deal with their own mafia bosses.
It's time like these he wondered if there was a better way he could have picked. Despite all the memories, he was still the kid from Queens that was way over his head.
"Spider-Man? You okay?" Gwen called out with worry in her tone. She had seen him looking at the corpse of Lorenzo and suddenly looking away after giving it a look long.
"...It's nothing, Ghost-Spider. Let's check on the truck and see what they were packing." Peter hurriedly made his way to the trucks at the entrance, ignoring the concerned lens of his partner.
Gwen sighed when she saw this. A bit frustrated that Peter was hiding things from her but decided to let him talk it out at his own pace. She glanced at the dead body before looking away just as quickly. She wasn't sure how to feel about Lorenzo. She just saw someone die and all she could feel from it was…nothing.
Rather than dwelling on it, she decided to join her partner.
They checked through the trucks and they could find a lot of weapons. Peter and Gwen grew increasingly worried as they checked the other trucks and saw more of them.
"Who would want all these weapons?" Peter asked aloud.
"Multiple buyers maybe?" Gwen suggested.
One of the thugs who was still conscious snorted at that.
Peter looked toward the source. "Something funny?"
The thug just shook his head. "Just somethin' yer said, don't worry about it."
"See you say that but now I'm just gonna worry." Peter mock gasped as he quickly made his way to the thug, who was stuck on the wall due to his webbing. "So, buddy ol' pal, can you tell us anything about who you're selling these to?"
"I ain't your 'buddy', bug." Thug sneered.
"Okay, firstly, Spiders are arachnids, not bugs. Where did you even get your education?" Peter asked.
"I dropped out." The thug casually mentioned it.
"Well, that certainly explains the stupidity." Gwen casually retorted.
"The fuck you say to me bitch?!"
"Okay! Let's calm down here!" Peter quickly got between them when Gwen looked ready to tear the thug's head off. "Ghost, calm down. And you, please try not to piss off the woman who can casually rip your head off from your shoulders okay?"
The thug looked at him incredulously. "She can't do that….can she?"
Peter gave him an incredulous look. "D- Did you hit your head too hard or something? Have you looked around you yet? Try doing that and ask that question again."
The thug blinked and actually looked around. His eyes widened when he realized the mess around him.
"Oh."
"Maybe Ghost has a point about you being stupid…" Peter muttered under his breath, which caused Gwen to snort.
"L-Look man, I'm really sorry about that comment. Please don't kill me." The thug started to beg much to Gwen's amusement judging by how smugly she crossed her arms.
"Upupupupup." Peter raised his hand. "Shush. As much as hearing you apologize is amusing–" He gave a brief glance at Gwen at that, who merely shrugged at him. "–we still need to know who Hammerhead is selling these weapons to."
"Sure man, whatever ya need."
"Good, now start explaining."
"Some guy named Mac Gargan was making these big orders. The boss at first didn't want anything to do with it, it attracts too much attention see? But he suddenly changed his mind. We don't know why but the boss said he has a plan, if he succeeds we can control the city." The thug quickly explained.
Peter narrowed his lenses, he recognized that name. He had thought it was just a coincidence when Hammerhead first mentioned the name but it seemed like Mac Gargan was still making some shady weapons dealing in this new timeline.
The thug had interpreted his narrowed lenses in the wrong way because the guy immediately started to babble. "There was something else though! I heard there was some secret weapon that Hammerhead had personally prepared for Gargan! It was made out of some rip-off Iron Man suit that Hammertech made a few months ago! I swear that's all I know!"
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Thank…you for that extra information. Don't be so scared man, I'm not gonna hurt you. Well much more than I already did anyways." Peter remarked.
"To be fair, you do have the scarier costume." Gwen pointed out.
"But I'm not the one that was ready to tear a guy's head off." Peter shot back.
"Touche'."
The two immediately made their way to the trucks and left the thug alone, much to his relief.
"Harry, have you called the cops?" Peter whispered.
"Done that right after you finished with them actually. They should be there in a few minutes. Also, we need a code name for me."
"We'll figure that out later. In the meantime, let's get out of here and leave this to the cops, Ghost. Something tells me we're gonna have a lot more things to deal with after this." Peter remarked as he leaped and swung his way out of the warehouse and into the outside world.
Gwen immediately followed him, "God, I'm more worried about how my dad is going to handle this. It sounds like there's gonna be a war on the streets." She worriedly said as she swung beside him.
"Let's pray it doesn't come to that."
Chapter 6 - Into Each Other, We Put Our Trust
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SKaine
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Chapter 6 - Into Each Other, We Put Our Trust
Days had passed since their last raid on the warehouse. All three of them had tracked as many of Hammerhead's— Or Maggia's operations to be specific as they could, tipping the police force as they did so they could cover the places they couldn't. Some of the cops were disgruntled by it since they were vigilantes but their excellent work had earned a lot of trust and respect from the boys in blue.
The majority of that trust and respect was due to the Maggia's notorious reputation. The crime syndicate didn't just sell weapons apparently. The bases they had raided were filled with weapons, but occasionally they also saw drug dens or worse, illegal brothels. That last one had caused Gwen to be a tad more ruthless with the thugs she found in them. So despite the police's feelings about them, they did see the good work Spiders did, thus building a sense of camaraderie between them.
It was to the point that they had a small unspoken deal going on, the cops wouldn't arrest them for vigilantism and the Spiders kept doing the good work and making things easier for them. Heck, they even met Captain Stacy during one of their raids! It was kinda funny to see Gwen try to deepen her voice to avoid suspicion from her father. It did remind them to make a voice modulator for situations like these though.
Speaking of the joint work, with how much they were working together now, the news was slowly covering them more and more. And with news coverage, J Jonah Jameson had of course covered their exploits as well in the Daily Bugle. As expected, the man immediately started to question their intentions and defame them.
He was a little discouraged by that, especially since it was a thing that had also happened with Peter Two and Peter Three. But Gwen and Harry's presence managed to make it bearable and he wasn't in it for fame anyway. He was doing it because it was his responsibility. Nothing more, nothing less.
With the news coverage and the cops subtly aiding them, Peter was confident that the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Duo (Trademark pending) was slowly becoming recognized by the citizens of New York!
Outside of their spider work, Peter and Gwen had also trained with each other in their free time. Peter couldn't afford to be like last time, where he was content with just his normal level due to fear. It's like The Other had mentioned, his control was perfect already. He merely needed to continue increasing the quality of his abilities. And who better to help him if not Gwen?
Sure there was some difference in powers like her bioelectricity and better speed to mention a few. But he was more focused on increasing his physical ability and if possible, figuring out how to train his Spider-Sense. That part was still a work in progress in all honesty.
Other than that, Felicia had also become much closer to them now. Of course, she did make friends outside of their social circle but it was clear she liked to mostly hang around with them. Both Peter and Harry had no problems with her. Peter because he had just naturally hit it off with her and Harry being able to relate with her about being an only child of a rich parent.
Gwen however seemed to have a bit of a rivalry going on with Felicia. They were cordial but it was clear there was some tension between her and Felicia. It became slightly more tense when Felicia was having her usual flirty banter with him. He had some suspicion on what's that all about but it didn't seem to be a major problem so he was letting the two settle it among themselves. He'd rather not be in the middle of them when they started being slightly catty with each other. He's reckless, not suicidal.
He would speak up once it crossed a line though that's for sure.
But even with all these things happening, Peter was still a bit troubled. Hammerhead was getting erratic in his movements. The Spider-Tracer did their job in keeping him tracked but it was obvious that he was trying to keep ahead of the curve now what with the sudden interference from both the cops and the Spider-Duo. Didn't help that Hammerhead himself didn't bother to check on all of his bases so he usually sent a middleman for it.
The tracers on the bodyguards helped keep track of any other locations but considering their positions, they had spent more time being near Hammerhead instead of being somewhere else.
Captain Stacy assured them that they were doing all they could and had tracked a few locations that they didn't know about. So it was safe to say that the police force was able to pick up their slack. It still didn't lessen his nerves by much but it did help.
To take the stress off his shoulders, Gwen had taken him to the science exhibition that she mentioned back when they first planned how to test their powers. He did promise to join her after all.
"Something on your mind?" Gwen asked beside him.
Peter looked at her and admired her. She's wearing a simple black shirt that hugs her body nicely along with a green skirt. To go along with her outfit she had worn a small amount of makeup, nothing too obvious but he did notice the black eyeliner and a small amount of lipstick being used. It enhanced her natural beauty even further in his opinion.
Compared to her, he had just worn a white shirt with a blue jacket on top along with blue jeans. They were wearing pretty casual outfits for an outing together but he felt like he had put the least effort into it when compared to her.
"Nothing. Just got reminded of your attempt to hide your identity from your dad." Peter teased.
Gwen pouted cutely. "I thought we promised not to say anything about that?" She sulked cutely.
Peter chuckled. "Fine, I'm sorry."
"You better." She shoved his arm lightly at that, which made him laugh a little.
"But still, in all seriousness, I'm surprised that you went ahead with this so easily. With who your dad is, I thought you would be against this." Peter admitted as they continued to walk through the fair.
Gwen sighed as she realized what Peter was talking about. "I'll admit, part of me is still against this. But seeing those people smile and just doing the little things…I don't know how to describe it honestly."
"It feels pretty fulfilling right?" Peter smirked at her.
Gwen returned it. "Yeah, it is."
Peter then noticed that she dropped her smile and looked hesitant. "Gwen?"
"That's not the only reason though…" She began. "Harry had brought up that you could get hurt from it. And…I had thought the worst could also happen."
Peter opened his mouth, wanting to assure her. "Gwen–"
"No, just let me finish." Gwen stopped him. Peter blinked and decided to comply. "Thank you. Look, Peter, I'm not sure if you noticed but you are important to me. Really important." Gwen reinforced that idea by holding his hand, much to Peter's surprise.
The both of them paused in their steps as Gwen looked at him. The vulnerability was clear in her eyes.
"The thought of you getting hurt…getting killed. It hurts me. I had thought about it before but then seeing Hammerhead killing Lorenzo off…It just cements it even more that people do die in this line of work. I already had enough trouble trying to cope with the fact that I barely felt much from seeing a guy getting killed but then I thought about you getting shot instead. You lying there instead of some guy I don't know…That's when it really haunts me." Gwen paused as she caught her breath.
Peter blinked as he realized that while he felt guilty about Lorenzo's death, he didn't even notice that for Gwen it was the first time seeing someone actually die in front of her. The thought pained him but he pushed it to the side as he forced him to listen to her first before he spoke.
"That's why I joined you, I want to be by your side and help you. I don't want you to go at this all alone and come back injured or worse just because there was no one there that could help you. I just can't handle the thought." Gwen finished.
"Gwen…" Peter didn't know what to say. Suddenly having her lay her heart out to him was a bit sudden but at the same time, he did understand. He might have never met Gwen in the past timeline, but his past self knew the woman in front of him well and he would be lying if he said that it didn't affect him. It was a perfect merge, whatever feelings or connections his past self had were also his. And the connection he had with the brilliant young woman in front of him was important, something that was precious to both of them even if outsiders would think nothing of it.
"Gwen, I'll be lying if I said I don't understand." Peter held her hand softly as he brought it up to chest level. His thumb caressed the back of her hand softly to try and give some form of assurance.
"When Harry said that you fainted because of the spider as well, I was terrified. My best friend has the potential to gain powers as I did in a time when mutant hate is higher than it ever was before." Peter paused as he caught his breath. Gwen patiently waited as she studied him with wide eyes. "If it was just me, I could handle it. Be it hated just because I have these powers or dealing with people dying in front of me, it was fine if it was just me. But the thought of you of all people being in the same kind of danger and facing those things as I will is unbearable. So trust me when I say the feeling is mutual."
Gwen gave him a wry smile. "I guess both of us just wanted to look out for each other huh."
"Yeah, seems like it." Peter chuckled dryly.
A comfortable silence settled on them as they stared at each other's eyes, the strangers around them merely ignored them and were unaware of the intimate moment shared between two people who understood each other at a deep level.
They were outcasts who found each other and helped each other break out of their shell. They owe each other for shaping them into who they are today. They had their differences of course, but there were enough similarities for them to bond and understand each other. So of course it would be natural for them to have the same worries for the other.
"...So now what?" Gwen asked.
"Now, we go on as usual. Except this time we properly look out for each other, deal?" Peter suggested.
Gwen held his hand much more firmly at that. "Deal." She smiled. "Now come on, this was supposed to be our day off and I'd rather not talk about work."
Peter smiled at that. "Sure."
Gwen smiled as they continued to hold hands and explore the science exhibition. She'd admit, there were still things she wanted to ask and speak about with Peter. How he was so good at being a vigilante and how he was able to come up with a solution on how to handle Hammerhead was the first one that came to mind. She knew he was a genius; she would even admit that Peter was smarter than her, even if he denied it. But being a genius and being good at catching crime bosses were two different things.
But she pushed it to the side and decided to tackle that later, not when her feelings were in shambles. She finally managed to push away her nervousness and took her first steps toward possibly confessing her feelings for the young man beside her. Admitting her worries was a sudden thing but it was also a hidden gift in disguise.
Peter outright told her that she was important to him, and with how they were holding hands, possibly very important. She didn't push it even further though as it was already causing her confidence to falter just by getting this far. She wanted to take this slow, hopefully not too slow though. There was still Felicia to worry about after all. She was fine with her but she didn't really like her being so…flirty with him. Peter might have brushed it off as good fun but she wasn't blind, there was growing interest from Felicia's side.
But Harry was right, if she could notice the good things about Peter then so could other girls if they bothered to look. Instead of being mad about it, she should actively try to get Peter's attention and make him interested in her. She already had the advantage of being so familiar with him, so she should keep pressing on it.
So she would continue to do so, she was already doing a good job and just needed to keep it up. She had all the advantages and could spend more time with Peter. The only way for Felicia to somehow be able to have a chance was if, in some crazy chance, she somehow had superpowers and ended up joining their little vigilante group.
But that couldn't happen, it would take an absurd amount of luck for that to happen. So she wouldn't worry about it, what's the worst that could happen?
[-]
Felicia Hardy had superpowers.
That was a fact that she never expected to be real. At first, she thought she had some really good luck (it's kinda crazy how many nickels she found on the sidewalk) but when she started to do some crazy gymnastic moves and managed to lift her couch with ease, it became pretty damn apparent that her genes might just be a tad too good.
She knew she had good looks. She'd seen her mother and knew she would get better with age if she took care of herself. But she didn't expect it to be good enough for her to have superpowers. It wasn't the X Gene, her mother had checked a long time ago even before she started to manifest her good luck. So it was something else entirely.
Maybe the whole beauty bias thing was applied on a universal level, her luck was too damn good sometimes and she sure as fuck wasn't bulky enough to lift her couch!
(She was pretty proud of that, she won't lie.)
But outside of probably confirming that beauty bias also applied on some cosmic level, it had also helped her with a little hobby of hers. It's a little hobby that might be a tad illegal. A hobby that gave her quite the thrills and would maybe cause her new friend to be disappointed with her if he ever found out about it.
She's a cat burglar, plain and simple. She scouted out some business that was owned by people who annoyed her at rich people's parties when she bothered to attend them or maybe those that were corrupt if she was feeling charitable that day and proceeded to steal from them.
It was illegal, but she couldn't help it. It was fun! The planning, the heist, and the escape! It felt amazing to be able to pull off those impossible scenes she saw in movies and do it better!
(Suck it Neo! She can dodge bullets too!)
But by the end of the day, while copying action movie stars was fun, she was more focused on living up to one specific person. Her very own father, Walter Hardy. But the rest of the world knows him better as The Cat.
Her father was legendary for being the most infamous cat burglar who had never been caught. Of course, he never told his family about it. It wasn't until he disappeared off the face of the earth and she stumbled on some of his old gear did she even found out about it.
And like any other girl with serious daddy issues would do, she immediately tried to live up to his legacy. She wouldn't lie, she was curious about what happened to him and had been using the things she stole as funds to find out. But it didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the process.
Currently, she was in the middle of said process, crawling through the air vents as she tried to make her way into a specific room by memory. She was wearing her usual gear, a skintight black leather suit with some white linings along with a black domino mask to top it off.
She'd admit that the vents were rather cramped, made no easier by her rather well-developed curves.
'Not that I can complain about them.' She smirked to herself when she remembered all the stares she had gained from it. She didn't mind, it just meant that she looked good and what's the harm in flaunting it a little?
Her smirk widened a tad when she remembered Peter's not-so-subtle stare. He tried to avoid it but he slipped up once in a while too. Not that she minded, it was bound to happen. He at least tried to be polite about it.
Her mind then turned fully to the young man. She had merely known him for a few days but it kind of hit her with how well they hit it off. She flirted with everyone really, with a few dirty comments or innuendos here and there but it was all in good fun!
But with Peter, it felt more fun. Seeing him turn red from embarrassment was worth it but it felt even better whenever he tossed it back. It was like she had managed to somehow defile something pure.
And he was kind and pure. Peter didn't show it often but he did have a strong sense of responsibility. It started simple, making sure she finished her homework and was a generally good student. But then he started to help a little more, making sure she was fine, checking up on her once in a while and even helping her even if it seemed to be a bother for him.
(She ignored the butterflies she felt when she first saw his caring side.)
Of course, she would get curious about it after a while and ask him about it, his answer surprised her a little.
"Why did I help you? Well because you asked me to. I have the ability to help so it's my responsibility to."
It was his responsibility…his answer disappointed her a little she would admit. She was never about responsibility, she's stealing from some corrupt business at the moment after all. But at the same time, it intrigued her. She liked to think she could read people pretty well, being forced to attend a party filled with arrogant snobs and liars could train that in a person.
So whenever she looked at Peter, all she could tell was that behind that sense of responsibility was some hidden weight. She didn't know what that weight was or how heavy it was but it was something that constantly pressed down on him. It could be for any number of reasons, a sense of inadequacy, his financial situation, or heck just a general feeling of self-loathing.
But something in her gut told her it wasn't that. Because of that, she started to grow interested in him. To see what that weight was and why it drove him. Okay, maybe she just wanted him to just let go and have fun with her while forgetting about said weight. She tried a little with her flirty banter and paying some stuff for him, much to his slight irritation and gratitude.
But she swore it was just to let him have fun with her, spending time with him was always a good time in her book after all. So she wondered what would happen if that weight just disappeared and he finally let loose.
The thought was intriguing.
Before she could put more thought into it, voices reached her ears. She looked to the side and noticed a vent that had branched off to the right with a little segmented window to the room below.
"Gargan, it's good to have yer here."
"Better make it quick, Hammerhead. With how our last deal went, you're lucky I didn't cut off contact."
"Watch yer tone, Gargan. Yer still in Maggia's turf." Hammerhead growled.
Now Felicia could just ignore this possibly criminal dealing and confirm that the business she was stealing from was actually corrupt but everyone knew what they said about curiosity and cats. So she proceeded to stick around and started to overhear the conversation. Who knew, it might even lead her to another possible score.
She didn't bother to crawl over to it though, their voices were loud enough for her enhanced ears to pick up. Another thing for her to be grateful for.
"...Alright, I'll listen to what you have to say." Gargan talked after some silence.
"Have a seat." Hammerhead offered instead.
The sound of a chair being pushed out could be heard before silence pressed down on the atmosphere again.
'Sheesh. They're really going at it with the dick-measuring contest there.' She didn't need to see it to know it. They were probably using the silence to break the other person into talking to escape the tension and awkwardness. It had been done pretty frequently among the rich for them to gain some sort of power in their negotiations. It was kind of pathetic in her personal opinion but hey what did she know?
"Aight, Hammerhead, I'll bite. What's up?" Gargan finally broke, though his tone showed that he was more irritated by the power play than anything. She would be too if she was in his position. Sitting in awkward silence for god knows how long? Yeah no thanks.
"You've seen the news recently?"
"I haven't, busy trying to make up for your mess."
Whether he was offended by it or not, Hammerhead didn't show it in his tone. "We have a pest problem in New York. Two Spiders specifically."
"Those mutants I kept hearing about? Why should I care if they're making a mess of your show?" Gargan carelessly asked.
Felicia hummed to herself at that. She also had heard of them but never really encountered them yet. She wondered what it would be like to be chased by them.
"Because they will start making a mess of yer show if they're not stopped."
"Let them." Gargan scoffed.
"Gargan, these two cleared out multiple bases of mine. All of them are armed with trained men who don't hesitate to kill. Yet they were made into complete fools by two mutants with spider powers. Do you really think a bunch of guns can stop them? As much as it was fueled by idiocy, the fear of Mutants is real. A bunch of random people who have power beyond imagination could easily overpower a military force. And now we have two of them on our doorstep."
There was a short contemplative silence before Gargan spoke up. "So what? What do you want me to do?"
"Do what we usually do when faced with overwhelming power, we escalate. I'm here to offer a possible weapon that could kill the Spiders. I didn't want to use it until I had to but it seemed like I had no choice. And if I remember right, you wanted some new toys."
"...What's the catch?"
"I want two things, the Spiders' heads on my table and a favor from you."
"...I'm listening."
"Let's move this to a more suitable place then."
The sound of footsteps filled Felicia's ears after that. She was tempted to follow them but she knew she was already wasting time by hearing their talk. She could spend some time worrying over what kind of weapon could take out the Spiders but currently, she had a heist to finish. Her time window was already pretty short and she would be pushing it now.
'Would make the escape more exciting at least.' She smirked as she continued to crawl through the vent.
Instead of panicking, she relished the challenge. It was the reason why she was so addicted to this hobby after all, she was doing it for the thrills. Now she just needed to remember which turn she needed to make, the vents are pretty confusing after all.
[-]
Peter swung through the air with Gwen beside him, they were in their costumes and were on their way to the police station. Captain Stacy wanted to talk to them about something. One of the cops they stumbled on while on patrol had informed them about it and it would be important in rounding up and destroying the Maggia's operations in New York.
While they made their way there, they were also talking about possible codenames for Harry.
"How about Webhead?" Peter suggested. His voice came out with a hint of digital tone overlapped on it, as if his voice was garbled slightly but still clear for all to discern. That's because both he and Gwen had made the voice modulator after that encounter with Captain Stacy. She really didn't want her father to recognize her.
"Isn't that an insult that one of the thugs gave to you two? No." Harry rejected.
"Net-guy?" Gwen offered. Her voice was also slightly garbled like Peter's.
"I don't think you're even trying with that one Gwen."
"Network Overlord." Peter suggested with a dramatic voice.
"I'm not planning to be a supervillain, no thanks."
"Aww, I liked that one." Gwen complained playfully.
"Don't worry Ghost, he'll appreciate our efforts someday." Peter mock sniffed.
"Haha." Harry mock laughed. "Try giving me an actual codename and then I'll appreciate it. Also, make a left and you should be there."
The two did as he said before Gwen suddenly exclaimed.
"I got it! Web-Work!"
"Hrmmmm, nah. Don't really get a feeling with that you know? Nice try though."
"Aww man." Gwen sighed as they landed on the building. The two swiftly made their way to the nearest window and Peter knocked on it. "I really thought I got something there."
Peter chuckled. "We'll keep thinking about it."
The window then opened and a voice called out. "Come inside quick, don't want anyone to see you now do we?"
The two did and entered the room through the window. As they settled inside the room, they could see it was rather spartan. There were just a few tables and other furniture with some paperwork on them. He did notice a picture on the table right beside the window they had entered. But a hand quickly took the picture and faced it down on the table.
He looked at the owner and studied him. George Stacy was an old man and looked very different from the one that Peter Three knew. He still looked healthy and fit but his aging face and white hair made it clear that the man was old. He wore a simple long-sleeved white buttoned shirt tucked in black slacks. To go along with them was a black belt and black shoes. The man looked professional.
"Spider-Man, Ghost Spider. It's good to have you two here. I was afraid you might not come but it seemed like my worries were for nothing."
"Gotta admit captain, it was surprising for you to ask for a private meeting." Peter nodded as he crossed his arms. The captain raised an eyebrow at the change of voice but didn't question it. His usual light-hearted tone was still there but it felt a little more robotic to his ears.
"Trust me, even I was surprised by it. My coworkers suggested this to me because of how much good work you two have done to help us. I will admit, I'm not…into this whole vigilante business. But with Stark parading around as Iron Man and the rise of the mutant population, I expected a superpowered vigilante to show up in the city one day." He admitted as he leaned on his desk.
"You…expected it?" Gwen asked curiously.
George nodded. "My daughter has two close friends who are into comics and the like. She complained enough about it for me to know a thing or two. With how influential they are and Stark's actions, I'm not surprised some people decided to follow his footsteps."
"I see." Gwen nodded, she tried to hide it but there was a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
"But enough about that. That wasn't the reason why I called you two here. You are here so we can discuss the Maggia. Tell me, how much do you two know about them?" George asked.
"If I remember right, they are an international crime syndicate. They have a group or as they call it, a 'family', in all of America's countries and a good chunk of Europe but they are independent of each other. Letting the other family run their business however they wish as long as it doesn't interfere with the other families. There should be two of them in New York City." Peter answered.
Gwen looked at Peter with a slightly surprised look, how did he know that? She lived with her father and even she didn't know that much since he kept work separate from his private life. And she had never really seen Peter do any research on them back at their base and he spent most of his time as Spider-Man so there was no way he could have researched all of that while at home.
George looked impressed. "You got everything right except one, there's only one family in New York. There used to be two of them though but we managed to take it down a long time ago due to coordinated work with the CIA. The Manfredi Family is no more and all that's left is the one that we are trying to take down: the Hammerhead Family. While info on the Maggia is sparse, you might want to check on your sources there Spider-Man. The info on their arrest is pretty well known."
Peter chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, I'll get to that."
Peter Two had encountered the Maggia Family in his home universe and had fought the Manfredi Family and The Hammerhead Family. He never managed to encounter the bosses so far though. Well as far as his memories could tell anyway. He had all their memories until the moment they arrived in his universe. Well considering its different universes, there were bound to be major differences.
"Currently, we managed to gain a lot of ground on finally stomping them out. I don't know how you two managed to track his operations but your efforts managed to help us finally be able to nail everything to Hammerhead and ensure he's put away for good." George gave them a victorious grin.
Peter and Gwen glanced at each other in surprise before Peter laughed. "Well, that's good then! What are we waiting for?"
"That's the hard part. Hammerhead has gone missing. We suspected that he realized that things were not looking good for him and decided to lay low to lick his wounds. We do know he's still in New York but not where. You two had done a good job of tracking his operations and if you can track where Hammerhead is, we can coordinate and finally take him down. What do you say?" George extended his hand.
Peter looked at Gwen and she nodded. With that, Peter immediately shook his hand. "You can count on us."
"I surely hope so. I'll be honest, I still have my reservations about you two but your actions speak for themselves. If we can capture Hammerhead together, the NYPD will be your ally." George admitted.
"Well then, it's good that we can contribute immediately. We can start tracking him down now and could get a location by today." Peter revealed.
"That fast?" George gasped in shock.
"We got a pretty good web of networks." Gwen quipped. The pun was not missed by the two men. Peter laughed while George closed his eyes with a sigh and realized that the jokes might be a constant thing with the two Spiders.
"I knew my cue when I heard it, I got a location." Harry piped up.
Peter gave a whisper of thanks to Harry before he turned to George. "How fast can you gather your men?"
"I'll have them all in an hour." George answered with confidence.
"Good, then we can get this started immediately after you gather your men. Sounds good?"
"You have his location already?"
"Told ya we got a good network." Gwen tapped the side of her head as she smirked underneath her mask.
George sighed, though there was an impressed glint in his eyes. "I'm not even going to ask. Let's get this going."
The spiders smirked. Hammerhead would go down today whether he liked it or not.
[-]
Peter sighed as he sat by the edge of a roof. He looked at a large building that was right across a few buildings to his front. He was pretty hidden from view but he also could see the building well if he just leaned upward a little.
Said building was actually a business front that helped cover Hammerhead's steps. Captain Stacy was in the middle of gathering his men so they could get the raid underway. The sound of footsteps could be heard and he looked to the side when he noticed Gwen sitting there.
"Nervous?" Gwen asked curiously.
"A little. But mostly because we can finally end Hammerhead's operations today." Peter admitted.
"You and me both." Gwen nodded as they settled into a comfortable silence.
"Not to ruin the moment, but Captain Stacy is already on the scene. You two should meet up with him there." Harry piped up.
"Thanks, Webline." Peter thanked Harry.
"Yeah, I'm still not sure about that codename."
Peter and Gwen scoffed in amusement before they dropped from the ledge and started to swing toward the meeting point. They made sure to be discreet, using the narrow alleyways to traverse the streets before they swung into a corner and landed down.
In front of them was Captain Stacy with a team of SWAT right behind him. They were tense when they landed but relaxed when they realized it was just the two Spiders.
"You're here, good." George nodded at the two. "Ready?"
Peter realized that the atmosphere was rather tense. It was kind of affecting him too. And when things were tense around him, he joked around. "Ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum."
"And we're all out of bubblegum." Gwen piped in with a smile.
George rolled his eyes in amusement while the rest of the SWAT team looked in slight incredulity. Though Peter did notice some of them chuckle a little so it was a win in his book.
"I'll give you a quick rundown. My men will surround the building and begin the raid, they can handle armed criminals but if there were any nasty surprises in store…" He trailed off.
"We'll need to handle it and leave a yellow brick road for you guys to follow, got it. So how do you want us to get in?" Peter asked.
"I just need you to infiltrate the building ahead of us and make sure nothing will stop my men."
"Does that include the thugs or just the nasty surprises?" Gwen asked.
"The latter. But if you can handle the former for us to arrest, I don't think my team would complain too much about it." George finished as he glanced at the team behind him.
"A raid without us getting shot at? If you two can make that happen, I'll buy you two a drink." One of them piped up.
"I don't think they're old enough for that Rex." George added, causing the two spiders to look at him with shocked lenses. Some of the people there were a bit intrigued by how they can emote with just their lenses.
"Shame, I'll buy them some Happy Meals instead." Rex joked, causing the rest to laugh.
"How did you–?" Gwen asked with some shock in her tone.
"Some advice, cops know when you deepen your voice. The voice modulator adds to the theory. Granted it was just a theory but you confirmed it." George smirked at them.
Gwen groaned at that while Peter sighed. "And you're just gonna be okay with this?" Peter asked with some hesitation. Putting kids in the line of fire was always a bad thing after all.
"Oh no, I am not okay with this. I have a daughter who's probably your age and the idea of someone so young joining us is a nightmare." George's smile dropped causing the two to tense a little. Their Spider-Sense didn't tingle so it didn't seem like there was any danger but the situation was still somewhat tense.
"But some of us have seen you two beat armed criminals with ease, so there's that." Rex added, causing the two to relax a little.
"Rex is right. You two aren't normal and could handle any threat to a grown man with ease. So take this as a test. Prove that you are a force that can help turn the city for the better and we'll try to live with the fact that teenagers are doing a better job helping the city." George offered.
Peter rubbed the back of his head. "You drive a hard bargain captain, but I think me and my partner here can live up to your standards." He glanced at Gwen who nodded at that.
"Good, now take off that voice modulator. You two sound better without it." George ordered before he walked away and started to speak into his comms.
"Sound better?" Gwen asked curiously but the two did comply with the request.
"More real for lack of a better word. With that modulator, you almost sound like a robot. And honestly, it's kinda uncomfortable. Despite the endless jokes, your voices are comforting." Rex reassured the two.
"Awww Rex, you're making me blush." Peter put a hand on his chest as a way to show how heartfelt he was. "Fine, fine. Since you guys love our voice so much we'll keep it."
"And there's the quips." The other SWAT member groaned.
"Plenty more to come, don't worry." Gwen assured them, which caused the team to groan while Rex, Peter, and Gwen laughed.
The two waited by the alley until Captain Stacy returned to them.
"Do you two have any way to stay in contact?" George asked curiously.
"Give us a sec…" Peter excused as he stepped away from the group.
"Let me just….Damn, I need to thank Gwen for making this easier for me. This program made it much easier. There! There's another channel on the comm where it should link to Captain Stacy's."
"Thanks, bud." Peter thanked Harry before relaying the info to George.
"That's good then. You two can go ahead and check on the lower floors. If everything is fine, you two can continue to go ahead while we clear things up there before we follow you." George advised.
Peter and Gwen nodded. "Got it."
"Good luck you two."
The two then immediately jumped and swung away. They landed on a nearby roof and started to stealthily make their way to the target building. They maneuvered their way through the rooftops until they stopped at the final building. Right across them was their target.
"Harry, give us the building plan." Gwen ordered as the two studied the building.
"Give me a sec…Alright, I got it. You should see them on your HUD now."
"Thanks, man." Peter thanked him before they studied the building plan.
The both of them had already studied it extensively before they arrived but now it was just to recheck their knowledge. Satisfied with it, the two turned toward each other.
"How are we doing this?" Gwen asked.
"Keep it simple. Captain Stacy got all the exits covered so we could be a little bit noisy. But…" Peter trailed off.
"Not exactly a good idea if we consider that there's a nasty surprise waiting for us." Gwen nodded.
"Right. Remember what that thug said the other day? Hammerhead supposedly got some rip-off Iron Man suit somewhere and we never saw it when we raided the other bases. That leaves it sitting in the main base. Which is right in front of us." Peter remarked dryly.
"So unless we don't want to fight an Iron Man rip-off, we need to be quiet." Gwen sighed.
"Man, I hate forced stealth missions. Gotta tell Rex he needs to put a rain check on those Happy Meals." Peter dryly quipped before he swung toward the building. Gwen followed not a second later.
The two crawled to the side of the building and found a hidden window they could use to enter. It was locked but that won't stop Peter. It took a bit but sticking his hand on the window and a quick but controlled jolt with his super strength was enough to break the lock.
'Thank you for that tip Peter Three.' Peter mentally thanked his counterpart. It did leave him a tad guilty for doing so since the technique was created when Peter Three was in a bad mental space after losing Gwen. He was very…creative with his wall-crawling abilities for lack of a better term, especially when he was using them on uncooperative criminals.
Pushing the brutal thoughts out of his head, he entered the building through the window with Gwen following him closely. They crawled on the ceiling and observed the people below.
The room below them was rather huge. It seemed to be a ballroom with how massive it was and there were a few large doors that led to other rooms. If Peter remembered the building plan correctly, said doors should lead to other really large rooms. There weren't many people in the current room they were in, just some cleaners doing their job.
"Harry, did you loop the cameras?" Peter asked.
"I did. Won't stay for long though so you gotta be quick."
"Thanks, man. We gotta split up." Peter whispered to Gwen, who nodded.
"We meet at the emergency staircase?"
"Which one?"
"The one in the middle of the floor."
"Ah, that one. Sure."
The two then explored the first floor. Crawling through the ceiling and even slipping through the vents to capture all the rooms. Once the two of them were satisfied with everything, they met at the agreed spot.
"Captain, this is Spidey speaking and the first floor is A-Okay. Moving to the second floor." Peter informed as the two exited a nearby window and entered the second floor through another one. They didn't want people to see them just because they used the emergency stairs after all. Not much place to hide there.
"Copy that. We'll go in when you secure the third floor." The captain replied.
The spider duo continued to search through the second floor. There were some guards but they didn't look too armed and seemed to be pretty relaxed. Peter and Gwen had quickly webbed them up to the ceiling and knocked them out pretty easily.
They continued their efforts on the third floor which had significantly more guards. They didn't see anything suspicious but there was an increase in the guards who patrolled the area. Once the two had secured the floor, Peter activated his comms.
"The third floor is secured. The yellow brick road is now open for business." Peter quipped.
"Copy that. You two scout ahead."
Peter looked over the window and could see the cops raiding the building. He then glanced at Gwen, however, the young woman was instead looking at the elevator.
"Ghost?" Peter called out.
"Hey uh, Captain, I think you might have guests coming." Gwen informed him a bit nervously.
Peter raised an eyebrow, looked at the elevator, and groaned. All the elevators had suddenly gone up to the exact same floor and quickly made their way to the lower floors.
"What happened to follow the yellow brick road?" George asked somewhat incredulously.
"Yeah well, I think you're about to meet the lion and I don't think they are cowardly." Peter quipped.
The two heard George groan. "I'll get someone to disable the elevators. You two keep on going. Also, Rex said he's not buying those Happy Meals anymore."
"Oh no, our toys, whatever will we do." Gwen sarcastically whined.
The two then quickly made their way to the fourth floor. The two made their way out of the window and crawled upwards, they paused once they reached the upper window. They could see a lot more guards than before and all of them looked tense.
Gwen and Peter looked at each other and nodded. It's go time.
Peter punched the window, shattering it before he lunged inside. As he jumped inside, he shot out multiple Impact webbing and landed in the middle of the room with multiple webbed-up thugs around him.
"Knock knock!" He quipped.
"It's the spiders!"
"Kill 'em!"
"You're supposed to say 'Who's there?'!" Peter whined as his Spider-Sense guided him through the danger.
Peter made quick work of the thugs inside. Gwen had joined him in beating the thugs and cracking jokes a second later.
"Wow, you guys can't even land a shot. Remind me to never bring you guys to carnival games." Gwen quipped as she electrocuted two thugs to unconsciousness.
"With how hard they are trying I think they're the type to put down 50 dollars for that stuffed animal. So it would be a waste of time and money!" Peter added as he knocked out three thugs simultaneously.
This trend continued as they slowly traversed through the floor and into the upper ones. The two spiders left a trail of webbed-up unconscious criminals in their wake as they tore through the building.
They could also hear the sound of gunshots on the lower floors. Guess they hadn't disabled the elevator on time and now Captain Stacy and his men were fighting some of the thugs downstairs. That merely served to make the Spiders more motivated to tear through the building and capture Hammerhead to end this.
With the motivation and the adrenaline pumping through their veins, something…strange happened.
As they fought, their Spider-Sense started to…sync up so to speak. It was like the two of them were aware of each other's locations at all times. It wasn't just their enhanced senses being aware of them but it was like they were able to predict the other's moves ahead of time and synchronize better. They were able to know where they would move, how they would act, and even cover their backs better. Completely trusting the other to help subdue the enemy while simultaneously protecting the other. In some odd way, their Spider-Sense allowed them to fulfill their deal of watching the other's back much more effectively.
Due to this, they were able to clear out the building much faster than expected. With a final web shot, the two paused and breathed a sigh of relief once their Spidey Sense stopped tingling.
"I think that's all of them?" Gwen asked.
Peter nodded. "Yeah, there's a few final rooms now."
Gwen nodded as they slowly made their way to the main office. "Hey back there…Our Spider-Sense, you felt it too right?" She asked curiously.
"That feeling of synching up? Yeah, I don't know what that was but damn…"
"Felt amazing, yeah." Gwen agreed.
"Well, I guess there's something to look forward to once this is over." Peter commented.
The two paused at the large double door. Peter then decided to screw in being polite and kicked it open.
The door slammed open and allowed the two to look into the room. It was a rather nice office with the edge of the room lined with mirrors which gave them a good view of the city. By the mirror was a large desk with Hammerhead sitting by it.
"Hammie! There you are! You know how long it took for us to find you?" Peter quipped as he slowly approached the man.
Hammerhead growled a little. "So yer the two spiders I kept hearing about. I expected someone…taller." He scoffed.
"Well sorry to disappoint. I'm sure you're a busy man but don't worry, we won't keep you for long and send you to your cell without much fanfare." Gwen spoke as she spread away from Peter in an attempt to circle around the mafia boss.
Hammerhead scoffed. "Oh, I'm a busy man alright. I have things to do, like fixing the messes that you two had caused."
"My! If I didn't know any better I'd say you're mad. Why? You don't like the renovations we've made?" Peter asked.
"Renovations? You two cost me a lot of money in the mess you made. But don't worry, I intend to make you two pay them back with interest." Hammerhead sneered.
Both of their lenses widened. Their Spidey Sense was tingling. Hard. The two immediately leaped backward as the ground beneath them broke open. The two landed on a crouch and observed the new arrival.
The ground in front of them had broken open. Suddenly a large metallic arm reached out of the hole and grabbed the edges. The arm then pulled the rest of its body up and allowed the spiders to see them in full.
Before the two stood a fully armored humanoid. It had camo colors and looked bulky but seemed streamlined enough for it to not affect its movement. What caught their attention the most was the glowing core at the middle of the chest plate and the large sharp tail attached to the back of the armor.
The helmet's glowing blue eyes looked over the area before it paused on them. Gwen couldn't help but gulp a little when she saw its intense gaze trained on them. The armor was towering over them and if she squinted, it reminded her of the Hammer Drones that Hammertech showcased a few months ago at Stark Expo.
'Oh so that's the rip-off Iron Man suit.' Gwen realized.
"Spider-Man! Ghost Spider! Can you two hear me? We heard a large crash, what's happening up there?!" George called out with clear worry in his tone from their comms.
"Uh Cap, I think we just found the heartless Tin Man." Peter nervously quipped.
Suddenly, the armored being before them spoke up. "Oh, I assure you, I have a heart and it's giving me all the power I need." The glowing core on his chest glowed as he spoke, the garbled voice adding to the menacing aura.
"And the robot speaks." Gwen groaned.
"Robot? Oh, I'm no robot, you can call me…Scorpion." He growled.
Scorpion brandished his tail and aimed it toward them, Peter could see a hint of green on the tip of the tail. If the name was any indication, Peter would guess that it was either something poisonous or outright acid.
"Oh, this is going to be fun." Peter tensed as he lowered his stance.
And here he thought this raid was going to be easy. He should have known it wasn't going to be as simple as he liked it to be with his luck. Just his usual Parker Luck messing things up again.
Days had passed since their last raid on the warehouse. All three of them had tracked as many of Hammerhead's— Or Maggia's operations to be specific as they could, tipping the police force as they did so they could cover the places they couldn't. Some of the cops were disgruntled by it since they were vigilantes but their excellent work had earned a lot of trust and respect from the boys in blue.
The majority of that trust and respect was due to the Maggia's notorious reputation. The crime syndicate didn't just sell weapons apparently. The bases they had raided were filled with weapons, but occasionally they also saw drug dens or worse, illegal brothels. That last one had caused Gwen to be a tad more ruthless with the thugs she found in them. So despite the police's feelings about them, they did see the good work Spiders did, thus building a sense of camaraderie between them.
It was to the point that they had a small unspoken deal going on, the cops wouldn't arrest them for vigilantism and the Spiders kept doing the good work and making things easier for them. Heck, they even met Captain Stacy during one of their raids! It was kinda funny to see Gwen try to deepen her voice to avoid suspicion from her father. It did remind them to make a voice modulator for situations like these though.
Speaking of the joint work, with how much they were working together now, the news was slowly covering them more and more. And with news coverage, J Jonah Jameson had of course covered their exploits as well in the Daily Bugle. As expected, the man immediately started to question their intentions and defame them.
He was a little discouraged by that, especially since it was a thing that had also happened with Peter Two and Peter Three. But Gwen and Harry's presence managed to make it bearable and he wasn't in it for fame anyway. He was doing it because it was his responsibility. Nothing more, nothing less.
With the news coverage and the cops subtly aiding them, Peter was confident that the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Duo (Trademark pending) was slowly becoming recognized by the citizens of New York!
Outside of their spider work, Peter and Gwen had also trained with each other in their free time. Peter couldn't afford to be like last time, where he was content with just his normal level due to fear. It's like The Other had mentioned, his control was perfect already. He merely needed to continue increasing the quality of his abilities. And who better to help him if not Gwen?
Sure there was some difference in powers like her bioelectricity and better speed to mention a few. But he was more focused on increasing his physical ability and if possible, figuring out how to train his Spider-Sense. That part was still a work in progress in all honesty.
Other than that, Felicia had also become much closer to them now. Of course, she did make friends outside of their social circle but it was clear she liked to mostly hang around with them. Both Peter and Harry had no problems with her. Peter because he had just naturally hit it off with her and Harry being able to relate with her about being an only child of a rich parent.
Gwen however seemed to have a bit of a rivalry going on with Felicia. They were cordial but it was clear there was some tension between her and Felicia. It became slightly more tense when Felicia was having her usual flirty banter with him. He had some suspicion on what's that all about but it didn't seem to be a major problem so he was letting the two settle it among themselves. He'd rather not be in the middle of them when they started being slightly catty with each other. He's reckless, not suicidal.
He would speak up once it crossed a line though that's for sure.
But even with all these things happening, Peter was still a bit troubled. Hammerhead was getting erratic in his movements. The Spider-Tracer did their job in keeping him tracked but it was obvious that he was trying to keep ahead of the curve now what with the sudden interference from both the cops and the Spider-Duo. Didn't help that Hammerhead himself didn't bother to check on all of his bases so he usually sent a middleman for it.
The tracers on the bodyguards helped keep track of any other locations but considering their positions, they had spent more time being near Hammerhead instead of being somewhere else.
Captain Stacy assured them that they were doing all they could and had tracked a few locations that they didn't know about. So it was safe to say that the police force was able to pick up their slack. It still didn't lessen his nerves by much but it did help.
To take the stress off his shoulders, Gwen had taken him to the science exhibition that she mentioned back when they first planned how to test their powers. He did promise to join her after all.
"Something on your mind?" Gwen asked beside him.
Peter looked at her and admired her. She's wearing a simple black shirt that hugs her body nicely along with a green skirt. To go along with her outfit she had worn a small amount of makeup, nothing too obvious but he did notice the black eyeliner and a small amount of lipstick being used. It enhanced her natural beauty even further in his opinion.
Compared to her, he had just worn a white shirt with a blue jacket on top along with blue jeans. They were wearing pretty casual outfits for an outing together but he felt like he had put the least effort into it when compared to her.
"Nothing. Just got reminded of your attempt to hide your identity from your dad." Peter teased.
Gwen pouted cutely. "I thought we promised not to say anything about that?" She sulked cutely.
Peter chuckled. "Fine, I'm sorry."
"You better." She shoved his arm lightly at that, which made him laugh a little.
"But still, in all seriousness, I'm surprised that you went ahead with this so easily. With who your dad is, I thought you would be against this." Peter admitted as they continued to walk through the fair.
Gwen sighed as she realized what Peter was talking about. "I'll admit, part of me is still against this. But seeing those people smile and just doing the little things…I don't know how to describe it honestly."
"It feels pretty fulfilling right?" Peter smirked at her.
Gwen returned it. "Yeah, it is."
Peter then noticed that she dropped her smile and looked hesitant. "Gwen?"
"That's not the only reason though…" She began. "Harry had brought up that you could get hurt from it. And…I had thought the worst could also happen."
Peter opened his mouth, wanting to assure her. "Gwen–"
"No, just let me finish." Gwen stopped him. Peter blinked and decided to comply. "Thank you. Look, Peter, I'm not sure if you noticed but you are important to me. Really important." Gwen reinforced that idea by holding his hand, much to Peter's surprise.
The both of them paused in their steps as Gwen looked at him. The vulnerability was clear in her eyes.
"The thought of you getting hurt…getting killed. It hurts me. I had thought about it before but then seeing Hammerhead killing Lorenzo off…It just cements it even more that people do die in this line of work. I already had enough trouble trying to cope with the fact that I barely felt much from seeing a guy getting killed but then I thought about you getting shot instead. You lying there instead of some guy I don't know…That's when it really haunts me." Gwen paused as she caught her breath.
Peter blinked as he realized that while he felt guilty about Lorenzo's death, he didn't even notice that for Gwen it was the first time seeing someone actually die in front of her. The thought pained him but he pushed it to the side as he forced him to listen to her first before he spoke.
"That's why I joined you, I want to be by your side and help you. I don't want you to go at this all alone and come back injured or worse just because there was no one there that could help you. I just can't handle the thought." Gwen finished.
"Gwen…" Peter didn't know what to say. Suddenly having her lay her heart out to him was a bit sudden but at the same time, he did understand. He might have never met Gwen in the past timeline, but his past self knew the woman in front of him well and he would be lying if he said that it didn't affect him. It was a perfect merge, whatever feelings or connections his past self had were also his. And the connection he had with the brilliant young woman in front of him was important, something that was precious to both of them even if outsiders would think nothing of it.
"Gwen, I'll be lying if I said I don't understand." Peter held her hand softly as he brought it up to chest level. His thumb caressed the back of her hand softly to try and give some form of assurance.
"When Harry said that you fainted because of the spider as well, I was terrified. My best friend has the potential to gain powers as I did in a time when mutant hate is higher than it ever was before." Peter paused as he caught his breath. Gwen patiently waited as she studied him with wide eyes. "If it was just me, I could handle it. Be it hated just because I have these powers or dealing with people dying in front of me, it was fine if it was just me. But the thought of you of all people being in the same kind of danger and facing those things as I will is unbearable. So trust me when I say the feeling is mutual."
Gwen gave him a wry smile. "I guess both of us just wanted to look out for each other huh."
"Yeah, seems like it." Peter chuckled dryly.
A comfortable silence settled on them as they stared at each other's eyes, the strangers around them merely ignored them and were unaware of the intimate moment shared between two people who understood each other at a deep level.
They were outcasts who found each other and helped each other break out of their shell. They owe each other for shaping them into who they are today. They had their differences of course, but there were enough similarities for them to bond and understand each other. So of course it would be natural for them to have the same worries for the other.
"...So now what?" Gwen asked.
"Now, we go on as usual. Except this time we properly look out for each other, deal?" Peter suggested.
Gwen held his hand much more firmly at that. "Deal." She smiled. "Now come on, this was supposed to be our day off and I'd rather not talk about work."
Peter smiled at that. "Sure."
Gwen smiled as they continued to hold hands and explore the science exhibition. She'd admit, there were still things she wanted to ask and speak about with Peter. How he was so good at being a vigilante and how he was able to come up with a solution on how to handle Hammerhead was the first one that came to mind. She knew he was a genius; she would even admit that Peter was smarter than her, even if he denied it. But being a genius and being good at catching crime bosses were two different things.
But she pushed it to the side and decided to tackle that later, not when her feelings were in shambles. She finally managed to push away her nervousness and took her first steps toward possibly confessing her feelings for the young man beside her. Admitting her worries was a sudden thing but it was also a hidden gift in disguise.
Peter outright told her that she was important to him, and with how they were holding hands, possibly very important. She didn't push it even further though as it was already causing her confidence to falter just by getting this far. She wanted to take this slow, hopefully not too slow though. There was still Felicia to worry about after all. She was fine with her but she didn't really like her being so…flirty with him. Peter might have brushed it off as good fun but she wasn't blind, there was growing interest from Felicia's side.
But Harry was right, if she could notice the good things about Peter then so could other girls if they bothered to look. Instead of being mad about it, she should actively try to get Peter's attention and make him interested in her. She already had the advantage of being so familiar with him, so she should keep pressing on it.
So she would continue to do so, she was already doing a good job and just needed to keep it up. She had all the advantages and could spend more time with Peter. The only way for Felicia to somehow be able to have a chance was if, in some crazy chance, she somehow had superpowers and ended up joining their little vigilante group.
But that couldn't happen, it would take an absurd amount of luck for that to happen. So she wouldn't worry about it, what's the worst that could happen?
[-]
Felicia Hardy had superpowers.
That was a fact that she never expected to be real. At first, she thought she had some really good luck (it's kinda crazy how many nickels she found on the sidewalk) but when she started to do some crazy gymnastic moves and managed to lift her couch with ease, it became pretty damn apparent that her genes might just be a tad too good.
She knew she had good looks. She'd seen her mother and knew she would get better with age if she took care of herself. But she didn't expect it to be good enough for her to have superpowers. It wasn't the X Gene, her mother had checked a long time ago even before she started to manifest her good luck. So it was something else entirely.
Maybe the whole beauty bias thing was applied on a universal level, her luck was too damn good sometimes and she sure as fuck wasn't bulky enough to lift her couch!
(She was pretty proud of that, she won't lie.)
But outside of probably confirming that beauty bias also applied on some cosmic level, it had also helped her with a little hobby of hers. It's a little hobby that might be a tad illegal. A hobby that gave her quite the thrills and would maybe cause her new friend to be disappointed with her if he ever found out about it.
She's a cat burglar, plain and simple. She scouted out some business that was owned by people who annoyed her at rich people's parties when she bothered to attend them or maybe those that were corrupt if she was feeling charitable that day and proceeded to steal from them.
It was illegal, but she couldn't help it. It was fun! The planning, the heist, and the escape! It felt amazing to be able to pull off those impossible scenes she saw in movies and do it better!
(Suck it Neo! She can dodge bullets too!)
But by the end of the day, while copying action movie stars was fun, she was more focused on living up to one specific person. Her very own father, Walter Hardy. But the rest of the world knows him better as The Cat.
Her father was legendary for being the most infamous cat burglar who had never been caught. Of course, he never told his family about it. It wasn't until he disappeared off the face of the earth and she stumbled on some of his old gear did she even found out about it.
And like any other girl with serious daddy issues would do, she immediately tried to live up to his legacy. She wouldn't lie, she was curious about what happened to him and had been using the things she stole as funds to find out. But it didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the process.
Currently, she was in the middle of said process, crawling through the air vents as she tried to make her way into a specific room by memory. She was wearing her usual gear, a skintight black leather suit with some white linings along with a black domino mask to top it off.
She'd admit that the vents were rather cramped, made no easier by her rather well-developed curves.
'Not that I can complain about them.' She smirked to herself when she remembered all the stares she had gained from it. She didn't mind, it just meant that she looked good and what's the harm in flaunting it a little?
Her smirk widened a tad when she remembered Peter's not-so-subtle stare. He tried to avoid it but he slipped up once in a while too. Not that she minded, it was bound to happen. He at least tried to be polite about it.
Her mind then turned fully to the young man. She had merely known him for a few days but it kind of hit her with how well they hit it off. She flirted with everyone really, with a few dirty comments or innuendos here and there but it was all in good fun!
But with Peter, it felt more fun. Seeing him turn red from embarrassment was worth it but it felt even better whenever he tossed it back. It was like she had managed to somehow defile something pure.
And he was kind and pure. Peter didn't show it often but he did have a strong sense of responsibility. It started simple, making sure she finished her homework and was a generally good student. But then he started to help a little more, making sure she was fine, checking up on her once in a while and even helping her even if it seemed to be a bother for him.
(She ignored the butterflies she felt when she first saw his caring side.)
Of course, she would get curious about it after a while and ask him about it, his answer surprised her a little.
"Why did I help you? Well because you asked me to. I have the ability to help so it's my responsibility to."
It was his responsibility…his answer disappointed her a little she would admit. She was never about responsibility, she's stealing from some corrupt business at the moment after all. But at the same time, it intrigued her. She liked to think she could read people pretty well, being forced to attend a party filled with arrogant snobs and liars could train that in a person.
So whenever she looked at Peter, all she could tell was that behind that sense of responsibility was some hidden weight. She didn't know what that weight was or how heavy it was but it was something that constantly pressed down on him. It could be for any number of reasons, a sense of inadequacy, his financial situation, or heck just a general feeling of self-loathing.
But something in her gut told her it wasn't that. Because of that, she started to grow interested in him. To see what that weight was and why it drove him. Okay, maybe she just wanted him to just let go and have fun with her while forgetting about said weight. She tried a little with her flirty banter and paying some stuff for him, much to his slight irritation and gratitude.
But she swore it was just to let him have fun with her, spending time with him was always a good time in her book after all. So she wondered what would happen if that weight just disappeared and he finally let loose.
The thought was intriguing.
Before she could put more thought into it, voices reached her ears. She looked to the side and noticed a vent that had branched off to the right with a little segmented window to the room below.
"Gargan, it's good to have yer here."
"Better make it quick, Hammerhead. With how our last deal went, you're lucky I didn't cut off contact."
"Watch yer tone, Gargan. Yer still in Maggia's turf." Hammerhead growled.
Now Felicia could just ignore this possibly criminal dealing and confirm that the business she was stealing from was actually corrupt but everyone knew what they said about curiosity and cats. So she proceeded to stick around and started to overhear the conversation. Who knew, it might even lead her to another possible score.
She didn't bother to crawl over to it though, their voices were loud enough for her enhanced ears to pick up. Another thing for her to be grateful for.
"...Alright, I'll listen to what you have to say." Gargan talked after some silence.
"Have a seat." Hammerhead offered instead.
The sound of a chair being pushed out could be heard before silence pressed down on the atmosphere again.
'Sheesh. They're really going at it with the dick-measuring contest there.' She didn't need to see it to know it. They were probably using the silence to break the other person into talking to escape the tension and awkwardness. It had been done pretty frequently among the rich for them to gain some sort of power in their negotiations. It was kind of pathetic in her personal opinion but hey what did she know?
"Aight, Hammerhead, I'll bite. What's up?" Gargan finally broke, though his tone showed that he was more irritated by the power play than anything. She would be too if she was in his position. Sitting in awkward silence for god knows how long? Yeah no thanks.
"You've seen the news recently?"
"I haven't, busy trying to make up for your mess."
Whether he was offended by it or not, Hammerhead didn't show it in his tone. "We have a pest problem in New York. Two Spiders specifically."
"Those mutants I kept hearing about? Why should I care if they're making a mess of your show?" Gargan carelessly asked.
Felicia hummed to herself at that. She also had heard of them but never really encountered them yet. She wondered what it would be like to be chased by them.
"Because they will start making a mess of yer show if they're not stopped."
"Let them." Gargan scoffed.
"Gargan, these two cleared out multiple bases of mine. All of them are armed with trained men who don't hesitate to kill. Yet they were made into complete fools by two mutants with spider powers. Do you really think a bunch of guns can stop them? As much as it was fueled by idiocy, the fear of Mutants is real. A bunch of random people who have power beyond imagination could easily overpower a military force. And now we have two of them on our doorstep."
There was a short contemplative silence before Gargan spoke up. "So what? What do you want me to do?"
"Do what we usually do when faced with overwhelming power, we escalate. I'm here to offer a possible weapon that could kill the Spiders. I didn't want to use it until I had to but it seemed like I had no choice. And if I remember right, you wanted some new toys."
"...What's the catch?"
"I want two things, the Spiders' heads on my table and a favor from you."
"...I'm listening."
"Let's move this to a more suitable place then."
The sound of footsteps filled Felicia's ears after that. She was tempted to follow them but she knew she was already wasting time by hearing their talk. She could spend some time worrying over what kind of weapon could take out the Spiders but currently, she had a heist to finish. Her time window was already pretty short and she would be pushing it now.
'Would make the escape more exciting at least.' She smirked as she continued to crawl through the vent.
Instead of panicking, she relished the challenge. It was the reason why she was so addicted to this hobby after all, she was doing it for the thrills. Now she just needed to remember which turn she needed to make, the vents are pretty confusing after all.
[-]
Peter swung through the air with Gwen beside him, they were in their costumes and were on their way to the police station. Captain Stacy wanted to talk to them about something. One of the cops they stumbled on while on patrol had informed them about it and it would be important in rounding up and destroying the Maggia's operations in New York.
While they made their way there, they were also talking about possible codenames for Harry.
"How about Webhead?" Peter suggested. His voice came out with a hint of digital tone overlapped on it, as if his voice was garbled slightly but still clear for all to discern. That's because both he and Gwen had made the voice modulator after that encounter with Captain Stacy. She really didn't want her father to recognize her.
"Isn't that an insult that one of the thugs gave to you two? No." Harry rejected.
"Net-guy?" Gwen offered. Her voice was also slightly garbled like Peter's.
"I don't think you're even trying with that one Gwen."
"Network Overlord." Peter suggested with a dramatic voice.
"I'm not planning to be a supervillain, no thanks."
"Aww, I liked that one." Gwen complained playfully.
"Don't worry Ghost, he'll appreciate our efforts someday." Peter mock sniffed.
"Haha." Harry mock laughed. "Try giving me an actual codename and then I'll appreciate it. Also, make a left and you should be there."
The two did as he said before Gwen suddenly exclaimed.
"I got it! Web-Work!"
"Hrmmmm, nah. Don't really get a feeling with that you know? Nice try though."
"Aww man." Gwen sighed as they landed on the building. The two swiftly made their way to the nearest window and Peter knocked on it. "I really thought I got something there."
Peter chuckled. "We'll keep thinking about it."
The window then opened and a voice called out. "Come inside quick, don't want anyone to see you now do we?"
The two did and entered the room through the window. As they settled inside the room, they could see it was rather spartan. There were just a few tables and other furniture with some paperwork on them. He did notice a picture on the table right beside the window they had entered. But a hand quickly took the picture and faced it down on the table.
He looked at the owner and studied him. George Stacy was an old man and looked very different from the one that Peter Three knew. He still looked healthy and fit but his aging face and white hair made it clear that the man was old. He wore a simple long-sleeved white buttoned shirt tucked in black slacks. To go along with them was a black belt and black shoes. The man looked professional.
"Spider-Man, Ghost Spider. It's good to have you two here. I was afraid you might not come but it seemed like my worries were for nothing."
"Gotta admit captain, it was surprising for you to ask for a private meeting." Peter nodded as he crossed his arms. The captain raised an eyebrow at the change of voice but didn't question it. His usual light-hearted tone was still there but it felt a little more robotic to his ears.
"Trust me, even I was surprised by it. My coworkers suggested this to me because of how much good work you two have done to help us. I will admit, I'm not…into this whole vigilante business. But with Stark parading around as Iron Man and the rise of the mutant population, I expected a superpowered vigilante to show up in the city one day." He admitted as he leaned on his desk.
"You…expected it?" Gwen asked curiously.
George nodded. "My daughter has two close friends who are into comics and the like. She complained enough about it for me to know a thing or two. With how influential they are and Stark's actions, I'm not surprised some people decided to follow his footsteps."
"I see." Gwen nodded, she tried to hide it but there was a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
"But enough about that. That wasn't the reason why I called you two here. You are here so we can discuss the Maggia. Tell me, how much do you two know about them?" George asked.
"If I remember right, they are an international crime syndicate. They have a group or as they call it, a 'family', in all of America's countries and a good chunk of Europe but they are independent of each other. Letting the other family run their business however they wish as long as it doesn't interfere with the other families. There should be two of them in New York City." Peter answered.
Gwen looked at Peter with a slightly surprised look, how did he know that? She lived with her father and even she didn't know that much since he kept work separate from his private life. And she had never really seen Peter do any research on them back at their base and he spent most of his time as Spider-Man so there was no way he could have researched all of that while at home.
George looked impressed. "You got everything right except one, there's only one family in New York. There used to be two of them though but we managed to take it down a long time ago due to coordinated work with the CIA. The Manfredi Family is no more and all that's left is the one that we are trying to take down: the Hammerhead Family. While info on the Maggia is sparse, you might want to check on your sources there Spider-Man. The info on their arrest is pretty well known."
Peter chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, I'll get to that."
Peter Two had encountered the Maggia Family in his home universe and had fought the Manfredi Family and The Hammerhead Family. He never managed to encounter the bosses so far though. Well as far as his memories could tell anyway. He had all their memories until the moment they arrived in his universe. Well considering its different universes, there were bound to be major differences.
"Currently, we managed to gain a lot of ground on finally stomping them out. I don't know how you two managed to track his operations but your efforts managed to help us finally be able to nail everything to Hammerhead and ensure he's put away for good." George gave them a victorious grin.
Peter and Gwen glanced at each other in surprise before Peter laughed. "Well, that's good then! What are we waiting for?"
"That's the hard part. Hammerhead has gone missing. We suspected that he realized that things were not looking good for him and decided to lay low to lick his wounds. We do know he's still in New York but not where. You two had done a good job of tracking his operations and if you can track where Hammerhead is, we can coordinate and finally take him down. What do you say?" George extended his hand.
Peter looked at Gwen and she nodded. With that, Peter immediately shook his hand. "You can count on us."
"I surely hope so. I'll be honest, I still have my reservations about you two but your actions speak for themselves. If we can capture Hammerhead together, the NYPD will be your ally." George admitted.
"Well then, it's good that we can contribute immediately. We can start tracking him down now and could get a location by today." Peter revealed.
"That fast?" George gasped in shock.
"We got a pretty good web of networks." Gwen quipped. The pun was not missed by the two men. Peter laughed while George closed his eyes with a sigh and realized that the jokes might be a constant thing with the two Spiders.
"I knew my cue when I heard it, I got a location." Harry piped up.
Peter gave a whisper of thanks to Harry before he turned to George. "How fast can you gather your men?"
"I'll have them all in an hour." George answered with confidence.
"Good, then we can get this started immediately after you gather your men. Sounds good?"
"You have his location already?"
"Told ya we got a good network." Gwen tapped the side of her head as she smirked underneath her mask.
George sighed, though there was an impressed glint in his eyes. "I'm not even going to ask. Let's get this going."
The spiders smirked. Hammerhead would go down today whether he liked it or not.
[-]
Peter sighed as he sat by the edge of a roof. He looked at a large building that was right across a few buildings to his front. He was pretty hidden from view but he also could see the building well if he just leaned upward a little.
Said building was actually a business front that helped cover Hammerhead's steps. Captain Stacy was in the middle of gathering his men so they could get the raid underway. The sound of footsteps could be heard and he looked to the side when he noticed Gwen sitting there.
"Nervous?" Gwen asked curiously.
"A little. But mostly because we can finally end Hammerhead's operations today." Peter admitted.
"You and me both." Gwen nodded as they settled into a comfortable silence.
"Not to ruin the moment, but Captain Stacy is already on the scene. You two should meet up with him there." Harry piped up.
"Thanks, Webline." Peter thanked Harry.
"Yeah, I'm still not sure about that codename."
Peter and Gwen scoffed in amusement before they dropped from the ledge and started to swing toward the meeting point. They made sure to be discreet, using the narrow alleyways to traverse the streets before they swung into a corner and landed down.
In front of them was Captain Stacy with a team of SWAT right behind him. They were tense when they landed but relaxed when they realized it was just the two Spiders.
"You're here, good." George nodded at the two. "Ready?"
Peter realized that the atmosphere was rather tense. It was kind of affecting him too. And when things were tense around him, he joked around. "Ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum."
"And we're all out of bubblegum." Gwen piped in with a smile.
George rolled his eyes in amusement while the rest of the SWAT team looked in slight incredulity. Though Peter did notice some of them chuckle a little so it was a win in his book.
"I'll give you a quick rundown. My men will surround the building and begin the raid, they can handle armed criminals but if there were any nasty surprises in store…" He trailed off.
"We'll need to handle it and leave a yellow brick road for you guys to follow, got it. So how do you want us to get in?" Peter asked.
"I just need you to infiltrate the building ahead of us and make sure nothing will stop my men."
"Does that include the thugs or just the nasty surprises?" Gwen asked.
"The latter. But if you can handle the former for us to arrest, I don't think my team would complain too much about it." George finished as he glanced at the team behind him.
"A raid without us getting shot at? If you two can make that happen, I'll buy you two a drink." One of them piped up.
"I don't think they're old enough for that Rex." George added, causing the two spiders to look at him with shocked lenses. Some of the people there were a bit intrigued by how they can emote with just their lenses.
"Shame, I'll buy them some Happy Meals instead." Rex joked, causing the rest to laugh.
"How did you–?" Gwen asked with some shock in her tone.
"Some advice, cops know when you deepen your voice. The voice modulator adds to the theory. Granted it was just a theory but you confirmed it." George smirked at them.
Gwen groaned at that while Peter sighed. "And you're just gonna be okay with this?" Peter asked with some hesitation. Putting kids in the line of fire was always a bad thing after all.
"Oh no, I am not okay with this. I have a daughter who's probably your age and the idea of someone so young joining us is a nightmare." George's smile dropped causing the two to tense a little. Their Spider-Sense didn't tingle so it didn't seem like there was any danger but the situation was still somewhat tense.
"But some of us have seen you two beat armed criminals with ease, so there's that." Rex added, causing the two to relax a little.
"Rex is right. You two aren't normal and could handle any threat to a grown man with ease. So take this as a test. Prove that you are a force that can help turn the city for the better and we'll try to live with the fact that teenagers are doing a better job helping the city." George offered.
Peter rubbed the back of his head. "You drive a hard bargain captain, but I think me and my partner here can live up to your standards." He glanced at Gwen who nodded at that.
"Good, now take off that voice modulator. You two sound better without it." George ordered before he walked away and started to speak into his comms.
"Sound better?" Gwen asked curiously but the two did comply with the request.
"More real for lack of a better word. With that modulator, you almost sound like a robot. And honestly, it's kinda uncomfortable. Despite the endless jokes, your voices are comforting." Rex reassured the two.
"Awww Rex, you're making me blush." Peter put a hand on his chest as a way to show how heartfelt he was. "Fine, fine. Since you guys love our voice so much we'll keep it."
"And there's the quips." The other SWAT member groaned.
"Plenty more to come, don't worry." Gwen assured them, which caused the team to groan while Rex, Peter, and Gwen laughed.
The two waited by the alley until Captain Stacy returned to them.
"Do you two have any way to stay in contact?" George asked curiously.
"Give us a sec…" Peter excused as he stepped away from the group.
"Let me just….Damn, I need to thank Gwen for making this easier for me. This program made it much easier. There! There's another channel on the comm where it should link to Captain Stacy's."
"Thanks, bud." Peter thanked Harry before relaying the info to George.
"That's good then. You two can go ahead and check on the lower floors. If everything is fine, you two can continue to go ahead while we clear things up there before we follow you." George advised.
Peter and Gwen nodded. "Got it."
"Good luck you two."
The two then immediately jumped and swung away. They landed on a nearby roof and started to stealthily make their way to the target building. They maneuvered their way through the rooftops until they stopped at the final building. Right across them was their target.
"Harry, give us the building plan." Gwen ordered as the two studied the building.
"Give me a sec…Alright, I got it. You should see them on your HUD now."
"Thanks, man." Peter thanked him before they studied the building plan.
The both of them had already studied it extensively before they arrived but now it was just to recheck their knowledge. Satisfied with it, the two turned toward each other.
"How are we doing this?" Gwen asked.
"Keep it simple. Captain Stacy got all the exits covered so we could be a little bit noisy. But…" Peter trailed off.
"Not exactly a good idea if we consider that there's a nasty surprise waiting for us." Gwen nodded.
"Right. Remember what that thug said the other day? Hammerhead supposedly got some rip-off Iron Man suit somewhere and we never saw it when we raided the other bases. That leaves it sitting in the main base. Which is right in front of us." Peter remarked dryly.
"So unless we don't want to fight an Iron Man rip-off, we need to be quiet." Gwen sighed.
"Man, I hate forced stealth missions. Gotta tell Rex he needs to put a rain check on those Happy Meals." Peter dryly quipped before he swung toward the building. Gwen followed not a second later.
The two crawled to the side of the building and found a hidden window they could use to enter. It was locked but that won't stop Peter. It took a bit but sticking his hand on the window and a quick but controlled jolt with his super strength was enough to break the lock.
'Thank you for that tip Peter Three.' Peter mentally thanked his counterpart. It did leave him a tad guilty for doing so since the technique was created when Peter Three was in a bad mental space after losing Gwen. He was very…creative with his wall-crawling abilities for lack of a better term, especially when he was using them on uncooperative criminals.
Pushing the brutal thoughts out of his head, he entered the building through the window with Gwen following him closely. They crawled on the ceiling and observed the people below.
The room below them was rather huge. It seemed to be a ballroom with how massive it was and there were a few large doors that led to other rooms. If Peter remembered the building plan correctly, said doors should lead to other really large rooms. There weren't many people in the current room they were in, just some cleaners doing their job.
"Harry, did you loop the cameras?" Peter asked.
"I did. Won't stay for long though so you gotta be quick."
"Thanks, man. We gotta split up." Peter whispered to Gwen, who nodded.
"We meet at the emergency staircase?"
"Which one?"
"The one in the middle of the floor."
"Ah, that one. Sure."
The two then explored the first floor. Crawling through the ceiling and even slipping through the vents to capture all the rooms. Once the two of them were satisfied with everything, they met at the agreed spot.
"Captain, this is Spidey speaking and the first floor is A-Okay. Moving to the second floor." Peter informed as the two exited a nearby window and entered the second floor through another one. They didn't want people to see them just because they used the emergency stairs after all. Not much place to hide there.
"Copy that. We'll go in when you secure the third floor." The captain replied.
The spider duo continued to search through the second floor. There were some guards but they didn't look too armed and seemed to be pretty relaxed. Peter and Gwen had quickly webbed them up to the ceiling and knocked them out pretty easily.
They continued their efforts on the third floor which had significantly more guards. They didn't see anything suspicious but there was an increase in the guards who patrolled the area. Once the two had secured the floor, Peter activated his comms.
"The third floor is secured. The yellow brick road is now open for business." Peter quipped.
"Copy that. You two scout ahead."
Peter looked over the window and could see the cops raiding the building. He then glanced at Gwen, however, the young woman was instead looking at the elevator.
"Ghost?" Peter called out.
"Hey uh, Captain, I think you might have guests coming." Gwen informed him a bit nervously.
Peter raised an eyebrow, looked at the elevator, and groaned. All the elevators had suddenly gone up to the exact same floor and quickly made their way to the lower floors.
"What happened to follow the yellow brick road?" George asked somewhat incredulously.
"Yeah well, I think you're about to meet the lion and I don't think they are cowardly." Peter quipped.
The two heard George groan. "I'll get someone to disable the elevators. You two keep on going. Also, Rex said he's not buying those Happy Meals anymore."
"Oh no, our toys, whatever will we do." Gwen sarcastically whined.
The two then quickly made their way to the fourth floor. The two made their way out of the window and crawled upwards, they paused once they reached the upper window. They could see a lot more guards than before and all of them looked tense.
Gwen and Peter looked at each other and nodded. It's go time.
Peter punched the window, shattering it before he lunged inside. As he jumped inside, he shot out multiple Impact webbing and landed in the middle of the room with multiple webbed-up thugs around him.
"Knock knock!" He quipped.
"It's the spiders!"
"Kill 'em!"
"You're supposed to say 'Who's there?'!" Peter whined as his Spider-Sense guided him through the danger.
Peter made quick work of the thugs inside. Gwen had joined him in beating the thugs and cracking jokes a second later.
"Wow, you guys can't even land a shot. Remind me to never bring you guys to carnival games." Gwen quipped as she electrocuted two thugs to unconsciousness.
"With how hard they are trying I think they're the type to put down 50 dollars for that stuffed animal. So it would be a waste of time and money!" Peter added as he knocked out three thugs simultaneously.
This trend continued as they slowly traversed through the floor and into the upper ones. The two spiders left a trail of webbed-up unconscious criminals in their wake as they tore through the building.
They could also hear the sound of gunshots on the lower floors. Guess they hadn't disabled the elevator on time and now Captain Stacy and his men were fighting some of the thugs downstairs. That merely served to make the Spiders more motivated to tear through the building and capture Hammerhead to end this.
With the motivation and the adrenaline pumping through their veins, something…strange happened.
As they fought, their Spider-Sense started to…sync up so to speak. It was like the two of them were aware of each other's locations at all times. It wasn't just their enhanced senses being aware of them but it was like they were able to predict the other's moves ahead of time and synchronize better. They were able to know where they would move, how they would act, and even cover their backs better. Completely trusting the other to help subdue the enemy while simultaneously protecting the other. In some odd way, their Spider-Sense allowed them to fulfill their deal of watching the other's back much more effectively.
Due to this, they were able to clear out the building much faster than expected. With a final web shot, the two paused and breathed a sigh of relief once their Spidey Sense stopped tingling.
"I think that's all of them?" Gwen asked.
Peter nodded. "Yeah, there's a few final rooms now."
Gwen nodded as they slowly made their way to the main office. "Hey back there…Our Spider-Sense, you felt it too right?" She asked curiously.
"That feeling of synching up? Yeah, I don't know what that was but damn…"
"Felt amazing, yeah." Gwen agreed.
"Well, I guess there's something to look forward to once this is over." Peter commented.
The two paused at the large double door. Peter then decided to screw in being polite and kicked it open.
The door slammed open and allowed the two to look into the room. It was a rather nice office with the edge of the room lined with mirrors which gave them a good view of the city. By the mirror was a large desk with Hammerhead sitting by it.
"Hammie! There you are! You know how long it took for us to find you?" Peter quipped as he slowly approached the man.
Hammerhead growled a little. "So yer the two spiders I kept hearing about. I expected someone…taller." He scoffed.
"Well sorry to disappoint. I'm sure you're a busy man but don't worry, we won't keep you for long and send you to your cell without much fanfare." Gwen spoke as she spread away from Peter in an attempt to circle around the mafia boss.
Hammerhead scoffed. "Oh, I'm a busy man alright. I have things to do, like fixing the messes that you two had caused."
"My! If I didn't know any better I'd say you're mad. Why? You don't like the renovations we've made?" Peter asked.
"Renovations? You two cost me a lot of money in the mess you made. But don't worry, I intend to make you two pay them back with interest." Hammerhead sneered.
Both of their lenses widened. Their Spidey Sense was tingling. Hard. The two immediately leaped backward as the ground beneath them broke open. The two landed on a crouch and observed the new arrival.
The ground in front of them had broken open. Suddenly a large metallic arm reached out of the hole and grabbed the edges. The arm then pulled the rest of its body up and allowed the spiders to see them in full.
Before the two stood a fully armored humanoid. It had camo colors and looked bulky but seemed streamlined enough for it to not affect its movement. What caught their attention the most was the glowing core at the middle of the chest plate and the large sharp tail attached to the back of the armor.
The helmet's glowing blue eyes looked over the area before it paused on them. Gwen couldn't help but gulp a little when she saw its intense gaze trained on them. The armor was towering over them and if she squinted, it reminded her of the Hammer Drones that Hammertech showcased a few months ago at Stark Expo.
'Oh so that's the rip-off Iron Man suit.' Gwen realized.
"Spider-Man! Ghost Spider! Can you two hear me? We heard a large crash, what's happening up there?!" George called out with clear worry in his tone from their comms.
"Uh Cap, I think we just found the heartless Tin Man." Peter nervously quipped.
Suddenly, the armored being before them spoke up. "Oh, I assure you, I have a heart and it's giving me all the power I need." The glowing core on his chest glowed as he spoke, the garbled voice adding to the menacing aura.
"And the robot speaks." Gwen groaned.
"Robot? Oh, I'm no robot, you can call me…Scorpion." He growled.
Scorpion brandished his tail and aimed it toward them, Peter could see a hint of green on the tip of the tail. If the name was any indication, Peter would guess that it was either something poisonous or outright acid.
"Oh, this is going to be fun." Peter tensed as he lowered his stance.
And here he thought this raid was going to be easy. He should have known it wasn't going to be as simple as he liked it to be with his luck. Just his usual Parker Luck messing things up again.
Chapter 7 - Faith, Should I Take A Leap?
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Chapter 7 - Faith, Should I Take A Leap?
Peter widened his eyes and jumped. Scorpion's tail slashed past below him and hit a chair, sending the furniture crashing into the wall and shattering it into multiple pieces.
Peter's attention stayed on the chair as he stuck on the ceiling, smoke was rising from the broken furniture.
"Of course, there are corrosives in it." He sarcastically sighed before he suddenly jumped again. His Spider-Sense blared as he dodged another tail swipe.
Landing right beside Gwen, who had also been dodging the tail slashes, they launched enough webbing to leave the tail stuck to the ceiling.
"Urgh!" Scorpion grunted when he tried to tug the tail but to no avail.
While everyone was distracted, Peter caught Hammerhead making a break for it. "Ghost, get Hammerhead. I'll deal with Tin Man."
"What?"
He didn't wait for her confirmation. He shot two web strands into the glass wall behind Scorpion and slingshot forward. Without pause, Peter brought both of his legs forward and kicked his head. Scorpion grunted in pain as his head snapped back in place.
Peter righted himself in the air before he landed on a crouch. A glance in Gwen's direction showed that she had already given chase to Hammerhead. He then focused back on Scorpion, his glowing eyes trained on him as he raised one of his arms.
"Eat lead, bug!"
Spider-Sense tingled hard. He could see the telltale signs of a gun barrel popping out of the gauntlet and aimed at him in slow motion. His body moved automatically, letting experience guide him.
He had a lot of experience to call from, Peter Two and Peter Three had given him quite a lot to work with after all. This was one of those situations. Usually, Peter would dodge but instead, Peter Three's experience guided him and had him shoot a relatively thick web ball at the gun muzzle, blocking bullets from exiting.
Of course, Scorpion didn't realize that until it was too late, causing disastrous consequences.
BOOM
"Aargh!" Scorpion screamed in pain as the gauntlet blew up.
"Oouh instant karma!"
Peter didn't hesitate to take advantage of the sudden surprise. He ran straight ahead while shooting two web strands at Scorpion's chest, he then slid between his legs and pulled.
Scorpion slammed into the ground hard, the floor cratered underneath the weight and force. Peter then righted himself into a standing position before he shot multiple web balls to ensure Scorpion stayed on the ground.
"And stay down!" Peter sighed before he glanced at the doorway behind him. Not a second later, Gwen emerged from it and stood beside him.
"Oh, that was quick." She said with an impressed tone.
Peter shrugged. "He was all bark, no bite. What happened to Hammerhead?"
"Stuck on a ceiling down the hall. His head was tougher than it looks though." Gwen winced as she shook her right hand.
"Ouch." Peter winced in sympathy. "Anyways, we should probably—"
The both of them tensed as their Spider-Sense blared again. The two of them looked up and saw the tail corrode its way out of the ceiling. The webs still remained on it but with no ceiling to stick to, the tail was free.
The two spiders jumped back as the tail suddenly lashed out at them, the blade of the tail missing them by a hair's breadth. Right as they landed, they could see the blade slashed the webs holding Scorpion down, the substance corroding away slowly as the man freed himself.
They tensed as he turned to them.
"You'll pay for that."
"Uh oh, someone's angry." Gwen dryly remarked as they shifted their center of balance.
VWEEEEE
The sound of a whirring engine caught their ears right as their Spider-Senses blared. A flash of blue suddenly appeared as Scorpion fully turned to them. The core of his chest was flashing bright blue.
"DIE!"
"DODGE!" Peter shouted.
VRRRR—VOOM
The two dodged in opposite directions of each other right as a large blue beam shot past them. A constant beam of power burned through the ground and into the hallway behind them. Scorpion suddenly turned, the beam being directed toward Gwen's direction as Scorpion's tail lashed out toward the still airborne Peter.
Peter's eyes widened even as Spider-Sense helped direct his body. A surge of super strength flowed through him, giving him enough force to move in the air. His muscles tensed almost painfully as he twisted upward and away from the blade of the tail.
Peter let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding when he landed on a crouch. He looked up at the now burning room and realized that Scorpion had cut off the beam. Peter's worriedly searched for Gwen's form before his Spider-Sense buzzed assuringly, he didn't know how but it seemed like his Spider-Sense was telling him where she was in the room and that she was fine.
'Well, that's convenient.' Peter realized with some wonder.
He shook his head and focused back on Scorpion, the hulking machine looked around him before pausing at the hallway. Peter glanced in that direction and saw Hammerhead cocooned in a web hanging from the ceiling.
"He's beaten just like that? That's it, I'm done! I don't owe shit to Hammerhead anyway." He growled and stared directly at Peter. "I'll get you for this, mark my words."
Without another word, Scorpion suddenly lunged at the glass wall. He broke through it and fell to the streets below.
"Oh no you don't!" Gwen's voice suddenly shouted from all the smoke. He saw her visage wade through the smoke and jump through the hole in the window.
"Ghost, wait!" Peter hurriedly chased after her and jumped through the broken window.
Peter shot a web and swung, letting momentum carry him forward as he tried to catch up. As he did, the sound of his comms blaring could be heard.
"Spider-Man! Ghost Spider! What the hell was that noise?!" Captain Stacy asked with urgency in his tone.
"Uh, let's just say Tin Man got mad and decided to bail. Ghost and I are in pursuit!" Peter answered.
"And Hammerhead?"
"Wrapped and gifted, you can find him hanging from a ceiling. Watch the fires though, Tin Man was packing some firepower. It's a rip-off but it was still an Iron Man suit." Gwen answered.
They could hear Captain Stacy groaning in annoyance. "Well whatever it is, just be careful. We'll try to wrap up as best as we can here and join you as reinforcements."
"Copy that," Peter replied before the comms shut off. He swung beside Gwen and rounded a corner. There they could finally see Scorpion.
The hulking machine was bounding across the streets. Thrusters lit up from his back, knees, and boots, allowing the bulky figure to make great strides but causing wide craters every time he landed.
"Hey, you got a license for that?!" Peter quipped as he slowly caught up with the hulking machine.
"Urgh, not you two again!" Scorpion glanced behind him as he tried to speed up.
But it was useless, every time Scorpion landed, there was a slight time lag for the thrusters to cool before launching him again. The time lag was also getting longer and longer due to the build-up of heat. A lengthening time lag that was taken advantage of by both Spiders.
Something that Scorpion seemed to realize as well.
"Fuck this." He suddenly turned around in midair, the thrusters still keeping him airborne. The shoulders of the armor suddenly lengthened, revealing gaps in between the plates of the shoulder with holes in them.
The Spiders' lenses widened as they saw the tips of what looked to be missiles suddenly appearing from those holes.
"Try and catch me now." They could hear the smirk in his voice as the missiles were let loose. Some were aimed toward them but they could see that a few were also aimed at the streets below.
"Move!" Harry shouted.
"But the people—!" Gwen glanced below her as the missiles came closer. The civilians below shouting and running in fear.
Peter's lenses narrowed. "On me!"
Peter suddenly lunged forward and straight into one of the missile's paths. He then shot a web to one of the missiles below him and tugged hard, sending it crashing into the nearby missile as it exploded.
He noticed Gwen following his cue, shooting multiple webs at multiple missiles. She then tugged hard, slingshotting herself as the missiles converged on her. She kept her body compact as she narrowly made past the gaps between the missiles. She then tucked herself into a ball as a giant explosion erupted behind her and pushed her away.
The two fell to the streets, noticing the rest of the missiles. The sound of screaming and the civilians running for their lives could be sensed by them in slow motion. The fear was palpable, the atmosphere tense.
Their lenses narrowed as their Spider-Senses synced. They could feel the other in perfect clarity. The way their muscles tensed, the way their fingers fidget as they ready to shoot a web at a moment's notice. All of them were clear to the other.
Their sudden synchronicity made the objective clear as their thoughts became one.
Spider-Sense - Save them all!
The two shot out their webs, tugging and pulling at the civilians below and tossing them into the air. The missiles exploded, sending cars, street signs, and rubbles into the air. The two gave a quick glance at them but a plan was already formed.
Spider-Sense - Peter is stronger and Gwen is faster. Peter, focus on the heavier objects and Gwen, prioritize the civilians.
Peter swung as Gwen slingshotted downward. She slid through the ground due to momentum as she quickly grabbed any nearby leftover civilians and shot web lines on the further ones before jumping upward and tossing them into the sky.
Peter, on the other hand, shot web lines at the rubble, street signs, and cars. With a huff, he pulled them closer to stack on other objects and webbed them to the side of the buildings. The windows cracked and the metal bent a little from the force of the webbing but he ignored it, continuously pulling and webbing the objects as Gwen tossed people into the sky. Their Spider-Senses ensured that they didn't get in each other's way.
The rain of missiles finally ended but their job was not done. Peter remained airborne while Gwen lunged toward him and grabbed his hands. Gwen made sure her fingertips made contact with the spinnerets in his wrist as she secured her grip.
Spider-Sense - Web Blanket!
Plan clear, Peter then spun in the air, adding momentum before he tossed Gwen into the sky. A thick amount of webbing suddenly spread from between their hands, their webs interconnected as a large blanket spread out.
The two curled their hands closer to connect the webs before shooting another two web lines to the buildings at their side. The blanket became taut and Peter bled off momentum by rolling on top of it. The web was not too sticky so Peter could roll on it with ease.
He then slingshot himself out of the blanket right as the civilians landed on the blanket below. The blanket drooped and bounced a little but held under their collective weight, their bodies slid down the blanket a little before the web's stickiness ensured they remained unmoved.
The civilians looked confused and in awe before they glanced at the spiders, smiles formed as they realized what had just happened.
"Oh god!"
"Woo! Thanks, Spiders!"
"Hell yeah!"
Cheers of relief and thanks erupted. A smile formed beneath Peter's mask when he saw this.
"All in a day's work!" He gave them a two-finger salute before he swung away.
Right in time too as he saw Gwen launch a dropkick at the now descending Scorpion, his thrusters already cooling down.
"Aargh!" Scorpion grunted in pain as his head leaned backward due to the force of the kick.
Gwen launched herself away from Scorpion by using his armored body as a launch point, right as Peter used a web line to sling himself forward and past below Gwen.
Spider-Sense - FINISH HIM!
Their Spider-Senses still connected, Gwen could feel the surge of strength coursing through Peter's body. But it also caused an unexpected result. Peter's mind was now a tad more open so to speak, which was enough for something to surge outward from Peter's mind and into the raised right fist.
Super strength and a strange feeling surged together into his right hook, the power bursting as the punch connected to Scorpion's helmet.
BOOM
Shockwaves burst as Scorpion was sent hurtling to the ground. Peter didn't hesitate to follow up as he shot another web line to pull him straight toward Scorpion. The power surged into his legs and buried them into the armored sternum right as they crashed into the ground, the armored body sliding through the streets and ripping it apart.
The moment they stopped, Peter raised his left hand. His fingers spread apart, the power surged again as he clawed into Scorpion's chest. Ensuring the arc reactor stuck to his fingers, he twisted it and ripped it out.
Scorpion grunted in pain, clearly too tired and in pain to even muster up something stronger. Without hesitation, Peter grabbed the top part of the helmet with his right hand and forced it off Gargan's head.
He tossed the helmet away as he stared down at the now helmetless Gargan, the criminal stared at him with labored breaths. His eyes held a hint of fear and resentment as they stared at each other.
The atmosphere was tense, resentful eyes stared at blank lenses. Gargan then unceremoniously passed out from exhaustion and pain, the last thing he saw was the blank white lenses of Spider-Man.
Peter let out a sigh of relief, the adrenaline was slowly wearing off as he relaxed.
Peter then flinched, his features under his mask twitching a little as his Spider-Sense buzzed. A sensation of prickling needles could be felt at the back of his head. His connection to Gwen had already cut but there was a buzzing sensation that was slowly spreading throughout his body.
"Spider-Man?" Gwen called out in worry. Peter turned toward her in confusion even as the buzzing sensation continued. "What are those plates around you?"
He looked down at himself. His hands and legs were clad in black bone-like platings, forming into a pseudo gauntlet and boots. He could feel the power surging from his limbs but not anywhere else, as if they were enhanced due to the bone armor.
The buzzing sensation then intensified, it wasn't painful but it was certainly overwhelming. It was like his senses were put to the max as the buzzing surged out.
Peter let out an uncharacteristic sigh, almost a moan as it was finally released. He could feel the bone-like platings had now also formed around his hips, his shoulders, and down his spine as well. The armor felt odd, incomplete but also liberating. He could feel pure power and protection coursing through his body.
He glanced at Gwen, who was looking at him oddly.
"...Did you just release yourself or something–?"
"What?"
"I mean that sigh you let out was kinda—"
"Yeah, I'm on her side on this too. Was it that good?" Harry piped in from the comms.
Peter opened and closed his mouth, unsure how to even answer that. "No! Yes? I dunno! It just came out!"
"That better be the only thing that came out." Gwen teased.
Peter groaned.
Gwen chuckled as she walked closer to him. "In all seriousness, what is this anyway?" She asked as she glanced at the bone platings on his body.
Peter glanced at them, "I don't know. Like I said, it just came out." He admitted with a confused tone.
Gwen hummed, he could feel her gaze on him behind those lenses as if searching for something. She then sighed and nodded.
"Well, whatever it is, we better get going. We can figure out everything later." Peter wasn't sure why but he felt like she meant more than just the armor plates when she said 'everything'. "Let's wrap up the guy and get back to the rest." Gwen turned to Scorpion, Peter following her actions.
"Yeah, let's go. I'll call in Captain Stacy while at it."
Gwen nodded at that before they both got to work.
It took a while to get everything set up. Even his bone plate-like armor had receded as they worked. Though there was the helmet and Arc Reactor that he had ripped off, he had stuck the helmet back on the armor somewhere but kept the Arc Reactor inside his jacket at Gwen's insistence. It was still useful as a power source and it did remind Peter of the Stark Technology Fabricator he had before the unraveling. He wondered if he could recreate it.
He did mess around with the one in Happy's home so he did know how it worked. He just needs to figure out the technology and resources needed for it.
He shook his head and focused on their current problem. After telling Captain Stacy that they had stopped Scorpion and were on their way back, they had to figure out how to get two thousand kilograms or so of hulking metal back to where they came from.
They managed, kinda. Cocooning Gargan in webbing was the easy part but carrying him while swinging was the hard part. They were strong, sure, but making sure he stayed stable as they swung was the complicated part. They didn't want to drop him after all. He was really heavy with all that armor and if they dropped him, the guy might die and even injure a few people.
Not even getting into how they had to make a separate cocoon for the tail's blade due to the corrosives in it. Thankfully, Peter Three had come up with a web formula that was more resistant to corrosives so they managed to use that for the tail and went on their way.
They even swung past the web blanket they made earlier. They could see firefighters already there, getting each civilian down one by one. They cheered when they saw them swung by, hollers of thanks and well-wishes reached their ears as they did so.
"We love you Spidey!"
"Thanks, Ghost!"
"You two rock!"
"No problem! Oh, the webs dissolve in two hours by the way! So stay clear!" Peter warned.
The duo smiled as they swung past the crowd. While they didn't do it for the recognition it did feel nice to be thanked for their hard work.
It took a while but they finally reached the building. Captain Stacy and the rest gawked as the two landed, their 'luggage' landed behind them with a mighty 'THUD'.
"Here you go, Captain." Peter panted a little from exhaustion. "One nice wrapped-up Scorpion ready to be taken away."
Gwen on the other hand had bent over, her hand on her knees as she took in deep breaths. "God, that guy is heavy! Would it kill him to consider dieting?"
"I don't think you can shave off all of…that." Peter made a vague motion at Gargan.
"Not with that attitude." Gwen huffed, which made Peter chuckle.
George stared at them for a moment and shook his head in exasperation. "Can't you two just take him out of the armor?"
Peter nodded as if he expected that. "Well we can, but I don't think leaving armor equipped with military-grade weapons lying around on the streets unattended is a good idea."
"Fair enough." George shrugged at that. He then walked closer and took a good look at Scorpion. They noticed his eyes widened in recognition. "Well, I'll be damned. It's Gargan."
"I take it we caught another big fish?" Gwen asked curiously.
Peter nodded as he remembered some info about Gargan from his past life. They looked pretty similar, so he hoped they had the same history. "Macdonald Gargan, or just Mac Gargan. Professional criminal wanted by both CIA and NSA. He's very popular."
Gwen turned to him with a blank look, Peter blinked behind his mask from the reaction. Did he say something wrong?
George snorted in amusement. "Popular is one way to see it. He has quite a list of crimes on him. Plenty of people would be happy to see him behind bars and plenty more would be thankful." He looked meaningfully to them at that last one.
"Guess we proved ourselves?" Peter asked with some excitement.
George nodded much to their happiness. The two gave each other a high-five in celebration while George chuckled.
"Well, what are you waiting for then? Get him out, I'll call a tow or something for the armor." George ordered.
The two nodded and pulled out their solvents. They dissolved the webs but kept the ones on the limbs and his tail especially, they couldn't have that released and cause problems now could they?
Once that was done, they messed around the armor to look for a lever or something to open it up. The two however grew confused the longer they searched.
"That's weird…" Gwen muttered.
George seemed to catch it. "What is it?"
"The armor, we can't open it." Peter realized.
"What do you mean?"
"He means there's nothing to open it with. No lever, no switch, nothing." Gwen sighed as she stepped back. "There's supposed to be one but…"
"Maybe it needs some print recognition or something?" Peter suggested.
Gwen shook her head. "We would have seen a port or a panel for that by now, but I don't see anything. Even then, there should be an emergency lever or something in case those fail."
George looked down at that. "Stay here for a bit. Keep an eye on Gargan, I'll go get someone."
The two watched as George walked off, they glanced at each other and shrugged. Nothing else to do other than wait. It took a minute but George finally returned with a man in a lab coat in tow.
"You two, this is Doctor Farley Stillwell. He was kidnapped by Hammerhead to help repair and modify the armor that he had stolen. They had even used his formula for the corrosives in the tail. We found him in the basement of the building where there was a hidden lab." George informed them before he turned to the doctor. "Doctor, this is Spider-Man and Ghost Spider. If it weren't for them, the raid might not have gone so successfully."
The man then nodded at them gratefully. "I have no words to describe how thankful I am that you all saved me."
Peter held up a hand. "Relax doc, it was the cops that helped you. We were just distractions."
"I mean we did kinda help locate Hammerhead." Gwen pointed out.
Peter opened his mouth and closed it. "Fair point, I guess some thanks are due."
"Whatever the case may be, you two will have my eternal gratitude. Now, how may I be of assistance?"
George gestured to the armor. "The two spiders said they can't open the armor. Think you can help?"
The doctor's bright expression fell once he heard that. "Oh dear, that…is a complicated one."
The three turned to him at that. "What do you mean?" George asked.
Farley sighed. "It is better if I explained the purpose of the armor first. That armor belonged to Hammerhead. It was created after he stole a few wrecks from the Stark Expo. It served as his trump card, a vanguard to aid him in driving out the other gangs and conquering New York. Of course, it's still a prototype but we have managed to reverse engineer it, so we can make more once the prototype is a success. The main problem would be the cost which would be covered once more areas of New York were taken over."
Peter narrowed his lenses a little, so that was Hammerhead's plan all along. That certainly explained the sudden influx of weapons.
"You can reverse engineer it that easily?" Gwen asked incredulously as she glanced at the armor.
Farley shrugged. "Hammer Tech is very advanced but design-wise…they are not intelligent. It was much harder fixing their mess than figuring it out."
That admission drew a collective snort of amusement from everyone. Peter knew Mr. Stark would at least laugh outright and maybe even hire the good doctor for it.
"But still," Peter interjected. "If it was so valuable, why did he give it to Gargan? I highly doubt Gargan planned to stick with Hammerhead for the long term."
Farley pointed at him as he nodded. "An excellent question! Hammerhead still needs that armor and Gargan isn't exactly known to stay in one country. So he needed a way to control the man and secure his allegiance one way or another."
Realization dawned on the two spiders. "That's why the armor can't be removed!" Peter pointed out.
Farley nodded. "Last-minute modifications were made so that the armor stayed stuck to him. Of course, we tried to make it as comfortable as possible. A system to deal with bodily waste, removable armor parts for upgrade and repair purposes but…the base suit stays on."
The three looked at Gargan with pity. "Can't we just rip him out of it?" Gwen asked.
"I would not recommend that. It would injure him quite badly, he could be crippled at best or die at worst." Farley's words caused them to wince. "However, there is a way. I just need the research notes in the lab. It would take a while though and I can't promise anything. It was very last-minute work so I could miss something."
George nodded at that. "We'll see that it gets into your hands once we're done with everything. Thank you for your help Doctor."
The man nodded. "It is my pleasure and again, thank you both for your aid."
The doctor then walked away while George glanced at the two spiders. "I think my men can take over from here. He said there were removable armor parts and I think we can figure out how to dismantle it from there. Thank you for your work you two. You can leave now."
"It's our pleasure, captain." Gwen nodded.
"Stay safe," Peter added before the two turned around and jumped, swinging away from the scene.
George Stacy watched them go, a suspicious glint in his eyes before he shook his head and smiled.
"Maybe I'm just mishearing things…" He muttered as he walked away. He had to be mishearing things because those two sounded so familiar.
[-]
The two spiders had arrived back at their subway base safely, Harry was glad to see that they were alright. Peter, however, was a bit distracted so he didn't talk to them much. After storing the Arc Reactor away, he had left Gwen and Harry alone, changed out of his suit, and sat on one of the seats in a separate cart.
He looked down at his hand, his mind was still stuck on the armor that he had suddenly developed. What was that? Was that a new Spider ability he didn't know of? A form of the spider exoskeleton of sorts? It felt right but also…wrong.
He tried to remember the feeling, that strange sensation that he had felt when he first formed it. He could feel something buzzing in response. His Spider-sense? No, this was something different. Something connected to it but also felt like its own separate thing.
With some focus, he pushed the buzzing sensation from his mind into his hand. The process felt slow and arduous, not as fast and frantic as before. But it worked, he could feel the sensation spreading into his arm and finally, his hand.
The feeling burst, his hand suddenly emitted golden particles that formed into the black bone plates from before. Peter marveled at it, twisting his hand around to observe it. He could feel the power coursing beneath those plates, his hand felt active and more powerful.
Now that he focused more, he could trace the connection back to his mind. There was still a solid sense of structure but it felt…incomplete. As if it was splintered.
He looked back down on his hand. The bone plates came from his mind, that he could confirm. But it felt like he was just bringing out pieces of it instead of the whole thing. What was this anyway? Does this relate to the hidden power that the Other commented on?
A thought then came to his mind. Could he move these 'pieces'?
He then tried to tap back into the buzzing sensation in his hand, trying to will it to move to his arm. It took a bit, but the plates finally budged. Pieces and corners of the plates broke off into golden particles, shifting away from his hand and reforming back on his arm.
Peter let out an excited smile. What else could he do with them?
Peter then fell into a trance, prodding and pushing this new ability. The buzzing sensation slowly became easier to control, allowing him to form and push those bone plates into different parts of his body and if he really pushed, maybe even formed it into something a little different than armor.
Just as he was about to test it though, he could hear Gwen calling his name.
"Peter?"
Peter turned to the side, he noticed Gwen was already out of her suit but that wasn't what caught his attention. It was the serious expressions on Gwen and Harry.
"Gwen? Harry? What's wrong? You guys look serious. Did something happen with Gargan or Hammerhead?" Peter asked as he receded the plates on his hand to the back of his mind.
Gwen blinked at the plates as she sat across him, clearly wanting to ask about it before she shook her head. "No, it's not about that. Just…I think we need to talk."
Peter looked confused and turned to Harry, the young man wearing the same serious expression but there was a hint of confusion in them too.
"Okay? You guys are scaring me, what's wrong?"
Gwen and Harry glanced at each other before Gwen spoke. "Peter, I need you to be honest. I…don't even know how to ask this honestly but, how do you know so much?"
"What?" Peter blinked.
Harry turned to him. "Peter, you've been going at this vigilante thing pretty easily. It's one thing to acclimate to your powers easily but it's another to know how to handle a mafia boss's operations. I know for sure you didn't do any research on the Maggia and I definitely didn't find any info on them after some digging of my own."
Peter fidget. "I mean I did some digging back home."
"Peter, don't lie to us please." Gwen pleaded, her eyes showing a slight hurt. "We've spent the majority of the day at school or as vigilantes. Are you telling us you spent the whole night researching without sleep?"
Peter could confirm that but he knew that they would catch on to his lie quickly. Gwen was hurt and a quick glance at Harry showed that he was feeling the same. Doubling down would just worsen the situation.
As he thought it over, he wondered if he should tell the truth. Would it even be okay? The timeline was already pretty different, he highly doubted telling Gwen and Harry would change anything by this point.
But would they believe him? Should he even tell them? If he does…would they be safe?
Peter knew he wasn't just stopping at keeping the streets safe. He needed to venture out, to go out there and find the Infinity Stones himself so that Thanos never gets his hands on them. But it came back to the question of whether they'd be safe.
He stared at them for a moment longer, they were already in the vigilante business so safety wasn't exactly something that he could confirm. Part of him doubted that they would back away now and would probably follow him once he spread out. But there was still that small irrational part of him that didn't want them to follow out of worry.
"You're not in this alone, Peter."
Uncle Ben's words echoed inside his head. Peter sighed, he hasn't really been living up to his uncle's advice, has he? Sure he had been pushing himself and even tried to stand up for himself in front of Flash, but he hadn't really done much with his relationship with other people had he?
He looked tiredly at his two best friends, a faint sense of determination welled up inside him. They had already proven that they were willing to jump into this profession even after knowing the dangers that come with it. He needs to take a leap of faith now and see if they're willing to follow him further.
If they would, he gains a reliable ally and close confidant. If they don't…well, being a lone player wasn't exactly something he wasn't used to.
"It's gonna sound crazy." He finally spoke.
Gwen and Harry glanced at each other before they looked back at him.
"Try us," Gwen spoke.
Peter then explained everything. How he was from the future and how he was sent back by a giant spider to fix things. He didn't tell them everything, of course, it would be way too long to summarize. So he gave them the key bits, the part where Thanos had collected the Infinity Stones to kill half of all life and how the Avengers had stopped him and restored everything, the part where he screwed up by asking a wizard to launch a spell to erase everyone's memories of Spider-Man's true identity led to the timeline reset, and finally, the part where he was tasked to ensure that no reality bending on such a massive scale happened again.
The two stared at him as he spoke, never even interrupting in a single moment. By the time he finished, they were trying to come to terms with what they had just listened to.
"Any questions?" Peter asked.
Harry and Gwen stared at him with a complicated expression, clearly unsure of how to even tackle this new knowledge. Thankfully, Gwen was the first to speak up.
"This…certainly explains the experience you have with your powers." Gwen wryly remarked. Peter nodded as she rubbed her face in exasperation. "God and here I thought you were already running around as a vigilante before this or something."
Peter blinked at that. Well, that's one way to see it.
Harry finally spoke up. "Is that everything?"
Peter shook his head. "No, that's the cliff notes. Telling you guys everything would just be too long but I'm open to some questions to clarify a few things."
Gwen immediately pounced at that. "Okay, I have one. You…never mentioned us at all, not even once. What happened to us?" She asked hesitantly, almost afraid to know.
Peter sighed at that, he knew that would come up and was afraid to answer them. "That's the problem…I don't know." The two looked at him in surprise, causing him to continue. "I never met you two, I'm not even sure if you two even exist. There was no Captain Stacy or Oscorp to confirm since I never saw them. This new timeline is so…different. We didn't have Mutants before and I'm supposed to be younger. The spider bite isn't even supposed to happen for a few years. Everything is…different."
The admission caused the two to be quiet, their eyes looking away from Peter as they considered the implications. Peter closed his eyes and gave a mental sigh. It's a lot to take in, he didn't blame them for being taken off guard.
Peter let them think through it, he didn't want to rush them. They had just been told that there was something more out there, things that were so dangerous and powerful they were willing to decimate half of the population without a single shred of remorse. And he had just admitted to wanting to confront or at least deal with them in some way.
In a way, letting them know about the cliff notes was probably a better idea. It was already hard enough to know about some cosmic forces that exist out there, it would be worse if they knew about the big spy organization, the aliens, and the gods they would encounter in the future.
A possibility entered his mind, a possibility of how the two might get scared off by the revelation, or worse, they decided to not believe him. It would crush him if that happened but he was willing to accept it. It would at least get them away from danger, it would be a shame but it would be something he had just to deal with.
He shook his head out of the negative thoughts, the two hadn't decided yet anyway so he still had a chance. That doesn't mean the wait wasn't killing him though. Peter glanced at the two and realized they wouldn't come to terms and give any answers any time soon. He glanced at the clock and realized it was getting late.
"It's getting late." He suddenly spoke and stood up, the two glanced at him but were still unsure of what to say. "You two should go home, think about it more once you get back." He then hesitated as he paused at the doorway. He had just remembered the possibility he had just thought of. He wondered if he should even mention it before he pushed through. "If you two don't want anything to do with me after this…I get it. This is something way above your head, I'm not even sure if you believe me…So yeah, I'll understand." He spoke with his back turned to them.
He avoided looking at them when he finished and walked away. He grabbed his bag and quickly made his way out. He wasn't stopped, there was no call from any of them as he made his way out of the station: no assurance, no chase, nothing.
Somehow that hurt him more than it should.
Peter pushed that thought out as he made his way back home, his earlier good mood from putting two big-time criminals behind bars now plummeted. He tried to assure himself that they would give an answer tomorrow, that they'd come around. They did follow him as a vigilante despite his warnings, they'd snapped out of their funk sooner or later.
But there was still that niggling feeling at the back of his head, that they didn't believe him or even want to do anything with him now. That thought was slowly consuming his mind even as he tried his best to push it away.
He gritted his teeth as he gripped the straps of his bag, anxiety building as worse and worse thoughts came to mind. The thoughts ranged from them believing that he was lying to thinking that they thought he had replaced his past self. Each possibility felt all too real despite his attempts to rationalize them.
"Peter?"
He snapped out of his reverie and realized he was already in front of his home. He was just so deep in his thoughts that he was moving by instinct alone.
He looked to the side and noticed it was Emma who had called his name. It seemed like she had just come back from her work and also seemed just as bad as him judging by her slightly grouchy face.
"Hey, Emma." Peter greeted her.
"Hey." She nodded at him with some concern. "You doing okay?"
Peter sighed as he didn't even have the energy to assuage her worries. "No, just a long day I guess."
Emma smiled in sympathy. "Tell me about it. Why don't you come over to my place then? I'll tell May and Ben about it while we talk."
Peter wanted to protest, to say it wasn't needed. But another part of him, the part that was desperate for answers and comfort, decided to follow her. Besides, he was also kind of curious about her day.
They entered her house and Peter took his time to observe it. It had been a while since he last visited and not much had changed. The perfect way to describe the place was that it felt fancy. Everywhere he looked, he could see something expensive. Emma had never really hidden the fact that she had an expensive taste.
"You know, sometimes I wonder why you decided to stay in this neighborhood. This place is not exactly that high up." Peter remarked.
Emma scoffed in amusement as she pulled him onto the sofa, letting him sit beside her as they put their bags on the floor. "What can I say, it's a nice place with nicer company." She winked.
Peter chuckled. "May got her claws on you didn't she?"
"I swear she cast a spell or something, I cannot rid myself of that woman." Emma shook her head good-naturedly. She noticed his mood brightened a little and decided to ask. "So, what did you do today?" She asked conversationally.
Peter sighed a little, "Nothing much, school was boring as usual though one of the teachers gave us homework hell and Flash didn't shut up at all today because of it. It was fine the first few times but he used up all of my pity points after he kept complaining about it for hours. You?"
"Problematic customers and an asshole of a boss."
Peter didn't really know where Emma worked but she had said it involved customer service. "Much more than usual?"
"You have no idea…"
"Guess we both got a pretty shitty day huh?"
"Yep." Emma groaned before she glanced at him. "What about Gwen and Harry? Did anything with them today?"
Peter hesitated. "You could say that…" He noticed Emma giving him a raised eyebrow. "I might or might not have destroyed our friendship."
Emma looked concerned. "I've known you for years, Peter and they probably have known you for far longer. So I'm having a really hard time believing that."
Peter sighed as he leaned into the sofa. He could speak with her about this, Emma wasn't the type to push things unless it's really necessary. "I had a secret, a pretty big one and I just told them about it."
Instead of asking about the secret, Emma looked suspicious at first. A hint of…something entered her eyes as she asked. "I take it they didn't react well to it?"
Peter shrugged with evident confusion in his eyes. "I'm not sure. They didn't really react honestly, more shocked than anything. We didn't really discuss it further since it was getting late. So I just told them to go home and think about it then."
Emma hummed. "How…recent is this secret? Is it like something that just happened or something older?"
Peter considered the question before answering. "I guess you could say it's pretty recent, it happened so suddenly that I don't even know how to talk about it."
Emma fell silent at that. He could see her eyes looking contemplative as she gave him the occasional glance. She opened her mouth, about to speak before she suddenly stopped. She seemed to have changed her mind as it was obvious that what she spoke next seemed to conflict with what she originally intended.
"And you're afraid that they would hate you for it?" Emma asked as she leaned closer to him.
Peter unconsciously reciprocates it, the two practically leaning into each other's shoulder. "Yeah…"
"If it is such a big secret as you said, then you're not in the wrong to feel that way. But I do think you also need to give your friends some credit. They had known you for so long, I highly doubt it would change their opinion of you so drastically." Emma pointed out.
"That's what I thought at first too but…this is big Emma, it's way over their heads. I want to believe that they won't just up and leave me but at the same time…" Peter trailed off, his silence speaks louder than words.
Emma hummed as she raised her arm over his shoulder and pulled him into a hug, her head nuzzled close to his. "Well whatever happens, just know that I'm here. Not just me, Ben and May would be there too. We both know how far they would go for your sake."
Peter smiled, the previous tension inside him lifted slightly. "You have no idea."
Emma smiled when she saw this. "Listen, if the both of them decided to ditch you, then it's not worth it. But part of me also doubted that they would do so. From the things you've told me about them, you three are very close. So, until they give an answer, let's try and be positive."
Peter hesitated, his fears still gnawing at him. "I don't know if I can."
"Hush you. Just try. If you keep thinking about all the bad what-ifs, it will just strain your relationship with them before they even give an answer." Emma assured him.
Peter took a deep breath, the sense of fear that was gnawing at him was still there but it was abated now due to Emma's comfort and warmth. He was thankful for it, without her he might have worried over it for too long and screwed things up. He wondered what he had done to have her in his life.
"...Thanks, Emma. I needed that."
Emma smiled. "I'm just repaying the kindness that you and your family had given to me Peter. I would have been worse off if it weren't for you."
"You say that, but I'm not sure what we have done for that." Peter remarked.
Emma gave him a wry smile. "Just trust me, Peter, you have done a lot for me over the years we've known each other. I'll tell you about it one day. But for now, just shut up and enjoy the moment."
Peter gave a low chuckle but complied.
As he did though, he thought it over. The first time they met Emma, she was somewhat standoffish and borderline rude. Peter didn't even like her much outside of some physical attraction but Aunt May had seen something in her that other people didn't. It took a while but May had finally managed to get Emma to soften a little and the rest was history.
Throughout their time together, she never really said much about her past. She outright maneuvered the conversation away from the topic when her family was mentioned. They didn't push her about it since Emma clearly didn't want anything to do with them and was already happy with where she was.
Peter mentally sighed, maybe one day he could get her to open up more about her past. But for now, he'll just revel in the comfort that he was in.
He hugged Emma back as they leaned into the sofa. They were tired, mentally and physically, so they enjoyed and welcomed the warmth and comfort of the other as they slowly lulled to sleep.
[-]
The sun had risen and the morning was a tad awkward. Apparently, the two of them had somehow lay down on the sofa in their sleep with Emma resting on top of him. Waking up to that was pretty awkward and they tried not to make it weird. But even so, it felt like the two were closer than before.
Peter quickly ran back to his house to get changed. He was already late so it was rather hectic but he was able to freshen himself up in time for some breakfast and leave for the school bus. However, he was more busy avoiding Aunt May and Uncle Ben's teasing gaze when they heard that he had slept at Emma's house.
After a quick hug to the two, he quickly ran to the bus stop. He had to make sure not to go too fast though since people might suspect something but it was enough for him to catch the bus.
He sighed in relief when he sat down, momentarily relaxed due to being able to catch the bus on time. He was about to watch out the window before a sound caught his ears.
"Look at that! Look at that! Yeah!"
"Damn, how do they even do that?"
"I heard the two are mutants. Maybe it's a part of their freaky spider powers?"
"Whatever it is, I told you guys they were awesome!'
Peter glanced to the front, realizing that Flash and some of his friends were watching a video on his phone. Curiosity got the better of him, causing him to lean slightly to catch a peak. What he saw surprised him.
There on the phone was a video of Spider-Man and Ghost Spider chasing after Scorpion and promptly kicking his ass. He wasn't surprised that a video of that fight was already circulating, they were fighting on the streets after all so someone was bound to record them.
But he did let out an amused scoff, it seemed like even after the unraveling Flash was still a huge Spider-Man fan.
It seemed like Flash had caught his scoff as he and in turn, his friends had turned around and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Something funny Parker?" He asked.
Peter shook his head in amusement. "Nothing, just surprised. Didn't take you to be a fan of them."
Flash's eyes brightened a little as he gave him a considering look. "Both of them are heroes, Parker! I mean look at this! Spidey just kicked an Iron Man wannabe straight to the ground!" He excitedly showed off the video.
"I'm more of a Ghost Spider fan honestly, have you seen her?" One of his friends leered at the footage. Part of Peter really didn't like that.
"Oh man the things she does to me."
"To you? Try the things I'd do to her."
Flash surprisingly didn't join their leering, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Yeah yeah she's cool and all but it's clear between the both of them that Spider-Man is the leader. I mean there are a lot of videos of them and most of the time Ghost followed Spider-Man's lead so clearly Spidey is the better one between the two."
Peter raised an eyebrow at that. He wanted to say that's not true but now that he thought about it, Gwen did rely on his judgment most of the time. Maybe that's how she caught on to his ruse so quickly.
"You're pretty passionate about this huh?" Peter remarked with an impressed tone.
Flash scoffed. "They're real heroes, Parker. They go around town to kick some criminal ass. I mean they are literally putting criminals in their cells by the dozen. They are awesome!"
Peter smiled as he saw this while a thought came to his mind. Peter Three did have a good relationship with his Flash after Uncle Ben died, maybe his Flash could turn out for the better too if he just gave him a right nudge.
"Yeah, but I think focusing on just how many criminal asses they kicked is giving them too little credit don't you think?" Peter pointed out
Flash and his friends looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Peter hummed and gestured to their phone. "You mind?"
Flash looked suspicious but decided to comply, it seemed like his passion for Spider-Man was outweighing whatever problem he had with him.
Peter took the phone and realized the video didn't show the things he wanted. He got out of it and thankfully there was a video that he wanted to show right below it. He clicked on it and showed it to Flash.
Flash and his friends watched the video where both he and Gwen had tossed the civilians into the sky and created a safety net below.
"Look how many people they saved there. Twenty? Thirty? Maybe more. Flash, these two go around kicking criminal asses to help people."
Flash glowered at him. "Your point?"
"Just saying man, I think crediting how many people they saved is a lot better than crediting how many criminals they put behind bars." Peter spoke.
Flash seemed to think about it as he turned back to his seat, the rest looked at him with interest before they shook their heads and got back to their seats. Peter on the other hand just hoped that Flash would get what he was trying to say.
Being Spider-Man was always about using that power responsibly and the way he saw it, it meant he needed to use it to help people. If Flash could understand that slowly, maybe he could become a better person.
The bus finally arrived at their school and Peter quickly exited it. He looked around and deflated a little when he didn't see any sign of Gwen and Harry. They were usually pretty early and would be waiting for him around here, did they decide not to come?
Just as he was about to head inside, Flash called out to him.
"Hey, Parker!'
Peter turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "What is it?'
Flash hesitated for a second before he spoke. "You're not so bad, you know."
Peter looked confused before he just smiled. "Finally softening up to me, Flash?"
Flash rolled his eyes. "Don't get used to it, you're still a loser." He retorted while walking past him.
Peter watched him go with a small smile. Huh, it did work.
"Is it just me or did Flash fucking Thompson just compliment you."
"Can that even be counted as a compliment?"
Peter's smile widened as he turned around and saw both Harry and Gwen. The two of them looked incredulously at Flash's retreating back.
"Baby steps, I guess. I thought I might try to bury whatever problem he has with me." Peter spoke.
"Well whatever it is, it's working." Harry chuckled.
The three then fell into silence as they glanced at each other. It felt awkward like there was a wall now between them. It hurt him a little. They used to be so close but now there's this distance between them. Peter looked around and noticed the students around them were already ignoring them to make their way to class so Peter doubted anyone would listen in on them.
"So…" Peter began. "You guys okay?"
"As well as one can be after what we heard yesterday," Gwen muttered with a strained smile.
"Not going to lie, Pete, it is really hard to believe the things you said yesterday. But…both Gwen and I talked and well, the things you pull off and say do line up with your claims." Harry remarked.
"So what now?" Peter asked. Despite their words, the wall was still there. The distance was still not closing. He could see their hesitance, how unsure they were about this.
Gwen pursed her lips, a determined glint in her eyes as she spoke. "Is our Peter still there?"
Peter blinked. "What?"
Gwen continued. "You said it yourself. The…past timeline was different. We don't even exist…" Gwen trailed off with a faraway look before she shook herself out of it. "But that also means you're different too. So I just want to know, is our Peter still there?"
Peter took a deep breath, the moment of truth. "He's— No, I am still here. I'm still the same Peter Parker you guys know, just more now I guess."
"Two different people in one body huh? You could write a book." Harry joked.
The three of them laughed a little, Peter realized that distance was closing now. Much to his joy, it was working out.
"Technically four honestly." Peter sheepishly added.
The two gave him strange looks but shook their heads. "We're talking about that later." Gwen sighed as she suddenly hugged him.
He jolted a little, he could feel her letting out a shuddering breath as he returned the hug. Harry followed Gwen's lead a second later. Peter chuckled a little even as he forced down the happy tears.
"We cool now?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, we're cool." Gwen nodded.
Joy welled up inside him. He didn't lose his friends. They believed him and now, he has someone at his back that he could entirely rely on. It felt liberating.
The three stayed that way for a while, happy to know that they didn't lose a precious friend. The students around them stared but they didn't care, this was a little moment of theirs and no one could ruin it.
Peter blinked when he felt another set of hands circling his waist and something very soft leaning on his back.
"Ooouh, group hug! Mind letting me in on this?" Felicia chuckled as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
Harry and Gwen sighed as they broke away from Peter. Harry looked slightly amused while Gwen was exasperated.
"Felicia." Gwen tersely greeted her.
"Gwen~" Felicia purred. "What's with the hugs?"
"Got into a big fight and we settled it." Peter smoothly answered.
Felicia hummed. "Huh, guess even you three can get into fights huh?"
"You gonna let me go?" Peter asked with a small smile.
Felicia made a mock-thinking look. "Let me think about it…Nah. You're cute and warm, just wanna make me gobble you up~" She teased.
That seemed to set Gwen off, who had pulled out one of his arms away from Felicia's hold. "Alright, enough of that! We're gonna be late to class anyways!" She dragged Peter by his arm.
"Oh yeah! We're supposed to get partners for today's class." Felicia followed along but kept hugging Peter's other arm. "You mind if I take your boy toy here?"
"You mean before or after I tear your hair out?"
"Ooh feisty, I like that." Felicia chuckled.
Harry quickly followed from behind. "What am I? Chopped liver?"
"Better than getting dragged around like this." Peter grumbled. "Can you two let go?"
"Only if Gwen agrees to let me partner up with you."
"Over your dead body."
"Isn't it supposed to be my body?" Harry asked.
"I know what I said."
Felicia shrugged at Peter. "Oh well, guess you have to deal with two beautiful girls hanging off the side of your arms for today, Peter." She winked.
Peter sighed in exhaustion, already feeling like it would be a long day with these two. But watching his friends banter and smile made him feel glad that he was at least able to be part of it.
The future was still filled with the unknown and he still needed to figure out how to find the Infinity Stones. But at least he wouldn't be alone now.
Peter widened his eyes and jumped. Scorpion's tail slashed past below him and hit a chair, sending the furniture crashing into the wall and shattering it into multiple pieces.
Peter's attention stayed on the chair as he stuck on the ceiling, smoke was rising from the broken furniture.
"Of course, there are corrosives in it." He sarcastically sighed before he suddenly jumped again. His Spider-Sense blared as he dodged another tail swipe.
Landing right beside Gwen, who had also been dodging the tail slashes, they launched enough webbing to leave the tail stuck to the ceiling.
"Urgh!" Scorpion grunted when he tried to tug the tail but to no avail.
While everyone was distracted, Peter caught Hammerhead making a break for it. "Ghost, get Hammerhead. I'll deal with Tin Man."
"What?"
He didn't wait for her confirmation. He shot two web strands into the glass wall behind Scorpion and slingshot forward. Without pause, Peter brought both of his legs forward and kicked his head. Scorpion grunted in pain as his head snapped back in place.
Peter righted himself in the air before he landed on a crouch. A glance in Gwen's direction showed that she had already given chase to Hammerhead. He then focused back on Scorpion, his glowing eyes trained on him as he raised one of his arms.
"Eat lead, bug!"
Spider-Sense tingled hard. He could see the telltale signs of a gun barrel popping out of the gauntlet and aimed at him in slow motion. His body moved automatically, letting experience guide him.
He had a lot of experience to call from, Peter Two and Peter Three had given him quite a lot to work with after all. This was one of those situations. Usually, Peter would dodge but instead, Peter Three's experience guided him and had him shoot a relatively thick web ball at the gun muzzle, blocking bullets from exiting.
Of course, Scorpion didn't realize that until it was too late, causing disastrous consequences.
BOOM
"Aargh!" Scorpion screamed in pain as the gauntlet blew up.
"Oouh instant karma!"
Peter didn't hesitate to take advantage of the sudden surprise. He ran straight ahead while shooting two web strands at Scorpion's chest, he then slid between his legs and pulled.
Scorpion slammed into the ground hard, the floor cratered underneath the weight and force. Peter then righted himself into a standing position before he shot multiple web balls to ensure Scorpion stayed on the ground.
"And stay down!" Peter sighed before he glanced at the doorway behind him. Not a second later, Gwen emerged from it and stood beside him.
"Oh, that was quick." She said with an impressed tone.
Peter shrugged. "He was all bark, no bite. What happened to Hammerhead?"
"Stuck on a ceiling down the hall. His head was tougher than it looks though." Gwen winced as she shook her right hand.
"Ouch." Peter winced in sympathy. "Anyways, we should probably—"
The both of them tensed as their Spider-Sense blared again. The two of them looked up and saw the tail corrode its way out of the ceiling. The webs still remained on it but with no ceiling to stick to, the tail was free.
The two spiders jumped back as the tail suddenly lashed out at them, the blade of the tail missing them by a hair's breadth. Right as they landed, they could see the blade slashed the webs holding Scorpion down, the substance corroding away slowly as the man freed himself.
They tensed as he turned to them.
"You'll pay for that."
"Uh oh, someone's angry." Gwen dryly remarked as they shifted their center of balance.
VWEEEEE
The sound of a whirring engine caught their ears right as their Spider-Senses blared. A flash of blue suddenly appeared as Scorpion fully turned to them. The core of his chest was flashing bright blue.
"DIE!"
"DODGE!" Peter shouted.
VRRRR—VOOM
The two dodged in opposite directions of each other right as a large blue beam shot past them. A constant beam of power burned through the ground and into the hallway behind them. Scorpion suddenly turned, the beam being directed toward Gwen's direction as Scorpion's tail lashed out toward the still airborne Peter.
Peter's eyes widened even as Spider-Sense helped direct his body. A surge of super strength flowed through him, giving him enough force to move in the air. His muscles tensed almost painfully as he twisted upward and away from the blade of the tail.
Peter let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding when he landed on a crouch. He looked up at the now burning room and realized that Scorpion had cut off the beam. Peter's worriedly searched for Gwen's form before his Spider-Sense buzzed assuringly, he didn't know how but it seemed like his Spider-Sense was telling him where she was in the room and that she was fine.
'Well, that's convenient.' Peter realized with some wonder.
He shook his head and focused back on Scorpion, the hulking machine looked around him before pausing at the hallway. Peter glanced in that direction and saw Hammerhead cocooned in a web hanging from the ceiling.
"He's beaten just like that? That's it, I'm done! I don't owe shit to Hammerhead anyway." He growled and stared directly at Peter. "I'll get you for this, mark my words."
Without another word, Scorpion suddenly lunged at the glass wall. He broke through it and fell to the streets below.
"Oh no you don't!" Gwen's voice suddenly shouted from all the smoke. He saw her visage wade through the smoke and jump through the hole in the window.
"Ghost, wait!" Peter hurriedly chased after her and jumped through the broken window.
Peter shot a web and swung, letting momentum carry him forward as he tried to catch up. As he did, the sound of his comms blaring could be heard.
"Spider-Man! Ghost Spider! What the hell was that noise?!" Captain Stacy asked with urgency in his tone.
"Uh, let's just say Tin Man got mad and decided to bail. Ghost and I are in pursuit!" Peter answered.
"And Hammerhead?"
"Wrapped and gifted, you can find him hanging from a ceiling. Watch the fires though, Tin Man was packing some firepower. It's a rip-off but it was still an Iron Man suit." Gwen answered.
They could hear Captain Stacy groaning in annoyance. "Well whatever it is, just be careful. We'll try to wrap up as best as we can here and join you as reinforcements."
"Copy that," Peter replied before the comms shut off. He swung beside Gwen and rounded a corner. There they could finally see Scorpion.
The hulking machine was bounding across the streets. Thrusters lit up from his back, knees, and boots, allowing the bulky figure to make great strides but causing wide craters every time he landed.
"Hey, you got a license for that?!" Peter quipped as he slowly caught up with the hulking machine.
"Urgh, not you two again!" Scorpion glanced behind him as he tried to speed up.
But it was useless, every time Scorpion landed, there was a slight time lag for the thrusters to cool before launching him again. The time lag was also getting longer and longer due to the build-up of heat. A lengthening time lag that was taken advantage of by both Spiders.
Something that Scorpion seemed to realize as well.
"Fuck this." He suddenly turned around in midair, the thrusters still keeping him airborne. The shoulders of the armor suddenly lengthened, revealing gaps in between the plates of the shoulder with holes in them.
The Spiders' lenses widened as they saw the tips of what looked to be missiles suddenly appearing from those holes.
"Try and catch me now." They could hear the smirk in his voice as the missiles were let loose. Some were aimed toward them but they could see that a few were also aimed at the streets below.
"Move!" Harry shouted.
"But the people—!" Gwen glanced below her as the missiles came closer. The civilians below shouting and running in fear.
Peter's lenses narrowed. "On me!"
Peter suddenly lunged forward and straight into one of the missile's paths. He then shot a web to one of the missiles below him and tugged hard, sending it crashing into the nearby missile as it exploded.
He noticed Gwen following his cue, shooting multiple webs at multiple missiles. She then tugged hard, slingshotting herself as the missiles converged on her. She kept her body compact as she narrowly made past the gaps between the missiles. She then tucked herself into a ball as a giant explosion erupted behind her and pushed her away.
The two fell to the streets, noticing the rest of the missiles. The sound of screaming and the civilians running for their lives could be sensed by them in slow motion. The fear was palpable, the atmosphere tense.
Their lenses narrowed as their Spider-Senses synced. They could feel the other in perfect clarity. The way their muscles tensed, the way their fingers fidget as they ready to shoot a web at a moment's notice. All of them were clear to the other.
Their sudden synchronicity made the objective clear as their thoughts became one.
Spider-Sense - Save them all!
The two shot out their webs, tugging and pulling at the civilians below and tossing them into the air. The missiles exploded, sending cars, street signs, and rubbles into the air. The two gave a quick glance at them but a plan was already formed.
Spider-Sense - Peter is stronger and Gwen is faster. Peter, focus on the heavier objects and Gwen, prioritize the civilians.
Peter swung as Gwen slingshotted downward. She slid through the ground due to momentum as she quickly grabbed any nearby leftover civilians and shot web lines on the further ones before jumping upward and tossing them into the sky.
Peter, on the other hand, shot web lines at the rubble, street signs, and cars. With a huff, he pulled them closer to stack on other objects and webbed them to the side of the buildings. The windows cracked and the metal bent a little from the force of the webbing but he ignored it, continuously pulling and webbing the objects as Gwen tossed people into the sky. Their Spider-Senses ensured that they didn't get in each other's way.
The rain of missiles finally ended but their job was not done. Peter remained airborne while Gwen lunged toward him and grabbed his hands. Gwen made sure her fingertips made contact with the spinnerets in his wrist as she secured her grip.
Spider-Sense - Web Blanket!
Plan clear, Peter then spun in the air, adding momentum before he tossed Gwen into the sky. A thick amount of webbing suddenly spread from between their hands, their webs interconnected as a large blanket spread out.
The two curled their hands closer to connect the webs before shooting another two web lines to the buildings at their side. The blanket became taut and Peter bled off momentum by rolling on top of it. The web was not too sticky so Peter could roll on it with ease.
He then slingshot himself out of the blanket right as the civilians landed on the blanket below. The blanket drooped and bounced a little but held under their collective weight, their bodies slid down the blanket a little before the web's stickiness ensured they remained unmoved.
The civilians looked confused and in awe before they glanced at the spiders, smiles formed as they realized what had just happened.
"Oh god!"
"Woo! Thanks, Spiders!"
"Hell yeah!"
Cheers of relief and thanks erupted. A smile formed beneath Peter's mask when he saw this.
"All in a day's work!" He gave them a two-finger salute before he swung away.
Right in time too as he saw Gwen launch a dropkick at the now descending Scorpion, his thrusters already cooling down.
"Aargh!" Scorpion grunted in pain as his head leaned backward due to the force of the kick.
Gwen launched herself away from Scorpion by using his armored body as a launch point, right as Peter used a web line to sling himself forward and past below Gwen.
Spider-Sense - FINISH HIM!
Their Spider-Senses still connected, Gwen could feel the surge of strength coursing through Peter's body. But it also caused an unexpected result. Peter's mind was now a tad more open so to speak, which was enough for something to surge outward from Peter's mind and into the raised right fist.
Super strength and a strange feeling surged together into his right hook, the power bursting as the punch connected to Scorpion's helmet.
BOOM
Shockwaves burst as Scorpion was sent hurtling to the ground. Peter didn't hesitate to follow up as he shot another web line to pull him straight toward Scorpion. The power surged into his legs and buried them into the armored sternum right as they crashed into the ground, the armored body sliding through the streets and ripping it apart.
The moment they stopped, Peter raised his left hand. His fingers spread apart, the power surged again as he clawed into Scorpion's chest. Ensuring the arc reactor stuck to his fingers, he twisted it and ripped it out.
Scorpion grunted in pain, clearly too tired and in pain to even muster up something stronger. Without hesitation, Peter grabbed the top part of the helmet with his right hand and forced it off Gargan's head.
He tossed the helmet away as he stared down at the now helmetless Gargan, the criminal stared at him with labored breaths. His eyes held a hint of fear and resentment as they stared at each other.
The atmosphere was tense, resentful eyes stared at blank lenses. Gargan then unceremoniously passed out from exhaustion and pain, the last thing he saw was the blank white lenses of Spider-Man.
Peter let out a sigh of relief, the adrenaline was slowly wearing off as he relaxed.
Peter then flinched, his features under his mask twitching a little as his Spider-Sense buzzed. A sensation of prickling needles could be felt at the back of his head. His connection to Gwen had already cut but there was a buzzing sensation that was slowly spreading throughout his body.
"Spider-Man?" Gwen called out in worry. Peter turned toward her in confusion even as the buzzing sensation continued. "What are those plates around you?"
He looked down at himself. His hands and legs were clad in black bone-like platings, forming into a pseudo gauntlet and boots. He could feel the power surging from his limbs but not anywhere else, as if they were enhanced due to the bone armor.
The buzzing sensation then intensified, it wasn't painful but it was certainly overwhelming. It was like his senses were put to the max as the buzzing surged out.
Peter let out an uncharacteristic sigh, almost a moan as it was finally released. He could feel the bone-like platings had now also formed around his hips, his shoulders, and down his spine as well. The armor felt odd, incomplete but also liberating. He could feel pure power and protection coursing through his body.
He glanced at Gwen, who was looking at him oddly.
"...Did you just release yourself or something–?"
"What?"
"I mean that sigh you let out was kinda—"
"Yeah, I'm on her side on this too. Was it that good?" Harry piped in from the comms.
Peter opened and closed his mouth, unsure how to even answer that. "No! Yes? I dunno! It just came out!"
"That better be the only thing that came out." Gwen teased.
Peter groaned.
Gwen chuckled as she walked closer to him. "In all seriousness, what is this anyway?" She asked as she glanced at the bone platings on his body.
Peter glanced at them, "I don't know. Like I said, it just came out." He admitted with a confused tone.
Gwen hummed, he could feel her gaze on him behind those lenses as if searching for something. She then sighed and nodded.
"Well, whatever it is, we better get going. We can figure out everything later." Peter wasn't sure why but he felt like she meant more than just the armor plates when she said 'everything'. "Let's wrap up the guy and get back to the rest." Gwen turned to Scorpion, Peter following her actions.
"Yeah, let's go. I'll call in Captain Stacy while at it."
Gwen nodded at that before they both got to work.
It took a while to get everything set up. Even his bone plate-like armor had receded as they worked. Though there was the helmet and Arc Reactor that he had ripped off, he had stuck the helmet back on the armor somewhere but kept the Arc Reactor inside his jacket at Gwen's insistence. It was still useful as a power source and it did remind Peter of the Stark Technology Fabricator he had before the unraveling. He wondered if he could recreate it.
He did mess around with the one in Happy's home so he did know how it worked. He just needs to figure out the technology and resources needed for it.
He shook his head and focused on their current problem. After telling Captain Stacy that they had stopped Scorpion and were on their way back, they had to figure out how to get two thousand kilograms or so of hulking metal back to where they came from.
They managed, kinda. Cocooning Gargan in webbing was the easy part but carrying him while swinging was the hard part. They were strong, sure, but making sure he stayed stable as they swung was the complicated part. They didn't want to drop him after all. He was really heavy with all that armor and if they dropped him, the guy might die and even injure a few people.
Not even getting into how they had to make a separate cocoon for the tail's blade due to the corrosives in it. Thankfully, Peter Three had come up with a web formula that was more resistant to corrosives so they managed to use that for the tail and went on their way.
They even swung past the web blanket they made earlier. They could see firefighters already there, getting each civilian down one by one. They cheered when they saw them swung by, hollers of thanks and well-wishes reached their ears as they did so.
"We love you Spidey!"
"Thanks, Ghost!"
"You two rock!"
"No problem! Oh, the webs dissolve in two hours by the way! So stay clear!" Peter warned.
The duo smiled as they swung past the crowd. While they didn't do it for the recognition it did feel nice to be thanked for their hard work.
It took a while but they finally reached the building. Captain Stacy and the rest gawked as the two landed, their 'luggage' landed behind them with a mighty 'THUD'.
"Here you go, Captain." Peter panted a little from exhaustion. "One nice wrapped-up Scorpion ready to be taken away."
Gwen on the other hand had bent over, her hand on her knees as she took in deep breaths. "God, that guy is heavy! Would it kill him to consider dieting?"
"I don't think you can shave off all of…that." Peter made a vague motion at Gargan.
"Not with that attitude." Gwen huffed, which made Peter chuckle.
George stared at them for a moment and shook his head in exasperation. "Can't you two just take him out of the armor?"
Peter nodded as if he expected that. "Well we can, but I don't think leaving armor equipped with military-grade weapons lying around on the streets unattended is a good idea."
"Fair enough." George shrugged at that. He then walked closer and took a good look at Scorpion. They noticed his eyes widened in recognition. "Well, I'll be damned. It's Gargan."
"I take it we caught another big fish?" Gwen asked curiously.
Peter nodded as he remembered some info about Gargan from his past life. They looked pretty similar, so he hoped they had the same history. "Macdonald Gargan, or just Mac Gargan. Professional criminal wanted by both CIA and NSA. He's very popular."
Gwen turned to him with a blank look, Peter blinked behind his mask from the reaction. Did he say something wrong?
George snorted in amusement. "Popular is one way to see it. He has quite a list of crimes on him. Plenty of people would be happy to see him behind bars and plenty more would be thankful." He looked meaningfully to them at that last one.
"Guess we proved ourselves?" Peter asked with some excitement.
George nodded much to their happiness. The two gave each other a high-five in celebration while George chuckled.
"Well, what are you waiting for then? Get him out, I'll call a tow or something for the armor." George ordered.
The two nodded and pulled out their solvents. They dissolved the webs but kept the ones on the limbs and his tail especially, they couldn't have that released and cause problems now could they?
Once that was done, they messed around the armor to look for a lever or something to open it up. The two however grew confused the longer they searched.
"That's weird…" Gwen muttered.
George seemed to catch it. "What is it?"
"The armor, we can't open it." Peter realized.
"What do you mean?"
"He means there's nothing to open it with. No lever, no switch, nothing." Gwen sighed as she stepped back. "There's supposed to be one but…"
"Maybe it needs some print recognition or something?" Peter suggested.
Gwen shook her head. "We would have seen a port or a panel for that by now, but I don't see anything. Even then, there should be an emergency lever or something in case those fail."
George looked down at that. "Stay here for a bit. Keep an eye on Gargan, I'll go get someone."
The two watched as George walked off, they glanced at each other and shrugged. Nothing else to do other than wait. It took a minute but George finally returned with a man in a lab coat in tow.
"You two, this is Doctor Farley Stillwell. He was kidnapped by Hammerhead to help repair and modify the armor that he had stolen. They had even used his formula for the corrosives in the tail. We found him in the basement of the building where there was a hidden lab." George informed them before he turned to the doctor. "Doctor, this is Spider-Man and Ghost Spider. If it weren't for them, the raid might not have gone so successfully."
The man then nodded at them gratefully. "I have no words to describe how thankful I am that you all saved me."
Peter held up a hand. "Relax doc, it was the cops that helped you. We were just distractions."
"I mean we did kinda help locate Hammerhead." Gwen pointed out.
Peter opened his mouth and closed it. "Fair point, I guess some thanks are due."
"Whatever the case may be, you two will have my eternal gratitude. Now, how may I be of assistance?"
George gestured to the armor. "The two spiders said they can't open the armor. Think you can help?"
The doctor's bright expression fell once he heard that. "Oh dear, that…is a complicated one."
The three turned to him at that. "What do you mean?" George asked.
Farley sighed. "It is better if I explained the purpose of the armor first. That armor belonged to Hammerhead. It was created after he stole a few wrecks from the Stark Expo. It served as his trump card, a vanguard to aid him in driving out the other gangs and conquering New York. Of course, it's still a prototype but we have managed to reverse engineer it, so we can make more once the prototype is a success. The main problem would be the cost which would be covered once more areas of New York were taken over."
Peter narrowed his lenses a little, so that was Hammerhead's plan all along. That certainly explained the sudden influx of weapons.
"You can reverse engineer it that easily?" Gwen asked incredulously as she glanced at the armor.
Farley shrugged. "Hammer Tech is very advanced but design-wise…they are not intelligent. It was much harder fixing their mess than figuring it out."
That admission drew a collective snort of amusement from everyone. Peter knew Mr. Stark would at least laugh outright and maybe even hire the good doctor for it.
"But still," Peter interjected. "If it was so valuable, why did he give it to Gargan? I highly doubt Gargan planned to stick with Hammerhead for the long term."
Farley pointed at him as he nodded. "An excellent question! Hammerhead still needs that armor and Gargan isn't exactly known to stay in one country. So he needed a way to control the man and secure his allegiance one way or another."
Realization dawned on the two spiders. "That's why the armor can't be removed!" Peter pointed out.
Farley nodded. "Last-minute modifications were made so that the armor stayed stuck to him. Of course, we tried to make it as comfortable as possible. A system to deal with bodily waste, removable armor parts for upgrade and repair purposes but…the base suit stays on."
The three looked at Gargan with pity. "Can't we just rip him out of it?" Gwen asked.
"I would not recommend that. It would injure him quite badly, he could be crippled at best or die at worst." Farley's words caused them to wince. "However, there is a way. I just need the research notes in the lab. It would take a while though and I can't promise anything. It was very last-minute work so I could miss something."
George nodded at that. "We'll see that it gets into your hands once we're done with everything. Thank you for your help Doctor."
The man nodded. "It is my pleasure and again, thank you both for your aid."
The doctor then walked away while George glanced at the two spiders. "I think my men can take over from here. He said there were removable armor parts and I think we can figure out how to dismantle it from there. Thank you for your work you two. You can leave now."
"It's our pleasure, captain." Gwen nodded.
"Stay safe," Peter added before the two turned around and jumped, swinging away from the scene.
George Stacy watched them go, a suspicious glint in his eyes before he shook his head and smiled.
"Maybe I'm just mishearing things…" He muttered as he walked away. He had to be mishearing things because those two sounded so familiar.
[-]
The two spiders had arrived back at their subway base safely, Harry was glad to see that they were alright. Peter, however, was a bit distracted so he didn't talk to them much. After storing the Arc Reactor away, he had left Gwen and Harry alone, changed out of his suit, and sat on one of the seats in a separate cart.
He looked down at his hand, his mind was still stuck on the armor that he had suddenly developed. What was that? Was that a new Spider ability he didn't know of? A form of the spider exoskeleton of sorts? It felt right but also…wrong.
He tried to remember the feeling, that strange sensation that he had felt when he first formed it. He could feel something buzzing in response. His Spider-sense? No, this was something different. Something connected to it but also felt like its own separate thing.
With some focus, he pushed the buzzing sensation from his mind into his hand. The process felt slow and arduous, not as fast and frantic as before. But it worked, he could feel the sensation spreading into his arm and finally, his hand.
The feeling burst, his hand suddenly emitted golden particles that formed into the black bone plates from before. Peter marveled at it, twisting his hand around to observe it. He could feel the power coursing beneath those plates, his hand felt active and more powerful.
Now that he focused more, he could trace the connection back to his mind. There was still a solid sense of structure but it felt…incomplete. As if it was splintered.
He looked back down on his hand. The bone plates came from his mind, that he could confirm. But it felt like he was just bringing out pieces of it instead of the whole thing. What was this anyway? Does this relate to the hidden power that the Other commented on?
A thought then came to his mind. Could he move these 'pieces'?
He then tried to tap back into the buzzing sensation in his hand, trying to will it to move to his arm. It took a bit, but the plates finally budged. Pieces and corners of the plates broke off into golden particles, shifting away from his hand and reforming back on his arm.
Peter let out an excited smile. What else could he do with them?
Peter then fell into a trance, prodding and pushing this new ability. The buzzing sensation slowly became easier to control, allowing him to form and push those bone plates into different parts of his body and if he really pushed, maybe even formed it into something a little different than armor.
Just as he was about to test it though, he could hear Gwen calling his name.
"Peter?"
Peter turned to the side, he noticed Gwen was already out of her suit but that wasn't what caught his attention. It was the serious expressions on Gwen and Harry.
"Gwen? Harry? What's wrong? You guys look serious. Did something happen with Gargan or Hammerhead?" Peter asked as he receded the plates on his hand to the back of his mind.
Gwen blinked at the plates as she sat across him, clearly wanting to ask about it before she shook her head. "No, it's not about that. Just…I think we need to talk."
Peter looked confused and turned to Harry, the young man wearing the same serious expression but there was a hint of confusion in them too.
"Okay? You guys are scaring me, what's wrong?"
Gwen and Harry glanced at each other before Gwen spoke. "Peter, I need you to be honest. I…don't even know how to ask this honestly but, how do you know so much?"
"What?" Peter blinked.
Harry turned to him. "Peter, you've been going at this vigilante thing pretty easily. It's one thing to acclimate to your powers easily but it's another to know how to handle a mafia boss's operations. I know for sure you didn't do any research on the Maggia and I definitely didn't find any info on them after some digging of my own."
Peter fidget. "I mean I did some digging back home."
"Peter, don't lie to us please." Gwen pleaded, her eyes showing a slight hurt. "We've spent the majority of the day at school or as vigilantes. Are you telling us you spent the whole night researching without sleep?"
Peter could confirm that but he knew that they would catch on to his lie quickly. Gwen was hurt and a quick glance at Harry showed that he was feeling the same. Doubling down would just worsen the situation.
As he thought it over, he wondered if he should tell the truth. Would it even be okay? The timeline was already pretty different, he highly doubted telling Gwen and Harry would change anything by this point.
But would they believe him? Should he even tell them? If he does…would they be safe?
Peter knew he wasn't just stopping at keeping the streets safe. He needed to venture out, to go out there and find the Infinity Stones himself so that Thanos never gets his hands on them. But it came back to the question of whether they'd be safe.
He stared at them for a moment longer, they were already in the vigilante business so safety wasn't exactly something that he could confirm. Part of him doubted that they would back away now and would probably follow him once he spread out. But there was still that small irrational part of him that didn't want them to follow out of worry.
"You're not in this alone, Peter."
Uncle Ben's words echoed inside his head. Peter sighed, he hasn't really been living up to his uncle's advice, has he? Sure he had been pushing himself and even tried to stand up for himself in front of Flash, but he hadn't really done much with his relationship with other people had he?
He looked tiredly at his two best friends, a faint sense of determination welled up inside him. They had already proven that they were willing to jump into this profession even after knowing the dangers that come with it. He needs to take a leap of faith now and see if they're willing to follow him further.
If they would, he gains a reliable ally and close confidant. If they don't…well, being a lone player wasn't exactly something he wasn't used to.
"It's gonna sound crazy." He finally spoke.
Gwen and Harry glanced at each other before they looked back at him.
"Try us," Gwen spoke.
Peter then explained everything. How he was from the future and how he was sent back by a giant spider to fix things. He didn't tell them everything, of course, it would be way too long to summarize. So he gave them the key bits, the part where Thanos had collected the Infinity Stones to kill half of all life and how the Avengers had stopped him and restored everything, the part where he screwed up by asking a wizard to launch a spell to erase everyone's memories of Spider-Man's true identity led to the timeline reset, and finally, the part where he was tasked to ensure that no reality bending on such a massive scale happened again.
The two stared at him as he spoke, never even interrupting in a single moment. By the time he finished, they were trying to come to terms with what they had just listened to.
"Any questions?" Peter asked.
Harry and Gwen stared at him with a complicated expression, clearly unsure of how to even tackle this new knowledge. Thankfully, Gwen was the first to speak up.
"This…certainly explains the experience you have with your powers." Gwen wryly remarked. Peter nodded as she rubbed her face in exasperation. "God and here I thought you were already running around as a vigilante before this or something."
Peter blinked at that. Well, that's one way to see it.
Harry finally spoke up. "Is that everything?"
Peter shook his head. "No, that's the cliff notes. Telling you guys everything would just be too long but I'm open to some questions to clarify a few things."
Gwen immediately pounced at that. "Okay, I have one. You…never mentioned us at all, not even once. What happened to us?" She asked hesitantly, almost afraid to know.
Peter sighed at that, he knew that would come up and was afraid to answer them. "That's the problem…I don't know." The two looked at him in surprise, causing him to continue. "I never met you two, I'm not even sure if you two even exist. There was no Captain Stacy or Oscorp to confirm since I never saw them. This new timeline is so…different. We didn't have Mutants before and I'm supposed to be younger. The spider bite isn't even supposed to happen for a few years. Everything is…different."
The admission caused the two to be quiet, their eyes looking away from Peter as they considered the implications. Peter closed his eyes and gave a mental sigh. It's a lot to take in, he didn't blame them for being taken off guard.
Peter let them think through it, he didn't want to rush them. They had just been told that there was something more out there, things that were so dangerous and powerful they were willing to decimate half of the population without a single shred of remorse. And he had just admitted to wanting to confront or at least deal with them in some way.
In a way, letting them know about the cliff notes was probably a better idea. It was already hard enough to know about some cosmic forces that exist out there, it would be worse if they knew about the big spy organization, the aliens, and the gods they would encounter in the future.
A possibility entered his mind, a possibility of how the two might get scared off by the revelation, or worse, they decided to not believe him. It would crush him if that happened but he was willing to accept it. It would at least get them away from danger, it would be a shame but it would be something he had just to deal with.
He shook his head out of the negative thoughts, the two hadn't decided yet anyway so he still had a chance. That doesn't mean the wait wasn't killing him though. Peter glanced at the two and realized they wouldn't come to terms and give any answers any time soon. He glanced at the clock and realized it was getting late.
"It's getting late." He suddenly spoke and stood up, the two glanced at him but were still unsure of what to say. "You two should go home, think about it more once you get back." He then hesitated as he paused at the doorway. He had just remembered the possibility he had just thought of. He wondered if he should even mention it before he pushed through. "If you two don't want anything to do with me after this…I get it. This is something way above your head, I'm not even sure if you believe me…So yeah, I'll understand." He spoke with his back turned to them.
He avoided looking at them when he finished and walked away. He grabbed his bag and quickly made his way out. He wasn't stopped, there was no call from any of them as he made his way out of the station: no assurance, no chase, nothing.
Somehow that hurt him more than it should.
Peter pushed that thought out as he made his way back home, his earlier good mood from putting two big-time criminals behind bars now plummeted. He tried to assure himself that they would give an answer tomorrow, that they'd come around. They did follow him as a vigilante despite his warnings, they'd snapped out of their funk sooner or later.
But there was still that niggling feeling at the back of his head, that they didn't believe him or even want to do anything with him now. That thought was slowly consuming his mind even as he tried his best to push it away.
He gritted his teeth as he gripped the straps of his bag, anxiety building as worse and worse thoughts came to mind. The thoughts ranged from them believing that he was lying to thinking that they thought he had replaced his past self. Each possibility felt all too real despite his attempts to rationalize them.
"Peter?"
He snapped out of his reverie and realized he was already in front of his home. He was just so deep in his thoughts that he was moving by instinct alone.
He looked to the side and noticed it was Emma who had called his name. It seemed like she had just come back from her work and also seemed just as bad as him judging by her slightly grouchy face.
"Hey, Emma." Peter greeted her.
"Hey." She nodded at him with some concern. "You doing okay?"
Peter sighed as he didn't even have the energy to assuage her worries. "No, just a long day I guess."
Emma smiled in sympathy. "Tell me about it. Why don't you come over to my place then? I'll tell May and Ben about it while we talk."
Peter wanted to protest, to say it wasn't needed. But another part of him, the part that was desperate for answers and comfort, decided to follow her. Besides, he was also kind of curious about her day.
They entered her house and Peter took his time to observe it. It had been a while since he last visited and not much had changed. The perfect way to describe the place was that it felt fancy. Everywhere he looked, he could see something expensive. Emma had never really hidden the fact that she had an expensive taste.
"You know, sometimes I wonder why you decided to stay in this neighborhood. This place is not exactly that high up." Peter remarked.
Emma scoffed in amusement as she pulled him onto the sofa, letting him sit beside her as they put their bags on the floor. "What can I say, it's a nice place with nicer company." She winked.
Peter chuckled. "May got her claws on you didn't she?"
"I swear she cast a spell or something, I cannot rid myself of that woman." Emma shook her head good-naturedly. She noticed his mood brightened a little and decided to ask. "So, what did you do today?" She asked conversationally.
Peter sighed a little, "Nothing much, school was boring as usual though one of the teachers gave us homework hell and Flash didn't shut up at all today because of it. It was fine the first few times but he used up all of my pity points after he kept complaining about it for hours. You?"
"Problematic customers and an asshole of a boss."
Peter didn't really know where Emma worked but she had said it involved customer service. "Much more than usual?"
"You have no idea…"
"Guess we both got a pretty shitty day huh?"
"Yep." Emma groaned before she glanced at him. "What about Gwen and Harry? Did anything with them today?"
Peter hesitated. "You could say that…" He noticed Emma giving him a raised eyebrow. "I might or might not have destroyed our friendship."
Emma looked concerned. "I've known you for years, Peter and they probably have known you for far longer. So I'm having a really hard time believing that."
Peter sighed as he leaned into the sofa. He could speak with her about this, Emma wasn't the type to push things unless it's really necessary. "I had a secret, a pretty big one and I just told them about it."
Instead of asking about the secret, Emma looked suspicious at first. A hint of…something entered her eyes as she asked. "I take it they didn't react well to it?"
Peter shrugged with evident confusion in his eyes. "I'm not sure. They didn't really react honestly, more shocked than anything. We didn't really discuss it further since it was getting late. So I just told them to go home and think about it then."
Emma hummed. "How…recent is this secret? Is it like something that just happened or something older?"
Peter considered the question before answering. "I guess you could say it's pretty recent, it happened so suddenly that I don't even know how to talk about it."
Emma fell silent at that. He could see her eyes looking contemplative as she gave him the occasional glance. She opened her mouth, about to speak before she suddenly stopped. She seemed to have changed her mind as it was obvious that what she spoke next seemed to conflict with what she originally intended.
"And you're afraid that they would hate you for it?" Emma asked as she leaned closer to him.
Peter unconsciously reciprocates it, the two practically leaning into each other's shoulder. "Yeah…"
"If it is such a big secret as you said, then you're not in the wrong to feel that way. But I do think you also need to give your friends some credit. They had known you for so long, I highly doubt it would change their opinion of you so drastically." Emma pointed out.
"That's what I thought at first too but…this is big Emma, it's way over their heads. I want to believe that they won't just up and leave me but at the same time…" Peter trailed off, his silence speaks louder than words.
Emma hummed as she raised her arm over his shoulder and pulled him into a hug, her head nuzzled close to his. "Well whatever happens, just know that I'm here. Not just me, Ben and May would be there too. We both know how far they would go for your sake."
Peter smiled, the previous tension inside him lifted slightly. "You have no idea."
Emma smiled when she saw this. "Listen, if the both of them decided to ditch you, then it's not worth it. But part of me also doubted that they would do so. From the things you've told me about them, you three are very close. So, until they give an answer, let's try and be positive."
Peter hesitated, his fears still gnawing at him. "I don't know if I can."
"Hush you. Just try. If you keep thinking about all the bad what-ifs, it will just strain your relationship with them before they even give an answer." Emma assured him.
Peter took a deep breath, the sense of fear that was gnawing at him was still there but it was abated now due to Emma's comfort and warmth. He was thankful for it, without her he might have worried over it for too long and screwed things up. He wondered what he had done to have her in his life.
"...Thanks, Emma. I needed that."
Emma smiled. "I'm just repaying the kindness that you and your family had given to me Peter. I would have been worse off if it weren't for you."
"You say that, but I'm not sure what we have done for that." Peter remarked.
Emma gave him a wry smile. "Just trust me, Peter, you have done a lot for me over the years we've known each other. I'll tell you about it one day. But for now, just shut up and enjoy the moment."
Peter gave a low chuckle but complied.
As he did though, he thought it over. The first time they met Emma, she was somewhat standoffish and borderline rude. Peter didn't even like her much outside of some physical attraction but Aunt May had seen something in her that other people didn't. It took a while but May had finally managed to get Emma to soften a little and the rest was history.
Throughout their time together, she never really said much about her past. She outright maneuvered the conversation away from the topic when her family was mentioned. They didn't push her about it since Emma clearly didn't want anything to do with them and was already happy with where she was.
Peter mentally sighed, maybe one day he could get her to open up more about her past. But for now, he'll just revel in the comfort that he was in.
He hugged Emma back as they leaned into the sofa. They were tired, mentally and physically, so they enjoyed and welcomed the warmth and comfort of the other as they slowly lulled to sleep.
[-]
The sun had risen and the morning was a tad awkward. Apparently, the two of them had somehow lay down on the sofa in their sleep with Emma resting on top of him. Waking up to that was pretty awkward and they tried not to make it weird. But even so, it felt like the two were closer than before.
Peter quickly ran back to his house to get changed. He was already late so it was rather hectic but he was able to freshen himself up in time for some breakfast and leave for the school bus. However, he was more busy avoiding Aunt May and Uncle Ben's teasing gaze when they heard that he had slept at Emma's house.
After a quick hug to the two, he quickly ran to the bus stop. He had to make sure not to go too fast though since people might suspect something but it was enough for him to catch the bus.
He sighed in relief when he sat down, momentarily relaxed due to being able to catch the bus on time. He was about to watch out the window before a sound caught his ears.
"Look at that! Look at that! Yeah!"
"Damn, how do they even do that?"
"I heard the two are mutants. Maybe it's a part of their freaky spider powers?"
"Whatever it is, I told you guys they were awesome!'
Peter glanced to the front, realizing that Flash and some of his friends were watching a video on his phone. Curiosity got the better of him, causing him to lean slightly to catch a peak. What he saw surprised him.
There on the phone was a video of Spider-Man and Ghost Spider chasing after Scorpion and promptly kicking his ass. He wasn't surprised that a video of that fight was already circulating, they were fighting on the streets after all so someone was bound to record them.
But he did let out an amused scoff, it seemed like even after the unraveling Flash was still a huge Spider-Man fan.
It seemed like Flash had caught his scoff as he and in turn, his friends had turned around and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Something funny Parker?" He asked.
Peter shook his head in amusement. "Nothing, just surprised. Didn't take you to be a fan of them."
Flash's eyes brightened a little as he gave him a considering look. "Both of them are heroes, Parker! I mean look at this! Spidey just kicked an Iron Man wannabe straight to the ground!" He excitedly showed off the video.
"I'm more of a Ghost Spider fan honestly, have you seen her?" One of his friends leered at the footage. Part of Peter really didn't like that.
"Oh man the things she does to me."
"To you? Try the things I'd do to her."
Flash surprisingly didn't join their leering, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Yeah yeah she's cool and all but it's clear between the both of them that Spider-Man is the leader. I mean there are a lot of videos of them and most of the time Ghost followed Spider-Man's lead so clearly Spidey is the better one between the two."
Peter raised an eyebrow at that. He wanted to say that's not true but now that he thought about it, Gwen did rely on his judgment most of the time. Maybe that's how she caught on to his ruse so quickly.
"You're pretty passionate about this huh?" Peter remarked with an impressed tone.
Flash scoffed. "They're real heroes, Parker. They go around town to kick some criminal ass. I mean they are literally putting criminals in their cells by the dozen. They are awesome!"
Peter smiled as he saw this while a thought came to his mind. Peter Three did have a good relationship with his Flash after Uncle Ben died, maybe his Flash could turn out for the better too if he just gave him a right nudge.
"Yeah, but I think focusing on just how many criminal asses they kicked is giving them too little credit don't you think?" Peter pointed out
Flash and his friends looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Peter hummed and gestured to their phone. "You mind?"
Flash looked suspicious but decided to comply, it seemed like his passion for Spider-Man was outweighing whatever problem he had with him.
Peter took the phone and realized the video didn't show the things he wanted. He got out of it and thankfully there was a video that he wanted to show right below it. He clicked on it and showed it to Flash.
Flash and his friends watched the video where both he and Gwen had tossed the civilians into the sky and created a safety net below.
"Look how many people they saved there. Twenty? Thirty? Maybe more. Flash, these two go around kicking criminal asses to help people."
Flash glowered at him. "Your point?"
"Just saying man, I think crediting how many people they saved is a lot better than crediting how many criminals they put behind bars." Peter spoke.
Flash seemed to think about it as he turned back to his seat, the rest looked at him with interest before they shook their heads and got back to their seats. Peter on the other hand just hoped that Flash would get what he was trying to say.
Being Spider-Man was always about using that power responsibly and the way he saw it, it meant he needed to use it to help people. If Flash could understand that slowly, maybe he could become a better person.
The bus finally arrived at their school and Peter quickly exited it. He looked around and deflated a little when he didn't see any sign of Gwen and Harry. They were usually pretty early and would be waiting for him around here, did they decide not to come?
Just as he was about to head inside, Flash called out to him.
"Hey, Parker!'
Peter turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "What is it?'
Flash hesitated for a second before he spoke. "You're not so bad, you know."
Peter looked confused before he just smiled. "Finally softening up to me, Flash?"
Flash rolled his eyes. "Don't get used to it, you're still a loser." He retorted while walking past him.
Peter watched him go with a small smile. Huh, it did work.
"Is it just me or did Flash fucking Thompson just compliment you."
"Can that even be counted as a compliment?"
Peter's smile widened as he turned around and saw both Harry and Gwen. The two of them looked incredulously at Flash's retreating back.
"Baby steps, I guess. I thought I might try to bury whatever problem he has with me." Peter spoke.
"Well whatever it is, it's working." Harry chuckled.
The three then fell into silence as they glanced at each other. It felt awkward like there was a wall now between them. It hurt him a little. They used to be so close but now there's this distance between them. Peter looked around and noticed the students around them were already ignoring them to make their way to class so Peter doubted anyone would listen in on them.
"So…" Peter began. "You guys okay?"
"As well as one can be after what we heard yesterday," Gwen muttered with a strained smile.
"Not going to lie, Pete, it is really hard to believe the things you said yesterday. But…both Gwen and I talked and well, the things you pull off and say do line up with your claims." Harry remarked.
"So what now?" Peter asked. Despite their words, the wall was still there. The distance was still not closing. He could see their hesitance, how unsure they were about this.
Gwen pursed her lips, a determined glint in her eyes as she spoke. "Is our Peter still there?"
Peter blinked. "What?"
Gwen continued. "You said it yourself. The…past timeline was different. We don't even exist…" Gwen trailed off with a faraway look before she shook herself out of it. "But that also means you're different too. So I just want to know, is our Peter still there?"
Peter took a deep breath, the moment of truth. "He's— No, I am still here. I'm still the same Peter Parker you guys know, just more now I guess."
"Two different people in one body huh? You could write a book." Harry joked.
The three of them laughed a little, Peter realized that distance was closing now. Much to his joy, it was working out.
"Technically four honestly." Peter sheepishly added.
The two gave him strange looks but shook their heads. "We're talking about that later." Gwen sighed as she suddenly hugged him.
He jolted a little, he could feel her letting out a shuddering breath as he returned the hug. Harry followed Gwen's lead a second later. Peter chuckled a little even as he forced down the happy tears.
"We cool now?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, we're cool." Gwen nodded.
Joy welled up inside him. He didn't lose his friends. They believed him and now, he has someone at his back that he could entirely rely on. It felt liberating.
The three stayed that way for a while, happy to know that they didn't lose a precious friend. The students around them stared but they didn't care, this was a little moment of theirs and no one could ruin it.
Peter blinked when he felt another set of hands circling his waist and something very soft leaning on his back.
"Ooouh, group hug! Mind letting me in on this?" Felicia chuckled as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
Harry and Gwen sighed as they broke away from Peter. Harry looked slightly amused while Gwen was exasperated.
"Felicia." Gwen tersely greeted her.
"Gwen~" Felicia purred. "What's with the hugs?"
"Got into a big fight and we settled it." Peter smoothly answered.
Felicia hummed. "Huh, guess even you three can get into fights huh?"
"You gonna let me go?" Peter asked with a small smile.
Felicia made a mock-thinking look. "Let me think about it…Nah. You're cute and warm, just wanna make me gobble you up~" She teased.
That seemed to set Gwen off, who had pulled out one of his arms away from Felicia's hold. "Alright, enough of that! We're gonna be late to class anyways!" She dragged Peter by his arm.
"Oh yeah! We're supposed to get partners for today's class." Felicia followed along but kept hugging Peter's other arm. "You mind if I take your boy toy here?"
"You mean before or after I tear your hair out?"
"Ooh feisty, I like that." Felicia chuckled.
Harry quickly followed from behind. "What am I? Chopped liver?"
"Better than getting dragged around like this." Peter grumbled. "Can you two let go?"
"Only if Gwen agrees to let me partner up with you."
"Over your dead body."
"Isn't it supposed to be my body?" Harry asked.
"I know what I said."
Felicia shrugged at Peter. "Oh well, guess you have to deal with two beautiful girls hanging off the side of your arms for today, Peter." She winked.
Peter sighed in exhaustion, already feeling like it would be a long day with these two. But watching his friends banter and smile made him feel glad that he was at least able to be part of it.
The future was still filled with the unknown and he still needed to figure out how to find the Infinity Stones. But at least he wouldn't be alone now.
Chapter 8 - Light Up The Doors That Shut Away The Past
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Chapter 8 - Light Up The Doors That Shut Away The Past
It's been a few weeks since Peter had revealed the truth. To say they were shocked was a major understatement. Gwen had spent the night trying to wrap her head around it.
She didn't fully believe it if she was being honest. But the mounting evidence before her was slowly convincing her. She still didn't fully believe it but she did know that Peter at least believed that was the truth.
Harry wasn't faring as well from what she managed to drag out of him that night. He was shaken to know that his best friend might not have been his best friend at all. She could understand that. It would hurt her to know that her best friend was replaced by a copy from another timeline.
But they had given him the benefit of the doubt. To hope that the Peter they all knew since childhood was still there somewhere. He had talked and joked with them like usual, every feature and trait that they knew was Peter's was actually there. That couldn't be faked.
So they gave him the chance and Peter proved that he was still there. He was still the friend they had known for so long. Not some copy that they didn't even recognize.
Since then, things have been better with Peter. He was a lot more open now. Not that he wasn't before but it was rather obvious that he had been hiding things from them. But since the revelation, Peter had been more open about his thought process on how to handle things when it comes to being a vigilante, and in turn, the two started to rely more and more on his judgment.
Currently, it was one of those situations. Gwen was sitting beside Peter as he studied the Arc Reactor they had taken weeks prior during the fight with Gargan. Gwen would study it herself but it seemed like Peter had an idea that he wanted to implement, something about a tech that he had used in the previous timeline that could aid them.
"So? Any update?" Gwen asked.
Peter grimaced as he typed a few things on the computer before he turned to her. "I got good news and bad news. Which one do you wanna hear?"
Gwen sighed, that didn't sound good. "Give me the good news."
"Good news is, the Arc Reactor has a low output when compared to the ones I've seen but it will still do great as a power source." Peter revealed.
Gwen nodded. "Makes sense. The ones you've worked with are far in the future."
"Pretty much." Peter shrugged. "The technology I worked with was much more advanced when compared to today's, which led to the bad news."
"Here we go."
"The tech I need to create the fabricator doesn't exist yet. I can try to make them myself but honestly, that will involve a lot of resources that we don't have at the moment. Even with Harry's help, I highly doubt I can make it anytime soon."
"Damn." Gwen sighed. "Maybe we can look around at Oscorp and Future Foundation? They gotta have tech that at least comes close to it."
Peter shook his head. "Not likely. It took this really big thing happening for people to even discover the method to it and some people had theorized that without it, humanity wouldn't have advanced as far as we did."
Gwen grew curious at that. "Really? What was the event?"
Peter paused and a worried look came over him. "An alien invasion."
"An alien what?!"
The two turned and saw Harry looking at Peter with an expression that held equal awe and horror. "There's gonna be an alien invasion?" He asked as he hurriedly grabbed a chair and sat beside them.
Peter sighed. "Yeah, there's gonna be a big one in New York."
"When?!" Gwen asked with understandable concern.
"If things didn't change too much? May 4, 2012."
"Christ." Harry gasped as both he and Gwen leaned back in their seats in shock. The two of them find it hard to believe but then again, Peter had proved to be truthful so far so they couldn't really doubt him too much.
"That's next year." Gwen covered her face, concern and panic slowly building inside.
"Is this the same alien that you said is gonna wipe half of all life?" Harry quickly asked.
Peter quickly shook his head. "No, this isn't Thanos. Thanos is a lot later and I really hope he doesn't come this early. God, it would suck if he did but if the events stay the same, it shouldn't be him."
"Oh thank god." Harry sighed in relief.
"That still doesn't change the fact there's a freaking alien invasion we gotta watch out for." Gwen panically reminded.
"More reason why we need to prepare." Peter interrupted. "But… God I hope I don't jinx this but uh, things might be better now."
"How?" Harry turned to him in alarm. "How can things be better? Actually, how did we go through the invasion in your timeline?"
They didn't call Peter's timeline the future. Peter made it clear that it would never be their future if he could help it. It would be more accurate to say it's a completely different timeline now.
"In my timeline, we had the Avengers. They are basically a group of heroes that help save the world."
"Yeah, you mentioned them before." Gwen nodded.
"Awesome stuff." Despite the tense situation, Harry still managed to gasp in awe.
"I know right?" Peter chuckled. "But like I said, we didn't have mutants before and I had never heard of Future Foundation or Oscorp."
"Your point?" Harry asked with some impatience.
"I'm just saying that the Avengers might be better prepared or there might be some extra forces that would join them in fighting off the invasion." Peter suggested.
The two considered his words. "How confident are you in this?" Gwen asked.
Peter shrugged. "Fifty— No, Sixty-Forty when taking into account all the other organizations in the world like HYDRA."
Gwen looked confused at that. "Didn't HYDRA get destroyed during World War Two?"
Peter winced at that. "They actually survived. Don't know how but they managed to infiltrate SHIELD."
"SHIELD? What's that?" Harry asked in confusion.
"A huge spy organization that helped the Avengers," Peter answered.
Before he could continue, Gwen immediately cut in. "Okay, putting those two to the side, you need to start listing things down here. I just found out an alien invasion is coming next year and a huge Nazi group that Captain America fought survived World War Two. I think it's time we get those details."
Peter paused at that. The two of them did look a tad overwhelmed with all the knowledge he had just dropped on them.
He then nodded as he pulled out a notebook and a pen. "Alright. I can see what you mean. I didn't tell you before because it was time-consuming."
"And now we have time." Harry nodded.
"Okay, we get our priorities straight first." Gwen started. "What's your objective?"
"Stop any massive reality bending from unraveling the universe again, at least until it's ready."
"And when is it ready?" Harry asked.
"The giant spider said until the time when the Infinity Stones were used, so that would be… April 27, 2018." Peter noted down.
"And how are you going to do that?" Gwen asked.
"Stop anyone from harnessing the Infinity Stones or even getting their hands on them in the first place." Peter paused as he realized he should probably tell them an important piece of info about it. "and I don't know how to track them."
His two best friends sucked in air through their teeth. His admission made them extremely nervous.
"We will…address that later." Gwen managed to grit out. "Now then, what are the threats we might need to be worried about?"
Peter looked down as he tried to rack his brain. "The big ones? The Alien Invasion, Ultron, Civil War, and Thanos."
"I'm kinda worried how Nazis aren't at the top of the priority list there," Harry muttered.
"I mean Captain America kinda handled it." Peter weakly defended.
"Captain America?!"
"Excuse you?!" Gwen asked in shock. "There's another Captain America?"
"Well, no. Apparently, he was frozen in ice somewhere in the Arctic. SHIELD found him and thawed him out. He was the leader of the Avengers."
The two stared at him with some awe in their eyes.
"You worked with Captain America…" Harry gasped in awe.
"Well yeah but like once and even then it was during the final fight with Thanos. Before that, I was fighting him."
"What?!" They both shouted.
"Why did you fight Captain America?!" Gwen asked nearly hysterically.
"He's Captain America! Why did you do that?!" Harry added.
"He broke the law!" Peter quickly defended himself.
"He's Captain America. If he broke the law, it must be because it's stupid." Harry rebuked.
Peter sputtered under their glares. "I–Well— Look it was a whole thing and it relates to the Civil War I mentioned. I'll get to it in a second."
"You better. I want to know why you think fighting Captain America is the moral high ground here." Gwen sighed.
Peter sighed at that. This would be a long explanation.
He was right too. He had to grab the whiteboard and put his notes there to show them the series of events. To anyone else, it would be gibberish. But to them, it showed off the events well enough.
"And that leads to our current position." Peter finished as he took a step back.
The three stared at the billboard in awe. It was filled with notes and even strings to help show the notes' connection to each other.
"I need a minute." Harry excused himself to sit down.
Gwen rubbed the bridge of her nose, already feeling the incoming headache. "What will our life become?"
Peter looked a bit guilty at that. "I mean if you don't wanna deal with all of this—-"
"No!" Gwen cut him off. "It's already bad enough that you got sent back alone and now that I know what will happen and what you will face, I'd rather be there with you."
Peter looked at her in surprise before he gave a heartfelt chuckle. "Alright then."
"Okay," Harry sighed. "Now what?"
"We tackle things one by one," Peter answered. "We have an alien invasion to prepare for."
"What about the Infinity Stones?" Gwen suddenly asked. "You don't even know where they are? Not even a single one?"
Peter thought it over. "Well there's the Time Stone but I think it's in safe hands with the wizards."
"We should at least warn them," Harry suggested.
"I don't think they would believe me." Peter rebuked. "Besides, I'd rather not have too many people know about my status."
"Fair enough." Harry shrugged as he stood and looked at the billboard. "God we got a lot to deal with."
Peter nodded. "We do, but we'll face it together."
The three friends looked at each other and smiled.
[-]
Emma couldn't help the amused smile when she watched Peter. The young man looked absolutely tired.
The two of them had taken a day for themselves. Peter didn't have classes today and she had the day off, so she decided she might as well take the time to hang out with Peter. It has been a while since they last had some time to themselves.
Peter didn't really know where to go, so Emma had taken the initiative and decided to take them shopping.
It was fun, they got some new clothes and even checked out some new stores in the mall. Well, it was mostly her honestly, Peter seemed a bit lost as she had also taken the initiative to buy some more clothes for him.
The moment she realized that Peter had been filling out his old clothes, she decided to buy some more for him. His looks paired with his developing physique needed to be flaunted; it would help with his confidence at least.
'Though then again, he doesn't really need much help in that department.' Emma privately thought to herself.
Peter had been growing a lot more confident these days, something she appreciated. Before her eyes, the unsure boy had turned into a confident young man. It was a treat to watch him grow into his own.
Peter sighed as he glanced at the bags, "Do we really need this many?"
"Yes. You can never have too many."
"It's not like I'm gonna wear all of them." Peter complained.
Emma gave him a look. "Some of those are for special occasions Pete, and wearing the same suit for every special occasion is not a good look."
"If you say so." Peter rolled his eyes, not really caring about the subject. "Anyway, we're pretty close to a cinema. Want to watch something?"
Emma thought it over. "What are they playing?"
"Let me see," He brought out his phone to check. "Some Disney movies and a few others I don't recognize."
Emma leaned over his shoulder at that. "Let me see that."
The two discussed what movie they wanted to watch with Emma pretty much leaning her head on his shoulder. If any strangers were to see them from afar, they would have thought they were a couple having a nice date together.
The two finally settled on a movie after some…bickering. A few of their suggestions were met with groans or unimpressed looks from the other before they settled on one they could agree on.
"I'm off then, better get the tickets before they sell out." Peter said as he got up.
Emma waved at him. "See ya, Peter."
She watched him go with a small smile. Part of her enjoying their time together despite the small argument they had over movies.
Her smile then dropped as her mind…opened for lack of a better word. Her mind reached over to the retreating form of Peter before it was blocked. The barrier vibrates against her mental prod.
She sighed before she left her usual caressing warmth. An apology and a way to comfort him before she retreated. She had always done that even before Peter developed his mental block, a way to make sure he started his day on the right foot.
The mental block was still something that concerned her. She had always been aware of people's minds, especially when she had such a close connection to them. She could block it out but that awareness would always be there.
So it was disorienting and concerning to feel Peter's presence just disappear.
At any other time she would have panicked, thinking that something had happened to Peter. The only time she knew it could happen was if they were either a fellow telepath or they died.
The thought of something dangerous happening to him sent a deep sense of anger and fear that she could not explain.
But it had happened when she was sitting next to Peter, the young man just waking up from when he had fainted. So while she was still worried, it wasn't to the point where she would be unreasonable about it.
After some minor mental prodding, she managed to find a source for it. There was now a mental block in his head, which explained a few things.
She'd admit that she had been liberally using her powers. A few 'suggestions' here and there to some handsy customers to leave her alone or a few 'convincing' on some stores to give her a discount, but she never made it a habit to intrude into people's minds unless it was needed. It was still worrying that Peter had one.
Her first suspicion had been that he was a mutant and he had recently developed his powers. His recent confession about his problems with his close friends had also added to the suspicion. Mutants weren't exactly treated well these days.
If that was true, part of her was slightly hurt that Peter didn't trust her enough to talk to her about it. But another more reasonable part of her reminded her that she herself hadn't revealed her mutant status to the Parkers so she didn't really have any ground to stand on.
That brought her to another predicament. She wanted to tell Peter and his family about her status as a mutant. They had been nothing but kind and accepting, giving her a place that she could call home while she was at her lowest.
But there was still that fear. That irrational thought of the Parkers fearing her, the thought of them not wanting anything to do with her still lingered and made her hesitant to take that step.
She tried to tell herself that they were different, that they weren't like her family. But no matter what, she still couldn't take that step.
It frustrated her that she couldn't be open and honest with the people she cared about. She had multiple chances to do so, even when Peter was talking about his problems with his friends. That was the perfect moment to reveal it and might even bond about it with Peter.
But no, she had to hide it like the coward she was.
She sighed as she drank her coffee, her frustration bubbling as she tried to calm herself down. She needed to sort herself out and finally tell them. If she didn't, it would just gnaw at her until something happened that forced it out.
She couldn't help but snort at that. While she was frustrated about it, that didn't mean she was weak. Her telepathy wasn't so weak that she couldn't protect herself with it. Humans were right to fear mutants. The things she could do with her powers, many people would kill for it.
So while she could think of a few ways how her mutant status could be found out, the majority of them wouldn't be happening from something out of her control. She could literally suggest a person to sleep and they would. So she could still have some time for her to sort herself out before she told the Parkers without worrying. Nothing would go wrong.
As she thought about that, a sudden spark of pain erupted at the side of her neck. So secure in her power and so distracted by her problems, she failed to take notice of someone coming close to her and injecting something into her neck.
But it still wasn't enough to make her fully helpless. It still wasn't enough to stop her from unconsciously sending a mental cry for help.
'Peter–' was her last thought before everything went dark.
[-]
Peter stood in the line with a bored look, not really having anything to distract him as he waited to buy his tickets.
Despite his current boredom, he was enjoying his time with Emma. It's been a while since they last had time to themselves. Maybe they should go to a theme park or a carnival next time when they have the chance.
Suddenly, something assaulted his head. A sharp cry of distress bounced off his head. His Spider-Sense wasn't any better, it was ringing like crazy the moment the sharp cry hit him.
He didn't know how, he wasn't even sure why. But he knew at that moment, Emma was in trouble.
He immediately left his line, running through the crowd at speeds that would have made anyone raise an eyebrow. But he was among crowds, his speed and agility allowing him to run through it without anyone noticing him too much.
He reached the restaurant he was at before, his eyes searched through the outdoor tables and seats for any sign of her but found nothing. Their previous seats were empty and their luggage was unattended.
He immediately turned and looked around for any hidden places and saw a nearby alley that was conveniently near their previous seat.
Without hesitation, he ran and entered it. His eyes widened when he saw Emma's unconscious face inside a closing van before it sped away.
A fog fell on his mind, he wasn't even sure what happened next. All he could remember was immediately changing out of his clothes and revealing his Spider-Man suit beneath. After donning his mask, he immediately chased after them.
He didn't even bother with subtlety. He was fully chasing the van out in the open. He ignored the gaping and cheering civilians beneath as he kept his eyes on the van.
The van tried to make a few turns, but it realized that he was chasing them the moment he shot a web line at the top of their truck and pulled.
He landed on top of the truck with a 'Thud'.
He didn't even get to quip before the top window suddenly slid away and a heavily armored man appeared out of it. He was fully geared from head to toe. In his hand was a really advanced-looking gun.
His Spider-Sense tingled, hard. He turned his body to avoid the first shot. It was like a normal gunshot but it felt hotter, the force behind it was enough to break the sign that it had shot into.
"Sir, you have a permit for that?" Peter asked before he jumped to avoid another shot. "Hey, I am talking here!"
The man didn't even react to his quip as he switched something at the side of his gun.
His Spider-Sense started to tingle even harder.
"Uh oh."
A sudden blast erupted from the gun, the range of the blast wide enough to hit him even in the middle of dodging. In fact, being in the air might have made it easier.
Peter's ears rang as his body flew up high in the air. His limbs flailed as he tried to regain his bearing before the air was forced out of his lungs, his body smacking on solid ground as he rolled to a stop.
Peter coughed as he tried to get up with great difficulty. His head was spinning and everything was shaking. But through the haze, he realized he had somehow landed on a roof.
He forced his body to crawl to the edge of the building, the van still in sight but the man already entered back into the van.
With gritted teeth, he raised his hand and shot a Spider-Tracer near the wheel of the van right as it turned out of sight. Peter sighed in relief before he collapsed back on the roof.
He groaned, what the hell was that gun? In fact, how did he even get something like that? The alien invasion hadn't happened yet so the tech shouldn't be this advanced.
His brain racked for an answer as his regeneration kicked in. There was also his worry for Emma, why did they kidnap her?
Questions after questions formed inside his mind but no answer came. Well except for one.
A suspicion formed. Did the presence of mutants affect the tech level? It won't be too farfetched to say that some scientists managed to do some research on mutants and came up with some discoveries.
But he didn't see anything like that on the internet. He had looked around to create the fabricator but came up short.
'A secret organization then?' He pondered as everything stopped shaking.
He forced himself to his feet as he focused on his Spider-Sense. The sixth sense rang as he gained a direction on where the van had gone. It was a tad faint due to the distance but it was still there.
With a deep breath, he jumped and swung. So caught up in his worry that he didn't even think about calling Gwen or Harry as a backup. He had to save Emma now.
He swung through the city with the Spider-Tracer guiding him. He could feel the direction of the van through it and follow it dutifully. His mind now a bit clearer and aware that the enemy had a higher tech level, he decided to take this a bit stealthily.
So he took the stealth route, keeping to the roofs and swinging through alleys and in between buildings to keep himself hidden. It didn't take long for him to finally locate the tracer in an abandoned warehouse.
"What is it with villains and warehouses?" Peter idly commented, remembering how both Vulture and Hammerhead had them as a base.
He jumped to a nearby window and entered the building. The place was massive and divided into multiple rooms. Peter could still easily see the contents of the rooms from above due to the lack of ceiling covering them.
He looked around and realized that the place was crawling with guards. All of them were geared in similar outfits and guns as the person who had shot him.
'I can't get spotted. If they saw me and shot me with that blast again, I'm finished.' Peter reasoned as he crawled on the upper ceiling and to the side walls.
Whatever that last blast was, it had hurt. Currently, his working theory was that it was some sort of sound-based weaponry.
Peter crawled through the warehouse and tried to search for Emma. Often he had to pause in his steps to avoid being detected or outright silently knocking the guards out with a well-placed hit. No matter how well-armored they were, there were still enough gaps for him to take advantage of.
There were also a few rooms that caught his eye. One of them was a room filled with documents. He quickly took a quick picture of the ones that looked important before continuing his search. He could bust down this kidnapping ring once he saved Emma.
He looked around and noticed a room that had a lot of security on it. The room was fully made out of metal and looked more like a vault than anything. He couldn't even see the inside from the top.
He silently made his way to the room, his Spider-Sense making sure that no one saw him. He finally arrived at the top of the room and saw two guards posted at the entrance.
He shot two web lines toward them and pulled, quickly knocking both of them out with well-placed strikes before sticking them to the ceiling.
"Night night." He quipped before he dropped, landing silently on the ground.
He glanced at the door and noticed a digital numpad, he couldn't help but groan. He didn't have any password on him and he didn't see anyone coming in and out from it.
He hummed and glanced upwards at the unconscious guards. He jumped back up on the ceiling and searched them.
'Bingo.' Peter smiled, finding a keycard from one of them. It will do.
He dropped back down silently and swiped the keycard on the numpad.
PING
He jolted at the sound and looked around frantically. He sighed in relief when he realized no one had heard it. His Spider-Sense didn't alert him so things were fine.
He opened the door and quickly entered, closing the door behind him.
He looked ahead and gasped. The room was filled with blue lighting. It was bare and spartan. But what truly caught his eye was the capsule-like prison. He could see people trapped in each capsule and looked unconscious with a weird contraption on their necks.
He looked around and widened his eyes, there's Emma!
He quickly made his way to her capsule prison. He noticed there was also a numpad beside it, so he quickly pulled out the card from before and swiped it.
The capsule hissed as the clamps beside it opened. Peter quickly opened the see-through cover, Emma's limp body falling into his arms.
Peter sighed in relief as he settled her down. He eyed the collar around her neck and with a quick prayer hoping that it wouldn't explode, he snapped it open and quickly tossed it near the door.
The metal collar smashed across the floor, the red lights around it blinking before suddenly dying. Peter sighed in relief when nothing else happened.
The sound of groaning caught his ears. Peter looked down at Emma with worried eyes though it was hidden behind his lenses.
"Miss, are you okay?" Peter asked.
Emma groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She looked around with half-lidded eyes before her gaze settled on him. Her next words however surprised him.
"P-Peter?" She asked.
Peter's words caught in his throat. He wondered why she called his name before he realized she looked a bit out of it.
"Ma'am, I think you're mistaking me for someone else." Peter hurriedly said as he gently got her up to a seating position.
She shook her head, her eyes still looked unclear. Possibly due to whatever drug they had used to keep her unconscious. But despite that, there was a sense of sureness in her tone.
"No, it's you, Peter." She sluggishly said. Her hand raised and caressed his mask-covered cheek. "That mental shield of yours…I can recognize it anywhere."
He looked at her in confusion. Mental shield? Was she talking about his Spider-Sense or the other barrier thing he discovered in his head? More importantly, how did she know about that?
Suddenly, his Spider-Sense tingled.
The sound of alarms filled the room, Peter looked up in dread as he realized he had been caught.
He looked around for the reason behind it but couldn't see any cameras. His eyes landed on the broken metal collar. The collar set them off!
He looked around at the still unconscious civilians in their capsule prison, down at Emma who was still trying to fight off the sluggishness in her system and the metal door that was blocking them from the possibly a lot of armed men with advanced tech that could put him down with one well-placed shot.
"I'm screwed."
It's been a few weeks since Peter had revealed the truth. To say they were shocked was a major understatement. Gwen had spent the night trying to wrap her head around it.
She didn't fully believe it if she was being honest. But the mounting evidence before her was slowly convincing her. She still didn't fully believe it but she did know that Peter at least believed that was the truth.
Harry wasn't faring as well from what she managed to drag out of him that night. He was shaken to know that his best friend might not have been his best friend at all. She could understand that. It would hurt her to know that her best friend was replaced by a copy from another timeline.
But they had given him the benefit of the doubt. To hope that the Peter they all knew since childhood was still there somewhere. He had talked and joked with them like usual, every feature and trait that they knew was Peter's was actually there. That couldn't be faked.
So they gave him the chance and Peter proved that he was still there. He was still the friend they had known for so long. Not some copy that they didn't even recognize.
Since then, things have been better with Peter. He was a lot more open now. Not that he wasn't before but it was rather obvious that he had been hiding things from them. But since the revelation, Peter had been more open about his thought process on how to handle things when it comes to being a vigilante, and in turn, the two started to rely more and more on his judgment.
Currently, it was one of those situations. Gwen was sitting beside Peter as he studied the Arc Reactor they had taken weeks prior during the fight with Gargan. Gwen would study it herself but it seemed like Peter had an idea that he wanted to implement, something about a tech that he had used in the previous timeline that could aid them.
"So? Any update?" Gwen asked.
Peter grimaced as he typed a few things on the computer before he turned to her. "I got good news and bad news. Which one do you wanna hear?"
Gwen sighed, that didn't sound good. "Give me the good news."
"Good news is, the Arc Reactor has a low output when compared to the ones I've seen but it will still do great as a power source." Peter revealed.
Gwen nodded. "Makes sense. The ones you've worked with are far in the future."
"Pretty much." Peter shrugged. "The technology I worked with was much more advanced when compared to today's, which led to the bad news."
"Here we go."
"The tech I need to create the fabricator doesn't exist yet. I can try to make them myself but honestly, that will involve a lot of resources that we don't have at the moment. Even with Harry's help, I highly doubt I can make it anytime soon."
"Damn." Gwen sighed. "Maybe we can look around at Oscorp and Future Foundation? They gotta have tech that at least comes close to it."
Peter shook his head. "Not likely. It took this really big thing happening for people to even discover the method to it and some people had theorized that without it, humanity wouldn't have advanced as far as we did."
Gwen grew curious at that. "Really? What was the event?"
Peter paused and a worried look came over him. "An alien invasion."
"An alien what?!"
The two turned and saw Harry looking at Peter with an expression that held equal awe and horror. "There's gonna be an alien invasion?" He asked as he hurriedly grabbed a chair and sat beside them.
Peter sighed. "Yeah, there's gonna be a big one in New York."
"When?!" Gwen asked with understandable concern.
"If things didn't change too much? May 4, 2012."
"Christ." Harry gasped as both he and Gwen leaned back in their seats in shock. The two of them find it hard to believe but then again, Peter had proved to be truthful so far so they couldn't really doubt him too much.
"That's next year." Gwen covered her face, concern and panic slowly building inside.
"Is this the same alien that you said is gonna wipe half of all life?" Harry quickly asked.
Peter quickly shook his head. "No, this isn't Thanos. Thanos is a lot later and I really hope he doesn't come this early. God, it would suck if he did but if the events stay the same, it shouldn't be him."
"Oh thank god." Harry sighed in relief.
"That still doesn't change the fact there's a freaking alien invasion we gotta watch out for." Gwen panically reminded.
"More reason why we need to prepare." Peter interrupted. "But… God I hope I don't jinx this but uh, things might be better now."
"How?" Harry turned to him in alarm. "How can things be better? Actually, how did we go through the invasion in your timeline?"
They didn't call Peter's timeline the future. Peter made it clear that it would never be their future if he could help it. It would be more accurate to say it's a completely different timeline now.
"In my timeline, we had the Avengers. They are basically a group of heroes that help save the world."
"Yeah, you mentioned them before." Gwen nodded.
"Awesome stuff." Despite the tense situation, Harry still managed to gasp in awe.
"I know right?" Peter chuckled. "But like I said, we didn't have mutants before and I had never heard of Future Foundation or Oscorp."
"Your point?" Harry asked with some impatience.
"I'm just saying that the Avengers might be better prepared or there might be some extra forces that would join them in fighting off the invasion." Peter suggested.
The two considered his words. "How confident are you in this?" Gwen asked.
Peter shrugged. "Fifty— No, Sixty-Forty when taking into account all the other organizations in the world like HYDRA."
Gwen looked confused at that. "Didn't HYDRA get destroyed during World War Two?"
Peter winced at that. "They actually survived. Don't know how but they managed to infiltrate SHIELD."
"SHIELD? What's that?" Harry asked in confusion.
"A huge spy organization that helped the Avengers," Peter answered.
Before he could continue, Gwen immediately cut in. "Okay, putting those two to the side, you need to start listing things down here. I just found out an alien invasion is coming next year and a huge Nazi group that Captain America fought survived World War Two. I think it's time we get those details."
Peter paused at that. The two of them did look a tad overwhelmed with all the knowledge he had just dropped on them.
He then nodded as he pulled out a notebook and a pen. "Alright. I can see what you mean. I didn't tell you before because it was time-consuming."
"And now we have time." Harry nodded.
"Okay, we get our priorities straight first." Gwen started. "What's your objective?"
"Stop any massive reality bending from unraveling the universe again, at least until it's ready."
"And when is it ready?" Harry asked.
"The giant spider said until the time when the Infinity Stones were used, so that would be… April 27, 2018." Peter noted down.
"And how are you going to do that?" Gwen asked.
"Stop anyone from harnessing the Infinity Stones or even getting their hands on them in the first place." Peter paused as he realized he should probably tell them an important piece of info about it. "and I don't know how to track them."
His two best friends sucked in air through their teeth. His admission made them extremely nervous.
"We will…address that later." Gwen managed to grit out. "Now then, what are the threats we might need to be worried about?"
Peter looked down as he tried to rack his brain. "The big ones? The Alien Invasion, Ultron, Civil War, and Thanos."
"I'm kinda worried how Nazis aren't at the top of the priority list there," Harry muttered.
"I mean Captain America kinda handled it." Peter weakly defended.
"Captain America?!"
"Excuse you?!" Gwen asked in shock. "There's another Captain America?"
"Well, no. Apparently, he was frozen in ice somewhere in the Arctic. SHIELD found him and thawed him out. He was the leader of the Avengers."
The two stared at him with some awe in their eyes.
"You worked with Captain America…" Harry gasped in awe.
"Well yeah but like once and even then it was during the final fight with Thanos. Before that, I was fighting him."
"What?!" They both shouted.
"Why did you fight Captain America?!" Gwen asked nearly hysterically.
"He's Captain America! Why did you do that?!" Harry added.
"He broke the law!" Peter quickly defended himself.
"He's Captain America. If he broke the law, it must be because it's stupid." Harry rebuked.
Peter sputtered under their glares. "I–Well— Look it was a whole thing and it relates to the Civil War I mentioned. I'll get to it in a second."
"You better. I want to know why you think fighting Captain America is the moral high ground here." Gwen sighed.
Peter sighed at that. This would be a long explanation.
He was right too. He had to grab the whiteboard and put his notes there to show them the series of events. To anyone else, it would be gibberish. But to them, it showed off the events well enough.
"And that leads to our current position." Peter finished as he took a step back.
The three stared at the billboard in awe. It was filled with notes and even strings to help show the notes' connection to each other.
"I need a minute." Harry excused himself to sit down.
Gwen rubbed the bridge of her nose, already feeling the incoming headache. "What will our life become?"
Peter looked a bit guilty at that. "I mean if you don't wanna deal with all of this—-"
"No!" Gwen cut him off. "It's already bad enough that you got sent back alone and now that I know what will happen and what you will face, I'd rather be there with you."
Peter looked at her in surprise before he gave a heartfelt chuckle. "Alright then."
"Okay," Harry sighed. "Now what?"
"We tackle things one by one," Peter answered. "We have an alien invasion to prepare for."
"What about the Infinity Stones?" Gwen suddenly asked. "You don't even know where they are? Not even a single one?"
Peter thought it over. "Well there's the Time Stone but I think it's in safe hands with the wizards."
"We should at least warn them," Harry suggested.
"I don't think they would believe me." Peter rebuked. "Besides, I'd rather not have too many people know about my status."
"Fair enough." Harry shrugged as he stood and looked at the billboard. "God we got a lot to deal with."
Peter nodded. "We do, but we'll face it together."
The three friends looked at each other and smiled.
[-]
Emma couldn't help the amused smile when she watched Peter. The young man looked absolutely tired.
The two of them had taken a day for themselves. Peter didn't have classes today and she had the day off, so she decided she might as well take the time to hang out with Peter. It has been a while since they last had some time to themselves.
Peter didn't really know where to go, so Emma had taken the initiative and decided to take them shopping.
It was fun, they got some new clothes and even checked out some new stores in the mall. Well, it was mostly her honestly, Peter seemed a bit lost as she had also taken the initiative to buy some more clothes for him.
The moment she realized that Peter had been filling out his old clothes, she decided to buy some more for him. His looks paired with his developing physique needed to be flaunted; it would help with his confidence at least.
'Though then again, he doesn't really need much help in that department.' Emma privately thought to herself.
Peter had been growing a lot more confident these days, something she appreciated. Before her eyes, the unsure boy had turned into a confident young man. It was a treat to watch him grow into his own.
Peter sighed as he glanced at the bags, "Do we really need this many?"
"Yes. You can never have too many."
"It's not like I'm gonna wear all of them." Peter complained.
Emma gave him a look. "Some of those are for special occasions Pete, and wearing the same suit for every special occasion is not a good look."
"If you say so." Peter rolled his eyes, not really caring about the subject. "Anyway, we're pretty close to a cinema. Want to watch something?"
Emma thought it over. "What are they playing?"
"Let me see," He brought out his phone to check. "Some Disney movies and a few others I don't recognize."
Emma leaned over his shoulder at that. "Let me see that."
The two discussed what movie they wanted to watch with Emma pretty much leaning her head on his shoulder. If any strangers were to see them from afar, they would have thought they were a couple having a nice date together.
The two finally settled on a movie after some…bickering. A few of their suggestions were met with groans or unimpressed looks from the other before they settled on one they could agree on.
"I'm off then, better get the tickets before they sell out." Peter said as he got up.
Emma waved at him. "See ya, Peter."
She watched him go with a small smile. Part of her enjoying their time together despite the small argument they had over movies.
Her smile then dropped as her mind…opened for lack of a better word. Her mind reached over to the retreating form of Peter before it was blocked. The barrier vibrates against her mental prod.
She sighed before she left her usual caressing warmth. An apology and a way to comfort him before she retreated. She had always done that even before Peter developed his mental block, a way to make sure he started his day on the right foot.
The mental block was still something that concerned her. She had always been aware of people's minds, especially when she had such a close connection to them. She could block it out but that awareness would always be there.
So it was disorienting and concerning to feel Peter's presence just disappear.
At any other time she would have panicked, thinking that something had happened to Peter. The only time she knew it could happen was if they were either a fellow telepath or they died.
The thought of something dangerous happening to him sent a deep sense of anger and fear that she could not explain.
But it had happened when she was sitting next to Peter, the young man just waking up from when he had fainted. So while she was still worried, it wasn't to the point where she would be unreasonable about it.
After some minor mental prodding, she managed to find a source for it. There was now a mental block in his head, which explained a few things.
She'd admit that she had been liberally using her powers. A few 'suggestions' here and there to some handsy customers to leave her alone or a few 'convincing' on some stores to give her a discount, but she never made it a habit to intrude into people's minds unless it was needed. It was still worrying that Peter had one.
Her first suspicion had been that he was a mutant and he had recently developed his powers. His recent confession about his problems with his close friends had also added to the suspicion. Mutants weren't exactly treated well these days.
If that was true, part of her was slightly hurt that Peter didn't trust her enough to talk to her about it. But another more reasonable part of her reminded her that she herself hadn't revealed her mutant status to the Parkers so she didn't really have any ground to stand on.
That brought her to another predicament. She wanted to tell Peter and his family about her status as a mutant. They had been nothing but kind and accepting, giving her a place that she could call home while she was at her lowest.
But there was still that fear. That irrational thought of the Parkers fearing her, the thought of them not wanting anything to do with her still lingered and made her hesitant to take that step.
She tried to tell herself that they were different, that they weren't like her family. But no matter what, she still couldn't take that step.
It frustrated her that she couldn't be open and honest with the people she cared about. She had multiple chances to do so, even when Peter was talking about his problems with his friends. That was the perfect moment to reveal it and might even bond about it with Peter.
But no, she had to hide it like the coward she was.
She sighed as she drank her coffee, her frustration bubbling as she tried to calm herself down. She needed to sort herself out and finally tell them. If she didn't, it would just gnaw at her until something happened that forced it out.
She couldn't help but snort at that. While she was frustrated about it, that didn't mean she was weak. Her telepathy wasn't so weak that she couldn't protect herself with it. Humans were right to fear mutants. The things she could do with her powers, many people would kill for it.
So while she could think of a few ways how her mutant status could be found out, the majority of them wouldn't be happening from something out of her control. She could literally suggest a person to sleep and they would. So she could still have some time for her to sort herself out before she told the Parkers without worrying. Nothing would go wrong.
As she thought about that, a sudden spark of pain erupted at the side of her neck. So secure in her power and so distracted by her problems, she failed to take notice of someone coming close to her and injecting something into her neck.
But it still wasn't enough to make her fully helpless. It still wasn't enough to stop her from unconsciously sending a mental cry for help.
'Peter–' was her last thought before everything went dark.
[-]
Peter stood in the line with a bored look, not really having anything to distract him as he waited to buy his tickets.
Despite his current boredom, he was enjoying his time with Emma. It's been a while since they last had time to themselves. Maybe they should go to a theme park or a carnival next time when they have the chance.
Suddenly, something assaulted his head. A sharp cry of distress bounced off his head. His Spider-Sense wasn't any better, it was ringing like crazy the moment the sharp cry hit him.
He didn't know how, he wasn't even sure why. But he knew at that moment, Emma was in trouble.
He immediately left his line, running through the crowd at speeds that would have made anyone raise an eyebrow. But he was among crowds, his speed and agility allowing him to run through it without anyone noticing him too much.
He reached the restaurant he was at before, his eyes searched through the outdoor tables and seats for any sign of her but found nothing. Their previous seats were empty and their luggage was unattended.
He immediately turned and looked around for any hidden places and saw a nearby alley that was conveniently near their previous seat.
Without hesitation, he ran and entered it. His eyes widened when he saw Emma's unconscious face inside a closing van before it sped away.
A fog fell on his mind, he wasn't even sure what happened next. All he could remember was immediately changing out of his clothes and revealing his Spider-Man suit beneath. After donning his mask, he immediately chased after them.
He didn't even bother with subtlety. He was fully chasing the van out in the open. He ignored the gaping and cheering civilians beneath as he kept his eyes on the van.
The van tried to make a few turns, but it realized that he was chasing them the moment he shot a web line at the top of their truck and pulled.
He landed on top of the truck with a 'Thud'.
He didn't even get to quip before the top window suddenly slid away and a heavily armored man appeared out of it. He was fully geared from head to toe. In his hand was a really advanced-looking gun.
His Spider-Sense tingled, hard. He turned his body to avoid the first shot. It was like a normal gunshot but it felt hotter, the force behind it was enough to break the sign that it had shot into.
"Sir, you have a permit for that?" Peter asked before he jumped to avoid another shot. "Hey, I am talking here!"
The man didn't even react to his quip as he switched something at the side of his gun.
His Spider-Sense started to tingle even harder.
"Uh oh."
A sudden blast erupted from the gun, the range of the blast wide enough to hit him even in the middle of dodging. In fact, being in the air might have made it easier.
Peter's ears rang as his body flew up high in the air. His limbs flailed as he tried to regain his bearing before the air was forced out of his lungs, his body smacking on solid ground as he rolled to a stop.
Peter coughed as he tried to get up with great difficulty. His head was spinning and everything was shaking. But through the haze, he realized he had somehow landed on a roof.
He forced his body to crawl to the edge of the building, the van still in sight but the man already entered back into the van.
With gritted teeth, he raised his hand and shot a Spider-Tracer near the wheel of the van right as it turned out of sight. Peter sighed in relief before he collapsed back on the roof.
He groaned, what the hell was that gun? In fact, how did he even get something like that? The alien invasion hadn't happened yet so the tech shouldn't be this advanced.
His brain racked for an answer as his regeneration kicked in. There was also his worry for Emma, why did they kidnap her?
Questions after questions formed inside his mind but no answer came. Well except for one.
A suspicion formed. Did the presence of mutants affect the tech level? It won't be too farfetched to say that some scientists managed to do some research on mutants and came up with some discoveries.
But he didn't see anything like that on the internet. He had looked around to create the fabricator but came up short.
'A secret organization then?' He pondered as everything stopped shaking.
He forced himself to his feet as he focused on his Spider-Sense. The sixth sense rang as he gained a direction on where the van had gone. It was a tad faint due to the distance but it was still there.
With a deep breath, he jumped and swung. So caught up in his worry that he didn't even think about calling Gwen or Harry as a backup. He had to save Emma now.
He swung through the city with the Spider-Tracer guiding him. He could feel the direction of the van through it and follow it dutifully. His mind now a bit clearer and aware that the enemy had a higher tech level, he decided to take this a bit stealthily.
So he took the stealth route, keeping to the roofs and swinging through alleys and in between buildings to keep himself hidden. It didn't take long for him to finally locate the tracer in an abandoned warehouse.
"What is it with villains and warehouses?" Peter idly commented, remembering how both Vulture and Hammerhead had them as a base.
He jumped to a nearby window and entered the building. The place was massive and divided into multiple rooms. Peter could still easily see the contents of the rooms from above due to the lack of ceiling covering them.
He looked around and realized that the place was crawling with guards. All of them were geared in similar outfits and guns as the person who had shot him.
'I can't get spotted. If they saw me and shot me with that blast again, I'm finished.' Peter reasoned as he crawled on the upper ceiling and to the side walls.
Whatever that last blast was, it had hurt. Currently, his working theory was that it was some sort of sound-based weaponry.
Peter crawled through the warehouse and tried to search for Emma. Often he had to pause in his steps to avoid being detected or outright silently knocking the guards out with a well-placed hit. No matter how well-armored they were, there were still enough gaps for him to take advantage of.
There were also a few rooms that caught his eye. One of them was a room filled with documents. He quickly took a quick picture of the ones that looked important before continuing his search. He could bust down this kidnapping ring once he saved Emma.
He looked around and noticed a room that had a lot of security on it. The room was fully made out of metal and looked more like a vault than anything. He couldn't even see the inside from the top.
He silently made his way to the room, his Spider-Sense making sure that no one saw him. He finally arrived at the top of the room and saw two guards posted at the entrance.
He shot two web lines toward them and pulled, quickly knocking both of them out with well-placed strikes before sticking them to the ceiling.
"Night night." He quipped before he dropped, landing silently on the ground.
He glanced at the door and noticed a digital numpad, he couldn't help but groan. He didn't have any password on him and he didn't see anyone coming in and out from it.
He hummed and glanced upwards at the unconscious guards. He jumped back up on the ceiling and searched them.
'Bingo.' Peter smiled, finding a keycard from one of them. It will do.
He dropped back down silently and swiped the keycard on the numpad.
PING
He jolted at the sound and looked around frantically. He sighed in relief when he realized no one had heard it. His Spider-Sense didn't alert him so things were fine.
He opened the door and quickly entered, closing the door behind him.
He looked ahead and gasped. The room was filled with blue lighting. It was bare and spartan. But what truly caught his eye was the capsule-like prison. He could see people trapped in each capsule and looked unconscious with a weird contraption on their necks.
He looked around and widened his eyes, there's Emma!
He quickly made his way to her capsule prison. He noticed there was also a numpad beside it, so he quickly pulled out the card from before and swiped it.
The capsule hissed as the clamps beside it opened. Peter quickly opened the see-through cover, Emma's limp body falling into his arms.
Peter sighed in relief as he settled her down. He eyed the collar around her neck and with a quick prayer hoping that it wouldn't explode, he snapped it open and quickly tossed it near the door.
The metal collar smashed across the floor, the red lights around it blinking before suddenly dying. Peter sighed in relief when nothing else happened.
The sound of groaning caught his ears. Peter looked down at Emma with worried eyes though it was hidden behind his lenses.
"Miss, are you okay?" Peter asked.
Emma groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She looked around with half-lidded eyes before her gaze settled on him. Her next words however surprised him.
"P-Peter?" She asked.
Peter's words caught in his throat. He wondered why she called his name before he realized she looked a bit out of it.
"Ma'am, I think you're mistaking me for someone else." Peter hurriedly said as he gently got her up to a seating position.
She shook her head, her eyes still looked unclear. Possibly due to whatever drug they had used to keep her unconscious. But despite that, there was a sense of sureness in her tone.
"No, it's you, Peter." She sluggishly said. Her hand raised and caressed his mask-covered cheek. "That mental shield of yours…I can recognize it anywhere."
He looked at her in confusion. Mental shield? Was she talking about his Spider-Sense or the other barrier thing he discovered in his head? More importantly, how did she know about that?
Suddenly, his Spider-Sense tingled.
The sound of alarms filled the room, Peter looked up in dread as he realized he had been caught.
He looked around for the reason behind it but couldn't see any cameras. His eyes landed on the broken metal collar. The collar set them off!
He looked around at the still unconscious civilians in their capsule prison, down at Emma who was still trying to fight off the sluggishness in her system and the metal door that was blocking them from the possibly a lot of armed men with advanced tech that could put him down with one well-placed shot.
"I'm screwed."
Will S. LaVi
The Timeless Dude
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Hooray it's finally here. Welcome Shade!
Chapter 9 - Walk In The Pyre
New
SKaine
Making the rounds.
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Chapter 9 - Walk In The Pyre
Peter stared at the metal door with trepidation. He looked down at Emma who was still groggy from being woken up and groaned. He couldn't look after her while still carrying the rest.
He glanced at the rest that was still stuck in their capsule prison and then back at Emma. Emma somehow managed to know that he was Spider-Man and there was also that odd cry for help in his head.
He glanced at the capsule prison as a suspicion formed.
His Spider-Sense started to blare as the sound of footsteps could be heard outside the vault. Without hesitation, he quickly released the other prisoners from their capsules. His hands moved quickly towards their collar and snapped them off the moment they were free.
The sound of the vault's door starting to open reached his ears, his hands raised and quickly fired concrete webbings at it. He sighed in relief when the door stayed closed.
He could hear voices behind said door, but he didn't focus too much on it as he realized the rest of the prisoners were fully awake.
"Ooh, my head."
"Where am I?"
"Isn't that the spider guy I saw in the news?"
Peter was glad at least one of them recognized him. It would be awkward to explain why they were trapped in a vault with a masked stranger.
"Hey guys! Not much time to explain but I need you guys up and running. Plenty of bad guys behind that door that kidnapped you guys." Peter gave them a brief rundown.
"How do we know you're not with them?" Asked a blond young man who looked his age. His eyes trained at him with a suspicious glare.
"Are you kidding?" A brown-haired young man who also looked his age gave the blond an incredulous look. "That's Spider-Man dude! If anyone would help, it'd be him."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Peter nodded appreciatively before focusing back on the vault, the voices were getting louder now. "But I need you guys ready, once that door opens I need you all to run for it at my signal."
The brunette shook his head. "No, let me help." He stood beside him, Peter's lenses widened as the young man's hands started to get covered in ice. White cold gas visibly emitted from it. "They got the jump on me last time, won't happen again."
"What the–" Peter cut himself off, not the time to geek out. "You sure, uh?"
"Bobby, and yeah I'm sure."
"Well if we're fighting back…" The blond suddenly said as he looked around. "Anybody got a lighter?"
Peter glanced at the others. He noticed a red-haired girl leaning on Emma, her hand holding her head as if she was in pain. He was a bit worried about her but since Emma was with her, he'd trust that she could handle it for now.
"I don't have any…" Replied the final prisoner. He was a tan-skinned young man, his hair kept in a ponytail as he glanced at them with slight hesitance. "But I can make one if you want?"
"You can?" The blond asked incredulously.
He nodded and gestured to the broken collars. "Hand me one of those."
Peter moved quickly, shooting a web at one of them and then tossing it at him.
"Thanks." He caught it and immediately got to work. His hands impressively disassembled the collar at what should be superhuman speeds before he started to assemble them back into what looked like a high-tech lighter.
"Here." He handed it to the blond.
"Thanks, um…"
"Forge. Call me Forge."
"Thanks, Forge. Call me John." John smirked as he lit up the lighter, the flames suddenly turned…alive for lack of a better word. The flames coiled and turned under John's command as the flames surrounded his hand.
"Now that introductions are over." Emma, somehow managing to stay calm from everything, decided to speak out. "Spider-Man, you got a game plan?"
Peter was taken aback a bit until he realized that she was making sure his identity was kept a secret. Something he appreciated.
"Uh, right. John, Bobby, how strong can you make those?"
"I've melted a steel beam before."
"Not sure."
Everyone except the redhead stared at Bobby incredulously. The young man sputtered as he tried to elaborate. "I mean I never found my limit! I once froze a bunch of guys in an ice block if that's what you meant?"
Peter nodded at that. "Alright. Here's the plan. I'll open the door and distract them for a bit, you two cause as much damage as you can while I distract them. Make sure you do not kill them. I'd rather not have that in your conscious. Got that?"
The group nodded at that.
"And then what?" Emma asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Peter sighed as he turned to the vault door, missing the slightly incredulous and concerned look that Emma sent him.
The vault suddenly shook. Not enough to disrupt their footing but enough to shock them.
"What was that?" Bobby asked with some panic.
No one managed to answer as the redhead suddenly groaned.
"Ugh, so many. So loud!" She groaned in pain.
Emma immediately tried to help her. "Calm down, Jean. Focus on me, on my presence. Block out the rest."
"I'm—trying!"
"She won't drag us down, will she?" John suddenly asked.
"She won't." Emma glared. "I can drag her with us if we need to."
"Alright!" Peter clapped his hands. "No one is getting left behind! I'll make sure every single one of us gets out of here, got that?'
Receiving no response, he'll take it as a yes.
The vault shook again, causing them to realize that they were running out of time.
"Alright, here goes nothing." Peter took a deep breath.
He shot two web lines at the side of the vault's door. He pulled and lowered his center of gravity until the web turned taut.
What awaited them on the other side was probably a bunch of armed men with weapons that could knock him out with a single shot. And all he had on his side was a bunch of mutants who probably didn't have much experience using their powers in live combat.
No pressure.
With an exhale, he released.
His body flung forward. Peter quickly brought his legs to the front as he kicked the vault door. The metal door blasted out of its hinges, his kick slamming it forward and violently ripped it open.
Peter let himself ride the momentum, his body slinging forward and crashing through a wall before he slid to a stop. He quickly turned around, peering through the hole he made, and noticed the shocked looks of the armed soldiers.
"That's him!"
"Get him–aagh!"
The soldiers made the mistake of focusing on him, not noticing Bobby and John who wisely capitalized on it. Streams of ice and flames surged out of the vault, freezing and burning the unsuspecting soldiers.
Peter jumped in and helped. Webbing the weapons and pulling them towards him to disarm the soldiers before they could even aim them at the others.
The soldiers tried their best to fight back, but with the tight space, they couldn't use the blast option of their weapons without hurting themselves. Which made dodging and disarming them much easier for Peter.
With the sudden element of surprise working, Peter landed back with the group as Bobby froze the burning soldiers to spare them the pain and make sure they stayed on the ground. It was a miracle that no one died.
"That went better than I expected," Peter spoke with some surprise.
"Don't put down your guard now, there's still others making their way here." Emma reminded him.
"Right, come on." Peter nodded before gesturing for them to follow him.
"Where are we going?" John asked as the group ran through the hallways.
"To the nearest exit. I saw a van we could use as a getaway. Is it bad if I ask if there's anyone here who knows how to hotwire a van?"
"I do," Bobby answered. The group stared at him which caused him to shrug. "What? It came in handy a few times."
Before he could comment on that, someone called him.
"Spider-Man!" Peter turned to Forge, who handed him an odd-looking device. "Put that on your wrist device."
"How did you–?"
"Saw it when you were about to slingshot your way out of the vault. It looks pretty cool by the way."
"Thanks." Peter absentmindedly replied as he slotted it into his webshooters. It fits perfectly. "So what does this do?"
"I just took their guns, modified them a little, and miniaturized them. It should still have an option to switch between focused and blast shots. You can dial the intensity of the concussive force. It ranges from minor shockwaves to burning explosions by the way. All that's left is to test them out."
As if right on cue, the sound of footsteps reached their ears.
"Speak of the devil." Peter chuckled.
A group of men circled the corner, they didn't even manage to speak before Peter immediately shot them with the new upgrade.
A familiar beam of heat and vibrations shot out of his web shooter, shooting in between the soldiers before it violently expanded. Sending the soldiers through the walls of the hallway.
John laughed. "That was awesome!"
"I…Yeah, I need to get a handle on this." Peter stared at the new addition of his web shooters in slight awe. "I owe you one, Forge."
"Get us out of here and I'll call it even." Forge chuckled.
The group then continued to make their way through the warehouse. Blasting off ice, flames, concussive force, and webbings along the way. Peter's Spider-Sense helped him direct the group to avoid certain places and even fire off their powers before the soldiers even had a chance to do so.
It didn't take long for them to exit the warehouse and spot the van that Peter had talked about.
"There!" John pointed.
"Come on, quick!" Peter ordered, immediately carrying Jean to allow Emma to run with the rest. His enhanced strength kept up and even outpaced them.
He yanked the door of the van open and shoved Jean inside as gently as he could. Emma immediately enters before focusing back on Jean.
"Emma…I can't push it down!" Jean groaned.
"Don't suppress it, it will make it worse–!" Emma scolded. Those were the last words he heard before he jumped on top of the van while Bobby, John, and Forge quickly made their way inside.
Peter's Spider-Sense alerted him immediately. His body reacted before he realized it and shot out another concussive blast at a nearby entrance. The entrance crumbled down with shouts from the men inside hinting that it had blocked any surprise attack.
"Bobby, anytime now!" Peter shouted.
"Give me a second!" Came the muffled reply but his enhanced hearing caught it clearly.
"We don't have a second!" John shouted back.
"Just let me— Got it!"
The engine revved to life immediately, Peter could feel the van thrummed to life before it suddenly drove out of the parking space.
"Hold on tight!" Bobby warned.
It immediately dawned on Peter that he had never asked if any of them could actually drive. He didn't get to think much about it because the van immediately swerved around erratically as it drove away from the warehouse.
"Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick…" Forge muttered.
"Can you drive properly?!" Emma shouted.
"I'm trying!"
"Who taught you how to drive?!" John demanded.
"I taught myself okay! Didn't exactly have anyone to teach me!"
"Uh, guys. We got company!" Peter warned.
Multiple vehicles gave chase to them. Out of the window, he could see soldiers preparing their weapons inside.
"Think you can shake them off?" Bobby asked while John glanced out of the window from the front seat.
"They won't even see me coming." Peter narrowed his lenses as a plan formed in his mind. The soldiers unconsciously gulped at the sight before they aimed their guns at him.
Multiple focused beams shot toward the van, in response Peter switched to blast mode and dialed up the intensity to a specific level before firing. A single massive shockwave clashed against multiple focused beams, the contact between multiple shots was enough to cause a massive burst of explosion. The shockwaves affected the vehicles enough to disorient the passengers and in turn cause a small time gap where the soldiers became unguarded.
But Peter was prepared, this was what he had aimed for. He had dialed up the intensity so that it would be enough to disrupt the beams and the vehicles but not too much that it would cause excessive damage. He had prepared himself for the inevitable blast and recovered faster, allowing him to take advantage of that small time gap.
He jumped away from the van and above the soldiers' vehicles. He fired multiple webs to the front of the cars and pulled. The momentum behind their movement added to it, causing the vehicles to flip backward and crash into the other cars behind them.
Peter dragged the cars and stacked them on top of each other, creating an odd jenga stack made out of cars. He quickly landed before he ran around the makeshift tower, firing concrete and cryo webs around it. The concrete webs kept the car steady and trapped the soldiers inside while the cryo webs made sure the car wouldn't explode.
He finally slid to a stop before shooting two web lines. "I don't recommend shooting yourself out if you don't wanna explode into a million pieces!" He quickly warned before slingshotting himself into the air.
He swung quickly, catching up quickly to the rest of the group. He landed on top of the van with a 'thud', his eyes scanned through the streets to see any more of the soldiers. He didn't see any more of them and his Spider-Sense wasn't tingling, the coast was finally clear.
He knocked on the side door of the van. The door opened for a bit for Peter to make his way inside and quickly closed it.
"Woo! That was exciting." Peter quipped.
"Are you okay? You hurt anywhere?" Emma quickly asked him.
Peter waved it off. "I'm fine. I heal quickly too so even if I get any scraps, I should be good."
Emma continued to study him but gave a relenting sigh. "Alright then."
"That was awesome!" John gasped in amazement.
"Glad to see the upgrade working well for you," Forge added.
Peter nodded as he brought up one of his upgraded webshooters. "Yeah, this thing will be real handy in the future." He then glanced at Jean, who had already calmed down. "You gonna be okay?"
The young woman nodded. "I'll be fine. Emma managed to help."
"What was that all about anyway?" Bobby asked.
"Her gift is similar to mine," Emma answered. "Jean had spent more time suppressing it instead of using it. For any other mutants, it might be fine. But for us? Well, Jean managed to experience firsthand how nasty it can get."
"And I'm thankful that you helped." Jean gave her a grateful smile.
Emma merely glanced away coldly. "Don't think too much about it."
Peter couldn't help but tilt his head at that, Emma looked…colder. It reminded him when he had first seen her. Closed off and guarded.
Emma then glanced at Bobby. "Where are we going?"
Bobby shrugged. "I'm just driving around honestly."
Emma looked down at that. "Head to the mall."
"The one a couple blocks away?"
Emma nodded. "We need to switch our vehicles and I need to see if my shopping bags are still there."
Peter gave her an incredulous look. "Seriously?"
Emma returned a blank one. "Those things are expensive."
A quick recount of the price tag caused him to wince. "Yeah, that might be a good idea."
The two ignored the confused and incredulous looks from the rest, John couldn't help but scoff.
"Even if we did, where would you place them? Not like we have any place to go now."
"He's right, I highly doubt they won't check on our homes." Forge added.
The group fell silent while Peter turned contemplative. They were right, it's not like they could go back home.
"Shouldn't we call the cops?" Jean asked.
John scoffed. "And think they'd help us? Word got out about us and it won't surprise me if some mutant-hating pig decides to rat us out to the people that kidnapped us."
Bobby sighed. "Hate to say it, I'm with John on this one. Don't have any good experience with cops myself."
"And even if we did call them, I highly doubt it would go well. We don't know the organization behind this but judging by their equipment, they are either very resourceful or have someone influential backing them." Emma added.
The mood turned depressive, everyone wondered what to do as a sense of loss entered their minds.
Peter suddenly perked up, as a sudden beep from his comms alerted him.
"Hold on a sec," Peter waved the curious looks away as he opened his comms.
"Pete! Thank god! Where the hell are you?! We've been trying to call you for a while now, Gwen is losing her mind here!"
"Oh hey Ha–" He glanced at the people around him. They couldn't hear Harry but it's probably best that he didn't mention his name. "Webline, I just got back from saving some people from a kidnapping."
"Oh shit." Harry was taken aback by the sudden use of his codename and the kidnapping thing but decided to roll with it. "Pe–I mean, Spider-Man, are you doing alright?"
"I'm fine, we're fine actually. I just gotta figure out where to drop these guys off and—" He paused as a thought entered his mind.
"Spidey?"
"Hey Webline, think you and Ghost can suit up?"
"Do you need any help?"
He glanced at everyone in the van, who was openly staring at him. "Nah, just thinking we might need to clean up our place a little. We're gonna have some guests over."
[-]
Peter couldn't help but fidget a little under his friends' gaze.
The group quickly made their way back to the mall. The clothes that Emma had bought were thankfully still there, guarded by the kind staff in the restaurant. While she was at it, the group had to switch vehicles with Peter praying that whoever's car they had stolen from had insurance. The car was pretty fancy but not too eye-catching, so the chances were pretty high.
The group quickly made their way to his base, stopping to park somewhere near and hidden before guiding them into a nearby sewer that was connected to the station and walking to the base from there.
By the time they got there, both Gwen and Harry were already in their suits and were ready to greet them.
Gwen was in her usual suit but Harry's suit was a bit of rushed work. They didn't prepare anything impressive for him, a simple biker jacket with black jeans paired with black gloves and boots. The mask, however, was similar to theirs: a black mask with black lenses and with white outline, denoting his connection to the other two spiders.
Both Gwen and Harry or Ghost Spider and Webline in their current outfits, stared at Peter impassively as the mutants he brought with him looked around their base with some awe.
"So Spidey," Gwen began with a tone that caused a shiver down his spine. "What makes you think it was a good idea to have these people in our secret base?"
"Yes, Spider-Man. I would love to know why you think bringing in strangers into our secret base was an awesome idea." Harry added, making Peter wince.
"A little thick there buddy."
"It gets the point across, doesn't it?"
Peter slumped, "Point. But look, these people don't exactly have any place to go and they don't exactly trust the cops."
"Why?" Gwen asked a bit hotly. Considering who her father was, it was understandable.
"We're mutants." John interrupted. "We got our powers and well, you've seen the news on how people treat our kind and I don't exactly trust cops." He remarked with a bitter smile.
"Speaking from experience?" Harry asked.
"Plenty of experience."
Gwen and Harry grew silent a bit as they looked down in thought. Gwen then suddenly spoke. "Okay, fine. I can see why you would bring them here. But now what? We can't let them stay here forever!"
"Until we figure out this whole mess." Peter placated. "There's a kidnapping ring in this city and we need to figure out who's behind it."
"We can help too." Bobby offered. "I mean, we got our powers and we can do a lot of things with them. Spidey can back us up on this."
Peter sighed when the two turned to him. "The organization behind this was very well-equipped; if it wasn't for them I'd have a harder time getting them all out."
"It'll be dangerous." Harry pointed out for the rest's sake.
"We can handle danger," John smirked a bit arrogantly.
Harry just shook his head. "Fine."
Peter sighed in relief when he saw that his two friends had accepted his reasonings. The group then slowly acclimated to the new place, both John and Bobby had decided to go out and buy some supplies for themselves with what money they had. Everyone was against it at first as they were scared that they might be spotted but the two convinced them it would be fine. Besides, John seemed to hate being cooped up for so long and Bobby had volunteered to keep an eye on him.
Forge on the other hand had been completely immersed in the setup they had. Harry had shown it to him when Forge revealed what he could do. That was half an hour ago and Forge had been upgrading any tech he could get his hands on in an attempt to improve their chances of tracking the kidnapping ring.
The group quickly left him to his work after that.
All that was left was Emma, Jean, Peter, Harry, and Gwen in the separate cart they had modified into a living room of sorts.
The group was a bit awkward as they didn't know how to act around each other. All except Peter and Emma as the two were interacting as if they had known each other for a while.
"Where do you even change in this place?" Emma asked curiously.
"Usually wherever we can," Peter answered. "Not having a dressing room would be useful since we'll need to hurry anyways and waiting for turns in the closet doesn't sound all that efficient."
"Not enough space to create separate ones?"
"Pretty much. Though then again, I have been thinking of making a makeshift bed here somewhere in case we pulled an all-nighter."
Emma looked around and shook her head. "You'll need another cart, it's already filled enough as is."
The others stared at the two with some confusion about how comfortable they were with each other. Jean had already seen a glimpse of it of course during their trip in the van but she was also trying to recover from her headache at the time so there's that.
Harry and Gwen on the other hand weren't as surprised as they did know that Emma was essentially a family friend to the Parkers. What they were surprised about was that Emma was talking to Spider-Man pretty casually and it does make a person wonder if she knew his secret identity.
"So," Harry spoke up, catching the two's attention. "You uh, look like you knew each other. Does she…?" Harry trailed off hesitantly.
'Know that you're Peter Parker?' Went off unsaid but everyone there managed to pick up on it, including Jean who was a developing telepath with shit control over it.
The redhead pursed her lips as she tried her best to hide her panic. She probably shouldn't have known that. That was probably why Harry didn't say it but she picked up on it anyway. Peter— Spider-Man might have somehow blocked her out from his mind but the same could not be said for his friends.
That was also how she managed to gain the secret identities of Webline and Ghost Spider without meaning to.
She really shouldn't have known that.
Emma then answered for him.
"Yes, I do know." Emma sighed while looking at Peter, who knew she still wanted answers about that.
"How much does she know?" Gwen— Ghost Spider asked while giving a hesitant glance at Jean, who decided that was probably the cue for her to leave.
Just before she could stand up and do just that, a stray thought from both vigilantes caught her completely unaware. Because at the forefront of Harry and Gwen's minds wasn't just the knowledge of their vigilantism but also info that could shake up anybody if they heard it.
"Oh you know, all the Spider-Man stu—"
"You're from the future?!"
All four snapped to Jean —who had covered her mouth in panic— in shock, the three vigilantes stared at her with shock and fear while Emma looked at her incredulously.
The blond woman then stared at Harry and Gwen, a brief glow of her eyes signaling the use of her telepathy just enough to see their surface thoughts before she slowly turned to Peter with narrowed eyes.
"Explain. Now." She demanded with an icy tone, uncaring that Jean would overhear them. It was already out in the open after all so not much use hiding it.
Peter stared at her with his wide lenses before he slumped, facepalming himself hard enough that some of them winced slightly from the sound.
"Telepath, how could I forget." Peter groaned.
Before they could even tackle that topic, the sound of footsteps from outside the cart and frantic shouting caught their ears.
"Spider-Man! Ghost Spider! Where are you?!"
"We uh, have guests?!"
Everyone glanced at each other with some panic. Did the kidnappers find them already?!
Emma gave a brief glare at Peter to signal that this conversation definitely wasn't over before they all rushed out of the cart. Forge followed behind them just as quickly as he had overheard the shouting.
The group ran out and paused in their steps. In front of the group stood Bobby and John, behind them while definitely not the kidnappers due to their civilian outfits but were also definitely not anyone they knew.
There were three people in front of them, one was a fierce and bulky-looking man. His dirty blond hair looked wild and untamed, his bulky and large frame was trapped behind a white button-up suit with a yellow tie. On top of it was a black trenchcoat that paired well with his black pants. Despite the rather gentlemanly outfit, the man was anything but. His eyes held an animalistic glint that unnerved some of them and they could also see a hint of sharp teeth hidden behind a savage grin.
The second person, a woman, looked a lot more tamer but still felt just as dangerous. She has blond hair that reaches her shoulders and frames her perfect face. Her curvy and developed figure was hidden behind a grey sweater that paired well with her black pants that looked like it was painted on her. Her green eyes stared at them with calculated intensity, as if trying to look past their defenses and collect every information she could get.
The final and the most dangerous was an old man. Despite the wrinkles and grey hair, he looked rather well-kept and healthy. It was obvious the man had aged well. He wore a simple black buttoned shirt along with a soft grey jacket that reached past his waist along with brown pants. Unlike the others, the man's eyes looked soft and kind even as if he was just an old grandfather who was merely visiting his grandchildren. However, that did not fool some of them as they could see a hint of steel and intensity behind his warm eyes.
"Ah, I hope I haven't disturbed anything." The old man smiled at them before glancing at the two people behind him with a slight frown. "You two, calm down. They are children, not soldiers. With all that frown on your faces, you'll give them the wrong idea."
The man grunted but looked away while the woman merely narrowed her eyes. That was enough to show that the old man was the leader of the trio.
"Said children have defeated armed men before with ease." The woman brought up.
The old man merely chuckled. "Of course, with their gifts, it is expected. But that doesn't change the fact that they are still children. Hatchlings who are still trying to find their way in the world. Hatchlings who we must guide."
The woman didn't stop but the intensity behind her gaze did lessen.
Accepting that was the most he would gain from her, he turned back to the wary group. "Apologies for my colleagues, they can be rather…intense."
"No worries." Peter shrugged with some hesitance, his tone friendly while still carrying a bit of wariness in it. "So what brings you three to these parts? You know, they're kinda hidden and secret. Not exactly a good place for old folks like you." He quipped.
His words didn't seem to be taken well by either of his colleagues judging by the slight tensing of their muscles but the old man merely chuckled good-naturedly.
"Oh don't worry too much about me. I may not look like it but these old bones can still take quite a beating. As for why we are here, well to meet you. All of you." The old man gestured to Peter before moving to all of them.
"Why? And who are you?" Emma demanded with an icy tone. She had attempted to go through their minds, but they surprised her by having quite a solid mental defense.
Her attempt must have been noticed because the feral-like man growled at her. But the old man raised his hand in front of him. "Now Sabretooth, it is in their right to feel weary. Especially with what they had gone through." The man, now revealed as Sabretooth grunted but calmed down, letting the old man continue. "Apologies for my manners, I should have started with my introductions. These two are my associates, Sabretooth and Mystique." He gestured to the two behind him.
No one commented on how those names sound more like codenames than their actual ones.
"As for me, my name is Magneto. We are here to seek your aid in our cause to save mutant kind."
Peter stared at the metal door with trepidation. He looked down at Emma who was still groggy from being woken up and groaned. He couldn't look after her while still carrying the rest.
He glanced at the rest that was still stuck in their capsule prison and then back at Emma. Emma somehow managed to know that he was Spider-Man and there was also that odd cry for help in his head.
He glanced at the capsule prison as a suspicion formed.
His Spider-Sense started to blare as the sound of footsteps could be heard outside the vault. Without hesitation, he quickly released the other prisoners from their capsules. His hands moved quickly towards their collar and snapped them off the moment they were free.
The sound of the vault's door starting to open reached his ears, his hands raised and quickly fired concrete webbings at it. He sighed in relief when the door stayed closed.
He could hear voices behind said door, but he didn't focus too much on it as he realized the rest of the prisoners were fully awake.
"Ooh, my head."
"Where am I?"
"Isn't that the spider guy I saw in the news?"
Peter was glad at least one of them recognized him. It would be awkward to explain why they were trapped in a vault with a masked stranger.
"Hey guys! Not much time to explain but I need you guys up and running. Plenty of bad guys behind that door that kidnapped you guys." Peter gave them a brief rundown.
"How do we know you're not with them?" Asked a blond young man who looked his age. His eyes trained at him with a suspicious glare.
"Are you kidding?" A brown-haired young man who also looked his age gave the blond an incredulous look. "That's Spider-Man dude! If anyone would help, it'd be him."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Peter nodded appreciatively before focusing back on the vault, the voices were getting louder now. "But I need you guys ready, once that door opens I need you all to run for it at my signal."
The brunette shook his head. "No, let me help." He stood beside him, Peter's lenses widened as the young man's hands started to get covered in ice. White cold gas visibly emitted from it. "They got the jump on me last time, won't happen again."
"What the–" Peter cut himself off, not the time to geek out. "You sure, uh?"
"Bobby, and yeah I'm sure."
"Well if we're fighting back…" The blond suddenly said as he looked around. "Anybody got a lighter?"
Peter glanced at the others. He noticed a red-haired girl leaning on Emma, her hand holding her head as if she was in pain. He was a bit worried about her but since Emma was with her, he'd trust that she could handle it for now.
"I don't have any…" Replied the final prisoner. He was a tan-skinned young man, his hair kept in a ponytail as he glanced at them with slight hesitance. "But I can make one if you want?"
"You can?" The blond asked incredulously.
He nodded and gestured to the broken collars. "Hand me one of those."
Peter moved quickly, shooting a web at one of them and then tossing it at him.
"Thanks." He caught it and immediately got to work. His hands impressively disassembled the collar at what should be superhuman speeds before he started to assemble them back into what looked like a high-tech lighter.
"Here." He handed it to the blond.
"Thanks, um…"
"Forge. Call me Forge."
"Thanks, Forge. Call me John." John smirked as he lit up the lighter, the flames suddenly turned…alive for lack of a better word. The flames coiled and turned under John's command as the flames surrounded his hand.
"Now that introductions are over." Emma, somehow managing to stay calm from everything, decided to speak out. "Spider-Man, you got a game plan?"
Peter was taken aback a bit until he realized that she was making sure his identity was kept a secret. Something he appreciated.
"Uh, right. John, Bobby, how strong can you make those?"
"I've melted a steel beam before."
"Not sure."
Everyone except the redhead stared at Bobby incredulously. The young man sputtered as he tried to elaborate. "I mean I never found my limit! I once froze a bunch of guys in an ice block if that's what you meant?"
Peter nodded at that. "Alright. Here's the plan. I'll open the door and distract them for a bit, you two cause as much damage as you can while I distract them. Make sure you do not kill them. I'd rather not have that in your conscious. Got that?"
The group nodded at that.
"And then what?" Emma asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Peter sighed as he turned to the vault door, missing the slightly incredulous and concerned look that Emma sent him.
The vault suddenly shook. Not enough to disrupt their footing but enough to shock them.
"What was that?" Bobby asked with some panic.
No one managed to answer as the redhead suddenly groaned.
"Ugh, so many. So loud!" She groaned in pain.
Emma immediately tried to help her. "Calm down, Jean. Focus on me, on my presence. Block out the rest."
"I'm—trying!"
"She won't drag us down, will she?" John suddenly asked.
"She won't." Emma glared. "I can drag her with us if we need to."
"Alright!" Peter clapped his hands. "No one is getting left behind! I'll make sure every single one of us gets out of here, got that?'
Receiving no response, he'll take it as a yes.
The vault shook again, causing them to realize that they were running out of time.
"Alright, here goes nothing." Peter took a deep breath.
He shot two web lines at the side of the vault's door. He pulled and lowered his center of gravity until the web turned taut.
What awaited them on the other side was probably a bunch of armed men with weapons that could knock him out with a single shot. And all he had on his side was a bunch of mutants who probably didn't have much experience using their powers in live combat.
No pressure.
With an exhale, he released.
His body flung forward. Peter quickly brought his legs to the front as he kicked the vault door. The metal door blasted out of its hinges, his kick slamming it forward and violently ripped it open.
Peter let himself ride the momentum, his body slinging forward and crashing through a wall before he slid to a stop. He quickly turned around, peering through the hole he made, and noticed the shocked looks of the armed soldiers.
"That's him!"
"Get him–aagh!"
The soldiers made the mistake of focusing on him, not noticing Bobby and John who wisely capitalized on it. Streams of ice and flames surged out of the vault, freezing and burning the unsuspecting soldiers.
Peter jumped in and helped. Webbing the weapons and pulling them towards him to disarm the soldiers before they could even aim them at the others.
The soldiers tried their best to fight back, but with the tight space, they couldn't use the blast option of their weapons without hurting themselves. Which made dodging and disarming them much easier for Peter.
With the sudden element of surprise working, Peter landed back with the group as Bobby froze the burning soldiers to spare them the pain and make sure they stayed on the ground. It was a miracle that no one died.
"That went better than I expected," Peter spoke with some surprise.
"Don't put down your guard now, there's still others making their way here." Emma reminded him.
"Right, come on." Peter nodded before gesturing for them to follow him.
"Where are we going?" John asked as the group ran through the hallways.
"To the nearest exit. I saw a van we could use as a getaway. Is it bad if I ask if there's anyone here who knows how to hotwire a van?"
"I do," Bobby answered. The group stared at him which caused him to shrug. "What? It came in handy a few times."
Before he could comment on that, someone called him.
"Spider-Man!" Peter turned to Forge, who handed him an odd-looking device. "Put that on your wrist device."
"How did you–?"
"Saw it when you were about to slingshot your way out of the vault. It looks pretty cool by the way."
"Thanks." Peter absentmindedly replied as he slotted it into his webshooters. It fits perfectly. "So what does this do?"
"I just took their guns, modified them a little, and miniaturized them. It should still have an option to switch between focused and blast shots. You can dial the intensity of the concussive force. It ranges from minor shockwaves to burning explosions by the way. All that's left is to test them out."
As if right on cue, the sound of footsteps reached their ears.
"Speak of the devil." Peter chuckled.
A group of men circled the corner, they didn't even manage to speak before Peter immediately shot them with the new upgrade.
A familiar beam of heat and vibrations shot out of his web shooter, shooting in between the soldiers before it violently expanded. Sending the soldiers through the walls of the hallway.
John laughed. "That was awesome!"
"I…Yeah, I need to get a handle on this." Peter stared at the new addition of his web shooters in slight awe. "I owe you one, Forge."
"Get us out of here and I'll call it even." Forge chuckled.
The group then continued to make their way through the warehouse. Blasting off ice, flames, concussive force, and webbings along the way. Peter's Spider-Sense helped him direct the group to avoid certain places and even fire off their powers before the soldiers even had a chance to do so.
It didn't take long for them to exit the warehouse and spot the van that Peter had talked about.
"There!" John pointed.
"Come on, quick!" Peter ordered, immediately carrying Jean to allow Emma to run with the rest. His enhanced strength kept up and even outpaced them.
He yanked the door of the van open and shoved Jean inside as gently as he could. Emma immediately enters before focusing back on Jean.
"Emma…I can't push it down!" Jean groaned.
"Don't suppress it, it will make it worse–!" Emma scolded. Those were the last words he heard before he jumped on top of the van while Bobby, John, and Forge quickly made their way inside.
Peter's Spider-Sense alerted him immediately. His body reacted before he realized it and shot out another concussive blast at a nearby entrance. The entrance crumbled down with shouts from the men inside hinting that it had blocked any surprise attack.
"Bobby, anytime now!" Peter shouted.
"Give me a second!" Came the muffled reply but his enhanced hearing caught it clearly.
"We don't have a second!" John shouted back.
"Just let me— Got it!"
The engine revved to life immediately, Peter could feel the van thrummed to life before it suddenly drove out of the parking space.
"Hold on tight!" Bobby warned.
It immediately dawned on Peter that he had never asked if any of them could actually drive. He didn't get to think much about it because the van immediately swerved around erratically as it drove away from the warehouse.
"Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick…" Forge muttered.
"Can you drive properly?!" Emma shouted.
"I'm trying!"
"Who taught you how to drive?!" John demanded.
"I taught myself okay! Didn't exactly have anyone to teach me!"
"Uh, guys. We got company!" Peter warned.
Multiple vehicles gave chase to them. Out of the window, he could see soldiers preparing their weapons inside.
"Think you can shake them off?" Bobby asked while John glanced out of the window from the front seat.
"They won't even see me coming." Peter narrowed his lenses as a plan formed in his mind. The soldiers unconsciously gulped at the sight before they aimed their guns at him.
Multiple focused beams shot toward the van, in response Peter switched to blast mode and dialed up the intensity to a specific level before firing. A single massive shockwave clashed against multiple focused beams, the contact between multiple shots was enough to cause a massive burst of explosion. The shockwaves affected the vehicles enough to disorient the passengers and in turn cause a small time gap where the soldiers became unguarded.
But Peter was prepared, this was what he had aimed for. He had dialed up the intensity so that it would be enough to disrupt the beams and the vehicles but not too much that it would cause excessive damage. He had prepared himself for the inevitable blast and recovered faster, allowing him to take advantage of that small time gap.
He jumped away from the van and above the soldiers' vehicles. He fired multiple webs to the front of the cars and pulled. The momentum behind their movement added to it, causing the vehicles to flip backward and crash into the other cars behind them.
Peter dragged the cars and stacked them on top of each other, creating an odd jenga stack made out of cars. He quickly landed before he ran around the makeshift tower, firing concrete and cryo webs around it. The concrete webs kept the car steady and trapped the soldiers inside while the cryo webs made sure the car wouldn't explode.
He finally slid to a stop before shooting two web lines. "I don't recommend shooting yourself out if you don't wanna explode into a million pieces!" He quickly warned before slingshotting himself into the air.
He swung quickly, catching up quickly to the rest of the group. He landed on top of the van with a 'thud', his eyes scanned through the streets to see any more of the soldiers. He didn't see any more of them and his Spider-Sense wasn't tingling, the coast was finally clear.
He knocked on the side door of the van. The door opened for a bit for Peter to make his way inside and quickly closed it.
"Woo! That was exciting." Peter quipped.
"Are you okay? You hurt anywhere?" Emma quickly asked him.
Peter waved it off. "I'm fine. I heal quickly too so even if I get any scraps, I should be good."
Emma continued to study him but gave a relenting sigh. "Alright then."
"That was awesome!" John gasped in amazement.
"Glad to see the upgrade working well for you," Forge added.
Peter nodded as he brought up one of his upgraded webshooters. "Yeah, this thing will be real handy in the future." He then glanced at Jean, who had already calmed down. "You gonna be okay?"
The young woman nodded. "I'll be fine. Emma managed to help."
"What was that all about anyway?" Bobby asked.
"Her gift is similar to mine," Emma answered. "Jean had spent more time suppressing it instead of using it. For any other mutants, it might be fine. But for us? Well, Jean managed to experience firsthand how nasty it can get."
"And I'm thankful that you helped." Jean gave her a grateful smile.
Emma merely glanced away coldly. "Don't think too much about it."
Peter couldn't help but tilt his head at that, Emma looked…colder. It reminded him when he had first seen her. Closed off and guarded.
Emma then glanced at Bobby. "Where are we going?"
Bobby shrugged. "I'm just driving around honestly."
Emma looked down at that. "Head to the mall."
"The one a couple blocks away?"
Emma nodded. "We need to switch our vehicles and I need to see if my shopping bags are still there."
Peter gave her an incredulous look. "Seriously?"
Emma returned a blank one. "Those things are expensive."
A quick recount of the price tag caused him to wince. "Yeah, that might be a good idea."
The two ignored the confused and incredulous looks from the rest, John couldn't help but scoff.
"Even if we did, where would you place them? Not like we have any place to go now."
"He's right, I highly doubt they won't check on our homes." Forge added.
The group fell silent while Peter turned contemplative. They were right, it's not like they could go back home.
"Shouldn't we call the cops?" Jean asked.
John scoffed. "And think they'd help us? Word got out about us and it won't surprise me if some mutant-hating pig decides to rat us out to the people that kidnapped us."
Bobby sighed. "Hate to say it, I'm with John on this one. Don't have any good experience with cops myself."
"And even if we did call them, I highly doubt it would go well. We don't know the organization behind this but judging by their equipment, they are either very resourceful or have someone influential backing them." Emma added.
The mood turned depressive, everyone wondered what to do as a sense of loss entered their minds.
Peter suddenly perked up, as a sudden beep from his comms alerted him.
"Hold on a sec," Peter waved the curious looks away as he opened his comms.
"Pete! Thank god! Where the hell are you?! We've been trying to call you for a while now, Gwen is losing her mind here!"
"Oh hey Ha–" He glanced at the people around him. They couldn't hear Harry but it's probably best that he didn't mention his name. "Webline, I just got back from saving some people from a kidnapping."
"Oh shit." Harry was taken aback by the sudden use of his codename and the kidnapping thing but decided to roll with it. "Pe–I mean, Spider-Man, are you doing alright?"
"I'm fine, we're fine actually. I just gotta figure out where to drop these guys off and—" He paused as a thought entered his mind.
"Spidey?"
"Hey Webline, think you and Ghost can suit up?"
"Do you need any help?"
He glanced at everyone in the van, who was openly staring at him. "Nah, just thinking we might need to clean up our place a little. We're gonna have some guests over."
[-]
Peter couldn't help but fidget a little under his friends' gaze.
The group quickly made their way back to the mall. The clothes that Emma had bought were thankfully still there, guarded by the kind staff in the restaurant. While she was at it, the group had to switch vehicles with Peter praying that whoever's car they had stolen from had insurance. The car was pretty fancy but not too eye-catching, so the chances were pretty high.
The group quickly made their way to his base, stopping to park somewhere near and hidden before guiding them into a nearby sewer that was connected to the station and walking to the base from there.
By the time they got there, both Gwen and Harry were already in their suits and were ready to greet them.
Gwen was in her usual suit but Harry's suit was a bit of rushed work. They didn't prepare anything impressive for him, a simple biker jacket with black jeans paired with black gloves and boots. The mask, however, was similar to theirs: a black mask with black lenses and with white outline, denoting his connection to the other two spiders.
Both Gwen and Harry or Ghost Spider and Webline in their current outfits, stared at Peter impassively as the mutants he brought with him looked around their base with some awe.
"So Spidey," Gwen began with a tone that caused a shiver down his spine. "What makes you think it was a good idea to have these people in our secret base?"
"Yes, Spider-Man. I would love to know why you think bringing in strangers into our secret base was an awesome idea." Harry added, making Peter wince.
"A little thick there buddy."
"It gets the point across, doesn't it?"
Peter slumped, "Point. But look, these people don't exactly have any place to go and they don't exactly trust the cops."
"Why?" Gwen asked a bit hotly. Considering who her father was, it was understandable.
"We're mutants." John interrupted. "We got our powers and well, you've seen the news on how people treat our kind and I don't exactly trust cops." He remarked with a bitter smile.
"Speaking from experience?" Harry asked.
"Plenty of experience."
Gwen and Harry grew silent a bit as they looked down in thought. Gwen then suddenly spoke. "Okay, fine. I can see why you would bring them here. But now what? We can't let them stay here forever!"
"Until we figure out this whole mess." Peter placated. "There's a kidnapping ring in this city and we need to figure out who's behind it."
"We can help too." Bobby offered. "I mean, we got our powers and we can do a lot of things with them. Spidey can back us up on this."
Peter sighed when the two turned to him. "The organization behind this was very well-equipped; if it wasn't for them I'd have a harder time getting them all out."
"It'll be dangerous." Harry pointed out for the rest's sake.
"We can handle danger," John smirked a bit arrogantly.
Harry just shook his head. "Fine."
Peter sighed in relief when he saw that his two friends had accepted his reasonings. The group then slowly acclimated to the new place, both John and Bobby had decided to go out and buy some supplies for themselves with what money they had. Everyone was against it at first as they were scared that they might be spotted but the two convinced them it would be fine. Besides, John seemed to hate being cooped up for so long and Bobby had volunteered to keep an eye on him.
Forge on the other hand had been completely immersed in the setup they had. Harry had shown it to him when Forge revealed what he could do. That was half an hour ago and Forge had been upgrading any tech he could get his hands on in an attempt to improve their chances of tracking the kidnapping ring.
The group quickly left him to his work after that.
All that was left was Emma, Jean, Peter, Harry, and Gwen in the separate cart they had modified into a living room of sorts.
The group was a bit awkward as they didn't know how to act around each other. All except Peter and Emma as the two were interacting as if they had known each other for a while.
"Where do you even change in this place?" Emma asked curiously.
"Usually wherever we can," Peter answered. "Not having a dressing room would be useful since we'll need to hurry anyways and waiting for turns in the closet doesn't sound all that efficient."
"Not enough space to create separate ones?"
"Pretty much. Though then again, I have been thinking of making a makeshift bed here somewhere in case we pulled an all-nighter."
Emma looked around and shook her head. "You'll need another cart, it's already filled enough as is."
The others stared at the two with some confusion about how comfortable they were with each other. Jean had already seen a glimpse of it of course during their trip in the van but she was also trying to recover from her headache at the time so there's that.
Harry and Gwen on the other hand weren't as surprised as they did know that Emma was essentially a family friend to the Parkers. What they were surprised about was that Emma was talking to Spider-Man pretty casually and it does make a person wonder if she knew his secret identity.
"So," Harry spoke up, catching the two's attention. "You uh, look like you knew each other. Does she…?" Harry trailed off hesitantly.
'Know that you're Peter Parker?' Went off unsaid but everyone there managed to pick up on it, including Jean who was a developing telepath with shit control over it.
The redhead pursed her lips as she tried her best to hide her panic. She probably shouldn't have known that. That was probably why Harry didn't say it but she picked up on it anyway. Peter— Spider-Man might have somehow blocked her out from his mind but the same could not be said for his friends.
That was also how she managed to gain the secret identities of Webline and Ghost Spider without meaning to.
She really shouldn't have known that.
Emma then answered for him.
"Yes, I do know." Emma sighed while looking at Peter, who knew she still wanted answers about that.
"How much does she know?" Gwen— Ghost Spider asked while giving a hesitant glance at Jean, who decided that was probably the cue for her to leave.
Just before she could stand up and do just that, a stray thought from both vigilantes caught her completely unaware. Because at the forefront of Harry and Gwen's minds wasn't just the knowledge of their vigilantism but also info that could shake up anybody if they heard it.
"Oh you know, all the Spider-Man stu—"
"You're from the future?!"
All four snapped to Jean —who had covered her mouth in panic— in shock, the three vigilantes stared at her with shock and fear while Emma looked at her incredulously.
The blond woman then stared at Harry and Gwen, a brief glow of her eyes signaling the use of her telepathy just enough to see their surface thoughts before she slowly turned to Peter with narrowed eyes.
"Explain. Now." She demanded with an icy tone, uncaring that Jean would overhear them. It was already out in the open after all so not much use hiding it.
Peter stared at her with his wide lenses before he slumped, facepalming himself hard enough that some of them winced slightly from the sound.
"Telepath, how could I forget." Peter groaned.
Before they could even tackle that topic, the sound of footsteps from outside the cart and frantic shouting caught their ears.
"Spider-Man! Ghost Spider! Where are you?!"
"We uh, have guests?!"
Everyone glanced at each other with some panic. Did the kidnappers find them already?!
Emma gave a brief glare at Peter to signal that this conversation definitely wasn't over before they all rushed out of the cart. Forge followed behind them just as quickly as he had overheard the shouting.
The group ran out and paused in their steps. In front of the group stood Bobby and John, behind them while definitely not the kidnappers due to their civilian outfits but were also definitely not anyone they knew.
There were three people in front of them, one was a fierce and bulky-looking man. His dirty blond hair looked wild and untamed, his bulky and large frame was trapped behind a white button-up suit with a yellow tie. On top of it was a black trenchcoat that paired well with his black pants. Despite the rather gentlemanly outfit, the man was anything but. His eyes held an animalistic glint that unnerved some of them and they could also see a hint of sharp teeth hidden behind a savage grin.
The second person, a woman, looked a lot more tamer but still felt just as dangerous. She has blond hair that reaches her shoulders and frames her perfect face. Her curvy and developed figure was hidden behind a grey sweater that paired well with her black pants that looked like it was painted on her. Her green eyes stared at them with calculated intensity, as if trying to look past their defenses and collect every information she could get.
The final and the most dangerous was an old man. Despite the wrinkles and grey hair, he looked rather well-kept and healthy. It was obvious the man had aged well. He wore a simple black buttoned shirt along with a soft grey jacket that reached past his waist along with brown pants. Unlike the others, the man's eyes looked soft and kind even as if he was just an old grandfather who was merely visiting his grandchildren. However, that did not fool some of them as they could see a hint of steel and intensity behind his warm eyes.
"Ah, I hope I haven't disturbed anything." The old man smiled at them before glancing at the two people behind him with a slight frown. "You two, calm down. They are children, not soldiers. With all that frown on your faces, you'll give them the wrong idea."
The man grunted but looked away while the woman merely narrowed her eyes. That was enough to show that the old man was the leader of the trio.
"Said children have defeated armed men before with ease." The woman brought up.
The old man merely chuckled. "Of course, with their gifts, it is expected. But that doesn't change the fact that they are still children. Hatchlings who are still trying to find their way in the world. Hatchlings who we must guide."
The woman didn't stop but the intensity behind her gaze did lessen.
Accepting that was the most he would gain from her, he turned back to the wary group. "Apologies for my colleagues, they can be rather…intense."
"No worries." Peter shrugged with some hesitance, his tone friendly while still carrying a bit of wariness in it. "So what brings you three to these parts? You know, they're kinda hidden and secret. Not exactly a good place for old folks like you." He quipped.
His words didn't seem to be taken well by either of his colleagues judging by the slight tensing of their muscles but the old man merely chuckled good-naturedly.
"Oh don't worry too much about me. I may not look like it but these old bones can still take quite a beating. As for why we are here, well to meet you. All of you." The old man gestured to Peter before moving to all of them.
"Why? And who are you?" Emma demanded with an icy tone. She had attempted to go through their minds, but they surprised her by having quite a solid mental defense.
Her attempt must have been noticed because the feral-like man growled at her. But the old man raised his hand in front of him. "Now Sabretooth, it is in their right to feel weary. Especially with what they had gone through." The man, now revealed as Sabretooth grunted but calmed down, letting the old man continue. "Apologies for my manners, I should have started with my introductions. These two are my associates, Sabretooth and Mystique." He gestured to the two behind him.
No one commented on how those names sound more like codenames than their actual ones.
"As for me, my name is Magneto. We are here to seek your aid in our cause to save mutant kind."
Chapter 10 - I’m A Disaster Of Passion
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Chapter 10 - I'm A Disaster Of Passion
Peter stared at the trio in front of him with narrowed lenses. He wasn't sure what to think of them but at the same time, the way they spoke about saving Mutantkind rang all sorts of warning bells inside his head.
"Quite the big talk." John suddenly spoke up confidently despite how obvious his fear was. "There are quite a few people that might take offense to that. Can you back it up?"
The old man, Magneto, merely smiled at the question. Without a word, he raised his hand.
The sound of rattling caught their ears, Peter started to look around as his Spider-Sense started to ring intensely.
The sound of metal groaning and rattling caught them by surprise. Peter could see the pipes, the walls around them, and even the train carts shaking from an unseen force.
"Alright, alright! I think we get it!" Peter quickly raised his hands to appease the old man.
The groaning immediately stopped, Magneto lowering his hand with a satisfied smile.
Peter shook his head and glanced at John, "You just had to ask didn't you?" He asked with some irritation.
The young man could only shrug sheepishly. But from the look of his eyes, he was impressed by Magneto. The previous fear was slowly replaced with some awe and respect for the old man.
"So…how did you even find us?" Peter began warily.
"Mutants like us have a very unique genome called the X Gene. This genome also has…altered our brain signals, emitting a unique signature that only a select few know of. If they know what they're doing, it is pretty easy to find. Especially when so many powerful Mutants gather in a single place." The old man explained, his eyes trailing over every one of them until it landed on Peter.
Peter blinked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Magneto chuckled. "Why, did you not know? You're a mutant. Not as powerful as your red-haired friend here–" He gestured to Jean, who looked slightly uncomfortable from the attention. "—but a Mutant nonetheless."
Peter gave a sheepish chuckle at that. "Yeah about that. Look, I got my powers from a radioactive spider biting me. Trust me, I'm not. Ghost here can back me up." He gestured to her, who nodded hurriedly.
The man glanced at Gwen and Harry, Peter's lenses narrowed when he detected a hint of distaste in his eyes before it disappeared.
"Hmmm no, I'm sure you're a Mutant." Magneto shook his head, clearly not believing him.
Peter was surprised by the sudden denial. "I don't know what else to say, man. The whole spider thing is not a Mutant thing."
Magneto hummed before he glanced at Mystique. "Mystique, if you will?"
The woman nodded before she pulled out an odd-looking device. It looked like a phone but it looked too thick and heavy. It was dark grey and seemed very unwieldy.
"What's that?" Peter asked as he raised his hand warily. While the trio in front of him had been amicable thus far, it didn't stop him from being ready for a fight.
Magneto raised his hand again which made them all flinch. The old man merely smiled in amusement when they realized nothing happened. He had just raised his hand to calm them, specifically Peter, down.
"You asked how we managed to find you. It was through this device. As I've said, mutants emit a unique frequency and we detect it through this device." He introduced.
The woman held it out to John, allowing them to see the screen. There was a scaling bar of sorts, the color rising within the bar before it settled on a deep orange color.
"Beta Class Mutant." Mystique commented as the phone beeped.
John seemed confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"An indication of your gift's…strength so to speak. Their potential, power, and even how much you had used it could affect them. It goes from Gamma, Beta, and Alpha." Magneto explained.
"Middle of the pack, not bad." John muttered, clearly proud of himself.
"Among the upper ends of Beta Class too judging by the deep color." Magneto hummed in agreement.
Mystique, however, didn't seem as impressed as she immediately pointed it towards Bobby. The color raised the bar before settling on a red color with a beep.
"Alpha Class." Mystique commented, this time with a small grin. She liked what she saw.
John's expression fell a little as everyone realized what that meant, none more so than Bobby himself.
"You sure?" He asked with an incredulous expression. "I mean, I barely even use it most of the time."
"Even if you haven't used it that frequently, it still hasn't changed what it means. The power you hold is immense young man." Magneto advised before turning to the now disappointed John. "As for you, do not be so disappointed. With enough time, you could still train your gifts to match your friend here."
John seemed placated by that, Bobby on the other hand looked like his whole world was turned upside down by the recent revelation.
Mystique continued, pointing the device toward Forge. The color of the gauge fluctuates a little before lowering itself but still settling on the same color.
"Alpha Level as well."
Forge blinked but didn't seem as surprised as Bobby. He took the information rather well all things considered.
Mystique then pointed it towards Emma, who was still looking at them with a guarded expression. The color in the gauge raised higher, even higher than Bobby's in fact, settling on an almost maroon color.
"Alpha Class Mutant. High end too." Mystique commented with a slightly impressed look.
Emma huffed but didn't seem surprised by it. Peter wondered where that confidence had come from. Maybe she had used it frequently enough for her to predict it? Considering what her powers were, that sounded concerning. Something that he needed to talk to her about after this.
'Along with other things…' He mentally sighed when remembering what had happened before their guests arrived.
He then realized Mystique had slowly pointed the device toward him, skipping over Gwen and Harry. Not without reason as the device barely even reacted to them before it started to fluctuate when it was finally pointed toward him.
His stomach dropped as the color settled on the same maroon color as Emma's, it was a little lower but only by a smidge.
'Oh, you've gotta be kidding me…' He mentally groaned as he realized this might be what The Other meant by his younger self's hidden power.
"Alpha Class Mutant." Mystique's comment cemented it.
Peter could see the 'I told you so' look from Magneto.
"Alright, fine. I'm a Mutant, happy?" Peter sighed.
Magneto merely chuckled. "Very. To have a fellow brethren realize their true nature, their true power, is always welcomed."
Peter sighed when he heard that. "Right. About that, you still haven't explained the whole saving Mutantkind thing."
Magneto's kind eyes slowly turned cold. "I'm sure you've all seen the news. How the humans spoke about our people." He nearly spat, his words became more passionate as he continued. "Our brothers and sisters, tossed into the streets and oppressed. All because of what?"
Peter's eyes caught movement, he could see some of them getting drawn into the speech. John and Bobby were completely focusing on him now. Even Emma seemed interested in what he had to say despite her guarded behavior.
"Why?" John hesitantly asked.
"Because they fear us. They do not know the limits of what we could truly do and come to fear it." He answered, his eyes trained on them as his eyes glazed over. As if he was remembering an old memory. "But most important of all, they are envious."
"Jealous?" Jean asked incredulously. As if the concept was foreign to her.
"Yes. They are envious of our power. Of our gifts. These gifts of ours allow us to cause many miracles and they wish to obtain it for themselves. They wish to use it for all manner of evils, especially if it benefits them. They won't stop at nothing to do so, even if it means kidnapping children off the streets and doing God knows what to them." Magneto finished as he snapped out of his reverie and gave them a pointed look.
"Yeah but, someone will stop them, right? I mean Spider-Man here literally saved us. I'm sure there are people out there who can see how wrong this is." Jean reasoned.
Mystique scoffed. "Yes, but he's only one person in a sea of many. It's a vast world out there filled with a vast amount of people. And many of them would rather see us dead."
Jean's eyes looked down. "That's…That can't be true…" She denied it, but it seemed more like she was trying to convince herself.
Emma gave her a pitying look. "Jean, even with your powers suppressed, you must have seen the minds of the people around you. Can you believe that the people who want to coexist might outnumber the hatred of everyone else?"
Jean fell silent, unable to answer.
Silence fell in the room as everyone considered Emma's words. They had seen and even experienced the hatred after all. Magneto was right, the world hated them. Even if there were people who didn't, they were outnumbered by the ones that do.
"So what?" Peter finally asked, breaking the silence. "People hate us. What do you plan to do about that?" He asked with a blank look. What they thought was blank anyway. His mask made it hard to discern, despite how expressive he could make himself with it on, the reverse was also true.
Magneto turned his eyes to him. "We take a stand. Enough is enough. I've been gathering like-minded people to put a stop to this atrocity. Fellow brothers and sisters who wished to stop this madness. A Brotherhood that will take a stand against Humanity for Mutantkind."
"And if Humanity didn't agree?" Peter asked.
"Then forceful measures must be taken." Magneto concluded with determination.
"You're talking about fighting back?"
"I'm talking about war." Magneto corrected.
"A war?!" Peter raised his voice, even with Mystique and Sabretooth tensing, it didn't stop him from coming closer to Magneto. His masked lenses stared down Magneto's steely eyes. "You want to cause a war against the rest of the world?!"
"And what would you have us do?" Magneto genuinely asked, as if trying to search for another answer as well. "Humanity had made their stance clear, there is no choice if our kind wished to survive."
"There is always a choice!" Peter fiercely rejected it. "You're willing to plunge this world into chaos to get what you want?!"
"A necessary sacrifice to bring the change this world desperately needs. A true revolution."
Peter looked into the man's eyes and finally saw it. Saw past the determination and anger and could see it. He could see the desperation and exhaustion, he truly believed that all of Humanity was out to get them and war was the only choice left for them if they wished to survive.
"You're insane…" Peter backed off as he saw it. Part of him didn't want to believe a man could reach this point, but memories of Peter Three showed that it wasn't far from the truth.
How far had Peter Three fallen when Gwen died? When anger and despair had consumed him at his lowest? What he felt when the world felt like it was against him for just trying to be happy? The context was different, but the feelings were still the same.
A man backed into a corner due to despair and clawing at every solution they could get to make it go away.
"Maybe so, but from where I stand, there is no other path left."
Peter sighed as he looked down. "Then there's your problem. There is always another path. We just haven't found it yet."
John took that time to speak up. "How long do we have to wait for that solution?" He scoffed. "Have you ever seen what we saw? What I saw?" John asked as he glanced at Peter, his eyes showing a burning intensity. "Magneto is right, there's a war waiting for us. And I'm not going to sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for another solution to drop on my lap."
Peter watched as the young man walked over toward the trio. John glanced at Magneto. "Whatever your plan is, count me in."
Magneto smiled. "Your aid is welcomed." He then glanced at the rest. "And what of the rest of you? This war could not be won alone, we need all the aid we can get." His eyes finally settled on Jean. "Especially you, my dear."
Jean seemed surprised by that. "M-me?"
"Yes."
"I-I don't think that's a good idea. I can barely even control my powers, I'll just be useless." Jean admitted with some shame in her voice.
"No, my dear. What you need is guidance. Your gift might be uncontrollable now, but with the right guidance, you can tame it and become the greatest among us."
"The greatest?" Jean asked with confusion.
Magneto merely nodded before he glanced at Mystique, the woman wordlessly pointed her device toward Jean.
Everyone watched as the bar slowly filled, the red color turning crimson as multiple beeps could be heard from it. As if the device could not fully gauge Jean.
"What does this mean?" Jean asked with confusion.
"It means, you are on another level entirely as a Mutant," Mystique answered. "We call them Omega Level Mutants. A Mutant with a level of power that theoretically has no limit. There are not many Omega Level Mutants in history. Magneto is one of them."
The group turned to Magneto with wide eyes, looking at the old man with surprise.
The old man, however, merely shook his head. "Hmph, even with all this power it still won't be enough. Just a single Omega Level would still have a hard time taking on the rest of this ever-changing world. It won't take long before they learn how to counter my abilities. That's why I am gathering like-minded people, fellow brothers and sisters that wish to change this world for the better." Magneto sighed, for once letting himself show the exhaustion that he was hiding. "Will you aid us, my dear? Your gift will bring a great change into this world. Even as you are now, you are already considered an Omega Level. I had to work myself to the bone to get to this level and yet you are born with it! Imagine the things you could do with it if you help us!"
Jean stared at him with an uncertain look, his pleading yet earnest eyes seemed to call to her, and yet…
She understood that the world was against them, against her kind. But she couldn't fully believe that there wasn't another way. A way that didn't involve launching a war against the whole world.
And yet, Emma's words rang in her head. About the terrible and vile thoughts of the people around her. There was a reason why she suppressed her powers to the best of her ability. There were so many thoughts. So many voices, all speaking of doing terrible things. She wanted to shut it all away just so she could spare herself the headache. If it weren't for Emma, she might have done the unthinkable just to get away from it all.
Was Magneto right then? Was there no other choice? Was Humanity so full of hatred and distrust that there was no chance for them to coexist? Was that the answer?
A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her spiral.
She glanced at the owner, seeing the reflective but somehow concerned lens of Spider-Man. Or Peter Parker as he was known. She still wasn't sure how he was able to make himself so emotive even through his mask.
She stared at him for a moment longer, the man was her savior. Sure Emma had helped her with her powers but it was still Spider-Man that allowed it to happen in the first place. If he hadn't come for them, she would have gone into God knows where and experimented on for God knows what.
And he didn't even stop at that, he even gave them a place to stay despite the fact it was meant to be a secret base. He went as far as making sure they were in a comfortable and safe space just because it was right. He didn't even know he was a Mutant; he just did it because it was the right thing to do. And judging by the surface thoughts of his friends, it was because it was a responsible thing to do.
All that power and he believed it was his responsibility to use it the right way.
How ironic that the only person that was immune to her powers was also the only person that she felt the safest with.
"Jean?" Spider–No, Peter called out to her in concern.
"I'm fine." Jean patted his hand but didn't let go, letting it fall off her shoulder and holding it tight. Unconsciously using it as a rock to hold her down, a way to center herself.
Peter seemed confused but didn't pull away, letting her hold on to it.
She turned to Magneto. "I…I'm sorry. I understand that you think it's the only choice left but…I think—No, I believe that there's still another way for us. A way to somehow coexist with Humanity. There has to be." She then glanced at the vigilantes behind her. "These three people, they're out there helping people because it's the right thing to do. They're not Mutants; Spider-Man didn't even know he was one. They're out there helping people, making the city a better place because they felt they had to. That it's their responsibility to aid these people. And they can't be the only ones who feel this way. There must be more people out there who think this is wrong and there are better ways to live with each other. So, no. I don't think I'll be joining you."
In another world, she might have followed Magneto. Driven by desperation to control her powers to get away from all the vile thoughts of the people around her, she would have followed Magneto out of desperation.
But Spider-Man showed that not many people were like that. Emma might have helped her control her powers better but it was still Spider-Man's group that showed that there were still people out there who genuinely believed in the good they were doing. Their existence proved that there were still good people out there. She just needs to find them.
Magneto stared at her with an unreadable gaze. "Do you truly believe this?"
"With all my heart." Jean nodded.
Magneto closed his eyes as he sighed. Almost reminiscent of something, or someone.
He then stared back at the rest. "And what of the rest of you?"
"You already know my answer." Peter replied.
Bobby looked down, taking a bit of time before answering. "I think I'll take my chances with Spider-Man too."
"Same here." Forge added.
Everyone finally turned to Emma, the only other person who seemed to agree with Magneto. Part of Peter was afraid of her answer. He wasn't sure what he would do if she decided to join Magneto.
Would he see her again? Would he have to fight her one day? Magneto made it clear that he didn't have any favorable outlook on humans. If they ever decide to attack New York and Emma was among them…
He wasn't sure what he would do.
Emma finally sighed. "While I agree on some points, I think I'll have to pass. I still have some…responsibilities I need to take care of." She finished as she glanced at Peter. The young man stared at her with wide lenses.
Magneto nodded. "Very well, however, if any of you change your mind, our doors will always be open." He nodded towards Sabretooth.
The bulky man nodded, pulling out a card from his pocket and putting it on a nearby bench.
Magneto then turned to them. "We'll be taking our leave."
The trio, now included with John, slowly turned and walked away from them. The group slowly ascended the stairs. John however paused, he glanced back toward them with an unreadable expression. He didn't seem to find whatever it was he was trying to see as his expression twisted a little, shaking his head and following Magneto's group out of the subway.
With the group finally leaving, Jean's legs finally gave out.
"Woah, hey!" Peter grabbed onto her, the young woman breathing heavily.
"God, that was so nerve-wracking." Jean groaned as she held on to Peter's arm tightly.
"I'll say," Harry finally spoke for the first time. "but you stared down the old man like it was nothing."
"And I thought Spidey got balls of steel. You're not so bad Jean." Bobby laughed a little.
"Don't expect a repeat performance." Jean groaned.
"There better not be. We're so totally moving the base after this is all over." Gwen groaned.
The group laughed a little, the mood was livened a little from the small joke.
Peter paused before he slowly turned to Emma, the woman was also staring at him with a complicated expression.
"I…" He began but didn't even know what to say.
Emma merely scoffed in amusement. "Just because I agreed with him doesn't mean I like his solution. Besides, we still have things we need to talk about."
Peter nodded at that, still remembering the previous revelation before they got interrupted.
"Right. Like how you went through our heads." Peter pointed out with an unimpressed tone.
Emma avoided his piercing lenses. "Can you blame me?"
Peter thought it over and sighed. He couldn't really blame her for wanting to know a bit more when Jean suddenly spoke out about his status.
"Just…can we avoid going into people's heads without asking?"
Emma nodded at that. "Unless it's an emergency, sure."
Gwen suddenly coughed, catching their attention. Even through her mask, they could detect that she looked a bit annoyed.
"So, how long are you gonna hold on to him?" Gwen pointedly asked Jean.
Jean blinked before realizing that she was still holding onto Peter's arm. She quickly released, glancing at Peter with a blush.
"Sorry." She apologized, though she was already missing his warmth.
Peter waved it away. "Eh, it's fine. Got a pretty girl hanging off my arm, not many people can brag about that." He quipped.
Jean's blush turned brighter as everyone laughed a little. Though Gwen's irritation seemed to grow. Not that Peter noticed because hey, they laughed at his joke! That rarely happened so that was a win in his book.
[-]
Everything finally settled down now with Magneto's group gone. Currently, Peter was staring at Forge's work. The young man had finished his upgrade right as Magneto's group arrived.
In front of Peter were all sorts of high-tech items that would put even the technology from his timeline to shame. The computer setup that they previously had was now a lot more advanced, the prior features had now improved with probably a few more programs running. There were now multiple monitors on the desk with a variety of programs running in the background.
But that wasn't the main thing that took his attention, no the main thing was the giant black box that stood at the side of the room. It looked rather simple with sleek silver linings at the side.
He couldn't help but find it familiar somehow.
"That's a big box." Bobby commented.
"It's not just a box." Forge defended.
"Really? Because it looked like a box to us." Harry joked.
"Just– Let me show you." Forge sighed before walking over to it. He then taps the side of the box, the upper parts pulled open and revealing the Arc Reactor that Peter had taken from Gargan's armor attached inside, glowing a lot brighter than Peter remembered.
"...I'll bite, I still don't get it." Gwen suddenly said.
Before Forge could comment, Peter suddenly walked forward and inspected it. A panel suddenly slid out and revealed what looked like a small screen the moment Peter approached.
"No way." Peter gasped with a wide smile. He then turned to Forge with excitement clear in his eyes. "A fabricator?" He asked.
Forge nodded. "Yup! Saw some unfinished blueprints for it while I was messing around with your computer. Thought it'd be real handy."
Peter laughed as he started to type into the screen, looking through it with excitement. "But the tech! It doesn't even exist yet! How did you even figure it out?"
Forge shrugged. "Don't know. My powers just kinda…guide me to the solution. I just give them a problem and it just…works out."
"So you don't know the technicalities behind it. You can make it but you don't know the process. Shame, would have loved to know but I guess I'll just figure it out through this thing." Peter nodded as he continued to inspect the fabricator.
Bobby took that time to interrupt, still confused about what it was. "Uh, some explanation, please? What's a fabricator?"
"Essentially a machine that can help us make practically anything." Gwen answered as she joined Peter's side. "Suits, items, even weapons. You name it, it can do it."
"You mean the thing that you wanted to make when we got our hands on the Arc Reactor?" Harry asked with some surprise.
Peter nodded. "The very same, though I didn't expect to be able to get it this soon. This was supposed to be a long-term project. I was expecting to be working on it for years!"
"Is it that advanced?" Bobby turned to the other occupants. Jean who looked just as confused, and Emma who seemed to be able to keep up with the conversation.
"Very," Emma answered. "Spider-Man wasn't kidding when he said it would take years for him to build it and even that is already a pretty generous estimate. There are a lot of things that need to be taken into account ranging from the schematics to even the power source. Such an advanced machine requires a lot of thought into it."
Peter nodded, agreeing with Emma. "Pretty much. I could do some guesses on how it would work but even then it would still involve a lot of trial and error. The fact that Forge can even make it up in one go is already pretty impressive." Peter smiled, giving Forge an impressed look. The young man looked proud of the compliment.
"So, how does it actually work? I'm trying to make sense of this but I don't even recognize half of these." Gwen asked as she looked through the screen right beside Peter.
"If Forge still followed the basic principles from the blueprint…" Peter trailed off as he looked into it. "There! Once we upload a design into it, it will procure the necessary equipment and materials to create it. All we need is to feed it any type of material and the nanoparticles inside will molecularly restructure it into the materials we need."
"Well, I'll be damned." Gwen gasped in understanding.
"All I'm hearing is that now you two will stop draining my money dry," Harry commented dryly.
Peter snorted. "Don't worry Webline, we still gonna need some of it to feed this baby. Our budget just got a lot cheaper is all."
"Yay." was Harry's dry reply.
The group slowly settled down, Gwen's attention completely focused on the fabricator as she tried to figure out how to utilize it with Forge helping her. Bobby and Harry on the other hand started to talk with each other and just generally hang around each other.
Jean looked to the side and noticed that Emma and Peter were slowly leaving the room, probably to have that talk with each other that they promised. Part of her wanted to follow but decided to let them be. She could get her explanation of the whole future thing from the other two vigilantes when she gets the chance because the talk between the two felt a bit more personal.
Peter sighed as they finally moved to the other cart, turning to Emma with a weary look.
"Well, we're here now."
Emma paused, her eyes studying him with a blank look until she finally spoke. "Lose the mask."
Peter would have commented about the other people that didn't know his identity literally right in the next room but he felt like he shouldn't fight her on this.
He hesitated at first, but the look in Emma's eyes caused him to push it down and remove his mask.
Emma stared at him, her eyes looking at him as if she was searching for something.
"So…you're from the future." She spoke without a hint of any emotion.
"And also a mutant apparently." Peter sighed dejectedly.
"You didn't know that in the future?"
"It's…" Peter looked down, slowly pushing out the familiar sensation of his mind and into his hand. Golden particles burst out and formed into armor. "...complicated."
Emma suddenly stared at him. The once solid mental defense now had a hole in it, the pieces connected to the armor on Peter's hand.
"Fascinating," Emma muttered as she approached closer to him, her hands grasping his armored ones. "Your mental defense splintered off. It psionically manifests into physical form as armor."
"You seem to know more about it than I do." Peter smirked.
Emma returned it. "Mostly guesswork on my part. We will have to do quite some extensive testing to see what it could do."
"We?" Peter asked with a hint of hope. Emma didn't need to read his mind to know that he was hoping that the knowledge of him being from the future didn't push her away.
Emma paused as she contemplated. Peter's mental defense was finally opened to her. She could just check on his friends who seemed to know about it but she wanted to see Peter's mind. To see if there's nothing for her to worry about.
To know that the young man that she had known for so long might be hiding something big. To know that he might not be fully the same person she once knew.
It scared her.
Emma was never one to keep people close to her. But the Parkers, Peter especially, had managed to worm their way into her heart. The thought of losing them…it hurt her more than she would like to admit.
Gwen and Harry's minds showed that he was still the same Peter they knew, or at least they believed it. But she needed to see it for herself. To see despite whatever knowledge or events that he had gone through in the future, he was still the same Peter that she knew.
"Stay put, keep the armor on." Emma ordered, her other hand went up to his head.
Peter was unsure what was happening but realized what was going on the moment her eyes glowed. He would have commented on what happened to asking permissions but this time, he's making an exception.
Peter could feel it the moment it happened, a strand of thought slithered its way into his mind. It felt oddly familiar. He was about to question it when the sudden wave of familiar warmth spread through his head as if trying to ease him into it. It was like the warmth that he always felt when he left the house. The same warmth he felt whenever he left the house after saying his goodbyes to Emma.
It wasn't just a simple warmth, it was meant to give him a pep in his step. A way to comfort him if the day ever started badly.
Peter stared at Emma in surprise even as she looked through his mind, surprised and touched by how much she was looking out for him.
Emma on the other hand was also surprised but for a different reason from Peter. There were four sets of memories inside his mind, all neatly arranged into their little sections. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that Peter was an experienced telepath to be able to sort it out this well. Even the most organized person would not have their memories this neatly sorted.
'Moving' through it, she realized that only two sets of memories were intertwined. Attached to it was a single consciousness.
'No, calling it a single consciousness would be inaccurate,' Emma realized. It looked too 'big'. It looked like it had merged with another and produced a completely different yet the same person.
She 'glanced' at the memories attached to it, realizing that those memories held the answer.
Without hesitation, she immediately accessed it.
Her eyes widened as years' worth of memories assaulted her mind. There were the familiar ones at first, the ones that involved her, and how Peter went from being a bit wary to holding her as one of the closest people he has in his life. She couldn't help but feel happy to know that.
Then there's the spider bite, the time when Peter suddenly fainted. It was through that bite that another memory connected, the second set of memories that caused her to be wary.
Then she saw everything. The destruction, the chaos, the deaths.
Losing Ben due to a simple mistake. Driven by guilt, he became a hero in an attempt to honor Ben's words. Then becoming involved with the Avengers and their internal conflict. His fight with the Vulture and subsequent trap under a mountain of steel. Fear and desperation filled him but it was his determination that freed him.
The small vacation to Europe turned into a fight for his life against a false hero. Confusion and nervousness about his feelings for a girl until he finally took that step. There was a moment of happiness, of feeling that things would be fine before it was all ripped away by Mysterio's accusations. Hatred, suspicions, and anxiety filled his life until he tried to erase it all just to bring peace to his loved ones.
The universes collided due to his wish. May died because of his wish. It was his fault. It was all his fault. He realized he could fix everything if he just made everyone fully forget about him. Hesitation. The knowledge that his friends would have a better life without him fueled his decision. The sorcerer launched the spell to erase his existence but failed, the universe unraveled and everything restarted.
Emma took a step back as she fully realized the depth of the issue in front of her. The other consciousness was still Peter. A different timeline but still the same Peter. But also one that was wrought by guilt and desperation. The knowledge that he could redo everything filled him with equal hope and desperation. The need to make things right despite all the good he had done has all but made up for his sins.
But the one that baffled her the most was the snap. An alien from another world coming to earth and destroying half of all life, including Peter. He died and he still felt like he was still responsible for all the evils that had happened around him. He still thought that he still hadn't done enough…
"Emma?"
Peter's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, a feeling of wetness could be felt on her cheeks but she couldn't be bothered to address it.
She stared at Peter with horrified eyes. "You were just a boy…"
He was much younger when it all happened to him yet it still didn't stop him from tackling all those dangers. The thought of Peter going through all of those things… horrified her.
Peter looked confused before he realized what she meant, he could feel Emma searching through his mind when she used his powers.
Without hesitation, he pulled her into a hug. Letting her hold him close and as he whispered sweet assurance right beside her ear. Her hands gripping his suit tightly, as if afraid that he would disappear if she let go.
"I'm here, Emma. I'm here."
Emma couldn't reply, desperately hugging Peter not to just assure herself but him as well. To show that he didn't need to shoulder that burden alone now. And she'll be damned if anyone tried to stop her.
Peter stared at the trio in front of him with narrowed lenses. He wasn't sure what to think of them but at the same time, the way they spoke about saving Mutantkind rang all sorts of warning bells inside his head.
"Quite the big talk." John suddenly spoke up confidently despite how obvious his fear was. "There are quite a few people that might take offense to that. Can you back it up?"
The old man, Magneto, merely smiled at the question. Without a word, he raised his hand.
The sound of rattling caught their ears, Peter started to look around as his Spider-Sense started to ring intensely.
The sound of metal groaning and rattling caught them by surprise. Peter could see the pipes, the walls around them, and even the train carts shaking from an unseen force.
"Alright, alright! I think we get it!" Peter quickly raised his hands to appease the old man.
The groaning immediately stopped, Magneto lowering his hand with a satisfied smile.
Peter shook his head and glanced at John, "You just had to ask didn't you?" He asked with some irritation.
The young man could only shrug sheepishly. But from the look of his eyes, he was impressed by Magneto. The previous fear was slowly replaced with some awe and respect for the old man.
"So…how did you even find us?" Peter began warily.
"Mutants like us have a very unique genome called the X Gene. This genome also has…altered our brain signals, emitting a unique signature that only a select few know of. If they know what they're doing, it is pretty easy to find. Especially when so many powerful Mutants gather in a single place." The old man explained, his eyes trailing over every one of them until it landed on Peter.
Peter blinked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Magneto chuckled. "Why, did you not know? You're a mutant. Not as powerful as your red-haired friend here–" He gestured to Jean, who looked slightly uncomfortable from the attention. "—but a Mutant nonetheless."
Peter gave a sheepish chuckle at that. "Yeah about that. Look, I got my powers from a radioactive spider biting me. Trust me, I'm not. Ghost here can back me up." He gestured to her, who nodded hurriedly.
The man glanced at Gwen and Harry, Peter's lenses narrowed when he detected a hint of distaste in his eyes before it disappeared.
"Hmmm no, I'm sure you're a Mutant." Magneto shook his head, clearly not believing him.
Peter was surprised by the sudden denial. "I don't know what else to say, man. The whole spider thing is not a Mutant thing."
Magneto hummed before he glanced at Mystique. "Mystique, if you will?"
The woman nodded before she pulled out an odd-looking device. It looked like a phone but it looked too thick and heavy. It was dark grey and seemed very unwieldy.
"What's that?" Peter asked as he raised his hand warily. While the trio in front of him had been amicable thus far, it didn't stop him from being ready for a fight.
Magneto raised his hand again which made them all flinch. The old man merely smiled in amusement when they realized nothing happened. He had just raised his hand to calm them, specifically Peter, down.
"You asked how we managed to find you. It was through this device. As I've said, mutants emit a unique frequency and we detect it through this device." He introduced.
The woman held it out to John, allowing them to see the screen. There was a scaling bar of sorts, the color rising within the bar before it settled on a deep orange color.
"Beta Class Mutant." Mystique commented as the phone beeped.
John seemed confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"An indication of your gift's…strength so to speak. Their potential, power, and even how much you had used it could affect them. It goes from Gamma, Beta, and Alpha." Magneto explained.
"Middle of the pack, not bad." John muttered, clearly proud of himself.
"Among the upper ends of Beta Class too judging by the deep color." Magneto hummed in agreement.
Mystique, however, didn't seem as impressed as she immediately pointed it towards Bobby. The color raised the bar before settling on a red color with a beep.
"Alpha Class." Mystique commented, this time with a small grin. She liked what she saw.
John's expression fell a little as everyone realized what that meant, none more so than Bobby himself.
"You sure?" He asked with an incredulous expression. "I mean, I barely even use it most of the time."
"Even if you haven't used it that frequently, it still hasn't changed what it means. The power you hold is immense young man." Magneto advised before turning to the now disappointed John. "As for you, do not be so disappointed. With enough time, you could still train your gifts to match your friend here."
John seemed placated by that, Bobby on the other hand looked like his whole world was turned upside down by the recent revelation.
Mystique continued, pointing the device toward Forge. The color of the gauge fluctuates a little before lowering itself but still settling on the same color.
"Alpha Level as well."
Forge blinked but didn't seem as surprised as Bobby. He took the information rather well all things considered.
Mystique then pointed it towards Emma, who was still looking at them with a guarded expression. The color in the gauge raised higher, even higher than Bobby's in fact, settling on an almost maroon color.
"Alpha Class Mutant. High end too." Mystique commented with a slightly impressed look.
Emma huffed but didn't seem surprised by it. Peter wondered where that confidence had come from. Maybe she had used it frequently enough for her to predict it? Considering what her powers were, that sounded concerning. Something that he needed to talk to her about after this.
'Along with other things…' He mentally sighed when remembering what had happened before their guests arrived.
He then realized Mystique had slowly pointed the device toward him, skipping over Gwen and Harry. Not without reason as the device barely even reacted to them before it started to fluctuate when it was finally pointed toward him.
His stomach dropped as the color settled on the same maroon color as Emma's, it was a little lower but only by a smidge.
'Oh, you've gotta be kidding me…' He mentally groaned as he realized this might be what The Other meant by his younger self's hidden power.
"Alpha Class Mutant." Mystique's comment cemented it.
Peter could see the 'I told you so' look from Magneto.
"Alright, fine. I'm a Mutant, happy?" Peter sighed.
Magneto merely chuckled. "Very. To have a fellow brethren realize their true nature, their true power, is always welcomed."
Peter sighed when he heard that. "Right. About that, you still haven't explained the whole saving Mutantkind thing."
Magneto's kind eyes slowly turned cold. "I'm sure you've all seen the news. How the humans spoke about our people." He nearly spat, his words became more passionate as he continued. "Our brothers and sisters, tossed into the streets and oppressed. All because of what?"
Peter's eyes caught movement, he could see some of them getting drawn into the speech. John and Bobby were completely focusing on him now. Even Emma seemed interested in what he had to say despite her guarded behavior.
"Why?" John hesitantly asked.
"Because they fear us. They do not know the limits of what we could truly do and come to fear it." He answered, his eyes trained on them as his eyes glazed over. As if he was remembering an old memory. "But most important of all, they are envious."
"Jealous?" Jean asked incredulously. As if the concept was foreign to her.
"Yes. They are envious of our power. Of our gifts. These gifts of ours allow us to cause many miracles and they wish to obtain it for themselves. They wish to use it for all manner of evils, especially if it benefits them. They won't stop at nothing to do so, even if it means kidnapping children off the streets and doing God knows what to them." Magneto finished as he snapped out of his reverie and gave them a pointed look.
"Yeah but, someone will stop them, right? I mean Spider-Man here literally saved us. I'm sure there are people out there who can see how wrong this is." Jean reasoned.
Mystique scoffed. "Yes, but he's only one person in a sea of many. It's a vast world out there filled with a vast amount of people. And many of them would rather see us dead."
Jean's eyes looked down. "That's…That can't be true…" She denied it, but it seemed more like she was trying to convince herself.
Emma gave her a pitying look. "Jean, even with your powers suppressed, you must have seen the minds of the people around you. Can you believe that the people who want to coexist might outnumber the hatred of everyone else?"
Jean fell silent, unable to answer.
Silence fell in the room as everyone considered Emma's words. They had seen and even experienced the hatred after all. Magneto was right, the world hated them. Even if there were people who didn't, they were outnumbered by the ones that do.
"So what?" Peter finally asked, breaking the silence. "People hate us. What do you plan to do about that?" He asked with a blank look. What they thought was blank anyway. His mask made it hard to discern, despite how expressive he could make himself with it on, the reverse was also true.
Magneto turned his eyes to him. "We take a stand. Enough is enough. I've been gathering like-minded people to put a stop to this atrocity. Fellow brothers and sisters who wished to stop this madness. A Brotherhood that will take a stand against Humanity for Mutantkind."
"And if Humanity didn't agree?" Peter asked.
"Then forceful measures must be taken." Magneto concluded with determination.
"You're talking about fighting back?"
"I'm talking about war." Magneto corrected.
"A war?!" Peter raised his voice, even with Mystique and Sabretooth tensing, it didn't stop him from coming closer to Magneto. His masked lenses stared down Magneto's steely eyes. "You want to cause a war against the rest of the world?!"
"And what would you have us do?" Magneto genuinely asked, as if trying to search for another answer as well. "Humanity had made their stance clear, there is no choice if our kind wished to survive."
"There is always a choice!" Peter fiercely rejected it. "You're willing to plunge this world into chaos to get what you want?!"
"A necessary sacrifice to bring the change this world desperately needs. A true revolution."
Peter looked into the man's eyes and finally saw it. Saw past the determination and anger and could see it. He could see the desperation and exhaustion, he truly believed that all of Humanity was out to get them and war was the only choice left for them if they wished to survive.
"You're insane…" Peter backed off as he saw it. Part of him didn't want to believe a man could reach this point, but memories of Peter Three showed that it wasn't far from the truth.
How far had Peter Three fallen when Gwen died? When anger and despair had consumed him at his lowest? What he felt when the world felt like it was against him for just trying to be happy? The context was different, but the feelings were still the same.
A man backed into a corner due to despair and clawing at every solution they could get to make it go away.
"Maybe so, but from where I stand, there is no other path left."
Peter sighed as he looked down. "Then there's your problem. There is always another path. We just haven't found it yet."
John took that time to speak up. "How long do we have to wait for that solution?" He scoffed. "Have you ever seen what we saw? What I saw?" John asked as he glanced at Peter, his eyes showing a burning intensity. "Magneto is right, there's a war waiting for us. And I'm not going to sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for another solution to drop on my lap."
Peter watched as the young man walked over toward the trio. John glanced at Magneto. "Whatever your plan is, count me in."
Magneto smiled. "Your aid is welcomed." He then glanced at the rest. "And what of the rest of you? This war could not be won alone, we need all the aid we can get." His eyes finally settled on Jean. "Especially you, my dear."
Jean seemed surprised by that. "M-me?"
"Yes."
"I-I don't think that's a good idea. I can barely even control my powers, I'll just be useless." Jean admitted with some shame in her voice.
"No, my dear. What you need is guidance. Your gift might be uncontrollable now, but with the right guidance, you can tame it and become the greatest among us."
"The greatest?" Jean asked with confusion.
Magneto merely nodded before he glanced at Mystique, the woman wordlessly pointed her device toward Jean.
Everyone watched as the bar slowly filled, the red color turning crimson as multiple beeps could be heard from it. As if the device could not fully gauge Jean.
"What does this mean?" Jean asked with confusion.
"It means, you are on another level entirely as a Mutant," Mystique answered. "We call them Omega Level Mutants. A Mutant with a level of power that theoretically has no limit. There are not many Omega Level Mutants in history. Magneto is one of them."
The group turned to Magneto with wide eyes, looking at the old man with surprise.
The old man, however, merely shook his head. "Hmph, even with all this power it still won't be enough. Just a single Omega Level would still have a hard time taking on the rest of this ever-changing world. It won't take long before they learn how to counter my abilities. That's why I am gathering like-minded people, fellow brothers and sisters that wish to change this world for the better." Magneto sighed, for once letting himself show the exhaustion that he was hiding. "Will you aid us, my dear? Your gift will bring a great change into this world. Even as you are now, you are already considered an Omega Level. I had to work myself to the bone to get to this level and yet you are born with it! Imagine the things you could do with it if you help us!"
Jean stared at him with an uncertain look, his pleading yet earnest eyes seemed to call to her, and yet…
She understood that the world was against them, against her kind. But she couldn't fully believe that there wasn't another way. A way that didn't involve launching a war against the whole world.
And yet, Emma's words rang in her head. About the terrible and vile thoughts of the people around her. There was a reason why she suppressed her powers to the best of her ability. There were so many thoughts. So many voices, all speaking of doing terrible things. She wanted to shut it all away just so she could spare herself the headache. If it weren't for Emma, she might have done the unthinkable just to get away from it all.
Was Magneto right then? Was there no other choice? Was Humanity so full of hatred and distrust that there was no chance for them to coexist? Was that the answer?
A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her spiral.
She glanced at the owner, seeing the reflective but somehow concerned lens of Spider-Man. Or Peter Parker as he was known. She still wasn't sure how he was able to make himself so emotive even through his mask.
She stared at him for a moment longer, the man was her savior. Sure Emma had helped her with her powers but it was still Spider-Man that allowed it to happen in the first place. If he hadn't come for them, she would have gone into God knows where and experimented on for God knows what.
And he didn't even stop at that, he even gave them a place to stay despite the fact it was meant to be a secret base. He went as far as making sure they were in a comfortable and safe space just because it was right. He didn't even know he was a Mutant; he just did it because it was the right thing to do. And judging by the surface thoughts of his friends, it was because it was a responsible thing to do.
All that power and he believed it was his responsibility to use it the right way.
How ironic that the only person that was immune to her powers was also the only person that she felt the safest with.
"Jean?" Spider–No, Peter called out to her in concern.
"I'm fine." Jean patted his hand but didn't let go, letting it fall off her shoulder and holding it tight. Unconsciously using it as a rock to hold her down, a way to center herself.
Peter seemed confused but didn't pull away, letting her hold on to it.
She turned to Magneto. "I…I'm sorry. I understand that you think it's the only choice left but…I think—No, I believe that there's still another way for us. A way to somehow coexist with Humanity. There has to be." She then glanced at the vigilantes behind her. "These three people, they're out there helping people because it's the right thing to do. They're not Mutants; Spider-Man didn't even know he was one. They're out there helping people, making the city a better place because they felt they had to. That it's their responsibility to aid these people. And they can't be the only ones who feel this way. There must be more people out there who think this is wrong and there are better ways to live with each other. So, no. I don't think I'll be joining you."
In another world, she might have followed Magneto. Driven by desperation to control her powers to get away from all the vile thoughts of the people around her, she would have followed Magneto out of desperation.
But Spider-Man showed that not many people were like that. Emma might have helped her control her powers better but it was still Spider-Man's group that showed that there were still people out there who genuinely believed in the good they were doing. Their existence proved that there were still good people out there. She just needs to find them.
Magneto stared at her with an unreadable gaze. "Do you truly believe this?"
"With all my heart." Jean nodded.
Magneto closed his eyes as he sighed. Almost reminiscent of something, or someone.
He then stared back at the rest. "And what of the rest of you?"
"You already know my answer." Peter replied.
Bobby looked down, taking a bit of time before answering. "I think I'll take my chances with Spider-Man too."
"Same here." Forge added.
Everyone finally turned to Emma, the only other person who seemed to agree with Magneto. Part of Peter was afraid of her answer. He wasn't sure what he would do if she decided to join Magneto.
Would he see her again? Would he have to fight her one day? Magneto made it clear that he didn't have any favorable outlook on humans. If they ever decide to attack New York and Emma was among them…
He wasn't sure what he would do.
Emma finally sighed. "While I agree on some points, I think I'll have to pass. I still have some…responsibilities I need to take care of." She finished as she glanced at Peter. The young man stared at her with wide lenses.
Magneto nodded. "Very well, however, if any of you change your mind, our doors will always be open." He nodded towards Sabretooth.
The bulky man nodded, pulling out a card from his pocket and putting it on a nearby bench.
Magneto then turned to them. "We'll be taking our leave."
The trio, now included with John, slowly turned and walked away from them. The group slowly ascended the stairs. John however paused, he glanced back toward them with an unreadable expression. He didn't seem to find whatever it was he was trying to see as his expression twisted a little, shaking his head and following Magneto's group out of the subway.
With the group finally leaving, Jean's legs finally gave out.
"Woah, hey!" Peter grabbed onto her, the young woman breathing heavily.
"God, that was so nerve-wracking." Jean groaned as she held on to Peter's arm tightly.
"I'll say," Harry finally spoke for the first time. "but you stared down the old man like it was nothing."
"And I thought Spidey got balls of steel. You're not so bad Jean." Bobby laughed a little.
"Don't expect a repeat performance." Jean groaned.
"There better not be. We're so totally moving the base after this is all over." Gwen groaned.
The group laughed a little, the mood was livened a little from the small joke.
Peter paused before he slowly turned to Emma, the woman was also staring at him with a complicated expression.
"I…" He began but didn't even know what to say.
Emma merely scoffed in amusement. "Just because I agreed with him doesn't mean I like his solution. Besides, we still have things we need to talk about."
Peter nodded at that, still remembering the previous revelation before they got interrupted.
"Right. Like how you went through our heads." Peter pointed out with an unimpressed tone.
Emma avoided his piercing lenses. "Can you blame me?"
Peter thought it over and sighed. He couldn't really blame her for wanting to know a bit more when Jean suddenly spoke out about his status.
"Just…can we avoid going into people's heads without asking?"
Emma nodded at that. "Unless it's an emergency, sure."
Gwen suddenly coughed, catching their attention. Even through her mask, they could detect that she looked a bit annoyed.
"So, how long are you gonna hold on to him?" Gwen pointedly asked Jean.
Jean blinked before realizing that she was still holding onto Peter's arm. She quickly released, glancing at Peter with a blush.
"Sorry." She apologized, though she was already missing his warmth.
Peter waved it away. "Eh, it's fine. Got a pretty girl hanging off my arm, not many people can brag about that." He quipped.
Jean's blush turned brighter as everyone laughed a little. Though Gwen's irritation seemed to grow. Not that Peter noticed because hey, they laughed at his joke! That rarely happened so that was a win in his book.
[-]
Everything finally settled down now with Magneto's group gone. Currently, Peter was staring at Forge's work. The young man had finished his upgrade right as Magneto's group arrived.
In front of Peter were all sorts of high-tech items that would put even the technology from his timeline to shame. The computer setup that they previously had was now a lot more advanced, the prior features had now improved with probably a few more programs running. There were now multiple monitors on the desk with a variety of programs running in the background.
But that wasn't the main thing that took his attention, no the main thing was the giant black box that stood at the side of the room. It looked rather simple with sleek silver linings at the side.
He couldn't help but find it familiar somehow.
"That's a big box." Bobby commented.
"It's not just a box." Forge defended.
"Really? Because it looked like a box to us." Harry joked.
"Just– Let me show you." Forge sighed before walking over to it. He then taps the side of the box, the upper parts pulled open and revealing the Arc Reactor that Peter had taken from Gargan's armor attached inside, glowing a lot brighter than Peter remembered.
"...I'll bite, I still don't get it." Gwen suddenly said.
Before Forge could comment, Peter suddenly walked forward and inspected it. A panel suddenly slid out and revealed what looked like a small screen the moment Peter approached.
"No way." Peter gasped with a wide smile. He then turned to Forge with excitement clear in his eyes. "A fabricator?" He asked.
Forge nodded. "Yup! Saw some unfinished blueprints for it while I was messing around with your computer. Thought it'd be real handy."
Peter laughed as he started to type into the screen, looking through it with excitement. "But the tech! It doesn't even exist yet! How did you even figure it out?"
Forge shrugged. "Don't know. My powers just kinda…guide me to the solution. I just give them a problem and it just…works out."
"So you don't know the technicalities behind it. You can make it but you don't know the process. Shame, would have loved to know but I guess I'll just figure it out through this thing." Peter nodded as he continued to inspect the fabricator.
Bobby took that time to interrupt, still confused about what it was. "Uh, some explanation, please? What's a fabricator?"
"Essentially a machine that can help us make practically anything." Gwen answered as she joined Peter's side. "Suits, items, even weapons. You name it, it can do it."
"You mean the thing that you wanted to make when we got our hands on the Arc Reactor?" Harry asked with some surprise.
Peter nodded. "The very same, though I didn't expect to be able to get it this soon. This was supposed to be a long-term project. I was expecting to be working on it for years!"
"Is it that advanced?" Bobby turned to the other occupants. Jean who looked just as confused, and Emma who seemed to be able to keep up with the conversation.
"Very," Emma answered. "Spider-Man wasn't kidding when he said it would take years for him to build it and even that is already a pretty generous estimate. There are a lot of things that need to be taken into account ranging from the schematics to even the power source. Such an advanced machine requires a lot of thought into it."
Peter nodded, agreeing with Emma. "Pretty much. I could do some guesses on how it would work but even then it would still involve a lot of trial and error. The fact that Forge can even make it up in one go is already pretty impressive." Peter smiled, giving Forge an impressed look. The young man looked proud of the compliment.
"So, how does it actually work? I'm trying to make sense of this but I don't even recognize half of these." Gwen asked as she looked through the screen right beside Peter.
"If Forge still followed the basic principles from the blueprint…" Peter trailed off as he looked into it. "There! Once we upload a design into it, it will procure the necessary equipment and materials to create it. All we need is to feed it any type of material and the nanoparticles inside will molecularly restructure it into the materials we need."
"Well, I'll be damned." Gwen gasped in understanding.
"All I'm hearing is that now you two will stop draining my money dry," Harry commented dryly.
Peter snorted. "Don't worry Webline, we still gonna need some of it to feed this baby. Our budget just got a lot cheaper is all."
"Yay." was Harry's dry reply.
The group slowly settled down, Gwen's attention completely focused on the fabricator as she tried to figure out how to utilize it with Forge helping her. Bobby and Harry on the other hand started to talk with each other and just generally hang around each other.
Jean looked to the side and noticed that Emma and Peter were slowly leaving the room, probably to have that talk with each other that they promised. Part of her wanted to follow but decided to let them be. She could get her explanation of the whole future thing from the other two vigilantes when she gets the chance because the talk between the two felt a bit more personal.
Peter sighed as they finally moved to the other cart, turning to Emma with a weary look.
"Well, we're here now."
Emma paused, her eyes studying him with a blank look until she finally spoke. "Lose the mask."
Peter would have commented about the other people that didn't know his identity literally right in the next room but he felt like he shouldn't fight her on this.
He hesitated at first, but the look in Emma's eyes caused him to push it down and remove his mask.
Emma stared at him, her eyes looking at him as if she was searching for something.
"So…you're from the future." She spoke without a hint of any emotion.
"And also a mutant apparently." Peter sighed dejectedly.
"You didn't know that in the future?"
"It's…" Peter looked down, slowly pushing out the familiar sensation of his mind and into his hand. Golden particles burst out and formed into armor. "...complicated."
Emma suddenly stared at him. The once solid mental defense now had a hole in it, the pieces connected to the armor on Peter's hand.
"Fascinating," Emma muttered as she approached closer to him, her hands grasping his armored ones. "Your mental defense splintered off. It psionically manifests into physical form as armor."
"You seem to know more about it than I do." Peter smirked.
Emma returned it. "Mostly guesswork on my part. We will have to do quite some extensive testing to see what it could do."
"We?" Peter asked with a hint of hope. Emma didn't need to read his mind to know that he was hoping that the knowledge of him being from the future didn't push her away.
Emma paused as she contemplated. Peter's mental defense was finally opened to her. She could just check on his friends who seemed to know about it but she wanted to see Peter's mind. To see if there's nothing for her to worry about.
To know that the young man that she had known for so long might be hiding something big. To know that he might not be fully the same person she once knew.
It scared her.
Emma was never one to keep people close to her. But the Parkers, Peter especially, had managed to worm their way into her heart. The thought of losing them…it hurt her more than she would like to admit.
Gwen and Harry's minds showed that he was still the same Peter they knew, or at least they believed it. But she needed to see it for herself. To see despite whatever knowledge or events that he had gone through in the future, he was still the same Peter that she knew.
"Stay put, keep the armor on." Emma ordered, her other hand went up to his head.
Peter was unsure what was happening but realized what was going on the moment her eyes glowed. He would have commented on what happened to asking permissions but this time, he's making an exception.
Peter could feel it the moment it happened, a strand of thought slithered its way into his mind. It felt oddly familiar. He was about to question it when the sudden wave of familiar warmth spread through his head as if trying to ease him into it. It was like the warmth that he always felt when he left the house. The same warmth he felt whenever he left the house after saying his goodbyes to Emma.
It wasn't just a simple warmth, it was meant to give him a pep in his step. A way to comfort him if the day ever started badly.
Peter stared at Emma in surprise even as she looked through his mind, surprised and touched by how much she was looking out for him.
Emma on the other hand was also surprised but for a different reason from Peter. There were four sets of memories inside his mind, all neatly arranged into their little sections. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that Peter was an experienced telepath to be able to sort it out this well. Even the most organized person would not have their memories this neatly sorted.
'Moving' through it, she realized that only two sets of memories were intertwined. Attached to it was a single consciousness.
'No, calling it a single consciousness would be inaccurate,' Emma realized. It looked too 'big'. It looked like it had merged with another and produced a completely different yet the same person.
She 'glanced' at the memories attached to it, realizing that those memories held the answer.
Without hesitation, she immediately accessed it.
Her eyes widened as years' worth of memories assaulted her mind. There were the familiar ones at first, the ones that involved her, and how Peter went from being a bit wary to holding her as one of the closest people he has in his life. She couldn't help but feel happy to know that.
Then there's the spider bite, the time when Peter suddenly fainted. It was through that bite that another memory connected, the second set of memories that caused her to be wary.
Then she saw everything. The destruction, the chaos, the deaths.
Losing Ben due to a simple mistake. Driven by guilt, he became a hero in an attempt to honor Ben's words. Then becoming involved with the Avengers and their internal conflict. His fight with the Vulture and subsequent trap under a mountain of steel. Fear and desperation filled him but it was his determination that freed him.
The small vacation to Europe turned into a fight for his life against a false hero. Confusion and nervousness about his feelings for a girl until he finally took that step. There was a moment of happiness, of feeling that things would be fine before it was all ripped away by Mysterio's accusations. Hatred, suspicions, and anxiety filled his life until he tried to erase it all just to bring peace to his loved ones.
The universes collided due to his wish. May died because of his wish. It was his fault. It was all his fault. He realized he could fix everything if he just made everyone fully forget about him. Hesitation. The knowledge that his friends would have a better life without him fueled his decision. The sorcerer launched the spell to erase his existence but failed, the universe unraveled and everything restarted.
Emma took a step back as she fully realized the depth of the issue in front of her. The other consciousness was still Peter. A different timeline but still the same Peter. But also one that was wrought by guilt and desperation. The knowledge that he could redo everything filled him with equal hope and desperation. The need to make things right despite all the good he had done has all but made up for his sins.
But the one that baffled her the most was the snap. An alien from another world coming to earth and destroying half of all life, including Peter. He died and he still felt like he was still responsible for all the evils that had happened around him. He still thought that he still hadn't done enough…
"Emma?"
Peter's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, a feeling of wetness could be felt on her cheeks but she couldn't be bothered to address it.
She stared at Peter with horrified eyes. "You were just a boy…"
He was much younger when it all happened to him yet it still didn't stop him from tackling all those dangers. The thought of Peter going through all of those things… horrified her.
Peter looked confused before he realized what she meant, he could feel Emma searching through his mind when she used his powers.
Without hesitation, he pulled her into a hug. Letting her hold him close and as he whispered sweet assurance right beside her ear. Her hands gripping his suit tightly, as if afraid that he would disappear if she let go.
"I'm here, Emma. I'm here."
Emma couldn't reply, desperately hugging Peter not to just assure herself but him as well. To show that he didn't need to shoulder that burden alone now. And she'll be damned if anyone tried to stop her.
Chapter 11 - Head In The Clouds
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SKaine
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Chapter 11 - Head In The Clouds
'It's a pretty calm night.' Peter noted.
It had been a few days after that little encounter with Magneto. Things had been a bit chaotic with them trying to figure out how to manage the mutants under their care but they managed to make it work.
Currently, Peter was doing his usual patrols, Gwen had come far enough on her own that Peter was willing to organize a separate patrol route for her. So it was just him tonight. Even Harry wasn't behind the desk tonight, having been forced to go back home early due to his father's sudden inquiries about his near late-night activities.
The thought of Norman Osborn brought his thoughts to Ben and May. The only reason they weren't suspicious was thanks to Emma. She had quickly called that Peter was with her and they would probably be home pretty late. At worst, he would be staying the night at her house so the two didn't need to wait up.
He was eternally grateful for having Emma around; he wasn't sure what kind of excuse he would give if he didn't have her. Convincing May to allow him to be Spider-Man in the other timeline was already pretty hard, he wasn't sure how he could convince Ben on top of it. She had even taken it upon herself to help him explore more of his Mutant powers despite already having her hands full with Jean which he was still trying to come to terms with. She's taking her guardian role seriously with him.
The thought also reminded him to ask Gwen about her dad when he had the chance. No way they would let her be out this late at night.
The sound of footsteps snapped him out of his reverie; it was subtle and he highly doubted anyone would have caught it if they didn't have enhanced senses like he did.
Perching on the edge of a rooftop, he gazed at the source and spotted a familiar figure snooping around a building.
Peter could barely repress a sigh as he mentally prepared himself. Talking with her always made him feel all sorts of things that he wasn't sure he even wanted to tackle. But seeing her reminded him that she might be able to help with a recent problem of his, so whether he liked it or not he needed to talk to her.
Quickly jumping from the rooftop, he quietly landed behind her.
"Look what the cat dragged in." He quipped.
She nearly flinched as she turned to the source, her surprised expression slowly smoothed out to a coy one.
"Spider. Glad to see you, where's your little…partner?" The Black Cat asked with a flirty smile.
The cat burglar had made away with several priceless art pieces in the past few weeks. The thief had started her activity right around his debut with Ghost Spider and the two had clashed on a few occasions. The thief surprised them with how easily she kept up and even escaped. It had made Gwen rather irritated whenever they encountered her.
There was also the fact that Black Cat had made quite a few passes at him, never bothering to hide her interest in him. Sure she had done the same with Gwen but it always seemed a bit more…charged when it was with him.
Heck, Black Cat was checking him out right now. Despite her eyes being hidden behind a metal domino mask with orange lenses, it still didn't stop how obvious she was about it.
Peter, however, couldn't say much about it, as he was also unconsciously letting his eyes trail down her voluptuous body. Paired with her silver hair, it made her quite the exotic sight. He was willing to admit that he was attracted to her.
"Oh you know, she's around. Webbing up a few guys here and there, the usual." Peter remarked vaguely. "What about you, have you been a naughty kitty today?"
"Oh you know, liberating a few priceless arts from a few rich assholes. The usual."
"Liberating?" He raised an eyebrow, she couldn't see it but his tone was telling enough.
"You know what I mean."
Peter shook his head. "So, who got your attention now?"
"Oh, just some guy stealing money from his own charity. I think you should check him out; he's got some real dirty laundry." She chuckled.
Peter hummed. Despite her questionable profession, Black Cat had always dropped valuable info here and there whenever they saw each other. He couldn't see how it would benefit her though so it was always treated with a grain of salt. This did somewhat relate to the reason why he was trying to talk to her and not attempting to catch her.
"I'll do that once I'm sure you're behaving yourself."
"Oh, you know me, Spider. I can never resist a mark this tempting. Especially from guys like this."
Peter sighed as he was reminded of that little tidbit. "Y'know Cat, I've been digging a little about you. You seem to only target the rich elites who have some deep and dirty laundry. Any particular reason why?"
The thief gave a throaty chuckle as she slowly raised to her feet from her crouched position, allowing him to fully appreciate her form.
"Resorting to stalking me online Spider? You know you could just ask." She smiled as she slowly walked toward him with a little sway of her hips.
Peter unconsciously gulped, something she noticed judging by her growing smile.
"Well, I'm asking now."
"Only because you can't figure out the answer yourself." She countered as she fully stood before him.
"Expecting an apology?"
"An…incentive more like. What's in it for me?"
"Satisfying my curiosity?"
"Didn't you know? Curiosity killed the cat."
"But satisfaction brings it back."
Black Cat laughed as she put her arms around Peter, her face dangerously close to his as she gave him a flirty smile.
"Oh trust me, it does." She purred.
Peter tried to control his growing erection but the look she was giving him didn't make it easy.
"...I feel like we're talking about different things now."
Felicia merely widened her smile before she finally answered. "I only target them because it's just better that way. No one gets hurt, some assholes get shoved down a peg or two and I get to add something to my growing art collection."
"So there is some heart behind the notorious Black Cat after all. Who would have thought."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm a thrill seeker, not an idiot. Getting people hurt draws too much attention, the kind that a girl like me doesn't want."
"I'd say pissing off multiple rich idiots with your stunts can be considered a wee bit idiotic. And technically you are hurting them."
She huffed at that. "No one cares if they got hurt. Oh sure, the authorities would still try to find me but it won't be as bad as let's say letting a random bystander get shot at. That's when they have actual fuel. Stealing from these assholes is just safer because they are assholes. Pissing them off just comes with the territory. Gotta have some excitement after all."
"Is the next big thrill the only thing that you want?" Peter sighed.
"Yes."
Peter didn't know why, but her answer disappointed him a little. Part of him wanted to believe there was some good in her. Sure his attraction fueled part of it, but the fact that she was mindful that other people weren't hurt during her operation added to it.
"Buuut." She added when she noticed the sudden shift from Spider-Man. "It doesn't have to be the only thing. From time to time, something else caught my eye."
"And that is?"
"Well, I'm staring right at it." She looked at him pointedly. "Why do you think I like to rile you up so much? Our little chase is always the best part of this whole thing. Though your partner could tone down the jealousy a little."
"I'll show you 'tone down'!" A sudden voice interrupted.
The two suddenly separated as Gwen came between them with a kick. The Black Cat flipped back multiple times before she settled on a crouch.
"Ghost, I was wondering when you'd show up." She smiled.
"And I was wondering when I'll see your ugly mug again." Gwen nearly growled.
"Oof, calm down girl. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you actually hate me."
"Gee, what would give you that idea?" Gwen sarcastically asked.
Peter decided to put a stop to the argument, he still had questions he wanted to ask and he didn't need Gwen chasing her off. "Alright, calm down a little, Ghost."
"Calm down? She's a thief! We should be catching her, not letting her drape herself over you!" Gwen heatedly countered.
Peter winced at that, yeah maybe that part wasn't necessary to his questioning. "She hasn't stolen anything. You haven't, right?" He turned to the thief with suspicious lenses.
The young woman shrugged. "Maybe I have, maybe I haven't. Why don't you come closer and find out Spider." She suggestively posed to him.
That wasn't the right thing to say it seemed as it immediately set off Gwen, the girl lunging toward Black Cat.
The cat burglar just laughed as she jumped off the edge, shooting off a grappling hook before swinging away right as Gwen gave chase.
"Oh goddammit." Peter groaned before he followed them.
As he followed, he could see Gwen having trouble catching up to Black Cat. The thief acrobatically swung through the buildings as she escaped Gwen's capture by a hair's breadth.
It looked like Gwen was struggling to catch her. It wasn't because of Gwen's lack of skill or ability but rather her…surroundings for lack of a better word.
Gwen swerved to the side to dodge a bird that nearly crashed into her, landing on a loose brick that immediately fell the moment she landed on it. Thankfully, her Spider sense warned her and led her to jump the moment it came loose and crashed her face right into another bird.
The sudden crash disoriented her and caused her to fall right into a dumpster, the force of the fall was enough to send just the right amount of force to the walls and caused a flower pot to stumble and fall right on her.
"Agh!"
"Ghost!"
Peter quickly swung and dropped right beside the dumpster to check on his partner.
"You okay?"
Gwen's groan was all the answer he got.
The sound of chuckling caught his attention, causing him to look up and catching Black Cat looking down on them from the roof.
"Might wanna get your partner checked there, Spider." She chuckled mischievously. "While I'd like to stay to continue this, I think I'll just take a rain check."
"Wait!" Peter called out, causing her to pause in her steps. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Hm?"
While Black Cat could be a pain to capture, that wasn't the main reason why he asked her to wait. She had often dropped some valuable info for them after all and he had thought it might be a good idea to see what other info she might have that could help them.
Though maybe he should have been straight with her from the start so they could have avoided all of this…
"There's been a kidnapping spree going on around the city. You heard about them?"
Black Cat gave him a considering look before she shrugged. "What about them?"
Okay, not exactly a confirmation but she was still here, so he could probably pry something out.
"They've been targeting Mutants." He said while carefully helping Gwen get off the dumpster, the girl was busy tending to her head to be angry at the moment. "Just a few days ago, they kidnapped a few kids. Managed to save them of course, but they were very well equipped for a kidnapping ring. I dunno what they're planning but if they're willing to pick kids off the streets…" He trailed off as he glanced at the thief.
The woman hid it well but he could see the narrowed eyes, a glint of distaste could be seen.
"What? And you need my help taking them down?" She scoffed incredulously, but she didn't seem against it.
"Nothing like that. You're cute but I don't exactly trust you having my back without stealing something important."
"I'm hurt." She pouted but shrugged. "But fair nuff."
"Look, just…keep an eye on things. If you see anything, just give me a call or something."
Black Cat considered it for a moment. "And what do I get out of this?"
Peter winced, he hadn't thought that far ahead yet. "My gratitude?"
Black Cat's raised eyebrow said it all.
Peter raised his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, look I'll figure something out. But for now, just keep it as a favor."
"Oh, a favor? That's a dangerous thing Spider~" She chuckled.
Gwen finally interrupted. "You drag him into anything dangerous and I'll skin you alive."
Peter sighed. "In less threatening words, yes. Nothing illegal but I'll owe you a favor."
Black Cat pouted. "You're no fun, but fine. I'll keep an eye out."
"Thank you. Knew you had some good in you."
She huffed. "Don't push it. Now if we're done here, I'm going to go back home and catch up on some soap operas."
Peter gave her a weird look. "You watch those?"
Black Cat gave him a teasing look. "I have other hobbies too, you know? You should try it." She smiled before disappearing into the rooftops.
Peter shook his head in amusement before he turned to Gwen, who was still carefully looking at where she had left.
"You sure we could trust her?" She asked.
Peter shook his head. "For now, no. But, it doesn't hurt to have another set of eyes looking around the city."
Gwen conceded to that, albeit begrudgingly. "I still don't like her."
"With all that aggression, not surprised to hear that. I get that she's annoying to catch but you seem to take it pretty personally." He curiously pointed out.
Gwen froze a little as if thinking what to say until she finally answered. "Cop dad, remember?"
Peter thought it over and nodded. "Huh, fair enough then."
Gwen sighed in relief, glad that she escaped his suspicion. It wasn't the whole truth but it also wasn't a lie either. She didn't like Black Cat, outside of her kleptomania that made her paranoid when around her, there was something about the thief that just drove her crazy.
It's like having a word that's at the tip of her tongue…
Gwen then sighed and looked at the night sky, noticing the position of the moon. "It's getting late. I'm going home to wash this smell out of me. You?"
Peter looked down for a moment before shrugging. "I'll head back too. Tonight has been pretty quiet after all."
Gwen nodded at that. It has been pretty quiet. She barely saw any mugging, which was already pretty impressive in a big city like New York.
Part of her wanted to think that their recent capture of Hammerhead and Scorpion had settled things down a little. But another part of her also felt like it was just a matter of time until the other shoe dropped.
She shook her head, she would just waste time thinking about it. Paired with her lingering frustration with Black Cat, it was slowly giving her a headache. She could think about it later.
The two then said their goodbyes before swinging away to their homes.
[-]
Gwen was…annoyed. Irritated even. There were a lot of things going through her head at the moment and it showed.
Even after taking a bath and sleeping it off, it still did nothing to lessen her irritation. Her dad had managed to detect she wasn't in a good mood and wisely left her be.
The same could also be said for her classmates. The moment she stepped foot in school, the student body had done their best to avoid her. Even Flash didn't do anything that could set her off, wisely keeping himself in check whenever she was in sight.
So here she was sitting by her seat, all by her lonesome. The class hadn't started and she was a bit too early. She didn't even wait for Peter and Harry, not wanting to accidentally blow up on them this early in the morning and ruin their day.
Best she calmed down a little before she met up with them.
But that was quickly ruined by the sight of Felicia walking in with Peter in tow. Harry was nowhere in sight which meant that the both of them only had each other to talk to. A fact that was taken advantageously by Felicia.
The two walked to their seats, ignoring or just unaware of the stares they were getting from the rest of the class. Felicia was quite the looker, even Gwen was willing to admit that so it was no surprise that she captured so much attention.
The most surprising was that she also saw a few girls starting to notice Peter. Before, it would be unthinkable, but Felicia's sudden attention had put Peter under scrutiny and put him on the radar. People were finally noticing Peter and saw his good traits. Hell, even Flash was slowly toning down and even speaking amicably with him!
Before, Gwen would have been happy for her friend. Instead, her irritation flared even further and slowly turned into genuine anger when she realized that Felicia had noticed her and gave her a smug grin.
'That little bitch-!'
Peter noticed that Felicia was looking elsewhere and finally noticed Gwen. He was about to wave at her but he noticed that she was glaring at Felicia.
He gave the young woman beside him an unimpressed look, a look that she noticed.
"What?" She gave him an innocent look.
"Why do you always like to piss her off?"
"What makes you think I did anything?" Despite her words, there was a playful glint in her eyes.
"Maybe it's because she's always like that whenever you start messing with her."
"Well, maybe she should stop taking it so personally." She defended.
"Or maybe it's just you." Peter shot back.
Felicia fell silent and avoided his eyes, causing him to sigh.
He still didn't get why both of them would always argue with each other. Oh sure, it was tame, and he did manage to put a stop to it when asked. But these days, it had gotten a bit more heated than usual.
Before he could ponder on it more, his phone vibrated. Quickly pulling it out, he realized that it was Emma. Pulling open the chat, he saw that she had sent a picture.
It was a selfie of her on a couch, presenting herself rather beautifully to the camera. Her bountiful chest was rather pronounced as she smiled beautifully at the camera. In the background, he could see Bobby and Forge carrying some boxes while Jean waited for them in another cart.
'We're almost done here.'
Peter smiled at that. With the addition of four people, they had to find some ways to expand their subway base so they could accommodate all of them comfortably. They couldn't go home at the moment as they feared the kidnappers would find them there and they don't exactly trust cops.
Thankfully, Gwen and he found some abandoned train carts deeper into the subway tunnels and brought them close. Using them to help expand their base even further.
"Holy shit, who's that? She's hot as hell."
Peter turned and saw Felicia gaping at his phone. He quickly shut it off before she saw something she shouldn't.
"O-oh, that's just my home tutor. The one I mentioned, Emma." He quickly explained.
Felicia raised an eyebrow. "Your home tutor sends suggestive selfies to you?"
Peter realized how questionable this looked. He's unsure what to say so he just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"She's a family friend and my aunt thought I could learn a lot from her."
Felicia blinked as she smiled mischievously. "Friend. Riiiight. I'm sure you've learned a lot under her."
Peter groaned as he tried to avoid her teasing. "It's not like that."
"That picture says otherwise."
Peter groaned, he could just tell she wouldn't let this go anytime soon.
[-]
Peter's mind was all over the place. Currently, he sat in the lab that his internship had assigned to him but he couldn't focus on it at all.
The kidnapping ring that targeted Mutants was still on his mind; he still wasn't sure what they were kidnapping Mutants for, but he was sure it wasn't for anything good. He managed to get Black Cat to maybe aid them but the thief herself was another set of headaches that he wasn't sure how to deal with a good chunk of the time. Not to mention that Gwen and Felicia's arguments were becoming a lot more frequent which added to his headache.
Oh, and Harry was nowhere to be seen at all today, which kinda sucked since he had to deal with Felicia and Gwen all day. He considered both of them as good friends but god, sometimes he just wished he could escape the constant arguments just so he could get some peace of mind.
Part of him couldn't help but feel like this would be when the other shoe dropped. Things had been going a little too well after all and that's rather concerning when it came to the Parker Luck.
"You look like you got a lot on your mind."
Peter turned and noticed Sue looking at him with a concerned expression. He slumped and sighed, making a so-so gesture.
"Kinda. Everything is just…all over the place today."
Sue hummed as she nodded. "Yeah, those days are the messiest. I find it easier to just not think about them and just focus on them later with a clearer head. Save you the stress."
Peter sighed. "Boy, easier said than done."
Sue chuckled. "How about this then, I'll help keep your mind off it."
"How?" He turned to her curiously.
Sue didn't answer but brought her chair closer to his table. She then glanced at the monitor in front of him.
"So what are you working on right now?"
Peter turned to his work and realized that Sue was looking at his web formula.
"Oh, this is uh, a formula for a super glue I'm making. I had thought of showing it off and see what you guys think of it."
Sue hummed as she looked it over, her eyes scanning over it before she blinked.
"Huh."
Peter gave her a weird look. "Is that a good or a bad 'huh'?"
"It's a weird 'huh' because I barely understand this."
Peter slumped. "Oh."
Sue raised a hand. "But, chemistry isn't my expertise but I know enough that I think this has some potential. Let me get Reed on this."
"No need." The two turned and saw Reed, who looked like he had just entered the lab. The man stared at the two of them with a curious look. "What do you need, Sue?"
"Come here." Sue gestured for him to come closer. "Pete here made something I think you'd like to see."
Reed grabbed a nearby chair and sat on the other side of Peter. He took a good look at the formula and hummed in interest.
"Fascinating. Correct me if I'm wrong Peter but this looks like a really powerful adhesive."
Peter nodded. "Right on. It's a super glue I called Web Fluid."
"Why Web Fluid?" Sue curiously asked.
"It's because it's a fluid that when exposed to air turned into webbing." Peter briefly explained. "Well, it looked like webbing anyway."
Sue turned to him with an amused look. "Does it have anything to do with the new spider vigilantes I've been hearing about?"
Peter smiled sheepishly. "They might have inspired this." The two chuckled before Peter turned to Reed, who was studying the formula intently. "What do you think, Reed?"
Reed hummed. "Do you think you can give us a sample to run tests with? I want to fully see what it's capable of."
Peter nodded easily, surprised but happy that he was so interested in it. "Oh yeah sure! When do you want it?"
"As early as possible."
Peter hummed. "Oh, then I can give you right now."
The two scientists blinked at him. "Right now?" Sue asked.
Peter nodded casually. "Yeah, I can make it with just a basic chemistry set."
The two looked even more incredulous but Peter didn't wait for their reply. He had already gotten up and grabbed the necessary equipment around the lab. The two watched him work as he immediately started to mix the chemicals with practiced ease.
Reed then stood up and studied Peter's work closely while Sue let Peter do his work. It didn't take long before Peter gave Reed a see-through canister filled with the Web Fluid.
"Fascinating." Reed muttered as he turned the canister around to study the fluid inside. Sue, now curious, decided to take a closer look at things.
Peter then grabbed a liquid dropper and dropped a bit of the fluid on a small dish. The liquid quickly reacted and turned into webbing.
"It does look like webbing." Sue muttered as she studied it.
"You call it webbing. Is the tensile strength comparable to an actual spider silk?" Reed asked.
Peter nodded. "Yep. Probably more, but I haven't tested it out that far but as an adhesive? It's pretty strong but doesn't last long."
"How much can it hold when you last tested it?" Reed asked.
"I managed to stick my chair on the ceiling if that counts."
Sue hummed. "How long does it last?"
"An hour or so depending on the mixture."
Sue shook her head. "Some companies won't see that as a good enough trade-off."
Reed raised a hand to softly interject. "But, some will. We can probably modify it a bit to have it last longer but at least construction companies would like it since it can help a lot with keeping things together temporarily in case of sudden failures."
"Emergency services could probably use it to help keep patients down without hurting them too much." Sue considered, which Reed nodded at.
"Maybe law enforcement could use it too. Without the solvent I made, getting out of the webbing would be pretty hard." Peter idly suggested, remembering how he had used the webbings as Spider-Man.
"Got that from Spider-Man?" Sue smiled.
Peter shrugged with a sly smile. "I did say they were an inspiration."
The three then slowly discussed more on the selling points of Web Fluid and possible modifications they might need to do for it to be usable in specific situations. Peter couldn't help but get excited about it as it seemed like his plan was working.
Reed let out a breath of awe. "This is amazing. We could do a lot with this Peter. The changes you can bring with this would be massive."
"The things you can do with this web are amazing, Peter. It can help a lot of people. Be proud." Sue smiled at him in pride.
Peter couldn't help the smile on his face. The two people he admired the most didn't just like it but approved his Web Fluid!
He then was suddenly reminded of the true reason why he had shown them this, causing his smile to falter.
"Peter?" Sue asked, noticing the sudden shift.
"I uh, I'm really glad that this could help a lot of people but uh, I'm also a bit worried about the whole patent thing." Peter fidget.
The two looked confused before a look of understanding dawned on them.
"Oh. Of course, the patent will have your name on it and we'll make sure you get your share of the profits." Sue assured him with a kind smile.
Peter nodded with relief but also with slight guilt. "Thanks. I know this is a bit selfish—"
"Nonsense Peter." Reed cuts off firmly. "It's okay to worry about the money. This is your creation and you need to be firm in how it's handled."
"It's a pretty cutthroat industry and people will take advantage of you if you don't show any backbone." Sue softly advised. "I'm actually glad that you brought it up. It means you know that this formula is worth a lot."
Peter gaped like a fish before he nodded gratefully. "Thanks. I just…really want this to work out you know?"
The two nodded in understanding. "And it will, we'll be there to help you every step of the way." Sue comforted him with a pat on his shoulder.
Peter couldn't help but feel extremely grateful. Things had gotten well so far and part of him was pretty sure that it wouldn't stick. But to see that he would at least have people helping him along made him realize that at least he wouldn't be alone through it.
"Alright, I'll just take this and figure out what kind of tests we can use to see its limits and how we can improve it." Reed said as he held up the canister in his hand, excitement evident in his eyes. "So I'll leave you two to your devices."
The two watched as he went while holding on to the canister tightly, Sue chuckling as she shook her head.
"Reed found a new toy to work on. He's not going to let go of that anytime soon." Sue chuckled before she turned to Peter. "And what about you?"
Peter turned to her curiously. "Me? What about me?"
Sue raised an eyebrow. "Forgot already? Guess it really did work."
Peter blinked before understanding dawned on him. "Ooouh. Huh, I guess you did make me forget about the day a little."
Sue nodded. "Focusing on the now can get you to forget about other things. Helps that you actually do have a work that you're actually interested in."
Peter smiled. "Yeah, I guess it did. You're something else, Sue. Thanks."
"Just keep doing a good job and I'll help you as many times as you need. Who knows, if you do it enough times you might get a reward." She winked as she leaned on her chair with her hands behind her head. Letting Peter fully appreciate the black dress under her lab coat that hugged her body nicely.
Having been used to playful flirting thanks to Felicia, Peter just rolled his eyes in amusement. "What would people say if they saw you like this?"
"I think they'd be jealous that someone younger than them is actually getting more attention from me."
Peter stared at Sue a bit at that. The woman smiled prettily but couldn't help but blush a little from how intense his eyes were. He then reluctantly nodded.
"Yeah, fair enough."
'It's a pretty calm night.' Peter noted.
It had been a few days after that little encounter with Magneto. Things had been a bit chaotic with them trying to figure out how to manage the mutants under their care but they managed to make it work.
Currently, Peter was doing his usual patrols, Gwen had come far enough on her own that Peter was willing to organize a separate patrol route for her. So it was just him tonight. Even Harry wasn't behind the desk tonight, having been forced to go back home early due to his father's sudden inquiries about his near late-night activities.
The thought of Norman Osborn brought his thoughts to Ben and May. The only reason they weren't suspicious was thanks to Emma. She had quickly called that Peter was with her and they would probably be home pretty late. At worst, he would be staying the night at her house so the two didn't need to wait up.
He was eternally grateful for having Emma around; he wasn't sure what kind of excuse he would give if he didn't have her. Convincing May to allow him to be Spider-Man in the other timeline was already pretty hard, he wasn't sure how he could convince Ben on top of it. She had even taken it upon herself to help him explore more of his Mutant powers despite already having her hands full with Jean which he was still trying to come to terms with. She's taking her guardian role seriously with him.
The thought also reminded him to ask Gwen about her dad when he had the chance. No way they would let her be out this late at night.
The sound of footsteps snapped him out of his reverie; it was subtle and he highly doubted anyone would have caught it if they didn't have enhanced senses like he did.
Perching on the edge of a rooftop, he gazed at the source and spotted a familiar figure snooping around a building.
Peter could barely repress a sigh as he mentally prepared himself. Talking with her always made him feel all sorts of things that he wasn't sure he even wanted to tackle. But seeing her reminded him that she might be able to help with a recent problem of his, so whether he liked it or not he needed to talk to her.
Quickly jumping from the rooftop, he quietly landed behind her.
"Look what the cat dragged in." He quipped.
She nearly flinched as she turned to the source, her surprised expression slowly smoothed out to a coy one.
"Spider. Glad to see you, where's your little…partner?" The Black Cat asked with a flirty smile.
The cat burglar had made away with several priceless art pieces in the past few weeks. The thief had started her activity right around his debut with Ghost Spider and the two had clashed on a few occasions. The thief surprised them with how easily she kept up and even escaped. It had made Gwen rather irritated whenever they encountered her.
There was also the fact that Black Cat had made quite a few passes at him, never bothering to hide her interest in him. Sure she had done the same with Gwen but it always seemed a bit more…charged when it was with him.
Heck, Black Cat was checking him out right now. Despite her eyes being hidden behind a metal domino mask with orange lenses, it still didn't stop how obvious she was about it.
Peter, however, couldn't say much about it, as he was also unconsciously letting his eyes trail down her voluptuous body. Paired with her silver hair, it made her quite the exotic sight. He was willing to admit that he was attracted to her.
"Oh you know, she's around. Webbing up a few guys here and there, the usual." Peter remarked vaguely. "What about you, have you been a naughty kitty today?"
"Oh you know, liberating a few priceless arts from a few rich assholes. The usual."
"Liberating?" He raised an eyebrow, she couldn't see it but his tone was telling enough.
"You know what I mean."
Peter shook his head. "So, who got your attention now?"
"Oh, just some guy stealing money from his own charity. I think you should check him out; he's got some real dirty laundry." She chuckled.
Peter hummed. Despite her questionable profession, Black Cat had always dropped valuable info here and there whenever they saw each other. He couldn't see how it would benefit her though so it was always treated with a grain of salt. This did somewhat relate to the reason why he was trying to talk to her and not attempting to catch her.
"I'll do that once I'm sure you're behaving yourself."
"Oh, you know me, Spider. I can never resist a mark this tempting. Especially from guys like this."
Peter sighed as he was reminded of that little tidbit. "Y'know Cat, I've been digging a little about you. You seem to only target the rich elites who have some deep and dirty laundry. Any particular reason why?"
The thief gave a throaty chuckle as she slowly raised to her feet from her crouched position, allowing him to fully appreciate her form.
"Resorting to stalking me online Spider? You know you could just ask." She smiled as she slowly walked toward him with a little sway of her hips.
Peter unconsciously gulped, something she noticed judging by her growing smile.
"Well, I'm asking now."
"Only because you can't figure out the answer yourself." She countered as she fully stood before him.
"Expecting an apology?"
"An…incentive more like. What's in it for me?"
"Satisfying my curiosity?"
"Didn't you know? Curiosity killed the cat."
"But satisfaction brings it back."
Black Cat laughed as she put her arms around Peter, her face dangerously close to his as she gave him a flirty smile.
"Oh trust me, it does." She purred.
Peter tried to control his growing erection but the look she was giving him didn't make it easy.
"...I feel like we're talking about different things now."
Felicia merely widened her smile before she finally answered. "I only target them because it's just better that way. No one gets hurt, some assholes get shoved down a peg or two and I get to add something to my growing art collection."
"So there is some heart behind the notorious Black Cat after all. Who would have thought."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm a thrill seeker, not an idiot. Getting people hurt draws too much attention, the kind that a girl like me doesn't want."
"I'd say pissing off multiple rich idiots with your stunts can be considered a wee bit idiotic. And technically you are hurting them."
She huffed at that. "No one cares if they got hurt. Oh sure, the authorities would still try to find me but it won't be as bad as let's say letting a random bystander get shot at. That's when they have actual fuel. Stealing from these assholes is just safer because they are assholes. Pissing them off just comes with the territory. Gotta have some excitement after all."
"Is the next big thrill the only thing that you want?" Peter sighed.
"Yes."
Peter didn't know why, but her answer disappointed him a little. Part of him wanted to believe there was some good in her. Sure his attraction fueled part of it, but the fact that she was mindful that other people weren't hurt during her operation added to it.
"Buuut." She added when she noticed the sudden shift from Spider-Man. "It doesn't have to be the only thing. From time to time, something else caught my eye."
"And that is?"
"Well, I'm staring right at it." She looked at him pointedly. "Why do you think I like to rile you up so much? Our little chase is always the best part of this whole thing. Though your partner could tone down the jealousy a little."
"I'll show you 'tone down'!" A sudden voice interrupted.
The two suddenly separated as Gwen came between them with a kick. The Black Cat flipped back multiple times before she settled on a crouch.
"Ghost, I was wondering when you'd show up." She smiled.
"And I was wondering when I'll see your ugly mug again." Gwen nearly growled.
"Oof, calm down girl. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you actually hate me."
"Gee, what would give you that idea?" Gwen sarcastically asked.
Peter decided to put a stop to the argument, he still had questions he wanted to ask and he didn't need Gwen chasing her off. "Alright, calm down a little, Ghost."
"Calm down? She's a thief! We should be catching her, not letting her drape herself over you!" Gwen heatedly countered.
Peter winced at that, yeah maybe that part wasn't necessary to his questioning. "She hasn't stolen anything. You haven't, right?" He turned to the thief with suspicious lenses.
The young woman shrugged. "Maybe I have, maybe I haven't. Why don't you come closer and find out Spider." She suggestively posed to him.
That wasn't the right thing to say it seemed as it immediately set off Gwen, the girl lunging toward Black Cat.
The cat burglar just laughed as she jumped off the edge, shooting off a grappling hook before swinging away right as Gwen gave chase.
"Oh goddammit." Peter groaned before he followed them.
As he followed, he could see Gwen having trouble catching up to Black Cat. The thief acrobatically swung through the buildings as she escaped Gwen's capture by a hair's breadth.
It looked like Gwen was struggling to catch her. It wasn't because of Gwen's lack of skill or ability but rather her…surroundings for lack of a better word.
Gwen swerved to the side to dodge a bird that nearly crashed into her, landing on a loose brick that immediately fell the moment she landed on it. Thankfully, her Spider sense warned her and led her to jump the moment it came loose and crashed her face right into another bird.
The sudden crash disoriented her and caused her to fall right into a dumpster, the force of the fall was enough to send just the right amount of force to the walls and caused a flower pot to stumble and fall right on her.
"Agh!"
"Ghost!"
Peter quickly swung and dropped right beside the dumpster to check on his partner.
"You okay?"
Gwen's groan was all the answer he got.
The sound of chuckling caught his attention, causing him to look up and catching Black Cat looking down on them from the roof.
"Might wanna get your partner checked there, Spider." She chuckled mischievously. "While I'd like to stay to continue this, I think I'll just take a rain check."
"Wait!" Peter called out, causing her to pause in her steps. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Hm?"
While Black Cat could be a pain to capture, that wasn't the main reason why he asked her to wait. She had often dropped some valuable info for them after all and he had thought it might be a good idea to see what other info she might have that could help them.
Though maybe he should have been straight with her from the start so they could have avoided all of this…
"There's been a kidnapping spree going on around the city. You heard about them?"
Black Cat gave him a considering look before she shrugged. "What about them?"
Okay, not exactly a confirmation but she was still here, so he could probably pry something out.
"They've been targeting Mutants." He said while carefully helping Gwen get off the dumpster, the girl was busy tending to her head to be angry at the moment. "Just a few days ago, they kidnapped a few kids. Managed to save them of course, but they were very well equipped for a kidnapping ring. I dunno what they're planning but if they're willing to pick kids off the streets…" He trailed off as he glanced at the thief.
The woman hid it well but he could see the narrowed eyes, a glint of distaste could be seen.
"What? And you need my help taking them down?" She scoffed incredulously, but she didn't seem against it.
"Nothing like that. You're cute but I don't exactly trust you having my back without stealing something important."
"I'm hurt." She pouted but shrugged. "But fair nuff."
"Look, just…keep an eye on things. If you see anything, just give me a call or something."
Black Cat considered it for a moment. "And what do I get out of this?"
Peter winced, he hadn't thought that far ahead yet. "My gratitude?"
Black Cat's raised eyebrow said it all.
Peter raised his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, look I'll figure something out. But for now, just keep it as a favor."
"Oh, a favor? That's a dangerous thing Spider~" She chuckled.
Gwen finally interrupted. "You drag him into anything dangerous and I'll skin you alive."
Peter sighed. "In less threatening words, yes. Nothing illegal but I'll owe you a favor."
Black Cat pouted. "You're no fun, but fine. I'll keep an eye out."
"Thank you. Knew you had some good in you."
She huffed. "Don't push it. Now if we're done here, I'm going to go back home and catch up on some soap operas."
Peter gave her a weird look. "You watch those?"
Black Cat gave him a teasing look. "I have other hobbies too, you know? You should try it." She smiled before disappearing into the rooftops.
Peter shook his head in amusement before he turned to Gwen, who was still carefully looking at where she had left.
"You sure we could trust her?" She asked.
Peter shook his head. "For now, no. But, it doesn't hurt to have another set of eyes looking around the city."
Gwen conceded to that, albeit begrudgingly. "I still don't like her."
"With all that aggression, not surprised to hear that. I get that she's annoying to catch but you seem to take it pretty personally." He curiously pointed out.
Gwen froze a little as if thinking what to say until she finally answered. "Cop dad, remember?"
Peter thought it over and nodded. "Huh, fair enough then."
Gwen sighed in relief, glad that she escaped his suspicion. It wasn't the whole truth but it also wasn't a lie either. She didn't like Black Cat, outside of her kleptomania that made her paranoid when around her, there was something about the thief that just drove her crazy.
It's like having a word that's at the tip of her tongue…
Gwen then sighed and looked at the night sky, noticing the position of the moon. "It's getting late. I'm going home to wash this smell out of me. You?"
Peter looked down for a moment before shrugging. "I'll head back too. Tonight has been pretty quiet after all."
Gwen nodded at that. It has been pretty quiet. She barely saw any mugging, which was already pretty impressive in a big city like New York.
Part of her wanted to think that their recent capture of Hammerhead and Scorpion had settled things down a little. But another part of her also felt like it was just a matter of time until the other shoe dropped.
She shook her head, she would just waste time thinking about it. Paired with her lingering frustration with Black Cat, it was slowly giving her a headache. She could think about it later.
The two then said their goodbyes before swinging away to their homes.
[-]
Gwen was…annoyed. Irritated even. There were a lot of things going through her head at the moment and it showed.
Even after taking a bath and sleeping it off, it still did nothing to lessen her irritation. Her dad had managed to detect she wasn't in a good mood and wisely left her be.
The same could also be said for her classmates. The moment she stepped foot in school, the student body had done their best to avoid her. Even Flash didn't do anything that could set her off, wisely keeping himself in check whenever she was in sight.
So here she was sitting by her seat, all by her lonesome. The class hadn't started and she was a bit too early. She didn't even wait for Peter and Harry, not wanting to accidentally blow up on them this early in the morning and ruin their day.
Best she calmed down a little before she met up with them.
But that was quickly ruined by the sight of Felicia walking in with Peter in tow. Harry was nowhere in sight which meant that the both of them only had each other to talk to. A fact that was taken advantageously by Felicia.
The two walked to their seats, ignoring or just unaware of the stares they were getting from the rest of the class. Felicia was quite the looker, even Gwen was willing to admit that so it was no surprise that she captured so much attention.
The most surprising was that she also saw a few girls starting to notice Peter. Before, it would be unthinkable, but Felicia's sudden attention had put Peter under scrutiny and put him on the radar. People were finally noticing Peter and saw his good traits. Hell, even Flash was slowly toning down and even speaking amicably with him!
Before, Gwen would have been happy for her friend. Instead, her irritation flared even further and slowly turned into genuine anger when she realized that Felicia had noticed her and gave her a smug grin.
'That little bitch-!'
Peter noticed that Felicia was looking elsewhere and finally noticed Gwen. He was about to wave at her but he noticed that she was glaring at Felicia.
He gave the young woman beside him an unimpressed look, a look that she noticed.
"What?" She gave him an innocent look.
"Why do you always like to piss her off?"
"What makes you think I did anything?" Despite her words, there was a playful glint in her eyes.
"Maybe it's because she's always like that whenever you start messing with her."
"Well, maybe she should stop taking it so personally." She defended.
"Or maybe it's just you." Peter shot back.
Felicia fell silent and avoided his eyes, causing him to sigh.
He still didn't get why both of them would always argue with each other. Oh sure, it was tame, and he did manage to put a stop to it when asked. But these days, it had gotten a bit more heated than usual.
Before he could ponder on it more, his phone vibrated. Quickly pulling it out, he realized that it was Emma. Pulling open the chat, he saw that she had sent a picture.
It was a selfie of her on a couch, presenting herself rather beautifully to the camera. Her bountiful chest was rather pronounced as she smiled beautifully at the camera. In the background, he could see Bobby and Forge carrying some boxes while Jean waited for them in another cart.
'We're almost done here.'
Peter smiled at that. With the addition of four people, they had to find some ways to expand their subway base so they could accommodate all of them comfortably. They couldn't go home at the moment as they feared the kidnappers would find them there and they don't exactly trust cops.
Thankfully, Gwen and he found some abandoned train carts deeper into the subway tunnels and brought them close. Using them to help expand their base even further.
"Holy shit, who's that? She's hot as hell."
Peter turned and saw Felicia gaping at his phone. He quickly shut it off before she saw something she shouldn't.
"O-oh, that's just my home tutor. The one I mentioned, Emma." He quickly explained.
Felicia raised an eyebrow. "Your home tutor sends suggestive selfies to you?"
Peter realized how questionable this looked. He's unsure what to say so he just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"She's a family friend and my aunt thought I could learn a lot from her."
Felicia blinked as she smiled mischievously. "Friend. Riiiight. I'm sure you've learned a lot under her."
Peter groaned as he tried to avoid her teasing. "It's not like that."
"That picture says otherwise."
Peter groaned, he could just tell she wouldn't let this go anytime soon.
[-]
Peter's mind was all over the place. Currently, he sat in the lab that his internship had assigned to him but he couldn't focus on it at all.
The kidnapping ring that targeted Mutants was still on his mind; he still wasn't sure what they were kidnapping Mutants for, but he was sure it wasn't for anything good. He managed to get Black Cat to maybe aid them but the thief herself was another set of headaches that he wasn't sure how to deal with a good chunk of the time. Not to mention that Gwen and Felicia's arguments were becoming a lot more frequent which added to his headache.
Oh, and Harry was nowhere to be seen at all today, which kinda sucked since he had to deal with Felicia and Gwen all day. He considered both of them as good friends but god, sometimes he just wished he could escape the constant arguments just so he could get some peace of mind.
Part of him couldn't help but feel like this would be when the other shoe dropped. Things had been going a little too well after all and that's rather concerning when it came to the Parker Luck.
"You look like you got a lot on your mind."
Peter turned and noticed Sue looking at him with a concerned expression. He slumped and sighed, making a so-so gesture.
"Kinda. Everything is just…all over the place today."
Sue hummed as she nodded. "Yeah, those days are the messiest. I find it easier to just not think about them and just focus on them later with a clearer head. Save you the stress."
Peter sighed. "Boy, easier said than done."
Sue chuckled. "How about this then, I'll help keep your mind off it."
"How?" He turned to her curiously.
Sue didn't answer but brought her chair closer to his table. She then glanced at the monitor in front of him.
"So what are you working on right now?"
Peter turned to his work and realized that Sue was looking at his web formula.
"Oh, this is uh, a formula for a super glue I'm making. I had thought of showing it off and see what you guys think of it."
Sue hummed as she looked it over, her eyes scanning over it before she blinked.
"Huh."
Peter gave her a weird look. "Is that a good or a bad 'huh'?"
"It's a weird 'huh' because I barely understand this."
Peter slumped. "Oh."
Sue raised a hand. "But, chemistry isn't my expertise but I know enough that I think this has some potential. Let me get Reed on this."
"No need." The two turned and saw Reed, who looked like he had just entered the lab. The man stared at the two of them with a curious look. "What do you need, Sue?"
"Come here." Sue gestured for him to come closer. "Pete here made something I think you'd like to see."
Reed grabbed a nearby chair and sat on the other side of Peter. He took a good look at the formula and hummed in interest.
"Fascinating. Correct me if I'm wrong Peter but this looks like a really powerful adhesive."
Peter nodded. "Right on. It's a super glue I called Web Fluid."
"Why Web Fluid?" Sue curiously asked.
"It's because it's a fluid that when exposed to air turned into webbing." Peter briefly explained. "Well, it looked like webbing anyway."
Sue turned to him with an amused look. "Does it have anything to do with the new spider vigilantes I've been hearing about?"
Peter smiled sheepishly. "They might have inspired this." The two chuckled before Peter turned to Reed, who was studying the formula intently. "What do you think, Reed?"
Reed hummed. "Do you think you can give us a sample to run tests with? I want to fully see what it's capable of."
Peter nodded easily, surprised but happy that he was so interested in it. "Oh yeah sure! When do you want it?"
"As early as possible."
Peter hummed. "Oh, then I can give you right now."
The two scientists blinked at him. "Right now?" Sue asked.
Peter nodded casually. "Yeah, I can make it with just a basic chemistry set."
The two looked even more incredulous but Peter didn't wait for their reply. He had already gotten up and grabbed the necessary equipment around the lab. The two watched him work as he immediately started to mix the chemicals with practiced ease.
Reed then stood up and studied Peter's work closely while Sue let Peter do his work. It didn't take long before Peter gave Reed a see-through canister filled with the Web Fluid.
"Fascinating." Reed muttered as he turned the canister around to study the fluid inside. Sue, now curious, decided to take a closer look at things.
Peter then grabbed a liquid dropper and dropped a bit of the fluid on a small dish. The liquid quickly reacted and turned into webbing.
"It does look like webbing." Sue muttered as she studied it.
"You call it webbing. Is the tensile strength comparable to an actual spider silk?" Reed asked.
Peter nodded. "Yep. Probably more, but I haven't tested it out that far but as an adhesive? It's pretty strong but doesn't last long."
"How much can it hold when you last tested it?" Reed asked.
"I managed to stick my chair on the ceiling if that counts."
Sue hummed. "How long does it last?"
"An hour or so depending on the mixture."
Sue shook her head. "Some companies won't see that as a good enough trade-off."
Reed raised a hand to softly interject. "But, some will. We can probably modify it a bit to have it last longer but at least construction companies would like it since it can help a lot with keeping things together temporarily in case of sudden failures."
"Emergency services could probably use it to help keep patients down without hurting them too much." Sue considered, which Reed nodded at.
"Maybe law enforcement could use it too. Without the solvent I made, getting out of the webbing would be pretty hard." Peter idly suggested, remembering how he had used the webbings as Spider-Man.
"Got that from Spider-Man?" Sue smiled.
Peter shrugged with a sly smile. "I did say they were an inspiration."
The three then slowly discussed more on the selling points of Web Fluid and possible modifications they might need to do for it to be usable in specific situations. Peter couldn't help but get excited about it as it seemed like his plan was working.
Reed let out a breath of awe. "This is amazing. We could do a lot with this Peter. The changes you can bring with this would be massive."
"The things you can do with this web are amazing, Peter. It can help a lot of people. Be proud." Sue smiled at him in pride.
Peter couldn't help the smile on his face. The two people he admired the most didn't just like it but approved his Web Fluid!
He then was suddenly reminded of the true reason why he had shown them this, causing his smile to falter.
"Peter?" Sue asked, noticing the sudden shift.
"I uh, I'm really glad that this could help a lot of people but uh, I'm also a bit worried about the whole patent thing." Peter fidget.
The two looked confused before a look of understanding dawned on them.
"Oh. Of course, the patent will have your name on it and we'll make sure you get your share of the profits." Sue assured him with a kind smile.
Peter nodded with relief but also with slight guilt. "Thanks. I know this is a bit selfish—"
"Nonsense Peter." Reed cuts off firmly. "It's okay to worry about the money. This is your creation and you need to be firm in how it's handled."
"It's a pretty cutthroat industry and people will take advantage of you if you don't show any backbone." Sue softly advised. "I'm actually glad that you brought it up. It means you know that this formula is worth a lot."
Peter gaped like a fish before he nodded gratefully. "Thanks. I just…really want this to work out you know?"
The two nodded in understanding. "And it will, we'll be there to help you every step of the way." Sue comforted him with a pat on his shoulder.
Peter couldn't help but feel extremely grateful. Things had gotten well so far and part of him was pretty sure that it wouldn't stick. But to see that he would at least have people helping him along made him realize that at least he wouldn't be alone through it.
"Alright, I'll just take this and figure out what kind of tests we can use to see its limits and how we can improve it." Reed said as he held up the canister in his hand, excitement evident in his eyes. "So I'll leave you two to your devices."
The two watched as he went while holding on to the canister tightly, Sue chuckling as she shook her head.
"Reed found a new toy to work on. He's not going to let go of that anytime soon." Sue chuckled before she turned to Peter. "And what about you?"
Peter turned to her curiously. "Me? What about me?"
Sue raised an eyebrow. "Forgot already? Guess it really did work."
Peter blinked before understanding dawned on him. "Ooouh. Huh, I guess you did make me forget about the day a little."
Sue nodded. "Focusing on the now can get you to forget about other things. Helps that you actually do have a work that you're actually interested in."
Peter smiled. "Yeah, I guess it did. You're something else, Sue. Thanks."
"Just keep doing a good job and I'll help you as many times as you need. Who knows, if you do it enough times you might get a reward." She winked as she leaned on her chair with her hands behind her head. Letting Peter fully appreciate the black dress under her lab coat that hugged her body nicely.
Having been used to playful flirting thanks to Felicia, Peter just rolled his eyes in amusement. "What would people say if they saw you like this?"
"I think they'd be jealous that someone younger than them is actually getting more attention from me."
Peter stared at Sue a bit at that. The woman smiled prettily but couldn't help but blush a little from how intense his eyes were. He then reluctantly nodded.
"Yeah, fair enough."
Chapter 12 - Heart Was Pumping, Chest Was Screaming
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Chapter 12 - Heart Was Pumping, Chest Was Screaming
Peter and Felicia entered the museum, her arm around his as he was all but dragged inside by the excited girl.
They were here because Felicia wanted to go to an exhibit that was being held and she had an extra ticket. Gwen wasn't an option for obvious reasons and Harry had something to do for his father. So Peter was the only one left, something he didn't mind.
Peter looked to the side and noticed how beautiful Felicia looked. She wore a black shirt underneath a black leather jacket and pants that beautifully accentuated her curves. Her platinum blond hair was held in a ponytail. She also wore some makeup, black eyeliner that brought out her eyes and a little lipstick.
Compared to his rather casual wear of a red buttoned shirt and jeans, he felt rather underdressed for the occasion.
Peter looked around as Felicia nearly dragged him inside, already seeing the abundant posters and banners hanging around the room. Plenty of people were in the museum, probably also present for the exhibit.
"So what kind of stuff are they showing that got you so excited?" Peter asked curiously, not minding at all how one of their arms was intertwined.
Felicia turned to him with a large smile. "Ok so, they managed to dig up stuff from this ancient tribe."
"An ancient tribe?"
"Yeah, they weren't all that advanced admittedly but what's fascinating is that there are a lot of stories around them which some historians speculate to be the source of a lot of cultural practices," Felicia explained, clearly passionate about the topic.
Peter hummed. "That sounds pretty important."
"It is! Of course, they're all stories that were passed down through word of mouth and only got written down long after they were gone. So people weren't really sure if they were real or just some folklore that got passed down." Felicia elaborated as they finally entered the exhibit. "That is, until a few months ago when they unearthed the Amulet of Power. Or well, a really good replica of it."
The name caught his attention. "Amulet of Power?"
Felicia nodded. "They call it that because it supposedly holds the blessing of a powerful Tiger God and was bestowed on the tribe's greatest warriors. But before it was an amulet, it was an ancient tiger jade statue." Felicia's eyes looked to the side and gestured in the direction.
Peter turned and widened his eyes minutely, inside a glass case was what he assumed was a faithful recreation of the tiger statue. It was rather large, though not so large that you couldn't hold it with two hands comfortably. One if your hand was big enough. The statue depicted a tiger standing on its hind legs, the forelegs bearing on an unseen prey as its head roared.
Peter looked around and noticed there were other similar statues, with the difference being the head and front legs.
"Awful lot of copies for a single statue." Peter idly commented.
"Was getting to that actually," Felicia commented. "Before it became an amulet, the statue held the blessing of the Tiger God and offered the tribe protection against malignant spirits and curses. The statues you see right now are just depictions of what the statue might have looked like before it was broken."
Peter turned to her in surprise. "Broken?"
Felicia nodded. "Yep. Some of the other tribes got wind of the statue and wanted the power for themselves. So they tried to steal it but got fended off by the tribe, but the statue ended up broken after all was said and done."
Peter winced. "The god must not have been happy about that."
Felicia smiled. "Actually, they were pretty happy about it. The other tribes were constantly raiding them and it was wearing them down badly enough that it would have been better if they had just surrendered it to survive. But their loyalty and faith kept them going. The Tiger God, impressed by it, had the tribe's shaman turn the claws and head of the broken statue into three separate amulets. The shaman then gave the amulet to three of their greatest warriors to serve as their protectors."
The two stopped right as Felicia finished, Peter looked forward and saw said amulet in the glass cases. There were three separate glass cases, all holding what he assumed was a replica of the three amulets.
Two of them were identical, five yellow claws held together by a thin string. The final one merely had the tiger's head as part of the amulet, the head bearing intricate carvings of its stripes that made it look regal. All three amulets were laid on red pillows, placed with such care that no one would mistake the importance of the amulets to the museum.
Peter whistled, impressed by the artistry. "They're beautiful."
"Yeah, they are." She nodded. "Shame they are fakes."
Peter looked confused at that and turned to her. "Huh?"
"They're fakes." She repeated, though careful not to be too loud. "The museum probably has the actual thing stored somewhere but these are just replicas. They're probably still researching the real ones. It's also possible that the original is too brittle to display."
Peter gave her a weird look at that. "Aaand how do you know that? Actually, how do you even know all these things?" Peter asked as he looked around curiously, part of him a bit surprised by how passionate she was about this as she never made any mention of it.
The people around them either had the staff guiding and explaining things to them or just using the guide pamphlet the museum had prepared. Felicia didn't bother with both as she was guiding him through the museum and telling him the history of this tribe with practiced ease.
"Oh, my parents were huge history buffs. My dad is a private collector and my mother used to tell me a lot of stories since her side of the family took their culture seriously. In fact, this tribe was one of her favorites and told me a lot about it." She reminisced, a hint of something bittersweet could be heard in her tone.
Peter noticed the change and gripped their still-linked hands in an attempt to get her mind off it. "Well then, I guess you still have a lot to show me then."
Felicia turned to him in surprise. "Really?"
"Yeah, come on there's still a lot around here to cover."
"O-okay." It was clear she didn't expect him to be genuinely interested but the sudden change caused a massive smile on her face.
The two continued to walk around the exhibit, Felicia excitedly explaining and showing off the things around the museum while Peter patiently listened and even asked a few questions. The two of them talked, took some pictures together, and had fun with each other.
Once they had seen everything there was to see, the two exited the museum.
"Thanks for this, Pete. I…needed it." She admitted hesitantly.
Peter raised an eyebrow but didn't push. "No problem Felicia. So where to now?"
Felicia hummed, unsure herself. Her eyes flitted around and stayed on the building a ways down for a bit.
Peter turned to the direction slightly and blinked. It was a company building and didn't seem to be all that remarkable, but he could see that Felicia was considering the building for a moment before she shook her head.
"How about some food? I'm starving." Felicia suggested.
Peter wondered why she was studying the building that extensively. "Ooookay? Any ideas?"
"Not much, you?"
Peter gave her a confident smile, years of living and saving New York had led to him knowing all the good places.
"I got a few ideas. You feeling Chinese or Mexican?"
"Either works."
"Mexican then, I know just the place!"
Felicia nudged their still intertwined hands, something he didn't mind.
"Lead the way then."
[-]
Felicia, or the Black Cat currently, hummed contemplatively as she sat on top of the rooftops. Her eyes gazed at the company building that she had seen earlier when she was out with Peter.
At first, she had wanted to stake out the place while using her outing with Peter as a cover. She didn't expect to genuinely enjoy it though, which led to her abandoning her original plan and just enjoying her time with Pete.
She unconsciously smiled when reminded of it. It was fun and definitely something she'd like to do again.
But of course, this did lead to her pushing up her heist date, so she had to scramble to get her preparations up to snuff just so this heist went well.
Black Cat noticed that the guard's shift was finally changing.
'Go time.'
She quickly ran, jumping through the roofs until she stopped. Right beside the roof was an open area that looked like a roof garden at the side of the building.
With a flick of her wrist, her grappling hook shot forward and hooked to the railing of the garden. With a pull, she was dragged through the air and over the garden, right as the next guard finally entered their shift.
She flew over the guard and landed right behind him without a sound. A quick glance at the guard showed that he hadn't noticed, making her smile.
With soundless steps, she retreated and turned into the doorway.
Entering the building, she quickly sneaked through the level. Careful to stay on the camera's blindspots, she maneuvered through the level expertly as if she had lived in the building for years.
The lack of attention or alarms showed that her research had paid off. The layout of the building, the camera's placements, the guards' patrol pathways, their shifts, and many more were all beaten into her head to ensure that the heist would go smoothly.
Of course, there was still the slim chance of her being found out, but what's life without some spice? It just made this more exciting.
Stopping to wait for the guards to walk away, she turned the corner and saw the tails of their coats turning into the other corner.
She smiled, just as predicted.
Quickly walking to the nearby doorway, she stared at the digital pad right beside it. If she remembered it right, it could only be accessed if you had the right keycard, access number, or the right thumbprint.
She didn't have any of the three.
Which was fine. Not that similar issues had ever stopped her before. Rummaging through her pouch, she pulled out a small black case the size of her three fingers. Sliding one side, it revealed a camera behind it. She held it to the digital pad and waited for a few seconds.
The case's purpose was quite simple, it helped detect residual heat. She had stolen the key component from some tech company (Hammer Industries was the name?) before she workshopped it to help her figure out possible access combinations. She had tested it out a few times and managed to hone it enough to be able to reliably use it.
She's not smart enough to be able to make something like this of course, which was why she had to ask someone else to get something like this working for her.
Phineas Mason was more than happy to flex his skills with the right amount of money.
The case flashed a mute red, making her smile as the numbers popped out on the other side of the case. She quickly inputted the number and entered the office with a twirl with no one wiser.
God, she loved her job.
Quickly she made her way through the fancy office, belonging to the CEO of the company himself of course, and sat down on the chair before opening up the computer.
She quickly pulled out a thumb drive, also courtesy of Mason, before inserting it into the laptop. The computer was quickly unlocked, before multiple tabs opened and terabytes of information started downloading onto the thumb drive.
Selling information wasn't exactly something she preferred; priceless artifacts were more her thing. But it was lucrative and she needed funds if she wanted to make this gig a long-term thing.
As she downloaded all the info, a name caught her eye.
'The Facility'
The simplicity of the name caught her attention. The other files at least had some fancy designation or something that gave a general description of what it was. But just The Facility?
Quickly opening the file, she gave it a quick read. As her eyes skimmed the material, she slowly narrowed her eyes as she realized what she had just read.
'No way…' She widened her eyes in shock.
Whatever this Facility was, they seemed to be pulling the strings behind this company. Using the name of this company to purchase out-of-the-way and obscure buildings for their operations, namely a mutant kidnapping ring.
This must be connected to the kidnapping ring that Spider-Man mentioned.
It was rather extensive too: she could see how the mutants were shipped off somewhere once they'd managed to get enough of them. She didn't know for what reason though but she could see there were other files that she hadn't touched yet.
Quickly opening those files, she slowly read through them. Dawning realization and dread slowly formed in her stomach as she saw bits and pieces of the full picture.
'Are they experimenting on them?'
It wasn't outright stated but there were enough bits and pieces on how certain weapons were created based on research on some subjects. It was enough to make her sick.
Part of her wanted to get out of here, to just use the little information she had and work with it. But another bigger part of her…
"And what do I get out of this?"
"My gratitude?"
She sighed as she checked the time left for the thumb drive to complete the download. It'd push her time window but she'd manage.
'Spider better be grateful for this.' She internally grumbled as she prepared herself for the long wait.
She wasn't even sure why she was doing this. The Facility was no joke from what she had read; they were way above her paygrade and would absolutely annihilate her if they knew what she had done. And here she was sticking her neck out for some guy.
Well…she couldn't really call Spider-Man some guy now could she? He was interesting and god knows he had been half the reason why she found this Black Cat gig so fun. Ghost Spider was nice too but she could do without the insults. She preferred quips in her chases even if they could be pretty bad.
Thinking of Spider-Man also led her to another significant male in her life.
Compared to Spider-Man, Peter Parker wasn't all that notable. But somehow she still got roped into his presence by his charms.
It…made things problematic she'd admit. She didn't like being Felicia Hardy, Felicia was weak and helpless. Black Cat helped free her and she saw herself as 'Black Cat' more than 'Felicia Hardy'.
She had the power to be free and Black Cat was her freedom.
And yet, Peter Parker wasn't part of her life as 'Black Cat'. He was part of her life as 'Felicia Hardy', the part of her life that she really didn't want to focus on. The part of her life that shackled her.
She sorely wanted to just…cut things off. She wasn't that close to Harry and messing with Gwen was more of a good way to pass the time. But Peter was another thing altogether. It was the sole part of her life that she genuinely enjoyed and it both irked and baffled her.
She leaned into her seat and sighed, wondering when her life got so complicated. She looked at the thumb drive and realized it had just finished.
She quickly grabbed it and shut down the computer. She made sure to erase all signs of her presence as best as she could before she left. She approached the door and listened carefully, determining that there were no footsteps, she opened the door and closed it silently behind her.
She quickly made her way through the building, careful to avoid the guards and cameras—
She froze as the alarms suddenly blared. She looked around in panic, what happened? Did she trip a wire? Was there a security system she didn't know about? Her mind went through multiple scenarios until she shunted it all off to the side just as fast.
She could figure out her mistake later, she needs to get out of here!
Deciding to ignore stealth, she immediately ran through the hallway. The sound of boots stomping and voices was behind her but she ignored it.
She maneuvered through the hallways, pausing at certain corners to let the guards run past her or crossing through rooms just to escape closing in guards.
Even with the danger, she couldn't help but grin. Heart beating inside her ears, the feeling of adrenaline as excitement coursed through her veins. The fear of getting caught, the thrill of narrowly making her escape.
This was what she lived for.
Her eyes shined as she saw her exit, but voices could be heard behind.
"Over there!"
They found her, it didn't matter. Freedom was close. And as Black Cat, she could take her freedom.
She booked it, ignoring the screams and commands for her to stop. She could see the guard at the garden widening their eyes and brandishing his baton as she came nearer.
He ran and she could see the prepared swing from a mile away. She slid, her body passing between his legs as he squawked. By the time she fully passed through, she pushed herself to her feet and hopped. Her legs deftly landed on the railing before jumping into the streets below.
The air rushed through her, her hair bellowed from the wind as she closed her eyes to soak in the feeling.
Freedom.
Shooting her grappling hook, she whooped as she swung.
Releasing her hook, she landed on the rooftop with a roll before continuing her run. Unlike her favorite Spider, she couldn't swing all the time or it would ruin her grappling hook. Those were used only when needed.
It did mean she could keep her parkour skills sharp.
Maneuvering through the roofs, she could hear the sound of a loud engine rolling down the street. Stopping on a nearby edge, her eyes widened when she saw multiple heavily armored vehicles rushing down the streets presumably chasing after her.
"All of this for little old me? They really shouldn't have." She chuckled as she continued to run, not for the last time being grateful for her superhuman abilities as she was making quite the getaway.
But it didn't stay long though, those cars were a lot faster than they looked and it didn't take long for them to drive right beside the buildings she was running on. The top of the vehicle suddenly opened and out was an armored guy with—-was that a bazooka?!
Before she could fully comprehend it, he fired the weapon. The rocket was launched, glowing bright blue before it suddenly split off into four shots. The mini rockets flew erratically in the air and above the roofs before they aimed straight at her.
'I can't dodge that—' Was her last thought before her vision suddenly shifted, the rockets flew past her and blew up the roof behind her.
She groaned as she sat up, rubbing her side as she looked around in wonder. "What the hell hit me?"
"I could do a repeat if you want a closer look." A familiar voice spoke up, turning to the source she could see the familiar form of Ghost Spider standing over her. "I won't even mind, really it'll be fun."
"Now now, Ghost. Play nice." Another more welcomed voice spoke up. She turned to the other side and noticed Spider-Man standing over her. "Now then Cat, mind telling me what you did that made people want to launch rockets at you? Because man, Spidey Sense was screaming at me how bad news those rockets are." He asked while offering his hand.
She took the offered hand gratefully, pulling herself up and deliberately closer to his chest. She could see Ghost growing irritated at that, much to her pleasure.
Though then again, being this close to her favorite Spider was also very welcomed.
"Trust me, Spider. I have been naughty for your sake this time." She smiled up at him, fully enjoying the size difference between them.
Before he could ask her more on that, the sound of whirring caught their ears. The three looked up and noticed multiple drones flying above them. The sound of guns cocking caused all three to sigh simultaneously.
"Great." They groaned.
The three moved as the drones shot down at them, quickly maneuvering through the roof until they found cover behind a huge water tank.
"Again, what the hell did you steal from them?!" Spider shouted while covering right beside her, the sound of bullets nearly drowning his voice if it weren't for how close they were.
"It's related to the kidnapping ring you told me about; I stole some info from them!" She answered, which quickly got both of their attention.
"That's good and all but what happened to being a cat burglar?! Stealth is your whole shtick!" He asked.
"You tell me! One moment I was walking out and the other the alarms suddenly tripped!"
"Guess you weren't as good as you thought!" Ghost quipped.
Before she could snark back at her, the two spiders tensed before jumping and dragging her away from the water tank. It was the right call as their previous spot exploded into a million pieces.
"That's the second time I saved you." Ghost sighed, looking down at the hand holding Black Cat's arm.
Black Cat gently pried it off. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd rather it be Spider too."
"Trust me, it would be so worth it to just leave you here." She grouched before glaring at Spider-Man. "The only reason I'm not is because someone thought it would be best to help you."
"Great power, great responsibility Ghost," Spider spoke with practiced ease as if they had repeated this conversation multiple times.
"I know." Ghost sighed.
Black Cat blinked at the saying, it sounded familiar. Where had she heard that before?
She couldn't think more about that before the two Spiders suddenly moved, Black Cat following right behind them since they were much aware of the danger around them.
The three jumped from the rooftop they were on and straight to the street, right as the roof behind them exploded.
Black Cat's hands unconsciously reached for Spider-Man as they were in the air, the vigilante didn't even hesitate to pull her closer. The three landed on the street safely, Spider holding Cat bridal style.
"My hero." She purred, her hand caressing his chest.
Spider-Man shook his head in amusement as he let her down while Ghost huffed in annoyance.
The three looked forward as the armored vehicles stopped before them, armed men rushing out of the vehicles as they aimed their weapons.
"Yeah, those are the same guys we're after alright," Spider noted before he spoke out loud. "Any chance we could talk this out?"
The sound of gun safeties turning off was all the answers they got.
"Welp, can't say I didn't try."
The three spurred into action the moment they opened fire. The two Spiders dodged the focused ripples with ease: sidestepping, twisting, and even jumping to avoid the shots. Black Cat on the other hand dodged with what could only be described as luck.
Compared to the vigilantes, she didn't need to do much maneuvering. She was still running and jumping but not to the extent of the other two spiders. By every right, the shots should have landed but they somehow kept slipping right past her. The soldiers aiming at her experienced enough difficulties to miss her. Light shining right on their eyes, their legs slipping and compromising their balance, their hold on the gun suddenly loosening. All of these miniature events were enough to keep Black Cat from getting shot.
Of course, her luck couldn't last forever. Even a Black Cat would soon run out of luck.
The burglar ran as she tried to follow the spiders, she paused for a moment to ready for another jump but that pause would doom her. Because she was too late to notice how one of them was waiting for the right opportunity.
Their grip secure, their sight clear. Black Cat widened her eyes as she realized her position too late.
'I'm gonna die—'
A red blur suddenly entered her field of view, kicking the soldier into the others before using the body as a springboard to rush toward her. Safe and secure warmth enveloped her as Spider-Man dragged her away from danger.
She released her breath unconsciously, staring at Spider's lenses with wide but adoring eyes.
The two landed right in the middle of the group.
"May I have this dance?" Spider bowed as the soldiers finally realized their presence.
"By all means, wow me." Black Cat smirked. The exhilaration of being alive and Spider's attitude swept her up into the flow.
The two suddenly turned, punching the soldiers behind them. They then retreated, twirling around each other as they kicked another opponent.
The two moved, their arms intertwined as they spun around each other before attacking an unfortunate soldier. Pulling each other closer as they danced their way through the soldiers, following an inner rhythm that only the two understood. They laugh in pure joy as they fight through the soldiers.
Yes, this was why Black Cat liked Spider-Man so much. Despite the veil of responsibility, there was this excitement, this sense of carefree that he brought along with him. The quips, the jokes, the joy of using their powers, all of them were part of Spider-Man and reminded her that there was another person who understood the freedom that she partakes in as Black Cat.
Ghost Spider watched from afar as she continued her work, her chest tightening as she watched how both synchronized with each other so well. As if they were made for each other…
The two separated but still followed the rhythm. Black Cat maneuvered around them, punching one soldier in the face, kicking another's legs before elbowing his throat, then grabbed the gun aimed right beside her, spinning to disarm the soldier before smacking the gun right to his face.
She gracefully moved, sidestepping into another soldier's space before kicking his side. The soldier crumpled, using his knees to support his suddenly weak body. Cat stepped on his thigh before jumping, somersaulting high in the air as she kicked the soldier away.
Her form flew into the air, her upside-down body shone underneath the full moon. Time slowed down as she immersed herself in the feeling, her eyes looking down onto the form of her partner, his crimson form still spinning with his arms out as if to mirror her.
For a moment, Black Cat closed her eyes in contentment.
Freedom.
So content, so secure in her freedom. She missed the soldier aiming their rockets at her.
"Cat!"
She opened her eyes in shock, quick to recognize the incoming glowing blue rockets but realizing that she couldn't maneuver herself out of the way in time.
Red blur tackled her, her eyes catching black plates forming on his back before he curled his body to protect her.
Her ears ring as heat and shockwaves run through them, the sound enough to drown out Ghost's scream. She could feel them fly through the air for a while before landing and rolling through the ground roughly.
Their bodies rolled until they finally stopped, Spider's arms moved away as Black Cat remained on top of him.
"Damn, that was rough." She coughed as she tried to regain her bearings. Part of her was still caught up by the recent high to still be joking around, but still conscious enough to be concerned over her partner (because after that dance of theirs, she couldn't call him anything but that). "You okay, Spider?"
No response.
The thief huffed, the high slowly going away as worry slowly grew. "Come on, no jokes?" She asked as her vision slowly became clearer.
Still no response.
"H-hey, this isn't funny." She stuttered, her hearing had returned enough to hear the sound of Ghost's angry screams and crackling electricity but she was more focused on the person below her.
Her vision slowly cleared but her concern remained as it slowly turned into fear.
Her vision finally cleared and she gasped at the sight before her.
She could see black plates all around his back peaking through the at the side but that was all she could see. The rest of his unprotected parts were fully burnt or torn, revealing the bloodied or red skin beneath.
But it wasn't just his extreme injuries that shocked her, it was his face.
Half of his mask was burnt off, showing off half of his bloodied face and brown hair. A face she would recognize anywhere.
"P-Peter…?" Her voice quivered. No longer was she Black Cat, the thief that embodied freedom. But back to the helpless and weak Felicia Hardy.
She shook his body, "Peter? Wake up!" She quivered, her eyes slowly turning blurry as she tried to wake him up. She shook him, hands on her face uncaring of the blood smearing her hands as she tried to wake him up but to no avail. "Please wake up!"
She quickly threw away her goggles but it did nothing to stop her blurry vision, tears now slowly trailing down her wet face.
"Felicia?"
She turned to the voice and saw Ghost Spider. The vigilante staring at her with wide lenses. She couldn't even process how she knew her, all she could think of was Peter's safety.
"Help," Was all she could say.
Ghost shook her head as she quickly knelt by her side, her arms holding Peter securely. "I know a place. Come on, we need to get him to safety."
Felicia could only nod, only a single thought coming through her mind.
'Nothing has changed…'
The two quickly run off into the night, plagued by worry for Peter and their self-doubts.
Peter and Felicia entered the museum, her arm around his as he was all but dragged inside by the excited girl.
They were here because Felicia wanted to go to an exhibit that was being held and she had an extra ticket. Gwen wasn't an option for obvious reasons and Harry had something to do for his father. So Peter was the only one left, something he didn't mind.
Peter looked to the side and noticed how beautiful Felicia looked. She wore a black shirt underneath a black leather jacket and pants that beautifully accentuated her curves. Her platinum blond hair was held in a ponytail. She also wore some makeup, black eyeliner that brought out her eyes and a little lipstick.
Compared to his rather casual wear of a red buttoned shirt and jeans, he felt rather underdressed for the occasion.
Peter looked around as Felicia nearly dragged him inside, already seeing the abundant posters and banners hanging around the room. Plenty of people were in the museum, probably also present for the exhibit.
"So what kind of stuff are they showing that got you so excited?" Peter asked curiously, not minding at all how one of their arms was intertwined.
Felicia turned to him with a large smile. "Ok so, they managed to dig up stuff from this ancient tribe."
"An ancient tribe?"
"Yeah, they weren't all that advanced admittedly but what's fascinating is that there are a lot of stories around them which some historians speculate to be the source of a lot of cultural practices," Felicia explained, clearly passionate about the topic.
Peter hummed. "That sounds pretty important."
"It is! Of course, they're all stories that were passed down through word of mouth and only got written down long after they were gone. So people weren't really sure if they were real or just some folklore that got passed down." Felicia elaborated as they finally entered the exhibit. "That is, until a few months ago when they unearthed the Amulet of Power. Or well, a really good replica of it."
The name caught his attention. "Amulet of Power?"
Felicia nodded. "They call it that because it supposedly holds the blessing of a powerful Tiger God and was bestowed on the tribe's greatest warriors. But before it was an amulet, it was an ancient tiger jade statue." Felicia's eyes looked to the side and gestured in the direction.
Peter turned and widened his eyes minutely, inside a glass case was what he assumed was a faithful recreation of the tiger statue. It was rather large, though not so large that you couldn't hold it with two hands comfortably. One if your hand was big enough. The statue depicted a tiger standing on its hind legs, the forelegs bearing on an unseen prey as its head roared.
Peter looked around and noticed there were other similar statues, with the difference being the head and front legs.
"Awful lot of copies for a single statue." Peter idly commented.
"Was getting to that actually," Felicia commented. "Before it became an amulet, the statue held the blessing of the Tiger God and offered the tribe protection against malignant spirits and curses. The statues you see right now are just depictions of what the statue might have looked like before it was broken."
Peter turned to her in surprise. "Broken?"
Felicia nodded. "Yep. Some of the other tribes got wind of the statue and wanted the power for themselves. So they tried to steal it but got fended off by the tribe, but the statue ended up broken after all was said and done."
Peter winced. "The god must not have been happy about that."
Felicia smiled. "Actually, they were pretty happy about it. The other tribes were constantly raiding them and it was wearing them down badly enough that it would have been better if they had just surrendered it to survive. But their loyalty and faith kept them going. The Tiger God, impressed by it, had the tribe's shaman turn the claws and head of the broken statue into three separate amulets. The shaman then gave the amulet to three of their greatest warriors to serve as their protectors."
The two stopped right as Felicia finished, Peter looked forward and saw said amulet in the glass cases. There were three separate glass cases, all holding what he assumed was a replica of the three amulets.
Two of them were identical, five yellow claws held together by a thin string. The final one merely had the tiger's head as part of the amulet, the head bearing intricate carvings of its stripes that made it look regal. All three amulets were laid on red pillows, placed with such care that no one would mistake the importance of the amulets to the museum.
Peter whistled, impressed by the artistry. "They're beautiful."
"Yeah, they are." She nodded. "Shame they are fakes."
Peter looked confused at that and turned to her. "Huh?"
"They're fakes." She repeated, though careful not to be too loud. "The museum probably has the actual thing stored somewhere but these are just replicas. They're probably still researching the real ones. It's also possible that the original is too brittle to display."
Peter gave her a weird look at that. "Aaand how do you know that? Actually, how do you even know all these things?" Peter asked as he looked around curiously, part of him a bit surprised by how passionate she was about this as she never made any mention of it.
The people around them either had the staff guiding and explaining things to them or just using the guide pamphlet the museum had prepared. Felicia didn't bother with both as she was guiding him through the museum and telling him the history of this tribe with practiced ease.
"Oh, my parents were huge history buffs. My dad is a private collector and my mother used to tell me a lot of stories since her side of the family took their culture seriously. In fact, this tribe was one of her favorites and told me a lot about it." She reminisced, a hint of something bittersweet could be heard in her tone.
Peter noticed the change and gripped their still-linked hands in an attempt to get her mind off it. "Well then, I guess you still have a lot to show me then."
Felicia turned to him in surprise. "Really?"
"Yeah, come on there's still a lot around here to cover."
"O-okay." It was clear she didn't expect him to be genuinely interested but the sudden change caused a massive smile on her face.
The two continued to walk around the exhibit, Felicia excitedly explaining and showing off the things around the museum while Peter patiently listened and even asked a few questions. The two of them talked, took some pictures together, and had fun with each other.
Once they had seen everything there was to see, the two exited the museum.
"Thanks for this, Pete. I…needed it." She admitted hesitantly.
Peter raised an eyebrow but didn't push. "No problem Felicia. So where to now?"
Felicia hummed, unsure herself. Her eyes flitted around and stayed on the building a ways down for a bit.
Peter turned to the direction slightly and blinked. It was a company building and didn't seem to be all that remarkable, but he could see that Felicia was considering the building for a moment before she shook her head.
"How about some food? I'm starving." Felicia suggested.
Peter wondered why she was studying the building that extensively. "Ooookay? Any ideas?"
"Not much, you?"
Peter gave her a confident smile, years of living and saving New York had led to him knowing all the good places.
"I got a few ideas. You feeling Chinese or Mexican?"
"Either works."
"Mexican then, I know just the place!"
Felicia nudged their still intertwined hands, something he didn't mind.
"Lead the way then."
[-]
Felicia, or the Black Cat currently, hummed contemplatively as she sat on top of the rooftops. Her eyes gazed at the company building that she had seen earlier when she was out with Peter.
At first, she had wanted to stake out the place while using her outing with Peter as a cover. She didn't expect to genuinely enjoy it though, which led to her abandoning her original plan and just enjoying her time with Pete.
She unconsciously smiled when reminded of it. It was fun and definitely something she'd like to do again.
But of course, this did lead to her pushing up her heist date, so she had to scramble to get her preparations up to snuff just so this heist went well.
Black Cat noticed that the guard's shift was finally changing.
'Go time.'
She quickly ran, jumping through the roofs until she stopped. Right beside the roof was an open area that looked like a roof garden at the side of the building.
With a flick of her wrist, her grappling hook shot forward and hooked to the railing of the garden. With a pull, she was dragged through the air and over the garden, right as the next guard finally entered their shift.
She flew over the guard and landed right behind him without a sound. A quick glance at the guard showed that he hadn't noticed, making her smile.
With soundless steps, she retreated and turned into the doorway.
Entering the building, she quickly sneaked through the level. Careful to stay on the camera's blindspots, she maneuvered through the level expertly as if she had lived in the building for years.
The lack of attention or alarms showed that her research had paid off. The layout of the building, the camera's placements, the guards' patrol pathways, their shifts, and many more were all beaten into her head to ensure that the heist would go smoothly.
Of course, there was still the slim chance of her being found out, but what's life without some spice? It just made this more exciting.
Stopping to wait for the guards to walk away, she turned the corner and saw the tails of their coats turning into the other corner.
She smiled, just as predicted.
Quickly walking to the nearby doorway, she stared at the digital pad right beside it. If she remembered it right, it could only be accessed if you had the right keycard, access number, or the right thumbprint.
She didn't have any of the three.
Which was fine. Not that similar issues had ever stopped her before. Rummaging through her pouch, she pulled out a small black case the size of her three fingers. Sliding one side, it revealed a camera behind it. She held it to the digital pad and waited for a few seconds.
The case's purpose was quite simple, it helped detect residual heat. She had stolen the key component from some tech company (Hammer Industries was the name?) before she workshopped it to help her figure out possible access combinations. She had tested it out a few times and managed to hone it enough to be able to reliably use it.
She's not smart enough to be able to make something like this of course, which was why she had to ask someone else to get something like this working for her.
Phineas Mason was more than happy to flex his skills with the right amount of money.
The case flashed a mute red, making her smile as the numbers popped out on the other side of the case. She quickly inputted the number and entered the office with a twirl with no one wiser.
God, she loved her job.
Quickly she made her way through the fancy office, belonging to the CEO of the company himself of course, and sat down on the chair before opening up the computer.
She quickly pulled out a thumb drive, also courtesy of Mason, before inserting it into the laptop. The computer was quickly unlocked, before multiple tabs opened and terabytes of information started downloading onto the thumb drive.
Selling information wasn't exactly something she preferred; priceless artifacts were more her thing. But it was lucrative and she needed funds if she wanted to make this gig a long-term thing.
As she downloaded all the info, a name caught her eye.
'The Facility'
The simplicity of the name caught her attention. The other files at least had some fancy designation or something that gave a general description of what it was. But just The Facility?
Quickly opening the file, she gave it a quick read. As her eyes skimmed the material, she slowly narrowed her eyes as she realized what she had just read.
'No way…' She widened her eyes in shock.
Whatever this Facility was, they seemed to be pulling the strings behind this company. Using the name of this company to purchase out-of-the-way and obscure buildings for their operations, namely a mutant kidnapping ring.
This must be connected to the kidnapping ring that Spider-Man mentioned.
It was rather extensive too: she could see how the mutants were shipped off somewhere once they'd managed to get enough of them. She didn't know for what reason though but she could see there were other files that she hadn't touched yet.
Quickly opening those files, she slowly read through them. Dawning realization and dread slowly formed in her stomach as she saw bits and pieces of the full picture.
'Are they experimenting on them?'
It wasn't outright stated but there were enough bits and pieces on how certain weapons were created based on research on some subjects. It was enough to make her sick.
Part of her wanted to get out of here, to just use the little information she had and work with it. But another bigger part of her…
"And what do I get out of this?"
"My gratitude?"
She sighed as she checked the time left for the thumb drive to complete the download. It'd push her time window but she'd manage.
'Spider better be grateful for this.' She internally grumbled as she prepared herself for the long wait.
She wasn't even sure why she was doing this. The Facility was no joke from what she had read; they were way above her paygrade and would absolutely annihilate her if they knew what she had done. And here she was sticking her neck out for some guy.
Well…she couldn't really call Spider-Man some guy now could she? He was interesting and god knows he had been half the reason why she found this Black Cat gig so fun. Ghost Spider was nice too but she could do without the insults. She preferred quips in her chases even if they could be pretty bad.
Thinking of Spider-Man also led her to another significant male in her life.
Compared to Spider-Man, Peter Parker wasn't all that notable. But somehow she still got roped into his presence by his charms.
It…made things problematic she'd admit. She didn't like being Felicia Hardy, Felicia was weak and helpless. Black Cat helped free her and she saw herself as 'Black Cat' more than 'Felicia Hardy'.
She had the power to be free and Black Cat was her freedom.
And yet, Peter Parker wasn't part of her life as 'Black Cat'. He was part of her life as 'Felicia Hardy', the part of her life that she really didn't want to focus on. The part of her life that shackled her.
She sorely wanted to just…cut things off. She wasn't that close to Harry and messing with Gwen was more of a good way to pass the time. But Peter was another thing altogether. It was the sole part of her life that she genuinely enjoyed and it both irked and baffled her.
She leaned into her seat and sighed, wondering when her life got so complicated. She looked at the thumb drive and realized it had just finished.
She quickly grabbed it and shut down the computer. She made sure to erase all signs of her presence as best as she could before she left. She approached the door and listened carefully, determining that there were no footsteps, she opened the door and closed it silently behind her.
She quickly made her way through the building, careful to avoid the guards and cameras—
She froze as the alarms suddenly blared. She looked around in panic, what happened? Did she trip a wire? Was there a security system she didn't know about? Her mind went through multiple scenarios until she shunted it all off to the side just as fast.
She could figure out her mistake later, she needs to get out of here!
Deciding to ignore stealth, she immediately ran through the hallway. The sound of boots stomping and voices was behind her but she ignored it.
She maneuvered through the hallways, pausing at certain corners to let the guards run past her or crossing through rooms just to escape closing in guards.
Even with the danger, she couldn't help but grin. Heart beating inside her ears, the feeling of adrenaline as excitement coursed through her veins. The fear of getting caught, the thrill of narrowly making her escape.
This was what she lived for.
Her eyes shined as she saw her exit, but voices could be heard behind.
"Over there!"
They found her, it didn't matter. Freedom was close. And as Black Cat, she could take her freedom.
She booked it, ignoring the screams and commands for her to stop. She could see the guard at the garden widening their eyes and brandishing his baton as she came nearer.
He ran and she could see the prepared swing from a mile away. She slid, her body passing between his legs as he squawked. By the time she fully passed through, she pushed herself to her feet and hopped. Her legs deftly landed on the railing before jumping into the streets below.
The air rushed through her, her hair bellowed from the wind as she closed her eyes to soak in the feeling.
Freedom.
Shooting her grappling hook, she whooped as she swung.
Releasing her hook, she landed on the rooftop with a roll before continuing her run. Unlike her favorite Spider, she couldn't swing all the time or it would ruin her grappling hook. Those were used only when needed.
It did mean she could keep her parkour skills sharp.
Maneuvering through the roofs, she could hear the sound of a loud engine rolling down the street. Stopping on a nearby edge, her eyes widened when she saw multiple heavily armored vehicles rushing down the streets presumably chasing after her.
"All of this for little old me? They really shouldn't have." She chuckled as she continued to run, not for the last time being grateful for her superhuman abilities as she was making quite the getaway.
But it didn't stay long though, those cars were a lot faster than they looked and it didn't take long for them to drive right beside the buildings she was running on. The top of the vehicle suddenly opened and out was an armored guy with—-was that a bazooka?!
Before she could fully comprehend it, he fired the weapon. The rocket was launched, glowing bright blue before it suddenly split off into four shots. The mini rockets flew erratically in the air and above the roofs before they aimed straight at her.
'I can't dodge that—' Was her last thought before her vision suddenly shifted, the rockets flew past her and blew up the roof behind her.
She groaned as she sat up, rubbing her side as she looked around in wonder. "What the hell hit me?"
"I could do a repeat if you want a closer look." A familiar voice spoke up, turning to the source she could see the familiar form of Ghost Spider standing over her. "I won't even mind, really it'll be fun."
"Now now, Ghost. Play nice." Another more welcomed voice spoke up. She turned to the other side and noticed Spider-Man standing over her. "Now then Cat, mind telling me what you did that made people want to launch rockets at you? Because man, Spidey Sense was screaming at me how bad news those rockets are." He asked while offering his hand.
She took the offered hand gratefully, pulling herself up and deliberately closer to his chest. She could see Ghost growing irritated at that, much to her pleasure.
Though then again, being this close to her favorite Spider was also very welcomed.
"Trust me, Spider. I have been naughty for your sake this time." She smiled up at him, fully enjoying the size difference between them.
Before he could ask her more on that, the sound of whirring caught their ears. The three looked up and noticed multiple drones flying above them. The sound of guns cocking caused all three to sigh simultaneously.
"Great." They groaned.
The three moved as the drones shot down at them, quickly maneuvering through the roof until they found cover behind a huge water tank.
"Again, what the hell did you steal from them?!" Spider shouted while covering right beside her, the sound of bullets nearly drowning his voice if it weren't for how close they were.
"It's related to the kidnapping ring you told me about; I stole some info from them!" She answered, which quickly got both of their attention.
"That's good and all but what happened to being a cat burglar?! Stealth is your whole shtick!" He asked.
"You tell me! One moment I was walking out and the other the alarms suddenly tripped!"
"Guess you weren't as good as you thought!" Ghost quipped.
Before she could snark back at her, the two spiders tensed before jumping and dragging her away from the water tank. It was the right call as their previous spot exploded into a million pieces.
"That's the second time I saved you." Ghost sighed, looking down at the hand holding Black Cat's arm.
Black Cat gently pried it off. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd rather it be Spider too."
"Trust me, it would be so worth it to just leave you here." She grouched before glaring at Spider-Man. "The only reason I'm not is because someone thought it would be best to help you."
"Great power, great responsibility Ghost," Spider spoke with practiced ease as if they had repeated this conversation multiple times.
"I know." Ghost sighed.
Black Cat blinked at the saying, it sounded familiar. Where had she heard that before?
She couldn't think more about that before the two Spiders suddenly moved, Black Cat following right behind them since they were much aware of the danger around them.
The three jumped from the rooftop they were on and straight to the street, right as the roof behind them exploded.
Black Cat's hands unconsciously reached for Spider-Man as they were in the air, the vigilante didn't even hesitate to pull her closer. The three landed on the street safely, Spider holding Cat bridal style.
"My hero." She purred, her hand caressing his chest.
Spider-Man shook his head in amusement as he let her down while Ghost huffed in annoyance.
The three looked forward as the armored vehicles stopped before them, armed men rushing out of the vehicles as they aimed their weapons.
"Yeah, those are the same guys we're after alright," Spider noted before he spoke out loud. "Any chance we could talk this out?"
The sound of gun safeties turning off was all the answers they got.
"Welp, can't say I didn't try."
The three spurred into action the moment they opened fire. The two Spiders dodged the focused ripples with ease: sidestepping, twisting, and even jumping to avoid the shots. Black Cat on the other hand dodged with what could only be described as luck.
Compared to the vigilantes, she didn't need to do much maneuvering. She was still running and jumping but not to the extent of the other two spiders. By every right, the shots should have landed but they somehow kept slipping right past her. The soldiers aiming at her experienced enough difficulties to miss her. Light shining right on their eyes, their legs slipping and compromising their balance, their hold on the gun suddenly loosening. All of these miniature events were enough to keep Black Cat from getting shot.
Of course, her luck couldn't last forever. Even a Black Cat would soon run out of luck.
The burglar ran as she tried to follow the spiders, she paused for a moment to ready for another jump but that pause would doom her. Because she was too late to notice how one of them was waiting for the right opportunity.
Their grip secure, their sight clear. Black Cat widened her eyes as she realized her position too late.
'I'm gonna die—'
A red blur suddenly entered her field of view, kicking the soldier into the others before using the body as a springboard to rush toward her. Safe and secure warmth enveloped her as Spider-Man dragged her away from danger.
She released her breath unconsciously, staring at Spider's lenses with wide but adoring eyes.
The two landed right in the middle of the group.
"May I have this dance?" Spider bowed as the soldiers finally realized their presence.
"By all means, wow me." Black Cat smirked. The exhilaration of being alive and Spider's attitude swept her up into the flow.
The two suddenly turned, punching the soldiers behind them. They then retreated, twirling around each other as they kicked another opponent.
The two moved, their arms intertwined as they spun around each other before attacking an unfortunate soldier. Pulling each other closer as they danced their way through the soldiers, following an inner rhythm that only the two understood. They laugh in pure joy as they fight through the soldiers.
Yes, this was why Black Cat liked Spider-Man so much. Despite the veil of responsibility, there was this excitement, this sense of carefree that he brought along with him. The quips, the jokes, the joy of using their powers, all of them were part of Spider-Man and reminded her that there was another person who understood the freedom that she partakes in as Black Cat.
Ghost Spider watched from afar as she continued her work, her chest tightening as she watched how both synchronized with each other so well. As if they were made for each other…
The two separated but still followed the rhythm. Black Cat maneuvered around them, punching one soldier in the face, kicking another's legs before elbowing his throat, then grabbed the gun aimed right beside her, spinning to disarm the soldier before smacking the gun right to his face.
She gracefully moved, sidestepping into another soldier's space before kicking his side. The soldier crumpled, using his knees to support his suddenly weak body. Cat stepped on his thigh before jumping, somersaulting high in the air as she kicked the soldier away.
Her form flew into the air, her upside-down body shone underneath the full moon. Time slowed down as she immersed herself in the feeling, her eyes looking down onto the form of her partner, his crimson form still spinning with his arms out as if to mirror her.
For a moment, Black Cat closed her eyes in contentment.
Freedom.
So content, so secure in her freedom. She missed the soldier aiming their rockets at her.
"Cat!"
She opened her eyes in shock, quick to recognize the incoming glowing blue rockets but realizing that she couldn't maneuver herself out of the way in time.
Red blur tackled her, her eyes catching black plates forming on his back before he curled his body to protect her.
Her ears ring as heat and shockwaves run through them, the sound enough to drown out Ghost's scream. She could feel them fly through the air for a while before landing and rolling through the ground roughly.
Their bodies rolled until they finally stopped, Spider's arms moved away as Black Cat remained on top of him.
"Damn, that was rough." She coughed as she tried to regain her bearings. Part of her was still caught up by the recent high to still be joking around, but still conscious enough to be concerned over her partner (because after that dance of theirs, she couldn't call him anything but that). "You okay, Spider?"
No response.
The thief huffed, the high slowly going away as worry slowly grew. "Come on, no jokes?" She asked as her vision slowly became clearer.
Still no response.
"H-hey, this isn't funny." She stuttered, her hearing had returned enough to hear the sound of Ghost's angry screams and crackling electricity but she was more focused on the person below her.
Her vision slowly cleared but her concern remained as it slowly turned into fear.
Her vision finally cleared and she gasped at the sight before her.
She could see black plates all around his back peaking through the at the side but that was all she could see. The rest of his unprotected parts were fully burnt or torn, revealing the bloodied or red skin beneath.
But it wasn't just his extreme injuries that shocked her, it was his face.
Half of his mask was burnt off, showing off half of his bloodied face and brown hair. A face she would recognize anywhere.
"P-Peter…?" Her voice quivered. No longer was she Black Cat, the thief that embodied freedom. But back to the helpless and weak Felicia Hardy.
She shook his body, "Peter? Wake up!" She quivered, her eyes slowly turning blurry as she tried to wake him up. She shook him, hands on her face uncaring of the blood smearing her hands as she tried to wake him up but to no avail. "Please wake up!"
She quickly threw away her goggles but it did nothing to stop her blurry vision, tears now slowly trailing down her wet face.
"Felicia?"
She turned to the voice and saw Ghost Spider. The vigilante staring at her with wide lenses. She couldn't even process how she knew her, all she could think of was Peter's safety.
"Help," Was all she could say.
Ghost shook her head as she quickly knelt by her side, her arms holding Peter securely. "I know a place. Come on, we need to get him to safety."
Felicia could only nod, only a single thought coming through her mind.
'Nothing has changed…'
The two quickly run off into the night, plagued by worry for Peter and their self-doubts.
Chapter 13 - Stand Alone, My Soul Is Jealous
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Chapter 13 - Stand Alone, My Soul Is Jealous
Emma glanced at Peter's unconscious body, the young man deep asleep while his injuries visibly closed at a decent rate. Seeing his regeneration at work was as fascinating as it was morbid.
Currently, they had laid him on Bobby's bed. The additional train cart had a solid wall separating it into two. One side was for Bobby and Forge while the other was for her and Jean's personal use.
While Peter was making her worried, there was another issue that she couldn't ignore.
She glanced at the two other occupants in the room, both sitting on opposite sides of the bed. Ghost Spider, or Gwen Stacy since she had unmasked herself, glared at the other occupant, who was more focused on Peter.
The target of Gwen's ire however ignored her, the woman sitting beside Peter with clear worry and guilt, holding his hand like a lifeline.
It was obvious to Emma there was a history between the three. She assumed the thief was the Felicia Hardy that Peter mentioned a few times.
With how angry Gwen looked and how guilty Felicia acted, they had known each other long enough for things to get this serious. While she couldn't tell why Gwen was angry, the clear concern from the thief was enough for her to realize that she at least held Peter close to her heart.
Felicia finally noticed the glare, avoiding Gwen's piercing eyes and glancing at Emma.
"So does everyone here know each other?" She curiously asked.
There was a pause, Gwen still glaring at her and refusing to answer. Emma sighed and answered instead. "Yes. We didn't at first until everyone realized how difficult it is to wait for three people to get into costume before getting anything done. Especially since this was supposed to be their base and we're just hiding here."
That was an experience, she and Jean had already known about Peter but it was amusing to see Bobby and Forge realize that the vigilantes were around their age.
Felicia snorted before glancing at Peter. "Yeah, that sounds like a hassle."
Gwen finally decided to speak. "You got nothing to say for yourself?"
"What is there to say?" Felicia sighed somberly.
"Oh, I don't know, the fact that you're a thief?"
"Coming from the vigilante?" Felicia shot back, clearly not taking her words well. "Let's not act like I'm the only one breaking the law here. Which is impressive since only one of us here has a police captain as their dad."
"We help people. You steal from them." Gwen stressed.
"Can't deny that. But then again, some people might even say you're doing more harm than good. At least when I steal things, it doesn't hurt anyone." Felicia criticizes.
"You're gonna parrot Jameson of all people?" Gwen asked incredulously. "And how are you so sure you didn't hurt anyone huh? Or did you miss the guy that tanked missiles for you right here?!"
Felicia winced at that, guiltily looking over Peter's unconscious body before her eyes steeled. Glaring at Gwen with anger.
Emma couldn't help but find that look worrying.
"Funny you should say that because I could say the same to you."
"What?"
"You're supposed to be his partner right? Someone who watches his back? Where were you huh?"
"I–" Gwen hesitated, hesitation that Felicia pounced on.
"Maybe that's why Peter relied on me so much. All you could do was follow his orders like a good little dog, but when he needed you, you couldn't even do anything!"
Blue sparks erupted around Gwen as she glared. "Watch your words, Hardy."
The whole cart shook as Felicia met her glare with equal intensity. "Or what, Stacy?"
"You–"
"Alright, enough." Emma cut off Gwen's growl. "If you want to argue, get out. If you can't even see past your mistakes and play the blame game, do it somewhere else. Don't disturb Peter with all your bickering."
The two quiet down at that, Emma's words smashing down on them like falling bricks. It was true, they were just lashing out right now. The tension was still there but cooled off a little from the reprimand. Their worry over Peter also won over whatever problems they had with each other.
"Hrrm, kinda too late for that."
The three looked to Peter, who was slowly waking up.
"Peter!" Both Gwen and Felicia immediately got closer.
"Woah! Some space, please. I like the attention but my headache is a killer right now." Peter waved the two off as he sat upright, the girls complied and let him have his space.
Peter rubbed his eyes a little to help fight off the headache before he gave his surroundings a proper look. He turned to Gwen, then Emma before pausing at Felicia. He gave her a confused blink, his eyes looking over her until the familiar costume helped him connect the dots easily.
"You're Black Cat?" Peter asked incredulously.
"Surprise?" Felicia smiled sheepishly.
"The white hair really should have been obvious…" Peter muttered as he shook his head incredulously, which made Felicia scoff in amusement.
He looked back at her, there was a hint of unsureness and…disappointment. Felicia couldn't believe how much the look affected her. Seeing Peter look at her like that…it sucked.
"You okay?" Peter asked.
"You just tanked missiles and you're asking me?" Felicia asked incredulously, which Emma mirrored.
"And whose fault is that?" Gwen piped in, which made Felicia growl.
"Okay, what's your problem?" Felicia heatedly asked.
"Is it not obvious already?" Gwen shot back, the two stood up from their seats and stared each other down. "You hid the fact that you're a thief and it's because of you that Peter got hurt. I have plenty of problems with you."
"That last heist was for you two if you bothered to ask. I busted my ass doing what Peter asked of me. Some thanks would be appreciated." Felicia defended herself as she pulled out a pen drive.
"Oh you helped us and now we're going to sweep everything under the rug? No, I don't think so." Gwen narrowed her eyes.
"Look, I fucked up. I get that." Felicia gave a minute guilt-ridden glance at Peter before glaring back at Gwen. "But I'm not gonna sit down and take this shit lying down because I'm not the only one that hid secrets from their friends."
The two glared at each other, hands clenched into fists until enough was enough.
"Alright, that's it!" Emma clapped her hands to catch their attention, Peter wincing slightly from the sound due to his headache. She glanced at Gwen. "Gwen, out."
Gwen turned to her in shock. "What?!"
"I said out. We're gonna talk." Emma didn't bother waiting for her answer as she turned around and left the room.
Gwen turned to Peter, the young man shrugging helplessly as he tried to nurse his headache. "Hey, you heard her."
Gwen sighed in frustration but decided to follow Emma and see what she had to say. She walked past Felicia, their eyes locking for a moment before breaking.
The two watched Gwen leave, giving the two another glance before fully leaving.
The moment the door closed, Peter turned to Felicia. "Told you, you gotta ease up on her."
Felicia rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up. How much did you hear anyway?"
"Enough." Peter's answer made Felicia sigh, falling and slumping into her seat. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't blame you." Felicia turned to him with slight surprise. Peter just shrugged at her. "I chose to jump and save you, Felicia. You have nothing to be guilty about since that choice is fully on me."
Felicia turned away from that. "If I had been more careful, then you wouldn't even have to make that choice."
Peter thought about it but shrugged. "Maybe, but I'll often have that kind of choice in this line of work. A choice on whether to save myself or help other people. Between me and them, I'll choose them every time."
Felicia paused at that and stared at him consideringly. "But why? These people, they haven't done anything for you. You don't owe them anything!"
"It's not a matter of owing someone, it's a matter of responsibility." Peter shook his head. "I have these amazing powers and it's my responsibility to use them for good."
"And going around in a mask is your way of using it for good?" Felicia asked with mirth.
Peter chuckled. "Yeah, the only way I know how. At the moment, anyways…"
Felicia raised an eyebrow. "At the moment?"
Peter waved it off. "Not important. At least not now." He grunted as he stood up. Felicia would have been distracted by his tattered suit barely clinging and revealing his toned body but her concern overrides that.
"Woah hey!" Felicia held her hands out to him in alarm, "You sure you should be standing right now?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, I won't get anything done if I stay here."
"In that costume?" She asked while looking down at his tattered clothing.
Peter shrugged. "There's a Fabricator that can fix it up, though I think an upgrade might be needed in the future…" He contemplated before he shook his head and focused back on her. "You said you were stealing something for us right?"
Felicia looked at him, unsure if she should believe him before she sighed. She held up the pendrive and offered it to him. "I didn't see much but there was a file called The Facility. Horrible shit inside thought it's enough to point you in the right direction."
Peter grabbed it but didn't pull it away, his eyes staring at Felicia's questioningly. "Just me?"
Felicia raised an eyebrow. "What? You want me to join? You do realize I'm a thief right? Not a fighter."
"A thief that somehow kept up with two superhumans." Peter countered. "You should see how mad Gwen gets every time you escape."
"Trust me, I know." The two chuckled before they calmed down, staring into each other's eyes as they kept their hold on the pendrive. "You know things aren't going back to normal after this."
"I expect that much." Peter sighed.
"You're a vigilante, Gwen is your partner and I think I saw Harry. That was Harry right?" Peter nodded. "Good, I wasn't seeing things."
Silence fell, both of them unsure what to say.
"...You know I'm not gonna let you go around stealing things anymore right?" Peter suddenly spoke. "I'm not gonna toss you into prison if that's what you're worried about but I'm still gonna stop you."
"Yeah, I figured. But it's not like I'm gonna roll over and listen."
"The Black Cat is only in it for the excitement right?"
"Yeah." Felicia nodded, a bit subdued. "For the freedom…and look where that got you."
"I told you, I don't blame you for that."
"Yeah well, I blame myself."
Peter looked down at that. "Guilt. Yeah, I know how that feels."
"Know how to deal with it?"
Peter shook his head. "No. But it does get easier. You just gotta keep making up for it."
"Make it up how?"
"I'm the wrong person to ask that since this is the only way I know how." He gestured to his suit.
Felicia looked at it and shook her head. "Yeah, I'm not doing that. Not a goody two shoes like you."
"Why not? Give it a go, it's not like you won't get any excitement from it."
Felicia opened her mouth before she paused, considering it momentarily. "Well…I'd be keeping an eye on you as well."
"Me?"
"You said making up for it helps make it easier right? Consider this me repaying my debt."
Peter blinked before he chuckled. "So what? A temporary partnership?"
"Something like that. A truce. I help you with this whole kidnapping ring and you help me…I dunno, show me how heroes have fun or something?"
"I'll take it."
The two chuckled at that, content yet unsure of their bond's future.
[-]
While Felicia and Peter had their heart-to-heart, Emma and Gwen were staring each other down near the entrance of their base.
They stared at each other for a moment longer before Emma spoke.
"You were out of line."
Gwen scoffed. "I was out of line? She's a thief!"
"And no one denied that. But there is a better way to go at it." Emma rebuked before she narrowed her eyes. "Though then again, this wasn't about her being a thief in the first place, am I right?"
Gwen froze before glaring at her. "What are you talking about?"
"Peter talks about it sometimes, how you and Felicia keep arguing with each other. He suspected something but it's clear to me when I see it for myself. You're jealous of Felicia." Emma spoke. It wasn't a question but a matter of statement. As if she was sure of what she was saying.
"What would I be jealous of her for?!" Gwen defensively asked.
"Plenty of things, though I suspect it has something to do with Peter. Anyone with working eyes can see how much you two care about him."
"I— You—" Gwen sputtered, unsure how to even respond to the blunt yet precise dissection of her.
Emma sighed. "I don't care about your business with Felicia, but it became my business when it concerns Peter. Your problems with her are clouding you and it will affect your performance out there. One slip up and it could endanger Peter. It already happened with Felicia, why won't it happen with you?"
Gwen fell silent at that, whatever anger she had for Emma immediately cooled at the thought of endangering Peter.
"...what about Felicia then? Why are you telling me this?" Gwen asked almost petulantly.
"I have my problems with her but it's clear she's aware of what she did. The problem right now is you, Gwen. You either settle your problems with Felicia or I'll do it for you."
Gwen thought it over. Reflecting on her past interactions with Felicia both in and out of the mask and realized that Emma was right. It had been building up for a while and if she kept this up, it might actually happen at the worst time and endanger Peter and everyone.
Gwen sighed. "Yeah, I get it. Didn't have to be a bitch about it…"
Emma scoffed in amusement. "I prefer to be blunt, help cut through the bullshit."
Gwen couldn't deny that, it was pretty effective.
With nothing left to say, Emma turned and walked away. But before she could leave-
"Hey, Emma." Gwen called.
Emma turned. "What is it?"
Gwen hesitated for a few seconds before smiling at her. "Thanks, I owe you one."
Emma gave her a soft grin. "Just keep covering Peter's back and I'll call it even. You're not the only one that's worried about him."
Gwen nodded at that as Emma left, she could definitely do that.
[-]
Peter, now properly dressed in new clothing, and Felicia entered another cart. The occupants inside immediately zeroed in on them.
"Peter!" Jean called out in a mix of relief and worry, "You okay? I wanted to check on you but Emma told me to wait outside." she spoke as she quickly hugged him.
Peter was surprised by the hug but returned it a second later. "Yeah, I'm fine Jean. Gonna take a lot more than that to take me down."
Harry snorted from his seat. "He took a rocket to the face and he's asking for more."
Peter rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."
Felicia chuckled which attracted Harry's attention. "Don't think I forgot you, Hardy. Stealing? Really? I thought you were loaded?"
Felicia could tell that he was mostly joking but also wanted some answers. Felicia just shrugged at him. "Peter didn't tell you much about me?"
"He told me you do it because you're an adrenaline junkie if that's what you meant."
Felicia sent an affronted look towards Peter, who raised his hand in defense. "Hey, I didn't say that!"
"He's right, I did." Harry smirked.
"Well…you're not wrong." She admitted. She could see the disappointed frown from Harry, which hurt a little. Not as much as Peter's did but it was there.
To quickly change the subject she realized that Jean was still hugging Peter.
"And who's the cute redhead here? Should I be worried?" She asked with a teasing smile.
Jean realized how long she was hugging Peter and quickly pulled away. Peter was a bit disappointed by it if he was being honest.
"Oh, I'm, uh, I'm Jean Grey. That's Bobby and Forge. And you're Black Cat right?" Jean introduced them shyly, Bobby and Forge waved at her shyly as well as they were introduced. Felicia's beauty clearly has an effect on all three of them.
Jean couldn't help but feel a bit nervous standing in front of Felicia. Frankly speaking, Felicia was making her realize a few things about herself if she was being honest.
"One and only, but you guys can just call me Felicia Hardy." She winked at her, which brought a slight blush to Jean. "Oh, she's cute, Spider. Can I keep her?" She turned to Peter with a grin.
Peter sighed. "Slavery was abolished a long time ago, Fel."
Felicia hummed. "A shame, I wouldn't mind you leashing me." She winked.
"Would it make you behave?" Peter continued as if it was normal.
"Nope, but I won't mind some discipline." She tittered.
"Okay, cut the shit. We have guests here, please." Harry begged.
The two looked at their surroundings, Forge and Bobby looked at him like he was their god for being able to flirt with such a beautiful woman like that.
Jean on the other hand was looking at the both of them with a bright blush.
"Right, sorry." Peter chuckled sheepishly.
The door opened which attracted their attention, Emma walked in but Gwen was nowhere in sight.
"Emma, where's Gwen?" Peter asked.
"Taking some space for herself." Emma answered as she walked in and took a nearby seat.
"Did the talk go well?" Peter asked with some concern.
Emma nodded. "As well as it could have. She should be here in a few minutes."
As if on cue, the door opened and Gwen entered.
Tension rose when Gwen and Felicia locked eyes, both of them tensed and ready in case the other decided to continue where they last left off.
Felicia glanced at Peter, and the webhead gave her a look as he mouthed 'play nice' to her. She rolled her eyes but complied, sending a tense grin Gwen's way.
Gwen seemed to relax as well at that. "We'll talk later."
Felicia blinked at that but nodded, grateful for the olive branch. "Alright then."
And just like that, the tension dissipated. Gwen walked and stood beside Felicia like they weren't just at each other's throats a few minutes ago.
"Oookay." Harry awkwardly looked at the two before deciding to ignore them would be a better choice. "So, with everyone here, got anything new to talk about?"
Peter nodded as he pulled out Felicia's Pendrive. "Right, Black Cat or Felicia here–" He gestured to the woman, who waved at everyone. "—managed to get her hands on this. Felicia said there's a file labeled The Facility that could put us on the right track." Peter spoke as he handed it to Harry.
"Careful, it ain't pretty." Felicia warned.
Harry scrunched up his face at that but sat down on the rolling chair and plugged it in anyway. Everyone waited as he surfed through the file to see what lead he would find. He was getting a lot better with it after some pointers from Peter.
They waited for a few minutes but some of them grew worried as Harry looked more and more horrified.
"Christ." Harry gasped.
"Told you it's bad." Felicia sighed as if expecting the reaction.
"What is it?" Bobby asked curiously, the two's reactions making him nervous.
"Okay, this Facility is definitely an organization. Pretty lazy with the name but it's a thing." Harry began as he turned his rolling chair to face them. "Felicia wasn't kidding, it's not pretty. Just from what I could see, these people have been kidnapping mutants to experiment on them to create weapons."
Everyone grew grim but wasn't too surprised, the thought had entered their heads before.
Jean covered her mouth in horror. "Oh no."
"Yeah…" Harry nodded at her in understanding. "Based on the reports, they weren't obvious at the start, just some homeless bums and orphans getting picked out on the streets. But it seems like they've gotten bolder recently." Harry sent meaningful glances at the mutants in the room.
Emma was silent, looking contemplative before she spoke. "How many?"
"What?" Harry turned to her.
"How many?" She repeated, a hint of steel in her eyes. "How many people were kidnapped?"
Harry was silent and looked away. "...The reports said they had trouble understanding their powers and needed multiple test subjects—"
"I didn't ask about the experiment, I asked how many people— How many kids they took Harry." Emma angrily cut him off.
"...Too many."
They grew quiet at that, horrified that so many were taken. The mutants in the room were especially affected, realizing that the same thing nearly happened to them and would continue to affect so many.
"We gotta stop this." Peter spoke.
No one objected to it, they all turned to Harry to see if he had found any lead to stop this.
"Any leads you can find, Harry?" Peter asked.
Harry nodded. "Found one. There's a lot of mention of one base they used to process the kidnapped mutants before they shipped them off."
"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Jean hurried.
Peter shook his head. "No, not so fast."
"What– why?! These people needed our help yesterday! We can't waste time!" Bobby objected.
Emma sighed. "Peter is right. We can't rush into this headfirst. If the base is as important as Harry said, then it will be heavily guarded. We need a plan."
Bobby winced but calmed down at that. Harry sighed and realized they might not like his suggestion.
"Well, it's clear what we have to do, no?" Harry spoke. "Peter, Gwen—" He looked at Felicia, who nodded at him. "—and Felicia would sneak in and do their thing."
"What about the rest of us?" Bobby asked.
"Staying here." Peter already regretted it the moment he said it as Bobby, Jean, and Forge looked affronted at that.
"What?!"
"Come on!"
"But we want to help!"
"You can help by staying here." Emma bluntly spoke. "Peter, Gwen, and Felicia are the only ones with the necessary skills to sneak in and disrupt the base. Bobby, you don't have the skills for it. Jean, you're still too new with your powers. Forge, you'd help better here with Harry in case of unexpected problems on the tech side." Emma criticized and pointed out their respective flaws.
The three looked incensed but didn't have any arguments for it. Bobby and Jean were especially affected as Emma didn't outright say it, but it was enough to know they'd be useless if they did follow.
"So how are we doing this?" Gwen turned to Peter.
Peter thought it over. "Well, we're gonna need to stake things out first. Record the guard shift and everything."
Felica interjected. "Getting a building plan would help get an idea of how to move through the building."
Gwen nodded. "Any chance we can hack into their security system to see their shifts? That way we won't need to be there."
"Can you guys do that?" Felicia asked incredulously.
Gwen and Peter turned to Harry, who nodded. "Yeah, I can do that. Might need Forge's help tho, up for it?"
Forge looked surprised by the sudden inclusion but nodded. "Y-yeah, anything."
"Damn, that would have been so damn useful for my projects." Felicia muttered. Everyone stared at her but she raised her hands in defense. "Just saying!"
Peter rolled his eyes but continued. "Alright. Harry and Forge can get us the building plans and then start recording the guard shifts and take note of the security systems. The three of us can start thinking about what we'll need."
The mutants watched as the vigilantes (plus ex-thief) worked and planned with each other, Forge being dragged over by Harry to help out with his side of the work while the rest started discussing what kind of equipment they might need.
Jean, Bobby, and Emma watched in amazement. Amazed at how fast they were working and realized how little they could help.
Slowly a seed was planted in the mutants: a need and desire to improve and help so that they wouldn't feel this useless anymore. But for now, they would have to wait.
[-]
Somewhere in New York, in the deepest and darkest corner of the city. Someone lay in a dark empty room.
They weren't moving. One couldn't even tell if they were breathing. Pain wrecked through her body, but it was normal for her. Her handler had just finished expelling their frustrations on her, using her as nothing more than a stress toy. But that was fine, it was normal for her.
Just as how it was normal for her to inflict the same pain on other people. How it was in her nature to inflict pain and death on the people around her.
There was no greater purpose for a cursed existence like her, to only exist to cause suffering.
To exist as a weapon.
Maybe in the past, she would have dreamt of something better. To escape her current situation and find a greater meaning.
But that was impossible now. A wretched being like her didn't deserve something so beautiful. She was damned, cursed to live this life. The sins she had accumulated would never allow her to seek something so beautiful.
So here she would remain. Hated and damned. Used as nothing more than a tool. For that was the only meaning of her existence.
Her ears minutely twitched, the sound of footsteps reached her honed ears. Her training was so rigorous she could even sense it despite being in a near soundproof room.
The door opened with a click, finally letting in some light into the near pitch-black room. The darkness didn't impede her sight by much but the light made things easier for her to see a figure standing at the entrance.
"Get up, we have a job."
Ah, she was needed. It's time for the weapon to be let loose again.
Ignoring the pain, she pushed herself back up to her feet. If she dallied or even showed a sign of weakness, the woman in front of her would just get irritated again and continue 'disciplining' her.
"My target?" She asked with a hoarse voice.
Her handler however didn't care. "A couple of troublemakers. Some spider-whatever the fuck they're called. I don't care. Your task is killing them." She then tossed a file to her feet. "The information is inside, get it done X-23."
"Understood."
The weapon would kill again, such was her existence. There was no changing that.
[-]
Gwen sighed as she leaned on the railing, her arms propped up and supporting her as the cold morning air brushed her.
She could see the morning sun rising. Their discussion and planning had gone well into the night, causing them to change into comfortable clothing and they had just finished. She was grateful that it was the weekend, she needed a nap.
But before that, there was still someone she needed to talk to.
"Nice view."
She turned and saw Felicia, the woman looking at the sunrise with an impressed whistle. Felicia joined her, leaning on the railing to enjoy the view beside her. The two of them had used this nearby rooftop to have their privacy.
The two stayed silent for a minute, just enjoying the sight and atmosphere. A comfortable silence filled the air until Felicia sighed.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Felicia asked.
Gwen didn't answer at first. Honestly, she wasn't even sure what to talk about. Part of her was still angry and spiteful, the part that still wanted to lash out at Felicia. But another part of her, the part that finally came through all the hate thanks to Emma's words, realized that she needed to confront this sooner or later before it ruined her relationships with her friends. With Peter.
"...I don't like you."
Felicia snorted. "No shit, Sherlock."
"But I don't want to keep feeling this way. It's unfair to you. Even if you kinda have it coming sometime." Gwen bluntly confessed.
Felicia raised an eyebrow but nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, that's fair. Peter did tell me to tone it down with you but I didn't listen. Now look where that got us."
A small part of Gwen felt a sense of vindication at that but crushed it down, not the time for it. "I'll admit, I'm jealous of how well you hit it off with Peter. How close you are to him."
Felicia looked incredulous. "Is that what you're worried about? You don't have to worry about that. Honestly, I'm the one who should be worried about it considering how much he looks out for you."
Gwen smiled, remembering the promise they made to look out for each other. "I see."
The two fell into a comfortable silence again. Despite not saying much, their words were enough to get their feelings across.
"Felicia. Do you like Peter?"
Felicia looked at her in surprise. "Where did that come from?!"
"Just answer the question."
Felicia froze, looking down before sighing. "I don't do this kind of thing honestly. But…yeah I like him. I guess we just…clicked. Knowing that he's Spider-Man kinda doesn't hurt things." She chuckled mirthlessly.
Gwen hummed, remembering all the flirtatious cues she sent to Peter. "Right. You flirted with both. But which part do you actually care about?"
Felicia shrugged. "Does it matter? I like both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. They both happen to be the same person and that just makes things easier for me."
"True. Forget I ask." She sighed. "I don't like you, Felicia. But…feeling this way because of my own feelings for Peter…it's wrong. Just makes me feel like a total bitch. So I'll try my best to get rid of this feeling. Then maybe, we can be actual friends." Gwen admitted.
"I like the sound of that. I'll try not to annoy you too much." Felicia nodded at that.
The two shared a laugh at that. For once, they finally enjoy being in each other's presence.
Emma glanced at Peter's unconscious body, the young man deep asleep while his injuries visibly closed at a decent rate. Seeing his regeneration at work was as fascinating as it was morbid.
Currently, they had laid him on Bobby's bed. The additional train cart had a solid wall separating it into two. One side was for Bobby and Forge while the other was for her and Jean's personal use.
While Peter was making her worried, there was another issue that she couldn't ignore.
She glanced at the two other occupants in the room, both sitting on opposite sides of the bed. Ghost Spider, or Gwen Stacy since she had unmasked herself, glared at the other occupant, who was more focused on Peter.
The target of Gwen's ire however ignored her, the woman sitting beside Peter with clear worry and guilt, holding his hand like a lifeline.
It was obvious to Emma there was a history between the three. She assumed the thief was the Felicia Hardy that Peter mentioned a few times.
With how angry Gwen looked and how guilty Felicia acted, they had known each other long enough for things to get this serious. While she couldn't tell why Gwen was angry, the clear concern from the thief was enough for her to realize that she at least held Peter close to her heart.
Felicia finally noticed the glare, avoiding Gwen's piercing eyes and glancing at Emma.
"So does everyone here know each other?" She curiously asked.
There was a pause, Gwen still glaring at her and refusing to answer. Emma sighed and answered instead. "Yes. We didn't at first until everyone realized how difficult it is to wait for three people to get into costume before getting anything done. Especially since this was supposed to be their base and we're just hiding here."
That was an experience, she and Jean had already known about Peter but it was amusing to see Bobby and Forge realize that the vigilantes were around their age.
Felicia snorted before glancing at Peter. "Yeah, that sounds like a hassle."
Gwen finally decided to speak. "You got nothing to say for yourself?"
"What is there to say?" Felicia sighed somberly.
"Oh, I don't know, the fact that you're a thief?"
"Coming from the vigilante?" Felicia shot back, clearly not taking her words well. "Let's not act like I'm the only one breaking the law here. Which is impressive since only one of us here has a police captain as their dad."
"We help people. You steal from them." Gwen stressed.
"Can't deny that. But then again, some people might even say you're doing more harm than good. At least when I steal things, it doesn't hurt anyone." Felicia criticizes.
"You're gonna parrot Jameson of all people?" Gwen asked incredulously. "And how are you so sure you didn't hurt anyone huh? Or did you miss the guy that tanked missiles for you right here?!"
Felicia winced at that, guiltily looking over Peter's unconscious body before her eyes steeled. Glaring at Gwen with anger.
Emma couldn't help but find that look worrying.
"Funny you should say that because I could say the same to you."
"What?"
"You're supposed to be his partner right? Someone who watches his back? Where were you huh?"
"I–" Gwen hesitated, hesitation that Felicia pounced on.
"Maybe that's why Peter relied on me so much. All you could do was follow his orders like a good little dog, but when he needed you, you couldn't even do anything!"
Blue sparks erupted around Gwen as she glared. "Watch your words, Hardy."
The whole cart shook as Felicia met her glare with equal intensity. "Or what, Stacy?"
"You–"
"Alright, enough." Emma cut off Gwen's growl. "If you want to argue, get out. If you can't even see past your mistakes and play the blame game, do it somewhere else. Don't disturb Peter with all your bickering."
The two quiet down at that, Emma's words smashing down on them like falling bricks. It was true, they were just lashing out right now. The tension was still there but cooled off a little from the reprimand. Their worry over Peter also won over whatever problems they had with each other.
"Hrrm, kinda too late for that."
The three looked to Peter, who was slowly waking up.
"Peter!" Both Gwen and Felicia immediately got closer.
"Woah! Some space, please. I like the attention but my headache is a killer right now." Peter waved the two off as he sat upright, the girls complied and let him have his space.
Peter rubbed his eyes a little to help fight off the headache before he gave his surroundings a proper look. He turned to Gwen, then Emma before pausing at Felicia. He gave her a confused blink, his eyes looking over her until the familiar costume helped him connect the dots easily.
"You're Black Cat?" Peter asked incredulously.
"Surprise?" Felicia smiled sheepishly.
"The white hair really should have been obvious…" Peter muttered as he shook his head incredulously, which made Felicia scoff in amusement.
He looked back at her, there was a hint of unsureness and…disappointment. Felicia couldn't believe how much the look affected her. Seeing Peter look at her like that…it sucked.
"You okay?" Peter asked.
"You just tanked missiles and you're asking me?" Felicia asked incredulously, which Emma mirrored.
"And whose fault is that?" Gwen piped in, which made Felicia growl.
"Okay, what's your problem?" Felicia heatedly asked.
"Is it not obvious already?" Gwen shot back, the two stood up from their seats and stared each other down. "You hid the fact that you're a thief and it's because of you that Peter got hurt. I have plenty of problems with you."
"That last heist was for you two if you bothered to ask. I busted my ass doing what Peter asked of me. Some thanks would be appreciated." Felicia defended herself as she pulled out a pen drive.
"Oh you helped us and now we're going to sweep everything under the rug? No, I don't think so." Gwen narrowed her eyes.
"Look, I fucked up. I get that." Felicia gave a minute guilt-ridden glance at Peter before glaring back at Gwen. "But I'm not gonna sit down and take this shit lying down because I'm not the only one that hid secrets from their friends."
The two glared at each other, hands clenched into fists until enough was enough.
"Alright, that's it!" Emma clapped her hands to catch their attention, Peter wincing slightly from the sound due to his headache. She glanced at Gwen. "Gwen, out."
Gwen turned to her in shock. "What?!"
"I said out. We're gonna talk." Emma didn't bother waiting for her answer as she turned around and left the room.
Gwen turned to Peter, the young man shrugging helplessly as he tried to nurse his headache. "Hey, you heard her."
Gwen sighed in frustration but decided to follow Emma and see what she had to say. She walked past Felicia, their eyes locking for a moment before breaking.
The two watched Gwen leave, giving the two another glance before fully leaving.
The moment the door closed, Peter turned to Felicia. "Told you, you gotta ease up on her."
Felicia rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up. How much did you hear anyway?"
"Enough." Peter's answer made Felicia sigh, falling and slumping into her seat. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't blame you." Felicia turned to him with slight surprise. Peter just shrugged at her. "I chose to jump and save you, Felicia. You have nothing to be guilty about since that choice is fully on me."
Felicia turned away from that. "If I had been more careful, then you wouldn't even have to make that choice."
Peter thought about it but shrugged. "Maybe, but I'll often have that kind of choice in this line of work. A choice on whether to save myself or help other people. Between me and them, I'll choose them every time."
Felicia paused at that and stared at him consideringly. "But why? These people, they haven't done anything for you. You don't owe them anything!"
"It's not a matter of owing someone, it's a matter of responsibility." Peter shook his head. "I have these amazing powers and it's my responsibility to use them for good."
"And going around in a mask is your way of using it for good?" Felicia asked with mirth.
Peter chuckled. "Yeah, the only way I know how. At the moment, anyways…"
Felicia raised an eyebrow. "At the moment?"
Peter waved it off. "Not important. At least not now." He grunted as he stood up. Felicia would have been distracted by his tattered suit barely clinging and revealing his toned body but her concern overrides that.
"Woah hey!" Felicia held her hands out to him in alarm, "You sure you should be standing right now?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, I won't get anything done if I stay here."
"In that costume?" She asked while looking down at his tattered clothing.
Peter shrugged. "There's a Fabricator that can fix it up, though I think an upgrade might be needed in the future…" He contemplated before he shook his head and focused back on her. "You said you were stealing something for us right?"
Felicia looked at him, unsure if she should believe him before she sighed. She held up the pendrive and offered it to him. "I didn't see much but there was a file called The Facility. Horrible shit inside thought it's enough to point you in the right direction."
Peter grabbed it but didn't pull it away, his eyes staring at Felicia's questioningly. "Just me?"
Felicia raised an eyebrow. "What? You want me to join? You do realize I'm a thief right? Not a fighter."
"A thief that somehow kept up with two superhumans." Peter countered. "You should see how mad Gwen gets every time you escape."
"Trust me, I know." The two chuckled before they calmed down, staring into each other's eyes as they kept their hold on the pendrive. "You know things aren't going back to normal after this."
"I expect that much." Peter sighed.
"You're a vigilante, Gwen is your partner and I think I saw Harry. That was Harry right?" Peter nodded. "Good, I wasn't seeing things."
Silence fell, both of them unsure what to say.
"...You know I'm not gonna let you go around stealing things anymore right?" Peter suddenly spoke. "I'm not gonna toss you into prison if that's what you're worried about but I'm still gonna stop you."
"Yeah, I figured. But it's not like I'm gonna roll over and listen."
"The Black Cat is only in it for the excitement right?"
"Yeah." Felicia nodded, a bit subdued. "For the freedom…and look where that got you."
"I told you, I don't blame you for that."
"Yeah well, I blame myself."
Peter looked down at that. "Guilt. Yeah, I know how that feels."
"Know how to deal with it?"
Peter shook his head. "No. But it does get easier. You just gotta keep making up for it."
"Make it up how?"
"I'm the wrong person to ask that since this is the only way I know how." He gestured to his suit.
Felicia looked at it and shook her head. "Yeah, I'm not doing that. Not a goody two shoes like you."
"Why not? Give it a go, it's not like you won't get any excitement from it."
Felicia opened her mouth before she paused, considering it momentarily. "Well…I'd be keeping an eye on you as well."
"Me?"
"You said making up for it helps make it easier right? Consider this me repaying my debt."
Peter blinked before he chuckled. "So what? A temporary partnership?"
"Something like that. A truce. I help you with this whole kidnapping ring and you help me…I dunno, show me how heroes have fun or something?"
"I'll take it."
The two chuckled at that, content yet unsure of their bond's future.
[-]
While Felicia and Peter had their heart-to-heart, Emma and Gwen were staring each other down near the entrance of their base.
They stared at each other for a moment longer before Emma spoke.
"You were out of line."
Gwen scoffed. "I was out of line? She's a thief!"
"And no one denied that. But there is a better way to go at it." Emma rebuked before she narrowed her eyes. "Though then again, this wasn't about her being a thief in the first place, am I right?"
Gwen froze before glaring at her. "What are you talking about?"
"Peter talks about it sometimes, how you and Felicia keep arguing with each other. He suspected something but it's clear to me when I see it for myself. You're jealous of Felicia." Emma spoke. It wasn't a question but a matter of statement. As if she was sure of what she was saying.
"What would I be jealous of her for?!" Gwen defensively asked.
"Plenty of things, though I suspect it has something to do with Peter. Anyone with working eyes can see how much you two care about him."
"I— You—" Gwen sputtered, unsure how to even respond to the blunt yet precise dissection of her.
Emma sighed. "I don't care about your business with Felicia, but it became my business when it concerns Peter. Your problems with her are clouding you and it will affect your performance out there. One slip up and it could endanger Peter. It already happened with Felicia, why won't it happen with you?"
Gwen fell silent at that, whatever anger she had for Emma immediately cooled at the thought of endangering Peter.
"...what about Felicia then? Why are you telling me this?" Gwen asked almost petulantly.
"I have my problems with her but it's clear she's aware of what she did. The problem right now is you, Gwen. You either settle your problems with Felicia or I'll do it for you."
Gwen thought it over. Reflecting on her past interactions with Felicia both in and out of the mask and realized that Emma was right. It had been building up for a while and if she kept this up, it might actually happen at the worst time and endanger Peter and everyone.
Gwen sighed. "Yeah, I get it. Didn't have to be a bitch about it…"
Emma scoffed in amusement. "I prefer to be blunt, help cut through the bullshit."
Gwen couldn't deny that, it was pretty effective.
With nothing left to say, Emma turned and walked away. But before she could leave-
"Hey, Emma." Gwen called.
Emma turned. "What is it?"
Gwen hesitated for a few seconds before smiling at her. "Thanks, I owe you one."
Emma gave her a soft grin. "Just keep covering Peter's back and I'll call it even. You're not the only one that's worried about him."
Gwen nodded at that as Emma left, she could definitely do that.
[-]
Peter, now properly dressed in new clothing, and Felicia entered another cart. The occupants inside immediately zeroed in on them.
"Peter!" Jean called out in a mix of relief and worry, "You okay? I wanted to check on you but Emma told me to wait outside." she spoke as she quickly hugged him.
Peter was surprised by the hug but returned it a second later. "Yeah, I'm fine Jean. Gonna take a lot more than that to take me down."
Harry snorted from his seat. "He took a rocket to the face and he's asking for more."
Peter rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."
Felicia chuckled which attracted Harry's attention. "Don't think I forgot you, Hardy. Stealing? Really? I thought you were loaded?"
Felicia could tell that he was mostly joking but also wanted some answers. Felicia just shrugged at him. "Peter didn't tell you much about me?"
"He told me you do it because you're an adrenaline junkie if that's what you meant."
Felicia sent an affronted look towards Peter, who raised his hand in defense. "Hey, I didn't say that!"
"He's right, I did." Harry smirked.
"Well…you're not wrong." She admitted. She could see the disappointed frown from Harry, which hurt a little. Not as much as Peter's did but it was there.
To quickly change the subject she realized that Jean was still hugging Peter.
"And who's the cute redhead here? Should I be worried?" She asked with a teasing smile.
Jean realized how long she was hugging Peter and quickly pulled away. Peter was a bit disappointed by it if he was being honest.
"Oh, I'm, uh, I'm Jean Grey. That's Bobby and Forge. And you're Black Cat right?" Jean introduced them shyly, Bobby and Forge waved at her shyly as well as they were introduced. Felicia's beauty clearly has an effect on all three of them.
Jean couldn't help but feel a bit nervous standing in front of Felicia. Frankly speaking, Felicia was making her realize a few things about herself if she was being honest.
"One and only, but you guys can just call me Felicia Hardy." She winked at her, which brought a slight blush to Jean. "Oh, she's cute, Spider. Can I keep her?" She turned to Peter with a grin.
Peter sighed. "Slavery was abolished a long time ago, Fel."
Felicia hummed. "A shame, I wouldn't mind you leashing me." She winked.
"Would it make you behave?" Peter continued as if it was normal.
"Nope, but I won't mind some discipline." She tittered.
"Okay, cut the shit. We have guests here, please." Harry begged.
The two looked at their surroundings, Forge and Bobby looked at him like he was their god for being able to flirt with such a beautiful woman like that.
Jean on the other hand was looking at the both of them with a bright blush.
"Right, sorry." Peter chuckled sheepishly.
The door opened which attracted their attention, Emma walked in but Gwen was nowhere in sight.
"Emma, where's Gwen?" Peter asked.
"Taking some space for herself." Emma answered as she walked in and took a nearby seat.
"Did the talk go well?" Peter asked with some concern.
Emma nodded. "As well as it could have. She should be here in a few minutes."
As if on cue, the door opened and Gwen entered.
Tension rose when Gwen and Felicia locked eyes, both of them tensed and ready in case the other decided to continue where they last left off.
Felicia glanced at Peter, and the webhead gave her a look as he mouthed 'play nice' to her. She rolled her eyes but complied, sending a tense grin Gwen's way.
Gwen seemed to relax as well at that. "We'll talk later."
Felicia blinked at that but nodded, grateful for the olive branch. "Alright then."
And just like that, the tension dissipated. Gwen walked and stood beside Felicia like they weren't just at each other's throats a few minutes ago.
"Oookay." Harry awkwardly looked at the two before deciding to ignore them would be a better choice. "So, with everyone here, got anything new to talk about?"
Peter nodded as he pulled out Felicia's Pendrive. "Right, Black Cat or Felicia here–" He gestured to the woman, who waved at everyone. "—managed to get her hands on this. Felicia said there's a file labeled The Facility that could put us on the right track." Peter spoke as he handed it to Harry.
"Careful, it ain't pretty." Felicia warned.
Harry scrunched up his face at that but sat down on the rolling chair and plugged it in anyway. Everyone waited as he surfed through the file to see what lead he would find. He was getting a lot better with it after some pointers from Peter.
They waited for a few minutes but some of them grew worried as Harry looked more and more horrified.
"Christ." Harry gasped.
"Told you it's bad." Felicia sighed as if expecting the reaction.
"What is it?" Bobby asked curiously, the two's reactions making him nervous.
"Okay, this Facility is definitely an organization. Pretty lazy with the name but it's a thing." Harry began as he turned his rolling chair to face them. "Felicia wasn't kidding, it's not pretty. Just from what I could see, these people have been kidnapping mutants to experiment on them to create weapons."
Everyone grew grim but wasn't too surprised, the thought had entered their heads before.
Jean covered her mouth in horror. "Oh no."
"Yeah…" Harry nodded at her in understanding. "Based on the reports, they weren't obvious at the start, just some homeless bums and orphans getting picked out on the streets. But it seems like they've gotten bolder recently." Harry sent meaningful glances at the mutants in the room.
Emma was silent, looking contemplative before she spoke. "How many?"
"What?" Harry turned to her.
"How many?" She repeated, a hint of steel in her eyes. "How many people were kidnapped?"
Harry was silent and looked away. "...The reports said they had trouble understanding their powers and needed multiple test subjects—"
"I didn't ask about the experiment, I asked how many people— How many kids they took Harry." Emma angrily cut him off.
"...Too many."
They grew quiet at that, horrified that so many were taken. The mutants in the room were especially affected, realizing that the same thing nearly happened to them and would continue to affect so many.
"We gotta stop this." Peter spoke.
No one objected to it, they all turned to Harry to see if he had found any lead to stop this.
"Any leads you can find, Harry?" Peter asked.
Harry nodded. "Found one. There's a lot of mention of one base they used to process the kidnapped mutants before they shipped them off."
"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Jean hurried.
Peter shook his head. "No, not so fast."
"What– why?! These people needed our help yesterday! We can't waste time!" Bobby objected.
Emma sighed. "Peter is right. We can't rush into this headfirst. If the base is as important as Harry said, then it will be heavily guarded. We need a plan."
Bobby winced but calmed down at that. Harry sighed and realized they might not like his suggestion.
"Well, it's clear what we have to do, no?" Harry spoke. "Peter, Gwen—" He looked at Felicia, who nodded at him. "—and Felicia would sneak in and do their thing."
"What about the rest of us?" Bobby asked.
"Staying here." Peter already regretted it the moment he said it as Bobby, Jean, and Forge looked affronted at that.
"What?!"
"Come on!"
"But we want to help!"
"You can help by staying here." Emma bluntly spoke. "Peter, Gwen, and Felicia are the only ones with the necessary skills to sneak in and disrupt the base. Bobby, you don't have the skills for it. Jean, you're still too new with your powers. Forge, you'd help better here with Harry in case of unexpected problems on the tech side." Emma criticized and pointed out their respective flaws.
The three looked incensed but didn't have any arguments for it. Bobby and Jean were especially affected as Emma didn't outright say it, but it was enough to know they'd be useless if they did follow.
"So how are we doing this?" Gwen turned to Peter.
Peter thought it over. "Well, we're gonna need to stake things out first. Record the guard shift and everything."
Felica interjected. "Getting a building plan would help get an idea of how to move through the building."
Gwen nodded. "Any chance we can hack into their security system to see their shifts? That way we won't need to be there."
"Can you guys do that?" Felicia asked incredulously.
Gwen and Peter turned to Harry, who nodded. "Yeah, I can do that. Might need Forge's help tho, up for it?"
Forge looked surprised by the sudden inclusion but nodded. "Y-yeah, anything."
"Damn, that would have been so damn useful for my projects." Felicia muttered. Everyone stared at her but she raised her hands in defense. "Just saying!"
Peter rolled his eyes but continued. "Alright. Harry and Forge can get us the building plans and then start recording the guard shifts and take note of the security systems. The three of us can start thinking about what we'll need."
The mutants watched as the vigilantes (plus ex-thief) worked and planned with each other, Forge being dragged over by Harry to help out with his side of the work while the rest started discussing what kind of equipment they might need.
Jean, Bobby, and Emma watched in amazement. Amazed at how fast they were working and realized how little they could help.
Slowly a seed was planted in the mutants: a need and desire to improve and help so that they wouldn't feel this useless anymore. But for now, they would have to wait.
[-]
Somewhere in New York, in the deepest and darkest corner of the city. Someone lay in a dark empty room.
They weren't moving. One couldn't even tell if they were breathing. Pain wrecked through her body, but it was normal for her. Her handler had just finished expelling their frustrations on her, using her as nothing more than a stress toy. But that was fine, it was normal for her.
Just as how it was normal for her to inflict the same pain on other people. How it was in her nature to inflict pain and death on the people around her.
There was no greater purpose for a cursed existence like her, to only exist to cause suffering.
To exist as a weapon.
Maybe in the past, she would have dreamt of something better. To escape her current situation and find a greater meaning.
But that was impossible now. A wretched being like her didn't deserve something so beautiful. She was damned, cursed to live this life. The sins she had accumulated would never allow her to seek something so beautiful.
So here she would remain. Hated and damned. Used as nothing more than a tool. For that was the only meaning of her existence.
Her ears minutely twitched, the sound of footsteps reached her honed ears. Her training was so rigorous she could even sense it despite being in a near soundproof room.
The door opened with a click, finally letting in some light into the near pitch-black room. The darkness didn't impede her sight by much but the light made things easier for her to see a figure standing at the entrance.
"Get up, we have a job."
Ah, she was needed. It's time for the weapon to be let loose again.
Ignoring the pain, she pushed herself back up to her feet. If she dallied or even showed a sign of weakness, the woman in front of her would just get irritated again and continue 'disciplining' her.
"My target?" She asked with a hoarse voice.
Her handler however didn't care. "A couple of troublemakers. Some spider-whatever the fuck they're called. I don't care. Your task is killing them." She then tossed a file to her feet. "The information is inside, get it done X-23."
"Understood."
The weapon would kill again, such was her existence. There was no changing that.
[-]
Gwen sighed as she leaned on the railing, her arms propped up and supporting her as the cold morning air brushed her.
She could see the morning sun rising. Their discussion and planning had gone well into the night, causing them to change into comfortable clothing and they had just finished. She was grateful that it was the weekend, she needed a nap.
But before that, there was still someone she needed to talk to.
"Nice view."
She turned and saw Felicia, the woman looking at the sunrise with an impressed whistle. Felicia joined her, leaning on the railing to enjoy the view beside her. The two of them had used this nearby rooftop to have their privacy.
The two stayed silent for a minute, just enjoying the sight and atmosphere. A comfortable silence filled the air until Felicia sighed.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Felicia asked.
Gwen didn't answer at first. Honestly, she wasn't even sure what to talk about. Part of her was still angry and spiteful, the part that still wanted to lash out at Felicia. But another part of her, the part that finally came through all the hate thanks to Emma's words, realized that she needed to confront this sooner or later before it ruined her relationships with her friends. With Peter.
"...I don't like you."
Felicia snorted. "No shit, Sherlock."
"But I don't want to keep feeling this way. It's unfair to you. Even if you kinda have it coming sometime." Gwen bluntly confessed.
Felicia raised an eyebrow but nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, that's fair. Peter did tell me to tone it down with you but I didn't listen. Now look where that got us."
A small part of Gwen felt a sense of vindication at that but crushed it down, not the time for it. "I'll admit, I'm jealous of how well you hit it off with Peter. How close you are to him."
Felicia looked incredulous. "Is that what you're worried about? You don't have to worry about that. Honestly, I'm the one who should be worried about it considering how much he looks out for you."
Gwen smiled, remembering the promise they made to look out for each other. "I see."
The two fell into a comfortable silence again. Despite not saying much, their words were enough to get their feelings across.
"Felicia. Do you like Peter?"
Felicia looked at her in surprise. "Where did that come from?!"
"Just answer the question."
Felicia froze, looking down before sighing. "I don't do this kind of thing honestly. But…yeah I like him. I guess we just…clicked. Knowing that he's Spider-Man kinda doesn't hurt things." She chuckled mirthlessly.
Gwen hummed, remembering all the flirtatious cues she sent to Peter. "Right. You flirted with both. But which part do you actually care about?"
Felicia shrugged. "Does it matter? I like both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. They both happen to be the same person and that just makes things easier for me."
"True. Forget I ask." She sighed. "I don't like you, Felicia. But…feeling this way because of my own feelings for Peter…it's wrong. Just makes me feel like a total bitch. So I'll try my best to get rid of this feeling. Then maybe, we can be actual friends." Gwen admitted.
"I like the sound of that. I'll try not to annoy you too much." Felicia nodded at that.
The two shared a laugh at that. For once, they finally enjoy being in each other's presence.
Chapter 14 - The Heroes’ steps start to revolve
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SKaine
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Chapter 14 - The Heroes' steps start to revolve
Deep in the city of New York, there's an unassuming building. It was rather bland with nothing particularly notable about it. There were scaffolds at the front of the building with the signboard portraying 'Coming soon!' attached.
To anyone who walked past it, they would have thought it was just another building under construction. It was a dime a dozen in New York and would pass their attention easily. The windows were tinted so no one could even see the inside of the building, which helped people ignore it more easily.
In the unassuming building, guards patrolled through its hallways. They were strangely well-armed, covered head to toe in tactical gear with advanced guns on them. It was clear that the unassuming building wasn't so unassuming at all.
One guard could be seen rounding a corner, following his patrol route. Despite how attentive he looked, he was bored out of his mind. There wasn't anything to do and he highly doubted that he would see any action. He had hoped to join the squad that would be handling the recent vigilante issue they had but upper management told them that they had someone else had it covered, so there's that.
So deep in his thoughts, the guard failed to notice the shifting shadows behind him before it was too late.
Pain erupted behind his head before he fell unconscious, his body would have fallen on the floor if not for a hand that grabbed him so that he wouldn't make any sound.
Peter breathed a sigh of relief and tossed him up, using his webs to stick him to the ceiling soundlessly. Currently he was in a spare suit of his since his last one was destroyed. He didn't really had the time to design an upgrade.
Nodding to himself, he patted down the guard and pulled out his ID card. Grinning, he quickly crawled back to where he came from.
There were no problems so far. Everything was accounted for, allowing them to maneuver around the guards and knock out the right ones to get into certain rooms.
Of course, just because there was no problem didn't mean they were getting anywhere.
Despite the building plans on hand, hacking through the security camera to get an idea of their surroundings, and even being physically present in the building, they realized there was a giant blindspot in the building.
The area wasn't listed in the plans and no security camera was present there. They had realized this back when they were planning, some of the guards' patrol routes and some comparison to the building plan made it easy for them to realize it.
And right now, he was making his way straight to the blindspot. The only reason he knocked the guard out was because he had spent the most time in the blind spot so that meant he had access to it.
Rounding the corner, he saw Ghost Spider and Black Cat waiting for him there. Right in front of them was a metal door with a card scanner right beside it.
"You got it?" Black Cat asked.
Peter held it up, gaining a smile from the thief.
He quickly scanned the card, with a beep the door slid open.
A metal and sterile hallway greeted them. It was well lit but there was a sense of blandness to it. It felt spartan.
"Let's go." Peter said as he headed inside. Ghost joined him on the ceiling while Black Cat made do on the ground.
The three rushed through the hallway, it was straightforward until they ran straight into an intersection.
"Crap." Ghost cursed.
"Got anything on this, Webline?" Peter asked.
"Nope. Unless you can hook me up straight into the system there, we're still blind."
"Splitting up it is." Peter sighed.
"That sounds like a bad idea." Black Cat pointed out.
"Not like we have a choice. Especially with a timer on our heads." Peter reminded.
It's why they were rushing so much. The kidnapped victims were in the building somewhere and it was a matter of time before they got shipped away.
"I'll go left. You two go right." Peter decided.
"And leave you all alone?" Ghost asked worriedly, Black Cat looking incredulous as well.
"Cat is better at this stuff and Ghost can tell if trouble is close. Both of you can cover each other's back." Peter reasoned. "I can cover myself."
"Awfully confident of you." Black Cat pressed with a skeptical look.
Ghost on the other hand couldn't argue. Unlike Felicia, she did know that Peter came from the future and was much better equipped in terms of experience and skill.
'And ain't that an issue.' Peter sighed.
He still wasn't sure if he should tell Felicia about that side of him. Unlike Gwen and Harry who had known him since middle school and could tell the difference, Felicia was just a recent addition to their group.
"Alright." Ghost agreed, Black Cat looked at her in surprise and sighed.
"Alright. You two know each other better anyway." She grouched with a hint of bitterness.
Peter wasn't sure what that was all about.
"What if we need the ID card though?" Ghost asked.
"Let me." Black Cat held out her hand for it. Peter gave it to her without question.
She pulled out a black rectangular device, held the card over it, and let it work. The device gave a small red glow at the top before it turned green.
"Done~" Cat handed the card back to him.
"What did you do?" Peter asked.
"Copied the card's signature. That way if we need it, we have this with us." Black Cat held it up with a satisfied smirk. "Forge is hella handy."
Peter smirked, Forge was pretty useful. He couldn't deny that.
"Well if we're done here, let's get going." Peter urged.
Ghost turned to Black Cart with a challenging glint in her lens. "Try to keep up."
"Oh, it's on." She grinned back at her.
Peter rolled his eyes. "Stay safe."
"Back at you." The two spoke before glancing at each other in surprise at the sudden sync.
With an amused chuckle, the three immediately split.
Peter quickly crawled on the ceiling at a quick pace, rounding another corner and spotting a door at the end of the hallway.
"At least it's close." Peter breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked around for any sight of a hidden camera but couldn't see any; his Spider-sense wasn't ringing so he assumed things were fine.
Heading to the door, he scanned his card to the scanner and the door slid open with a hiss.
"Woah…" He gasped.
It was a lab. There were computers, test tubes, and more strewn around the place. It was organized rather neatly but no scientist in sight. He wasn't complaining though.
"Maybe they've gone home already." He muttered out loud while making his way deeper into the lab. He looked around, trying to find anything that immediately stood out to him. A cursory glance at the few unattended papers and even the computer screens revealed nothing.
Just before he thought of doing a closer inspection, a sound reached his ear. He looked to another part of the lab, one that led to another hallway.
His Spidey Sense gave a light buzz. The danger was present but not actively directed at him.
A sense of worry gnawed at him, he hoped that Felicia and Gwen didn't encounter anything bad. While he knew that they could handle things, it still didn't stop him from worrying.
He gave the computers and papers one last glance before stealthily making his way to the source of danger. It was in the other Peters' experiences that the source of danger was always the answer to their problems.
Crawling on the ceiling, he made his way into the hallway. Stretching his senses (including his Spider-sense) to prepare for any trouble. His movement was tense yet still fluid enough to be ready for anything.
Coming into another larger lab, he immediately noted the dim lights. Some of the lights were shut off. No, they were broken. He could see what appeared to be claw marks on the lights, long and deep ridges cutting into the ceiling.
More tense than ever, he crawled deeper, this time sticking to the darker parts of the massive lab he was in to keep his presence further hidden.
He looked around, noting there were broken mirrors and furniture everywhere. How did he miss this? The distance between the lab sections wasn't that large, so he should have heard this.
'Unless it happened before we got here.' He concluded.
The implications disturbed him, which meant there was another intruder in the building. While they might be against the Facility, there's no confirmation they would side with them either.
Crawling deeper into the lab, he reached into the darker side of the place. He finally noticed there were bodies strewn around, guards he realized. Blood could be seen splattered all around the floor with claw marks becoming more and more frequent.
Stopping above a body, he strained his eyes as best as he could to check on it. Claw marks could be seen littered around the guard, it looked like an animal got to him.
'There's no way a wild animal got in here. One of the Mutants maybe?'
An image of the beast-like man that stood beside Magneto came to his mind. Sabretooth was it? Was this his doing? Magneto did say he was planning a revolution. Striking a compound that held captive Mutants to spread his beliefs would be a pretty good move. All those angry and desperate Mutants in one place being offered a chance to change their situation? Yeah, that's prime recruiting grounds.
There's also a chance that one of the Mutants could have a similar beast-like ability and escape. But he would have seen them by now and they would have probably moved in a group, making it easier to detect.
'Or the Mutant just escaped by themselves and abandoned the others.' He considered.
Too many options, too many variables.
Before he could consider the situation further, his Spider-Sense rang loudly.
SNIKT
Spidey immediately jumped off the ceiling, barely avoiding a sudden claw swipe from tearing into him.
Falling into a roll, he crouched and narrowed his lenses to the source.
Even with the dim and fading lighting, he could see the flash of silver lining on the full-body black suit. Glints of silver could be seen on the gloves, where three silver claws could be seen. A silver 'X' symbol could be seen on the belt and to finish off the suit was a cowl with two tips flowing away from it, looking like horns.
The two stared at each other, both needed but a glance to realize the other might be a tricky opponent.
"I thought I smelled a wet dog around here." He quipped.
He growled threateningly, revealing his canine teeth. "Watch your tongue, bub. Or I'll cut it out for you."
Spidey glanced at the metal claws, they did look unnaturally sharp. There was an odd shine to them that hinted at the composition's possibly unique traits.
'Note to self: try and get a sample off of it.' He mentally noted before focusing back on the opponent.
His opponent suddenly spoke. "You're that Spider kid."
"It's Spider-Man, actually but got it in one. You?"
Instead of answering, the man growled again. "Leave, kid. This ain't your business. Go save some cats from trees or something."
Peter was irked at that, now he's just looking down on him. "Not after seeing all the bodies here. I don't like what they're doing here but right now, you look a lot more dangerous."
The claws glinted as the man flexed his wrists. "Last warning, kid." Peter was starting to get annoyed with all the 'kid' talk. "You got no chance here. I'm the best there is at what I do and what I do isn't very nice." He warned.
"Try me." Spidey suddenly jumped, his leg lashing out into a kick.
The man rolled under it. Spidey landed, their backs to each other for only a moment before they turned around.
A silver arc made for his stomach, Spidey sense ringing at the idea of even grazing those claws. There goes the idea of getting a sample from it. Instincts and otherworldly memories supported his decision with how dangerous it was as he lightly backstepped to avoid the swing at the zenith of its arc before stepping back in. His body springboarded into a punch straight to the man's face.
Pain erupted from his wrist, Spidey letting out a pained groan as the man slid back a little from the force.
The man shook his head a little. "You're stronger than you look," He grunted.
Spidey shook his hand to work off the pain. He expected the guy to be a bit tougher but not this tough. "What are you made out of? Metal? Damn, that hurts."
The man scoffed in amusement. "Something like that."
The two suddenly lunged again, arcs of silver rushing toward him like a wild beast. His movements were ferocious and savage, yet there was a sense of innate discipline to it. Like a tamed beast that was letting his claws out purposefully.
Spidey didn't bother to appreciate it much considering he was trying his best to avoid those claws. His Spidey Sense told him they were bad news and he was very inclined to believe it.
Dodging a few of the swipes, his hands then quickly rushed out. Aiming specifically for his wrists to push the attacks away from him.
"Watch where you point that thing! Did no one teach you not to play with knives?!" Spidey groaned.
"Shut it, bug!"
"That's arachnid to you! And here I thought a Mutant would be a bit more sensitive to these things."
He growled in annoyance and intensified his savage rush. Peter meanwhile continued to counter the attacks a few more times before jabbing his opponent.
The beastly man moved his head away but kept his savage rush, Peter responding in kind by keeping himself on the defensive with the aid of his Spidey Sense. It didn't help that Peter wasn't sure if his webs would even work with those claws still in play. It seemed like they were at a stalemate.
'A new variable then.' Peter analyzed.
With a backstep that made a bit more space between them, Peter stomped. The ground beneath cracked, dust and cement rose into the air violently and covered his opponent's vision.
The man savagely swiped through the debris but lost track of Spidey, he looked around but couldn't spot any sign of him.
His nose twitched, his eyes noticed the webline from the edge of his vision and he immediately turned with his arms crossed, blocking a slingshot dropkick from Spidey. The force of the kick made his arms burn with pain yet it held steady, his body sliding and tipping backward from the force.
Spidey jumped back using his arms as a springboard. He flipped in the air and landed in a crouch. Before his opponent could even regain his balance, he lunged again.
The beast-man snarled and suddenly regained his balance, his claws barred and ready to skewer the arachnid alive. But Spidey suddenly disappeared from his vision.
He widened his eyes but his instincts saved him, ducking under a sudden high kick coming from his side.
"You!" The feral growled.
"Catch me if you can!" Spidey mocked as he danced around the feral, flipping and spinning around the man as he unleashed a fury of punches and kicks.
The feral could do nothing but keep his guard up, a complete reversal of their previous roles. While the feral did have impressive toughness, the rest of his physical abilities didn't seem to possess the same level of quality, making it easy for Spidey to dance circles around him.
The feral did attempt to lash out, letting out a few slashes and stabs wildly to get Spidey away. But superhuman agility paired with a near precognition level of danger sense allowed Spidey to maneuver through those attacks with ease as he continued his assault.
Suddenly the two paused, instinct and Spider-Sense screaming before the two suddenly backed away from each other. Right as a silver flash came between them and stabbed straight into the floor.
The two stared at the newcomer. Peter realized that she looked around his age. She was beautiful. Raven black hair that reached her waist, framing her heart-shaped face as her grey eyes analyzed them. She wore a simple black sports bra that stretched around her generous chest and black pants that looked painted on her, highlighting her long legs and taut ass.
But the thing that caught Peter's attention was the two metal claws that popped out between her knuckles similar to his opponent's, sharing their unnatural shining sharpness.
"Oh great, another one?!" He groaned. The woman immediately narrowed her eyes at him, aiming one of her claws at him threateningly. "Hey! Just because you have it doesn't mean you can just wave it around however you want, that's gotta count as indecent exposure!"
"Do you ever shut up?" The man groaned while the woman raised an eyebrow, as if unsure how to take his words.
Peter then noticed that the woman had also aimed her claws at the feral as well.
"Soooo, one of yours? I mean the claws looked similar but I didn't want to assume." He asked while eyeing both of them carefully.
The feral glanced at the woman while the woman stared at him carefully, their noses twitching before their eyes widened.
"It can't be…" He gasped, clearly surprised.
"You." She spat, downright furious.
"I'll take that as a no." Spidey muttered. Now what to do with that information?
'The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all but it doesn't look like she's up to being my buddy at the moment.' He thought it over, remembering how she had glared at him.
The two ferals suddenly lunged at each other, their claws bared and immediately buried into the other's bodies.
"Hey!" Spidey immediately joined into the fray, he wasn't gonna let more people die in his presence if he could help it!
The two separated from each other the moment he lunged, he glanced at their bleeding wounds worryingly before his eyes widened. Their wounds closed at an astonishing rate that surprised even him.
"Okay, high-speed regeneration. Explains why you're so stab happy." He groaned as the two ferals kept their eyes on him. "But that still doesn't mean you can stab anyone you like with me around."
The two growled at him, their claws bared at him and each other.
The two immediately lunged at him, their claws ready to skewer him.
'As good a time as any to bust it out.' He groused.
Bone-like stingers popped out of his wrists as he spun around and immediately caused them to retreat from the sudden blades.
"Yours may be shinier," He fully brandished them for the first time (and realized that these things were the size of his arms, holy hell!) and aimed them at the ferals. "But I got the length and girth."
"It's all about the technique, kid." The male feral smirked, probably actually enjoying that one quip.
"Trust me, I have plenty." He quipped before jumping back into the fray.
The three moved around each other, dodging and slicing against each other on any attempt they could get. Spidey didn't dare to lock blades with their claws though, his Spidey Sense reaffirming how bad of an idea it was.
As fast as the fight started, Spidey immediately realized the difference between the two.
The man was a bit more direct and savage, opting for a more aggressive and powerful movement. The young woman on the other hand was a bit more meticulous, often hiding within his blind spots to take him out faster. But he also noted her heightened aggressiveness when faced with the male feral.
Jumping to avoid the hidden slash from the woman, Peter flipped in the air and landed on the ground. He didn't have a chance to breathe as he had to duck under another slash, this time from his other opponent. Rolling through the ground to evade but also used his slightly longer reach to nick the man near his armpits.
The venom on his stingers was able to put a grown man in a hospital with just a nick, but what about a Mutant with their level of regeneration?
The male feral stumbled a little before he continued like normal, causing Peter to click his tongue. Either he had to put in higher doses or it's time he tested out if his webbings could hold down these two.
Jumping away for some space, he sheathed one of his stingers and shot a barrage of web balls at the two. The two ferals dodge and quickly find cover, the web balls missing them by a hair's breadth.
Peter tightened his expression as he stopped. Gotta get in closer and take them by surprise.
Running and jumping above cover, he looked down and saw the male feral face to face. The two immediately picked up where they last left off. Peter ducked under a swipe before sending a web ball at him.
The webbing was cut before it could explode, the claws cleanly cutting it into two before the feral rushed him again. Spidey sidestepped a stab and slashed his forearm with his stinger. The higher exposure to his venom worked a bit better than before, causing the feral to tense for a second.
A second Spidey took advantage of, shooting a web ball straight toward the feral. The web exploded, covering the man from neck to toe. Spidey didn't hesitate to kick his gut, sending him flying—
—Straight into reinforcements.
Blue electricity sparked as Ghost Spider kicked the feral right back at him, the man screaming in pain at the sudden shock. Spidey circled the webbed man, barely grazing him before he kicked, speeding up the feral further and sending him straight to the other feral.
The two let out a pained 'oof' when they collided before their body crashed into the wall, the metal denting under the force of the combined momentum from the two spiders.
"Cat?" Spidey asked.
"Gathering info in the other lab."
"Alright. They got metal claws, don't even let them near you and they got some freaky regeneration so we can be a bit rough." Spidey explained.
"Got it, should we sync up?" She asked.
Spider-Man thought it over for not even a second before he shook his head. "Nah. Useful but we haven't practiced much with it. I don't want to risk it and we can handle this without it. I'll armor up though. I really don't trust those claws."
The ferals immediately got back to their feet, the man having been able to cut away the webbing with some difficulty and quickly dodged the incoming stab from the young woman.
The two rolled away from each other, snarling before they noticed the sound of crackling electricity.
Ghost suddenly dropped in between them, electricity visibly crackling around her body before she spun. Her hands dropped down and held up her body while she spun, her legs lashing out with blue arcs threatening to shock them.
The two attempted to jump backward to dodge it before a sudden tug took them by surprise. A webline could be seen attached to their chest before it pulled, sending them chest-first into Ghost's kicks.
The two grunted or shouted in pain, electricity coursing through their bodies as they were kicked across the lab.
But the two Spiders didn't let them breathe, the webline that was connected to their chests tugged again. Their bodies were pulled back to the middle of the lab and they faintly caught the sight of a lightly armored Spider-Man.
The two ferals unknowingly worked in sync, cutting off the webline with their claws. The male feral ducked and rolled under Spidey's kick while the female wrapped her limbs around the arm that had tried to punch her.
With a twist, the feral unexpectedly managed to bring Spidey down but his surprise quickly faded away and he used his super strength to let him drop to a knee. The woman brandished her claws, and with their distance minimized she pulled herself up and tried to stab through his lenses.
Before she could, webs suddenly covered the back of her hand and pulled her back. Ghost snatched her away from Peter right as he side-rolled a sudden downward stab from the other feral.
The female feral went flying, her body tipping backward from the sudden pull and coming face to Ghost's fist. Her head rattled from the sudden change in momentum.
The male feral and Spidey came to blows again, Spidey attempting to keep them as close as possible to make it harder for him to use his claws. Blocking the swipes by parrying the forearms away and stopping a stab by grabbing the wrist before it could fully extend.
Spidey twisted the arm and fully extended it, facing the feral's back to his front. Bending it by the elbow to the outside, he forcefully manipulated the joint to somewhat lock the arm to the man's back before he unsheathed his stinger.
"This will hurt a little." He said before he stabbed it into the mutant's shoulder.
The feral screamed in pain, his body spamming from the venom being injected into him. He growled and used his free arm to try and stab Spidey, forcing him to let go and rip out his stinger from the shoulder.
The two panted a little, the feral being a bit more bated than the other. Outside of that, Peter could already see that his venom, while able to make him pause, barely did much to the man. But the same could be said for him, his agility and Spider-Sense made it near impossible for the man to land a hit on him.
Back to their stalemate.
From the corner of their vision, they could see their female counterparts duking it out at the other side of the lab, electricity lighting up the lab for a few moments and reflecting off of silver claws.
"You're getting annoying, webs." He growled.
Spidey shrugged. "So people told me."
They were ready to lunge again before Spider-sense screamed.
"ENOUGH!!"
The lab suddenly grew colder, frost visibly building up inside the lab before a sudden wall of ice erupted between them. Separating the two from each other.
Peter turned to the side and widened his lenses.
Standing by the entrance was a beautiful woman. She looked exotic with her tanned skin and flowing white hair, her bountiful body wearing a black bodysuit with a silver lining similar to the male feral. She didn't have a cowl but she did have a cape that flowed behind her.
Right beside her, he could see the shocked look of Black Cat.
"Man, I'm glad I didn't fight you…" She commented, which earned a small smirk from the tanned woman.
"Dammit! She escaped!" Ghost cursed.
Spidey turned to her and noticed that she had also been separated from her now missing opponent via an ice wall.
The male growled at that before he turned to his companion angrily.
"I didn't need you to interfere."
"Well someone had to before we made unnecessary enemies." She rebuked before she turned to the vigilantes, Ghost quickly regrouping with Spidey and eyeing her warily. The two were tense but it seemed like she was much more willing to talk.
The feral relented, sheathing back his claws. The metal protrusions retreated into the space between his knuckles. The woman nodded at that and finally returned the temperature to normal, the ice wall quickly melting away.
Peter couldn't help but be fascinated by it, it reminded him of Bobby but something told him that she was so much more.
A sense of worry for Felicia gnawed at him. She was right, he was also glad that she didn't have to fight the woman. But it also reinforced to him how much bigger the threat was this time around.
"Apologies for my companion's behavior. I hope Logan hasn't caused any extensive injury." She apologized as she made her way to stand beside the newly dubbed Logan.
Black Cat quickly made her way towards them, answering their questioning glances with a smile.
"It's fine, she's cool." She assured them.
The two spiders shared another glance before Spidey nodded. "Nah, not much. Except for your buddy's pride, I think." He quipped.
The feral huffed but the woman merely smiled. "I assure you, Logan can handle it. I believe introductions are in order, I go by Storm. I am already acquainted with your partner Black Cat and I believe you are the two Spider vigilantes I've heard of."
"Stumbled on her while digging the info away, we would have duked it out too if I didn't mention that I was helping you guys." Black Cat added.
"Quite. It is a surprise to see renowned vigilantes and a notorious thief working together." Storm dryly commented.
"Things happened and you can say it's a trial phase on getting her to see the other side." Spidey shrugged.
"I see." Storm nodded but didn't push. Strange situations could make even the strangest of friends after all. "In any case, I've heard a little bit about why you are here from Black Cat and I believe our goals aligned."
That caught their attention.
"Really?" Peter asked as he crossed his arms.
Storm nodded. "Just like you, we are here trying to free the captive Mutants. However, we were too late. It seemed like they were already transported away."
"Oh no." Ghost gasped.
Storm however smiled reassuringly. "It is fine, however, as they weren't shipped off yet. I believe we can find their location from the pen drive that Black Cat had used to mine for info."
Felicia immediately pulled out the aforementioned pen drive and showed it off to the group.
"There's a lot of info there, I couldn't see them properly and it might take time to search through it here." Black Cat pointed out, letting the group immediately realize the problem.
"It's gonna take too long." Logan sighed. "The scent is all messed up too; it'll take me a while to go through them and get an actual direction. They covered their tracks too well."
"Which means they already expected this, no wonder there's no one in the labs." Ghost sighed.
"Actually, we might be able to get them on time. We just need to hurry back to base and get this to Forge. He should be able to go through it or at least make something that can help." Peter suggested.
"Forge?" Storm asked.
Peter paused at that, staring at them and wondering for the first time why they were there. Their outfit, while carrying some certain personalizations, looked a bit uniform. "Actually, you two never told us why you're trying to free those Mutants."
Storm realized the sudden tenseness in their form and held up a hand. "I believe there is a misunderstanding. We are not freeing them for nefarious purposes. The group we belong to, the X-Men, believes in the coexistence of Mutants and Humans. However, we're also tasked with making sure that Mutants are not mistreated. Thus our presence here on righting a wrong."
Peter was quickly reminded of Magneto. "Coexistence huh? I've met another old man who also talked about freeing Mutants and he's pretty passionate about it."
Storm grew intrigued while Logan gave him a careful look. "An old man? May I ask for his name?"
Peter didn't see anything wrong with it so he shrugged. "Yeah, called himself Magneto."
That elicited an extreme reaction, the two staring at him with wide eyes.
"Magneto?! The terrorist?!" Logan stared at him with wide eyes. Excuse him, what now?
"You've met him?! Why?!" Storm frantically asked.
Peter looked a bit overwhelmed by it, especially with the idea that he had just met a Mutant terrorist face-to-face and didn't realize it.
'Though then again, the revolution talk should make it obvious.' Peter realized.
Seeing Peter a bit out of it, Ghost took over. "Said he wanted to recruit the Mutants that we're protecting, including Spidey here into his group. One of them joined him but the rest of us told him to take his offer and stick it up his ass."
Logan snorted and gave them a disbelieving look. "And you're still alive?"
Peter shrugged. "Well…we didn't exactly tell him to stick it up his ass but it was implied."
His words led to some hint of respect from the two, causing them to smile at him.
"Why am I just knowing this now?" Black Cat suddenly asked, looking at them with a glare.
"It…didn't come up?" Spidey weakly offered, scratching the back of his head.
"You met a Mutant Terrorist trying to recruit you and thought it wasn't important to bring up?" She incredulously asked. Peter could only give her a sheepish look. "I'm grilling you on this later."
"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet." Ghost mocked.
"It's called 'knowing what the hell I'm getting into' thank you very much." Black Cat hotly defended.
"I believe–" Storm interjected with a raised hand. "–we are getting off-topic. You say that Magneto is trying to recruit you and the Mutants under your protection. I assume that you are a fellow Mutant?"
Peter shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, apparently I got the X-Gene and it awakened right at the same time I gained my Spider powers. Got a nifty psychic armor out of it tho." He showed off the black plates around him before they receded, vanishing into golden motes.
"Fascinating." Storm stared at it for a moment before she continued. "And one of these Mutants, I assume they are this Forge you speak of?"
Seeing that his Spider-Sense was not telling him that it was a bad idea and despite his rough patch with Logan, Storm did look genuinely trying to help people, he saw no reason why he shouldn't reveal it.
"Yup." He nodded.
Storm and Logan stared at each other for a moment, Logan sighing and nodding upwards at her which made her smile. She then turned to the rest.
"Are there any other Mutants there? I believe we may be of aid to them."
Spidey stared at them. "How so?"
"My group's sponsor also runs a school for Mutants, to aid them in controlling their powers and as a shelter for them. If you allow us to meet them and offer our aid, it might prove beneficial for them."
Peter thought it over, it was true that they couldn't stay with them forever. While Logan looked gruff, Storm herself looked like she was genuinely trying to offer aid to her fellow Mutants.
He glanced at Ghost, the woman already knowing what he was thinking.
"Why the hell not? We're already planning to move the base anyway." She sighed.
"Does that mean?" Storm asked.
Spidey uncrossed his arms. "I don't promise that they'll agree, that's up to their decision. But I can at least let them hear you out. From there it's up to you."
"And what about you?" She asked. "You're a fellow Mutant as well. That offer is extended to you too. The X-Men could use your aid and while I'm unsure of your partners, I'm confident that I can convince our sponsor that they'll be of help as well if we include them."
He paused, thinking over his words for a moment before replying. "I already found a way to use my powers and that's right here. It's not my original intention but after finding out about it, it just melds well with my responsibility. While you guys do whatever it is you do as X-Men, I think having a friendly neighborhood Mutant can help ease the idea of coexistence with the little people."
Storm stared at him for a moment before smiling in admiration and respect. "Then I shall respect it."
"Welp, if we're done!" Ghost quickly interjected, grabbing Peter's arm a bit possessively while dragging him out of the lab with Black Cat quickly following. "Let's get out of here, quick! Those hostages aren't saving themselves."
Storm blinked before sharing a glance with Logan and giggled. The feral just sighed and rolled his eyes while muttering 'dumb kids'.
It seemed like they had found some great allies in their quest for coexistence.
The two then quickly followed after them. Logan paused for a second, glancing back at where the other feral had gone missing. To think that he would find his daughter like this…
"Logan?" Storm called in confusion. "What is it?"
"It's nothing. Let's go." He grunted, ignoring Storm's concerned looks.
No use worrying over it, he would deal with it when the opportunity arrives. For now, they have other issues to focus on.
Deep in the city of New York, there's an unassuming building. It was rather bland with nothing particularly notable about it. There were scaffolds at the front of the building with the signboard portraying 'Coming soon!' attached.
To anyone who walked past it, they would have thought it was just another building under construction. It was a dime a dozen in New York and would pass their attention easily. The windows were tinted so no one could even see the inside of the building, which helped people ignore it more easily.
In the unassuming building, guards patrolled through its hallways. They were strangely well-armed, covered head to toe in tactical gear with advanced guns on them. It was clear that the unassuming building wasn't so unassuming at all.
One guard could be seen rounding a corner, following his patrol route. Despite how attentive he looked, he was bored out of his mind. There wasn't anything to do and he highly doubted that he would see any action. He had hoped to join the squad that would be handling the recent vigilante issue they had but upper management told them that they had someone else had it covered, so there's that.
So deep in his thoughts, the guard failed to notice the shifting shadows behind him before it was too late.
Pain erupted behind his head before he fell unconscious, his body would have fallen on the floor if not for a hand that grabbed him so that he wouldn't make any sound.
Peter breathed a sigh of relief and tossed him up, using his webs to stick him to the ceiling soundlessly. Currently he was in a spare suit of his since his last one was destroyed. He didn't really had the time to design an upgrade.
Nodding to himself, he patted down the guard and pulled out his ID card. Grinning, he quickly crawled back to where he came from.
There were no problems so far. Everything was accounted for, allowing them to maneuver around the guards and knock out the right ones to get into certain rooms.
Of course, just because there was no problem didn't mean they were getting anywhere.
Despite the building plans on hand, hacking through the security camera to get an idea of their surroundings, and even being physically present in the building, they realized there was a giant blindspot in the building.
The area wasn't listed in the plans and no security camera was present there. They had realized this back when they were planning, some of the guards' patrol routes and some comparison to the building plan made it easy for them to realize it.
And right now, he was making his way straight to the blindspot. The only reason he knocked the guard out was because he had spent the most time in the blind spot so that meant he had access to it.
Rounding the corner, he saw Ghost Spider and Black Cat waiting for him there. Right in front of them was a metal door with a card scanner right beside it.
"You got it?" Black Cat asked.
Peter held it up, gaining a smile from the thief.
He quickly scanned the card, with a beep the door slid open.
A metal and sterile hallway greeted them. It was well lit but there was a sense of blandness to it. It felt spartan.
"Let's go." Peter said as he headed inside. Ghost joined him on the ceiling while Black Cat made do on the ground.
The three rushed through the hallway, it was straightforward until they ran straight into an intersection.
"Crap." Ghost cursed.
"Got anything on this, Webline?" Peter asked.
"Nope. Unless you can hook me up straight into the system there, we're still blind."
"Splitting up it is." Peter sighed.
"That sounds like a bad idea." Black Cat pointed out.
"Not like we have a choice. Especially with a timer on our heads." Peter reminded.
It's why they were rushing so much. The kidnapped victims were in the building somewhere and it was a matter of time before they got shipped away.
"I'll go left. You two go right." Peter decided.
"And leave you all alone?" Ghost asked worriedly, Black Cat looking incredulous as well.
"Cat is better at this stuff and Ghost can tell if trouble is close. Both of you can cover each other's back." Peter reasoned. "I can cover myself."
"Awfully confident of you." Black Cat pressed with a skeptical look.
Ghost on the other hand couldn't argue. Unlike Felicia, she did know that Peter came from the future and was much better equipped in terms of experience and skill.
'And ain't that an issue.' Peter sighed.
He still wasn't sure if he should tell Felicia about that side of him. Unlike Gwen and Harry who had known him since middle school and could tell the difference, Felicia was just a recent addition to their group.
"Alright." Ghost agreed, Black Cat looked at her in surprise and sighed.
"Alright. You two know each other better anyway." She grouched with a hint of bitterness.
Peter wasn't sure what that was all about.
"What if we need the ID card though?" Ghost asked.
"Let me." Black Cat held out her hand for it. Peter gave it to her without question.
She pulled out a black rectangular device, held the card over it, and let it work. The device gave a small red glow at the top before it turned green.
"Done~" Cat handed the card back to him.
"What did you do?" Peter asked.
"Copied the card's signature. That way if we need it, we have this with us." Black Cat held it up with a satisfied smirk. "Forge is hella handy."
Peter smirked, Forge was pretty useful. He couldn't deny that.
"Well if we're done here, let's get going." Peter urged.
Ghost turned to Black Cart with a challenging glint in her lens. "Try to keep up."
"Oh, it's on." She grinned back at her.
Peter rolled his eyes. "Stay safe."
"Back at you." The two spoke before glancing at each other in surprise at the sudden sync.
With an amused chuckle, the three immediately split.
Peter quickly crawled on the ceiling at a quick pace, rounding another corner and spotting a door at the end of the hallway.
"At least it's close." Peter breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked around for any sight of a hidden camera but couldn't see any; his Spider-sense wasn't ringing so he assumed things were fine.
Heading to the door, he scanned his card to the scanner and the door slid open with a hiss.
"Woah…" He gasped.
It was a lab. There were computers, test tubes, and more strewn around the place. It was organized rather neatly but no scientist in sight. He wasn't complaining though.
"Maybe they've gone home already." He muttered out loud while making his way deeper into the lab. He looked around, trying to find anything that immediately stood out to him. A cursory glance at the few unattended papers and even the computer screens revealed nothing.
Just before he thought of doing a closer inspection, a sound reached his ear. He looked to another part of the lab, one that led to another hallway.
His Spidey Sense gave a light buzz. The danger was present but not actively directed at him.
A sense of worry gnawed at him, he hoped that Felicia and Gwen didn't encounter anything bad. While he knew that they could handle things, it still didn't stop him from worrying.
He gave the computers and papers one last glance before stealthily making his way to the source of danger. It was in the other Peters' experiences that the source of danger was always the answer to their problems.
Crawling on the ceiling, he made his way into the hallway. Stretching his senses (including his Spider-sense) to prepare for any trouble. His movement was tense yet still fluid enough to be ready for anything.
Coming into another larger lab, he immediately noted the dim lights. Some of the lights were shut off. No, they were broken. He could see what appeared to be claw marks on the lights, long and deep ridges cutting into the ceiling.
More tense than ever, he crawled deeper, this time sticking to the darker parts of the massive lab he was in to keep his presence further hidden.
He looked around, noting there were broken mirrors and furniture everywhere. How did he miss this? The distance between the lab sections wasn't that large, so he should have heard this.
'Unless it happened before we got here.' He concluded.
The implications disturbed him, which meant there was another intruder in the building. While they might be against the Facility, there's no confirmation they would side with them either.
Crawling deeper into the lab, he reached into the darker side of the place. He finally noticed there were bodies strewn around, guards he realized. Blood could be seen splattered all around the floor with claw marks becoming more and more frequent.
Stopping above a body, he strained his eyes as best as he could to check on it. Claw marks could be seen littered around the guard, it looked like an animal got to him.
'There's no way a wild animal got in here. One of the Mutants maybe?'
An image of the beast-like man that stood beside Magneto came to his mind. Sabretooth was it? Was this his doing? Magneto did say he was planning a revolution. Striking a compound that held captive Mutants to spread his beliefs would be a pretty good move. All those angry and desperate Mutants in one place being offered a chance to change their situation? Yeah, that's prime recruiting grounds.
There's also a chance that one of the Mutants could have a similar beast-like ability and escape. But he would have seen them by now and they would have probably moved in a group, making it easier to detect.
'Or the Mutant just escaped by themselves and abandoned the others.' He considered.
Too many options, too many variables.
Before he could consider the situation further, his Spider-Sense rang loudly.
SNIKT
Spidey immediately jumped off the ceiling, barely avoiding a sudden claw swipe from tearing into him.
Falling into a roll, he crouched and narrowed his lenses to the source.
Even with the dim and fading lighting, he could see the flash of silver lining on the full-body black suit. Glints of silver could be seen on the gloves, where three silver claws could be seen. A silver 'X' symbol could be seen on the belt and to finish off the suit was a cowl with two tips flowing away from it, looking like horns.
The two stared at each other, both needed but a glance to realize the other might be a tricky opponent.
"I thought I smelled a wet dog around here." He quipped.
He growled threateningly, revealing his canine teeth. "Watch your tongue, bub. Or I'll cut it out for you."
Spidey glanced at the metal claws, they did look unnaturally sharp. There was an odd shine to them that hinted at the composition's possibly unique traits.
'Note to self: try and get a sample off of it.' He mentally noted before focusing back on the opponent.
His opponent suddenly spoke. "You're that Spider kid."
"It's Spider-Man, actually but got it in one. You?"
Instead of answering, the man growled again. "Leave, kid. This ain't your business. Go save some cats from trees or something."
Peter was irked at that, now he's just looking down on him. "Not after seeing all the bodies here. I don't like what they're doing here but right now, you look a lot more dangerous."
The claws glinted as the man flexed his wrists. "Last warning, kid." Peter was starting to get annoyed with all the 'kid' talk. "You got no chance here. I'm the best there is at what I do and what I do isn't very nice." He warned.
"Try me." Spidey suddenly jumped, his leg lashing out into a kick.
The man rolled under it. Spidey landed, their backs to each other for only a moment before they turned around.
A silver arc made for his stomach, Spidey sense ringing at the idea of even grazing those claws. There goes the idea of getting a sample from it. Instincts and otherworldly memories supported his decision with how dangerous it was as he lightly backstepped to avoid the swing at the zenith of its arc before stepping back in. His body springboarded into a punch straight to the man's face.
Pain erupted from his wrist, Spidey letting out a pained groan as the man slid back a little from the force.
The man shook his head a little. "You're stronger than you look," He grunted.
Spidey shook his hand to work off the pain. He expected the guy to be a bit tougher but not this tough. "What are you made out of? Metal? Damn, that hurts."
The man scoffed in amusement. "Something like that."
The two suddenly lunged again, arcs of silver rushing toward him like a wild beast. His movements were ferocious and savage, yet there was a sense of innate discipline to it. Like a tamed beast that was letting his claws out purposefully.
Spidey didn't bother to appreciate it much considering he was trying his best to avoid those claws. His Spidey Sense told him they were bad news and he was very inclined to believe it.
Dodging a few of the swipes, his hands then quickly rushed out. Aiming specifically for his wrists to push the attacks away from him.
"Watch where you point that thing! Did no one teach you not to play with knives?!" Spidey groaned.
"Shut it, bug!"
"That's arachnid to you! And here I thought a Mutant would be a bit more sensitive to these things."
He growled in annoyance and intensified his savage rush. Peter meanwhile continued to counter the attacks a few more times before jabbing his opponent.
The beastly man moved his head away but kept his savage rush, Peter responding in kind by keeping himself on the defensive with the aid of his Spidey Sense. It didn't help that Peter wasn't sure if his webs would even work with those claws still in play. It seemed like they were at a stalemate.
'A new variable then.' Peter analyzed.
With a backstep that made a bit more space between them, Peter stomped. The ground beneath cracked, dust and cement rose into the air violently and covered his opponent's vision.
The man savagely swiped through the debris but lost track of Spidey, he looked around but couldn't spot any sign of him.
His nose twitched, his eyes noticed the webline from the edge of his vision and he immediately turned with his arms crossed, blocking a slingshot dropkick from Spidey. The force of the kick made his arms burn with pain yet it held steady, his body sliding and tipping backward from the force.
Spidey jumped back using his arms as a springboard. He flipped in the air and landed in a crouch. Before his opponent could even regain his balance, he lunged again.
The beast-man snarled and suddenly regained his balance, his claws barred and ready to skewer the arachnid alive. But Spidey suddenly disappeared from his vision.
He widened his eyes but his instincts saved him, ducking under a sudden high kick coming from his side.
"You!" The feral growled.
"Catch me if you can!" Spidey mocked as he danced around the feral, flipping and spinning around the man as he unleashed a fury of punches and kicks.
The feral could do nothing but keep his guard up, a complete reversal of their previous roles. While the feral did have impressive toughness, the rest of his physical abilities didn't seem to possess the same level of quality, making it easy for Spidey to dance circles around him.
The feral did attempt to lash out, letting out a few slashes and stabs wildly to get Spidey away. But superhuman agility paired with a near precognition level of danger sense allowed Spidey to maneuver through those attacks with ease as he continued his assault.
Suddenly the two paused, instinct and Spider-Sense screaming before the two suddenly backed away from each other. Right as a silver flash came between them and stabbed straight into the floor.
The two stared at the newcomer. Peter realized that she looked around his age. She was beautiful. Raven black hair that reached her waist, framing her heart-shaped face as her grey eyes analyzed them. She wore a simple black sports bra that stretched around her generous chest and black pants that looked painted on her, highlighting her long legs and taut ass.
But the thing that caught Peter's attention was the two metal claws that popped out between her knuckles similar to his opponent's, sharing their unnatural shining sharpness.
"Oh great, another one?!" He groaned. The woman immediately narrowed her eyes at him, aiming one of her claws at him threateningly. "Hey! Just because you have it doesn't mean you can just wave it around however you want, that's gotta count as indecent exposure!"
"Do you ever shut up?" The man groaned while the woman raised an eyebrow, as if unsure how to take his words.
Peter then noticed that the woman had also aimed her claws at the feral as well.
"Soooo, one of yours? I mean the claws looked similar but I didn't want to assume." He asked while eyeing both of them carefully.
The feral glanced at the woman while the woman stared at him carefully, their noses twitching before their eyes widened.
"It can't be…" He gasped, clearly surprised.
"You." She spat, downright furious.
"I'll take that as a no." Spidey muttered. Now what to do with that information?
'The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all but it doesn't look like she's up to being my buddy at the moment.' He thought it over, remembering how she had glared at him.
The two ferals suddenly lunged at each other, their claws bared and immediately buried into the other's bodies.
"Hey!" Spidey immediately joined into the fray, he wasn't gonna let more people die in his presence if he could help it!
The two separated from each other the moment he lunged, he glanced at their bleeding wounds worryingly before his eyes widened. Their wounds closed at an astonishing rate that surprised even him.
"Okay, high-speed regeneration. Explains why you're so stab happy." He groaned as the two ferals kept their eyes on him. "But that still doesn't mean you can stab anyone you like with me around."
The two growled at him, their claws bared at him and each other.
The two immediately lunged at him, their claws ready to skewer him.
'As good a time as any to bust it out.' He groused.
Bone-like stingers popped out of his wrists as he spun around and immediately caused them to retreat from the sudden blades.
"Yours may be shinier," He fully brandished them for the first time (and realized that these things were the size of his arms, holy hell!) and aimed them at the ferals. "But I got the length and girth."
"It's all about the technique, kid." The male feral smirked, probably actually enjoying that one quip.
"Trust me, I have plenty." He quipped before jumping back into the fray.
The three moved around each other, dodging and slicing against each other on any attempt they could get. Spidey didn't dare to lock blades with their claws though, his Spidey Sense reaffirming how bad of an idea it was.
As fast as the fight started, Spidey immediately realized the difference between the two.
The man was a bit more direct and savage, opting for a more aggressive and powerful movement. The young woman on the other hand was a bit more meticulous, often hiding within his blind spots to take him out faster. But he also noted her heightened aggressiveness when faced with the male feral.
Jumping to avoid the hidden slash from the woman, Peter flipped in the air and landed on the ground. He didn't have a chance to breathe as he had to duck under another slash, this time from his other opponent. Rolling through the ground to evade but also used his slightly longer reach to nick the man near his armpits.
The venom on his stingers was able to put a grown man in a hospital with just a nick, but what about a Mutant with their level of regeneration?
The male feral stumbled a little before he continued like normal, causing Peter to click his tongue. Either he had to put in higher doses or it's time he tested out if his webbings could hold down these two.
Jumping away for some space, he sheathed one of his stingers and shot a barrage of web balls at the two. The two ferals dodge and quickly find cover, the web balls missing them by a hair's breadth.
Peter tightened his expression as he stopped. Gotta get in closer and take them by surprise.
Running and jumping above cover, he looked down and saw the male feral face to face. The two immediately picked up where they last left off. Peter ducked under a swipe before sending a web ball at him.
The webbing was cut before it could explode, the claws cleanly cutting it into two before the feral rushed him again. Spidey sidestepped a stab and slashed his forearm with his stinger. The higher exposure to his venom worked a bit better than before, causing the feral to tense for a second.
A second Spidey took advantage of, shooting a web ball straight toward the feral. The web exploded, covering the man from neck to toe. Spidey didn't hesitate to kick his gut, sending him flying—
—Straight into reinforcements.
Blue electricity sparked as Ghost Spider kicked the feral right back at him, the man screaming in pain at the sudden shock. Spidey circled the webbed man, barely grazing him before he kicked, speeding up the feral further and sending him straight to the other feral.
The two let out a pained 'oof' when they collided before their body crashed into the wall, the metal denting under the force of the combined momentum from the two spiders.
"Cat?" Spidey asked.
"Gathering info in the other lab."
"Alright. They got metal claws, don't even let them near you and they got some freaky regeneration so we can be a bit rough." Spidey explained.
"Got it, should we sync up?" She asked.
Spider-Man thought it over for not even a second before he shook his head. "Nah. Useful but we haven't practiced much with it. I don't want to risk it and we can handle this without it. I'll armor up though. I really don't trust those claws."
The ferals immediately got back to their feet, the man having been able to cut away the webbing with some difficulty and quickly dodged the incoming stab from the young woman.
The two rolled away from each other, snarling before they noticed the sound of crackling electricity.
Ghost suddenly dropped in between them, electricity visibly crackling around her body before she spun. Her hands dropped down and held up her body while she spun, her legs lashing out with blue arcs threatening to shock them.
The two attempted to jump backward to dodge it before a sudden tug took them by surprise. A webline could be seen attached to their chest before it pulled, sending them chest-first into Ghost's kicks.
The two grunted or shouted in pain, electricity coursing through their bodies as they were kicked across the lab.
But the two Spiders didn't let them breathe, the webline that was connected to their chests tugged again. Their bodies were pulled back to the middle of the lab and they faintly caught the sight of a lightly armored Spider-Man.
The two ferals unknowingly worked in sync, cutting off the webline with their claws. The male feral ducked and rolled under Spidey's kick while the female wrapped her limbs around the arm that had tried to punch her.
With a twist, the feral unexpectedly managed to bring Spidey down but his surprise quickly faded away and he used his super strength to let him drop to a knee. The woman brandished her claws, and with their distance minimized she pulled herself up and tried to stab through his lenses.
Before she could, webs suddenly covered the back of her hand and pulled her back. Ghost snatched her away from Peter right as he side-rolled a sudden downward stab from the other feral.
The female feral went flying, her body tipping backward from the sudden pull and coming face to Ghost's fist. Her head rattled from the sudden change in momentum.
The male feral and Spidey came to blows again, Spidey attempting to keep them as close as possible to make it harder for him to use his claws. Blocking the swipes by parrying the forearms away and stopping a stab by grabbing the wrist before it could fully extend.
Spidey twisted the arm and fully extended it, facing the feral's back to his front. Bending it by the elbow to the outside, he forcefully manipulated the joint to somewhat lock the arm to the man's back before he unsheathed his stinger.
"This will hurt a little." He said before he stabbed it into the mutant's shoulder.
The feral screamed in pain, his body spamming from the venom being injected into him. He growled and used his free arm to try and stab Spidey, forcing him to let go and rip out his stinger from the shoulder.
The two panted a little, the feral being a bit more bated than the other. Outside of that, Peter could already see that his venom, while able to make him pause, barely did much to the man. But the same could be said for him, his agility and Spider-Sense made it near impossible for the man to land a hit on him.
Back to their stalemate.
From the corner of their vision, they could see their female counterparts duking it out at the other side of the lab, electricity lighting up the lab for a few moments and reflecting off of silver claws.
"You're getting annoying, webs." He growled.
Spidey shrugged. "So people told me."
They were ready to lunge again before Spider-sense screamed.
"ENOUGH!!"
The lab suddenly grew colder, frost visibly building up inside the lab before a sudden wall of ice erupted between them. Separating the two from each other.
Peter turned to the side and widened his lenses.
Standing by the entrance was a beautiful woman. She looked exotic with her tanned skin and flowing white hair, her bountiful body wearing a black bodysuit with a silver lining similar to the male feral. She didn't have a cowl but she did have a cape that flowed behind her.
Right beside her, he could see the shocked look of Black Cat.
"Man, I'm glad I didn't fight you…" She commented, which earned a small smirk from the tanned woman.
"Dammit! She escaped!" Ghost cursed.
Spidey turned to her and noticed that she had also been separated from her now missing opponent via an ice wall.
The male growled at that before he turned to his companion angrily.
"I didn't need you to interfere."
"Well someone had to before we made unnecessary enemies." She rebuked before she turned to the vigilantes, Ghost quickly regrouping with Spidey and eyeing her warily. The two were tense but it seemed like she was much more willing to talk.
The feral relented, sheathing back his claws. The metal protrusions retreated into the space between his knuckles. The woman nodded at that and finally returned the temperature to normal, the ice wall quickly melting away.
Peter couldn't help but be fascinated by it, it reminded him of Bobby but something told him that she was so much more.
A sense of worry for Felicia gnawed at him. She was right, he was also glad that she didn't have to fight the woman. But it also reinforced to him how much bigger the threat was this time around.
"Apologies for my companion's behavior. I hope Logan hasn't caused any extensive injury." She apologized as she made her way to stand beside the newly dubbed Logan.
Black Cat quickly made her way towards them, answering their questioning glances with a smile.
"It's fine, she's cool." She assured them.
The two spiders shared another glance before Spidey nodded. "Nah, not much. Except for your buddy's pride, I think." He quipped.
The feral huffed but the woman merely smiled. "I assure you, Logan can handle it. I believe introductions are in order, I go by Storm. I am already acquainted with your partner Black Cat and I believe you are the two Spider vigilantes I've heard of."
"Stumbled on her while digging the info away, we would have duked it out too if I didn't mention that I was helping you guys." Black Cat added.
"Quite. It is a surprise to see renowned vigilantes and a notorious thief working together." Storm dryly commented.
"Things happened and you can say it's a trial phase on getting her to see the other side." Spidey shrugged.
"I see." Storm nodded but didn't push. Strange situations could make even the strangest of friends after all. "In any case, I've heard a little bit about why you are here from Black Cat and I believe our goals aligned."
That caught their attention.
"Really?" Peter asked as he crossed his arms.
Storm nodded. "Just like you, we are here trying to free the captive Mutants. However, we were too late. It seemed like they were already transported away."
"Oh no." Ghost gasped.
Storm however smiled reassuringly. "It is fine, however, as they weren't shipped off yet. I believe we can find their location from the pen drive that Black Cat had used to mine for info."
Felicia immediately pulled out the aforementioned pen drive and showed it off to the group.
"There's a lot of info there, I couldn't see them properly and it might take time to search through it here." Black Cat pointed out, letting the group immediately realize the problem.
"It's gonna take too long." Logan sighed. "The scent is all messed up too; it'll take me a while to go through them and get an actual direction. They covered their tracks too well."
"Which means they already expected this, no wonder there's no one in the labs." Ghost sighed.
"Actually, we might be able to get them on time. We just need to hurry back to base and get this to Forge. He should be able to go through it or at least make something that can help." Peter suggested.
"Forge?" Storm asked.
Peter paused at that, staring at them and wondering for the first time why they were there. Their outfit, while carrying some certain personalizations, looked a bit uniform. "Actually, you two never told us why you're trying to free those Mutants."
Storm realized the sudden tenseness in their form and held up a hand. "I believe there is a misunderstanding. We are not freeing them for nefarious purposes. The group we belong to, the X-Men, believes in the coexistence of Mutants and Humans. However, we're also tasked with making sure that Mutants are not mistreated. Thus our presence here on righting a wrong."
Peter was quickly reminded of Magneto. "Coexistence huh? I've met another old man who also talked about freeing Mutants and he's pretty passionate about it."
Storm grew intrigued while Logan gave him a careful look. "An old man? May I ask for his name?"
Peter didn't see anything wrong with it so he shrugged. "Yeah, called himself Magneto."
That elicited an extreme reaction, the two staring at him with wide eyes.
"Magneto?! The terrorist?!" Logan stared at him with wide eyes. Excuse him, what now?
"You've met him?! Why?!" Storm frantically asked.
Peter looked a bit overwhelmed by it, especially with the idea that he had just met a Mutant terrorist face-to-face and didn't realize it.
'Though then again, the revolution talk should make it obvious.' Peter realized.
Seeing Peter a bit out of it, Ghost took over. "Said he wanted to recruit the Mutants that we're protecting, including Spidey here into his group. One of them joined him but the rest of us told him to take his offer and stick it up his ass."
Logan snorted and gave them a disbelieving look. "And you're still alive?"
Peter shrugged. "Well…we didn't exactly tell him to stick it up his ass but it was implied."
His words led to some hint of respect from the two, causing them to smile at him.
"Why am I just knowing this now?" Black Cat suddenly asked, looking at them with a glare.
"It…didn't come up?" Spidey weakly offered, scratching the back of his head.
"You met a Mutant Terrorist trying to recruit you and thought it wasn't important to bring up?" She incredulously asked. Peter could only give her a sheepish look. "I'm grilling you on this later."
"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet." Ghost mocked.
"It's called 'knowing what the hell I'm getting into' thank you very much." Black Cat hotly defended.
"I believe–" Storm interjected with a raised hand. "–we are getting off-topic. You say that Magneto is trying to recruit you and the Mutants under your protection. I assume that you are a fellow Mutant?"
Peter shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, apparently I got the X-Gene and it awakened right at the same time I gained my Spider powers. Got a nifty psychic armor out of it tho." He showed off the black plates around him before they receded, vanishing into golden motes.
"Fascinating." Storm stared at it for a moment before she continued. "And one of these Mutants, I assume they are this Forge you speak of?"
Seeing that his Spider-Sense was not telling him that it was a bad idea and despite his rough patch with Logan, Storm did look genuinely trying to help people, he saw no reason why he shouldn't reveal it.
"Yup." He nodded.
Storm and Logan stared at each other for a moment, Logan sighing and nodding upwards at her which made her smile. She then turned to the rest.
"Are there any other Mutants there? I believe we may be of aid to them."
Spidey stared at them. "How so?"
"My group's sponsor also runs a school for Mutants, to aid them in controlling their powers and as a shelter for them. If you allow us to meet them and offer our aid, it might prove beneficial for them."
Peter thought it over, it was true that they couldn't stay with them forever. While Logan looked gruff, Storm herself looked like she was genuinely trying to offer aid to her fellow Mutants.
He glanced at Ghost, the woman already knowing what he was thinking.
"Why the hell not? We're already planning to move the base anyway." She sighed.
"Does that mean?" Storm asked.
Spidey uncrossed his arms. "I don't promise that they'll agree, that's up to their decision. But I can at least let them hear you out. From there it's up to you."
"And what about you?" She asked. "You're a fellow Mutant as well. That offer is extended to you too. The X-Men could use your aid and while I'm unsure of your partners, I'm confident that I can convince our sponsor that they'll be of help as well if we include them."
He paused, thinking over his words for a moment before replying. "I already found a way to use my powers and that's right here. It's not my original intention but after finding out about it, it just melds well with my responsibility. While you guys do whatever it is you do as X-Men, I think having a friendly neighborhood Mutant can help ease the idea of coexistence with the little people."
Storm stared at him for a moment before smiling in admiration and respect. "Then I shall respect it."
"Welp, if we're done!" Ghost quickly interjected, grabbing Peter's arm a bit possessively while dragging him out of the lab with Black Cat quickly following. "Let's get out of here, quick! Those hostages aren't saving themselves."
Storm blinked before sharing a glance with Logan and giggled. The feral just sighed and rolled his eyes while muttering 'dumb kids'.
It seemed like they had found some great allies in their quest for coexistence.
The two then quickly followed after them. Logan paused for a second, glancing back at where the other feral had gone missing. To think that he would find his daughter like this…
"Logan?" Storm called in confusion. "What is it?"
"It's nothing. Let's go." He grunted, ignoring Storm's concerned looks.
No use worrying over it, he would deal with it when the opportunity arrives. For now, they have other issues to focus on.
Chapter 15 - Dive in, grab the string
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SKaine
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Chapter 15 - Dive in, grab the string
Jean grimaced, her mind roiling and buckling under an invisible psychic weight but she persevered. Her mental walls cracked but she quickly mended them and improved them easily, but it still didn't stop how painful the process was.
Sweat dripped from her brow, the mental force continued to probe her defenses. Sometimes content with just bashing into it or subtly trying to slither through its 'gaps'. It felt weird. Visually, she could imagine the process but practically speaking the whole thing felt strange to her brain.
But at the same time, it had an odd sense of ease—like discovering a latent talent you didn't know about. She already knew she was strong but didn't know she was this gifted with her powers.
The mental probe finally eased up, 'circling' around her mental defenses for a moment before fully retreating.
Jean let out a sigh of relief.
"Your mental defenses are getting better." Emma praised. Her usually slightly cold tone had a hint of warmth to it. Jean had noticed that outside of Peter, she tended to keep other people at arm's length. However, she was surely making some headway on closing that gap, maybe because she's her personal student.
"Great!" Jean smiled, looking at her expectantly. "When can we get into the awesome stuff?"
There was a hint of exasperated amusement in her eyes before it quickly disappeared. "I understand that you find this tedious, but it'll be a while before you can get to the 'awesome stuff'."
Jean slumped as she gave her a petulant look. "Come on! Is there still more I need to cover?"
Emma stared at her sternly for a moment before she softened her look, a glint of understanding in her eyes. "Look, I get it. You feel like you're not making any progress and want to advance as fast as possible so you can help Peter." She assured as she held Jean's shoulder.
The young woman flushed at the call out but couldn't reply as Emma continued.
"But this is important. I need to hammer in the basics into you to the point you can do it in your sleep, do you know why?" Emma asked.
Jean thought it over for a moment. "Because I'm stronger than you?" She answered hesitantly, afraid Emma might take it the wrong way.
Emma thankfully nodded. "Exactly. Even without Magneto telling us, I can already tell just how strong you are. That means after a certain point, we will both be treading on new ground that risks hurting you and everyone around you. These basics I'm implanting in you would be key to ensuring that doesn't happen." She explained.
Jean looked resistant but ultimately understood. Emma was the expert between the two of them and she hadn't steered her wrong yet. Peter trusted her too so that was also enough for her to listen.
"Fine." She sighed.
Emma smiled and patted her shoulder. "Take five, we'll pick it up right after."
"Alright, I'll get some air then." Jean spoke. Emma nodded and gestured for her to go ahead.
Jean stood up from her seat and walked out of their shared room. She let out a deep breath the moment she stepped out.
She was frustrated, that much was obvious but she also couldn't deny Emma's concerns. Hell, she repressed her powers because of the same reasons. But seeing the people around her working their ass off to help people left her feeling restless. Peter and everyone were going out and doing actual changes while she was here needing someone to babysit her.
…Now she felt guilty. Emma was doing her best with her and she's acting like a petulant brat.
"You look like you could use a talk."
Jean turned suddenly and spotted one of their newest visitors. Storm if she remembered right. She had come here with the other guy named Logan and had talked about X-Men. A group of people created to protect and nurture other Mutants while promoting equality. And most importantly, they came here to recruit the Mutants under Spidey's protection.
It was easy to doubt them since it was too good to be true but Spidey looked like he trusted them enough to believe their words. So they have their tentative trust as well.
The beautiful woman smiled at her sympathetically, a smile she nervously returned.
"Uh, hey." Jean lamely spoke. "Was I that obvious?"
"Didn't need to be a psychic to see that you're having problems." Storm teased.
Jean groaned and slumped. "Sorry, I just…"
Storm waved it off. "What is there to apologize for? If anything I should be the one apologizing for assuming things."
Jean shook her head. "No, it's not like you weren't wrong either. I'm just…mad that I couldn't help much I guess."
"Trouble with your gifts?"
"Yeah." Jean nodded, not seeing anything wrong with revealing it.
Storm smiled. "While I don't doubt the capabilities of your friend, Emma, our sponsor is also a Mutant that has been gifted with psychic abilities. He has lived for a long time and has accrued the experience to match. If you'd like, Professor Xavier would be more than willing to take you in to help you hone your gifts."
Jean blinked at that, the sound of getting better faster under a more experienced teacher was tempting but…
"Didn't you offer this to Bobby and Forge? What did they say?" Jean asked.
"I did and they had accepted." Storm nodded.
Jean bit her lip nervously at that. "I'm grateful for it but…I want to help Spidey and going with you guys to a far-off school sounds…"
Storm nodded in understanding. "I understand. You wish to repay your saviour and that is a noble task. However, it is my personal belief that restricting yourself here would hurt you more in the long run. I believe you should train yourself more and be there for him when he needs it most is a better way to repay him instead of sticking close to him all the time and being unable to help."
Her words struck a chord inside Jean but…
"I'll think about it."
"I suggest that you do, it's quite a big of a decision after all." Storm smiled before quickly leaving her to think.
Jean sighed as she thought the offer over. On one hand, she would be going to what sounds like a pretty good place to help hone her gifts and even live in at least a somewhat normal environment. As normal as you could get with Mutants anyway. It sounded good, great even but…
She still couldn't forget that sense of safety from Spidey. That solid pillar of support that had stood by her when she faced down a Mutant terrorist trying to recruit her and tell him 'No'. There was also the fact that accepting it felt like a betrayal to Emma…
Speaking of her teacher.
"So she finally tried to recruit you."
Jean turned to her back and noticed Emma giving her an unreadable look.
"Emma! How long were you there?"
"Long enough."
Jean quickly tried to explain. "I-I didn't accept the offer, not sure if I should honestly since—"
"It'll feel like you're just using me." Emma finished, and Jean nervously nodded. Emma sighed with a tinge of amusement. "It's fine to seek better education, Jean. I won't hate you for it. If anything it might serve you some good."
"You think I should accept?" Jean asked with shock.
Emma nodded. "I won't force you if you don't want to of course but from what little I can get from her surface thoughts, Storm was genuine about you being able to gain better help from this Professor Xavier. I'm inclined to believe her since he's quite the big name, an ardent supporter of Mutant rights. Though I didn't know he was a Mutant as well…" She trailed off with an odd glint in her eyes.
Jean didn't catch it though, part of her was relieved that Emma wouldn't be mad but another part of her was still worried.
"What about you? Will you join too? I mean, you said it yourself. It'll be better to join." Jean asked.
Emma gave her student a soft yet bittersweet look. Jean's not sure if she liked that, it felt…sad. Like she's letting something precious go to keep hold of another thing that was just as precious. It's pretty specific but that's what she was getting from Emma.
Unknowing of her student's unconscious use of her psychic abilities, Emma smiled. "I don't think I will. I'm staying here for a more personal reason."
"Is it because of Spidey?" Jean unthinkingly asked.
If it was anybody else, Emma would have shut it down hard. But instead, she gave her a reproachful look. "It is, but I don't think you should go for personal stuff like that off the bat, Jean."
"Ah, sorry." Jean sheepishly apologized.
Emma shook her head in fond exasperation. "It's fine. Now come on, your five minutes is up and we still have other things to cover."
Jean's groan just made Emma chuckle.
She was right, she really did find this teaching thing fun. Shame she couldn't keep it.
[-]
"Did you finish tuning the Web-Blast?"
"Web-Blast?"
"Yeah, the thingamajig that Forge made for you?"
"Oh that thing! Yeah just finished with it, it should help me deal with their frequency weapons." Peter nodded as he held up his modified web-shooters.
Gwen then looked everything over. "Anything else in the folder we should worry about?"
"A few notes about an experimental homunculus but I don't think you need to worry about it." Harry shrugged. "It's still in the experimental phase based on the notes and none of them managed to survive longer than an hour."
"And what about any potential security?" Felicia asked as she checked over her gear.
"With your equipment? It'll be fine." Harry waved it off.
Felicia would have doubted his words since they were going against an international organization that profits from Mutant trafficking. Still, she couldn't deny the amazing upgrades from Forge would definitely trivialize a lot of security.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Felicia, here." Peter tossed a pair of something at her.
Felicia caught them with ease before looking at them. It had a metallic strap with some sort of compact panel. Now that she's looking at it closely, wasn't this…
Felicia turned to Peter in shock. "Isn't this your web shooters?"
Harry and Gwen mimicked Felicia's look, turning to Peter with some questions in their eyes.
Peter nodded. "Yeah. I figured giving you those would be a better option than your grappling hooks."
"A-Are you sure?! I mean this is great but you do realize I haven't really confirmed anything about being a hero right?" Felicia sputtered, holding the web shooters a little bit more carefully.
"Yes but right now your life is a lot more important," Peter assured. His eyes portrayed how worried he was. "We got lucky that you didn't fight Storm but that made me realize I should probably give you something that can help you."
Felicia narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to retort, but Peter's injured body flashed through her mind and clamped her mouth shut.
She looked down at the web shooters and held it gingerly. She was still afraid that she might cause Peter to injure himself unnecessarily and if this would help her perform better so that he won't need to watch out for her constantly then so be it.
"I—Alright. Thanks, Peter." She smiled.
Peter returned it with a soft gaze. "Don't mention it."
Nodding at that, Harry decided to move the convo away. He could already see Gwen staring at the two of them with some small irritation. Though she looked a lot calmer than before, maybe her talk with Felicia bore some fruit.
"What about you, Pete? Your last suit got destroyed pretty badly. You managed to fix it up but do you have any upgrades in mind?" Harry asked curiously.
Peter thought it over and shook his head. "Not enough time to make one, even with the fabricator speeding things up I don't really have a working design. Bringing an untested suit is just too risky, I'll have to make do with what I have."
It wasn't like he wasn't used to it. The other Peters had gone through their lives just working with what they had and despite the resources from Tony, he still spent the early years of being Spider-Man with just a hoodie, a ski mask, and scraps to make his web-shooters.
He'd just have to rely on the good old basics that even the other Peters had come to rely on.
Trust your Spider-Sense.
Putting some final checks on his work, he took a deep breath. Despite their preparations, there were still a few things they needed to worry about.
"That girl I mentioned, did you find anything about her?" Peter asked.
"All I got is that she's called X-23 and served as a weapon for the Facility, nothing else though." Harry sighed as he scratched his head in frustration. "There's barely any info on her and from what we do have is that she's a hidden agent for the organization that only a select few knew. We got lucky that the files we stole had even that much."
"On the upside, we at least know about her powers." Gwen offered, trying to be positive.
"Still doesn't explain why a girl our age is working with them." Peter pointed out, a worried look crossing his features. He didn't need to take a long look to realize that the young woman was around their age and here she was, being used to kill people. That was beyond messed up.
"You let me worry about that."
Everyone turned their attention to the source and spotted Logan sitting at the side, he was content just listening in without interrupting until that moment. While he would usually worry and be adamant about people not knowing his identity, they decided that Logan and Storm knowing wouldn't matter since Bobby and Forge had decided to join them and possibly work closely with the X-Men.
Peter was really concerned over how many people had known his identity now, he wasn't this bad before the reset…
…Wait no, Aunt May had kinda known pretty quickly, he accidentally revealed himself to Ned, and MJ had pieced things together all by herself pretty easily.
Man, he really sucked at this whole secret identity thing.
"She's my business, so don't butt into it." Logan gruffly told them.
"If we did, does that mean you won't stab her to death?" Peter raised an eyebrow challengingly, still remembering how ready to kill the two were when against each other.
Logan snorted. "Dying is the least of her worries."
"You do realize that doesn't sound as comforting as you thought it is right?"
Logan didn't even deign to reply to that.
Peter sighed at his attitude, wondering how in the hell did Storm work with this man.
Speaking of the woman, she finally entered the room. Behind her was both Bobby and Forge who had a contemplative yet determined look in their eyes. It seemed like whatever Storm had informed them had caused a change in them.
A second later, Emma and Jean followed in as they gave various degrees of curious looks to the people in the room. They had probably also just finished Jean's lessons for the day.
Storm cast one look at them, then at Logan before immediately giving them an exasperated look. "What did Logan do now?"
The fact that she asked that question did not paint a good picture of Logan if Peter was honest…
"Trying to figure out what to do with the other girl that has similar powers to him," Peter answered before looking at Logan with half-lidded eyes. "He's not offering much confidence on that front if I'm being honest."
"I keep telling you, don't worry about it." Logan growled.
"And I will once you actually be straight with us." Peter shot back. "She means something to you but you didn't even hesitate to try and hurt her badly. It's kinda worrying."
"And why do you care?"
"Because someone has to, if I don't offer out a helping hand when I can then who will?" Peter answered, his voice growing passionate. "I have these powers, this gift. It's my responsibility to use it for good and that means caring about people even when they don't want it."
The people in the room stared at the two warily, Peter and Logan stared each other down. One imploringly while the other defiant.
After what felt like minutes, Logan turned to Storm and noticed even she was curious about what Peter was saying. He sighed, realizing he wouldn't be able to hide it.
"The girl, I think she's my daughter." Logan slowly admitted.
Everyone stared at him with wide eyes.
"A daughter?" Storm slowly asked.
"Or a sibling, I'm not sure. Her scent is too similar to mine but different enough to make it a little fuzzy." Logan grunted as he leaned back into his seat, his eyes having a faraway look to them. "But it doesn't matter in the end, I have to stop her no matter what. That's my responsibility." He stared at Peter, giving him a dark look that held all the weight in the world.
Peter however looked unconvinced. "Stop her, and how do you plan to do that?"
Logan didn't answer immediately, holding up a fist before popping out his claws.
"What I do best."
Peter really didn't like that answer.
[-]
The sound of 'THWIPs' could be heard in the air, the sight of three people web-slinging through the buildings would have been a sight to see if it weren't for it being in the middle of the night.
"You doing okay, Black Cat?" Spidey asked into the comms, keeping a close eye on the thief-turning-hero.
"WOOOO!"
So caught up in the excitement of web-swinging, Black Cat didn't even answer. A wide smile on her face as she kept up with the two spiders. She was taking it much easier than both of them did in their first times.
"I don't think she heard you." Ghost deadpanned but there was a hint of amusement to it.
"That does look pretty fun." Jean commented from their earpiece.
Spidey glanced down and could see a conspicuous van following them from afar. Inside were Jean, Emma, Bobby, Storm, and Logan. The younger mutants had decided to follow into the mission now that there were a lot more people who could keep an eye on their backs. Storm at least had promised to watch and guide them, especially Bobby since she could help him with his ice powers.
Harry and Forge had decided to stay back at the base to keep watch on the tech side of things, realizing they'd be much more useful there.
Part of Spidey was kinda nervous to have so many people join them, but another part of him told him that he needed to be able to trust them to do well if he wished them to realize their potential.
"Oh you have no idea!" Black Cat laughed. "How about I take you for a ride instead of that cramped van, Jean?" She asked teasingly.
"Yeah no thanks. I'm not stupid enough to fall for that." Jean immediately rejected it, realizing what Felicia might have planned.
"Your loss~" The thief shrugged. "Though I guess you wouldn't mind if Spidey offered, won't you?"
"I—well—!" Jean stuttered, which made Felicia cackle.
"Even if he did, it would still be no." Emma cut in to save Jean, something she audibly appreciated judging by her sigh of relief, glad that she had someone on her side. A belief that was quickly dashed. "She'd be too busy distracting Spidey for them to do anything productive."
"EMMA!"
The sound of laughter filled their comms, Spidey rolled his eyes behind his lenses despite his amused smirk.
"I am right here, you know?" He commented with amusement.
"Oh don't act like you don't like it." Ghost immediately called him out on his bullshit, her tone showing that she was as amused as he was.
"I mean Jean is pretty cute, so yeah I don't really mind having a cute girl hanging off me." Spidey shrugged.
"Why are you all ganging up on me?!" Jean asked exasperatedly.
"You'd like that wouldn't you~?" Felicia teased.
"Oh fuck off!"
They all laughed again, taking in whatever enjoyment they could.
Though then again, maybe taking a piss out of the strongest telepath might be a bad idea.
Eh, he was sure it'd be fine.
The group continued to talk with each other through the comms, with Spidey being a bit surprised by how well Felicia, Jean, and Gwen were hitting it off. They hadn't really talked much before so he guessed they were rectifying that.
"I haven't really gone out much, to be honest. I was more distracted with keeping my powers in check and going out would just make my head hurt." Jean admitted.
"Mood." Gwen nodded in understanding. "Different circumstances but I don't like to deal with people too much, so I get that."
"Course a nerd like you don't." Felicia sighed.
"And what do you do, miss popular?" Gwen shot back.
"Oh you know. Just looking around and sightseeing at some museums."
"And you call Gwen a nerd?" Jean snorted.
"Hey! Historian is a very respectable profession."
"You're right, sitting all day reading up on some dusty tomes to get an idea of what kind of pots they used to cook with back then. Definitely not a nerd." Gwen deadpanned.
"Oh fuck off." Felicia snorted in amusement, conceding to their points.
Their conversations continued until they were finally near the docks, the place where they were headed.
"We're here." Spidey spoke.
The noises ceased, the undercurrent of nervousness that they ignored till now finally bubbled. Some of them dealt with it with ease, others tried their best.
The web-swinging trio landed next to the van as the occupants inside got out. The group stared out into the docks by a hidden place but couldn't see anything of note.
"You sure we're at the right place?" Logan asked.
"I'm sure," Harry replied evenly. "There's nowhere else they could transport all those Mutants. The docks are the last checkpoint before they get shipped off. It might not look like it but the place is swarmed by the Facility guards."
"How did the authorities miss it if they used the place?" Bobby asked.
"Assuming that they did miss it." Emma cynically added.
Jean turned to her with wide eyes. "You think they'd just let them go?"
"I'm thinking they got bought and decided that the problem is way above their pay grade." Emma clarified.
The younger Mutants didn't know how to react to her words, a glance at Logan and Storm showed their lack of surprise.
"No way…" Jean softly gasped.
"I knew things were bad but…" Bobby rubbed the back of his neck, nervousness clear in his eyes.
"It is an unfortunate state of the world, yes." Storm sighed before giving the two a look of determination. "But that makes our work all the more vital. This is why the X-Men exist, to put a stop to these atrocities and save Mutantkind."
The two stared at her with awe, completely taken in by her words.
At the side, Emma too was focused on her. Part of her knew that Storm fully believed in those words but she still couldn't help but be slightly skeptical. She had conflicting thoughts on the group and this mission of theirs would be a good way to see them live up to their words.
"Alright then." Spidey caught their attention back. "We're gonna need to split up. Bobby, Ghost-Spider, Black Cat, Storm. Four of you will be checking the ships. That'll leave me, Logan, Jean, and Emma to check the warehouses. That's good with you?"
A series of nods answered his question, making him nod in satisfaction.
"Great! Now if you guys see anything, call in through the comms. We don't have an exact detail on which part of the docks they are using to ship the mutants out and there's a chance they could take us by surprise. So if you see anything weird, call it in. Got it?"
That last question was mostly directed to Jean and Bobby but they all nodded the same.
"Alright, team. Let's get moving!"
The group immediately split off. Storm suddenly used her weather powers to help carry Bobby as the two followed the other two girls who resorted to web-slinging their way to the nearest ship.
Spidey and his group immediately made their way to the nearest warehouse, the group stealthily searched through the place. Spider-sense and the two psychics in their group helped them maneuver the place without issue, allowing them to avoid getting caught.
The group kept themselves silent as they moved, as they did Logan could spot Spidey's wary eyes on him. Making him grunt once they exit the warehouse.
"I know what you're trying to do, webs." He suddenly spoke as they made their way through a maze of crates, heading for the next warehouse.
Spidey gave him a weird look. "Uh, mind elaborating? Because as far as I know, we only got two psychics among us." He gestured to the two young women behind them.
Logan growled. "Splitting up was a good idea but keeping the two of us in the same group just gave it away. You're keeping an eye on me."
"Yeah, well you didn't exactly leave the best of impressions." Spidey sighed.
"I keep telling you, leave the girl to me. This ain't none of your business."
"Kinda is when it comes down to a dad possibly killing his potential daughter! Seriously, you really don't find it screwed up?" He asked incredulously.
"I've done worse."
"That's not the point!" Spidey frustratedly sighed as he stopped, jabbing a finger into Logan's chest. "It doesn't matter if you've done or gone through worse, I'm not gonna stand at the side and let you kill your own daughter!"
"You don't know anything about me, so step aside bub." Logan growled.
Emma and Jean watched the exchange with worried glances, Emma already preparing to use her powers to calm down both sides in case things get more heated.
"Of course, I don't if you don't explain things to us!" Spidey exclaimed. "Why are you so adamant about putting her down? Talk to us, Logan! Drop the lone wolf act and give it to us straight!"
The two men stared each other down while the other two psychics slowly became nervous. This was not going the way they expected it to. The staredown suddenly broke when Spidey groaned.
His Spider-sense was ringing, they got caught.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps caught their ears, making the group grow alert with worry.
"Think we got caught." Jean deadpanned.
"Gee, I wonder why." Emma sarcastically replied while giving the two men a blank look. Their arguing must have been overheard by the soldiers nearby.
As if on cue, the sound of alarms could be heard. Shouting filled the air as the sound of footsteps began to intensify.
Their comms suddenly blared.
"Uh, Spidey! I think we tripped an alarm." Ghost informed.
"My bad!" Bobby sheepishly apologized.
"Of course." Spider-man sighed. "Tell me you guys at least got some good news."
"Yeah, we found where they are keeping the other Mutants." Black Cat informed right as the footsteps got closer. "Lucky for us, the first ship we searched through immediately clued us in. They are in the metal containers near our ship."
"We're pretty close by, we can make it." Spidey realized.
"Gotta make it through these chumps first." Logan grunted as he brandished his claws. The sound of footsteps was getting closer, they'd find their position any second now.
Spidey sighed but settled into stance. "Will you two be okay?" He asked the two psychics.
"I'll be helping Jean, we'll cover your backs." Emma nodded, though judging by her tone, she'd mostly cover his back instead of Logan. Not that the feral cared judging by his scoff.
Spidey nodded as the group prepared to handle what seemed to be an army.
"Time for some clean up."
Jean grimaced, her mind roiling and buckling under an invisible psychic weight but she persevered. Her mental walls cracked but she quickly mended them and improved them easily, but it still didn't stop how painful the process was.
Sweat dripped from her brow, the mental force continued to probe her defenses. Sometimes content with just bashing into it or subtly trying to slither through its 'gaps'. It felt weird. Visually, she could imagine the process but practically speaking the whole thing felt strange to her brain.
But at the same time, it had an odd sense of ease—like discovering a latent talent you didn't know about. She already knew she was strong but didn't know she was this gifted with her powers.
The mental probe finally eased up, 'circling' around her mental defenses for a moment before fully retreating.
Jean let out a sigh of relief.
"Your mental defenses are getting better." Emma praised. Her usually slightly cold tone had a hint of warmth to it. Jean had noticed that outside of Peter, she tended to keep other people at arm's length. However, she was surely making some headway on closing that gap, maybe because she's her personal student.
"Great!" Jean smiled, looking at her expectantly. "When can we get into the awesome stuff?"
There was a hint of exasperated amusement in her eyes before it quickly disappeared. "I understand that you find this tedious, but it'll be a while before you can get to the 'awesome stuff'."
Jean slumped as she gave her a petulant look. "Come on! Is there still more I need to cover?"
Emma stared at her sternly for a moment before she softened her look, a glint of understanding in her eyes. "Look, I get it. You feel like you're not making any progress and want to advance as fast as possible so you can help Peter." She assured as she held Jean's shoulder.
The young woman flushed at the call out but couldn't reply as Emma continued.
"But this is important. I need to hammer in the basics into you to the point you can do it in your sleep, do you know why?" Emma asked.
Jean thought it over for a moment. "Because I'm stronger than you?" She answered hesitantly, afraid Emma might take it the wrong way.
Emma thankfully nodded. "Exactly. Even without Magneto telling us, I can already tell just how strong you are. That means after a certain point, we will both be treading on new ground that risks hurting you and everyone around you. These basics I'm implanting in you would be key to ensuring that doesn't happen." She explained.
Jean looked resistant but ultimately understood. Emma was the expert between the two of them and she hadn't steered her wrong yet. Peter trusted her too so that was also enough for her to listen.
"Fine." She sighed.
Emma smiled and patted her shoulder. "Take five, we'll pick it up right after."
"Alright, I'll get some air then." Jean spoke. Emma nodded and gestured for her to go ahead.
Jean stood up from her seat and walked out of their shared room. She let out a deep breath the moment she stepped out.
She was frustrated, that much was obvious but she also couldn't deny Emma's concerns. Hell, she repressed her powers because of the same reasons. But seeing the people around her working their ass off to help people left her feeling restless. Peter and everyone were going out and doing actual changes while she was here needing someone to babysit her.
…Now she felt guilty. Emma was doing her best with her and she's acting like a petulant brat.
"You look like you could use a talk."
Jean turned suddenly and spotted one of their newest visitors. Storm if she remembered right. She had come here with the other guy named Logan and had talked about X-Men. A group of people created to protect and nurture other Mutants while promoting equality. And most importantly, they came here to recruit the Mutants under Spidey's protection.
It was easy to doubt them since it was too good to be true but Spidey looked like he trusted them enough to believe their words. So they have their tentative trust as well.
The beautiful woman smiled at her sympathetically, a smile she nervously returned.
"Uh, hey." Jean lamely spoke. "Was I that obvious?"
"Didn't need to be a psychic to see that you're having problems." Storm teased.
Jean groaned and slumped. "Sorry, I just…"
Storm waved it off. "What is there to apologize for? If anything I should be the one apologizing for assuming things."
Jean shook her head. "No, it's not like you weren't wrong either. I'm just…mad that I couldn't help much I guess."
"Trouble with your gifts?"
"Yeah." Jean nodded, not seeing anything wrong with revealing it.
Storm smiled. "While I don't doubt the capabilities of your friend, Emma, our sponsor is also a Mutant that has been gifted with psychic abilities. He has lived for a long time and has accrued the experience to match. If you'd like, Professor Xavier would be more than willing to take you in to help you hone your gifts."
Jean blinked at that, the sound of getting better faster under a more experienced teacher was tempting but…
"Didn't you offer this to Bobby and Forge? What did they say?" Jean asked.
"I did and they had accepted." Storm nodded.
Jean bit her lip nervously at that. "I'm grateful for it but…I want to help Spidey and going with you guys to a far-off school sounds…"
Storm nodded in understanding. "I understand. You wish to repay your saviour and that is a noble task. However, it is my personal belief that restricting yourself here would hurt you more in the long run. I believe you should train yourself more and be there for him when he needs it most is a better way to repay him instead of sticking close to him all the time and being unable to help."
Her words struck a chord inside Jean but…
"I'll think about it."
"I suggest that you do, it's quite a big of a decision after all." Storm smiled before quickly leaving her to think.
Jean sighed as she thought the offer over. On one hand, she would be going to what sounds like a pretty good place to help hone her gifts and even live in at least a somewhat normal environment. As normal as you could get with Mutants anyway. It sounded good, great even but…
She still couldn't forget that sense of safety from Spidey. That solid pillar of support that had stood by her when she faced down a Mutant terrorist trying to recruit her and tell him 'No'. There was also the fact that accepting it felt like a betrayal to Emma…
Speaking of her teacher.
"So she finally tried to recruit you."
Jean turned to her back and noticed Emma giving her an unreadable look.
"Emma! How long were you there?"
"Long enough."
Jean quickly tried to explain. "I-I didn't accept the offer, not sure if I should honestly since—"
"It'll feel like you're just using me." Emma finished, and Jean nervously nodded. Emma sighed with a tinge of amusement. "It's fine to seek better education, Jean. I won't hate you for it. If anything it might serve you some good."
"You think I should accept?" Jean asked with shock.
Emma nodded. "I won't force you if you don't want to of course but from what little I can get from her surface thoughts, Storm was genuine about you being able to gain better help from this Professor Xavier. I'm inclined to believe her since he's quite the big name, an ardent supporter of Mutant rights. Though I didn't know he was a Mutant as well…" She trailed off with an odd glint in her eyes.
Jean didn't catch it though, part of her was relieved that Emma wouldn't be mad but another part of her was still worried.
"What about you? Will you join too? I mean, you said it yourself. It'll be better to join." Jean asked.
Emma gave her student a soft yet bittersweet look. Jean's not sure if she liked that, it felt…sad. Like she's letting something precious go to keep hold of another thing that was just as precious. It's pretty specific but that's what she was getting from Emma.
Unknowing of her student's unconscious use of her psychic abilities, Emma smiled. "I don't think I will. I'm staying here for a more personal reason."
"Is it because of Spidey?" Jean unthinkingly asked.
If it was anybody else, Emma would have shut it down hard. But instead, she gave her a reproachful look. "It is, but I don't think you should go for personal stuff like that off the bat, Jean."
"Ah, sorry." Jean sheepishly apologized.
Emma shook her head in fond exasperation. "It's fine. Now come on, your five minutes is up and we still have other things to cover."
Jean's groan just made Emma chuckle.
She was right, she really did find this teaching thing fun. Shame she couldn't keep it.
[-]
"Did you finish tuning the Web-Blast?"
"Web-Blast?"
"Yeah, the thingamajig that Forge made for you?"
"Oh that thing! Yeah just finished with it, it should help me deal with their frequency weapons." Peter nodded as he held up his modified web-shooters.
Gwen then looked everything over. "Anything else in the folder we should worry about?"
"A few notes about an experimental homunculus but I don't think you need to worry about it." Harry shrugged. "It's still in the experimental phase based on the notes and none of them managed to survive longer than an hour."
"And what about any potential security?" Felicia asked as she checked over her gear.
"With your equipment? It'll be fine." Harry waved it off.
Felicia would have doubted his words since they were going against an international organization that profits from Mutant trafficking. Still, she couldn't deny the amazing upgrades from Forge would definitely trivialize a lot of security.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Felicia, here." Peter tossed a pair of something at her.
Felicia caught them with ease before looking at them. It had a metallic strap with some sort of compact panel. Now that she's looking at it closely, wasn't this…
Felicia turned to Peter in shock. "Isn't this your web shooters?"
Harry and Gwen mimicked Felicia's look, turning to Peter with some questions in their eyes.
Peter nodded. "Yeah. I figured giving you those would be a better option than your grappling hooks."
"A-Are you sure?! I mean this is great but you do realize I haven't really confirmed anything about being a hero right?" Felicia sputtered, holding the web shooters a little bit more carefully.
"Yes but right now your life is a lot more important," Peter assured. His eyes portrayed how worried he was. "We got lucky that you didn't fight Storm but that made me realize I should probably give you something that can help you."
Felicia narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to retort, but Peter's injured body flashed through her mind and clamped her mouth shut.
She looked down at the web shooters and held it gingerly. She was still afraid that she might cause Peter to injure himself unnecessarily and if this would help her perform better so that he won't need to watch out for her constantly then so be it.
"I—Alright. Thanks, Peter." She smiled.
Peter returned it with a soft gaze. "Don't mention it."
Nodding at that, Harry decided to move the convo away. He could already see Gwen staring at the two of them with some small irritation. Though she looked a lot calmer than before, maybe her talk with Felicia bore some fruit.
"What about you, Pete? Your last suit got destroyed pretty badly. You managed to fix it up but do you have any upgrades in mind?" Harry asked curiously.
Peter thought it over and shook his head. "Not enough time to make one, even with the fabricator speeding things up I don't really have a working design. Bringing an untested suit is just too risky, I'll have to make do with what I have."
It wasn't like he wasn't used to it. The other Peters had gone through their lives just working with what they had and despite the resources from Tony, he still spent the early years of being Spider-Man with just a hoodie, a ski mask, and scraps to make his web-shooters.
He'd just have to rely on the good old basics that even the other Peters had come to rely on.
Trust your Spider-Sense.
Putting some final checks on his work, he took a deep breath. Despite their preparations, there were still a few things they needed to worry about.
"That girl I mentioned, did you find anything about her?" Peter asked.
"All I got is that she's called X-23 and served as a weapon for the Facility, nothing else though." Harry sighed as he scratched his head in frustration. "There's barely any info on her and from what we do have is that she's a hidden agent for the organization that only a select few knew. We got lucky that the files we stole had even that much."
"On the upside, we at least know about her powers." Gwen offered, trying to be positive.
"Still doesn't explain why a girl our age is working with them." Peter pointed out, a worried look crossing his features. He didn't need to take a long look to realize that the young woman was around their age and here she was, being used to kill people. That was beyond messed up.
"You let me worry about that."
Everyone turned their attention to the source and spotted Logan sitting at the side, he was content just listening in without interrupting until that moment. While he would usually worry and be adamant about people not knowing his identity, they decided that Logan and Storm knowing wouldn't matter since Bobby and Forge had decided to join them and possibly work closely with the X-Men.
Peter was really concerned over how many people had known his identity now, he wasn't this bad before the reset…
…Wait no, Aunt May had kinda known pretty quickly, he accidentally revealed himself to Ned, and MJ had pieced things together all by herself pretty easily.
Man, he really sucked at this whole secret identity thing.
"She's my business, so don't butt into it." Logan gruffly told them.
"If we did, does that mean you won't stab her to death?" Peter raised an eyebrow challengingly, still remembering how ready to kill the two were when against each other.
Logan snorted. "Dying is the least of her worries."
"You do realize that doesn't sound as comforting as you thought it is right?"
Logan didn't even deign to reply to that.
Peter sighed at his attitude, wondering how in the hell did Storm work with this man.
Speaking of the woman, she finally entered the room. Behind her was both Bobby and Forge who had a contemplative yet determined look in their eyes. It seemed like whatever Storm had informed them had caused a change in them.
A second later, Emma and Jean followed in as they gave various degrees of curious looks to the people in the room. They had probably also just finished Jean's lessons for the day.
Storm cast one look at them, then at Logan before immediately giving them an exasperated look. "What did Logan do now?"
The fact that she asked that question did not paint a good picture of Logan if Peter was honest…
"Trying to figure out what to do with the other girl that has similar powers to him," Peter answered before looking at Logan with half-lidded eyes. "He's not offering much confidence on that front if I'm being honest."
"I keep telling you, don't worry about it." Logan growled.
"And I will once you actually be straight with us." Peter shot back. "She means something to you but you didn't even hesitate to try and hurt her badly. It's kinda worrying."
"And why do you care?"
"Because someone has to, if I don't offer out a helping hand when I can then who will?" Peter answered, his voice growing passionate. "I have these powers, this gift. It's my responsibility to use it for good and that means caring about people even when they don't want it."
The people in the room stared at the two warily, Peter and Logan stared each other down. One imploringly while the other defiant.
After what felt like minutes, Logan turned to Storm and noticed even she was curious about what Peter was saying. He sighed, realizing he wouldn't be able to hide it.
"The girl, I think she's my daughter." Logan slowly admitted.
Everyone stared at him with wide eyes.
"A daughter?" Storm slowly asked.
"Or a sibling, I'm not sure. Her scent is too similar to mine but different enough to make it a little fuzzy." Logan grunted as he leaned back into his seat, his eyes having a faraway look to them. "But it doesn't matter in the end, I have to stop her no matter what. That's my responsibility." He stared at Peter, giving him a dark look that held all the weight in the world.
Peter however looked unconvinced. "Stop her, and how do you plan to do that?"
Logan didn't answer immediately, holding up a fist before popping out his claws.
"What I do best."
Peter really didn't like that answer.
[-]
The sound of 'THWIPs' could be heard in the air, the sight of three people web-slinging through the buildings would have been a sight to see if it weren't for it being in the middle of the night.
"You doing okay, Black Cat?" Spidey asked into the comms, keeping a close eye on the thief-turning-hero.
"WOOOO!"
So caught up in the excitement of web-swinging, Black Cat didn't even answer. A wide smile on her face as she kept up with the two spiders. She was taking it much easier than both of them did in their first times.
"I don't think she heard you." Ghost deadpanned but there was a hint of amusement to it.
"That does look pretty fun." Jean commented from their earpiece.
Spidey glanced down and could see a conspicuous van following them from afar. Inside were Jean, Emma, Bobby, Storm, and Logan. The younger mutants had decided to follow into the mission now that there were a lot more people who could keep an eye on their backs. Storm at least had promised to watch and guide them, especially Bobby since she could help him with his ice powers.
Harry and Forge had decided to stay back at the base to keep watch on the tech side of things, realizing they'd be much more useful there.
Part of Spidey was kinda nervous to have so many people join them, but another part of him told him that he needed to be able to trust them to do well if he wished them to realize their potential.
"Oh you have no idea!" Black Cat laughed. "How about I take you for a ride instead of that cramped van, Jean?" She asked teasingly.
"Yeah no thanks. I'm not stupid enough to fall for that." Jean immediately rejected it, realizing what Felicia might have planned.
"Your loss~" The thief shrugged. "Though I guess you wouldn't mind if Spidey offered, won't you?"
"I—well—!" Jean stuttered, which made Felicia cackle.
"Even if he did, it would still be no." Emma cut in to save Jean, something she audibly appreciated judging by her sigh of relief, glad that she had someone on her side. A belief that was quickly dashed. "She'd be too busy distracting Spidey for them to do anything productive."
"EMMA!"
The sound of laughter filled their comms, Spidey rolled his eyes behind his lenses despite his amused smirk.
"I am right here, you know?" He commented with amusement.
"Oh don't act like you don't like it." Ghost immediately called him out on his bullshit, her tone showing that she was as amused as he was.
"I mean Jean is pretty cute, so yeah I don't really mind having a cute girl hanging off me." Spidey shrugged.
"Why are you all ganging up on me?!" Jean asked exasperatedly.
"You'd like that wouldn't you~?" Felicia teased.
"Oh fuck off!"
They all laughed again, taking in whatever enjoyment they could.
Though then again, maybe taking a piss out of the strongest telepath might be a bad idea.
Eh, he was sure it'd be fine.
The group continued to talk with each other through the comms, with Spidey being a bit surprised by how well Felicia, Jean, and Gwen were hitting it off. They hadn't really talked much before so he guessed they were rectifying that.
"I haven't really gone out much, to be honest. I was more distracted with keeping my powers in check and going out would just make my head hurt." Jean admitted.
"Mood." Gwen nodded in understanding. "Different circumstances but I don't like to deal with people too much, so I get that."
"Course a nerd like you don't." Felicia sighed.
"And what do you do, miss popular?" Gwen shot back.
"Oh you know. Just looking around and sightseeing at some museums."
"And you call Gwen a nerd?" Jean snorted.
"Hey! Historian is a very respectable profession."
"You're right, sitting all day reading up on some dusty tomes to get an idea of what kind of pots they used to cook with back then. Definitely not a nerd." Gwen deadpanned.
"Oh fuck off." Felicia snorted in amusement, conceding to their points.
Their conversations continued until they were finally near the docks, the place where they were headed.
"We're here." Spidey spoke.
The noises ceased, the undercurrent of nervousness that they ignored till now finally bubbled. Some of them dealt with it with ease, others tried their best.
The web-swinging trio landed next to the van as the occupants inside got out. The group stared out into the docks by a hidden place but couldn't see anything of note.
"You sure we're at the right place?" Logan asked.
"I'm sure," Harry replied evenly. "There's nowhere else they could transport all those Mutants. The docks are the last checkpoint before they get shipped off. It might not look like it but the place is swarmed by the Facility guards."
"How did the authorities miss it if they used the place?" Bobby asked.
"Assuming that they did miss it." Emma cynically added.
Jean turned to her with wide eyes. "You think they'd just let them go?"
"I'm thinking they got bought and decided that the problem is way above their pay grade." Emma clarified.
The younger Mutants didn't know how to react to her words, a glance at Logan and Storm showed their lack of surprise.
"No way…" Jean softly gasped.
"I knew things were bad but…" Bobby rubbed the back of his neck, nervousness clear in his eyes.
"It is an unfortunate state of the world, yes." Storm sighed before giving the two a look of determination. "But that makes our work all the more vital. This is why the X-Men exist, to put a stop to these atrocities and save Mutantkind."
The two stared at her with awe, completely taken in by her words.
At the side, Emma too was focused on her. Part of her knew that Storm fully believed in those words but she still couldn't help but be slightly skeptical. She had conflicting thoughts on the group and this mission of theirs would be a good way to see them live up to their words.
"Alright then." Spidey caught their attention back. "We're gonna need to split up. Bobby, Ghost-Spider, Black Cat, Storm. Four of you will be checking the ships. That'll leave me, Logan, Jean, and Emma to check the warehouses. That's good with you?"
A series of nods answered his question, making him nod in satisfaction.
"Great! Now if you guys see anything, call in through the comms. We don't have an exact detail on which part of the docks they are using to ship the mutants out and there's a chance they could take us by surprise. So if you see anything weird, call it in. Got it?"
That last question was mostly directed to Jean and Bobby but they all nodded the same.
"Alright, team. Let's get moving!"
The group immediately split off. Storm suddenly used her weather powers to help carry Bobby as the two followed the other two girls who resorted to web-slinging their way to the nearest ship.
Spidey and his group immediately made their way to the nearest warehouse, the group stealthily searched through the place. Spider-sense and the two psychics in their group helped them maneuver the place without issue, allowing them to avoid getting caught.
The group kept themselves silent as they moved, as they did Logan could spot Spidey's wary eyes on him. Making him grunt once they exit the warehouse.
"I know what you're trying to do, webs." He suddenly spoke as they made their way through a maze of crates, heading for the next warehouse.
Spidey gave him a weird look. "Uh, mind elaborating? Because as far as I know, we only got two psychics among us." He gestured to the two young women behind them.
Logan growled. "Splitting up was a good idea but keeping the two of us in the same group just gave it away. You're keeping an eye on me."
"Yeah, well you didn't exactly leave the best of impressions." Spidey sighed.
"I keep telling you, leave the girl to me. This ain't none of your business."
"Kinda is when it comes down to a dad possibly killing his potential daughter! Seriously, you really don't find it screwed up?" He asked incredulously.
"I've done worse."
"That's not the point!" Spidey frustratedly sighed as he stopped, jabbing a finger into Logan's chest. "It doesn't matter if you've done or gone through worse, I'm not gonna stand at the side and let you kill your own daughter!"
"You don't know anything about me, so step aside bub." Logan growled.
Emma and Jean watched the exchange with worried glances, Emma already preparing to use her powers to calm down both sides in case things get more heated.
"Of course, I don't if you don't explain things to us!" Spidey exclaimed. "Why are you so adamant about putting her down? Talk to us, Logan! Drop the lone wolf act and give it to us straight!"
The two men stared each other down while the other two psychics slowly became nervous. This was not going the way they expected it to. The staredown suddenly broke when Spidey groaned.
His Spider-sense was ringing, they got caught.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps caught their ears, making the group grow alert with worry.
"Think we got caught." Jean deadpanned.
"Gee, I wonder why." Emma sarcastically replied while giving the two men a blank look. Their arguing must have been overheard by the soldiers nearby.
As if on cue, the sound of alarms could be heard. Shouting filled the air as the sound of footsteps began to intensify.
Their comms suddenly blared.
"Uh, Spidey! I think we tripped an alarm." Ghost informed.
"My bad!" Bobby sheepishly apologized.
"Of course." Spider-man sighed. "Tell me you guys at least got some good news."
"Yeah, we found where they are keeping the other Mutants." Black Cat informed right as the footsteps got closer. "Lucky for us, the first ship we searched through immediately clued us in. They are in the metal containers near our ship."
"We're pretty close by, we can make it." Spidey realized.
"Gotta make it through these chumps first." Logan grunted as he brandished his claws. The sound of footsteps was getting closer, they'd find their position any second now.
Spidey sighed but settled into stance. "Will you two be okay?" He asked the two psychics.
"I'll be helping Jean, we'll cover your backs." Emma nodded, though judging by her tone, she'd mostly cover his back instead of Logan. Not that the feral cared judging by his scoff.
Spidey nodded as the group prepared to handle what seemed to be an army.
"Time for some clean up."
Chapter 16 - Get Away, I Don’t Need A Good Samaritan
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Chapter 16 - Get Away, I Don't Need A Good Samaritan
The group stood at the ready as the sound of footsteps came close.
The moment the guards rounded the corner, Spidey had already leaped into the air. Before they could even act, Spidey started shooting web balls at the guards below.
"What the–?"
"Above!"
They grunted or shouted in surprise, aiming their high-tech guns at the obvious target in mid-air and ignoring the three in front of them.
Logan punished their mistake, growling as he ducked and weaved through the guards. Silver arcs shone under the moonlight as he slashed through their weapons and their weak spots.
Screams and shouts of pain filled the area, Jean and Emma stared with wide eyes as they saw the other two Mutants doing quick work. Logan slashed and dodged through the crowd while Spidey immobilized them while swinging in the air.
Jean especially was finally realizing what she was throwing herself into, part of her was frozen with indecision while another was looking at the sight with awe.
"Jean." Emma called out.
"Wha– Right!"
A quick look at Emma was enough for her to realize what she was thinking. Visible red and blue psionic energy visibly wafted off from them, Emma held a hand to the side of her head as she began directing psychic attacks to the quickly increasing group. Her eyes narrowed when she detected some psychic defense in their minds. No matter, it was flimsy and pathetic; she could just brute force them.
Jean, on the other hand, used a much simpler tactic that Emma had taught her, directing the pulsing psionic energy into crimson orbs. Red bolts surrounded her before flying off like artillery, the guards shouting in surprise and pain as these bolts struck them and their surroundings.
"Men, formation 3!" One of the guards shouted.
The armed men immediately moved with trained discipline, retreating a few steps away from the Mutants before forming three horizontal lines. The front line was on their knees, the middle line crouching slightly while the final line stood properly on their feet. Their weapons focused on the confused Mutants.
Spidey widened his lenses as he immediately realized what was about to happen, his Spidey sense ringing as the second and third lines aimed their sights on his airborne self while the front lines aimed for the other three.
"Oh no—-"
Before he could even act, Emma moved first. Eyes glowing and left hand to her head, she swiped her right hand to left as faint blue arcs trailed behind her fingers.
The men suddenly buckled, and shouts of pain filled the air as they fell. Jean didn't hesitate to follow up on the chance.
She moved her right arm forward, pointer and middle finger pointed towards the distracted guards as writhing crimson energy pulsed outward before gathering in between the fingers. A thin beam of red light shot out, a beat later, and a powerful red shockwave engulfed the guards. The armed men flew away as smoke rose, tumbling on the ground or smacking into the surrounding crate.
Spidey landed with a huff before turning to the two girls with wide lenses, a look mirrored by Logan.
Jean grinned as she cocked her hip. She brought her finger gun to her lips and blew an imaginary smoke off.
"Not bad, huh~?" She winked.
"It's passable."
Jean turned to Emma with wide eyes. "What?! I did great!"
"You did, but if the psionic bomb was a few feet closer it would have hit Logan and Spider-Man. It's a power that's based on your mind, Jean. Improve your discipline." Emma criticized smoothly.
Jean slumped and pouted. She looked like a kicked kitten. "Okay..."
Emma then gave her a small smile. "That said, we have plenty of target practice here. So don't hesitate to let loose to hone your skills. It's a valuable opportunity and I doubt these people deserved our mercies."
Jean perked back up, eyes sparkling. "Okay!"
Spider-Man let out a small sheepish laugh, not sure how to take them being so eager to cause some chaos. 'Well, at least they are getting along.' He thought to himself while glancing at Logan, something that the feral noticed.
The two stared at each other for a moment, remembering their talk before they got interrupted.
"Look webs, the girl is dangerous. Only I know what kind of terrible things she's capable of and I need to make sure that I stop her before she does them." Logan spoke.
Spidey sighed. "Logan, I understand your concern but at the same time, I can't in good conscience just let you go off and do that. She's a kid, who's to say that she even had a choice in this?"
His words seemed to spark something in Logan, making him look contemplatively. After a few seconds, he gave Spidey a complicated look.
"One chance, that's all I can give her."
"I'll take it." Spidey sighed, despite his first impression part of him felt like Logan would definitely honor that at least.
"Come on, let's go!" Logan spoke before running forward, clearly done with the conversation. The other three Mutants quickly followed him.
The group of four made their way through the docks, eyeing the large ship in the distance along with the collection of metal containers near the ship.
"Up ahead!" Emma warned, detecting a sudden convergence of multiple minds.
Spidey narrowed his lenses as golden particles wafted off him before forming into onyx black armor, power coursed through his body as Peter felt himself becoming slightly stronger.
Spidey immediately flicked his arms forward when he saw the approaching group of guards, web balls honing in on their legs to trap their movement before aiming them toward the muzzle of their guns.
Logan growled as he leaped forward, jumping into the middle of the crowd as he slashed and bashed his way through the guards before Spidey joined in.
Spidey leaped from one point to another, a red wrecking ball that kicked someone's gut before using it as a springboard to send a powerful punch towards another, sending the body flying and crashing into another group of people.
Logan ducked under swipe before slashing the offender's leg, rising back to his feet he spun. Silver arcs shone as he cut off two guns that were aimed at him before he continued to rampage.
The two continued to slash and smash their way through the group as they advanced their way forward, behind them Emma and Jean covered their backs with either crimson bolts or psychic attacks that incapacitated the enemies.
The sounds of fighting quickly began to attract more and more attention; more guards began rushing into their location, which was enough to tell them that things were going haywire quickly.
"We got four mutants at our position, we need reinforcement!"
"Negative! We got our hands full by the ship!"
As if right on cue, thunder rumbled up in the sky before striking down. Light momentarily blinded them before sound followed, their ears rumbled as lightning struck somewhere near them.
"Huh, I guess that's where Storm and the rest are," Jean commented before the battle continued.
Spidey narrowed his lenses even as he somersaulted over a guard and tripped him up, sending him barreling into the air before punching him into a nearby group of people.
"Seems like the other party is also heating things up!" Spidey quipped as he rolled to the side, ducking under a rain of bullets before shooting a web blast. A thin beam of displaced air shot out under his hand before exploding into a powerful blast that sent the soldiers flying away. "How about we give 'em a hand?"
"Let's finish this first!" Jean grunted as she crossed her arms, red psionic energy coalescing unstably around her. With a shout, she uncrossed her arms and slammed her hands into the ground.
The power rumbled, pulsing through the ground before coalescing into psionic spikes and 'stabbing' into the guards around them. Shouts and screams filled the air despite the lack of wounds, but the feeling of pain was very present.
The other three mutants eyed the falling guards, realizing that Jean had actually handled all of them pretty fast.
Peter turned to her with a blank look. "You couldn't have done that earlier?"
"Sorry." Jean smiled sheepishly, but there was also a sense of exhaustion in her eyes. It was probably due to the big move she just pulled. She then shrugged. "It was a bit on the spot."
"I'll say." Emma commented as she looked around, analyzing the dissipating psionic energy. "It needs some refining but keeping your hold on the psionic energy instead of just letting it loose is a good enough solution for your previous problem. You learn fast." Emma smiled in approval.
Jean's eyes sparkled as she grinned in pride.
Logan grunted. "If you're done, we still need to get going."
The group quickly shook out of their stupor and ran straight for the ship. As they got closer, they could see the sight of Storm flying high in the air, hands raised as lightning sparked around her figure, striking the enemies below like a vengeful goddess of the sky.
Looking down, some of them couldn't help but blink. There was the expected sight of Ghost Spider and Black Cat handling things pretty easily, Ghost doing a pretty good impression of Storm with the lightning arcs surrounding her as she became a living taser. Black Cat whooped in the air as she made full use of her new web shooters, picking off the guards one by one through the use of her webs.
What caught their attention was Bobby, the young man seemed to have found some new uses for his power. His arms were covered in protective frost as he conjured up ice slides to maneuver through the battlefield, shooting out icicles whenever he could and causing more chaos.
"Need a hand?!"
Everyone turned to them with mixed reactions, though it was clear that the other party was glad to see them.
"Took you long enough!" Black Cat snarked, grinning ear to ear.
The battle intensified with the new arrivals. Spidey, Ghost, and Black Cat swung through the crowd as they webbed up one guard after another before they could even shoot. Bobby shot more and more icicles right beside Storm's thunderstrikes, stopping the soldiers from shooting their glowing rockets. Jean and Emma sent waves of psychic pressure while Logan covered them, opening more and more opportunities for the bigger heavy hitters.
It was complete chaos and only the heroes could take advantage of it.
With all the advantages available to them, it was no wonder that they managed to finish things up easily.
The group breathed a little heavily as they looked at the pile of bodies around them, not dead thankfully (Spidey insisted on that) but very much in pain.
"Is that all of 'em?" Bobby asked, his arms still encased in frost. The young man looked a bit overwhelmed but still pretty eager to continue judging by the excited glint in his eyes. Seemed like someone had grown a taste for combat.
"Yeah, that's everyone." Logan grunted after a sniff, though his eyes remained alert. Looking around for any signs of trouble.
Spider-Man narrowed his lenses at that, that's…concerning actually.
"Anyone else feel like that was too easy?" Ghost asked his silent question.
Everyone grew a bit tense at that.
"What do you mean?" Jean asked worriedly.
"Don't know, just a feeling I guess." Ghost admitted with a shrug. "I mean we did attack this place pretty suddenly right after our last base raid but it still feels a little off."
"Whatever it is, we can tackle it after we check on the abducted Mutants." Storm reminded them, her eyes trained on a specific container near them.
"Right, we still got people to check on." Spidey grunted as he jogged to the container. Bobby quickly followed as he began helping Spidey unlock the container.
With a loud 'click', the two pulled the doors of the container. Everyone perked up when they heard quiet gasps behind those doors, their eyes widened when they properly saw the contents inside.
"Dear god…" Felicia gasped as Jean covered her mouth in horror.
What greeted them was a crowd of Mutants seated on the floor of the container, their hands and necks chained to the walls. Some of them looked human, but there were a few that had obvious mutations. These mutations ranged from simple traits like spikes or feathers on their visible features to look like a hybrid between animal and human.
But what caught their attention the most was their condition. Calling what they wore clothing would be too generous. It was too worn down and torn so badly that it was mostly rags. Looking through those holes revealed gaunt and skinny features some of them swore they could see bones protruding beneath.
"There are kids here…" Emma muttered, the sense of emptiness in her gnawing as she saw those small and frail forms looking at her in fear.
The group stared in shock, unsure what to do while the Mutants stayed quiet in fear. Their bodies shaking from either terror or the cold was unknown to them. Storm looked at the Mutants before her with a helpless gaze, her arm raised toward them for a moment but pulled it back when one of them flinched. She looked pained at that reaction, she had her own experience but this…she was unsure how to handle this.
Logan was probably the only one who wasn't taken as off guard, though his eyes still held the same amount of pain and horror as the rest of them. He had lived too long and he was ashamed to admit that he had seen this too many times already.
Spidey looked between the Mutants in front and to the rest of the people around him, he was…He was really out of his depth here. Even the other Peters' memories weren't helping much. But…someone needs to do something. To reach out to these scared people and show that they were here to help.
Spidey looked to the nearest Mutant (he looked so young, dear god) and slowly raised his hands to show that he meant no harm. The young Mutant eyed him warily, fear still present in his eyes. With a slow and bated movement, the vigilante knelt before him.
"Hey." He spoke softly. "It's okay. I'm Spider-Man, I'm here to help. We're here to get you out of here." He began, not even attempting to approach the scared kid so they don't get scared off.
A flash of recognition entered the kid's eyes. "S-Spider-Man? You're here?"
His heart broke at the kid's disbelieving voice, it was like he had given up on ever being saved. What the hell did these people do to them?
No, he could figure that out later. He had to focus on the kid in front of him, he'd deal with the Facility after.
"Yeah, I'm here. Brought some friends with me too." Spidey gestured to the others, his lenses somehow giving them an impression that he was smiling.
The rest of the people inside the container began to slowly lose their fear as tentative hope began to replace it.
"R-really? You're going to get us out?" The boy asked again, hope blooming in his eyes.
"Of course." Storm answered with a smile, though taking care not to overwhelm the young boy by staying where she was. She was feeling a lot of things at the moment but she's not gonna make it obvious. "We have a safe place for you, for all of you."
The captives looked at each other with an unsure look, but the hope in their eyes was clear for everyone to see.
"How can we trust you?" A bitter voice called out.
The vigilantes looked deeper into the container and spotted a woman. She looked as bad as everyone else with the only obvious mutation being her reptilian eyes.
"For all we know, you'll just bring us to an even worse hell." The woman spat with a glare.
The group paused at that, unsure how to convince her. They could also see the surrounding people growing more suspicious. They couldn't blame them too much; they had experienced something horrible, and it clearly left a mark.
"B-but, it's Spider-Man! He won't do that!" The boy from earlier defended. Spidey turned to the little boy, desperately looking at the woman with clear disbelief.
The woman looked at the boy with pity in her eyes, she was about to say something before laughter could be heard.
"Haha! I didn't expect so many people! I thought we'd just be dealing with some brats but this is fine too."
The group immediately turned around straight toward the source, Spidey and Ghost's spidey senses ringing almost painfully as they laid eyes on the person who was standing on top of a pile of containers.
Standing there was a woman, who wore a skintight black bodysuit with white straps around her. Attached to those straps were knives and guns. She has wavy brown hair that reaches past her shoulders that paired with her brown eyes. The most eye-catching aspect of her was her red skin tone. Spidey would be willing to admit that she was quite the looker if it weren't for how cruel she looked. Her eyes alight with malice as she gave them a sinister smile.
"Who are you?!" Storm demanded. Anyone near her could detect the sudden drop in temperature in response to her growing rage. Her surging emotions finally have a target to be directed to.
"Me? Just call me, Kimura." She introduced herself with visible arrogance. She then winced before glaring at Emma. "Try that again and see what happens," she growled.
Emma clicked her tongue, her mental shield was stronger than expected. That makes things complicated.
Kimura chuckled. "You bastards have been making a mess of things, you know. My bosses didn't like that."
"Sounds tough." Black Cat dryly commented.
"Quite." Kimura nodded before her smile widened. "But don't worry, you'll make up for it. You'll be the perfect target practice for our experiments."
"Wha—"
Spidey and Ghost's spider senses intensified as the two turned in two different directions from each other.
From each side, a heavy creature dropped in the shadows. Their steps release heavy 'thuds' with each step. Their eyes widened as the creatures finally stepped into view.
It was massive and quite the sight to behold. Easily rivaling the containers in size with metallic silver skin, ridges forming metallic plates with spikes protruding from its back. Its canine-like head turned to the group, crimson eyes eyeing them with hunger as its tongues slithered past its sharp teeth.
"That's a big dog…" Bobby whimpered.
"Oh, what the fuck?!" Harry gasped from their comms. "Those are the experiments from the logs! Why are they here?! They shouldn't even be able to survive this long!"
"Well they clearly made a very big breakthrough." Ghost sighed.
Logan snarled, which caused the two massive creatures to growl as well.
THUD
The sound of metal crashing into metal could be heard, the group turned behind them and noticed another one of the creatures had landed on top of the container that held the captives.
"Like them?" Kimura cackled. "Call 'em Predator X! Made specifically to hunt pesky Mutants like you."
The group eyed these massive creatures, wordlessly each picking their opponents and sticking to a partner.
Eyes locked, they stared each other down for what felt like an eternity. Hungry predators analyzing their heroic prey.
Logan snarled as he bared his claws. Spidey, Ghost, and Black Cat flexed their fingers as they considered how to use their webshooters. Emma and Jean locked eyes for a moment before they began expanding their mind. Storm and Bobby had the temperature slowly receding, especially so with Storm's case. Her eyes had quite a wild emotion in them, the condition of the captives had made her quite enraged.
"Go!"
The beasts snarled at Kimura's bark, their metallic skin shone beneath the moonlight as they rushed to them.
The heroes moved in response. Spidey, Ghost, and Black Cat immediately lunged at the predator on top of the captives' container, punching or kicking the beast away from the captives and bringing the fight to a more advantageous area.
Jean and Emma turned to one side, a union of blue and red psionic energy converged around the two as the beast bared its fangs at them. The crimson psionic energy converged to a point at Jean's pointer finger. With a thin beam of light, a powerful crimson blast slammed into the beast, sending it flying before the two gave chase.
Storm and Bobby turned to the other side. With a swipe of Bobby's hand, frost surged through the ground before erupting into an ice prison. The predator growled in defiance as ice crept up its body with amazing speed. Before it could even do anything about it, the smell of ozone filled its nostrils before thunder struck.
The ice shattered as it was sent flying, rolling through the air before it suddenly righted itself in the air and landed on its feet. It shook its body, trying to shake off the tingly nerves despite the lightning still sparking slightly around its body.
"Aren't metals supposed to be conductive?" Bobby pointed out in confusion.
Storm narrowed her eyes, and the wind around them began swirling erratically in response to her volatile emotions. "It is. It seems like we have to be a little rougher."
Thunder boomed over their heads. Bobby gulped at that, that didn't sound ominous at all.
The only one left, Logan instead aimed straight for the leader. Leaping above with claws bared, he snarled as he tried to stab down at Kimura.
The woman smirked but didn't make any move.
That and his instinct immediately told Logan to tuck and roll, barely dodging and getting grazed by a sudden attack.
Logan grabbed his attacker as they landed on the container Kimura was standing on, rolling and tossing them away before he quickly got to his feet.
X-23 grunted as she rolled to her feet, glaring at Logan with utter hate and loathing as she stood beside Kimura.
"The fuck are you staring at him for, you dumbass." Kimura sneered, kicking Laura in the back and causing her to stumble slightly but still kept her rage-filled eyes on Logan with steady footing, much to Logan's slight confusion. "I know he's your sperm donor but that doesn't mean you can sit on your ass. Go and gut him!"
X-23 didn't need any more encouragement, snarling before lunging at Logan.
Logan ducked under the lunge, pushing the girl away while swiping his claws straight toward Kimura.
KLANG
Logan's eyes widened from the sound, his claws didn't even budge from Kimura's palm. Logan could see that his claws had cut into the glove but didn't pierce her skin. How durable was she?!
"Cute, but ain't gonna cut it." Kimura sneered before punching Logan, the feral grunted as his head whipped back and straight into X-23's slash to his stomach.
Logan grunted in pain and irritation. Out of all the opponents he chose, it had to be the annoying ones.
Back with the vigilantes, Spidey grunted as he focused his psionic armor on his arms. He could feel his body lurching from the blow, the massive beast slamming its prehensile tail into him. His body slid backward but he kept his glare on the beast.
Ghost took advantage of its slight shift in focus. She shot a web at the beast's side and pulled, lifting the massive beast and making it yelp in surprise. With their Spidey senses synched up, Ghost immediately knew what was in Spidey's head and moved to execute it.
Electricity crackled around her arms as she lunged at the flying beast. Her hands were outstretched as she grabbed onto the side and kept a solid hold on it with her wall-crawling powers. Flipping forward, she dragged and suddenly changed the direction of the beast, slamming it into the ground!
The beast roared in pain, lightning surged through its conductive body from the touch as the ground beneath cratered and sent debris flying all around it.
As if waiting for her chance, Black Cat ran straight at the beast. The moment she came close to it, she jumped and shot out a web line to a nearby metal pole that had been sent into the air. Yanking it to her hand, she dived straight into the beast and jammed the end of the pole into its eye.
The beast roared in pain again, thrashing around and making Black Cat yelp as she was tossed into the air.
"Gotcha!" Spidey assured as he grabbed her and made some space between them and the beast by landing a bit further away.
"Thanks, handsome!" Black Cat winked as she got back to her feet, though mentally berating herself for that slip-up. Improving was a lot harder than she realized. She really had to up her training after this.
'If we survive this anyway.' She mentally added as she eyed the recovering beast. The metal pole visibly pushed out of its eye, the wound quickly closing and revealing an unharmed eye
"So that's why the electricity didn't bother it too much." Ghost commented with a tilted head. Spidey had thought it might work since he noticed the beast had a metal hide. She had picked it up through their link and decided to test it out.
"Seems like we pissed it off." Spidey dryly commented as the beast suddenly roared in rage. "Any other ideas?"
"The toxin from your stingers?" Ghost suggested as the three prepared to move. The beast was eyeing them a bit too hungrily than they were comfortable with.
"With that healing factor?" Black Cat asked as she was reminded of how Peter described his fight with Logan. "It's metal, isn't it? Might as well try drowning it with all that weight."
The beast lunged and suddenly turned, giving a powerful swipe that the three jumped over.
"Let's try that!" Spidey agreed before the three got to work.
Back with Jean and Emma, the situation was a bit…surprising.
Predator X was a ferocious beast, a project created to hunt and kill Mutants with extreme efficiency. Even the other more experienced people in their groups were having trouble with how to deal with it.
Yet if any of the people behind the project were to see the scene before them, they would have been crying and mourning for it.
A guttural scream was heard before the beast was slammed into an empty container. The beast's previous ferocious roar had turned into pain whimpers by now as Jean roared and viciously slammed into another container. The force of the throw and the weight of the beast dented the large piece of metal.
Suddenly, pelts of blue bolts slammed into the beast's prone form. These shots were precise and methodical, aiming for vitals and joints with extreme prejudice. Emma's eyes looked dead to the world as she used such a brutal way to use her powers.
While she preferred to use the more subtle ways to use her powers and affect the mind, this time she had taken special exception. The beast's mind was a revolting mess of instincts and hunger, making it useless to try and affect it without significant effort. Effort that she wasn't feeling at the moment due to her emotions.
Both she and Jean hadn't just seen what had happened to the captives, they could also feel what they were feeling. The trauma inflicted on these innocent Mutants (innocent children, Emma added) and how a good chunk of them had given up on ever seeing the light of day again.
It was vile, it was horrifying, it was maddening. There were also so many other things that they couldn't express without resorting to violence. Coincidentally, there was a very good punching bag that could help them express it.
"GODAMMIT!!" Jean roared as she slammed it into the ground, the beast whimpered as the ground cratered beneath it. The crimson energy writhing around it suddenly pulsed before denting inwards, turning into spikes that dig deep despite not making any wounds.
The beast roared in agony, feeling an unorthodox pain piercing through it despite its body telling it that it was fine.
"Shut it, you mutt." Emma growled as she walked to it. Stepping up on the beast's hand, her dead eyes finally gained a semblance of life. Eyes that burn with unyielding rage.
The blue psionic energy that surrounded her suddenly dissipated, but what replaced it was a transformation. The sound of metal grinding against each other filled the air as Emma's skin turned silvery and sparkling under the moonlight, glinting like a diamond.
No, her skin was diamond.
Joints crackled as she gripped her hands into fists, and with a frustrated roar, she punched straight down into it. The hit barely dented the metal skin, but that didn't matter to Emma as she continued to punch down.
BPANG
With each punch, her mind flashed to those scared eyes.
BPANG
They were afraid.
BPANG
They were hopeless.
"—ma."
BPANG
They were children!
"—mma!"
BPANG BPANG BPANG
They had a future and it was taken from them!
"EMMA!"
"What?!" Emma turned to Jean with anger in her eyes but snapped out of her rage a little at the slight fear in Jean's eyes. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down. "Sorry, what is it?"
"...I think the thing's had enough." Jean weakly gestured to the beast beneath her.
Emma turned to the beast below her and raised an eyebrow, it was still breathing but she could feel it was cowed. Despite the physical force, it could also feel the rage behind the psionic energy that the two women let out which clearly affected the beast's mental state.
"Yes, I think it did have enough."
The two widened their eyes and turned to the source, despite the familiar voice the man himself looked a lot different than before.
They turned up and saw the floating form of Magneto. They could tell it was him due to the small amount of his features they could see behind the helmet he was wearing but outside of that, he looked massively different from the last time they met.
A maroon coat with black lining fluttered in the air, golden buttons could be seen keeping the coat together. The man was wearing black pants with polished black shoes. He looked like an aristocrat with that ensemble alone but the most eye-catching aspect was the fact that he was flying and the helmet he wore.
It was polished to shine, a perfectly curved red helmet that covered from head to chin with a sharply 't' shaped space that revealed his features.
Emma and Jean narrowed their eyes at him, though Jean had a tinge of nervousness as she unconsciously took a step closer to Emma.
His eyes looked a lot more intense than last time. It felt oppressive, especially with how high in the air he was. What made it worse was that they couldn't even sense him with their powers. The last time they met they could still feel him even with the mental shield in his mind, but now he was a complete blank to them.
"Why are you here?" Emma asked. Though at the back of her mind, she was ready to move if he tried to attack. Despite how cordial Magneto was last time, he was still a known terrorist.
"For the same reason as you, I reckon. To save our brothers and sisters." Magneto spoke, his voice booming in the air.
"Where's your other…associates?" Emma carefully asked.
He then turned to the rest of the docks with narrowed eyes. "To help your friends. Though how they received that help is a different matter entirely."
The two psychics didn't like the sound of that at all.
Back with Logan, the fight between him and the two other ladies was intensifying. Though really, it had devolved into a savage battle between him and X-23 while Kimura watched from the side in amusement.
The two ferals gave a fierce roar as they two slashed and stabbed each other, blood spurring into the metal platform with each silver arc. A look into their eyes would reveal that they had lost all reason, there was only blind rage behind them.
Their rage had blinded them so much that they had given up any defense in favor of complete offense, relying on their healing factor to deal with any wounds as they tore into each other like animals.
"HAHAHAHA!" Kimura laughed in pure sadistic joy. "Yeah! Keep going, you animals! Shed more blood! Tear each other apart! HAHAHAHAHA!"
The two savages however ignored her, fully focused on each other.
"It's all because of you!" X-23 growled as they buried their claws deep into each other's guts. "If you didn't exist, none of it would have happened!"
"The hell are you talking about?" Logan grunted.
The two grunted as they tore out their claws from each other, breathing heavily as they stared each other down.
"I'll end you." She breathed out.
"Better people have tried and failed." Logan grunted.
The two screamed as they rushed at each other again.
Kimura kept laughing at the side before a thud stopped her dead, she quickly turned to the source and widened her eyes.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
"Y-you're…Sabretooth!" Kimura growled. However, her body language told a different story. She was alarmed and though she would never admit it, also scared.
The beastly man still wore the same suit that he had worn when he met the vigilantes, but that didn't lessen the aura of danger on him. He was looking at the two fighting ferals with amusement and completely ignoring Kimura.
"Looks fun~" Sabretooth smiled with hunger. His eyes shone with bloodlust, his fingers flexing as his nails turned into razor-sharp claws.
"If you're here…" Kimura muttered, her body already turned to the side before the sound of a gun clicking could be heard. The feeling of cold metal pressed into the side of her head.
Kimura slowly turned her pupils to the side, her eyes landing on a blue-skinned and red haired woman.
"Remember our orders, Sabretooth." Mystique coldly reminded him as she stared down Kimura, her finger on the trigger.
The beastly man clicked his tongue but stayed his hand.
Mystique was satisfied with that. She then spoke to Kimura, her pupiless golden eyes piercing through her. "Call off your attack hound."
Kimura narrowed her eyes. "Nah."
Kimura pulled her head to the side but not fast enough to dodge the bullet, the side of her head grazed and swiveled due to the force of the bullet.
Mystique widened her eyes when Kimura suddenly spun into an elbow strike, the woman quickly blocking it with her arm. The bullet didn't kill her?!
The two then moved, Kimura launching a kick to her side that Mystique blocked with her shin. With the very same leg, she launched a front kick at the woman's stomach and sent the red-skinned woman away.
Mystique narrowed her eyes in thought. Durable skin maybe? If all of her was durable she would have been able to just tank through that kick with no issue.
Kimura growled as she straightened up. "Fucking hell, if you two are here then that magnet bastard is close by. X-23! Let's get out of here!" She commanded while keeping her eyes on Mystique.
The only answer she was met with was more feral screams and grunts. Her eyes twitched in irritation, turning slightly to get the weapon in her eyesight while still maintaining her gaze on Mystique.
"X-23! Shut your yapping and let's fucking go!"
But the weapon didn't answer her, still focused on her fight with Logan. Both of them were near frothing at the mouth in rage, their eyes lost their pupils as they tore into each other.
"HAHAHA! They've lost their reason! All that's left is their animalistic rage." Sabretooth barked out a laugh, taking pleasure in seeing them turning each other into a bloody mess.
"That little shit!" Kimura snarled before turning to the two other Mutants. Her mind whirled with thoughts before she settled into a decision. "Fuck this!"
Mystique's eyes widened as Kimura suddenly dropped a smoke bomb. The woman immediately leaped into the smokescreen but Kimura was already gone.
Mystique only let out a smidgen of irritation and turned her gaze to Sabretooth. The man was more than capable of stopping Kimura from escaping with his enhanced senses.
"Why did you let her go?"
Sabretooth shrugged but kept his eyes on the fighting ferals. "And miss out on this? Not on your life. Besides, Magneto never told us to chase down any escaping Facility agents. Just free the Mutants and help these kids out if our interests align."
Mystique narrowed her eyes but didn't refute it. This was why she never liked working with Sabretooth. He was too much of a wild card and liked to do whatever he wanted.
She then turned to the two fighting ferals. Now how should they handle this?
With Storm and Bobby, the two were watching the beast struggling to stand on its legs. It took a bit but they were finally leaving some lasting damage on the persistent thing.
"Yall need help?"
The two turned to the side in surprise and widened their eyes when they saw someone familiar. Well familiar to Bobby anyway, Storm was confused about who this teenager was.
"John?!" Bobby asked with surprise.
The blond boy gave him a smirk, his fingers fidgeting with the lighter that Forge made for him. "Freeze it up, Bobby. We'll send it flying."
Bobby was confused but decided to follow his lead. Swiping his outstretched arm and launched a large wave of frost at the beast, freezing it again from head to toe.
Flicking the lighter open, flames burst out with life and surrounded his arm. Snapping his fingers, pure heat burst out and surged straight to the beast.
The massive thing roared in pain as the temperature changed so suddenly, the very air expanding violently and exploding.
BOOM
The beast roared in pain as it was sent high into the air, the Mutants below bracing from the shockwave. Storm eyed the flying form of the predator and took her chance.
The dark clouds above them rumbled before a bright pillar slammed into the beast, sending it plummeting to the ground.
KRAKATHOOM
The two younger Mutants held their arms up as they braced through another shockwave, their eyes turned to the older Mutant with wide eyes. Holy shit!
Storm huffed as she eyed the groaning beast through the smoke, her eyes twitched when she saw it stand up albeit a bit shakily. How the hell do they take this thing down?! It's like fighting Logan all over again!
Before she could air out her frustration, both Bobby and she widened their eyes as the beast suddenly lurched and floated into the air. The beast roared and bit into the air in confusion as it was lifted into the air with increasing speed.
"Oh, boss man is making his move." John muttered causing the two to turn to him in surprise.
Boss?
Even with Spidey and the others, the three were staring at the floating beast with wide eyes. They were in the middle of kicking it into the water (which became a lot more complicated when it realized what they were attempting) before it suddenly floated.
"What the hell?" Ghost muttered as they watched it float away from them with increasing speed.
"We gotta follow where that thing is going!" Spidey spoke before he ran, prompting the two to quickly follow him.
As the three vaulted and parkour over the containers around them, they noticed that they were going back to where they had found the captive Mutants. The first thing they saw was the nearby Logan who was completely drenched in blood and fighting against a similarly blood-drenched X-23, both snarling and fighting each other with equal ferocity.
"What the hell?"
The voice caught their attention, turning and saw that it came from Bobby who had just arrived. Right beside them was Storm and…John?
The three didn't even get to process the new arrival as another set of footsteps caught their attention. Looking to the other side, they saw the panting Jean and Emma, though their attention was split in half. A part was on them and the rest was on something high in the sky.
Spidey looked up and widened his lenses. He looked a lot different than before but he could recognize those overbearing eyes anywhere.
"Magneto?!"
His words alarmed everyone, making them follow the direction of his gaze and see Magneto. The Mutant Supremacist floating above them with arms crossed, his coat fluttered in the wind while the floating beasts circled him in midair.
The Mutant gazed down at them from above, floating above them like a king looking over the masses. Uncaring of the beasts trying to move and bite him, not even flinching when one of them got close. His eyes finally turned to those beasts, he pulled out of his hands from the crossed position and held out a clawed hand. Without a word, he gripped down his fingers.
The beasts suddenly stopped in midair, their bodies contorting in uncomfortable directions as they let out screams of pain. The people below, including the captives inside the containers, watched in mixed horror and awe as Magneto dealt with those beasts with ease.
Twisting his gripping fist, the beasts' roars intensified as they drew closer to each other in midair, their bodies converging right above Magneto and shadowing his form. His whole body was drenched in darkness with only his eyes alight, staring down at them with arrogance and pride that could only be backed with pure strength.
The beasts' roar slowly died out but not out of choice. Their bodies were crushed together tightly, their mouths pressed into the others' scales and shutting them up. Metal groaned under Magneto's hold as they were fused into a ball of bone, flesh, and metal.
The people below could only helplessly watch as that ball became smaller and smaller, flesh visibly bulged painfully before bursting like a fountain. Crushed organs and spraying blood rained onto Magneto's unflinching form.
It was terrifying, it was bone-chilling, it was tyrannical. It was the might of Magneto.
Releasing his gripping fist, the pile of metal and bone was released from an invisible grip. Magneto floated forward and let the ball drop right behind him, landing with a mighty 'thud' and cracking the pavement.
The more observant among them would notice that the flesh had stopped moving, those things were dead.
Some of them couldn't believe it, they had thrown everything at the beasts and they still stood back up none the worse for wear. But this man had picked them up like they were playthings and proceeded to crush them like they were nothing more than moldable clay.
Magneto landed softly before them, still dripping with blood as he stared down the group. Even with them being on the same ground level, they could still feel just how bigger he was than them. A complete 180 from his presence back in their previous meeting.
His eyes moved, making the younger among them flinched. He looked over with a piercing gaze before a sound caught their attention.
They all turned to the back and saw both X-23 and Logan wrestling on the ground, a puddle of blood visibly building beneath them as they stabbed each other.
Magneto raised a hand. With that single gesture, the two fighters were locked in place.
Bringing his hand closer to his chest, the two Mutants were torn away from each other. Their bodies flew through the air before floating right before him.
Spidey could notice that Logan was completely frozen, his whole body unable to move while the other feral only had her arms and legs frozen. Her body was writhing under Magneto's hold as she bit and snarled into the air.
'What's that all about?' Even through his frozen fear, he still couldn't help but wonder.
Magneto gave the two struggling ferals a good long look before he spoke.
"What happened?"
"Lost their reason." The sudden yet casual answer snapped everyone out of their fear, they looked to the side and noticed Sabretooth walking towards Magneto with a sharp smile. Right beside him was a composed blue-skinned Mutant. Spidey couldn't recognise her but she looked familiar.
Sabretooth stood beside Magneto, despite his sharp smile there was a hint of wary respect in his eyes for his leader. "Those two got too into their bloodlust and here we are."
Magneto narrowed his eyes before he turned to the two nearby psychics. "You two. Can you fix this?"
Jean and Emma were a bit surprised by the sudden question, Jean turned to Emma with a visible question in her eyes. Should they…?
Emma however was staring at X-23. Despite how much she was biting and roaring, she realized she was young…
'She looked Peter's age…' She realized.
That much was enough to fuel her decision. She gave Magneto a hard look. "Jean is still new to this but I can."
Jean blinked but couldn't refute that, she wasn't really confident on how to deal with…all of that.
Emma walked over to Magneto, she stood before the two but blinked at the sudden second set of footsteps. Looking back she realized that Spider-Man had stood closer to her, keeping a careful eye on Magneto and his associates.
Magneto didn't seem to mind that, giving Emma a simple yet clear command. "Proceed."
Emma raised her hands near the two ferals' heads, blue psionic energy surged and began to cover their heads.
She closed her eyes, letting her powers seep into their minds and—
"AUGH!"
"Emma!"
Spidey caught her when she violently flinched away from the two, specifically Logan. She gave the man a weird look. What? She never felt a psychic shield like that before. It wasn't like the usual where the mind had a barrier that blocked out any telepathy, it felt like the mind itself had attacked her.
"Emma? You okay?" Spidey asked with worry clear in his voice.
Emma blinked but nodded, slowly standing back up. "I'm fine but…Logan, his mind is a lot more complicated than I thought."
"But can you fix this?" Magneto asked with the same level of calm as before.
Emma took a deep breath and nodded. "I can, but I'll need help. Jean! Time for some hands-on lessons."
Jean blinked but nodded as she walked closer to Emma. "Okay!"
The two psychics then get to work, Emma directing her protege on what to do as they surround their hands on the temple of their patients. Jean on X-23 with Emma on Logan. The latter was too complicated for Jean at the moment so she would need to settle this herself.
"Remember, only calming waves. You're trying to pacify her mind." Emma reminded, making Jean nod.
Emma focused on her objective, blue psionic energy surrounded her before it flowed into Logan. Instead of invading his mind, it flows throughout his body. She's sending those 'calming' waves through his senses instead. Just like what had happened with the beast from before, she was imposing her mental commands in an indirect yet brute way. Instead of invading his mind, she just pressed down on it to calm him down.
With Jean, red psionic energy then surrounded the X-23's head. Jean recalled every lesson she had with Emma as she sent wave after wave of 'calm' into the feral. Jean could feel the mind resisting; no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get it to calm down. There was so much rage, so much hatred and despair resisting against her.
She was about to panic until she thought of something. All she was doing was just sending emotions to calm down a person. What if…what if she used memories? There were emotions attached to those memories and having an anchor attached to those emotions would help amplify it.
But what memories should she use? She went through her whole life in fear trying to control her powers! There wasn't any—
No, there was one. That time when Spider-Man stood by her side as a solid source of strength and helped her center herself. Maybe it could help the poor girl snap out of her rage.
So using that piece of memory as the centerpiece, she flowed the associated emotions to fight back against the waves of despair and anger. Right alongside were her waves of calm, trying to soften the edges in her mind.
The rest watched as the two did their work, Magneto gave them a good look before nodding. Storm turned to him with confusion in her eyes.
"We're enemies." She stated, confusion clear in her voice. "Why do you help us?"
Magneto gave Storm a steel-eyed look. "Are you not my fellow brethren as well? We might sit on opposite sides, but that does not change the fact that I too wish to help Mutants."
Storm looked surprised but Magneto didn't give her a second look. He walked past her, past everyone, and walked closer to the container.
The captives inside held their breath, giving the blood-covered Magneto fearful looks.
The man gave them a good long look before he snarled in anger. "Locked in chains and forced to your knees. Unacceptable!"
With a flick of his hand, the chains shattered without hurting anyone and were flung out of the container. The captives looked at each other in confusion as they rubbed their freed body parts. They were free?
"What are you all blubbering for? Stand up!" Magneto commanded.
The captives were taken by surprise but quickly acquiesced, standing on shaky legs as they watched the man walk inside the container with purpose and determination.
"Where is your pride? Your dignity? Up and get out of this prison!"
If they were hesitant before, they weren't anymore. Forced out by the man but they were very willing to get out of that cramped space, a prison as he described.
Even on shaky legs, even with their weak strength, they forced themselves to get out with the man's aggressive encouragement. He didn't shove them but his words were enough to motivate them. They didn't know why but the steel in his tone was giving them a sense of quiet spite and resolution.
Their feet hit the cold ground as the freezing air filled their lungs.
Freedom.
The captives stood there in the vast space, their eyes taking in their surroundings greedily as they took in the fresh air of freedom.
Magneto's chuckles took their attention. "Does it not taste sweet? Is it not filling? Freedom is always taken for granted, but once you lose it, you realize how addicted you are to it."
The captives gave him a confused look as he continued to chuckle, his footsteps were wet due to the blood but sounded booming to their ears. They watched as he made his way and stood before them in all his blood-drenched glory.
"Take pride, my brethren!" He spread his arms wide, his smile wide and full of teeth. "Though it was I who unchained you, it is still through your own strength that led you to walk out of that prison. It is a small yet important stepping stone for your freedom. Remember that."
The captives unconsciously puffed out their chest, yeah they did do that, didn't they? They were pretty weak, they hadn't eaten for a while yet it was still their strength that led them out of that place.
Magneto then continued. "Even with empty stomachs, even with your skin turning taut and revealing bone, even with all the suffering you went through you still find it in yourself to grab your freedom! For that alone, I take pride in calling myself your brother! You are Mutants! You are Homo Superior! You have a miraculous gift that binds us all far deeper than any blood will."
The captives began fidgeting, Magneto's words infecting a strange energy in them. He's right, they were strong for going through all that pain and still managed to gain their freedom. Their shared pain because of their…gifts bonded them together.
Magneto's eyes then narrowed. "But these gifts also attract the envious. Monstrous fools that wished to chain us like cattle just so they could control us. Do you not feel mad? Do you not wish to seek justice against the oppressors that chained and tortured you?!"
The captives, no— His brethren now stood straighter in front of him, their eyes alight with a flame that would help carry his revolution. Yes, they now see his vision and more importantly, was inflamed by it.
At the side, Storm watched in horror as more and more began to follow Magneto's cause. No, she needed to stop this.
"My brethren, it is time for us to seek justice! To light our revolution and free our brothers and sisters from these atrocities once and for all!"
"No!" Storm countered heatedly, the attention turning to her. "What you seek isn't justice. It's vengeance! All you will do is breed more hate!"
"Then what should you have us do?!" One of them countered, and they realized it was the woman from before. The very same one that distrusted them. "You want us to sit around and talk with those same humans that tortured us?!"
"No, I–" Storm tried to speak but the woman cut her off.
"Keep your self-righteous bullshit!" She spat. "I'm done. I've done everything, I didn't bother anyone and didn't hurt anyone! Yet they still toss me to the cops and they fuckin sold me to those bastards that tortured us!"
Storm faltered, seeing the pure hate writhing in the women's eyes as she glared at the heroes.
"So let's burn them, if we have to destroy this whole damn system to make peace for ourselves then so be it." The woman spat before turning to Magneto with a determined look. "Whatever you're planning for, I'll be right by your side."
Magneto smiled, his hands holding hers with strange gentleness. "Welcome, my sister. Your aid shall be a boon for our Brotherhood."
As if inspired by her words, one by one the captives walked up to Magneto and swore themselves to him. And as the leader he was, he personally welcomed them into the fold.
The heroes watched as more of them began to be taken in by Magneto, helpless and unsure of how to stop all of this.
Then, a sound. It was small but it began to catch their attention. One by one, everyone began to look to the source and noticed that it was laughter.
Emma was laughing, she was kneeling with her back to them. Right beside was Logan, who was busy nursing his head, and Jean, who had X-23's sleeping head on her lap, looking at her in confusion.
"What are you laughing at?" John asked, a bit incensed by it.
Emma slowly calmed and sighed. "Nothing. I just find it funny how they trade one master for another."
"Excuse you?!" One of the captives snarled.
Emma turned to the Mutant with a glare, causing him to flinch and took a step back. The women sighed and stood up to her feet, giving each one of them an icy cold look.
"Did you need me to speak louder? You had been forcefully chained to cruel humans and yet here you are, chomping at the bit to be chained by another master. This time, they just so happen to be the same race as you and with a longer leash."
Magneto narrowed his eyes but didn't speak, wanting to see where she was going with this.
The women from earlier scoffed. "So what? You're gonna preach on us now? Tell us how what we're doing is bad like the other one?"
Storm scrunched her face in a mix of anger and frustration but didn't rise to the bait.
Emma scoffed. "No, I already know that won't work and frankly, I don't really give a shit about it. So instead I'm gonna give you a story."
"A story?" The question came from their side, Bobby who had accidentally asked that aloud.
"Yes, Bobby. A story." Emma smiled, but there was no joy to it.
Some of them looked incredulous about it but gave her their focus anyway. Even Magneto and his associates looked interested.
"There once was a girl who had it all." Emma began, her eyes were far away as she told her story. "She was born with a silver spoon. She had it all and would never be left wanting. Wealth? Her family had been rich for generations. Fame? She had beauty and knew how to use it, she had that plenty as well. Power? Oh, she had power alright, just like any Mutant she was born with a powerful gift."
Emma then sighed as she looked down, filling the air with a somber tone. "It didn't take long for her family to know of course. The foolish girl who foolishly trusted them decided to reveal it to them. While her mother and sisters were terrified of her, her father saw an opportunity."
Spidey narrowed his lenses as he carefully watched her. This girl, was she talking about herself?
"So her father made use of her, exploiting her abilities to further his agenda. The girl, in desperate need to make the only family she had left not hate her, complied. Even with the splitting migraines, she helped him. Even with the vile thoughts that assaulted her every day, she helped him." Emma listed out with dead eyes. "On and on until the girl finally realized that her father had never seen her as anything more than a tool. Helped that he practically told it to her face."
Everyone there turned silent, Peter and Jean giving Emma concerned looks. The women could feel it and desperately wanted to embrace it but it would only ruin her momentum. She needs to keep going before she loses them.
"So with her mother and sisters scorning her, and her father who never even loved her, the girl did what she could only do. She ran. She ran as far away as she possibly could just so she could escape her father's clutches. It was at that time that she realized how chained she was, and how sweet freedom truly is."
The Mutants on Magneto's side nodded at her words, understanding and sympathizing with her. Weren't they too exploited and then freed through their own strength?
Emma huffed. "But of course, it wasn't as simple as that. This world is big and has its own problems. For the first time, she began to realize how hard it is to survive without the wealth she was born in. But she didn't mind, as long as she was away from her family and kept to herself, she would survive. So she did, taking money out of people's wallets and working in a shady strip club just to make ends meet. She did many, many questionable things to survive and she didn't regret it."
Spidey narrowed his eyes at that, he did suspect something but he never thought it was actually true...
"Then," Emma's tone took a turn, a sense of wistfulness if you will. "She met a family. They weren't anything special, just a hard-working family trying to make ends meet. The girl also didn't give the family much thought…until they tried to welcome her into their life. They were neighbors, so it was expected. The girl at first was distrustful, if her own family couldn't be trusted then why should she extend that to strangers? Yet…they still keep trying. It wasn't anything grand, just the little things. Watching over her plants while she was gone, giving leftover food to her when she had no money to spend, even giving her some work to do by tutoring their kid despite not having much money themselves."
Spidey could already feel Black Cat and Ghost's gaze on him the more she spoke. Don't look at him, this was the first time he heard of it too!
Emma sighed. "It didn't take long for the girl to open up slowly. Those little yet warm gestures made her learn to trust and hope again. That family chose to trust that girl despite not having any reason to do so and that girl chose to do the same, something that the two sides never regretted." Emma smiled a somber yet happy one. "The point I was trying to make is that while there are Mutants that suffered like you, there are still others that suffered yet find hope out there. Your revolution would also burn that hope."
"So what are you trying to say?" Magneto asked after a period of silence.
"That when you go pillaging with your pitchforks and torches, try to consider that maybe some of those humans you hate could be a family to other Mutants." Emma stared down Magneto with equal determination. "As an important person to me said before, there's always a choice. The bigger those choices are, the more important they become. This revolution you want is one of them. So before you start your revolution, give it a good long look and make sure your choice is the one you won't regret."
Silence fell, the Mutants looking down and thinking it deeply. Now devoid of the passion Magneto instilled, they began to think through their life and wonder if they were really picking the right choice…
Slowly, someone walked out. Their steps were small yet no less confident. The young boy who had spoken to Spidey slowly made his way to Emma.
"Y-you said my choice is important. So can I pick to stay with you?" The boy asked, his voice wobbly yet hopeful.
Emma knelt and smiled at the boy. "Of course, my dear."
Slowly, little by little more and more join the young boy. The more observant among them would realize they were the younger people among the captives. Kids who didn't want to go out and fight for something they didn't fully understand.
Magneto stared at the Mutants that had joined the other side. "Are you truly sure of this?"
They gave each other hesitant looks and nodded.
"Very well then, if this is your choice then I shall not fault you for it." Magneto sighed as he visibly aged a few years before them. But that look immediately disappeared, his previous blood-soaked tyrannical revolutionary visage returned in a moment. "Let us be off then, we still have work to do."
Magneto turned and walked off, his followers slowly followed with the heroes watching.
They couldn't stop him even if they wanted to, Magneto was too strong. But the next time they met, they'd be ready. That much they were sure of.
Emma took a deep breath as she looked at the kids around her, kids who needed guidance.
She then looked back at Storm, who was looking at Magneto's back with a hard look, and Logan, who was giving the sleeping X-23 a considerate look.
She then stared at Peter, who was also giving her a concerned look.
Just like the kids tonight, she too was at a crossroads. She just hoped that she wouldn't regret it.
[-]
Emma put the neatly folded clothes inside the bag, zipping it up, and then sighed as she sat down on her bed.
It's been a few days since they had done the raid and met Magneto, a few days for Spider-Man and the rest to clean up whatever was left of the Facility in New York, a few days where she had to…think about her choices.
A lot was happening. So many things going through her mind and she wasn't even sure if she wouldn't regret it.
Seeing those captives made her realize just how…big things had gotten to say the least. She was always aware of it but this was the first time she saw just how much worse the atrocities against her kind could get.
She could cope with it, she could have lived with it while remaining here with the Parkers. With Peter.
But then she saw those children and she realized: she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she ignored those atrocities.
The sudden sound of knocking caught her attention, she looked up and noticed Peter by the door. The very source of her indecision.
"You good?" Peter asked with a small smile. Though there was a hint of concern in his eyes.
Emma nodded as she rubbed her face. "Yeah, I think I'm good."
"You don't sound confident." Peter pointed out as he walked over, sitting right beside her on her bed. Emma couldn't help but notice that he was taking in her room.
Right, he didn't come into her room that frequently. If anything, he usually avoided it, she noted with some amusement.
"I just…" Emma began before she dropped her head. Usually, she wouldn't be this open but Peter had more than earned her trust. "You remember back when you showed that you were from the future?"
"Yeeeah?" Peter confirmed with some confusion. Where was she going with this?
"I made a promise to myself back then that I would be there by your side and make sure that you won't be alone when facing future dangers," Emma revealed. "That was before I saw what I saw back at the docks and here I am, already about to break my promise to join some far-off team for Mutant coexistence and leave you by yourself."
Peter made a sound of understanding, so that's why she looked so conflicted. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't be alone. I got Felicia, Gwen, and Harry around."
Emma nodded. "I know but, I still made that promise to myself you know? It just…"
She sighed and fell silent. She didn't want to leave. She really didn't. But she also knew she needed to if she wanted to make sure the kids they saved were acclimating to their new environment without issue.
They couldn't keep them in New York so the only ones who could take them in were the X-Men and Emma would be damned if she just left those kids to a group she herself couldn't fully trust yet.
There was also Jean to worry about. In the privacy of her own mind, she would be willing to admit that she had grown fond of Jean as her student. So while seeing her seek a better education was something she was fine with, the X-Men themselves didn't really do anything that would help her see that they were doing something good.
Logan was more preoccupied with dealing with his possible daughter (who they did bring back with them to their base as stupid as it was in Emma's personal opinion) and Storm had come up short when the situation demanded it during that speech with Magneto. If it was up to her, she would have taken those kids away and made her own school or something but she couldn't. She didn't have the resources and right now, the X-Men were the least bad option open to her.
She was frustrated but that didn't mean everything was hopeless. She had gone through the worst phases of her life, she could deal with this. The only part she was hesitating about was Peter himself.
Peter hummed. "Hey, I…can't say I fully get it. But if you feel like this is the right thing to do, something that you need to do, then don't let me stop you." Peter grabbed her hand to caress her, making her stare into his warm brown eyes. "You got a future ahead of you, a bright future that could inspire a lot of people. And that's beautiful. So if you feel like you might regret leaving me just to chase that future then don't, because It's unfair to you to abandon that just so you can keep your promise to me."
Emma could feel her emotions welling up, her mind whirring to the visions she had seen in Peter's memories. His pain, his guilt, his anger, his death.
"...I don't want to lose you." She softly confessed.
Peter smiled somberly and pulled her into a hug, the woman sobbing into his shoulder as her emotions finally got to her.
"You won't, I promise. If there's any trouble I know I can't handle, I'll call you. How about that?" Peter compromised.
Emma thought it over. Really thought his words through. As she did, she couldn't help but remember Storm's words to Jean.
"I believe you should train yourself more and be there for him when he needs it most is a better way to repay him instead of sticking close to him all the time and being unable to help."
…Perhaps she had given Storm too little of a credit. That nugget of wisdom felt very appropriate right now.
Just because she wanted to stay by Peter's side to help him, didn't mean she'd be able to. She needs to get stronger and well…there was one allegedly strong psychic who sponsored the X-Men. Maybe she could learn from him alongside Jean.
There was also the X-Men themselves, despite her issues with them they clearly have a favorable impression of Peter. Having them help Spider-Man when he needed it might not be a problem for them.
The two stayed like that for a minute before they slowly pulled away from each other.
"You good?" Peter asked again.
Emma smiled, feeling like she could answer that with confidence. "Yeah, I'm good. And Peter?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you, for being amazing."
"That's what I've been called from time to time but no problem."
Emma rolled her eyes in amusement and slapped his shoulder.
The two then grabbed her bags and slowly got out of her apartment, once outside she caught sight of May and Ben.
"Emma! Did you get everything packed? Do you need anything? I have some snacks here if you need them, the ride to Westchester County is still pretty long." May frantically asked.
Ben chuckled beside her. "Now, now, May. She's a grown woman, she won't need you to mother-hen her." He teased.
"Oh, you!" May slapped her husband on the shoulder. "I just want to make sure that she'd have a comfortable time. She'll be teaching kids at some private school and I'd like to make sure she'd get there with a calm mind."
Emma smiled. She realized that Peter wouldn't be the only one she'd miss.
"I'll be fine, May. Though I do appreciate the snacks so if you don't mind?"
"Oh have as many as you want, dear. I made them for you after all!" May smiled as she handed her a basket full of cookies and sweets.
Peter gave a peek inside the basket and raised an eyebrow. "Chocolate chip cookies? Hope you made some extra May."
"Of course, got them fresh from the oven inside." May smiled. "But we'll eat those later, we still need to walk Emma down."
The group then talked and reminisced with each other as they walked out of the apartment building, Emma smiling and laughing along with her family.
'Yes, family. They're my family.' Emma realized. How long did it take for her to properly say it even in the confines of her own mind?
They then paused when they saw a limo stop near them, Emma's expression dropped when she saw Storm step out of the limo though this time in casual clothes. She did raise an eyebrow when she saw Jean step out and rush to them.
"Jean?!" Peter asked with shock. "Thought you'd be at Westchester by now."
"I was but I decided to follow Ororo when she said she was picking Emma up." Jean explained before smiling at the two adults behind Peter. "And these are?"
"Ah, this is Uncle Ben and Aunt May. They've been taking care of me for as long as I could remember, practically my parents really." Peter introduced, making Ben and May sport warm smiles. "This is Jean Grey, she got tutored by Emma before joining that new school Emma would be teaching in."
"Oh really?" May gasped while Ben raised an eyebrow. "That's wonderful then! If you're willing to transfer to a new school just to learn from our dear Emma you must really like her."
Jean smiled bashfully but nodded. "Yeah, she helped me out of a tough spot. Both her and Peter really." She glanced at Peter with a faint blush.
A glance that did not escape the two Parkers, making their smiles widen.
"Oh aren't you sweet, why didn't you mention her Emma?" May asked.
"It was a pretty recent thing, to be honest, so it kinda slipped," Emma admitted before glancing at Jean with a small smirk. "Still, didn't expect you to receive me personally."
"Oh, you know me! Just want to tell you what to expect there myself, hehe." Jean bashfully admitted while giving quick glances at the still-unaware Peter.
"Hmmm of course." Emma's smirk widened just a tad. She then glanced up when she saw Ororo waving at them and tapping her watch. Right, they might want to hurry up. "Guess it's time to say goodbyes."
Emma sighed and turned to the family, her family.
May smiled at her and grabbed her hands, caressing her. "Now, don't forget to call and if there's any problem you know our doors are always open for you."
Emma smiled. "Thank you, May. For everything."
At the side, Jean turned to Peter with a nervous expression and he in turn raised an eyebrow at her.
"What's up?"
"Uh, so I never really exchanged contacts with you, and if it's okay with you, you okay if I talk with you once in a while?" Jean asked nervously.
Peter chuckled. "Yeah, sure! I might get distracted by stuff but I definitely can."
"Great!" Jean chirped up, the two exchanging their numbers. Jean's smile widened when Peter sent a message to her. Jean blinked and then glanced at Peter. "I don't think I said it properly before but thanks Peter, for everything."
Peter blinked when Jean suddenly hugged him, though he smiled and returned it.
"No problem, Jean. And hey, if you need some time away from stuff, you can always come here. That offer to Emma extends to you too, you know?"
"Really?" Jean pulled away slightly.
"Yeah! Aunt May would kill me if I left you all alone."
Jean chuckled. "Okay, I'll hold you to that."
Jean fully pulled away from him and he noticed Emma waiting at the side. The woman walked up to him and kissed him on the forehead.
Emma smiled at him. "I'll call you once I'm there and since I'm not gonna be around, promise to be safe."
"Can't promise that." Peter cheekily winked.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Then at least try."
"I can do that."
Emma caressed his cheek tenderly for a moment before she walked away with her bag in tow, Jean giving them a wave before quickly following her.
The family watched as the three ladies entered the limo and slowly drove away, waving at the woman who had been part of their family for so long and now leaving for a future she believed in.
The three stood there for a moment longer, even as the limo slowly disappeared from their view.
"So Jean huh?" May began.
"Don't." Peter quickly shut that down with an unimpressed look.
"Girl looks smitten." Ben added with a mischievous look.
"Not you too!" Peter groaned.
"Reminds me of our younger days." May chuckled as she hugged Ben's arm before glancing at Peter. "I like her, she's pretty honest. What are you going to do about it, young man?"
Oh, he knew that tone. If he didn't answer it right he would have hell to pay.
"Honestly, I have no idea. There's Gwen and Felicia too, I'm just…confused I guess."
While he didn't show it, he did notice the growing attraction from the girls. Jean was probably the most obvious about it. He didn't call her out on it or anything, that would just make her embarrassed and he didn't want to put her on the spot.
Felicia and Gwen were probably the only ones he really might have to be concerned about. While he wasn't so arrogant to think their problems with each other were because of him, he knew he was somewhat related to it. He was glad they managed to settle it before it got any worse.
That still left the question of what he should do about it. Sure there were Peter Two and Peter Three's memories but…their romance felt a little different. Peter Two lived in a much different time despite the time gap not being that huge and Peter Three had a pretty complicated relationship with his Gwen.
There's also the issue of them never really having the problem of having too many women being interested in them, that was a problem sorely unique to him. Which was both awesome and kinda mortifying.
Ben sighed and dragged Peter close for a side hug. "That's fine, Peter. You don't need to decide now. You still have time to sort out your feelings and those girls probably need time to sort out theirs too. You don't gotta rush."
Peter smiled, leaving it to his uncle to know what to say. "Thanks, Uncle Ben. But what happens when they do?"
"Well," Ben huffed before giving him a mischievous smile. "I can't give any answers that won't make your Aunt mad at me."
"Benjamin Parker, do not give that young man silly ideas."
Peter sucked air through his teeth. "Oouh, first and last name. Is that the couch?"
"Probably the couch." Ben nodded with a pinched expression.
May huffed as the two laughed with each other. The family made their way back home with laughter and warmth.
The group stood at the ready as the sound of footsteps came close.
The moment the guards rounded the corner, Spidey had already leaped into the air. Before they could even act, Spidey started shooting web balls at the guards below.
"What the–?"
"Above!"
They grunted or shouted in surprise, aiming their high-tech guns at the obvious target in mid-air and ignoring the three in front of them.
Logan punished their mistake, growling as he ducked and weaved through the guards. Silver arcs shone under the moonlight as he slashed through their weapons and their weak spots.
Screams and shouts of pain filled the area, Jean and Emma stared with wide eyes as they saw the other two Mutants doing quick work. Logan slashed and dodged through the crowd while Spidey immobilized them while swinging in the air.
Jean especially was finally realizing what she was throwing herself into, part of her was frozen with indecision while another was looking at the sight with awe.
"Jean." Emma called out.
"Wha– Right!"
A quick look at Emma was enough for her to realize what she was thinking. Visible red and blue psionic energy visibly wafted off from them, Emma held a hand to the side of her head as she began directing psychic attacks to the quickly increasing group. Her eyes narrowed when she detected some psychic defense in their minds. No matter, it was flimsy and pathetic; she could just brute force them.
Jean, on the other hand, used a much simpler tactic that Emma had taught her, directing the pulsing psionic energy into crimson orbs. Red bolts surrounded her before flying off like artillery, the guards shouting in surprise and pain as these bolts struck them and their surroundings.
"Men, formation 3!" One of the guards shouted.
The armed men immediately moved with trained discipline, retreating a few steps away from the Mutants before forming three horizontal lines. The front line was on their knees, the middle line crouching slightly while the final line stood properly on their feet. Their weapons focused on the confused Mutants.
Spidey widened his lenses as he immediately realized what was about to happen, his Spidey sense ringing as the second and third lines aimed their sights on his airborne self while the front lines aimed for the other three.
"Oh no—-"
Before he could even act, Emma moved first. Eyes glowing and left hand to her head, she swiped her right hand to left as faint blue arcs trailed behind her fingers.
The men suddenly buckled, and shouts of pain filled the air as they fell. Jean didn't hesitate to follow up on the chance.
She moved her right arm forward, pointer and middle finger pointed towards the distracted guards as writhing crimson energy pulsed outward before gathering in between the fingers. A thin beam of red light shot out, a beat later, and a powerful red shockwave engulfed the guards. The armed men flew away as smoke rose, tumbling on the ground or smacking into the surrounding crate.
Spidey landed with a huff before turning to the two girls with wide lenses, a look mirrored by Logan.
Jean grinned as she cocked her hip. She brought her finger gun to her lips and blew an imaginary smoke off.
"Not bad, huh~?" She winked.
"It's passable."
Jean turned to Emma with wide eyes. "What?! I did great!"
"You did, but if the psionic bomb was a few feet closer it would have hit Logan and Spider-Man. It's a power that's based on your mind, Jean. Improve your discipline." Emma criticized smoothly.
Jean slumped and pouted. She looked like a kicked kitten. "Okay..."
Emma then gave her a small smile. "That said, we have plenty of target practice here. So don't hesitate to let loose to hone your skills. It's a valuable opportunity and I doubt these people deserved our mercies."
Jean perked back up, eyes sparkling. "Okay!"
Spider-Man let out a small sheepish laugh, not sure how to take them being so eager to cause some chaos. 'Well, at least they are getting along.' He thought to himself while glancing at Logan, something that the feral noticed.
The two stared at each other for a moment, remembering their talk before they got interrupted.
"Look webs, the girl is dangerous. Only I know what kind of terrible things she's capable of and I need to make sure that I stop her before she does them." Logan spoke.
Spidey sighed. "Logan, I understand your concern but at the same time, I can't in good conscience just let you go off and do that. She's a kid, who's to say that she even had a choice in this?"
His words seemed to spark something in Logan, making him look contemplatively. After a few seconds, he gave Spidey a complicated look.
"One chance, that's all I can give her."
"I'll take it." Spidey sighed, despite his first impression part of him felt like Logan would definitely honor that at least.
"Come on, let's go!" Logan spoke before running forward, clearly done with the conversation. The other three Mutants quickly followed him.
The group of four made their way through the docks, eyeing the large ship in the distance along with the collection of metal containers near the ship.
"Up ahead!" Emma warned, detecting a sudden convergence of multiple minds.
Spidey narrowed his lenses as golden particles wafted off him before forming into onyx black armor, power coursed through his body as Peter felt himself becoming slightly stronger.
Spidey immediately flicked his arms forward when he saw the approaching group of guards, web balls honing in on their legs to trap their movement before aiming them toward the muzzle of their guns.
Logan growled as he leaped forward, jumping into the middle of the crowd as he slashed and bashed his way through the guards before Spidey joined in.
Spidey leaped from one point to another, a red wrecking ball that kicked someone's gut before using it as a springboard to send a powerful punch towards another, sending the body flying and crashing into another group of people.
Logan ducked under swipe before slashing the offender's leg, rising back to his feet he spun. Silver arcs shone as he cut off two guns that were aimed at him before he continued to rampage.
The two continued to slash and smash their way through the group as they advanced their way forward, behind them Emma and Jean covered their backs with either crimson bolts or psychic attacks that incapacitated the enemies.
The sounds of fighting quickly began to attract more and more attention; more guards began rushing into their location, which was enough to tell them that things were going haywire quickly.
"We got four mutants at our position, we need reinforcement!"
"Negative! We got our hands full by the ship!"
As if right on cue, thunder rumbled up in the sky before striking down. Light momentarily blinded them before sound followed, their ears rumbled as lightning struck somewhere near them.
"Huh, I guess that's where Storm and the rest are," Jean commented before the battle continued.
Spidey narrowed his lenses even as he somersaulted over a guard and tripped him up, sending him barreling into the air before punching him into a nearby group of people.
"Seems like the other party is also heating things up!" Spidey quipped as he rolled to the side, ducking under a rain of bullets before shooting a web blast. A thin beam of displaced air shot out under his hand before exploding into a powerful blast that sent the soldiers flying away. "How about we give 'em a hand?"
"Let's finish this first!" Jean grunted as she crossed her arms, red psionic energy coalescing unstably around her. With a shout, she uncrossed her arms and slammed her hands into the ground.
The power rumbled, pulsing through the ground before coalescing into psionic spikes and 'stabbing' into the guards around them. Shouts and screams filled the air despite the lack of wounds, but the feeling of pain was very present.
The other three mutants eyed the falling guards, realizing that Jean had actually handled all of them pretty fast.
Peter turned to her with a blank look. "You couldn't have done that earlier?"
"Sorry." Jean smiled sheepishly, but there was also a sense of exhaustion in her eyes. It was probably due to the big move she just pulled. She then shrugged. "It was a bit on the spot."
"I'll say." Emma commented as she looked around, analyzing the dissipating psionic energy. "It needs some refining but keeping your hold on the psionic energy instead of just letting it loose is a good enough solution for your previous problem. You learn fast." Emma smiled in approval.
Jean's eyes sparkled as she grinned in pride.
Logan grunted. "If you're done, we still need to get going."
The group quickly shook out of their stupor and ran straight for the ship. As they got closer, they could see the sight of Storm flying high in the air, hands raised as lightning sparked around her figure, striking the enemies below like a vengeful goddess of the sky.
Looking down, some of them couldn't help but blink. There was the expected sight of Ghost Spider and Black Cat handling things pretty easily, Ghost doing a pretty good impression of Storm with the lightning arcs surrounding her as she became a living taser. Black Cat whooped in the air as she made full use of her new web shooters, picking off the guards one by one through the use of her webs.
What caught their attention was Bobby, the young man seemed to have found some new uses for his power. His arms were covered in protective frost as he conjured up ice slides to maneuver through the battlefield, shooting out icicles whenever he could and causing more chaos.
"Need a hand?!"
Everyone turned to them with mixed reactions, though it was clear that the other party was glad to see them.
"Took you long enough!" Black Cat snarked, grinning ear to ear.
The battle intensified with the new arrivals. Spidey, Ghost, and Black Cat swung through the crowd as they webbed up one guard after another before they could even shoot. Bobby shot more and more icicles right beside Storm's thunderstrikes, stopping the soldiers from shooting their glowing rockets. Jean and Emma sent waves of psychic pressure while Logan covered them, opening more and more opportunities for the bigger heavy hitters.
It was complete chaos and only the heroes could take advantage of it.
With all the advantages available to them, it was no wonder that they managed to finish things up easily.
The group breathed a little heavily as they looked at the pile of bodies around them, not dead thankfully (Spidey insisted on that) but very much in pain.
"Is that all of 'em?" Bobby asked, his arms still encased in frost. The young man looked a bit overwhelmed but still pretty eager to continue judging by the excited glint in his eyes. Seemed like someone had grown a taste for combat.
"Yeah, that's everyone." Logan grunted after a sniff, though his eyes remained alert. Looking around for any signs of trouble.
Spider-Man narrowed his lenses at that, that's…concerning actually.
"Anyone else feel like that was too easy?" Ghost asked his silent question.
Everyone grew a bit tense at that.
"What do you mean?" Jean asked worriedly.
"Don't know, just a feeling I guess." Ghost admitted with a shrug. "I mean we did attack this place pretty suddenly right after our last base raid but it still feels a little off."
"Whatever it is, we can tackle it after we check on the abducted Mutants." Storm reminded them, her eyes trained on a specific container near them.
"Right, we still got people to check on." Spidey grunted as he jogged to the container. Bobby quickly followed as he began helping Spidey unlock the container.
With a loud 'click', the two pulled the doors of the container. Everyone perked up when they heard quiet gasps behind those doors, their eyes widened when they properly saw the contents inside.
"Dear god…" Felicia gasped as Jean covered her mouth in horror.
What greeted them was a crowd of Mutants seated on the floor of the container, their hands and necks chained to the walls. Some of them looked human, but there were a few that had obvious mutations. These mutations ranged from simple traits like spikes or feathers on their visible features to look like a hybrid between animal and human.
But what caught their attention the most was their condition. Calling what they wore clothing would be too generous. It was too worn down and torn so badly that it was mostly rags. Looking through those holes revealed gaunt and skinny features some of them swore they could see bones protruding beneath.
"There are kids here…" Emma muttered, the sense of emptiness in her gnawing as she saw those small and frail forms looking at her in fear.
The group stared in shock, unsure what to do while the Mutants stayed quiet in fear. Their bodies shaking from either terror or the cold was unknown to them. Storm looked at the Mutants before her with a helpless gaze, her arm raised toward them for a moment but pulled it back when one of them flinched. She looked pained at that reaction, she had her own experience but this…she was unsure how to handle this.
Logan was probably the only one who wasn't taken as off guard, though his eyes still held the same amount of pain and horror as the rest of them. He had lived too long and he was ashamed to admit that he had seen this too many times already.
Spidey looked between the Mutants in front and to the rest of the people around him, he was…He was really out of his depth here. Even the other Peters' memories weren't helping much. But…someone needs to do something. To reach out to these scared people and show that they were here to help.
Spidey looked to the nearest Mutant (he looked so young, dear god) and slowly raised his hands to show that he meant no harm. The young Mutant eyed him warily, fear still present in his eyes. With a slow and bated movement, the vigilante knelt before him.
"Hey." He spoke softly. "It's okay. I'm Spider-Man, I'm here to help. We're here to get you out of here." He began, not even attempting to approach the scared kid so they don't get scared off.
A flash of recognition entered the kid's eyes. "S-Spider-Man? You're here?"
His heart broke at the kid's disbelieving voice, it was like he had given up on ever being saved. What the hell did these people do to them?
No, he could figure that out later. He had to focus on the kid in front of him, he'd deal with the Facility after.
"Yeah, I'm here. Brought some friends with me too." Spidey gestured to the others, his lenses somehow giving them an impression that he was smiling.
The rest of the people inside the container began to slowly lose their fear as tentative hope began to replace it.
"R-really? You're going to get us out?" The boy asked again, hope blooming in his eyes.
"Of course." Storm answered with a smile, though taking care not to overwhelm the young boy by staying where she was. She was feeling a lot of things at the moment but she's not gonna make it obvious. "We have a safe place for you, for all of you."
The captives looked at each other with an unsure look, but the hope in their eyes was clear for everyone to see.
"How can we trust you?" A bitter voice called out.
The vigilantes looked deeper into the container and spotted a woman. She looked as bad as everyone else with the only obvious mutation being her reptilian eyes.
"For all we know, you'll just bring us to an even worse hell." The woman spat with a glare.
The group paused at that, unsure how to convince her. They could also see the surrounding people growing more suspicious. They couldn't blame them too much; they had experienced something horrible, and it clearly left a mark.
"B-but, it's Spider-Man! He won't do that!" The boy from earlier defended. Spidey turned to the little boy, desperately looking at the woman with clear disbelief.
The woman looked at the boy with pity in her eyes, she was about to say something before laughter could be heard.
"Haha! I didn't expect so many people! I thought we'd just be dealing with some brats but this is fine too."
The group immediately turned around straight toward the source, Spidey and Ghost's spidey senses ringing almost painfully as they laid eyes on the person who was standing on top of a pile of containers.
Standing there was a woman, who wore a skintight black bodysuit with white straps around her. Attached to those straps were knives and guns. She has wavy brown hair that reaches past her shoulders that paired with her brown eyes. The most eye-catching aspect of her was her red skin tone. Spidey would be willing to admit that she was quite the looker if it weren't for how cruel she looked. Her eyes alight with malice as she gave them a sinister smile.
"Who are you?!" Storm demanded. Anyone near her could detect the sudden drop in temperature in response to her growing rage. Her surging emotions finally have a target to be directed to.
"Me? Just call me, Kimura." She introduced herself with visible arrogance. She then winced before glaring at Emma. "Try that again and see what happens," she growled.
Emma clicked her tongue, her mental shield was stronger than expected. That makes things complicated.
Kimura chuckled. "You bastards have been making a mess of things, you know. My bosses didn't like that."
"Sounds tough." Black Cat dryly commented.
"Quite." Kimura nodded before her smile widened. "But don't worry, you'll make up for it. You'll be the perfect target practice for our experiments."
"Wha—"
Spidey and Ghost's spider senses intensified as the two turned in two different directions from each other.
From each side, a heavy creature dropped in the shadows. Their steps release heavy 'thuds' with each step. Their eyes widened as the creatures finally stepped into view.
It was massive and quite the sight to behold. Easily rivaling the containers in size with metallic silver skin, ridges forming metallic plates with spikes protruding from its back. Its canine-like head turned to the group, crimson eyes eyeing them with hunger as its tongues slithered past its sharp teeth.
"That's a big dog…" Bobby whimpered.
"Oh, what the fuck?!" Harry gasped from their comms. "Those are the experiments from the logs! Why are they here?! They shouldn't even be able to survive this long!"
"Well they clearly made a very big breakthrough." Ghost sighed.
Logan snarled, which caused the two massive creatures to growl as well.
THUD
The sound of metal crashing into metal could be heard, the group turned behind them and noticed another one of the creatures had landed on top of the container that held the captives.
"Like them?" Kimura cackled. "Call 'em Predator X! Made specifically to hunt pesky Mutants like you."
The group eyed these massive creatures, wordlessly each picking their opponents and sticking to a partner.
Eyes locked, they stared each other down for what felt like an eternity. Hungry predators analyzing their heroic prey.
Logan snarled as he bared his claws. Spidey, Ghost, and Black Cat flexed their fingers as they considered how to use their webshooters. Emma and Jean locked eyes for a moment before they began expanding their mind. Storm and Bobby had the temperature slowly receding, especially so with Storm's case. Her eyes had quite a wild emotion in them, the condition of the captives had made her quite enraged.
"Go!"
The beasts snarled at Kimura's bark, their metallic skin shone beneath the moonlight as they rushed to them.
The heroes moved in response. Spidey, Ghost, and Black Cat immediately lunged at the predator on top of the captives' container, punching or kicking the beast away from the captives and bringing the fight to a more advantageous area.
Jean and Emma turned to one side, a union of blue and red psionic energy converged around the two as the beast bared its fangs at them. The crimson psionic energy converged to a point at Jean's pointer finger. With a thin beam of light, a powerful crimson blast slammed into the beast, sending it flying before the two gave chase.
Storm and Bobby turned to the other side. With a swipe of Bobby's hand, frost surged through the ground before erupting into an ice prison. The predator growled in defiance as ice crept up its body with amazing speed. Before it could even do anything about it, the smell of ozone filled its nostrils before thunder struck.
The ice shattered as it was sent flying, rolling through the air before it suddenly righted itself in the air and landed on its feet. It shook its body, trying to shake off the tingly nerves despite the lightning still sparking slightly around its body.
"Aren't metals supposed to be conductive?" Bobby pointed out in confusion.
Storm narrowed her eyes, and the wind around them began swirling erratically in response to her volatile emotions. "It is. It seems like we have to be a little rougher."
Thunder boomed over their heads. Bobby gulped at that, that didn't sound ominous at all.
The only one left, Logan instead aimed straight for the leader. Leaping above with claws bared, he snarled as he tried to stab down at Kimura.
The woman smirked but didn't make any move.
That and his instinct immediately told Logan to tuck and roll, barely dodging and getting grazed by a sudden attack.
Logan grabbed his attacker as they landed on the container Kimura was standing on, rolling and tossing them away before he quickly got to his feet.
X-23 grunted as she rolled to her feet, glaring at Logan with utter hate and loathing as she stood beside Kimura.
"The fuck are you staring at him for, you dumbass." Kimura sneered, kicking Laura in the back and causing her to stumble slightly but still kept her rage-filled eyes on Logan with steady footing, much to Logan's slight confusion. "I know he's your sperm donor but that doesn't mean you can sit on your ass. Go and gut him!"
X-23 didn't need any more encouragement, snarling before lunging at Logan.
Logan ducked under the lunge, pushing the girl away while swiping his claws straight toward Kimura.
KLANG
Logan's eyes widened from the sound, his claws didn't even budge from Kimura's palm. Logan could see that his claws had cut into the glove but didn't pierce her skin. How durable was she?!
"Cute, but ain't gonna cut it." Kimura sneered before punching Logan, the feral grunted as his head whipped back and straight into X-23's slash to his stomach.
Logan grunted in pain and irritation. Out of all the opponents he chose, it had to be the annoying ones.
Back with the vigilantes, Spidey grunted as he focused his psionic armor on his arms. He could feel his body lurching from the blow, the massive beast slamming its prehensile tail into him. His body slid backward but he kept his glare on the beast.
Ghost took advantage of its slight shift in focus. She shot a web at the beast's side and pulled, lifting the massive beast and making it yelp in surprise. With their Spidey senses synched up, Ghost immediately knew what was in Spidey's head and moved to execute it.
Electricity crackled around her arms as she lunged at the flying beast. Her hands were outstretched as she grabbed onto the side and kept a solid hold on it with her wall-crawling powers. Flipping forward, she dragged and suddenly changed the direction of the beast, slamming it into the ground!
The beast roared in pain, lightning surged through its conductive body from the touch as the ground beneath cratered and sent debris flying all around it.
As if waiting for her chance, Black Cat ran straight at the beast. The moment she came close to it, she jumped and shot out a web line to a nearby metal pole that had been sent into the air. Yanking it to her hand, she dived straight into the beast and jammed the end of the pole into its eye.
The beast roared in pain again, thrashing around and making Black Cat yelp as she was tossed into the air.
"Gotcha!" Spidey assured as he grabbed her and made some space between them and the beast by landing a bit further away.
"Thanks, handsome!" Black Cat winked as she got back to her feet, though mentally berating herself for that slip-up. Improving was a lot harder than she realized. She really had to up her training after this.
'If we survive this anyway.' She mentally added as she eyed the recovering beast. The metal pole visibly pushed out of its eye, the wound quickly closing and revealing an unharmed eye
"So that's why the electricity didn't bother it too much." Ghost commented with a tilted head. Spidey had thought it might work since he noticed the beast had a metal hide. She had picked it up through their link and decided to test it out.
"Seems like we pissed it off." Spidey dryly commented as the beast suddenly roared in rage. "Any other ideas?"
"The toxin from your stingers?" Ghost suggested as the three prepared to move. The beast was eyeing them a bit too hungrily than they were comfortable with.
"With that healing factor?" Black Cat asked as she was reminded of how Peter described his fight with Logan. "It's metal, isn't it? Might as well try drowning it with all that weight."
The beast lunged and suddenly turned, giving a powerful swipe that the three jumped over.
"Let's try that!" Spidey agreed before the three got to work.
Back with Jean and Emma, the situation was a bit…surprising.
Predator X was a ferocious beast, a project created to hunt and kill Mutants with extreme efficiency. Even the other more experienced people in their groups were having trouble with how to deal with it.
Yet if any of the people behind the project were to see the scene before them, they would have been crying and mourning for it.
A guttural scream was heard before the beast was slammed into an empty container. The beast's previous ferocious roar had turned into pain whimpers by now as Jean roared and viciously slammed into another container. The force of the throw and the weight of the beast dented the large piece of metal.
Suddenly, pelts of blue bolts slammed into the beast's prone form. These shots were precise and methodical, aiming for vitals and joints with extreme prejudice. Emma's eyes looked dead to the world as she used such a brutal way to use her powers.
While she preferred to use the more subtle ways to use her powers and affect the mind, this time she had taken special exception. The beast's mind was a revolting mess of instincts and hunger, making it useless to try and affect it without significant effort. Effort that she wasn't feeling at the moment due to her emotions.
Both she and Jean hadn't just seen what had happened to the captives, they could also feel what they were feeling. The trauma inflicted on these innocent Mutants (innocent children, Emma added) and how a good chunk of them had given up on ever seeing the light of day again.
It was vile, it was horrifying, it was maddening. There were also so many other things that they couldn't express without resorting to violence. Coincidentally, there was a very good punching bag that could help them express it.
"GODAMMIT!!" Jean roared as she slammed it into the ground, the beast whimpered as the ground cratered beneath it. The crimson energy writhing around it suddenly pulsed before denting inwards, turning into spikes that dig deep despite not making any wounds.
The beast roared in agony, feeling an unorthodox pain piercing through it despite its body telling it that it was fine.
"Shut it, you mutt." Emma growled as she walked to it. Stepping up on the beast's hand, her dead eyes finally gained a semblance of life. Eyes that burn with unyielding rage.
The blue psionic energy that surrounded her suddenly dissipated, but what replaced it was a transformation. The sound of metal grinding against each other filled the air as Emma's skin turned silvery and sparkling under the moonlight, glinting like a diamond.
No, her skin was diamond.
Joints crackled as she gripped her hands into fists, and with a frustrated roar, she punched straight down into it. The hit barely dented the metal skin, but that didn't matter to Emma as she continued to punch down.
BPANG
With each punch, her mind flashed to those scared eyes.
BPANG
They were afraid.
BPANG
They were hopeless.
"—ma."
BPANG
They were children!
"—mma!"
BPANG BPANG BPANG
They had a future and it was taken from them!
"EMMA!"
"What?!" Emma turned to Jean with anger in her eyes but snapped out of her rage a little at the slight fear in Jean's eyes. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down. "Sorry, what is it?"
"...I think the thing's had enough." Jean weakly gestured to the beast beneath her.
Emma turned to the beast below her and raised an eyebrow, it was still breathing but she could feel it was cowed. Despite the physical force, it could also feel the rage behind the psionic energy that the two women let out which clearly affected the beast's mental state.
"Yes, I think it did have enough."
The two widened their eyes and turned to the source, despite the familiar voice the man himself looked a lot different than before.
They turned up and saw the floating form of Magneto. They could tell it was him due to the small amount of his features they could see behind the helmet he was wearing but outside of that, he looked massively different from the last time they met.
A maroon coat with black lining fluttered in the air, golden buttons could be seen keeping the coat together. The man was wearing black pants with polished black shoes. He looked like an aristocrat with that ensemble alone but the most eye-catching aspect was the fact that he was flying and the helmet he wore.
It was polished to shine, a perfectly curved red helmet that covered from head to chin with a sharply 't' shaped space that revealed his features.
Emma and Jean narrowed their eyes at him, though Jean had a tinge of nervousness as she unconsciously took a step closer to Emma.
His eyes looked a lot more intense than last time. It felt oppressive, especially with how high in the air he was. What made it worse was that they couldn't even sense him with their powers. The last time they met they could still feel him even with the mental shield in his mind, but now he was a complete blank to them.
"Why are you here?" Emma asked. Though at the back of her mind, she was ready to move if he tried to attack. Despite how cordial Magneto was last time, he was still a known terrorist.
"For the same reason as you, I reckon. To save our brothers and sisters." Magneto spoke, his voice booming in the air.
"Where's your other…associates?" Emma carefully asked.
He then turned to the rest of the docks with narrowed eyes. "To help your friends. Though how they received that help is a different matter entirely."
The two psychics didn't like the sound of that at all.
Back with Logan, the fight between him and the two other ladies was intensifying. Though really, it had devolved into a savage battle between him and X-23 while Kimura watched from the side in amusement.
The two ferals gave a fierce roar as they two slashed and stabbed each other, blood spurring into the metal platform with each silver arc. A look into their eyes would reveal that they had lost all reason, there was only blind rage behind them.
Their rage had blinded them so much that they had given up any defense in favor of complete offense, relying on their healing factor to deal with any wounds as they tore into each other like animals.
"HAHAHAHA!" Kimura laughed in pure sadistic joy. "Yeah! Keep going, you animals! Shed more blood! Tear each other apart! HAHAHAHAHA!"
The two savages however ignored her, fully focused on each other.
"It's all because of you!" X-23 growled as they buried their claws deep into each other's guts. "If you didn't exist, none of it would have happened!"
"The hell are you talking about?" Logan grunted.
The two grunted as they tore out their claws from each other, breathing heavily as they stared each other down.
"I'll end you." She breathed out.
"Better people have tried and failed." Logan grunted.
The two screamed as they rushed at each other again.
Kimura kept laughing at the side before a thud stopped her dead, she quickly turned to the source and widened her eyes.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
"Y-you're…Sabretooth!" Kimura growled. However, her body language told a different story. She was alarmed and though she would never admit it, also scared.
The beastly man still wore the same suit that he had worn when he met the vigilantes, but that didn't lessen the aura of danger on him. He was looking at the two fighting ferals with amusement and completely ignoring Kimura.
"Looks fun~" Sabretooth smiled with hunger. His eyes shone with bloodlust, his fingers flexing as his nails turned into razor-sharp claws.
"If you're here…" Kimura muttered, her body already turned to the side before the sound of a gun clicking could be heard. The feeling of cold metal pressed into the side of her head.
Kimura slowly turned her pupils to the side, her eyes landing on a blue-skinned and red haired woman.
"Remember our orders, Sabretooth." Mystique coldly reminded him as she stared down Kimura, her finger on the trigger.
The beastly man clicked his tongue but stayed his hand.
Mystique was satisfied with that. She then spoke to Kimura, her pupiless golden eyes piercing through her. "Call off your attack hound."
Kimura narrowed her eyes. "Nah."
Kimura pulled her head to the side but not fast enough to dodge the bullet, the side of her head grazed and swiveled due to the force of the bullet.
Mystique widened her eyes when Kimura suddenly spun into an elbow strike, the woman quickly blocking it with her arm. The bullet didn't kill her?!
The two then moved, Kimura launching a kick to her side that Mystique blocked with her shin. With the very same leg, she launched a front kick at the woman's stomach and sent the red-skinned woman away.
Mystique narrowed her eyes in thought. Durable skin maybe? If all of her was durable she would have been able to just tank through that kick with no issue.
Kimura growled as she straightened up. "Fucking hell, if you two are here then that magnet bastard is close by. X-23! Let's get out of here!" She commanded while keeping her eyes on Mystique.
The only answer she was met with was more feral screams and grunts. Her eyes twitched in irritation, turning slightly to get the weapon in her eyesight while still maintaining her gaze on Mystique.
"X-23! Shut your yapping and let's fucking go!"
But the weapon didn't answer her, still focused on her fight with Logan. Both of them were near frothing at the mouth in rage, their eyes lost their pupils as they tore into each other.
"HAHAHA! They've lost their reason! All that's left is their animalistic rage." Sabretooth barked out a laugh, taking pleasure in seeing them turning each other into a bloody mess.
"That little shit!" Kimura snarled before turning to the two other Mutants. Her mind whirled with thoughts before she settled into a decision. "Fuck this!"
Mystique's eyes widened as Kimura suddenly dropped a smoke bomb. The woman immediately leaped into the smokescreen but Kimura was already gone.
Mystique only let out a smidgen of irritation and turned her gaze to Sabretooth. The man was more than capable of stopping Kimura from escaping with his enhanced senses.
"Why did you let her go?"
Sabretooth shrugged but kept his eyes on the fighting ferals. "And miss out on this? Not on your life. Besides, Magneto never told us to chase down any escaping Facility agents. Just free the Mutants and help these kids out if our interests align."
Mystique narrowed her eyes but didn't refute it. This was why she never liked working with Sabretooth. He was too much of a wild card and liked to do whatever he wanted.
She then turned to the two fighting ferals. Now how should they handle this?
With Storm and Bobby, the two were watching the beast struggling to stand on its legs. It took a bit but they were finally leaving some lasting damage on the persistent thing.
"Yall need help?"
The two turned to the side in surprise and widened their eyes when they saw someone familiar. Well familiar to Bobby anyway, Storm was confused about who this teenager was.
"John?!" Bobby asked with surprise.
The blond boy gave him a smirk, his fingers fidgeting with the lighter that Forge made for him. "Freeze it up, Bobby. We'll send it flying."
Bobby was confused but decided to follow his lead. Swiping his outstretched arm and launched a large wave of frost at the beast, freezing it again from head to toe.
Flicking the lighter open, flames burst out with life and surrounded his arm. Snapping his fingers, pure heat burst out and surged straight to the beast.
The massive thing roared in pain as the temperature changed so suddenly, the very air expanding violently and exploding.
BOOM
The beast roared in pain as it was sent high into the air, the Mutants below bracing from the shockwave. Storm eyed the flying form of the predator and took her chance.
The dark clouds above them rumbled before a bright pillar slammed into the beast, sending it plummeting to the ground.
KRAKATHOOM
The two younger Mutants held their arms up as they braced through another shockwave, their eyes turned to the older Mutant with wide eyes. Holy shit!
Storm huffed as she eyed the groaning beast through the smoke, her eyes twitched when she saw it stand up albeit a bit shakily. How the hell do they take this thing down?! It's like fighting Logan all over again!
Before she could air out her frustration, both Bobby and she widened their eyes as the beast suddenly lurched and floated into the air. The beast roared and bit into the air in confusion as it was lifted into the air with increasing speed.
"Oh, boss man is making his move." John muttered causing the two to turn to him in surprise.
Boss?
Even with Spidey and the others, the three were staring at the floating beast with wide eyes. They were in the middle of kicking it into the water (which became a lot more complicated when it realized what they were attempting) before it suddenly floated.
"What the hell?" Ghost muttered as they watched it float away from them with increasing speed.
"We gotta follow where that thing is going!" Spidey spoke before he ran, prompting the two to quickly follow him.
As the three vaulted and parkour over the containers around them, they noticed that they were going back to where they had found the captive Mutants. The first thing they saw was the nearby Logan who was completely drenched in blood and fighting against a similarly blood-drenched X-23, both snarling and fighting each other with equal ferocity.
"What the hell?"
The voice caught their attention, turning and saw that it came from Bobby who had just arrived. Right beside them was Storm and…John?
The three didn't even get to process the new arrival as another set of footsteps caught their attention. Looking to the other side, they saw the panting Jean and Emma, though their attention was split in half. A part was on them and the rest was on something high in the sky.
Spidey looked up and widened his lenses. He looked a lot different than before but he could recognize those overbearing eyes anywhere.
"Magneto?!"
His words alarmed everyone, making them follow the direction of his gaze and see Magneto. The Mutant Supremacist floating above them with arms crossed, his coat fluttered in the wind while the floating beasts circled him in midair.
The Mutant gazed down at them from above, floating above them like a king looking over the masses. Uncaring of the beasts trying to move and bite him, not even flinching when one of them got close. His eyes finally turned to those beasts, he pulled out of his hands from the crossed position and held out a clawed hand. Without a word, he gripped down his fingers.
The beasts suddenly stopped in midair, their bodies contorting in uncomfortable directions as they let out screams of pain. The people below, including the captives inside the containers, watched in mixed horror and awe as Magneto dealt with those beasts with ease.
Twisting his gripping fist, the beasts' roars intensified as they drew closer to each other in midair, their bodies converging right above Magneto and shadowing his form. His whole body was drenched in darkness with only his eyes alight, staring down at them with arrogance and pride that could only be backed with pure strength.
The beasts' roar slowly died out but not out of choice. Their bodies were crushed together tightly, their mouths pressed into the others' scales and shutting them up. Metal groaned under Magneto's hold as they were fused into a ball of bone, flesh, and metal.
The people below could only helplessly watch as that ball became smaller and smaller, flesh visibly bulged painfully before bursting like a fountain. Crushed organs and spraying blood rained onto Magneto's unflinching form.
It was terrifying, it was bone-chilling, it was tyrannical. It was the might of Magneto.
Releasing his gripping fist, the pile of metal and bone was released from an invisible grip. Magneto floated forward and let the ball drop right behind him, landing with a mighty 'thud' and cracking the pavement.
The more observant among them would notice that the flesh had stopped moving, those things were dead.
Some of them couldn't believe it, they had thrown everything at the beasts and they still stood back up none the worse for wear. But this man had picked them up like they were playthings and proceeded to crush them like they were nothing more than moldable clay.
Magneto landed softly before them, still dripping with blood as he stared down the group. Even with them being on the same ground level, they could still feel just how bigger he was than them. A complete 180 from his presence back in their previous meeting.
His eyes moved, making the younger among them flinched. He looked over with a piercing gaze before a sound caught their attention.
They all turned to the back and saw both X-23 and Logan wrestling on the ground, a puddle of blood visibly building beneath them as they stabbed each other.
Magneto raised a hand. With that single gesture, the two fighters were locked in place.
Bringing his hand closer to his chest, the two Mutants were torn away from each other. Their bodies flew through the air before floating right before him.
Spidey could notice that Logan was completely frozen, his whole body unable to move while the other feral only had her arms and legs frozen. Her body was writhing under Magneto's hold as she bit and snarled into the air.
'What's that all about?' Even through his frozen fear, he still couldn't help but wonder.
Magneto gave the two struggling ferals a good long look before he spoke.
"What happened?"
"Lost their reason." The sudden yet casual answer snapped everyone out of their fear, they looked to the side and noticed Sabretooth walking towards Magneto with a sharp smile. Right beside him was a composed blue-skinned Mutant. Spidey couldn't recognise her but she looked familiar.
Sabretooth stood beside Magneto, despite his sharp smile there was a hint of wary respect in his eyes for his leader. "Those two got too into their bloodlust and here we are."
Magneto narrowed his eyes before he turned to the two nearby psychics. "You two. Can you fix this?"
Jean and Emma were a bit surprised by the sudden question, Jean turned to Emma with a visible question in her eyes. Should they…?
Emma however was staring at X-23. Despite how much she was biting and roaring, she realized she was young…
'She looked Peter's age…' She realized.
That much was enough to fuel her decision. She gave Magneto a hard look. "Jean is still new to this but I can."
Jean blinked but couldn't refute that, she wasn't really confident on how to deal with…all of that.
Emma walked over to Magneto, she stood before the two but blinked at the sudden second set of footsteps. Looking back she realized that Spider-Man had stood closer to her, keeping a careful eye on Magneto and his associates.
Magneto didn't seem to mind that, giving Emma a simple yet clear command. "Proceed."
Emma raised her hands near the two ferals' heads, blue psionic energy surged and began to cover their heads.
She closed her eyes, letting her powers seep into their minds and—
"AUGH!"
"Emma!"
Spidey caught her when she violently flinched away from the two, specifically Logan. She gave the man a weird look. What? She never felt a psychic shield like that before. It wasn't like the usual where the mind had a barrier that blocked out any telepathy, it felt like the mind itself had attacked her.
"Emma? You okay?" Spidey asked with worry clear in his voice.
Emma blinked but nodded, slowly standing back up. "I'm fine but…Logan, his mind is a lot more complicated than I thought."
"But can you fix this?" Magneto asked with the same level of calm as before.
Emma took a deep breath and nodded. "I can, but I'll need help. Jean! Time for some hands-on lessons."
Jean blinked but nodded as she walked closer to Emma. "Okay!"
The two psychics then get to work, Emma directing her protege on what to do as they surround their hands on the temple of their patients. Jean on X-23 with Emma on Logan. The latter was too complicated for Jean at the moment so she would need to settle this herself.
"Remember, only calming waves. You're trying to pacify her mind." Emma reminded, making Jean nod.
Emma focused on her objective, blue psionic energy surrounded her before it flowed into Logan. Instead of invading his mind, it flows throughout his body. She's sending those 'calming' waves through his senses instead. Just like what had happened with the beast from before, she was imposing her mental commands in an indirect yet brute way. Instead of invading his mind, she just pressed down on it to calm him down.
With Jean, red psionic energy then surrounded the X-23's head. Jean recalled every lesson she had with Emma as she sent wave after wave of 'calm' into the feral. Jean could feel the mind resisting; no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get it to calm down. There was so much rage, so much hatred and despair resisting against her.
She was about to panic until she thought of something. All she was doing was just sending emotions to calm down a person. What if…what if she used memories? There were emotions attached to those memories and having an anchor attached to those emotions would help amplify it.
But what memories should she use? She went through her whole life in fear trying to control her powers! There wasn't any—
No, there was one. That time when Spider-Man stood by her side as a solid source of strength and helped her center herself. Maybe it could help the poor girl snap out of her rage.
So using that piece of memory as the centerpiece, she flowed the associated emotions to fight back against the waves of despair and anger. Right alongside were her waves of calm, trying to soften the edges in her mind.
The rest watched as the two did their work, Magneto gave them a good look before nodding. Storm turned to him with confusion in her eyes.
"We're enemies." She stated, confusion clear in her voice. "Why do you help us?"
Magneto gave Storm a steel-eyed look. "Are you not my fellow brethren as well? We might sit on opposite sides, but that does not change the fact that I too wish to help Mutants."
Storm looked surprised but Magneto didn't give her a second look. He walked past her, past everyone, and walked closer to the container.
The captives inside held their breath, giving the blood-covered Magneto fearful looks.
The man gave them a good long look before he snarled in anger. "Locked in chains and forced to your knees. Unacceptable!"
With a flick of his hand, the chains shattered without hurting anyone and were flung out of the container. The captives looked at each other in confusion as they rubbed their freed body parts. They were free?
"What are you all blubbering for? Stand up!" Magneto commanded.
The captives were taken by surprise but quickly acquiesced, standing on shaky legs as they watched the man walk inside the container with purpose and determination.
"Where is your pride? Your dignity? Up and get out of this prison!"
If they were hesitant before, they weren't anymore. Forced out by the man but they were very willing to get out of that cramped space, a prison as he described.
Even on shaky legs, even with their weak strength, they forced themselves to get out with the man's aggressive encouragement. He didn't shove them but his words were enough to motivate them. They didn't know why but the steel in his tone was giving them a sense of quiet spite and resolution.
Their feet hit the cold ground as the freezing air filled their lungs.
Freedom.
The captives stood there in the vast space, their eyes taking in their surroundings greedily as they took in the fresh air of freedom.
Magneto's chuckles took their attention. "Does it not taste sweet? Is it not filling? Freedom is always taken for granted, but once you lose it, you realize how addicted you are to it."
The captives gave him a confused look as he continued to chuckle, his footsteps were wet due to the blood but sounded booming to their ears. They watched as he made his way and stood before them in all his blood-drenched glory.
"Take pride, my brethren!" He spread his arms wide, his smile wide and full of teeth. "Though it was I who unchained you, it is still through your own strength that led you to walk out of that prison. It is a small yet important stepping stone for your freedom. Remember that."
The captives unconsciously puffed out their chest, yeah they did do that, didn't they? They were pretty weak, they hadn't eaten for a while yet it was still their strength that led them out of that place.
Magneto then continued. "Even with empty stomachs, even with your skin turning taut and revealing bone, even with all the suffering you went through you still find it in yourself to grab your freedom! For that alone, I take pride in calling myself your brother! You are Mutants! You are Homo Superior! You have a miraculous gift that binds us all far deeper than any blood will."
The captives began fidgeting, Magneto's words infecting a strange energy in them. He's right, they were strong for going through all that pain and still managed to gain their freedom. Their shared pain because of their…gifts bonded them together.
Magneto's eyes then narrowed. "But these gifts also attract the envious. Monstrous fools that wished to chain us like cattle just so they could control us. Do you not feel mad? Do you not wish to seek justice against the oppressors that chained and tortured you?!"
The captives, no— His brethren now stood straighter in front of him, their eyes alight with a flame that would help carry his revolution. Yes, they now see his vision and more importantly, was inflamed by it.
At the side, Storm watched in horror as more and more began to follow Magneto's cause. No, she needed to stop this.
"My brethren, it is time for us to seek justice! To light our revolution and free our brothers and sisters from these atrocities once and for all!"
"No!" Storm countered heatedly, the attention turning to her. "What you seek isn't justice. It's vengeance! All you will do is breed more hate!"
"Then what should you have us do?!" One of them countered, and they realized it was the woman from before. The very same one that distrusted them. "You want us to sit around and talk with those same humans that tortured us?!"
"No, I–" Storm tried to speak but the woman cut her off.
"Keep your self-righteous bullshit!" She spat. "I'm done. I've done everything, I didn't bother anyone and didn't hurt anyone! Yet they still toss me to the cops and they fuckin sold me to those bastards that tortured us!"
Storm faltered, seeing the pure hate writhing in the women's eyes as she glared at the heroes.
"So let's burn them, if we have to destroy this whole damn system to make peace for ourselves then so be it." The woman spat before turning to Magneto with a determined look. "Whatever you're planning for, I'll be right by your side."
Magneto smiled, his hands holding hers with strange gentleness. "Welcome, my sister. Your aid shall be a boon for our Brotherhood."
As if inspired by her words, one by one the captives walked up to Magneto and swore themselves to him. And as the leader he was, he personally welcomed them into the fold.
The heroes watched as more of them began to be taken in by Magneto, helpless and unsure of how to stop all of this.
Then, a sound. It was small but it began to catch their attention. One by one, everyone began to look to the source and noticed that it was laughter.
Emma was laughing, she was kneeling with her back to them. Right beside was Logan, who was busy nursing his head, and Jean, who had X-23's sleeping head on her lap, looking at her in confusion.
"What are you laughing at?" John asked, a bit incensed by it.
Emma slowly calmed and sighed. "Nothing. I just find it funny how they trade one master for another."
"Excuse you?!" One of the captives snarled.
Emma turned to the Mutant with a glare, causing him to flinch and took a step back. The women sighed and stood up to her feet, giving each one of them an icy cold look.
"Did you need me to speak louder? You had been forcefully chained to cruel humans and yet here you are, chomping at the bit to be chained by another master. This time, they just so happen to be the same race as you and with a longer leash."
Magneto narrowed his eyes but didn't speak, wanting to see where she was going with this.
The women from earlier scoffed. "So what? You're gonna preach on us now? Tell us how what we're doing is bad like the other one?"
Storm scrunched her face in a mix of anger and frustration but didn't rise to the bait.
Emma scoffed. "No, I already know that won't work and frankly, I don't really give a shit about it. So instead I'm gonna give you a story."
"A story?" The question came from their side, Bobby who had accidentally asked that aloud.
"Yes, Bobby. A story." Emma smiled, but there was no joy to it.
Some of them looked incredulous about it but gave her their focus anyway. Even Magneto and his associates looked interested.
"There once was a girl who had it all." Emma began, her eyes were far away as she told her story. "She was born with a silver spoon. She had it all and would never be left wanting. Wealth? Her family had been rich for generations. Fame? She had beauty and knew how to use it, she had that plenty as well. Power? Oh, she had power alright, just like any Mutant she was born with a powerful gift."
Emma then sighed as she looked down, filling the air with a somber tone. "It didn't take long for her family to know of course. The foolish girl who foolishly trusted them decided to reveal it to them. While her mother and sisters were terrified of her, her father saw an opportunity."
Spidey narrowed his lenses as he carefully watched her. This girl, was she talking about herself?
"So her father made use of her, exploiting her abilities to further his agenda. The girl, in desperate need to make the only family she had left not hate her, complied. Even with the splitting migraines, she helped him. Even with the vile thoughts that assaulted her every day, she helped him." Emma listed out with dead eyes. "On and on until the girl finally realized that her father had never seen her as anything more than a tool. Helped that he practically told it to her face."
Everyone there turned silent, Peter and Jean giving Emma concerned looks. The women could feel it and desperately wanted to embrace it but it would only ruin her momentum. She needs to keep going before she loses them.
"So with her mother and sisters scorning her, and her father who never even loved her, the girl did what she could only do. She ran. She ran as far away as she possibly could just so she could escape her father's clutches. It was at that time that she realized how chained she was, and how sweet freedom truly is."
The Mutants on Magneto's side nodded at her words, understanding and sympathizing with her. Weren't they too exploited and then freed through their own strength?
Emma huffed. "But of course, it wasn't as simple as that. This world is big and has its own problems. For the first time, she began to realize how hard it is to survive without the wealth she was born in. But she didn't mind, as long as she was away from her family and kept to herself, she would survive. So she did, taking money out of people's wallets and working in a shady strip club just to make ends meet. She did many, many questionable things to survive and she didn't regret it."
Spidey narrowed his eyes at that, he did suspect something but he never thought it was actually true...
"Then," Emma's tone took a turn, a sense of wistfulness if you will. "She met a family. They weren't anything special, just a hard-working family trying to make ends meet. The girl also didn't give the family much thought…until they tried to welcome her into their life. They were neighbors, so it was expected. The girl at first was distrustful, if her own family couldn't be trusted then why should she extend that to strangers? Yet…they still keep trying. It wasn't anything grand, just the little things. Watching over her plants while she was gone, giving leftover food to her when she had no money to spend, even giving her some work to do by tutoring their kid despite not having much money themselves."
Spidey could already feel Black Cat and Ghost's gaze on him the more she spoke. Don't look at him, this was the first time he heard of it too!
Emma sighed. "It didn't take long for the girl to open up slowly. Those little yet warm gestures made her learn to trust and hope again. That family chose to trust that girl despite not having any reason to do so and that girl chose to do the same, something that the two sides never regretted." Emma smiled a somber yet happy one. "The point I was trying to make is that while there are Mutants that suffered like you, there are still others that suffered yet find hope out there. Your revolution would also burn that hope."
"So what are you trying to say?" Magneto asked after a period of silence.
"That when you go pillaging with your pitchforks and torches, try to consider that maybe some of those humans you hate could be a family to other Mutants." Emma stared down Magneto with equal determination. "As an important person to me said before, there's always a choice. The bigger those choices are, the more important they become. This revolution you want is one of them. So before you start your revolution, give it a good long look and make sure your choice is the one you won't regret."
Silence fell, the Mutants looking down and thinking it deeply. Now devoid of the passion Magneto instilled, they began to think through their life and wonder if they were really picking the right choice…
Slowly, someone walked out. Their steps were small yet no less confident. The young boy who had spoken to Spidey slowly made his way to Emma.
"Y-you said my choice is important. So can I pick to stay with you?" The boy asked, his voice wobbly yet hopeful.
Emma knelt and smiled at the boy. "Of course, my dear."
Slowly, little by little more and more join the young boy. The more observant among them would realize they were the younger people among the captives. Kids who didn't want to go out and fight for something they didn't fully understand.
Magneto stared at the Mutants that had joined the other side. "Are you truly sure of this?"
They gave each other hesitant looks and nodded.
"Very well then, if this is your choice then I shall not fault you for it." Magneto sighed as he visibly aged a few years before them. But that look immediately disappeared, his previous blood-soaked tyrannical revolutionary visage returned in a moment. "Let us be off then, we still have work to do."
Magneto turned and walked off, his followers slowly followed with the heroes watching.
They couldn't stop him even if they wanted to, Magneto was too strong. But the next time they met, they'd be ready. That much they were sure of.
Emma took a deep breath as she looked at the kids around her, kids who needed guidance.
She then looked back at Storm, who was looking at Magneto's back with a hard look, and Logan, who was giving the sleeping X-23 a considerate look.
She then stared at Peter, who was also giving her a concerned look.
Just like the kids tonight, she too was at a crossroads. She just hoped that she wouldn't regret it.
[-]
Emma put the neatly folded clothes inside the bag, zipping it up, and then sighed as she sat down on her bed.
It's been a few days since they had done the raid and met Magneto, a few days for Spider-Man and the rest to clean up whatever was left of the Facility in New York, a few days where she had to…think about her choices.
A lot was happening. So many things going through her mind and she wasn't even sure if she wouldn't regret it.
Seeing those captives made her realize just how…big things had gotten to say the least. She was always aware of it but this was the first time she saw just how much worse the atrocities against her kind could get.
She could cope with it, she could have lived with it while remaining here with the Parkers. With Peter.
But then she saw those children and she realized: she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she ignored those atrocities.
The sudden sound of knocking caught her attention, she looked up and noticed Peter by the door. The very source of her indecision.
"You good?" Peter asked with a small smile. Though there was a hint of concern in his eyes.
Emma nodded as she rubbed her face. "Yeah, I think I'm good."
"You don't sound confident." Peter pointed out as he walked over, sitting right beside her on her bed. Emma couldn't help but notice that he was taking in her room.
Right, he didn't come into her room that frequently. If anything, he usually avoided it, she noted with some amusement.
"I just…" Emma began before she dropped her head. Usually, she wouldn't be this open but Peter had more than earned her trust. "You remember back when you showed that you were from the future?"
"Yeeeah?" Peter confirmed with some confusion. Where was she going with this?
"I made a promise to myself back then that I would be there by your side and make sure that you won't be alone when facing future dangers," Emma revealed. "That was before I saw what I saw back at the docks and here I am, already about to break my promise to join some far-off team for Mutant coexistence and leave you by yourself."
Peter made a sound of understanding, so that's why she looked so conflicted. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't be alone. I got Felicia, Gwen, and Harry around."
Emma nodded. "I know but, I still made that promise to myself you know? It just…"
She sighed and fell silent. She didn't want to leave. She really didn't. But she also knew she needed to if she wanted to make sure the kids they saved were acclimating to their new environment without issue.
They couldn't keep them in New York so the only ones who could take them in were the X-Men and Emma would be damned if she just left those kids to a group she herself couldn't fully trust yet.
There was also Jean to worry about. In the privacy of her own mind, she would be willing to admit that she had grown fond of Jean as her student. So while seeing her seek a better education was something she was fine with, the X-Men themselves didn't really do anything that would help her see that they were doing something good.
Logan was more preoccupied with dealing with his possible daughter (who they did bring back with them to their base as stupid as it was in Emma's personal opinion) and Storm had come up short when the situation demanded it during that speech with Magneto. If it was up to her, she would have taken those kids away and made her own school or something but she couldn't. She didn't have the resources and right now, the X-Men were the least bad option open to her.
She was frustrated but that didn't mean everything was hopeless. She had gone through the worst phases of her life, she could deal with this. The only part she was hesitating about was Peter himself.
Peter hummed. "Hey, I…can't say I fully get it. But if you feel like this is the right thing to do, something that you need to do, then don't let me stop you." Peter grabbed her hand to caress her, making her stare into his warm brown eyes. "You got a future ahead of you, a bright future that could inspire a lot of people. And that's beautiful. So if you feel like you might regret leaving me just to chase that future then don't, because It's unfair to you to abandon that just so you can keep your promise to me."
Emma could feel her emotions welling up, her mind whirring to the visions she had seen in Peter's memories. His pain, his guilt, his anger, his death.
"...I don't want to lose you." She softly confessed.
Peter smiled somberly and pulled her into a hug, the woman sobbing into his shoulder as her emotions finally got to her.
"You won't, I promise. If there's any trouble I know I can't handle, I'll call you. How about that?" Peter compromised.
Emma thought it over. Really thought his words through. As she did, she couldn't help but remember Storm's words to Jean.
"I believe you should train yourself more and be there for him when he needs it most is a better way to repay him instead of sticking close to him all the time and being unable to help."
…Perhaps she had given Storm too little of a credit. That nugget of wisdom felt very appropriate right now.
Just because she wanted to stay by Peter's side to help him, didn't mean she'd be able to. She needs to get stronger and well…there was one allegedly strong psychic who sponsored the X-Men. Maybe she could learn from him alongside Jean.
There was also the X-Men themselves, despite her issues with them they clearly have a favorable impression of Peter. Having them help Spider-Man when he needed it might not be a problem for them.
The two stayed like that for a minute before they slowly pulled away from each other.
"You good?" Peter asked again.
Emma smiled, feeling like she could answer that with confidence. "Yeah, I'm good. And Peter?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you, for being amazing."
"That's what I've been called from time to time but no problem."
Emma rolled her eyes in amusement and slapped his shoulder.
The two then grabbed her bags and slowly got out of her apartment, once outside she caught sight of May and Ben.
"Emma! Did you get everything packed? Do you need anything? I have some snacks here if you need them, the ride to Westchester County is still pretty long." May frantically asked.
Ben chuckled beside her. "Now, now, May. She's a grown woman, she won't need you to mother-hen her." He teased.
"Oh, you!" May slapped her husband on the shoulder. "I just want to make sure that she'd have a comfortable time. She'll be teaching kids at some private school and I'd like to make sure she'd get there with a calm mind."
Emma smiled. She realized that Peter wouldn't be the only one she'd miss.
"I'll be fine, May. Though I do appreciate the snacks so if you don't mind?"
"Oh have as many as you want, dear. I made them for you after all!" May smiled as she handed her a basket full of cookies and sweets.
Peter gave a peek inside the basket and raised an eyebrow. "Chocolate chip cookies? Hope you made some extra May."
"Of course, got them fresh from the oven inside." May smiled. "But we'll eat those later, we still need to walk Emma down."
The group then talked and reminisced with each other as they walked out of the apartment building, Emma smiling and laughing along with her family.
'Yes, family. They're my family.' Emma realized. How long did it take for her to properly say it even in the confines of her own mind?
They then paused when they saw a limo stop near them, Emma's expression dropped when she saw Storm step out of the limo though this time in casual clothes. She did raise an eyebrow when she saw Jean step out and rush to them.
"Jean?!" Peter asked with shock. "Thought you'd be at Westchester by now."
"I was but I decided to follow Ororo when she said she was picking Emma up." Jean explained before smiling at the two adults behind Peter. "And these are?"
"Ah, this is Uncle Ben and Aunt May. They've been taking care of me for as long as I could remember, practically my parents really." Peter introduced, making Ben and May sport warm smiles. "This is Jean Grey, she got tutored by Emma before joining that new school Emma would be teaching in."
"Oh really?" May gasped while Ben raised an eyebrow. "That's wonderful then! If you're willing to transfer to a new school just to learn from our dear Emma you must really like her."
Jean smiled bashfully but nodded. "Yeah, she helped me out of a tough spot. Both her and Peter really." She glanced at Peter with a faint blush.
A glance that did not escape the two Parkers, making their smiles widen.
"Oh aren't you sweet, why didn't you mention her Emma?" May asked.
"It was a pretty recent thing, to be honest, so it kinda slipped," Emma admitted before glancing at Jean with a small smirk. "Still, didn't expect you to receive me personally."
"Oh, you know me! Just want to tell you what to expect there myself, hehe." Jean bashfully admitted while giving quick glances at the still-unaware Peter.
"Hmmm of course." Emma's smirk widened just a tad. She then glanced up when she saw Ororo waving at them and tapping her watch. Right, they might want to hurry up. "Guess it's time to say goodbyes."
Emma sighed and turned to the family, her family.
May smiled at her and grabbed her hands, caressing her. "Now, don't forget to call and if there's any problem you know our doors are always open for you."
Emma smiled. "Thank you, May. For everything."
At the side, Jean turned to Peter with a nervous expression and he in turn raised an eyebrow at her.
"What's up?"
"Uh, so I never really exchanged contacts with you, and if it's okay with you, you okay if I talk with you once in a while?" Jean asked nervously.
Peter chuckled. "Yeah, sure! I might get distracted by stuff but I definitely can."
"Great!" Jean chirped up, the two exchanging their numbers. Jean's smile widened when Peter sent a message to her. Jean blinked and then glanced at Peter. "I don't think I said it properly before but thanks Peter, for everything."
Peter blinked when Jean suddenly hugged him, though he smiled and returned it.
"No problem, Jean. And hey, if you need some time away from stuff, you can always come here. That offer to Emma extends to you too, you know?"
"Really?" Jean pulled away slightly.
"Yeah! Aunt May would kill me if I left you all alone."
Jean chuckled. "Okay, I'll hold you to that."
Jean fully pulled away from him and he noticed Emma waiting at the side. The woman walked up to him and kissed him on the forehead.
Emma smiled at him. "I'll call you once I'm there and since I'm not gonna be around, promise to be safe."
"Can't promise that." Peter cheekily winked.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Then at least try."
"I can do that."
Emma caressed his cheek tenderly for a moment before she walked away with her bag in tow, Jean giving them a wave before quickly following her.
The family watched as the three ladies entered the limo and slowly drove away, waving at the woman who had been part of their family for so long and now leaving for a future she believed in.
The three stood there for a moment longer, even as the limo slowly disappeared from their view.
"So Jean huh?" May began.
"Don't." Peter quickly shut that down with an unimpressed look.
"Girl looks smitten." Ben added with a mischievous look.
"Not you too!" Peter groaned.
"Reminds me of our younger days." May chuckled as she hugged Ben's arm before glancing at Peter. "I like her, she's pretty honest. What are you going to do about it, young man?"
Oh, he knew that tone. If he didn't answer it right he would have hell to pay.
"Honestly, I have no idea. There's Gwen and Felicia too, I'm just…confused I guess."
While he didn't show it, he did notice the growing attraction from the girls. Jean was probably the most obvious about it. He didn't call her out on it or anything, that would just make her embarrassed and he didn't want to put her on the spot.
Felicia and Gwen were probably the only ones he really might have to be concerned about. While he wasn't so arrogant to think their problems with each other were because of him, he knew he was somewhat related to it. He was glad they managed to settle it before it got any worse.
That still left the question of what he should do about it. Sure there were Peter Two and Peter Three's memories but…their romance felt a little different. Peter Two lived in a much different time despite the time gap not being that huge and Peter Three had a pretty complicated relationship with his Gwen.
There's also the issue of them never really having the problem of having too many women being interested in them, that was a problem sorely unique to him. Which was both awesome and kinda mortifying.
Ben sighed and dragged Peter close for a side hug. "That's fine, Peter. You don't need to decide now. You still have time to sort out your feelings and those girls probably need time to sort out theirs too. You don't gotta rush."
Peter smiled, leaving it to his uncle to know what to say. "Thanks, Uncle Ben. But what happens when they do?"
"Well," Ben huffed before giving him a mischievous smile. "I can't give any answers that won't make your Aunt mad at me."
"Benjamin Parker, do not give that young man silly ideas."
Peter sucked air through his teeth. "Oouh, first and last name. Is that the couch?"
"Probably the couch." Ben nodded with a pinched expression.
May huffed as the two laughed with each other. The family made their way back home with laughter and warmth.
Chapter 17 - Every Single Breath You Take is A Countdown To Your Death
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Chapter 17 - Every Single Breath You Take is A Countdown To Your Death
2012. The prophesied end of the world for the Mayans. Some people don't believe it, thinking it was just an outdated and overblown calendar system. However, those who believe it had different reactions; some began preparing for a possible apocalypse and some just continued enjoying their life trying to make the most of it.
Either way, whatever belief these people had about it, both sides could agree that it would be an eventful year. None could attest to that more than one Peter Parker.
Currently, he was sitting in class with clear frustration. There were developing bags under his eyes due to lack of sleep, his foot constantly thumping due to anxiety, and despite the dead and blank look, his mind was continuously whirling with thought.
The reason for this was simple: the upcoming invasion.
To say that Peter was stressed about it would be an understatement. He had been mulling over ideas on how to handle it but always came up short due to a lack of information.
What kind of weapons did they use? Was it energy-based as they saw or was there something more to it? What kind of biology did they have? Would it be vulnerable to toxins and poisons natural to Earth or would they have immunity due to being a space-faring species?
Peter did remember reading about the Chitauri, but all he could remember was that they were a bunch of aliens who tried to invade Earth under Loki's orders. The invasion failed thanks to Mr. Stark's efforts to redirect a nuclear payload to the portal leading to the Mothership.
And that was it! It wasn't even because Peter didn't try to research more; it was because many powerful people wanted to hoard and hide valuable tech and information that the aliens carried, which made any info on them sparse.
Times like this made Peter so damn frustrated. He understood why it needed to be hidden and slowly drip-fed into the public; it was alien tech after all and he already had personal experience on what it could do if it fell into the wrong hands thanks to the Vulture.
Didn't stop him from grumbling about it.
"What got you so grumpy?"
Peter turned to the side and noticed Felicia giving him an amused look, though there was a hint of worry in her eyes. He looked around and realized the class was already over. Huh, he must have been too deep in his head.
"Nothing, just thinking how a lot of my problems could be solved if a lot of people were less stupid." Peter grunted, trying his best not to give away too much.
"There's a story there." Felicia scoffed in amusement but didn't push. Her worry then became more pronounced. "Still, you look like shit. You sure that's all bugging you?"
He must have looked as bad as he felt right now. His body did feel a bit sluggish, but he could deal with it. He had plenty of experience in pushing through exhaustion.
"Eh, I'm used to it. Don't worry too much." Peter barely held down a yawn as he stood up from his seat. Stretching a little he then looked back at Felicia, who looked unconvinced. "Where's Gwen and Harry?"
Felicia gave him a look before sighing. "Waiting by the door, come on."
Peter quickly followed her to the door, his sight landing on Gwen and Harry who was waiting for them.
"There he is. You know I thought you were ballsy before but outright zoning out in Ms Green's class right in front of her face took guts." Harry whistled as the group made their way through the halls.
"Staring down an Iron Man rip-off suit and a large metal dog does that to you." Peter nonchalantly shot back.
Harry snorted. "Fair nuff."
Gwen rolled her eyes and sighed. "Just leave him alone, Harry. Everyone with eyes could see how tired Peter was. Ms Green probably noticed and didn't want to bother him. You doing okay?" She asked with a concerned look.
"I'm fine." Peter answered with a barely repressed yawn.
"Totally convincing argument right there, Pete." Felicia snarked.
"Really, I am!" Peter defended. "Just had a few rough nights."
"About what?" Gwen asked.
"Stuff." Peter's eyes quickly flitted to Felicia before looking back to the front, a look that was caught by the group.
"I'm in your every waking moment huh?" Felicia smirked. "A girl could only take that in a specific way."
"Not like that." Peter exasperatedly sighed, though there were still looks coming from the other three. "Fine! It's about the thing I told you two."
Harry and Gwen grew a bit confused before they widened their eyes in realization.
"Wait, you don't mean—" Harry gasped.
"Right, that's this year." Gwen sighed.
The two immediately grew weary. Through all the excitement they went through, they had completely forgotten about the invasion.
Felicia raised an eyebrow at their reactions. "I feel like I'm missing something here."
The group paused in their tracks, Felicia still keeping her gaze on them. The three quickly exchanged glances, sharing words without even opening their mouths until they settled on a decision.
Felicia couldn't help but be a bit creeped out by it.
Peter turned to her with a serious look. "Come to my house after school."
Felicia would have shot a raunchy joke but the look in his eyes made her take it seriously.
"Alright."
"Good." Peter nodded before walking ahead of them, his already exhausted posture looked even more tired somehow.
"What was that all about?" Felicia asked the other two as they watched him walk away.
"You'll see later, we'll be there too." Gwen patted her shoulder before she quickly caught up to Peter with Harry quickly following her.
Felicia stared incredulously. This sounds serious…
[-]
"You're from the future."
"Yes."
"Like actually from the future?"
"Yes." Peter sighed, how many times would she repeat that?
"How far are we talking?"
"2024."
"Pretty far but not as far as I had thought that I could call you Daddy." Felicia clicked her tongue.
Everyone gave her an exasperated look to which she simply shrugged with a sly grin. She needed to keep some humor in such a heavy discussion.
The group was sitting in his room undisturbed as they revealed Peter's time travel status to Felicia. After revealing their base, the vigilante group slowly began to move out of it. They hadn't decided on a new place yet but they were taking everything and putting them in their homes. Not the best of places but it's what they were working with for now.
Felicia made a face. "Do you know me from the future?"
"No actually, kinda like Gwen and Harry. I never actually met you three in the old timeline."
"It's really weird to know that there's a world out there where I'm not best friends with Peter." Harry admitted.
"Yeah…" Gwen agreed with a far-off look.
"Yeah." Peter sighed. It was pretty weird since the other two Peters were best friends with their Harrys. A shame how their relationship turned out, something he planned to not repeat. He'd really like his best friend and he'd rather not have him turn into a murderous green goblin.
The less said about Gwen the better, Peter three's memories were horrifying to experience past his Gwen's death.
Felicia stared off into the distance as she leaned into the swivel chair by his desk, deep in her thoughts as she slowly spun around her seat.
The three stared at her as she spun, wondering how she was taking this.
"Licia?" Gwen called out with worry in her tone.
Felicia held up her hand. "Upup, I'm thinking here."
"Thinking on what?" Harry asked as they grew more worried.
"Either the three of you are smoking something or I am slowly losing it." Felicia frustratedly sighed. She then looked down, her hands held to the side of her head as she grew a bit frantic. "I mean, I have half a mind to think you're all just crazy and get out of here. This isn't supposed to make sense!"
Peter narrowed his eyes as he caught her wording. "Isn't supposed to?"
Felicia leaned away from her seat and gestured to Peter with exasperation. "Yes! But it somehow is! The more I think about it, the more weird things are. Like you debuted a few months ago and you already locked up mafia bosses and driven off an international organization. The police force, with their resources, couldn't do that and while we did have help from Forge for the Facility, tracking the trails back to Gargan and Hammerhead shouldn't be something you just do without plenty of experience!" She then leaned back and started rambling. "There's also the way you act! One second, you're this goofball dork and the next second, you're acting like a veteran hero while giving some inspirational speech on the fly!" She exclaimed, her mind turned to that time when she and Peter spoke after he took a hit for her.
The three blinked at her, slowly processing what she said.
"Huh, isn't that how we figured out that something was off with you, Pete?" Harry asked.
Peter sighed. "Yeah, it is. Man, do I really need to watch out for that now?"
Felicia snorted. "Don't bother; unless they know how you operate behind the scenes and know your secret identity, people would just think that our little group here has some extensive network that we can pull on."
Peter tilted his head at that but nodded. "That's good to know." He then gave Felicia a hesitant look. "So you believe us?"
Felicia gave him a considerate look before sighing. "As crazy as it is, I do. It still sounds crazy as hell in my head but I do."
Peter smiled at that. "Thanks, Felicia. I know it's hard to believe but I'm glad to hear that."
Felicia looked away as she tried to avoid his earnest gaze with a blush, his eyes really doing something to her. "Yeah, no problem I guess…"
Gwen huffed in amusement at Felicia's reaction, she then nudged Peter. "You still gotta tell her about the thing."
Peter sighed and looked visibly stressed at the reminder. "Right, the thing."
Felicia immediately grew worried at that. "Thing? What thing? Wait, is this why Peter is so stressed lately?" She asked. Peter had grown anxious ever since the new year, it was like he was dreading something.
"Yeah, it is." Gwen nodded with a grave look as she remembered what was in store for them in the future. "It's…a whole thing really that leads to an even bigger thing."
Felicia looked even more concerned. "Okay, you're scaring me now. What?"
"Before that, I do have to confirm something." Peter took a deep breath and gave her a serious look. "Felicia, this is your last chance."
"My last chance?" Felicia asked, confused. The confusion and worry only grew when Peter reached out and held her hands gently as if to really drive in the seriousness of the matter.
"Yes, last chance to back out. You still have a whole life for you that you can have without going into danger. This is some serious stuff, things that could change the way you view our world." Peter slowly spoke, choosing his words carefully as he looked her in the eyes. "Once you know, there's no backing out."
Felicia was surprised by the sudden behavior from Peter, she tried to laugh it off but a look at Gwen and Harry made her realize that they were also serious about this. She blinked and looked back at Peter, his earnest gaze staring back at her and led her to really think it over seriously. Felicia licked her lips and tried to return Peter's look with the utmost sincerity.
"Peter, I'm mostly with your group just to check things out. I'm not the heroic type and not really the type to help people. We both know this deal we have has a chance to not work out." She began, she could see the light in Peter's eyes dim a little but it still held strong. Held by some weird belief he has in her that always astounds her sometimes. "But no matter what happens, even if I decide that being a vigilante isn't my thing, I got your back no matter what. Danger won't scare me off that easily; the Black Cat always lives for the thrill, remember?"
Peter looked at her for a few moments before he smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I remember."
"So, what's this big thing you want to tell me?"
Peter took a deep breath, this would be a long explanation.
Felicia sat silently as she listened with rapt attention, hanging off every word as Peter explained the situation to her. How he was from the future, how there was a big threat coming that would wipe out half of all life which included him (he died?!), and how he ended up nearly causing a multiversal collapse that could only be fixed by erasing every memory involving him which also lead to the 'Unraveling'.
Hell, he even had to pull out the billboard that he had used to explain things to Gwen and Harry the first time around. He had kept it with him and thought it would be useful to explain things to Felicia.
By the time he finished, the girl was staring at him in horror as she processed everything.
"You died?" She croaked out weakly.
Peter nodded and shrugged. "Well, yes but I got better—"
"No! You don't get to say you got better!" Felicia quickly shut that down. "Especially since you literally erased yourself from everyone's head right after! Was that part even necessary?!" Felicia frantically asked.
"It was." Peter's words stop her dead, her eyes still wide with concern and terror. The way he so casually said it, like it was an unavoidable fact. "People were coming in from all over the Multiverse, people that knew I was Spider-Man and dragging their universes into mine. The spell couldn't be reversed so the last thing we could do was just…wipe me out of everyone's head." Peter finished somberly.
Felicia stared at him for a moment. "That…and you just accepted that."
"I was the one that asked for it. It was my mistake, I needed to be the one that fixed it."
Felicia let out an incredulous laugh. "That's ridiculous. How are you two okay with this?!" She turned to them.
Harry and Gwen gave her a tired look.
"You thought we were?" Gwen asked with an incredulous look. "I am absolutely not okay with that and that's why I'm here, making sure that doesn't happen."
"Peter had gone through all of that because he didn't have someone who could smack some sense into him. So we might as well fill that role." Harry added.
"Hey!" Peter weakly protested.
"Oh shut up, you know we're right." Harry shot back, making Peter look away in surrender.
Felicia gaped at that before she looked down in thought. No wonder Gwen was so against her joining them, she had seen this as just another potential gig but for Harry and Gwen…it was so much more. She couldn't help but feel like an outsider looking in now. Here two people were trying to help someone close to them avoid repeating his mistakes and she just… barged right into that.
"That explains a few things," Felicia muttered before she sighed. "Okay, I get coming from the future but this is all still very nuts to hear."
Harry snorted. "If that's nuts, wait till you hear about the genocidal AI."
"Like Skynet?" Felicia asked with a worried tone.
"Like Skynet." Harry nodded before he perked up and pointed at Peter. "Oh! Tell her about that time you fought Captain America!"
Felicia turned to Peter with wide eyes. "You fought Captain America?! Like the Captain America?!"
Peter sputtered before he gave Harry a betrayed look. "Why'd you bring that up for?!"
"Because it's stupid!" Harry shot back.
"He broke the law!"
"If Captain America broke a law, then that law must be stupid." Felicia hotly countered.
"That's what I said!" Harry cheered.
"Yeah, even after you explained it to us it still sounds pretty stupid." Gwen admitted with a shake of her head.
Peter raised his hands in surrender. "Whatever. Anyway, surprise we got an alien invasion coming this year." He bluntly revealed while pointing at the '2012' part of the billboard.
Felicia sputtered before glaring at him. "You can't just drop a reveal like that!"
"Deal with it. I've been banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to deal with this mess." Peter sighed tiredly.
Felicia also sighed but relented, knowing an alien invasion was coming and that you could actually deal with it did put a lot of pressure. Hell, even she was feeling it.
"Any other big reveals I should know about?" Felicia exasperatedly and sarcastically asked.
"HYDRA survived World War Two and somehow the actual Nazi group is the least of our concerns." Gwen piped up.
"I was joking!" Felicia shouted in impotent fury.
Gwen just gave her a cheeky smile, which somehow made the thief want to throttle her even more. Just because things were fine between them didn't mean they won't miss the chance of taking the piss out of the other.
"God, this is a mess." Felicia sighed before looking at Peter with a pleading look. "Please tell me you at least got something laid down?"
"I got a few blueprints for a potential suit for the invasion but nothing concrete yet, but I think I can test some of those ideas in my internship." Peter explained as his eyes gave a faraway look, clearly deep in thought. "There's also the X-Men, no way they would be sitting at the side when it happens. With Emma there, I could call them for help." Peter then rubbed his face tiredly. "But the main problem is still the Infinity Stones, I still have no idea how to find them. My priority right now is finding a way to find those stones. If we could figure that out, then I can start coming up with better plans."
Right, the cosmic relic that could rewrite the universe. Her finger was already itching at the idea of getting her hands on those but her sense of preservation won out. Just from what little Peter had told her, these things were serious business.
"They're these powerful relics of the universe, right? Won't they be pretty obvious to find?" Felicia asked.
"You would be right to think so," Peter confirmed before he shook his head. "But what little I could gather back in the previous timeline was that all of them were hidden pretty well and even after the battle with Thanos, their locations and how they were found were never revealed." Except that Black Widow sacrificed herself to get one, which was also concerning.
"I thought you were part of this Avengers thing?" Gwen asked with a raised eyebrow. "Wouldn't you have known more about it?"
Peter shook his head. "I was more of a reserve member. I did get offered to join full time but I decided not to, I thought it would take me away from New York. Away from protecting the little guys." Peter then sighed. "And look how that choice is biting me in the ass."
The three shared a worried glance at that, he was taking this a lot rougher than he should.
"Okay, but still the two of you are interns at one of the most advanced companies in the world right now." Felicia pointed out as she gestured to Gwen and Peter, she then pointed at Harry. "And you're literally the son of the CEO running one of those companies." Harry looked a bit uncomfortable at the reminder but nodded. "So it's not like you guys don't have other options right?"
Peter hummed, well there was one but he really rather not rely on them unless it was really necessary. Especially with what happened last time.
Peter sighed. "Reed did say he found something amazing back at the lab, it's a long shot but if it's connected to the stones in some way it's worth the shot. If not, the tech there is pretty advanced so I could probably figure something out." Peter hummed, mind already whirling with thought.
Felicia clapped at that. "See? Some leads! And knowing my luck, it'll be related to the stones."
The fact that Peter didn't doubt her too much on that was a testament to how effective her luck could be sometimes.
Gwen however was more focused on something else. "Reed?"
"Oh, I mean Dr Richards." Peter corrected.
Gwen gave him a strange look. "You're already on a first name basis with Dr Richards?" She asked with a hint of jealousy.
Peter shrugged sheepishly. "He said he didn't mind and to be fair, it took me a while to get used to it."
Gwen gave him a good long look. "God, I'd do anything to trade places with you. The things I could ask him about." She pouted.
"Could give me a list or something, I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Peter snorted.
"Hey, what about that Susan Storm you mentioned? Last I heard she liked you enough to get you that internship." Harry idly asked, Peter's eyes widening as he started to sweat.
Gwen's eyes immediately zeroed in on him while Felicia smiled like she just caught the canary.
"Yes, Peter. What about her?" Gwen asked with a strange look.
Felicia was giggling as she quickly fiddled with her phone. She then whistled. "Damn, she's hot." She turned her phone to show that she had looked her up and was showing off a pic of Sue to the rest. "Blonde too. Something that a lot of girls around you share. Got something you wanna tell us, Mr Parker?" Felicia teased with a dangerous grin.
Peter gave the two a good look before he turned his blank gaze to Harry. His best friend had held his hands up in surrender while mouthing 'sorry'.
Thankfully, before he could meet his doom, an angel granted him mercy.
"Peter! Can you come to the kitchen for a bit!" The muffled voice of Aunt May called out to him from outside his room.
Mentally thanking his aunt and promising to buy her something nice after this, he quickly got up from his seat. "Oh would you look at that, May needs me. I'll be right back, gottagobye!"
The three friends watched him make his quick getaway with varying looks, Harry was sitting at the side with his face palmed while both girls were staring right at the door Peter just closed.
"We ain't letting this go, right?" Felicia asked with a grin.
"No," Gwen answered with a serious look.
Felicia's cackles haunted Peter's retreating steps.
[-]
Peter suppressed a yawn as he waited for the elevator to reach his floor. He was still pretty tired but that talk with Felicia did lift his spirits a little. He was really glad that she chose to believe him and even actively tried to help him with his preparations. It wasn't much but it was still something he appreciated. Made him feel like he could definitely deal with the future stuff with a lot more confidence.
Perking up when the elevator dinged, he quickly walked out the moment the doors parted. His eyes scanned the labs around him as he walked, more specifically the equipment.
Felicia had the right idea on using the equipment to search for the Infinity Stones or at least use them to create something that could. It was valid and it was something they had thought of before, the problem was the matter of using them.
They were interns and while he's not sure how Oscorp did things, he would need permission and someone willing to supervise him if he wants to do anything for himself. It was one thing to use them while serving as an assistant but for his own personal project? A lot more difficult. They were working with dangerous things after all so there needed to be someone there with him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid accidentally.
However if his patent on his web fluid managed to come through, he might be granted some leniency. In their view, if he could do something like that with just scraps that could be found in a house, then what kind of things could he do with actual top-of-the-line equipment?
At least, that's what he hoped they thought of. Peter wasn't so blind to his talents but was also not that confident about it, especially with his mentoring under Reed Richards. Not to even mention the other people on his team. Susan Storm might not be as versatile as Reed was but she's still a pretty big name and Ben Grimm, while not that active, was still a highly respected pilot and astronaut. Even Sue's younger brother, despite his attitude, had also shown a lot of promise.
In comparison, Peter felt pretty lacking.
"Oh, Peter you're here!"
Snapping out of his downward spiral, he looked up and smiled at the waving Reed.
"Hey, Reed! You look excited." Peter commented as he entered their lab.
Reed laughed. "Of course! You did read my message right?"
"Yeah I did, something about some disturbance?" Peter asked.
Reed nodded, his eyes nearly manic at his discovery. Must be pretty huge. "Right, but this is more than just a disturbance. Come on, the others are waiting."
Peter quickly followed the excited scientist, his own curiosity and excitement quickly rising as he did. If a scientist like Reed was this excited then it must be something really good.
They made their way deeper into the lab, Peter idly noting that the lab practically took up half the floor. Hell, Reed's team practically owns this whole floor at this point. Outside of the lab, they had their own personal breakroom with plenty of entertainment available. Guess that's the kind of privilege you could get for being a top scientist.
"Hey, Peter!"
Peter's smile widened as he tilted his head. "Johnny? You're here too?"
Johnny laughed from his seat, right beside him was Sue who was completely focused on the monitors in front of her with Ben nearby making some coffee.
"Yeah, Reed couldn't shut up about this new thing he found to Sue and I decided to drop by just to see what's up." Johnny revealed.
"No, I didn't." Reed huffed as he walked past Johnny. "I just…wanted to share something amazing with her."
"Keep telling yourself that buddy." Johnny teased.
Reed glared at him before he blinked, he then gave Sue an inquisitive and slightly worried look. "I didn't annoy you too much about it did I?"
Sue paused and turned to them with a confused look. "What? No, Johnny just didn't like to share my attention with anyone else, it's why he complains about it. Don't worry about it Reed, he's just jealous."
Peter and Ben, who had overheard, immediately burst out laughing.
"Wha– No I don't!" Johnny defended himself.
"With how much you kept crawling to her for help…" Peter trailed off with a shit-eating grin.
"Not you too!"
"Don't worry, Johnny. I'd never steal your sister from you like that." Reed patted his shoulder with such an innocent look, that one would think he was being completely serious.
"Oh fuck off!" Johnny grouched, rolling his shoulder to get Reed's hand off.
Ben chuckled as he made his way to them with a tray of drinks. "There, there sparkles. Think a little before you speak next time eh?" His words were met with a scoff. Ben rolled his eyes as he set down the drinks. "Here, made something for everyone. Some coffee for you two."
"Thanks, Ben."
"Thank you, Ben."
Reed and Sue thanked him respectively for their drinks which Ben nodded at before he handed another drink to Peter. "For our always helpful intern. I know you don't drink coffee that much, so I made some tea instead."
"Oh, thanks!" Peter thanked him.
"No problem. You look a little tired these days so I thought some tea would help you relax a little." Ben explained.
"Aww, you didn't have to."
"Think nothin' of it. Now for our little pain in the ass–"
Johnny looked affronted at that. "Why are you so sweet to Peter but not me?"
"Cause he's a sweetheart and you're a pain in the ass, now do you want your drink or not?"
"...Yes, please." He couldn't even complain about that, Peter had been a pretty solid dude the whole time he'd been there.
"Have some juice, my wife is trying out some recipe and thought I'd share it."
Johnny gave the drink a suspicious look before taking a sip. His eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Oh, that's good."
Ben grinned at that. "I'll tell my wife you liked it then."
"Mind if we have some too?" Sue asked, curious due to Johnny's reaction.
"Yeah, sure! I'll make some more after this. Reed looks ready to hop off any moment anyway."
Everyone turned to Reed, who had a pretty excited gleam in his eyes as he fiddled with the monitors Sue was using. They laughed a little as he sheepishly shrugged but paid attention to him.
"So what did you find?" Peter asked.
"In a second. Sue, did you check it?" Reed asked.
"Double and triple checked everything, it's legit." Sue confirmed.
Reed smiled as he turned to the rest of his team. "Everyone, I think I just found something that would revolutionize the world."
Peter blinked at that, something that Ben and Johnny mimicked. If Reed believed that then it must be true. He won't say something like that without it being possible.
"Well, don't leave us hanging, tell us." Ben urged.
"Okay so, remember how we were looking into how the particles in the Quantum waves are interacting with the space around it?" Reed asked.
"You'd thought it would give us insight on how we could use certain molecules to improve how we use fabric, Unstable Molecules right?" Peter asked, remembering the paper that Reed had written about it. He had thought of using it as part of future designs of his suit, the sheer potential it had fascinated him.
Reed snapped his finger and pointed at Peter with a grin. "Yes! But I found something amazing last night during testing—"
"You were testing that last night?!" Sue asked with clear concern, something that was matched by everyone. "With no one else?!"
Reed waved it away, which kinda ticked some of them off. "I know, I know, but it took my attention and I got carried away but look."
The group looked as he continued to type into the monitors before gesturing for them to follow him. They glanced at each other before they did. Reed led them to testing chambers, the whole group entering and laying eyes on the contraption that they had used for their experiments.
Separated from them and contained inside a containment room was a large device that practically took up the whole wall. It was basically two large pillars of coils pointed at each other with a large metallic halo attached to the two tips. The two coils were attached to a large amount of wires and cables that were responsible for powering it. Reed called it the phaseshift coordinator. It was practically the most expensive and advanced magnet in the whole world. Usually, you would need a whole facility to house and power such a powerful thing but the fact they managed to make it so small to the point it could fit inside this floor was a testament to Reed's genius. His miniaturization methods were already pretty revolutionary.
'And he's about to cause another one.' Peter thought to himself. This man really was amazing.
Reed quickly started commandeering it, typing into the nearby monitor to begin activating the program sequence needed to activate the device.
The group watched with bated breath, the machinery around them whirling with life. The light began to dim as power began to concentrate on the machine, blue energy sparks began to appear around the metal halo.
The group watched with trepidation, Peter even narrowing his eyes as he saw those specks of blue around the halo. Why does it look familiar—
VHROOOM
Everybody flinched at the sound, their eyes immediately trained at the halo. Except the halo was gone, what replaced it could only be described as a void. A pitch-black emptiness with specks and sparks of blue at the edges.
"What the—" Johnny gasped.
"Oh my god…" Sue stared at the void inside the containment room.
"I had accidentally messed up the frequency coordinates last night and it led me to this. This—what we're seeing is basically a fold in time-space. A portal if you will." Reed explained.
"A portal to where?" Peter asked, his tone oddly serious.
Reed glanced at him weirdly at his tone but didn't think much of it. "Nowhere, for now. I could try to set a destination but we'd have to do some extensive scans to get those quantum fluctuations needed for the spatial coordinates but that's not even the best part."
"You just found a possible way to change transportation as we know it, and that's not even the main point?" Johnny asked incredulously, though there was also a hint of excitement. Despite his attitude, he wouldn't have come to hang out in their lab if he wasn't somewhat interested in their work in some manner.
Everybody watched as Reed continued to mess with the device.
"Instead of focusing on the spatial coordinates, we keep it the same but adjust the quantum frequency," Reed explained as he continued to type before he started to slowly twist a nearby dial.
The change was immediate. The whole room began to shudder, making everyone glance at Reed worriedly. They didn't speak though, despite their concerns their trust in the man was absolute.
Peter was the only one who didn't focus on Reed, his face slowly paling as his palms began to feel sweaty. His eyes were wide as the blue slowly shifted into orange, and the black void began to color and show them images. Visions really of some rocky lands with an odd-colored sky. It was hard to discern but there was definitely something beyond that orange gate.
It wasn't the swirling sparks that he was much more familiar with, but that was more and more looking like an interdimensional portal. Reed began to laugh, excited as he saw his findings from last night showing itself again. The sound somehow sounds mocking in Peter's ears.
The portal then shuddered as it began to glow further orange, fluctuating as sparks began intensifying until—
TYUUUuunng
Peter breathed a sigh of relief. His spider-sense didn't ring but seeing the portal destabilize and collapse into itself was nerve-wracking. The portal didn't work, that's a relief but…
"HAHA!" Ben cheered as he clapped Reed's shoulder, the man also smiling widely despite what just happened.
"Incredible." Sue gasped with an amazed grin, even the usually loud Johnny was left speechless.
"Did we just stumble into a portal into another dimension or something?" Johnny asked after a bit of silence.
Reed gave the young man a proud yet satisfied smile. "Yes, Johnny. We just did."
The group slowly absorbed the possibilities of this, excitement coursing through them as they began to whoop and cheer. This finding could change everything.
The only one who didn't join was Peter, he was off to the side and looking down in thought. His face was still pale and his hands were shaking now.
It didn't even occur to him that the Infinity Stones would be the least of his worries. Right now, he had just witnessed a possibility, a chance of the 'unraveling' happening again. The universe was still unstable and that little portal to another dimension could cause another cascade that could lead to a universal collapse.
Of course, since it just led to a possible different dimension, there was a chance it wouldn't be as bad as what had happened in the previous timeline. But…could he take that chance? Could he really stand back and let another possible 'unraveling' occur? Especially so soon after he gained his second chance?
He stared at the celebrating scientists in front of him, their cheers sounded like a call to the apocalypse inside his head. He looked down at his shaking hand, gripping it to stop it from shaking.
"Peter?"
Peter looked up and noticed Sue had called out to him, her eyes gazing at him with a concerned gaze. Her words didn't escape the others' notice, the rest matching her expression as they looked at his shaking form.
"Hey, Pete you okay?" Johnny asked, careful to make sure he didn't startle him too much as he made his way to him.
How was he supposed to answer that? How was he supposed to tell them that their new discovery could cause a universal collapse without sounding crazy? It wasn't like his friends who had gone through danger together to trust each other with their lives. These are just normal people who thought they had found something amazing, unknown to the greater things that exist way above them.
Under their worried gaze, Peter's mind was shaken with indecision.
2012. The prophesied end of the world for the Mayans. Some people don't believe it, thinking it was just an outdated and overblown calendar system. However, those who believe it had different reactions; some began preparing for a possible apocalypse and some just continued enjoying their life trying to make the most of it.
Either way, whatever belief these people had about it, both sides could agree that it would be an eventful year. None could attest to that more than one Peter Parker.
Currently, he was sitting in class with clear frustration. There were developing bags under his eyes due to lack of sleep, his foot constantly thumping due to anxiety, and despite the dead and blank look, his mind was continuously whirling with thought.
The reason for this was simple: the upcoming invasion.
To say that Peter was stressed about it would be an understatement. He had been mulling over ideas on how to handle it but always came up short due to a lack of information.
What kind of weapons did they use? Was it energy-based as they saw or was there something more to it? What kind of biology did they have? Would it be vulnerable to toxins and poisons natural to Earth or would they have immunity due to being a space-faring species?
Peter did remember reading about the Chitauri, but all he could remember was that they were a bunch of aliens who tried to invade Earth under Loki's orders. The invasion failed thanks to Mr. Stark's efforts to redirect a nuclear payload to the portal leading to the Mothership.
And that was it! It wasn't even because Peter didn't try to research more; it was because many powerful people wanted to hoard and hide valuable tech and information that the aliens carried, which made any info on them sparse.
Times like this made Peter so damn frustrated. He understood why it needed to be hidden and slowly drip-fed into the public; it was alien tech after all and he already had personal experience on what it could do if it fell into the wrong hands thanks to the Vulture.
Didn't stop him from grumbling about it.
"What got you so grumpy?"
Peter turned to the side and noticed Felicia giving him an amused look, though there was a hint of worry in her eyes. He looked around and realized the class was already over. Huh, he must have been too deep in his head.
"Nothing, just thinking how a lot of my problems could be solved if a lot of people were less stupid." Peter grunted, trying his best not to give away too much.
"There's a story there." Felicia scoffed in amusement but didn't push. Her worry then became more pronounced. "Still, you look like shit. You sure that's all bugging you?"
He must have looked as bad as he felt right now. His body did feel a bit sluggish, but he could deal with it. He had plenty of experience in pushing through exhaustion.
"Eh, I'm used to it. Don't worry too much." Peter barely held down a yawn as he stood up from his seat. Stretching a little he then looked back at Felicia, who looked unconvinced. "Where's Gwen and Harry?"
Felicia gave him a look before sighing. "Waiting by the door, come on."
Peter quickly followed her to the door, his sight landing on Gwen and Harry who was waiting for them.
"There he is. You know I thought you were ballsy before but outright zoning out in Ms Green's class right in front of her face took guts." Harry whistled as the group made their way through the halls.
"Staring down an Iron Man rip-off suit and a large metal dog does that to you." Peter nonchalantly shot back.
Harry snorted. "Fair nuff."
Gwen rolled her eyes and sighed. "Just leave him alone, Harry. Everyone with eyes could see how tired Peter was. Ms Green probably noticed and didn't want to bother him. You doing okay?" She asked with a concerned look.
"I'm fine." Peter answered with a barely repressed yawn.
"Totally convincing argument right there, Pete." Felicia snarked.
"Really, I am!" Peter defended. "Just had a few rough nights."
"About what?" Gwen asked.
"Stuff." Peter's eyes quickly flitted to Felicia before looking back to the front, a look that was caught by the group.
"I'm in your every waking moment huh?" Felicia smirked. "A girl could only take that in a specific way."
"Not like that." Peter exasperatedly sighed, though there were still looks coming from the other three. "Fine! It's about the thing I told you two."
Harry and Gwen grew a bit confused before they widened their eyes in realization.
"Wait, you don't mean—" Harry gasped.
"Right, that's this year." Gwen sighed.
The two immediately grew weary. Through all the excitement they went through, they had completely forgotten about the invasion.
Felicia raised an eyebrow at their reactions. "I feel like I'm missing something here."
The group paused in their tracks, Felicia still keeping her gaze on them. The three quickly exchanged glances, sharing words without even opening their mouths until they settled on a decision.
Felicia couldn't help but be a bit creeped out by it.
Peter turned to her with a serious look. "Come to my house after school."
Felicia would have shot a raunchy joke but the look in his eyes made her take it seriously.
"Alright."
"Good." Peter nodded before walking ahead of them, his already exhausted posture looked even more tired somehow.
"What was that all about?" Felicia asked the other two as they watched him walk away.
"You'll see later, we'll be there too." Gwen patted her shoulder before she quickly caught up to Peter with Harry quickly following her.
Felicia stared incredulously. This sounds serious…
[-]
"You're from the future."
"Yes."
"Like actually from the future?"
"Yes." Peter sighed, how many times would she repeat that?
"How far are we talking?"
"2024."
"Pretty far but not as far as I had thought that I could call you Daddy." Felicia clicked her tongue.
Everyone gave her an exasperated look to which she simply shrugged with a sly grin. She needed to keep some humor in such a heavy discussion.
The group was sitting in his room undisturbed as they revealed Peter's time travel status to Felicia. After revealing their base, the vigilante group slowly began to move out of it. They hadn't decided on a new place yet but they were taking everything and putting them in their homes. Not the best of places but it's what they were working with for now.
Felicia made a face. "Do you know me from the future?"
"No actually, kinda like Gwen and Harry. I never actually met you three in the old timeline."
"It's really weird to know that there's a world out there where I'm not best friends with Peter." Harry admitted.
"Yeah…" Gwen agreed with a far-off look.
"Yeah." Peter sighed. It was pretty weird since the other two Peters were best friends with their Harrys. A shame how their relationship turned out, something he planned to not repeat. He'd really like his best friend and he'd rather not have him turn into a murderous green goblin.
The less said about Gwen the better, Peter three's memories were horrifying to experience past his Gwen's death.
Felicia stared off into the distance as she leaned into the swivel chair by his desk, deep in her thoughts as she slowly spun around her seat.
The three stared at her as she spun, wondering how she was taking this.
"Licia?" Gwen called out with worry in her tone.
Felicia held up her hand. "Upup, I'm thinking here."
"Thinking on what?" Harry asked as they grew more worried.
"Either the three of you are smoking something or I am slowly losing it." Felicia frustratedly sighed. She then looked down, her hands held to the side of her head as she grew a bit frantic. "I mean, I have half a mind to think you're all just crazy and get out of here. This isn't supposed to make sense!"
Peter narrowed his eyes as he caught her wording. "Isn't supposed to?"
Felicia leaned away from her seat and gestured to Peter with exasperation. "Yes! But it somehow is! The more I think about it, the more weird things are. Like you debuted a few months ago and you already locked up mafia bosses and driven off an international organization. The police force, with their resources, couldn't do that and while we did have help from Forge for the Facility, tracking the trails back to Gargan and Hammerhead shouldn't be something you just do without plenty of experience!" She then leaned back and started rambling. "There's also the way you act! One second, you're this goofball dork and the next second, you're acting like a veteran hero while giving some inspirational speech on the fly!" She exclaimed, her mind turned to that time when she and Peter spoke after he took a hit for her.
The three blinked at her, slowly processing what she said.
"Huh, isn't that how we figured out that something was off with you, Pete?" Harry asked.
Peter sighed. "Yeah, it is. Man, do I really need to watch out for that now?"
Felicia snorted. "Don't bother; unless they know how you operate behind the scenes and know your secret identity, people would just think that our little group here has some extensive network that we can pull on."
Peter tilted his head at that but nodded. "That's good to know." He then gave Felicia a hesitant look. "So you believe us?"
Felicia gave him a considerate look before sighing. "As crazy as it is, I do. It still sounds crazy as hell in my head but I do."
Peter smiled at that. "Thanks, Felicia. I know it's hard to believe but I'm glad to hear that."
Felicia looked away as she tried to avoid his earnest gaze with a blush, his eyes really doing something to her. "Yeah, no problem I guess…"
Gwen huffed in amusement at Felicia's reaction, she then nudged Peter. "You still gotta tell her about the thing."
Peter sighed and looked visibly stressed at the reminder. "Right, the thing."
Felicia immediately grew worried at that. "Thing? What thing? Wait, is this why Peter is so stressed lately?" She asked. Peter had grown anxious ever since the new year, it was like he was dreading something.
"Yeah, it is." Gwen nodded with a grave look as she remembered what was in store for them in the future. "It's…a whole thing really that leads to an even bigger thing."
Felicia looked even more concerned. "Okay, you're scaring me now. What?"
"Before that, I do have to confirm something." Peter took a deep breath and gave her a serious look. "Felicia, this is your last chance."
"My last chance?" Felicia asked, confused. The confusion and worry only grew when Peter reached out and held her hands gently as if to really drive in the seriousness of the matter.
"Yes, last chance to back out. You still have a whole life for you that you can have without going into danger. This is some serious stuff, things that could change the way you view our world." Peter slowly spoke, choosing his words carefully as he looked her in the eyes. "Once you know, there's no backing out."
Felicia was surprised by the sudden behavior from Peter, she tried to laugh it off but a look at Gwen and Harry made her realize that they were also serious about this. She blinked and looked back at Peter, his earnest gaze staring back at her and led her to really think it over seriously. Felicia licked her lips and tried to return Peter's look with the utmost sincerity.
"Peter, I'm mostly with your group just to check things out. I'm not the heroic type and not really the type to help people. We both know this deal we have has a chance to not work out." She began, she could see the light in Peter's eyes dim a little but it still held strong. Held by some weird belief he has in her that always astounds her sometimes. "But no matter what happens, even if I decide that being a vigilante isn't my thing, I got your back no matter what. Danger won't scare me off that easily; the Black Cat always lives for the thrill, remember?"
Peter looked at her for a few moments before he smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I remember."
"So, what's this big thing you want to tell me?"
Peter took a deep breath, this would be a long explanation.
Felicia sat silently as she listened with rapt attention, hanging off every word as Peter explained the situation to her. How he was from the future, how there was a big threat coming that would wipe out half of all life which included him (he died?!), and how he ended up nearly causing a multiversal collapse that could only be fixed by erasing every memory involving him which also lead to the 'Unraveling'.
Hell, he even had to pull out the billboard that he had used to explain things to Gwen and Harry the first time around. He had kept it with him and thought it would be useful to explain things to Felicia.
By the time he finished, the girl was staring at him in horror as she processed everything.
"You died?" She croaked out weakly.
Peter nodded and shrugged. "Well, yes but I got better—"
"No! You don't get to say you got better!" Felicia quickly shut that down. "Especially since you literally erased yourself from everyone's head right after! Was that part even necessary?!" Felicia frantically asked.
"It was." Peter's words stop her dead, her eyes still wide with concern and terror. The way he so casually said it, like it was an unavoidable fact. "People were coming in from all over the Multiverse, people that knew I was Spider-Man and dragging their universes into mine. The spell couldn't be reversed so the last thing we could do was just…wipe me out of everyone's head." Peter finished somberly.
Felicia stared at him for a moment. "That…and you just accepted that."
"I was the one that asked for it. It was my mistake, I needed to be the one that fixed it."
Felicia let out an incredulous laugh. "That's ridiculous. How are you two okay with this?!" She turned to them.
Harry and Gwen gave her a tired look.
"You thought we were?" Gwen asked with an incredulous look. "I am absolutely not okay with that and that's why I'm here, making sure that doesn't happen."
"Peter had gone through all of that because he didn't have someone who could smack some sense into him. So we might as well fill that role." Harry added.
"Hey!" Peter weakly protested.
"Oh shut up, you know we're right." Harry shot back, making Peter look away in surrender.
Felicia gaped at that before she looked down in thought. No wonder Gwen was so against her joining them, she had seen this as just another potential gig but for Harry and Gwen…it was so much more. She couldn't help but feel like an outsider looking in now. Here two people were trying to help someone close to them avoid repeating his mistakes and she just… barged right into that.
"That explains a few things," Felicia muttered before she sighed. "Okay, I get coming from the future but this is all still very nuts to hear."
Harry snorted. "If that's nuts, wait till you hear about the genocidal AI."
"Like Skynet?" Felicia asked with a worried tone.
"Like Skynet." Harry nodded before he perked up and pointed at Peter. "Oh! Tell her about that time you fought Captain America!"
Felicia turned to Peter with wide eyes. "You fought Captain America?! Like the Captain America?!"
Peter sputtered before he gave Harry a betrayed look. "Why'd you bring that up for?!"
"Because it's stupid!" Harry shot back.
"He broke the law!"
"If Captain America broke a law, then that law must be stupid." Felicia hotly countered.
"That's what I said!" Harry cheered.
"Yeah, even after you explained it to us it still sounds pretty stupid." Gwen admitted with a shake of her head.
Peter raised his hands in surrender. "Whatever. Anyway, surprise we got an alien invasion coming this year." He bluntly revealed while pointing at the '2012' part of the billboard.
Felicia sputtered before glaring at him. "You can't just drop a reveal like that!"
"Deal with it. I've been banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to deal with this mess." Peter sighed tiredly.
Felicia also sighed but relented, knowing an alien invasion was coming and that you could actually deal with it did put a lot of pressure. Hell, even she was feeling it.
"Any other big reveals I should know about?" Felicia exasperatedly and sarcastically asked.
"HYDRA survived World War Two and somehow the actual Nazi group is the least of our concerns." Gwen piped up.
"I was joking!" Felicia shouted in impotent fury.
Gwen just gave her a cheeky smile, which somehow made the thief want to throttle her even more. Just because things were fine between them didn't mean they won't miss the chance of taking the piss out of the other.
"God, this is a mess." Felicia sighed before looking at Peter with a pleading look. "Please tell me you at least got something laid down?"
"I got a few blueprints for a potential suit for the invasion but nothing concrete yet, but I think I can test some of those ideas in my internship." Peter explained as his eyes gave a faraway look, clearly deep in thought. "There's also the X-Men, no way they would be sitting at the side when it happens. With Emma there, I could call them for help." Peter then rubbed his face tiredly. "But the main problem is still the Infinity Stones, I still have no idea how to find them. My priority right now is finding a way to find those stones. If we could figure that out, then I can start coming up with better plans."
Right, the cosmic relic that could rewrite the universe. Her finger was already itching at the idea of getting her hands on those but her sense of preservation won out. Just from what little Peter had told her, these things were serious business.
"They're these powerful relics of the universe, right? Won't they be pretty obvious to find?" Felicia asked.
"You would be right to think so," Peter confirmed before he shook his head. "But what little I could gather back in the previous timeline was that all of them were hidden pretty well and even after the battle with Thanos, their locations and how they were found were never revealed." Except that Black Widow sacrificed herself to get one, which was also concerning.
"I thought you were part of this Avengers thing?" Gwen asked with a raised eyebrow. "Wouldn't you have known more about it?"
Peter shook his head. "I was more of a reserve member. I did get offered to join full time but I decided not to, I thought it would take me away from New York. Away from protecting the little guys." Peter then sighed. "And look how that choice is biting me in the ass."
The three shared a worried glance at that, he was taking this a lot rougher than he should.
"Okay, but still the two of you are interns at one of the most advanced companies in the world right now." Felicia pointed out as she gestured to Gwen and Peter, she then pointed at Harry. "And you're literally the son of the CEO running one of those companies." Harry looked a bit uncomfortable at the reminder but nodded. "So it's not like you guys don't have other options right?"
Peter hummed, well there was one but he really rather not rely on them unless it was really necessary. Especially with what happened last time.
Peter sighed. "Reed did say he found something amazing back at the lab, it's a long shot but if it's connected to the stones in some way it's worth the shot. If not, the tech there is pretty advanced so I could probably figure something out." Peter hummed, mind already whirling with thought.
Felicia clapped at that. "See? Some leads! And knowing my luck, it'll be related to the stones."
The fact that Peter didn't doubt her too much on that was a testament to how effective her luck could be sometimes.
Gwen however was more focused on something else. "Reed?"
"Oh, I mean Dr Richards." Peter corrected.
Gwen gave him a strange look. "You're already on a first name basis with Dr Richards?" She asked with a hint of jealousy.
Peter shrugged sheepishly. "He said he didn't mind and to be fair, it took me a while to get used to it."
Gwen gave him a good long look. "God, I'd do anything to trade places with you. The things I could ask him about." She pouted.
"Could give me a list or something, I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Peter snorted.
"Hey, what about that Susan Storm you mentioned? Last I heard she liked you enough to get you that internship." Harry idly asked, Peter's eyes widening as he started to sweat.
Gwen's eyes immediately zeroed in on him while Felicia smiled like she just caught the canary.
"Yes, Peter. What about her?" Gwen asked with a strange look.
Felicia was giggling as she quickly fiddled with her phone. She then whistled. "Damn, she's hot." She turned her phone to show that she had looked her up and was showing off a pic of Sue to the rest. "Blonde too. Something that a lot of girls around you share. Got something you wanna tell us, Mr Parker?" Felicia teased with a dangerous grin.
Peter gave the two a good look before he turned his blank gaze to Harry. His best friend had held his hands up in surrender while mouthing 'sorry'.
Thankfully, before he could meet his doom, an angel granted him mercy.
"Peter! Can you come to the kitchen for a bit!" The muffled voice of Aunt May called out to him from outside his room.
Mentally thanking his aunt and promising to buy her something nice after this, he quickly got up from his seat. "Oh would you look at that, May needs me. I'll be right back, gottagobye!"
The three friends watched him make his quick getaway with varying looks, Harry was sitting at the side with his face palmed while both girls were staring right at the door Peter just closed.
"We ain't letting this go, right?" Felicia asked with a grin.
"No," Gwen answered with a serious look.
Felicia's cackles haunted Peter's retreating steps.
[-]
Peter suppressed a yawn as he waited for the elevator to reach his floor. He was still pretty tired but that talk with Felicia did lift his spirits a little. He was really glad that she chose to believe him and even actively tried to help him with his preparations. It wasn't much but it was still something he appreciated. Made him feel like he could definitely deal with the future stuff with a lot more confidence.
Perking up when the elevator dinged, he quickly walked out the moment the doors parted. His eyes scanned the labs around him as he walked, more specifically the equipment.
Felicia had the right idea on using the equipment to search for the Infinity Stones or at least use them to create something that could. It was valid and it was something they had thought of before, the problem was the matter of using them.
They were interns and while he's not sure how Oscorp did things, he would need permission and someone willing to supervise him if he wants to do anything for himself. It was one thing to use them while serving as an assistant but for his own personal project? A lot more difficult. They were working with dangerous things after all so there needed to be someone there with him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid accidentally.
However if his patent on his web fluid managed to come through, he might be granted some leniency. In their view, if he could do something like that with just scraps that could be found in a house, then what kind of things could he do with actual top-of-the-line equipment?
At least, that's what he hoped they thought of. Peter wasn't so blind to his talents but was also not that confident about it, especially with his mentoring under Reed Richards. Not to even mention the other people on his team. Susan Storm might not be as versatile as Reed was but she's still a pretty big name and Ben Grimm, while not that active, was still a highly respected pilot and astronaut. Even Sue's younger brother, despite his attitude, had also shown a lot of promise.
In comparison, Peter felt pretty lacking.
"Oh, Peter you're here!"
Snapping out of his downward spiral, he looked up and smiled at the waving Reed.
"Hey, Reed! You look excited." Peter commented as he entered their lab.
Reed laughed. "Of course! You did read my message right?"
"Yeah I did, something about some disturbance?" Peter asked.
Reed nodded, his eyes nearly manic at his discovery. Must be pretty huge. "Right, but this is more than just a disturbance. Come on, the others are waiting."
Peter quickly followed the excited scientist, his own curiosity and excitement quickly rising as he did. If a scientist like Reed was this excited then it must be something really good.
They made their way deeper into the lab, Peter idly noting that the lab practically took up half the floor. Hell, Reed's team practically owns this whole floor at this point. Outside of the lab, they had their own personal breakroom with plenty of entertainment available. Guess that's the kind of privilege you could get for being a top scientist.
"Hey, Peter!"
Peter's smile widened as he tilted his head. "Johnny? You're here too?"
Johnny laughed from his seat, right beside him was Sue who was completely focused on the monitors in front of her with Ben nearby making some coffee.
"Yeah, Reed couldn't shut up about this new thing he found to Sue and I decided to drop by just to see what's up." Johnny revealed.
"No, I didn't." Reed huffed as he walked past Johnny. "I just…wanted to share something amazing with her."
"Keep telling yourself that buddy." Johnny teased.
Reed glared at him before he blinked, he then gave Sue an inquisitive and slightly worried look. "I didn't annoy you too much about it did I?"
Sue paused and turned to them with a confused look. "What? No, Johnny just didn't like to share my attention with anyone else, it's why he complains about it. Don't worry about it Reed, he's just jealous."
Peter and Ben, who had overheard, immediately burst out laughing.
"Wha– No I don't!" Johnny defended himself.
"With how much you kept crawling to her for help…" Peter trailed off with a shit-eating grin.
"Not you too!"
"Don't worry, Johnny. I'd never steal your sister from you like that." Reed patted his shoulder with such an innocent look, that one would think he was being completely serious.
"Oh fuck off!" Johnny grouched, rolling his shoulder to get Reed's hand off.
Ben chuckled as he made his way to them with a tray of drinks. "There, there sparkles. Think a little before you speak next time eh?" His words were met with a scoff. Ben rolled his eyes as he set down the drinks. "Here, made something for everyone. Some coffee for you two."
"Thanks, Ben."
"Thank you, Ben."
Reed and Sue thanked him respectively for their drinks which Ben nodded at before he handed another drink to Peter. "For our always helpful intern. I know you don't drink coffee that much, so I made some tea instead."
"Oh, thanks!" Peter thanked him.
"No problem. You look a little tired these days so I thought some tea would help you relax a little." Ben explained.
"Aww, you didn't have to."
"Think nothin' of it. Now for our little pain in the ass–"
Johnny looked affronted at that. "Why are you so sweet to Peter but not me?"
"Cause he's a sweetheart and you're a pain in the ass, now do you want your drink or not?"
"...Yes, please." He couldn't even complain about that, Peter had been a pretty solid dude the whole time he'd been there.
"Have some juice, my wife is trying out some recipe and thought I'd share it."
Johnny gave the drink a suspicious look before taking a sip. His eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Oh, that's good."
Ben grinned at that. "I'll tell my wife you liked it then."
"Mind if we have some too?" Sue asked, curious due to Johnny's reaction.
"Yeah, sure! I'll make some more after this. Reed looks ready to hop off any moment anyway."
Everyone turned to Reed, who had a pretty excited gleam in his eyes as he fiddled with the monitors Sue was using. They laughed a little as he sheepishly shrugged but paid attention to him.
"So what did you find?" Peter asked.
"In a second. Sue, did you check it?" Reed asked.
"Double and triple checked everything, it's legit." Sue confirmed.
Reed smiled as he turned to the rest of his team. "Everyone, I think I just found something that would revolutionize the world."
Peter blinked at that, something that Ben and Johnny mimicked. If Reed believed that then it must be true. He won't say something like that without it being possible.
"Well, don't leave us hanging, tell us." Ben urged.
"Okay so, remember how we were looking into how the particles in the Quantum waves are interacting with the space around it?" Reed asked.
"You'd thought it would give us insight on how we could use certain molecules to improve how we use fabric, Unstable Molecules right?" Peter asked, remembering the paper that Reed had written about it. He had thought of using it as part of future designs of his suit, the sheer potential it had fascinated him.
Reed snapped his finger and pointed at Peter with a grin. "Yes! But I found something amazing last night during testing—"
"You were testing that last night?!" Sue asked with clear concern, something that was matched by everyone. "With no one else?!"
Reed waved it away, which kinda ticked some of them off. "I know, I know, but it took my attention and I got carried away but look."
The group looked as he continued to type into the monitors before gesturing for them to follow him. They glanced at each other before they did. Reed led them to testing chambers, the whole group entering and laying eyes on the contraption that they had used for their experiments.
Separated from them and contained inside a containment room was a large device that practically took up the whole wall. It was basically two large pillars of coils pointed at each other with a large metallic halo attached to the two tips. The two coils were attached to a large amount of wires and cables that were responsible for powering it. Reed called it the phaseshift coordinator. It was practically the most expensive and advanced magnet in the whole world. Usually, you would need a whole facility to house and power such a powerful thing but the fact they managed to make it so small to the point it could fit inside this floor was a testament to Reed's genius. His miniaturization methods were already pretty revolutionary.
'And he's about to cause another one.' Peter thought to himself. This man really was amazing.
Reed quickly started commandeering it, typing into the nearby monitor to begin activating the program sequence needed to activate the device.
The group watched with bated breath, the machinery around them whirling with life. The light began to dim as power began to concentrate on the machine, blue energy sparks began to appear around the metal halo.
The group watched with trepidation, Peter even narrowing his eyes as he saw those specks of blue around the halo. Why does it look familiar—
VHROOOM
Everybody flinched at the sound, their eyes immediately trained at the halo. Except the halo was gone, what replaced it could only be described as a void. A pitch-black emptiness with specks and sparks of blue at the edges.
"What the—" Johnny gasped.
"Oh my god…" Sue stared at the void inside the containment room.
"I had accidentally messed up the frequency coordinates last night and it led me to this. This—what we're seeing is basically a fold in time-space. A portal if you will." Reed explained.
"A portal to where?" Peter asked, his tone oddly serious.
Reed glanced at him weirdly at his tone but didn't think much of it. "Nowhere, for now. I could try to set a destination but we'd have to do some extensive scans to get those quantum fluctuations needed for the spatial coordinates but that's not even the best part."
"You just found a possible way to change transportation as we know it, and that's not even the main point?" Johnny asked incredulously, though there was also a hint of excitement. Despite his attitude, he wouldn't have come to hang out in their lab if he wasn't somewhat interested in their work in some manner.
Everybody watched as Reed continued to mess with the device.
"Instead of focusing on the spatial coordinates, we keep it the same but adjust the quantum frequency," Reed explained as he continued to type before he started to slowly twist a nearby dial.
The change was immediate. The whole room began to shudder, making everyone glance at Reed worriedly. They didn't speak though, despite their concerns their trust in the man was absolute.
Peter was the only one who didn't focus on Reed, his face slowly paling as his palms began to feel sweaty. His eyes were wide as the blue slowly shifted into orange, and the black void began to color and show them images. Visions really of some rocky lands with an odd-colored sky. It was hard to discern but there was definitely something beyond that orange gate.
It wasn't the swirling sparks that he was much more familiar with, but that was more and more looking like an interdimensional portal. Reed began to laugh, excited as he saw his findings from last night showing itself again. The sound somehow sounds mocking in Peter's ears.
The portal then shuddered as it began to glow further orange, fluctuating as sparks began intensifying until—
TYUUUuunng
Peter breathed a sigh of relief. His spider-sense didn't ring but seeing the portal destabilize and collapse into itself was nerve-wracking. The portal didn't work, that's a relief but…
"HAHA!" Ben cheered as he clapped Reed's shoulder, the man also smiling widely despite what just happened.
"Incredible." Sue gasped with an amazed grin, even the usually loud Johnny was left speechless.
"Did we just stumble into a portal into another dimension or something?" Johnny asked after a bit of silence.
Reed gave the young man a proud yet satisfied smile. "Yes, Johnny. We just did."
The group slowly absorbed the possibilities of this, excitement coursing through them as they began to whoop and cheer. This finding could change everything.
The only one who didn't join was Peter, he was off to the side and looking down in thought. His face was still pale and his hands were shaking now.
It didn't even occur to him that the Infinity Stones would be the least of his worries. Right now, he had just witnessed a possibility, a chance of the 'unraveling' happening again. The universe was still unstable and that little portal to another dimension could cause another cascade that could lead to a universal collapse.
Of course, since it just led to a possible different dimension, there was a chance it wouldn't be as bad as what had happened in the previous timeline. But…could he take that chance? Could he really stand back and let another possible 'unraveling' occur? Especially so soon after he gained his second chance?
He stared at the celebrating scientists in front of him, their cheers sounded like a call to the apocalypse inside his head. He looked down at his shaking hand, gripping it to stop it from shaking.
"Peter?"
Peter looked up and noticed Sue had called out to him, her eyes gazing at him with a concerned gaze. Her words didn't escape the others' notice, the rest matching her expression as they looked at his shaking form.
"Hey, Pete you okay?" Johnny asked, careful to make sure he didn't startle him too much as he made his way to him.
How was he supposed to answer that? How was he supposed to tell them that their new discovery could cause a universal collapse without sounding crazy? It wasn't like his friends who had gone through danger together to trust each other with their lives. These are just normal people who thought they had found something amazing, unknown to the greater things that exist way above them.
Under their worried gaze, Peter's mind was shaken with indecision.
Chapter 18 - What Did He See That He Can Hardly Overthrow?
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Chapter 18 - What Did He See That He Can Hardly Overthrow?
A man sat in a well-kept office. The place was tidy with enough furniture to show that it was cozy. The blue walls had just enough paintings hung to make them not seem bare. The floor had a nice dark blue carpet with black and brown tables and chairs neatly placed at the side of the room, right beside the large window where they could oversee the whole city.
The man sat by his mahogany desk, the papers neatly stacked while utensils were nicely stored in an open pencil case. A lone monitor could be seen at the edge of the desk, tilted slightly so that the man wouldn't have to turn too much to look at it and out of the way enough so that it wouldn't block him from looking at the people across from him.
The man was as well kept as the office he was in. Neatly combed blond hair with minimal signs of balding, along with some glasses resting comfortably on his nose and showing off his gray eyes. The man wore a simple navy blue suit with a blue tie, his fingers locked as he stared at the 'guests' in front of him.
Reed Richards and his team stood before him with various levels of anxiety. They were nervous but also greatly excited about their discovery, that much Dr Franklin Storm could see.
Reed Richards. Franklin would admit that he had mixed feelings about him. He respected the man's work, but sometimes, his zeal made him rash. Often, Franklin had to reign him in and remind him of the dangers he was experimenting with, with mixed results.
It has also proven his decision to pair Reed with his team members a wise one. Benjamin Grimm wasn't as brilliant as Reed, but his knack for insight allowed him to see things others missed. Sometimes it was simple things that everyone forgot about or outright pointing out the dangers of the things they might have missed. Reed would need someone like that to point it out for him, and it coming from his best friend would make it easier for him to accept.
His two children were also present. Johnny was still young and officially, he wasn't part of the company, but his constant visits had all but made him part of the team. His constant lighthearted nature would help soften the others' more strict professionalism. A sense of levity that could help soften any tension.
Sue also helped to support Reed while keeping him from doing anything stupid. He'd admit that part of the reason he put Sue into Reed's time was in the hopes that he might see a kindred soul in her. She was brilliant, maybe not as brilliant as he was, but she would at least be able to understand him.
Thinking of his children immediately put him in a somber mood. He…wasn't a good father. That much he could admit. Ever since his wife had passed, he had fallen into a hole that was difficult to pull out from. But the least he could do was make sure that his children were in good company and with people that would help propel them further. And it was his belief that Reed could be that person. Maybe that was why he held so much hope for the man.
He glanced down at the file before him, just one proof of many that continued to convince his decision of nurturing Reed as the correct one. Maybe even the proof considering the implications of such discovery and yet…
"I've read the report and the proposal that you've submitted but I want to hear it from you. Explain it to me." Franklin ordered.
Reed nodded. It was a common occurrence and he had learned it was Franklin's way of seeing how much a project could mean to someone. His way of seeing the passion that was put into it. "Certainly, sir. As you know my team and I have been looking into how particles in quantum waves interact with normal space. I believe you've heard of it from my research into Unstable Molecules that I submitted to you a few months ago."
Franklin nodded. Another revolutionary creation of his, one that he was sure would be applicable in many fields once they got to production.
Reed then continued. "During a testing—
"Which was unsupervised." Sue added with an annoyed look.
Reed nodded sheepishly. "Which was unsupervised, I managed to discover a…disturbance for a lack of a better word. A disturbance that was born by shifting the quantum waves through a phaseshift coordinator. Through an accidental input into the spatial coordinates, I have discovered a method to essentially fold the fabric of time and space. A portal if you will." Reed explained, though his tone slowly grew more passionate despite his professional way of speaking.
"To where?" Franklin asked. "That part wasn't in the report and I would like some clarification."
"Oh, uh, certainly." Reed stuttered, a bit taken off guard by the sudden interruption but continued. "As to where, well anywhere we like. I hypothesize that if we managed to record the spatial coordinates of the quantum fluctuations of another location, and input it into the phaseshift coordinator, we would be able to direct the portal to any location on Earth."
"And why was this not mentioned in the report?" Franklin narrowed his eyes slightly as he asked.
"Because I believe my subsequent discovery right after takes bigger importance." Reed bluntly answered. It's better to be truthful with Franklin he learned, save them all the headache, and the man appreciated it when they all cut to the chase.
Franklin hummed, part of him found it…concerning if he had to have a word for it. Such a lapse in information, especially one such as this should not happen. But he nodded. "I appreciate the honesty; once this is over I would like for you to add that to the file. A separate report if you can. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." The whole team nodded.
"Good, continue."
"Of course. As I mentioned, by inputting certain spatial coordinates of quantum fluctuations, we'd be able to create a portal through the phaseshift coordinator. However, I had wondered what would happen if we changed the frequency of the quantum fluctuations but maintained its spatial coordinates." Reed continued, looking more animated as he spoke. "So I tested it and it led to my discovery of another dimension. If you check our report on page 63, we managed to take pictures of how the portal looked when we input the command into the phaseshift coordinator."
Franklin glanced at the file and opened it, turning to the exact page and giving it a good long look.
The cameras equipped in the building were the top of the line, as advanced as they could be. Yet even with it, the image from the swirling portal was distorted. As if light couldn't even begin to reflect across it properly.
He then looked up and noticed Reed's excited look, the man began babbling animatedly.
"So what do you think? A portal to another dimension, another layer of reality with different laws of physics. The resources we could gain, the things we could discover, the lives we can change. Sir, I promise you that if you greenlit this project proposal—"
"No."
Reed paused, looking confused. A look that was mirrored by the rest of his team. "What do you mean, no?"
"I mean, no." Franklin closed the file and gave them a stern look. "The discovery is…Amazing. Spectacular, even."
"Then surely you see the possibilities—"
"And I maintain my decision."
Reed gaped, looking speechless by his decision. The scientist was baffled by it. Sue, noticing this, decided to step in.
"I think it would help if you explain why you made this decision." Sue inquired.
Franklin took a deep breath, ruminating over his thought process before he spoke. "I believe it goes without saying how dangerous the project could be. Reed said it himself, a whole new realm of untapped resources running on different sets of rules. On paper it is amazing, but in practice? The consequences of messing with such an anomaly could be catastrophic."
"Which we can take steps to prepare for!" Reed added passionately. "If we learn more about this new dimension, we can better prepare for it until we fully cross over into it."
"And risk being subjected to the foreign rules of that dimension." Franklin countered. "We barely even understand the laws of our own universe, yet here you are about to enter one that is completely unknown to us in every possible way. Reed, while you are willing to handle such a risk, I am not. And your actions do not help your case."
"My actions?" Reed asked confusedly.
"Your discovery came from a result of unsupervised testing of powerful equipment. It is a miracle that you only missed inputted coordinates, not a more catastrophic mistake." He reminded, making Reed wince. "But, that doesn't mean this is a complete waste of time. This portal tech does have potential, crossing over space while still in our local dimension is much safer. Have Peter send the new report and proposal."
Peter Parker was another name that was filled with potential. Perhaps as much as Reed if he was being honest, he had done well and that Web Fluid patent of his held promise, but for now he'd focus on Reed's current situation. His hired intern could wait.
Reed looked at Franklin with a complicated look, part of him so badly wanted to change his mind but he knew the man wouldn't change his decision.
In the end, he sighed and nodded with clear reluctance. "Of course."
"Come on, Reed." Sue patted his shoulder as they began to leave.
Though as they did, Reed's eyes glinted with thought. His mind was still stuck on that desolate desert beyond the portal.
[-]
Peter stared at the schematics in front of him, sitting right in the testing chamber where he had just seen a potential universal collapse happen in front of him.
He felt he was being unreasonable, part of him desperately wanted to be positive and think that the interdimensional portal wouldn't screw everything up. It was why he was studying the schematics and blueprints of the phaseshift coordinator, trying to see how it functioned more intimately to know if his concerns were valid or not. He had been at it the moment the team had left to make their report and send it to Dr. Storm, their head of department and major shareholder of the company.
Peter sighed and rubbed his face; he had been studying it for a while now and still couldn't come to a conclusion. A universal collapse was big, it was this interdimensional cascade that led to the structure of space-time tearing and collapsing into itself due to getting crushed by foreign space-time structure. He had called it the 'Unraveling' but really it's more of an implosion.
This led to his conundrum: he saw no evidence that such a thing could happen by accessing other dimensions but he also saw no proof that it couldn't happen. It was a dimensional crushing on a universal scale and he had no idea the kind of pull the portal was making to create access between this dimension and the other side. There was simply not enough data to make an accurate guess.
That all culminated in two options, a risk. Should he let the team continue with this or somehow try to stop Reed from doing this? This would be a problem because this was a massive discovery that could change the method of transport forever and he would need one hell of a good reason to not go through with it.
Was he willing to risk all of the universe just for human advancement?
No, he didn't think he was willing to do that. Which was why he needed to figure out a way to stop this.
Peter rubbed the bridge of his nose, exhaustion clear to anyone. He was tired, that much was obvious. All this gloom and doom was putting a lot of pressure on him. The alien invasion, the portal project, his responsibilities as Spider-man, his family, and his friends. God, there was so much to look out for…
Still, it wasn't all bad. Studying the phaseshift coordinator had helped him see something that he had missed before.
The quantum waves that Reed was studying might be the key to detecting the Infinity Stones. These things were intimately connected to the fabric of the universe and the stones were the central pillars of it, maybe he could hyper-tune the frequency to help him detect the stones?
'That means knowing the frequency of the stones first.' Peter realized as he thought it over. He was onto something here, he could feel it. He'd just need to figure out the right factors.
The sound of footsteps caught his attention. They were faint but his senses caught it. He quickly wrote down his findings on his notes and stored them before he made his way out of the testing chamber.
The moment he turned a corner, he immediately saw Reed and the rest walking to the break room. The first thing he caught was a frustrated Reed all but stomping his way to a nearby fruit bowl.
"What's that all about?" Peter turned to Sue in confusion.
Sue sighed as she stood next to him. "Our proposal got rejected."
It took a second, but the moment he heard it, an invisible pressure was lifted off his shoulders. But he quickly recovered and asked. "Really? Why?"
"Dad thought it would be too risky and told us to focus on the portal tech instead of the new dimension." Sue explained.
"Which is stupid!" Reed added as he bit into his apple. He chewed for a bit and swallowed before pacing around the break room. "We could easily detect any possible problems the more we research it. The sheer amount of possibilities that we could uncover right at our fingertips and he wants us to focus on another thing instead."
Ben sighed as he entered the room, Johnny following right behind him. "Reed, relax. I get that you're mad but sit down. Pacing around like that will just make you more worked up."
Reed turned to Ben, his frustration bordering on genuine anger. "I can't Ben! This is— I can't even begin to describe the amount of things we could change, the things we could make better and he couldn't even see it!"
"I mean he's got a point," Johnny added. "It's kinda weird that Dad isn't taking advantage of this. Like if it's the budget, I'm pretty sure the things we can sell from a piece of new land would be able to cover it and then some."
"Huh, didn't know you could think that far." Ben admitted.
"If you didn't realize, I'm also a genius." Johnny bragged.
"The most idiotic genius I've ever heard." Sue retorted.
"Hey!"
Sue rolled his eyes but then turned to Peter, her eyes filled with worry. "What about you, Peter? What do you think about this?"
Peter, who looked like he was deep in thought, turned to her in surprise. "Me? Well…" He turned to look around and noticed that everyone was focusing on him. Great, the ball rolled to his court. Still, at least he didn't have to do the hard work of trying to convince them not to go ahead with this. "I gotta agree with Dr Storm. This is some massive stuff and just rushing into it sounds like a bad idea."
Ben scratched his head. "Well, you did look pretty pale back there. I don't blame you for feeling overwhelmed by this."
Johnny snorted. "What? Don't tell me you're scared, Pete. Think of it like an adventure! Hell, why don't we show that we can handle this and change Dad's mind?"
"What are you suggesting?" Sue asked, her tone dangerous. Though Reed was also looking at Johnny considerably.
Johnny raised his hand. "I'm just saying, he already told us to focus on the portal thing. But the two things are connected and if we just do something else in the background…"
"You're suggesting we continue with our research in secret." Reed realized, and the man clearly considering it.
"Absolutely not!"
"Please don't!"
Sue and Peter glanced at each other at the sudden synch, Peter shrugging and signaling Sue to talk. Sue blinked but went ahead.
"Look, Reed. This was the exact reason why Dad was against it in the first place, doing dangerous things behind people's backs just to satisfy your curiosity. This could get people killed!" Sue reminded him.
Reed sighed. "I get that, I do but this is too big for me to ignore. I'm not just doing this because I'm curious, I'm doing this because I want to change lives. The things we could discover and learn beyond that portal could lead to a lot of discoveries."
"That still leaves the risk of people dying." Peter shook his head, his mind filled with instances of other scientists trying to do good or create something amazing but ending up causing disasters instead of the other Peters' memories.
Doc Ock, Dr Connors, hell even Norman Osborn. All of them set their sights on something amazing but were either blind to the risk or the flaws in their work and ended up hurting a lot of people. Even beyond his worry about how it might affect the still fragile universe, he didn't want Reed to end up as one of those people.
"A risk we can take and minimize." Reed argued again, which was the wrong thing to say as Peter
"No, we can't!" Peter snapped, surprising everyone around him. "These are other people's lives, Reed! It's not up to us on whether it's okay or not to risk it."
"And yet we've been doing the exact same thing with our other projects, this is nothing new!" Reed hotly countered as the rest watched them from the sidelines.
"In a controlled environment! And we're about to do it behind Dr Storm's back which means we will be exposed to a lot more risk!"
"One I'm willing to take if it means changing the world!" Reed shouted.
Peter was ready to counter before a hand got in between them, the two hadn't realized it but they were inching closer to each other as they argued.
"Okay! That's enough." Ben stood between them with a stern look. "We all have our opinions on this, but I don't think having a screaming match about it is the right way to go." He reminded them.
The two stared at him and then glanced at each other, their eyes met for a moment before they looked away, slightly ashamed of their attitudes. Though Peter was conflicted about it, he felt like he was in the right. He had seen too many people die— caused a whole universe to be destroyed—just because he made a rash decision without thinking it through. He didn't want that to happen again.
"Ben's right, the both of you need to take some fresh air. Whatever we'll do about the project, we can think about it later." Sue persuaded.
"Right." Reed nodded.
Sue then turned to Peter, who looked like he was deep in thought. She tapped his shoulder with concern in her eyes. "Peter, you okay?"
Peter turned to her slightly and nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just need some air like you said."
The group quietly watched him take a deep breath to calm himself down, wiping his face before he walked out of the room. The four sat there for a moment longer before Reed walked out as well.
"I'll check on the coordinator." Reed held a hand up at Sue's look. "I'm not gonna do anything! Just checking on the portal thing since Dr Storm wants to see a report about it."
Sue looked at him a moment longer before nodding, Reed gracefully walking out.
Ben sighed once he did and glared at Johnny. "Nice work, sparks." He sarcastically said.
Johnny turned to him with wide eyes. "W-wha– what did I do?!"
"For putting the idea on Reed's head and causing a headache for all of us." Ben sighed, Johnny couldn't even counter that now seeing what had just happened.
"Didn't expect Pete to take it this personally." Johnny muttered guiltily.
"I'll go check up on him." Sue said with a concerned tone before she walked out as well, trying to catch up to Peter.
She walked out of the break room and looked around, just generally walking around the floor to see where Peter might have gone. A minute into the search had already impressed Sue a little, he had just left not even a few seconds before her and he was already gone.
She then paused once she saw him by the balcony, making her huff in exasperation.
Sliding the door open, she huffed. "So this is where you sulk off to."
Peter perked up and glanced at her with an exasperated look. "What? No, I don't! I'm just…thinking is all."
Sue raised an eyebrow. "That much I could see. You doing okay?"
Peter nodded. "Yeah, sorry for blowing up earlier."
Sue smiled as she leaned on the railing right beside him "No, don't apologize for it. Being concerned about things like that shows just how much you care."
Peter gave a thin smile but didn't comment on it.
Sue sighed at that. "I'll admit, part of me does see what Reed was trying to say. All the things he says sound amazing, but there's also what you said. This new dimension could be dangerous and the things we mess with could endanger lives. The fact that Reed tends to do things independently is also frustrating."
Peter gave her a contemplative look. "I haven't been here for too long but is that normal with Reed?"
Sue sighed exasperatedly. "Yes! He's brilliant don't get me wrong but sometimes it just felt like he was trying to get everything done by himself because of it. A lot of his biggest discoveries were things he found by himself."
"Does it bother you?" Peter asked.
"I—No, yes, maybe? I don't know honestly. Sometimes it's just nice to see Reed be able to do these amazing things and then the next moment it gets frustrating not to be able to keep up." Sue admitted with a forlorn look. "I think the reason why I'm so frustrated is that it sometimes feels like I'm just riding his coattails."
Peter thought over her words. "Yeah, that does sound frustrating. But you're pretty amazing too, Sue. I don't think anyone would accuse you of doing that."
Sue scoffed in amusement. "You think so?"
"I know so." His answer surprised Sue. "I'm not sure if you noticed but Reed does value your take on his work, a lot of the things he discovered he did run by you first before he showed it to the rest of us. And it's not just Reed, both Ben and Johnny also look to you for guidance sometimes to the point I think you're the leader of this team, not Reed."
"Huh." Sue blinked, thinking over her previous interactions with the others. "I…think you might be right."
"See?" Peter smiled with a tilt of his head. "It's like you're the one that keeps things together."
"Yeah, maybe." Sue then scoffed. "I came here to check up on you and here I am venting instead."
"Even the heart of the team needs a pillar to lean on." Peter remarked.
Sue hummed and nodded, taking the words to heart. "You're right. I guess acting as a second view of things ain't so bad." Sue then looked contemplative. "Yeah, second view. Maybe that's the key here."
Peter smiled before he blinked. "Second view…"
Sue nodded, not noticing Peter's sudden revelation. "Yeah, second view. This thing is dangerous and I think you might not even agree, but the main worry we all have is Reed's attitude to do things without our knowledge. But if we put it as a hard rule on Reed and be there with him every step of the way, we could make sure nothing bad happens. He'll definitely agree with the rule, especially with how passionate Reed is about this project. What do you think—Peter?"
Sue gave a confused look as Peter looked distracted, his eyes had a far-off look to them with his hand cupping his chin. His finger brushed his lips as he considered something. Something Sue said had caused him to consider an option he had locked away before out of guilt. But considering the dire and unknown situation he was in, did he even have a choice?
'Second view, a second opinion from another expert, that's it!'
"Peter are you okay—"
"That's it!" Peter cheered, turning and holding Sue by her arms and laughing. "Haha! I know what to do! Thank you, Sue!" He suddenly pulled her close and kissed her on the cheek, making her squeak. "I'll come back later! I just need to check up on something!" Peter shouted as he ran, quickly disappearing from her view.
Sue watched with a flushed expression as she watched him run out, patting her cheek with wide eyes. That was…What was that? What was that all about?!
The sound of footsteps caught her attention, she looked to the source and noticed a concerned Johnny had come by.
"What the hell was that? I just saw Peter run past me while smiling like a kid in a candy store." Johnny asked.
"We talked, we realized something, and then he…kissed me." Sue explained.
Johnny gave her a weird look that seemed to be a combination of puzzled and affronted. "What did you guys talk about that made him kiss you?!"
"On the cheek." Sue quickly corrected, realizing how she sounded, though that hardly seemed to placate Johnny. However, the image of Peter kissing her did enter her mind the moment she thought of it.
It kinda worried her how she wasn't that opposed to it, the kiss on her cheek was also pretty nice.
Back with Peter, who was now running through the streets to get to a certain destination. He had worried so much about dimensional breaching when he already knew the experts who could tell him all about it. He hadn't considered them as an option before because his reliance on them had led to the destruction of the other timeline.
But he couldn't afford to do that now, he was in unknown territory dealing with things he had no hope of preparing for. But there was a group of people who were prepared exactly for that.
'I need to find Stephen Strange!'
[-]
Peter stared at the building in front of him with a mix of familiarity and dread. Making his way to the place was certainly a bit of a rush, he even had to web-swing his way here due to how much of an emergency it was. He did make sure that no one spotted him of course.
Spidey Sense was very useful; has he ever said that before?
Putting his mind back on track, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. He wouldn't even consider this option if it was up to him. The last time he tried to get Magic to fix his problem, it caused the whole 'unraveling' in the first place. Now here he was, about to do the same.
'Well, not exactly the same.' Peter sighed as he looked down. This time, he just wanted a second opinion instead of a full-blown spell that affected everyone in the world, so that should count for something.
Peter then stared back up at the building. It was a normal building, four stories tall with windows lining each floor of the wall. The bricks were covered by marble pillars that held up the building and gave it a rather dignified look. To anyone else, it looked rather normal. But Peter knew this place was the home of the most powerful sorcerer in the world.
Well, he thought he was the most powerful, couldn't really be more obvious what with the 'Sorcerer Supreme' title. Well, there was Wong but he didn't really spend any appreciable amount of time with him to say for certain and Dr Strange did say that Wong gained the title because he got caught up in the Snap.
Licking his lips, he tried to control his nervousness. He could feel his heart beating pretty hard and his palms were starting to feel sweaty. Dr Strange didn't know him yet, so he reckoned presenting his case would be difficult. Hell, he didn't even have a solid plan in his head! He has no idea what the hell he should even say to him!
The more he thought about it, the more he was regretting it. What the hell was he thinking? He couldn't just waltz into the door and say "Hey! I know magic is real and there's a real good chance that some interdimensional problem will happen at this specific location!"
Yeah, like they'd believe him!
…Actually, maybe?
This building was the base of the Sorcerer Supreme. Coming here specifically while claiming that Magic was real and that a certain problem that they specifically specialize in was a bit too good of a coincidence. Even if they didn't believe him, that would definitely give him a bit of time to make his case.
Now a bit more convinced with himself, Peter ran up the steps and knocked on the door.
It didn't even take a minute for the door to open, revealing the person behind.
Peter blinked at the man before him, instead of the familiar doctor-turned-sorcerer, it was a bald black man who was wearing some very nice clothing.
The two blinked at each other, the man even tilting his head as he eyed him up and down.
"Can I help you?" The man asked.
Peter shook his head out of his surprise, right he should have expected that a different person might answer. "Oh! Um, sorry, is there a Doctor Stephen Strange here?"
The man squinted and shook his head. "No I don't believe so, I think you may have the wrong house."
Peter turned confused. That's…
"Are you sure?" Peter asked. "I'm pretty sure I'm at the right address."
"177A Bleecker Street?" The man asked.
Peter nodded. "Yeah."
The man hummed and sighed. "Well, I don't know what to say, kid. There's no doctor in this house. How did you even get this address anyway?"
Peter didn't answer as he was more preoccupied by the implications. What happened to Strange…? Was the reset that severe?
"That's fine." Peter shook his head, focusing his head back to his goal. He couldn't get distracted right now, even with the dread building in him. "Look, I'm not sure what happened to Dr. Strange but he's supposed to be the Sorcerer Supreme and I really need his help."
That elicited quite a reaction from the man, if Peter didn't have keen eyes he might have missed the slight surprise in his eyes when he mentioned the title.
The man's eyes steeled, looking at Peter with a penetrative gaze. "Where did you hear of that title?"
"I know this is kinda concerning, but I know that magic is real and it's up to the Sorcerer Supreme to use magic to keep interdimensional problems away from Earth. Right now, there's one that could happen and I really need Strange's help." Peter pleaded, his tightly tied nerves were now fraying at the edges, not helped by his exasperation that he actually had to go find shade in the audacity of the truth.
The man studied him for a moment as if trying to measure his words. Each second that passed only made his dread gnaw deeper at him.
"This is no laughing matter, young man. So if this is some elaborate prank–"
"This isn't a prank!" Peter frustratedly clarified. "I promise you, I'm telling the truth!"
The man sighed but opened the door wider. "Get in."
A powerful sigh of relief escaped him, his shoulders felt a little lighter as he stepped inside.
The inside of the building was just like he remembered it, except there was less snow now. The last time he came here there was apparently a bit of an indoor snowstorm through a portal or something. With the lack of snow, now he could properly see the place. The intricate marble designs paired with the many antique wooden furniture gave the place quite a mystical feel. The lighting was pretty dark though he reckoned that was purposeful. Maybe there was a lot more truth to magicians being overly dramatic about things.
"I have no idea where you get your information but the Sorcerer Supreme is no Doctor Stephen Strange." The man commented as he led him deeper into the building.
A blink and Peter almost stumbled, he was by the living room now. He looked around and realized he was seated, in front of him was a nice coffee table with an empty mug. All around him were some shelves filled with books; he could see a nearby big circular window with bands crossing all over it. Wasn't that the symbol at the front of the roof? Was he in the attic?
"Tea? Coffee?" The man asked, sitting across from him with a nice steaming mug.
"Uh, tea's fine." Peter requested, his eyes blinking as he saw the mug was immediately filled with a nice warm tea. He took the mug and took a small sip, his eyes widening at the pleasant taste. "Is that honey?"
"Yes, I find it very calming."
"Huh. Gotta take note of that." Peter muttered before he shook his head, he was getting distracted. "Wait, you said Doctor Strange isn't the Sorcerer Supreme, are you the–"
The man snorted in amusement. "Oh no, while I would be honored I'm not qualified for it. My name is Daniel Drumm, I am the guardian of this sanctum." He then leaned forward, his steely eyes trained on him. "But I'm more interested in who you are."
Peter subtly gulped, realizing he had just walked into the unknown territory of a wizard who had just shown that he could place him anywhere in the house with barely an effort. His Spidey Sense didn't buzz, which meant that move wasn't dangerous to him, for now. He was sure that could change the second he said anything Daniel didn't like.
"My name is Peter Parker and—" He licked his lips, realizing he hadn't actually gotten this far in the plan. "I need your help."
Daniel hummed. "You say there is a possible interdimensional problem?"
Peter nodded. "Yes. Do you know the Future Foundation? Dr Reed Richards?"
"The scientist?" Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, he just created a portal into another dimension and is planning to research it."
Daniel raised an eyebrow at that. "That is…concerning."
Peter blinked. "You…believe me?"
"Tentatively." Daniel hummed. "You came straight to a very specific place, this sanctum, and asked for the Sorcerer Supreme's help. That is a very specific title and means a lot to my social circles. Everything lined up too nicely for it to be a coincidence, so I will at least lend you my ear."
Peter breathed a sigh of relief, glad to see his suspicions to be correct.
"So, an interdimensional portal, hmm?" Daniel sighed. "The Ancient One predicted that humanity would one day discover it but for it to be this soon…"
"Ancient One?" Peter blinked.
Daniel glanced at him with sharp eyes. "You do not know her?"
"No, should I?"
That didn't seem to be the right thing to say as his eyes narrowed even further.
"I-is she someone important? I mean she's called Ancient and all." Peter weakly chuckled.
Daniel didn't even get to reply as another voice answered.
"Not to toot my own horn, but after all I did, I like to believe so."
The two immediately turned to the source with wide eyes.
Right by the hallway's entrance was a bald woman, she wore flowing yellow robes that wrapped around her akin to a yukata. A brown obi could be seen holding the robe together by the waist. The woman looked…ethereal. There was a sense of timeless beauty to her that was both enchanting as it was uncanny.
Daniel softly gasped. "Ancient One? What are you doing here?"
"Not for a social visit, unfortunately." The woman smiled softly, her onyx eyes turned to Peter. "But for this young man."
Daniel blinked at that. "What of your duties as Sorcerer Supreme?"
Peter's eyes turned wider at that revelation. She's the Sorcerer Supreme?!
"Ah, that is no issue. This visit is part of it as I believe this young man has some answers that I seek."
"I…do?" Peter asked hesitantly. What did she mean by that?
The Ancient One nodded and hummed. "Yes, but that can wait. For now, I am more interested in this problem of yours. Peter Parker, was it? Tell me more about this portal."
Peter stared as she made her way closer to them before sitting on a chair he was pretty sure wasn't there before. He glanced at Daniel, who was as off guard as he was but content to let the woman take the wheel.
"Right so, like I said, Reed Richards just created a portal. At first, it was just for anywhere around the planet as long as we got the coordinates but apparently, he'd been messing around with it and figured out a way to cross into other dimensions. He tried to get funding for it but failed and now he's planning on an independent research into it." Peter quickly explained.
"And how do you know this?" Daniel asked.
"I'm an intern working under Dr Richards."
"An intern?" Daniel looked pleasantly surprised.
"Quite the brilliant young man are you?" The woman praised before she asked. "Still, what do you want us to do with this? The Masters of the Mystic Arts does not interfere with the public."
If it was any other time, the answer would have just frustrated Peter. But thankfully, he didn't need them to do anything direct.
"That's fine." Peter waved it off. "I just want to know if it's safe or not. I don't want the whole universe to suddenly tear itself apart if we did."
Daniel chuckled at that. "The universe is much sturdier than you give it credit for, young man. A simple portal won't do much to it. If it did, us sorcerers would have a hard time since we use it frequently."
"That's good." Peter sighed in relief at that, glad that he was just overreacting.
The Ancient One hummed, looking off into the distance as her eyes glowed for a moment. "Yes, Master Daniel is correct. The portal that Reed Richards created won't be harmful. But do note that the destination is still not set so the dimension you could potentially access can still be dangerous."
Peter blinked at that. Well, that relief was short-lived. Still, that didn't change much. It won't destroy the whole universe and at least this time he was a bit more willing to work with Reed on making sure the portal was safe to use.
"I am however curious about how you found out about the Mystic Arts." The Ancient One suddenly asked, causing Peter to grow a small panic as he realized he didn't have a good answer. "Coming to the New York Sanctum and asking for Stephen Strange when he's not even set for the role yet."
Both Daniel and Peter turned to her in surprise.
"You mean to say this young man–?" Daniel gasped.
"How did you–" Peter shook his head. He just saw her eyes glow and immediately knew about Reed's machine. Of course, she would know, and the look she was now giving him was one of vague smugness. "So you know where Strange is?" Peter instead asked.
The woman hummed as she sipped into a cup that definitely wasn't there before. Seriously, where did they get these things? "Currently, Stephen Strange is in a hospital in Manhattan performing a difficult surgery that would earn him the respect of many. While he is destined for the role and will succeed me, it is still quite some time before he is even ready for it. It should go without saying that I am the only one who should know of it."
Daniel immediately gravely nodded. "I will take this secret to my grave or until Stephen Strange succeeds you then, Ancient One."
"That I do not doubt." The woman smiled, though there was a hint of sadness to it. She then turned back to Peter. "And what about you? How have you come to know about it?"
"I…Well…" Of all times to have his brain freeze up now was definitely not a good time.
The woman stared at him a bit longer, her eyes squinting as she studied him. Peter swore there was a hint of green in her eyes as she looked at him before she widened them in shock.
Somehow, that did not make him feel any better. That look of realization was sending alarm bells through his head.
"Oh my, that…certainly explains a lot."
"Master?" Daniel turned to her with a curious and worried look.
The woman turned to Daniel. "Leave us."
"Excuse me?"
"Leave us, Master Daniel. I believe the both of us have much to discuss and it is only for our ears."
Daniel was confused but conceded without fuss, standing up from his seat and quietly leaving the room.
Peter stared at his retreating form, aware of the burning gaze that the woman was boring into him. The moment that he could no longer see the man, he finally dared to look back to the Ancient One.
The woman was still staring at him, looking at him with a complicated expression. The two looked at each other, one contemplative while the other nervous. It wasn't until a minute passed that the woman finally spoke.
"I spent all these decades preparing for it," The Ancient One began, her eyes somber yet now holding a sense of hope in it. "I had long accepted that it was inevitable, I wasn't at first of course but I had plenty of time to make peace with my eventual death."
Peter subtly gasped at her admission, while he knew everyone would die eventually the way she spoke made it sound much more…personal. More personal than one could be about their death anyway, it was as if she could personally see how it would happen.
"It was very recent, not even a week ago, but my foresight somehow extended past my death." She revealed with a puzzled expression. She could see the future? "I never managed to do that, no matter what I tried. So you can imagine my surprise when I woke up, did my usual meditation, and saw past it."
Peter thought it over, that sounds like it would send anyone into a mind loop if you ignore the whole magical context.
"I could see things beyond my death, the ramifications of my actions, and the success and failures of my successor." The woman narrated, her eyes looked distant before she settled them back on him. "I also saw the apocalypses that would befall this world, how a mad titan tried to eradicate everything, how a genius sacrificed himself to stop it, and—"
Peter's breath hitched as the woman's eyes hardened.
"—How you were the cause of the universe's destruction."
The room fell silent again, letting that fact sink into the room for a moment.
The woman's eyes soften a little but still retain her hard edge. "What do you have to say for yourself, young man? What can you say that wouldn't cause me to strike you down here and now for the betterment of our world."
Peter knew this was the moment, the moment where if he didn't come clean and speak from his heart, he would be killed right here and now. His spider-sense's buzzing all but confirmed it. Peter thought over her words for a moment, getting his mind in order to make sure he said his piece properly. The woman thankfully was being merciful enough to allow him that.
Peter sighed, staring right into her eyes. His gaze filled with resolve.
"I admit if I had thought things through, Dr Strange wouldn't have messed up that spell. If I was just a little faster, if I had worked hard enough, I wouldn't have to ask everyone to forget about me to fix my mistakes."
Remembering all of the events that led up to it, his mistakes, his misplaced trust in Norman, Aunt May's death, saying goodbye to MJ and Ned…
It had happened so long ago yet he could still remember it like it was yesterday. The scene was permanently etched into his head as a constant reminder of why he was so desperately trying to change the future.
"But, those events haven't happened yet. They would never happen if I had a say in it. All the things I could stop, all the things I could change for the better. If even a single minuscule change could put us further away from that future, then I need to keep fighting for it. I can't say for sure if putting me down would make this world safer, maybe it's better if I do die just to keep everyone safe." Peter gritted his teeth, glaring right at the Ancient One. "But I promise you, that I would never let the same thing happen again if I could help it."
The sorceress stared at the young man before her with a complicated look, the two staring each other down in the intense atmosphere.
"...As Sorcerer Supreme, my duty to this planet must be unquestionable. Because of that, there were risks I must take if it means the continued defense of this planet from outside threats." Peter's eyes widened at her words, hope blooming in his chest. The woman smiled softly as she held out her hand. "This will be one of them. I have heard your resolve and accepted them, Peter Parker. I believe there is still much good you can do for this world."
Peter shakily held his hand out and shook her offered hand, his eyes filled with gratitude as he smiled at her. "Thank you, I won't let you down!"
"I know you won't." The woman smiled as she let go of his hand. "And I now know the truth of this issue."
"Huh?"
"The true reason why I can see past my death," Her eyes shone again, this time in clear green. "It's because those events had already passed, it had happened before. The universal reset had turned them into this timeline's past as it began to reweave itself back together." Her eyes then returned to normal as she looked back at him, this time there was a sense of grave responsibility to it. "But this makes the future more uncertain, more wild. The universe has not finished rebuilding itself, which means the timestream is erratic and muddy. We couldn't even predict what might happen in the future."
"Then my future knowledge—" Peter widened his eyes.
The Ancient One held up her hand, pausing his thought. "Would still be useful. To use an analogy, the universe's timestream is akin to a strand." The woman waved her hand across them, a bright golden line manifested between them. Peter squinted his eyes as he felt a weird sense of deja vu. "Currently this very strand is in tatters but still salvageable."
The line then began to unravel, showing the thick line had loosened and letting many smaller strands out.
"But you do not need to worry. The events of the previous timeline, which is represented by this core strand here–" She pointed at the strand, the one at the very middle of everything. "–-would make sure things would still go on as you remember even with the different things here that don't exist in the previous timeline. Of course, if you cause enough waves, the changes would be significant enough to make it not matter at all."
So it was just like what he had thought, the events from the previous timeline would still happen as long as he didn't cause too many waves. Not like he would hold himself back just to keep his knowledge intact, that would just risk too many lives. He reckoned his knowledge would be useless once he got past the invasion… not like he knew much in the first place. Tony was great at keeping him at arm's length without making it personal.
"As you are this universe's Spider-Totem, as long as you keep going forward in time, the more the universe will continue to reweave itself, repairing all the damages done to it." The woman continued.
The strands then began to gather back, coalescing back into the timestream and it even created new strands to strengthen it, the line glowing as it finally fixed itself.
"Spider-Totem?" He asked curiously. The first time that word popped up.
"Something for later, that is a lesson for another time."
"Another time?"
"Yes." The woman cheerfully replied. "With the things at stake, wouldn't it be better for you and your two other vigilante partners to come here and learn magic?"
Peter opened his mouth before he closed it back in thought, he still remembered how Dr. Strange had gone toe to toe with Thanos even with the Infinity Stones under his command. If there were more people on that level fighting the mad titan…
"Huh, yeah sure! The more help I can get with this, the easier it's gonna be." Peter smiled.
"Excellent, then I'll be expecting you and your friends this weekend in the morning."
The two then made their way back to the entrance of the mansion as they talked about their new arrangements, Daniel spotting them from another hallway but content to leave them be. Clearly, the Ancient One had settled things there.
Peter stepped out of the house, sighing and realizing that it had already gotten late. He glanced back at the sorceress with a smile.
"Thanks, for hearing me out and giving me this chance."
The woman smiled at him. "It is my pleasure, Peter Parker. Now go home, I'm sure your guardians are worried."
Peter huffed in amusement before he began to walk back home.
The sorceress stared at his retreating form with contemplative eyes before she closed the door.
As Peter walked back home, he began to wonder to himself. He didn't think this visit would end with him getting some magic lessons from a powerful wizard. Not that he was complaining, he got to learn magic!
His thoughts then turned back to Reed, lowering his mood. Oh man, he gotta apologize to Reed. That argument before was pretty rough, wonder if he could do something? As he thought about possible ways to make up for it, he gained an idea.
He quickly pulled out his phone and pressed Gwen's contact number, she definitely could help him with it. Holding his phone to his ear, the ringtone rang three times until a familiar 'click'.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Gwen. Sorry to bother you, you got a minute?"
There was a quick sound of ruffling before Gwen answered. "Yeah! Yeah, sure. I got time, what's up?"
"Okay long story short, I kinda messed up on my internship."
Gwen hissed at that. "Ooh! That's not gonna get you fired is it?"
"Oh no, nothing that bad." Peter quickly corrected. "Though I did get into a big argument with Reed about it."
"You got into an argument with Dr. Richards?! What happened?"
Peter sighed. "It's a bit of a long story and kinda hard to explain on the phone."
"You want me to come to you? I can definitely swing by your house quick to listen, literally."
Peter snorted at the quip; he was definitely rubbing off on her. "Maybe? I was thinking of making an apology cake or something and you are pretty good at baking soooo–"
"Oh absolutely! You didn't even need to ask."
"Great, we're doing this at your place or mine?"
"Yours. I do not need my dad bothering us while we're baking."
Peter laughed. "Right, though I think Aunt May would be the one bothering us if we did do it at mine."
Gwen huffed. "Better than my dad, at least. May would at least be a useful extra hand, my dad cannot cook to save a life. How he had survived for this long, I have no idea."
Peter chuckled and shook his head. "Alright. I'm sure May would love to help! So gonna come by tonight?"
There was another ruffling in the background. "Already getting ready, where are you? I heard some car noise on your end. Are you outside? Want to meet up before we head to your place?"
"Yeah I am but don't worry about it. Just head straight there, I'll find a safe corner and swing there."
"Alright then, meet you there by eight."
"It's a date." Peter unthinkingly replied before he closed the call. It took another second for his brain to catch up with his faster mouth, the pain alongside it.
'Why did I say that!?' He mentally groaned as he grabbed his head, once more wrestling with his penchant for embarrassing himself. He sighed, he really hoped that didn't make things weird with Gwen. There was also Felicia to think about. And Jean, the girl had been messaging him every night ever since they switched numbers. Not that he was complaining, the girl had this infectious cheer that he appreciated.
'And maybe Emma?' He considered it for a moment, they were close and they also had messaged each other frequently. He was definitely attracted to her but…was she? She was a lot older than him and definitely could easily have a boyfriend if she tried.
He sighed, the thought of having to figure out his love life was already giving him a headache. Of all the things the two other Peters had passed on to him, expertise in love was not one of them, especially with this many women.
On the other side of the city, in the home of one Gwen Stacy, the young woman was staring down at her phone with wide eyes. Her face was bright red as she processed what Peter had just said.
He has never really been that forward before…
"I'm gonna strangle that idiot when I see him." She huffed, thinking it was probably some light-hearted teasing. Though it still didn't wipe off the dopey smile on her face.
Did he finally notice her? She wasn't sure but…well, a girl could dream.
She then quickly put on her hood to hide her features before she swung out of the window and into the night sky, her smile as radiant as the moon.
A man sat in a well-kept office. The place was tidy with enough furniture to show that it was cozy. The blue walls had just enough paintings hung to make them not seem bare. The floor had a nice dark blue carpet with black and brown tables and chairs neatly placed at the side of the room, right beside the large window where they could oversee the whole city.
The man sat by his mahogany desk, the papers neatly stacked while utensils were nicely stored in an open pencil case. A lone monitor could be seen at the edge of the desk, tilted slightly so that the man wouldn't have to turn too much to look at it and out of the way enough so that it wouldn't block him from looking at the people across from him.
The man was as well kept as the office he was in. Neatly combed blond hair with minimal signs of balding, along with some glasses resting comfortably on his nose and showing off his gray eyes. The man wore a simple navy blue suit with a blue tie, his fingers locked as he stared at the 'guests' in front of him.
Reed Richards and his team stood before him with various levels of anxiety. They were nervous but also greatly excited about their discovery, that much Dr Franklin Storm could see.
Reed Richards. Franklin would admit that he had mixed feelings about him. He respected the man's work, but sometimes, his zeal made him rash. Often, Franklin had to reign him in and remind him of the dangers he was experimenting with, with mixed results.
It has also proven his decision to pair Reed with his team members a wise one. Benjamin Grimm wasn't as brilliant as Reed, but his knack for insight allowed him to see things others missed. Sometimes it was simple things that everyone forgot about or outright pointing out the dangers of the things they might have missed. Reed would need someone like that to point it out for him, and it coming from his best friend would make it easier for him to accept.
His two children were also present. Johnny was still young and officially, he wasn't part of the company, but his constant visits had all but made him part of the team. His constant lighthearted nature would help soften the others' more strict professionalism. A sense of levity that could help soften any tension.
Sue also helped to support Reed while keeping him from doing anything stupid. He'd admit that part of the reason he put Sue into Reed's time was in the hopes that he might see a kindred soul in her. She was brilliant, maybe not as brilliant as he was, but she would at least be able to understand him.
Thinking of his children immediately put him in a somber mood. He…wasn't a good father. That much he could admit. Ever since his wife had passed, he had fallen into a hole that was difficult to pull out from. But the least he could do was make sure that his children were in good company and with people that would help propel them further. And it was his belief that Reed could be that person. Maybe that was why he held so much hope for the man.
He glanced down at the file before him, just one proof of many that continued to convince his decision of nurturing Reed as the correct one. Maybe even the proof considering the implications of such discovery and yet…
"I've read the report and the proposal that you've submitted but I want to hear it from you. Explain it to me." Franklin ordered.
Reed nodded. It was a common occurrence and he had learned it was Franklin's way of seeing how much a project could mean to someone. His way of seeing the passion that was put into it. "Certainly, sir. As you know my team and I have been looking into how particles in quantum waves interact with normal space. I believe you've heard of it from my research into Unstable Molecules that I submitted to you a few months ago."
Franklin nodded. Another revolutionary creation of his, one that he was sure would be applicable in many fields once they got to production.
Reed then continued. "During a testing—
"Which was unsupervised." Sue added with an annoyed look.
Reed nodded sheepishly. "Which was unsupervised, I managed to discover a…disturbance for a lack of a better word. A disturbance that was born by shifting the quantum waves through a phaseshift coordinator. Through an accidental input into the spatial coordinates, I have discovered a method to essentially fold the fabric of time and space. A portal if you will." Reed explained, though his tone slowly grew more passionate despite his professional way of speaking.
"To where?" Franklin asked. "That part wasn't in the report and I would like some clarification."
"Oh, uh, certainly." Reed stuttered, a bit taken off guard by the sudden interruption but continued. "As to where, well anywhere we like. I hypothesize that if we managed to record the spatial coordinates of the quantum fluctuations of another location, and input it into the phaseshift coordinator, we would be able to direct the portal to any location on Earth."
"And why was this not mentioned in the report?" Franklin narrowed his eyes slightly as he asked.
"Because I believe my subsequent discovery right after takes bigger importance." Reed bluntly answered. It's better to be truthful with Franklin he learned, save them all the headache, and the man appreciated it when they all cut to the chase.
Franklin hummed, part of him found it…concerning if he had to have a word for it. Such a lapse in information, especially one such as this should not happen. But he nodded. "I appreciate the honesty; once this is over I would like for you to add that to the file. A separate report if you can. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." The whole team nodded.
"Good, continue."
"Of course. As I mentioned, by inputting certain spatial coordinates of quantum fluctuations, we'd be able to create a portal through the phaseshift coordinator. However, I had wondered what would happen if we changed the frequency of the quantum fluctuations but maintained its spatial coordinates." Reed continued, looking more animated as he spoke. "So I tested it and it led to my discovery of another dimension. If you check our report on page 63, we managed to take pictures of how the portal looked when we input the command into the phaseshift coordinator."
Franklin glanced at the file and opened it, turning to the exact page and giving it a good long look.
The cameras equipped in the building were the top of the line, as advanced as they could be. Yet even with it, the image from the swirling portal was distorted. As if light couldn't even begin to reflect across it properly.
He then looked up and noticed Reed's excited look, the man began babbling animatedly.
"So what do you think? A portal to another dimension, another layer of reality with different laws of physics. The resources we could gain, the things we could discover, the lives we can change. Sir, I promise you that if you greenlit this project proposal—"
"No."
Reed paused, looking confused. A look that was mirrored by the rest of his team. "What do you mean, no?"
"I mean, no." Franklin closed the file and gave them a stern look. "The discovery is…Amazing. Spectacular, even."
"Then surely you see the possibilities—"
"And I maintain my decision."
Reed gaped, looking speechless by his decision. The scientist was baffled by it. Sue, noticing this, decided to step in.
"I think it would help if you explain why you made this decision." Sue inquired.
Franklin took a deep breath, ruminating over his thought process before he spoke. "I believe it goes without saying how dangerous the project could be. Reed said it himself, a whole new realm of untapped resources running on different sets of rules. On paper it is amazing, but in practice? The consequences of messing with such an anomaly could be catastrophic."
"Which we can take steps to prepare for!" Reed added passionately. "If we learn more about this new dimension, we can better prepare for it until we fully cross over into it."
"And risk being subjected to the foreign rules of that dimension." Franklin countered. "We barely even understand the laws of our own universe, yet here you are about to enter one that is completely unknown to us in every possible way. Reed, while you are willing to handle such a risk, I am not. And your actions do not help your case."
"My actions?" Reed asked confusedly.
"Your discovery came from a result of unsupervised testing of powerful equipment. It is a miracle that you only missed inputted coordinates, not a more catastrophic mistake." He reminded, making Reed wince. "But, that doesn't mean this is a complete waste of time. This portal tech does have potential, crossing over space while still in our local dimension is much safer. Have Peter send the new report and proposal."
Peter Parker was another name that was filled with potential. Perhaps as much as Reed if he was being honest, he had done well and that Web Fluid patent of his held promise, but for now he'd focus on Reed's current situation. His hired intern could wait.
Reed looked at Franklin with a complicated look, part of him so badly wanted to change his mind but he knew the man wouldn't change his decision.
In the end, he sighed and nodded with clear reluctance. "Of course."
"Come on, Reed." Sue patted his shoulder as they began to leave.
Though as they did, Reed's eyes glinted with thought. His mind was still stuck on that desolate desert beyond the portal.
[-]
Peter stared at the schematics in front of him, sitting right in the testing chamber where he had just seen a potential universal collapse happen in front of him.
He felt he was being unreasonable, part of him desperately wanted to be positive and think that the interdimensional portal wouldn't screw everything up. It was why he was studying the schematics and blueprints of the phaseshift coordinator, trying to see how it functioned more intimately to know if his concerns were valid or not. He had been at it the moment the team had left to make their report and send it to Dr. Storm, their head of department and major shareholder of the company.
Peter sighed and rubbed his face; he had been studying it for a while now and still couldn't come to a conclusion. A universal collapse was big, it was this interdimensional cascade that led to the structure of space-time tearing and collapsing into itself due to getting crushed by foreign space-time structure. He had called it the 'Unraveling' but really it's more of an implosion.
This led to his conundrum: he saw no evidence that such a thing could happen by accessing other dimensions but he also saw no proof that it couldn't happen. It was a dimensional crushing on a universal scale and he had no idea the kind of pull the portal was making to create access between this dimension and the other side. There was simply not enough data to make an accurate guess.
That all culminated in two options, a risk. Should he let the team continue with this or somehow try to stop Reed from doing this? This would be a problem because this was a massive discovery that could change the method of transport forever and he would need one hell of a good reason to not go through with it.
Was he willing to risk all of the universe just for human advancement?
No, he didn't think he was willing to do that. Which was why he needed to figure out a way to stop this.
Peter rubbed the bridge of his nose, exhaustion clear to anyone. He was tired, that much was obvious. All this gloom and doom was putting a lot of pressure on him. The alien invasion, the portal project, his responsibilities as Spider-man, his family, and his friends. God, there was so much to look out for…
Still, it wasn't all bad. Studying the phaseshift coordinator had helped him see something that he had missed before.
The quantum waves that Reed was studying might be the key to detecting the Infinity Stones. These things were intimately connected to the fabric of the universe and the stones were the central pillars of it, maybe he could hyper-tune the frequency to help him detect the stones?
'That means knowing the frequency of the stones first.' Peter realized as he thought it over. He was onto something here, he could feel it. He'd just need to figure out the right factors.
The sound of footsteps caught his attention. They were faint but his senses caught it. He quickly wrote down his findings on his notes and stored them before he made his way out of the testing chamber.
The moment he turned a corner, he immediately saw Reed and the rest walking to the break room. The first thing he caught was a frustrated Reed all but stomping his way to a nearby fruit bowl.
"What's that all about?" Peter turned to Sue in confusion.
Sue sighed as she stood next to him. "Our proposal got rejected."
It took a second, but the moment he heard it, an invisible pressure was lifted off his shoulders. But he quickly recovered and asked. "Really? Why?"
"Dad thought it would be too risky and told us to focus on the portal tech instead of the new dimension." Sue explained.
"Which is stupid!" Reed added as he bit into his apple. He chewed for a bit and swallowed before pacing around the break room. "We could easily detect any possible problems the more we research it. The sheer amount of possibilities that we could uncover right at our fingertips and he wants us to focus on another thing instead."
Ben sighed as he entered the room, Johnny following right behind him. "Reed, relax. I get that you're mad but sit down. Pacing around like that will just make you more worked up."
Reed turned to Ben, his frustration bordering on genuine anger. "I can't Ben! This is— I can't even begin to describe the amount of things we could change, the things we could make better and he couldn't even see it!"
"I mean he's got a point," Johnny added. "It's kinda weird that Dad isn't taking advantage of this. Like if it's the budget, I'm pretty sure the things we can sell from a piece of new land would be able to cover it and then some."
"Huh, didn't know you could think that far." Ben admitted.
"If you didn't realize, I'm also a genius." Johnny bragged.
"The most idiotic genius I've ever heard." Sue retorted.
"Hey!"
Sue rolled his eyes but then turned to Peter, her eyes filled with worry. "What about you, Peter? What do you think about this?"
Peter, who looked like he was deep in thought, turned to her in surprise. "Me? Well…" He turned to look around and noticed that everyone was focusing on him. Great, the ball rolled to his court. Still, at least he didn't have to do the hard work of trying to convince them not to go ahead with this. "I gotta agree with Dr Storm. This is some massive stuff and just rushing into it sounds like a bad idea."
Ben scratched his head. "Well, you did look pretty pale back there. I don't blame you for feeling overwhelmed by this."
Johnny snorted. "What? Don't tell me you're scared, Pete. Think of it like an adventure! Hell, why don't we show that we can handle this and change Dad's mind?"
"What are you suggesting?" Sue asked, her tone dangerous. Though Reed was also looking at Johnny considerably.
Johnny raised his hand. "I'm just saying, he already told us to focus on the portal thing. But the two things are connected and if we just do something else in the background…"
"You're suggesting we continue with our research in secret." Reed realized, and the man clearly considering it.
"Absolutely not!"
"Please don't!"
Sue and Peter glanced at each other at the sudden synch, Peter shrugging and signaling Sue to talk. Sue blinked but went ahead.
"Look, Reed. This was the exact reason why Dad was against it in the first place, doing dangerous things behind people's backs just to satisfy your curiosity. This could get people killed!" Sue reminded him.
Reed sighed. "I get that, I do but this is too big for me to ignore. I'm not just doing this because I'm curious, I'm doing this because I want to change lives. The things we could discover and learn beyond that portal could lead to a lot of discoveries."
"That still leaves the risk of people dying." Peter shook his head, his mind filled with instances of other scientists trying to do good or create something amazing but ending up causing disasters instead of the other Peters' memories.
Doc Ock, Dr Connors, hell even Norman Osborn. All of them set their sights on something amazing but were either blind to the risk or the flaws in their work and ended up hurting a lot of people. Even beyond his worry about how it might affect the still fragile universe, he didn't want Reed to end up as one of those people.
"A risk we can take and minimize." Reed argued again, which was the wrong thing to say as Peter
"No, we can't!" Peter snapped, surprising everyone around him. "These are other people's lives, Reed! It's not up to us on whether it's okay or not to risk it."
"And yet we've been doing the exact same thing with our other projects, this is nothing new!" Reed hotly countered as the rest watched them from the sidelines.
"In a controlled environment! And we're about to do it behind Dr Storm's back which means we will be exposed to a lot more risk!"
"One I'm willing to take if it means changing the world!" Reed shouted.
Peter was ready to counter before a hand got in between them, the two hadn't realized it but they were inching closer to each other as they argued.
"Okay! That's enough." Ben stood between them with a stern look. "We all have our opinions on this, but I don't think having a screaming match about it is the right way to go." He reminded them.
The two stared at him and then glanced at each other, their eyes met for a moment before they looked away, slightly ashamed of their attitudes. Though Peter was conflicted about it, he felt like he was in the right. He had seen too many people die— caused a whole universe to be destroyed—just because he made a rash decision without thinking it through. He didn't want that to happen again.
"Ben's right, the both of you need to take some fresh air. Whatever we'll do about the project, we can think about it later." Sue persuaded.
"Right." Reed nodded.
Sue then turned to Peter, who looked like he was deep in thought. She tapped his shoulder with concern in her eyes. "Peter, you okay?"
Peter turned to her slightly and nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just need some air like you said."
The group quietly watched him take a deep breath to calm himself down, wiping his face before he walked out of the room. The four sat there for a moment longer before Reed walked out as well.
"I'll check on the coordinator." Reed held a hand up at Sue's look. "I'm not gonna do anything! Just checking on the portal thing since Dr Storm wants to see a report about it."
Sue looked at him a moment longer before nodding, Reed gracefully walking out.
Ben sighed once he did and glared at Johnny. "Nice work, sparks." He sarcastically said.
Johnny turned to him with wide eyes. "W-wha– what did I do?!"
"For putting the idea on Reed's head and causing a headache for all of us." Ben sighed, Johnny couldn't even counter that now seeing what had just happened.
"Didn't expect Pete to take it this personally." Johnny muttered guiltily.
"I'll go check up on him." Sue said with a concerned tone before she walked out as well, trying to catch up to Peter.
She walked out of the break room and looked around, just generally walking around the floor to see where Peter might have gone. A minute into the search had already impressed Sue a little, he had just left not even a few seconds before her and he was already gone.
She then paused once she saw him by the balcony, making her huff in exasperation.
Sliding the door open, she huffed. "So this is where you sulk off to."
Peter perked up and glanced at her with an exasperated look. "What? No, I don't! I'm just…thinking is all."
Sue raised an eyebrow. "That much I could see. You doing okay?"
Peter nodded. "Yeah, sorry for blowing up earlier."
Sue smiled as she leaned on the railing right beside him "No, don't apologize for it. Being concerned about things like that shows just how much you care."
Peter gave a thin smile but didn't comment on it.
Sue sighed at that. "I'll admit, part of me does see what Reed was trying to say. All the things he says sound amazing, but there's also what you said. This new dimension could be dangerous and the things we mess with could endanger lives. The fact that Reed tends to do things independently is also frustrating."
Peter gave her a contemplative look. "I haven't been here for too long but is that normal with Reed?"
Sue sighed exasperatedly. "Yes! He's brilliant don't get me wrong but sometimes it just felt like he was trying to get everything done by himself because of it. A lot of his biggest discoveries were things he found by himself."
"Does it bother you?" Peter asked.
"I—No, yes, maybe? I don't know honestly. Sometimes it's just nice to see Reed be able to do these amazing things and then the next moment it gets frustrating not to be able to keep up." Sue admitted with a forlorn look. "I think the reason why I'm so frustrated is that it sometimes feels like I'm just riding his coattails."
Peter thought over her words. "Yeah, that does sound frustrating. But you're pretty amazing too, Sue. I don't think anyone would accuse you of doing that."
Sue scoffed in amusement. "You think so?"
"I know so." His answer surprised Sue. "I'm not sure if you noticed but Reed does value your take on his work, a lot of the things he discovered he did run by you first before he showed it to the rest of us. And it's not just Reed, both Ben and Johnny also look to you for guidance sometimes to the point I think you're the leader of this team, not Reed."
"Huh." Sue blinked, thinking over her previous interactions with the others. "I…think you might be right."
"See?" Peter smiled with a tilt of his head. "It's like you're the one that keeps things together."
"Yeah, maybe." Sue then scoffed. "I came here to check up on you and here I am venting instead."
"Even the heart of the team needs a pillar to lean on." Peter remarked.
Sue hummed and nodded, taking the words to heart. "You're right. I guess acting as a second view of things ain't so bad." Sue then looked contemplative. "Yeah, second view. Maybe that's the key here."
Peter smiled before he blinked. "Second view…"
Sue nodded, not noticing Peter's sudden revelation. "Yeah, second view. This thing is dangerous and I think you might not even agree, but the main worry we all have is Reed's attitude to do things without our knowledge. But if we put it as a hard rule on Reed and be there with him every step of the way, we could make sure nothing bad happens. He'll definitely agree with the rule, especially with how passionate Reed is about this project. What do you think—Peter?"
Sue gave a confused look as Peter looked distracted, his eyes had a far-off look to them with his hand cupping his chin. His finger brushed his lips as he considered something. Something Sue said had caused him to consider an option he had locked away before out of guilt. But considering the dire and unknown situation he was in, did he even have a choice?
'Second view, a second opinion from another expert, that's it!'
"Peter are you okay—"
"That's it!" Peter cheered, turning and holding Sue by her arms and laughing. "Haha! I know what to do! Thank you, Sue!" He suddenly pulled her close and kissed her on the cheek, making her squeak. "I'll come back later! I just need to check up on something!" Peter shouted as he ran, quickly disappearing from her view.
Sue watched with a flushed expression as she watched him run out, patting her cheek with wide eyes. That was…What was that? What was that all about?!
The sound of footsteps caught her attention, she looked to the source and noticed a concerned Johnny had come by.
"What the hell was that? I just saw Peter run past me while smiling like a kid in a candy store." Johnny asked.
"We talked, we realized something, and then he…kissed me." Sue explained.
Johnny gave her a weird look that seemed to be a combination of puzzled and affronted. "What did you guys talk about that made him kiss you?!"
"On the cheek." Sue quickly corrected, realizing how she sounded, though that hardly seemed to placate Johnny. However, the image of Peter kissing her did enter her mind the moment she thought of it.
It kinda worried her how she wasn't that opposed to it, the kiss on her cheek was also pretty nice.
Back with Peter, who was now running through the streets to get to a certain destination. He had worried so much about dimensional breaching when he already knew the experts who could tell him all about it. He hadn't considered them as an option before because his reliance on them had led to the destruction of the other timeline.
But he couldn't afford to do that now, he was in unknown territory dealing with things he had no hope of preparing for. But there was a group of people who were prepared exactly for that.
'I need to find Stephen Strange!'
[-]
Peter stared at the building in front of him with a mix of familiarity and dread. Making his way to the place was certainly a bit of a rush, he even had to web-swing his way here due to how much of an emergency it was. He did make sure that no one spotted him of course.
Spidey Sense was very useful; has he ever said that before?
Putting his mind back on track, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. He wouldn't even consider this option if it was up to him. The last time he tried to get Magic to fix his problem, it caused the whole 'unraveling' in the first place. Now here he was, about to do the same.
'Well, not exactly the same.' Peter sighed as he looked down. This time, he just wanted a second opinion instead of a full-blown spell that affected everyone in the world, so that should count for something.
Peter then stared back up at the building. It was a normal building, four stories tall with windows lining each floor of the wall. The bricks were covered by marble pillars that held up the building and gave it a rather dignified look. To anyone else, it looked rather normal. But Peter knew this place was the home of the most powerful sorcerer in the world.
Well, he thought he was the most powerful, couldn't really be more obvious what with the 'Sorcerer Supreme' title. Well, there was Wong but he didn't really spend any appreciable amount of time with him to say for certain and Dr Strange did say that Wong gained the title because he got caught up in the Snap.
Licking his lips, he tried to control his nervousness. He could feel his heart beating pretty hard and his palms were starting to feel sweaty. Dr Strange didn't know him yet, so he reckoned presenting his case would be difficult. Hell, he didn't even have a solid plan in his head! He has no idea what the hell he should even say to him!
The more he thought about it, the more he was regretting it. What the hell was he thinking? He couldn't just waltz into the door and say "Hey! I know magic is real and there's a real good chance that some interdimensional problem will happen at this specific location!"
Yeah, like they'd believe him!
…Actually, maybe?
This building was the base of the Sorcerer Supreme. Coming here specifically while claiming that Magic was real and that a certain problem that they specifically specialize in was a bit too good of a coincidence. Even if they didn't believe him, that would definitely give him a bit of time to make his case.
Now a bit more convinced with himself, Peter ran up the steps and knocked on the door.
It didn't even take a minute for the door to open, revealing the person behind.
Peter blinked at the man before him, instead of the familiar doctor-turned-sorcerer, it was a bald black man who was wearing some very nice clothing.
The two blinked at each other, the man even tilting his head as he eyed him up and down.
"Can I help you?" The man asked.
Peter shook his head out of his surprise, right he should have expected that a different person might answer. "Oh! Um, sorry, is there a Doctor Stephen Strange here?"
The man squinted and shook his head. "No I don't believe so, I think you may have the wrong house."
Peter turned confused. That's…
"Are you sure?" Peter asked. "I'm pretty sure I'm at the right address."
"177A Bleecker Street?" The man asked.
Peter nodded. "Yeah."
The man hummed and sighed. "Well, I don't know what to say, kid. There's no doctor in this house. How did you even get this address anyway?"
Peter didn't answer as he was more preoccupied by the implications. What happened to Strange…? Was the reset that severe?
"That's fine." Peter shook his head, focusing his head back to his goal. He couldn't get distracted right now, even with the dread building in him. "Look, I'm not sure what happened to Dr. Strange but he's supposed to be the Sorcerer Supreme and I really need his help."
That elicited quite a reaction from the man, if Peter didn't have keen eyes he might have missed the slight surprise in his eyes when he mentioned the title.
The man's eyes steeled, looking at Peter with a penetrative gaze. "Where did you hear of that title?"
"I know this is kinda concerning, but I know that magic is real and it's up to the Sorcerer Supreme to use magic to keep interdimensional problems away from Earth. Right now, there's one that could happen and I really need Strange's help." Peter pleaded, his tightly tied nerves were now fraying at the edges, not helped by his exasperation that he actually had to go find shade in the audacity of the truth.
The man studied him for a moment as if trying to measure his words. Each second that passed only made his dread gnaw deeper at him.
"This is no laughing matter, young man. So if this is some elaborate prank–"
"This isn't a prank!" Peter frustratedly clarified. "I promise you, I'm telling the truth!"
The man sighed but opened the door wider. "Get in."
A powerful sigh of relief escaped him, his shoulders felt a little lighter as he stepped inside.
The inside of the building was just like he remembered it, except there was less snow now. The last time he came here there was apparently a bit of an indoor snowstorm through a portal or something. With the lack of snow, now he could properly see the place. The intricate marble designs paired with the many antique wooden furniture gave the place quite a mystical feel. The lighting was pretty dark though he reckoned that was purposeful. Maybe there was a lot more truth to magicians being overly dramatic about things.
"I have no idea where you get your information but the Sorcerer Supreme is no Doctor Stephen Strange." The man commented as he led him deeper into the building.
A blink and Peter almost stumbled, he was by the living room now. He looked around and realized he was seated, in front of him was a nice coffee table with an empty mug. All around him were some shelves filled with books; he could see a nearby big circular window with bands crossing all over it. Wasn't that the symbol at the front of the roof? Was he in the attic?
"Tea? Coffee?" The man asked, sitting across from him with a nice steaming mug.
"Uh, tea's fine." Peter requested, his eyes blinking as he saw the mug was immediately filled with a nice warm tea. He took the mug and took a small sip, his eyes widening at the pleasant taste. "Is that honey?"
"Yes, I find it very calming."
"Huh. Gotta take note of that." Peter muttered before he shook his head, he was getting distracted. "Wait, you said Doctor Strange isn't the Sorcerer Supreme, are you the–"
The man snorted in amusement. "Oh no, while I would be honored I'm not qualified for it. My name is Daniel Drumm, I am the guardian of this sanctum." He then leaned forward, his steely eyes trained on him. "But I'm more interested in who you are."
Peter subtly gulped, realizing he had just walked into the unknown territory of a wizard who had just shown that he could place him anywhere in the house with barely an effort. His Spidey Sense didn't buzz, which meant that move wasn't dangerous to him, for now. He was sure that could change the second he said anything Daniel didn't like.
"My name is Peter Parker and—" He licked his lips, realizing he hadn't actually gotten this far in the plan. "I need your help."
Daniel hummed. "You say there is a possible interdimensional problem?"
Peter nodded. "Yes. Do you know the Future Foundation? Dr Reed Richards?"
"The scientist?" Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, he just created a portal into another dimension and is planning to research it."
Daniel raised an eyebrow at that. "That is…concerning."
Peter blinked. "You…believe me?"
"Tentatively." Daniel hummed. "You came straight to a very specific place, this sanctum, and asked for the Sorcerer Supreme's help. That is a very specific title and means a lot to my social circles. Everything lined up too nicely for it to be a coincidence, so I will at least lend you my ear."
Peter breathed a sigh of relief, glad to see his suspicions to be correct.
"So, an interdimensional portal, hmm?" Daniel sighed. "The Ancient One predicted that humanity would one day discover it but for it to be this soon…"
"Ancient One?" Peter blinked.
Daniel glanced at him with sharp eyes. "You do not know her?"
"No, should I?"
That didn't seem to be the right thing to say as his eyes narrowed even further.
"I-is she someone important? I mean she's called Ancient and all." Peter weakly chuckled.
Daniel didn't even get to reply as another voice answered.
"Not to toot my own horn, but after all I did, I like to believe so."
The two immediately turned to the source with wide eyes.
Right by the hallway's entrance was a bald woman, she wore flowing yellow robes that wrapped around her akin to a yukata. A brown obi could be seen holding the robe together by the waist. The woman looked…ethereal. There was a sense of timeless beauty to her that was both enchanting as it was uncanny.
Daniel softly gasped. "Ancient One? What are you doing here?"
"Not for a social visit, unfortunately." The woman smiled softly, her onyx eyes turned to Peter. "But for this young man."
Daniel blinked at that. "What of your duties as Sorcerer Supreme?"
Peter's eyes turned wider at that revelation. She's the Sorcerer Supreme?!
"Ah, that is no issue. This visit is part of it as I believe this young man has some answers that I seek."
"I…do?" Peter asked hesitantly. What did she mean by that?
The Ancient One nodded and hummed. "Yes, but that can wait. For now, I am more interested in this problem of yours. Peter Parker, was it? Tell me more about this portal."
Peter stared as she made her way closer to them before sitting on a chair he was pretty sure wasn't there before. He glanced at Daniel, who was as off guard as he was but content to let the woman take the wheel.
"Right so, like I said, Reed Richards just created a portal. At first, it was just for anywhere around the planet as long as we got the coordinates but apparently, he'd been messing around with it and figured out a way to cross into other dimensions. He tried to get funding for it but failed and now he's planning on an independent research into it." Peter quickly explained.
"And how do you know this?" Daniel asked.
"I'm an intern working under Dr Richards."
"An intern?" Daniel looked pleasantly surprised.
"Quite the brilliant young man are you?" The woman praised before she asked. "Still, what do you want us to do with this? The Masters of the Mystic Arts does not interfere with the public."
If it was any other time, the answer would have just frustrated Peter. But thankfully, he didn't need them to do anything direct.
"That's fine." Peter waved it off. "I just want to know if it's safe or not. I don't want the whole universe to suddenly tear itself apart if we did."
Daniel chuckled at that. "The universe is much sturdier than you give it credit for, young man. A simple portal won't do much to it. If it did, us sorcerers would have a hard time since we use it frequently."
"That's good." Peter sighed in relief at that, glad that he was just overreacting.
The Ancient One hummed, looking off into the distance as her eyes glowed for a moment. "Yes, Master Daniel is correct. The portal that Reed Richards created won't be harmful. But do note that the destination is still not set so the dimension you could potentially access can still be dangerous."
Peter blinked at that. Well, that relief was short-lived. Still, that didn't change much. It won't destroy the whole universe and at least this time he was a bit more willing to work with Reed on making sure the portal was safe to use.
"I am however curious about how you found out about the Mystic Arts." The Ancient One suddenly asked, causing Peter to grow a small panic as he realized he didn't have a good answer. "Coming to the New York Sanctum and asking for Stephen Strange when he's not even set for the role yet."
Both Daniel and Peter turned to her in surprise.
"You mean to say this young man–?" Daniel gasped.
"How did you–" Peter shook his head. He just saw her eyes glow and immediately knew about Reed's machine. Of course, she would know, and the look she was now giving him was one of vague smugness. "So you know where Strange is?" Peter instead asked.
The woman hummed as she sipped into a cup that definitely wasn't there before. Seriously, where did they get these things? "Currently, Stephen Strange is in a hospital in Manhattan performing a difficult surgery that would earn him the respect of many. While he is destined for the role and will succeed me, it is still quite some time before he is even ready for it. It should go without saying that I am the only one who should know of it."
Daniel immediately gravely nodded. "I will take this secret to my grave or until Stephen Strange succeeds you then, Ancient One."
"That I do not doubt." The woman smiled, though there was a hint of sadness to it. She then turned back to Peter. "And what about you? How have you come to know about it?"
"I…Well…" Of all times to have his brain freeze up now was definitely not a good time.
The woman stared at him a bit longer, her eyes squinting as she studied him. Peter swore there was a hint of green in her eyes as she looked at him before she widened them in shock.
Somehow, that did not make him feel any better. That look of realization was sending alarm bells through his head.
"Oh my, that…certainly explains a lot."
"Master?" Daniel turned to her with a curious and worried look.
The woman turned to Daniel. "Leave us."
"Excuse me?"
"Leave us, Master Daniel. I believe the both of us have much to discuss and it is only for our ears."
Daniel was confused but conceded without fuss, standing up from his seat and quietly leaving the room.
Peter stared at his retreating form, aware of the burning gaze that the woman was boring into him. The moment that he could no longer see the man, he finally dared to look back to the Ancient One.
The woman was still staring at him, looking at him with a complicated expression. The two looked at each other, one contemplative while the other nervous. It wasn't until a minute passed that the woman finally spoke.
"I spent all these decades preparing for it," The Ancient One began, her eyes somber yet now holding a sense of hope in it. "I had long accepted that it was inevitable, I wasn't at first of course but I had plenty of time to make peace with my eventual death."
Peter subtly gasped at her admission, while he knew everyone would die eventually the way she spoke made it sound much more…personal. More personal than one could be about their death anyway, it was as if she could personally see how it would happen.
"It was very recent, not even a week ago, but my foresight somehow extended past my death." She revealed with a puzzled expression. She could see the future? "I never managed to do that, no matter what I tried. So you can imagine my surprise when I woke up, did my usual meditation, and saw past it."
Peter thought it over, that sounds like it would send anyone into a mind loop if you ignore the whole magical context.
"I could see things beyond my death, the ramifications of my actions, and the success and failures of my successor." The woman narrated, her eyes looked distant before she settled them back on him. "I also saw the apocalypses that would befall this world, how a mad titan tried to eradicate everything, how a genius sacrificed himself to stop it, and—"
Peter's breath hitched as the woman's eyes hardened.
"—How you were the cause of the universe's destruction."
The room fell silent again, letting that fact sink into the room for a moment.
The woman's eyes soften a little but still retain her hard edge. "What do you have to say for yourself, young man? What can you say that wouldn't cause me to strike you down here and now for the betterment of our world."
Peter knew this was the moment, the moment where if he didn't come clean and speak from his heart, he would be killed right here and now. His spider-sense's buzzing all but confirmed it. Peter thought over her words for a moment, getting his mind in order to make sure he said his piece properly. The woman thankfully was being merciful enough to allow him that.
Peter sighed, staring right into her eyes. His gaze filled with resolve.
"I admit if I had thought things through, Dr Strange wouldn't have messed up that spell. If I was just a little faster, if I had worked hard enough, I wouldn't have to ask everyone to forget about me to fix my mistakes."
Remembering all of the events that led up to it, his mistakes, his misplaced trust in Norman, Aunt May's death, saying goodbye to MJ and Ned…
It had happened so long ago yet he could still remember it like it was yesterday. The scene was permanently etched into his head as a constant reminder of why he was so desperately trying to change the future.
"But, those events haven't happened yet. They would never happen if I had a say in it. All the things I could stop, all the things I could change for the better. If even a single minuscule change could put us further away from that future, then I need to keep fighting for it. I can't say for sure if putting me down would make this world safer, maybe it's better if I do die just to keep everyone safe." Peter gritted his teeth, glaring right at the Ancient One. "But I promise you, that I would never let the same thing happen again if I could help it."
The sorceress stared at the young man before her with a complicated look, the two staring each other down in the intense atmosphere.
"...As Sorcerer Supreme, my duty to this planet must be unquestionable. Because of that, there were risks I must take if it means the continued defense of this planet from outside threats." Peter's eyes widened at her words, hope blooming in his chest. The woman smiled softly as she held out her hand. "This will be one of them. I have heard your resolve and accepted them, Peter Parker. I believe there is still much good you can do for this world."
Peter shakily held his hand out and shook her offered hand, his eyes filled with gratitude as he smiled at her. "Thank you, I won't let you down!"
"I know you won't." The woman smiled as she let go of his hand. "And I now know the truth of this issue."
"Huh?"
"The true reason why I can see past my death," Her eyes shone again, this time in clear green. "It's because those events had already passed, it had happened before. The universal reset had turned them into this timeline's past as it began to reweave itself back together." Her eyes then returned to normal as she looked back at him, this time there was a sense of grave responsibility to it. "But this makes the future more uncertain, more wild. The universe has not finished rebuilding itself, which means the timestream is erratic and muddy. We couldn't even predict what might happen in the future."
"Then my future knowledge—" Peter widened his eyes.
The Ancient One held up her hand, pausing his thought. "Would still be useful. To use an analogy, the universe's timestream is akin to a strand." The woman waved her hand across them, a bright golden line manifested between them. Peter squinted his eyes as he felt a weird sense of deja vu. "Currently this very strand is in tatters but still salvageable."
The line then began to unravel, showing the thick line had loosened and letting many smaller strands out.
"But you do not need to worry. The events of the previous timeline, which is represented by this core strand here–" She pointed at the strand, the one at the very middle of everything. "–-would make sure things would still go on as you remember even with the different things here that don't exist in the previous timeline. Of course, if you cause enough waves, the changes would be significant enough to make it not matter at all."
So it was just like what he had thought, the events from the previous timeline would still happen as long as he didn't cause too many waves. Not like he would hold himself back just to keep his knowledge intact, that would just risk too many lives. He reckoned his knowledge would be useless once he got past the invasion… not like he knew much in the first place. Tony was great at keeping him at arm's length without making it personal.
"As you are this universe's Spider-Totem, as long as you keep going forward in time, the more the universe will continue to reweave itself, repairing all the damages done to it." The woman continued.
The strands then began to gather back, coalescing back into the timestream and it even created new strands to strengthen it, the line glowing as it finally fixed itself.
"Spider-Totem?" He asked curiously. The first time that word popped up.
"Something for later, that is a lesson for another time."
"Another time?"
"Yes." The woman cheerfully replied. "With the things at stake, wouldn't it be better for you and your two other vigilante partners to come here and learn magic?"
Peter opened his mouth before he closed it back in thought, he still remembered how Dr. Strange had gone toe to toe with Thanos even with the Infinity Stones under his command. If there were more people on that level fighting the mad titan…
"Huh, yeah sure! The more help I can get with this, the easier it's gonna be." Peter smiled.
"Excellent, then I'll be expecting you and your friends this weekend in the morning."
The two then made their way back to the entrance of the mansion as they talked about their new arrangements, Daniel spotting them from another hallway but content to leave them be. Clearly, the Ancient One had settled things there.
Peter stepped out of the house, sighing and realizing that it had already gotten late. He glanced back at the sorceress with a smile.
"Thanks, for hearing me out and giving me this chance."
The woman smiled at him. "It is my pleasure, Peter Parker. Now go home, I'm sure your guardians are worried."
Peter huffed in amusement before he began to walk back home.
The sorceress stared at his retreating form with contemplative eyes before she closed the door.
As Peter walked back home, he began to wonder to himself. He didn't think this visit would end with him getting some magic lessons from a powerful wizard. Not that he was complaining, he got to learn magic!
His thoughts then turned back to Reed, lowering his mood. Oh man, he gotta apologize to Reed. That argument before was pretty rough, wonder if he could do something? As he thought about possible ways to make up for it, he gained an idea.
He quickly pulled out his phone and pressed Gwen's contact number, she definitely could help him with it. Holding his phone to his ear, the ringtone rang three times until a familiar 'click'.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Gwen. Sorry to bother you, you got a minute?"
There was a quick sound of ruffling before Gwen answered. "Yeah! Yeah, sure. I got time, what's up?"
"Okay long story short, I kinda messed up on my internship."
Gwen hissed at that. "Ooh! That's not gonna get you fired is it?"
"Oh no, nothing that bad." Peter quickly corrected. "Though I did get into a big argument with Reed about it."
"You got into an argument with Dr. Richards?! What happened?"
Peter sighed. "It's a bit of a long story and kinda hard to explain on the phone."
"You want me to come to you? I can definitely swing by your house quick to listen, literally."
Peter snorted at the quip; he was definitely rubbing off on her. "Maybe? I was thinking of making an apology cake or something and you are pretty good at baking soooo–"
"Oh absolutely! You didn't even need to ask."
"Great, we're doing this at your place or mine?"
"Yours. I do not need my dad bothering us while we're baking."
Peter laughed. "Right, though I think Aunt May would be the one bothering us if we did do it at mine."
Gwen huffed. "Better than my dad, at least. May would at least be a useful extra hand, my dad cannot cook to save a life. How he had survived for this long, I have no idea."
Peter chuckled and shook his head. "Alright. I'm sure May would love to help! So gonna come by tonight?"
There was another ruffling in the background. "Already getting ready, where are you? I heard some car noise on your end. Are you outside? Want to meet up before we head to your place?"
"Yeah I am but don't worry about it. Just head straight there, I'll find a safe corner and swing there."
"Alright then, meet you there by eight."
"It's a date." Peter unthinkingly replied before he closed the call. It took another second for his brain to catch up with his faster mouth, the pain alongside it.
'Why did I say that!?' He mentally groaned as he grabbed his head, once more wrestling with his penchant for embarrassing himself. He sighed, he really hoped that didn't make things weird with Gwen. There was also Felicia to think about. And Jean, the girl had been messaging him every night ever since they switched numbers. Not that he was complaining, the girl had this infectious cheer that he appreciated.
'And maybe Emma?' He considered it for a moment, they were close and they also had messaged each other frequently. He was definitely attracted to her but…was she? She was a lot older than him and definitely could easily have a boyfriend if she tried.
He sighed, the thought of having to figure out his love life was already giving him a headache. Of all the things the two other Peters had passed on to him, expertise in love was not one of them, especially with this many women.
On the other side of the city, in the home of one Gwen Stacy, the young woman was staring down at her phone with wide eyes. Her face was bright red as she processed what Peter had just said.
He has never really been that forward before…
"I'm gonna strangle that idiot when I see him." She huffed, thinking it was probably some light-hearted teasing. Though it still didn't wipe off the dopey smile on her face.
Did he finally notice her? She wasn't sure but…well, a girl could dream.
She then quickly put on her hood to hide her features before she swung out of the window and into the night sky, her smile as radiant as the moon.
Chapter 19 - What’s Worth A Bad Thing
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SKaine
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Chapter 19 - What's Worth A Bad Thing
"Is this enough?"
"In this house, we go by feeling. Let me."
Aunt May promptly took over, taking over the chocolate from Gwen's hands and pouring generous amounts of them into the bowl. Gwen blinked as she stood to the side, right beside her was Peter who was already mixing the ingredients in his bowl.
"I used to have an Asian nanny who taught me all about cooking!" May reminiscent, fondly chuckling as she remembered. "She used to say, 'If your ancestor doesn't tell you it's enough, then just keep pouring!'"
Peter leaned over to Gwen, keeping his voice low so only she could hear. "You know in the future they have a saying for something like that."
Gwen glanced at him with a curious look. "They do?"
"Yeah, just raw dog it."
Gwen choked on her spit, turning and hitting his shoulder. "You ass!"
Aunt May glanced at them, blinking as she saw an irate Gwen lightly hitting the giggling Peter and just rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. Kids.
The woman then glanced at the ingredients on the table and hummed. "Peter."
The two stopped as they glanced her way, Peter curiously looking over. "Yeah?"
"Hand that bowl over to Gwen, I need you to buy some more chocolate."
"I thought you said we had enough?" Peter asked but still handed his bowl over to Gwen, who picked it up.
"Well, clearly it wasn't."
"You're putting too much into the muffins, Aunt May. It's gonna give someone diabetes." Peter grumbled as he untied his blue apron and hung it by the counter.
"Didn't stop you from eating them like a slob!"
"I'm young, I can take it! You're not!" Peter shouted from the doorway.
May dropped the bowl with a 'thud', "Wanna repeat that?!"
"Later!"
May sighed as Peter quickly slammed the door shut with a chuckle, that boy…
Still, it was nice to finally have some more time with him. She and Ben never really managed to spend a lot of time with Peter these days, more focused on keeping the lights on. And her dear sweet nephew had always been so understanding, even making promises that he'd make some money from his internship to make sure they were well off sometime in the future.
It was sweet but it also made her feel a bit worried; he had been pushing himself so much lately. Especially after Emma left for the new teaching gig. She couldn't help but feel a bit guilty, thinking it might be related to that promise of his.
She shook her head, it wouldn't do to think like that. Besides, she had a guest over.
She then glanced at Gwen and a thought formed in her mind. This young girl had been spending plenty of time with her nephew and based on how Peter described earlier when she arrived, all but leaped at the chance to help him with baking. Maybe she should do some digging…
"It's been a while since you've been over, Gwen. How's everything?" She asked.
Gwen hummed. "Everything's pretty well. School is going great and Dad is as busy as ever but you know? He's trying and it's all I could ask for."
May nodded at that. Gwen's mom wasn't in the picture as far as she could tell; she didn't pry on the reason but she knew enough that it wasn't really happy memories. So it was nice to hear that despite the loss, both Gwen and her father managed to keep going.
"And Peter? He didn't give you any trouble did he?" May side-eyed her.
Gwen chuckled at that. "Him? No, not really. He's been very helpful actually."
"Really? Heard from Ben that you and Harry had a bit of a rough patch with Peter."
Gwen paused. "Oh, that. Yeah, it was over something a bit stupid but it ended well."
"That's good then. Oh, what about this Felicia he mentioned? He talked about her a lot."
"He…did?"
Oh my, she struck a bit of a nerve, did she? Need to rewind it back a little.
"Oh yes, he mentioned her when talking about his friends." May smoothly correct. "I take it you know her well?"
Gwen nodded. "Oh yeah, I do. She's practically a permanent part of our friend group at this point." She noted with some bitterness.
May raised an eyebrow. "I take it you're not fond of her?"
"I…wouldn't say that. She's annoying sometimes and a bit too flirty for my taste." Gwen narrowed her eyes before she softened. "But she's still a good friend and I can rely on her when I need it; she's a good person."
Hmm, not resorting to bad-mouthing but still not hesitant to be honest. May was right to ask about this Felicia. Peter did talk about her and mentioned how much Gwen and Felicia used to butt heads. Her nephew suspected something but it was clear as day that both of them were at odds when it came to him.
Then again, maybe it was his internal turmoil that made him a bit blind to these things. He did say that he wasn't even sure about his feelings yet, didn't he?
"You're good for Peter, Gwen. I really hope you stick with him." May decided. "He might stumble and infuriate you occasionally, but I do hope things go well between you."
Gwen blinked, confused. "Oh, sure. Thanks, May."
May nodded, satisfied. "Though if you want to take his attention, his stomach is a good start."
"W-what? What do you mean?!" Gwen sputtered, a bright blush on her.
"I'm just saying that a good way to a man's heart is through his stomach and I have plenty of recipes." May winked.
Gwen flushed in embarrassment, putting the bowl on the counter and groaning. "...Am I that obvious?"
"Anyone with two eyes can see it, honey; it's cute. Reminds me of Ben and I back when we were still young." May sighed fondly.
Gwen gave her a look. "You're not that old, May."
"And keep saying that until it gets through Peter's head, the nerve of that boy, I swear." May huffed.
Gwen laughed, making May smile. Maybe it's time she did something for a possible in-law, she hadn't met this Felicia yet but she was absolutely rooting for Gwen in this race!
[-]
Making some muffins as a peace offering was the easy part, fun even since he was doing it with Gwen and May. Offering them was the hard part.
Peter racked his head over it as he returned to Future Foundation, wondering how he should even bring it up. It wasn't like he could just go up and then say sorry or something could he?
…Maybe it was that simple. He was overcomplicating it and might as well just be blunt about it. It worked last time with the sorcerers, didn't it?
With a 'ding', he exited the elevator. He eyed the long dark hallway and then looked down at the box in his hands, his eyes still held some uncertain glint to them. With a sigh, he kept walking.
The whole building was dark and quiet, which was expected considering the time. It was late at night, nearly past midnight even. May had been a bit worried about him going to work so late but relented after some persuasion. Going out all alone at night would mean trouble normally but Peter was anything but normal. His night vision and spider-sense were very useful when it came to walking out in dark places.
From what he saw, staying up all night was a bit of a common occurrence for the company but considering their team had a whole floor for themselves, he didn't really see anyone else. Not even the usual cleaners were around. But that's fine, preferable even. If they were going to do this project behind everyone's back, it was better no one was here to see it.
His eyes scrunched a little when they caught a tiny bit of light coming from the rest area, his night vision slowly receding as his eyes got used to the light.
"Peter?"
Blinking the lights away, he realized that both Sue and Reed were there. The two of them were sitting by the table nursing some coffee.
"Oh hey, just the people I was looking for. Where's Ben and Johnny?" He asked as he walked over to them.
Sue blinked, a bit taken aback by how nonchalant Peter was before answering. "Johnny's got classes tomorrow morning, so he already went back. Ben also got back home to check up on his wife but he'll be back in a few minutes. Where did you go anyway?"
Peter didn't even take a second to come up with a good answer. "Took your advice to heart and decided to go back and make some muffins."
Reed and Sue stared confusedly at him.
"...Muffins?" Reed asked.
"Apology muffins really, that argument got a bit too heated. So you two hungry?" Peter cheerily asked as he put down the muffins on the table.
"Oh, Peter, you didn't have to." Reed began.
"But I want to." Peter quickly added in. "Besides, if we're going to do this, we might as well eat up."
Reed blinked, looking at Sue who grabbed one of the muffins and didn't show any expression before looking back at Peter. "So…you agree?"
Peter sighed. "I…still don't like it. There's so much risk and we're doing this behind a lot of people's backs—" He then held up a hand when Reed opened his mouth. "—But! Sue brought up a good point, if there's another person who can keep an eye on things, I'd be more willing to work with it."
Reed turned to Sue curiously. "She did mention something like that to me."
"I also said no to doing things behind our backs. It's bad enough that we're doing this without Dad knowing, it's even worse if something happens." Sue reminded.
Reed sighed and reluctantly nodded. "Yes, I suppose you're right. As you always are."
"We'll see if you actually listen this time. I'm serious Reed, one step over the line, and I'm pulling this whole thing down."
Reed nodded, seriously this time. He had known her long enough to know she wouldn't hesitate to fulfill that promise if he did.
Peter bit into his muffin, chewing it as he mulled over his thoughts. "So, we agree? We do this as a team. If we get caught, it means losing everything but if it works out, the whole world could change."
"Well, not the worst ultimatum I've ever heard." Reed chuckled as he grabbed a muffin as well. He held it out to them with an expectant smile. "But if it means paving the way for a better world, then I'm willing to take it. For the future?"
Sue and Peter glanced over to each other and smiled, holding up their muffins to Reed's as a mock cheer.
"For the future."
[-]
Ever since that night, convincing Johnny and Ben to join them was much easier. Johnny was already in on it from the start and while Ben was a bit worried, they managed to convince him in the end.
From the start, it was obvious that Peter and Reed would be their main vanguards in the field. Reed had experience and knowledge in the quantum fields, but Peter's surprising and prodigal insights into biochemistry and biology helped support the project. They were working with a portal tech and how it would affect their biology was something they could not afford to gloss over.
It also reminded them that while he was technically an intern, he was very overqualified for it. Which led to a lot of back and forth.
"If we increase the spatial distortion, we'll be able to extend the range of the portal–"
"And turn anything that passes through into spaghetti." Peter smoothly answered as they stared at their calculations.
"But! We can avoid that if we smooth out the temporal wavelength. It'll be less going through a shredder that constantly stretches you around and more like going through a slightly tight tube." Reed added.
Peter scrunched up at that. "Ignoring the future complaints, their senses won't like that. The vertigo would be pretty harsh."
"I think we can put travel comfort to the side considering how experimental this is." Reed brought up.
"Yeah, but I'm talking about dropping down and puking their guts out kind of vertigo. We kinda need to work on that more if we want to make this viable." Peter stressed.
"What? Show me your work."
Peter promptly tapped at the corner of the whiteboard they were using. "Look here, the temporal wavelength smoothing out would make them experience the passage of time during travel and having it all compressed into a tight tube–"
"Would just make it worse, I think puking their guts out would be the least of their worries." Reed realized. "Depending on the distance, it would also fry their brains out thanks to sensory overload."
Peter squinted his eyes and looked back at his calculations, going over it a few more times before whistling. "Huh, yeah I didn't realize that. Good catch."
As they discussed, Johnny and Sue watched over them by the side with mixed expressions. The two siblings watched with rapt attention as they talked.
"God, it's like seeing a second Reed. He wasn't this active before." Johnny groaned.
"It's cute honestly," Sue giggled as she stared, finding it a hard time to take her eyes off. "It's the first time I've seen both of them really flexing their stuff."
Her brother gave her a weird look at that. "Yeah, I'm sure that's not the only thing you liked."
Sue finally turned away and glared at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Look, Peter kissed you–"
"—You're bringing that up now?!"
"Well, when else are we gonna talk about it?" Johnny asked with an obvious tone. "I'm just saying that it's kinda weird and I, as your brother, have a right to complain about it."
Sue sighed. "Fine, that's fair. But still, it was an in-the-moment thing, and it was just on the cheek. It's really not that deep."
"Is it though?" Johnny asked with a scrunched-up face colored with disbelief.
"Yes! Now can we please focus back?"
"Okay, but I'm keeping an eye on him."
"Suit yourself, hotshot." Sue sighed as she walked away.
'Really what had gotten into him to think that way? It really wasn't that deep!'
As she walked away, Johnny eyed her suspiciously before turning over to Peter.
Yeah, he's keeping an eye on them. His instincts on these kinds of things were rarely wrong.
And keep an eye on them, he did. As the team poured their focus into the work, Johnny, on the other hand, scrutinized everyone. It wasn't that he was lazy; he did his part when they needed him, but he was much more focused on this thing he had noticed.
It wasn't anything big, just small little changes of behavior from his sister. She hadn't noticed it; no one really did, but he did. He would be a pretty bad brother to not notice them. He had seen those little smiles and glances she sent to Peter, how they looked at each other when they had thought about the same thing. People could brush them off as coincidences but Johnny smelled something deeper here. Sue said it wasn't anything deep and he believed her, but he also believed that it could get deeper.
'Poor Reed, he won't even see it coming unless he steps up his game.' Johnny sighed as he glanced over to said scientist.
It's obvious to anyone that Reed has feelings for Sue—anyone but Sue anyway. It's not like she's dense, but it's beginning to dawn on Johnny that Sue might not return those feelings. That would explain why she didn't notice it: she took his gestures through a different lens and didn't think too much about it.
He just wished that Sue would let him down gently when the time came. He liked the dude and felt like a big brother he never had.
Speaking of brothers…
"What do you mean you don't like Star Wars?!" Peter gasped, clearly shocked by the blasphemy he just heard.
"I said what I said. That and I'm more of a Star Trek girl." Sue shamelessly admitted.
"What, space magic doesn't do it for you?" Peter smiled teasingly.
Sue matched it with one of her own. "I'm more of an adventure enthusiast. Exploring the deep frontiers of the unknown with a crew that's like a second family? Sounds like my kind of thing."
"One would even say it's romantic."
"Never hurts to have a few in life."
The two stared into each other's eyes for a moment, before Peter's grin broke to a full smile.
"Y'know what else has a good romantic plot?"
Sue scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Please don't say it—"
"I hate sand. It's course, and rough, and irritating." Peter continued, doing his best Anakin impression.
Sue groaned louder. "Ugh… and you ask me why I don't like Star Wars that much."
"You gotta admit, it's funny!"
Sue rolled her eyes, but there was fond amusement to her tone. "It is. Can't believe Padmé still wants to stay with him after that."
"Hey, just show she really likes him for who he is. If I remember right, Anakin was comparing her to sand because she was much softer and pleasant to him." Peter shrugged before giving her a look. "He's trying but it's pretty romantic for a dude with little social life, right?"
"Fiiine, I guess it's not that bad." Sue conceded. "I still stand by what I said though."
"That's it! We gotta do a movie night. I need to fix this blasphemy."
"Only if we do a Star Trek night too." Sue countered hotly. "I can't let you do all the arguments without making my own!"
"Are we watching the movies or the series?"
"The series, the movies can come later…if I feel like it anyway. It's a hit or miss for me to be honest."
Johnny stared as Sue and Peter talked about this eventual movie night of theirs, barely suppressing his exasperation. He then stared back at the oblivious Reed, still focused on his work.
'This is just sad.' Johnny closed his eyes, wondering how he should feel about this.
He liked Peter, but he wasn't sure about the idea of his sister being into men younger than her. He also knew Reed a lot longer, both he and Sue met in college and that was how his old man managed to discover him before roping Reed into Future Foundation. Outside of his big brain, his dad also liked his attitude enough to want him in his circles.
And who wouldn't? Outside of him being a little daring (in Johnny's opinion anyway), he was very polite and respectful despite being hella smart. Johnny had seen plenty of people getting a big head for smaller things, but Reed didn't and that much was enough to get him to respect the scientist. Reed was an all-around good dude; it was unfortunate that Sue didn't see him that way.
'The game was rigged from the start.' Johnny eyed back at the giggling Sue, probably from some joke that Peter made. Maybe there was some truth to Sue being into younger guys? Though, there was no way in hell he was diving into that rabbit hole. That way lied madness.
He then sighed and shook his head. Whatever, he'd deal with it when he crossed that bridge. For now, he'd just figure out what to do to cheer up Reed on the eventual rejection and probably get Ben on it too since he was Reed's best friend. He would need all the help because he just knew it was going to be rough.
[-]
The sound of flipping pages filled the room, Reed and his team watching as Franklin read through their report with keen eyes. The group stared at him with some nervousness, the man was known to be rather critical, after all. They usually didn't have to worry much about it since their respective specialties did keep things in check but after how Reed had blown up in response to Franklin's rejection, they feared that might make the man a lot more critical of them.
Franklin hummed, closing the file before turning his eyes to them. There was a bit of silence as he ruminated his thoughts before he spoke.
"Excellent work, I'm satisfied with the progress. Keep it up." Franklin remarked.
Reed tilted his head, that was…much more reserved than they usually get. "Thank you, sir. Do you have any other comments?"
Franklin thought it over before shaking his head. "No comments so far. Outside of still experimenting with the safety limits of the portal, your group already has a working tech. That's much bigger progress than I expected."
"Thank you, sir." Sue nodded with a smile. Though internally she noted that they might need to slow down a little or figure out some excuses to delay it since their dimensional portal was not even close to being finished. "Reed had been doing a lot of the heavy lifting admittedly, but our intern also has been a huge help."
"His insights into how the human body would react to the transportation process has certainly been helpful." Reed added with a smile.
"Truly? Then it seems like investing in him has been the right decision." Franklin clinically commented, but there was a hint of satisfaction to it. He then stood up and sighed. "Now if I may, I still have quite a few meetings to attend to."
"Is it related to our work?" Reed asked.
"It is. We have an experimental yet working portal tech and this file here–" He held up said item to their eye level, his intense gaze showing how important this was and made them realize how dark the bags under his eyes were."—is proof of not just the fruits of your labor but the amazing competence of your group. There's quite a lot of eyes on it and that also means more eyes on the company, nothing public yet, but the support we could gather with this from the people behind the scenes is immense."
The group stood a bit straighter, smiling as they realized that outside of the money they could rake in. It also meant growing their influence for the better.
But Franklin's next words put a damper on their mood.
"Who knows, if this all goes well I might revisit that new dimension research proposal." Franklin commented as he walked out of the office.
The group paused, Reed especially. The man glanced at Sue who kept her face carefully blank. He then glanced at Ben, who was doing a bit of a worse job than Sue but still carefully hidden. The man took a deep breath and sighed before they walked out of the office as well.
He really hoped once the dust settled, Franklin would forgive them.
[-]
Peter hummed as he sat beside Johnny, both in light clothing, as they worked on the contraption in front of them. Their breath was slightly labored as sweat dripped down their foreheads. They had worked on it for several days now. They had the option of hiring people to help them but they thought adding strangers to help them make what was supposed to be a secret experiment was a bad idea—it helped that they already had a history of just creating the tech all on their own due to how specific it needed to be.
"Y'know, I never take you as someone that knows their way with a wrench." Johnny commented, his tongue poking out as he tightened up a few screws.
"I'm not as good as you but I can help with a car at least." Peter chuckled as he checked on the energy readings, trying to see if their work was causing any reactions.
"Hah! No one is as good as me." Johnny boasted. "But you're not too bad yourself."
'Iron Man would say otherwise.' Peter silently snarked, remembering how the man had built a whole suit from a bunch of scraps in a cave.
"But still, this isn't really a car now is it." Johnny noted, eyeing the engineering marvel before them with some awe. "I know we say it a lot but damn, Reed is one hell of a dude."
"Yeah…"
Peter could understand where Johnny's sense of awe was coming from. Sure they were building it themselves with minimal help, but by the end of the day, Reed was the one that designed the whole blueprint for it.
Seeing it on paper was one thing, but looking at it with their own eyes was something else.
Right in front of them was a massive gate, an arch of steel with exposed cables and circuits all over. Attached to the gate was a bunch of wires that connected it to another room, a bunker of sorts created to watch things from a safe distance while also protecting them.
Peter looked around at the massive space given to their team. He sometimes wondered just how massive the company's budget was because the sheer scope of everything was insane, especially with their free reign on it.
'Guess that's what you get for being a top scientist.' Not for the first time Peter had thought of it and certainly not the last.
Peter then looked back at the gate. It was clearly a portal gate, they hadn't tested out the safety limits yet but they were getting there. A few more days and he reckoned they would figure it out.
'But that's not our main goal is it?' Peter narrowed his eyes.
If it was just purely for transport then it was close to being finished. But to travel to another dimension? Not even close. Dimensional transport was a whole nother beast compared to just teleporting around the planet. First, they had to tune up the coordinator to latch in on a dimension. With what little knowledge they still had on it, that's gonna be a bit difficult. It's like throwing out bait in the middle of the sea while at night with no lights on. Just you, the boat, your fishing rod, and hoping that you get a catch and that catch won't kill you the moment you reel it in.
Very difficult and that was supposed to be the easy part.
A new dimension meant another layer of reality that ran on completely different rules. While their dimension might have gravity and friction, the other dimension might not, which meant a lot of dangerous implications for their squishy human bodies. Reed and he had gone back and forth on how to deal with that problem and decided that just a protective suit wouldn't be enough. They need to figure out how to tune their dimensional frequencies to match the new dimensions so they didn't immediately die on contact.
Peter sighed and scratched his head, already dreading the late nights in the future. But that's fine, they were close to figuring it out. Hell, he had even taken some notes from his Spider-Tracer designs to see if he could use anything there to help with it. So far, there was definitely a bit of overlap. Sharing a frequency with his Spider-Sense was oddly similar to the concept of the dimensional tuning device, but just applied on a bigger scale.
Huh, there might be more to his Spider-Sense.
Peter shook his head, whatever. He could figure that out later. He just gotta keep working on this portal with Johnny and make sure everything was smooth sailing.
[-]
A few days passed, and the team kept on working on the portal. Peter had gone through quite a bit of sleepless nights that were definitely taking a bit of a toll on his superhuman body. He had pushed himself before but now it was just something else.
It definitely affected his activity as Spider-Man too. He had been taking longer and longer breaks in between patrols and the rest of his friends had noticed. They weren't mad about it, if anything they were happy. Peter Parker actually taking a break from being Spider-Man for a bit was a happy occasion.
Felicia had even cheered, thinking she could finally chill on the vigilante stuff and relax with him. Her glare when she heard that he would still be putting a lot of time on Future Foundation for his work had been downright glacial.
Gwen and Harry weren't as happy to hear about it either; all of them had long noticed that he was spending more and more time on his internship. They weren't mad at him, so to speak, more a bit upset that he was so busy but they understood. His work this time was too important, he had told them that the team he was with was messing with some serious stuff and he wanted to make sure everything went well.
They were still a bit upset but they understood. That being said, it didn't mean he didn't have to pay back all that lost time later though. Hoo boy…
Still, through all the sleepless nights and some liberal amounts of caffeine that would probably kill lesser college kids, they managed to do it. With his Spider-Tracer notes, he was able to help Reed figure out the dimensional tuning device to work on their bodies safely and ensure that whatever rules the other dimension runs on, they won't immediately die the moment they take one step in.
The group now sat in the lab, marveling at the massive portal in front of them. A massive silver arch that gleamed from the lighting, perched on a pedestal and sitting in the middle of the room like it was the main focus of the lab. The mess of wires that had previously been present was now gone, neatly sorted, and hidden away so that they had some free space to move.
Johnny chuckled. "Finally, it's done!"
"God, I can now sleep with my wife." Ben groaned as he rolled his shoulders, having done a good amount of the heavy lifting to build the damn thing, wincing when that made his shoulder pop. God, his whole body felt sore.
The rest chuckled, Sue shaking her head and sighed. "All that's left is to finish up the paperwork. Then we can get to testing."
"What are we even gonna say to Dr. Storm though?" Peter asked. "I mean, he'd definitely want to see the portal in action but then how are we going to test out the other features?"
"Don't worry about it." Reed waved it off. "He's in another state for the week and has already given us the go-ahead to test it out. We'll mark it under 'safety precautions test' until he gets here. Then we'll make it to the official test."
"So while dad's away, we get to play." Johnny realized with a smirk, rubbing his hands with a mischievous gleam.
"Behave, Johnny." Sue warned. "Peter and I would still be here to make sure everything is going fine, so don't go around making a mess."
"We'll be fine!" Johnny assured before gesturing to Reed. "We got Reed here. The portal's gonna work smoothly and you'll feel stupid for being so worried."
"If all goes well, I hope that's the case…" Sue muttered, giving a small glance at Peter, who was eyeing the portal gate with trepidation.
As worried as she was, Peter was feeling worse than her. She had noticed it as they worked on the project. He still talked and joked with her like normal, much more than usual even. She was beginning to realize that was his usual way of handling stress.
'Well, at least it's somewhat healthy. Can't say much about that on my end.' Sue remarked. She wasn't exactly the type to air out her frustrations so willingly. However, she was beginning to notice that she had an easier time about it with Peter.
She couldn't help it, something about him just made it so easy to let her guard down.
While Sue contemplated, Peter exhaled deeply at her side. He'd admit that part of him was feeling pretty nervous, but there was also a deep excitement bubbling inside him, the scientist in him chomping at the bit at the discovery. There wasn't anything like it in the previous timeline, and the memories he got from the other two Peters showed that their worlds were lagging in terms of technology.
With all of that new knowledge at his fingertips, he could understand why Reed was so adamant about being the first to explore it.
"So, when are we testing it out?" Peter asked.
"Tonight."
Reed's answer caught a few stares, his team and intern staring like he had just grown a new head.
"'Tonight?'" Ben repeated with wide eyes.
Reed nodded before giving them a pleading look. "Yes, I know you guys are tired but the faster we do it, the faster we can get it done."
The group relented at Reed's words; for as much as they were excited about the things they could find, all of them were getting pretty close to just wanting to get it done.
"Well we got a few hours left, might as well take a shower and get something to eat." Sue brought, already getting to her feet. "Thinking of ordering takeout; you guys got any suggestions?"
"You paying?" Johnny shamelessly asked.
"Everyone except yours, yeah." Sue smoothly answered.
"Oh, come on!"
"Thinking pizza could be good; can't go wrong with pizza." Peter suggested, quietly ignoring the pouting Johnny.
"If we're going with pizza, I'm having Hawaiian." Ben requested, patting his growling stomach.
"Can never understand your love of pineapples on pizza." Reed shook his head, even Peter crinkled a little at that.
"What? It's sweet!" Ben defended.
"Boys, I'm too hungry to listen to you argue about this for the nth time. So order up before I change my mind." Sue sighed.
"Right right, I think I'll just have Supreme." Reed ordered.
"I'll have what he's having." Peter gestured to Reed.
"And I'll have—"
"So that's everyone, okay." Sue promptly cut her brother off.
Johnny gaped, watching Sue walk away. "Oh, you asshole! Listen to me, Sue! Sue!"
The rest laughed as they watched Johnny chase after his sister.
[-]
It was the dead of night, but the floor was filled with activity. The lights were still on and the sound of machinery filled the empty halls of the building, creating quite a contrasting atmosphere. But this was common for them, so anyone familiar with the building wouldn't even give it a second glance, especially in a city like New York.
Reed and his team were in the portal room, sitting inside the safety of their bunker as they typed into the various computers around them. It was mostly Sue, Reed, and Peter doing the majority of the heavy lifting as Ben and Johnny didn't have much know-how on this side of the expertise field. The room inside the bunker was lined with computers, Reed being at the forefront as he was responsible for directing the setting and launching of the portal while Sue and Peter sat further at the back, keeping an eye on the energy readings and making tweaks to ensure safety as they managed the portal. At the side were Johnny and Ben who were just watching, ready to help in case they were needed. They weren't going to enter the portal or anything like it (they weren't that eager) but it was good to be prepared, especially with them about to reach into new territory.
"Energy level stable," Sue called. "Can begin powering at command."
"Begin powering the Quantum Tunnel." Reed ordered.
"Powering the Quantum Tunnel." Sue rogered, typing into the computer to begin the sequence.
The whole room starts to come to life, thrumming in power the whole place begins to vibrate. Some of them, namely Johnny and Peter as they were the ones with less experience, were starting to look worried at the shakes but didn't bring it up since no one looked worried. Peter glanced at his monitor and sighed in relief when he saw the readings were still stable.
"Energy readings still stable." Peter called out, "Can begin preparations for the next phase."
"Begin the next phase." Reed immediately ordered.
"Removing the tunnel locks," Sue called, the silver arch visibly shifting as panels began to pop out from it. "Energy level?"
"Still good." Peter answered.
"Flowing them into the gate, now." With the press of a button, the thrum intensifies. The shakes were now noticeable, the lights were blinking in and out but the gate had come to life. The portal began sparking to life, yellow-golden light began peaking at the edges before slowly turning blue, the light coalescing in the middle into a blue vortex.
The group let out a collective sigh of relief. They weren't out of danger yet but they were happy that it was smooth sailing so far. The activation of the portal was the hard part, everything had to go right the first time before they could even begin setting the coordinates. As long as the gate was working, they could immediately start setting the coordinates.
"Quantum Tunnel hot and ready for transport." Sue smiled, glancing at everyone and sharing a small laugh. She then glanced at Peter and her smile fell a little, the young man was eyeing the blue vortex in front of them with trepidation. Guess he's still nervous about this, not that she could blame him.
Idly she reached out to him, Peter suddenly glancing at her in surprise as she gave him a reassuring smile. Peter's surprise melted away, nodding at her appreciatively. No one noticed the brief contact between the two of them, no one except Johnny.
"Alright, I'll begin setting the coordinates. We'll start small first and try to portal to anywhere in the city." Reed ordered, taking everyone's attention. All of them had already decided on how to do this before, making a list of private or out-of-the-way places where people wouldn't see a sudden massive vortex appearing out of nowhere. Reed began inputting into the monitor, "Inputting coordinates, set. Launching destination in 3…2…1—"
VOOOM
With a jolt, the vortex sparked, the coalesced energy in the middle began expanding into a circle, reaching the edges and revealing the sight before them. The group gasped at the sight, even Peter couldn't help it since he was very familiar with the sight due to his web swinging.
The skyline of New York was clear for them to see, it was much higher in the air and they were hoping and praying to any god out there that the saying 'people rarely look up' was true but right now, they were enjoying the sight that their portal worked.
"Ben, can you grab something and toss it in there?" Reed asked.
"What? You want me to get out?" Ben asked incredulously.
"We gotta see if anything can pass through somehow." Reed said. "Grab that pizza box, it should be good."
Ben gaped, looking at everyone who glanced at him expectantly. He sighed and grabbed the empty pizza box before heading to the door, shakily he opened it. He stepped out, staring at the massive portal with clear fear, glancing back at everyone else who all gave him some thumbs up or some smiles of encouragement. Ben rolled his eyes and groaned, slowly walking his way to the portal before he stopped a good distance from it. From the distance, he could already feel the cold air of New York from the other side, the stench thankfully didn't reach inside. With a huff, he threw the box like frisbee, barely even passing through the portal and—
THONK
—landing on a nearby roof, unharmed.
"Woo!"
"Hell yeah!"
"Atta boy, Ben!" Reed chuckled, dabbing up his best friend who had rushed his way inside the moment he tossed the box.
Ben chuckled. "I am not going there alone after this."
Reed just rolled his eyes in exasperation but didn't say anything. "Alright let's check out other places." Reed continued, his excitement palpable. "Changing coordinates, set. Launching in 3…2…1—!"
VOOM
Much faster than before, the portal jolted again. The circle shrinks for only a short moment before expanding, this time showing a different sight of New York. Specifically from the very top of the Statue of Liberty.
Laughter erupted from the room, all of them smiling ear to ear.
"Changing!"
VOOM
"Changing!"
VOOM
"Changing!"
VOOM
Change after change, the portal shifted through different locations and with each shift, their smiles turned wider and wider. The portal worked! And all that was left was the final test. All of them realized it and knew how big this was, creating a heavy atmosphere.
"Okay," Reed breathed, glancing at Peter. "Quantum Tuner?"
"Ready, just need the coordinates to start synching." Peter nodded.
"Alright, here we go," Reed muttered. "Shifting the dimensional axis, launching 'hook'." Peter's analogy about fishing in the dark had caught on a little, which got leaked into their protocols here. The monitor gave steady readings, having launched the 'hook' and waiting for it to anchor to a dimension. Then, the lights turned green and a beep could be heard, Reed licking his suddenly dry lips. "Hook anchored, uncovering coordinates and sending it to the tuner."
"Coordinates received," Peter called before inputting the data into his monitor. "Quantum Tuner is live! Uncovering the dimension's natural laws and synching the portal." The room then fell silent, filled with only the beepings of the monitors around them. The process would take a bit so all of them would just have to be patient. After a solid minute, Peter's monitor beeped with a green light. "Tuner is ready to go!"
Reed breathed out a long sigh, anticipation filling him. He glanced around the room, noting everyone's eyes on him. The moment he opened that portal, there was no turning back. Mind now set, he begins the process.
"Dimensional Axis, set. Launching in 3…2…1—!"
VOOOOOOM
The portal jolted much more intensely than before, the blue hue of the vortex now tinging gold as it expanded into a circle. The view was dark until the sight at the other side properly came into view. The group gasped in awe, right before their eyes was a strange sight. The ground was barren, a jaggy field of rock and stone that created odd formations that filled the wasteland. The skies were pitch black yet clear for them to see, revealing the countless stars that coalesced in the bright sky akin to a nebula. Reed then narrowed his eyes, it wasn't that they weren't like Nebulas, they were Nebulas!
"I can't believe it, to see stars so close to each other and so visibly." Reed gasped, his mind racing at the implication."
"Place is a waste though, nothing to see." Johnny commented.
"Not quite." Ben shook his head. "Look at all those mountains and how it formed, that ain't how it should look."
"Ben's right, the terra formations of the planet we've stumbled on must be pretty unique." Sue commented. "There's a lot we can learn just from that."
"Peter, Sue, anything on the energy readings?" Reed asked.
"The cosmic energy is off the charts," Sue immediately answered. "The things we could learn or even just harvest would be massive." Her words made everyone smile, other than possibly being rich as hell, the things they could change with it would be amazing. Just like Reed had predicted.
"So how are we gonna grab all of that?" Johnny asked.
"I'm more worried about that." The group turned to the direction Peter pointed at, spotting a massive yellow light that was shining in the distance.
"Is that the sun?" Johnny asked.
Peter narrowed his eyes, his Spidey Sense giving a low buzz. "...I don't think so—"
BROOOOMM
Everything suddenly shook, the group finding their footing unstable as the bright golden light in the distance suddenly expanded so explosively that the aftershock even managed to reach through the portal and into their room. They all gaped as they saw the golden light expand, wisps of cosmic energy whip out from the center and scorching the planet, leaving burning shockwaves in its path, uprooting the firm ground beneath as—
"It's heading this way…" Ben realized.
"Shut the portal." Reed immediately commanded, typing into the monitor as he did so.
"Already on it!" Sue was already typing the moment the explosion was released, sweat already forming as she tried to close it down.
"It's not working." Peter realized.
"What?!"
"The portal is not closing! The explosion must have done something to it!" Peter replied.
"Can't we just pull the plug?!" Johnny panickedly asked.
"The major plugs are outside—!" Reed couldn't even finish before Ben rushed out of the room, immediately heading straight to the cables and pulling them out.
"I'll go help him!" Johnny immediately followed.
"Johnny, wait!" Sue called.
"No, Sue! We need to try on our end too! Have you tried the emergency shutdown?" Reed asked.
"I did! But it didn't work!"
Reed groaned as he eyed the encroaching energy wave, "Peter?"
"Trying to redirect the energy into the Tuner!"
"Huh, why?" Reed asked
"If we can sync dimensions with it, then I can desync it enough to destabilize the portal."
"Yes, yeah that can work. I'll help." Reed immediately began typing into his monitor while Sue rushed to Peter's station, watching over his work.
The group rushed to close it, sweat dripping down their foreheads as they tried everything to close it down. Suddenly the portal sparked, the silver gate erupting with golden energy and pulsed!
"GAAAH!"
"Johnny!"
"Ben!"
Their screams were audible to them, Reed already rushing to the door to check on his friend while Sue remained frozen, her eyes stuck on the encroaching wave of destruction so close to the gate.
"Come on, come on!" Peter was the only one left focused, already using his superhuman speed to get the Tuner to destabilize.
DING
"Got it!"
The portal pulsed again, this time imploding into itself. The golden vortex shrank into a blue hue right as the wave reached it!
"No…" Sue softly gasped.
Bright light filled their vision before the whole floor crumbled.
"Is this enough?"
"In this house, we go by feeling. Let me."
Aunt May promptly took over, taking over the chocolate from Gwen's hands and pouring generous amounts of them into the bowl. Gwen blinked as she stood to the side, right beside her was Peter who was already mixing the ingredients in his bowl.
"I used to have an Asian nanny who taught me all about cooking!" May reminiscent, fondly chuckling as she remembered. "She used to say, 'If your ancestor doesn't tell you it's enough, then just keep pouring!'"
Peter leaned over to Gwen, keeping his voice low so only she could hear. "You know in the future they have a saying for something like that."
Gwen glanced at him with a curious look. "They do?"
"Yeah, just raw dog it."
Gwen choked on her spit, turning and hitting his shoulder. "You ass!"
Aunt May glanced at them, blinking as she saw an irate Gwen lightly hitting the giggling Peter and just rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. Kids.
The woman then glanced at the ingredients on the table and hummed. "Peter."
The two stopped as they glanced her way, Peter curiously looking over. "Yeah?"
"Hand that bowl over to Gwen, I need you to buy some more chocolate."
"I thought you said we had enough?" Peter asked but still handed his bowl over to Gwen, who picked it up.
"Well, clearly it wasn't."
"You're putting too much into the muffins, Aunt May. It's gonna give someone diabetes." Peter grumbled as he untied his blue apron and hung it by the counter.
"Didn't stop you from eating them like a slob!"
"I'm young, I can take it! You're not!" Peter shouted from the doorway.
May dropped the bowl with a 'thud', "Wanna repeat that?!"
"Later!"
May sighed as Peter quickly slammed the door shut with a chuckle, that boy…
Still, it was nice to finally have some more time with him. She and Ben never really managed to spend a lot of time with Peter these days, more focused on keeping the lights on. And her dear sweet nephew had always been so understanding, even making promises that he'd make some money from his internship to make sure they were well off sometime in the future.
It was sweet but it also made her feel a bit worried; he had been pushing himself so much lately. Especially after Emma left for the new teaching gig. She couldn't help but feel a bit guilty, thinking it might be related to that promise of his.
She shook her head, it wouldn't do to think like that. Besides, she had a guest over.
She then glanced at Gwen and a thought formed in her mind. This young girl had been spending plenty of time with her nephew and based on how Peter described earlier when she arrived, all but leaped at the chance to help him with baking. Maybe she should do some digging…
"It's been a while since you've been over, Gwen. How's everything?" She asked.
Gwen hummed. "Everything's pretty well. School is going great and Dad is as busy as ever but you know? He's trying and it's all I could ask for."
May nodded at that. Gwen's mom wasn't in the picture as far as she could tell; she didn't pry on the reason but she knew enough that it wasn't really happy memories. So it was nice to hear that despite the loss, both Gwen and her father managed to keep going.
"And Peter? He didn't give you any trouble did he?" May side-eyed her.
Gwen chuckled at that. "Him? No, not really. He's been very helpful actually."
"Really? Heard from Ben that you and Harry had a bit of a rough patch with Peter."
Gwen paused. "Oh, that. Yeah, it was over something a bit stupid but it ended well."
"That's good then. Oh, what about this Felicia he mentioned? He talked about her a lot."
"He…did?"
Oh my, she struck a bit of a nerve, did she? Need to rewind it back a little.
"Oh yes, he mentioned her when talking about his friends." May smoothly correct. "I take it you know her well?"
Gwen nodded. "Oh yeah, I do. She's practically a permanent part of our friend group at this point." She noted with some bitterness.
May raised an eyebrow. "I take it you're not fond of her?"
"I…wouldn't say that. She's annoying sometimes and a bit too flirty for my taste." Gwen narrowed her eyes before she softened. "But she's still a good friend and I can rely on her when I need it; she's a good person."
Hmm, not resorting to bad-mouthing but still not hesitant to be honest. May was right to ask about this Felicia. Peter did talk about her and mentioned how much Gwen and Felicia used to butt heads. Her nephew suspected something but it was clear as day that both of them were at odds when it came to him.
Then again, maybe it was his internal turmoil that made him a bit blind to these things. He did say that he wasn't even sure about his feelings yet, didn't he?
"You're good for Peter, Gwen. I really hope you stick with him." May decided. "He might stumble and infuriate you occasionally, but I do hope things go well between you."
Gwen blinked, confused. "Oh, sure. Thanks, May."
May nodded, satisfied. "Though if you want to take his attention, his stomach is a good start."
"W-what? What do you mean?!" Gwen sputtered, a bright blush on her.
"I'm just saying that a good way to a man's heart is through his stomach and I have plenty of recipes." May winked.
Gwen flushed in embarrassment, putting the bowl on the counter and groaning. "...Am I that obvious?"
"Anyone with two eyes can see it, honey; it's cute. Reminds me of Ben and I back when we were still young." May sighed fondly.
Gwen gave her a look. "You're not that old, May."
"And keep saying that until it gets through Peter's head, the nerve of that boy, I swear." May huffed.
Gwen laughed, making May smile. Maybe it's time she did something for a possible in-law, she hadn't met this Felicia yet but she was absolutely rooting for Gwen in this race!
[-]
Making some muffins as a peace offering was the easy part, fun even since he was doing it with Gwen and May. Offering them was the hard part.
Peter racked his head over it as he returned to Future Foundation, wondering how he should even bring it up. It wasn't like he could just go up and then say sorry or something could he?
…Maybe it was that simple. He was overcomplicating it and might as well just be blunt about it. It worked last time with the sorcerers, didn't it?
With a 'ding', he exited the elevator. He eyed the long dark hallway and then looked down at the box in his hands, his eyes still held some uncertain glint to them. With a sigh, he kept walking.
The whole building was dark and quiet, which was expected considering the time. It was late at night, nearly past midnight even. May had been a bit worried about him going to work so late but relented after some persuasion. Going out all alone at night would mean trouble normally but Peter was anything but normal. His night vision and spider-sense were very useful when it came to walking out in dark places.
From what he saw, staying up all night was a bit of a common occurrence for the company but considering their team had a whole floor for themselves, he didn't really see anyone else. Not even the usual cleaners were around. But that's fine, preferable even. If they were going to do this project behind everyone's back, it was better no one was here to see it.
His eyes scrunched a little when they caught a tiny bit of light coming from the rest area, his night vision slowly receding as his eyes got used to the light.
"Peter?"
Blinking the lights away, he realized that both Sue and Reed were there. The two of them were sitting by the table nursing some coffee.
"Oh hey, just the people I was looking for. Where's Ben and Johnny?" He asked as he walked over to them.
Sue blinked, a bit taken aback by how nonchalant Peter was before answering. "Johnny's got classes tomorrow morning, so he already went back. Ben also got back home to check up on his wife but he'll be back in a few minutes. Where did you go anyway?"
Peter didn't even take a second to come up with a good answer. "Took your advice to heart and decided to go back and make some muffins."
Reed and Sue stared confusedly at him.
"...Muffins?" Reed asked.
"Apology muffins really, that argument got a bit too heated. So you two hungry?" Peter cheerily asked as he put down the muffins on the table.
"Oh, Peter, you didn't have to." Reed began.
"But I want to." Peter quickly added in. "Besides, if we're going to do this, we might as well eat up."
Reed blinked, looking at Sue who grabbed one of the muffins and didn't show any expression before looking back at Peter. "So…you agree?"
Peter sighed. "I…still don't like it. There's so much risk and we're doing this behind a lot of people's backs—" He then held up a hand when Reed opened his mouth. "—But! Sue brought up a good point, if there's another person who can keep an eye on things, I'd be more willing to work with it."
Reed turned to Sue curiously. "She did mention something like that to me."
"I also said no to doing things behind our backs. It's bad enough that we're doing this without Dad knowing, it's even worse if something happens." Sue reminded.
Reed sighed and reluctantly nodded. "Yes, I suppose you're right. As you always are."
"We'll see if you actually listen this time. I'm serious Reed, one step over the line, and I'm pulling this whole thing down."
Reed nodded, seriously this time. He had known her long enough to know she wouldn't hesitate to fulfill that promise if he did.
Peter bit into his muffin, chewing it as he mulled over his thoughts. "So, we agree? We do this as a team. If we get caught, it means losing everything but if it works out, the whole world could change."
"Well, not the worst ultimatum I've ever heard." Reed chuckled as he grabbed a muffin as well. He held it out to them with an expectant smile. "But if it means paving the way for a better world, then I'm willing to take it. For the future?"
Sue and Peter glanced over to each other and smiled, holding up their muffins to Reed's as a mock cheer.
"For the future."
[-]
Ever since that night, convincing Johnny and Ben to join them was much easier. Johnny was already in on it from the start and while Ben was a bit worried, they managed to convince him in the end.
From the start, it was obvious that Peter and Reed would be their main vanguards in the field. Reed had experience and knowledge in the quantum fields, but Peter's surprising and prodigal insights into biochemistry and biology helped support the project. They were working with a portal tech and how it would affect their biology was something they could not afford to gloss over.
It also reminded them that while he was technically an intern, he was very overqualified for it. Which led to a lot of back and forth.
"If we increase the spatial distortion, we'll be able to extend the range of the portal–"
"And turn anything that passes through into spaghetti." Peter smoothly answered as they stared at their calculations.
"But! We can avoid that if we smooth out the temporal wavelength. It'll be less going through a shredder that constantly stretches you around and more like going through a slightly tight tube." Reed added.
Peter scrunched up at that. "Ignoring the future complaints, their senses won't like that. The vertigo would be pretty harsh."
"I think we can put travel comfort to the side considering how experimental this is." Reed brought up.
"Yeah, but I'm talking about dropping down and puking their guts out kind of vertigo. We kinda need to work on that more if we want to make this viable." Peter stressed.
"What? Show me your work."
Peter promptly tapped at the corner of the whiteboard they were using. "Look here, the temporal wavelength smoothing out would make them experience the passage of time during travel and having it all compressed into a tight tube–"
"Would just make it worse, I think puking their guts out would be the least of their worries." Reed realized. "Depending on the distance, it would also fry their brains out thanks to sensory overload."
Peter squinted his eyes and looked back at his calculations, going over it a few more times before whistling. "Huh, yeah I didn't realize that. Good catch."
As they discussed, Johnny and Sue watched over them by the side with mixed expressions. The two siblings watched with rapt attention as they talked.
"God, it's like seeing a second Reed. He wasn't this active before." Johnny groaned.
"It's cute honestly," Sue giggled as she stared, finding it a hard time to take her eyes off. "It's the first time I've seen both of them really flexing their stuff."
Her brother gave her a weird look at that. "Yeah, I'm sure that's not the only thing you liked."
Sue finally turned away and glared at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Look, Peter kissed you–"
"—You're bringing that up now?!"
"Well, when else are we gonna talk about it?" Johnny asked with an obvious tone. "I'm just saying that it's kinda weird and I, as your brother, have a right to complain about it."
Sue sighed. "Fine, that's fair. But still, it was an in-the-moment thing, and it was just on the cheek. It's really not that deep."
"Is it though?" Johnny asked with a scrunched-up face colored with disbelief.
"Yes! Now can we please focus back?"
"Okay, but I'm keeping an eye on him."
"Suit yourself, hotshot." Sue sighed as she walked away.
'Really what had gotten into him to think that way? It really wasn't that deep!'
As she walked away, Johnny eyed her suspiciously before turning over to Peter.
Yeah, he's keeping an eye on them. His instincts on these kinds of things were rarely wrong.
And keep an eye on them, he did. As the team poured their focus into the work, Johnny, on the other hand, scrutinized everyone. It wasn't that he was lazy; he did his part when they needed him, but he was much more focused on this thing he had noticed.
It wasn't anything big, just small little changes of behavior from his sister. She hadn't noticed it; no one really did, but he did. He would be a pretty bad brother to not notice them. He had seen those little smiles and glances she sent to Peter, how they looked at each other when they had thought about the same thing. People could brush them off as coincidences but Johnny smelled something deeper here. Sue said it wasn't anything deep and he believed her, but he also believed that it could get deeper.
'Poor Reed, he won't even see it coming unless he steps up his game.' Johnny sighed as he glanced over to said scientist.
It's obvious to anyone that Reed has feelings for Sue—anyone but Sue anyway. It's not like she's dense, but it's beginning to dawn on Johnny that Sue might not return those feelings. That would explain why she didn't notice it: she took his gestures through a different lens and didn't think too much about it.
He just wished that Sue would let him down gently when the time came. He liked the dude and felt like a big brother he never had.
Speaking of brothers…
"What do you mean you don't like Star Wars?!" Peter gasped, clearly shocked by the blasphemy he just heard.
"I said what I said. That and I'm more of a Star Trek girl." Sue shamelessly admitted.
"What, space magic doesn't do it for you?" Peter smiled teasingly.
Sue matched it with one of her own. "I'm more of an adventure enthusiast. Exploring the deep frontiers of the unknown with a crew that's like a second family? Sounds like my kind of thing."
"One would even say it's romantic."
"Never hurts to have a few in life."
The two stared into each other's eyes for a moment, before Peter's grin broke to a full smile.
"Y'know what else has a good romantic plot?"
Sue scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Please don't say it—"
"I hate sand. It's course, and rough, and irritating." Peter continued, doing his best Anakin impression.
Sue groaned louder. "Ugh… and you ask me why I don't like Star Wars that much."
"You gotta admit, it's funny!"
Sue rolled her eyes, but there was fond amusement to her tone. "It is. Can't believe Padmé still wants to stay with him after that."
"Hey, just show she really likes him for who he is. If I remember right, Anakin was comparing her to sand because she was much softer and pleasant to him." Peter shrugged before giving her a look. "He's trying but it's pretty romantic for a dude with little social life, right?"
"Fiiine, I guess it's not that bad." Sue conceded. "I still stand by what I said though."
"That's it! We gotta do a movie night. I need to fix this blasphemy."
"Only if we do a Star Trek night too." Sue countered hotly. "I can't let you do all the arguments without making my own!"
"Are we watching the movies or the series?"
"The series, the movies can come later…if I feel like it anyway. It's a hit or miss for me to be honest."
Johnny stared as Sue and Peter talked about this eventual movie night of theirs, barely suppressing his exasperation. He then stared back at the oblivious Reed, still focused on his work.
'This is just sad.' Johnny closed his eyes, wondering how he should feel about this.
He liked Peter, but he wasn't sure about the idea of his sister being into men younger than her. He also knew Reed a lot longer, both he and Sue met in college and that was how his old man managed to discover him before roping Reed into Future Foundation. Outside of his big brain, his dad also liked his attitude enough to want him in his circles.
And who wouldn't? Outside of him being a little daring (in Johnny's opinion anyway), he was very polite and respectful despite being hella smart. Johnny had seen plenty of people getting a big head for smaller things, but Reed didn't and that much was enough to get him to respect the scientist. Reed was an all-around good dude; it was unfortunate that Sue didn't see him that way.
'The game was rigged from the start.' Johnny eyed back at the giggling Sue, probably from some joke that Peter made. Maybe there was some truth to Sue being into younger guys? Though, there was no way in hell he was diving into that rabbit hole. That way lied madness.
He then sighed and shook his head. Whatever, he'd deal with it when he crossed that bridge. For now, he'd just figure out what to do to cheer up Reed on the eventual rejection and probably get Ben on it too since he was Reed's best friend. He would need all the help because he just knew it was going to be rough.
[-]
The sound of flipping pages filled the room, Reed and his team watching as Franklin read through their report with keen eyes. The group stared at him with some nervousness, the man was known to be rather critical, after all. They usually didn't have to worry much about it since their respective specialties did keep things in check but after how Reed had blown up in response to Franklin's rejection, they feared that might make the man a lot more critical of them.
Franklin hummed, closing the file before turning his eyes to them. There was a bit of silence as he ruminated his thoughts before he spoke.
"Excellent work, I'm satisfied with the progress. Keep it up." Franklin remarked.
Reed tilted his head, that was…much more reserved than they usually get. "Thank you, sir. Do you have any other comments?"
Franklin thought it over before shaking his head. "No comments so far. Outside of still experimenting with the safety limits of the portal, your group already has a working tech. That's much bigger progress than I expected."
"Thank you, sir." Sue nodded with a smile. Though internally she noted that they might need to slow down a little or figure out some excuses to delay it since their dimensional portal was not even close to being finished. "Reed had been doing a lot of the heavy lifting admittedly, but our intern also has been a huge help."
"His insights into how the human body would react to the transportation process has certainly been helpful." Reed added with a smile.
"Truly? Then it seems like investing in him has been the right decision." Franklin clinically commented, but there was a hint of satisfaction to it. He then stood up and sighed. "Now if I may, I still have quite a few meetings to attend to."
"Is it related to our work?" Reed asked.
"It is. We have an experimental yet working portal tech and this file here–" He held up said item to their eye level, his intense gaze showing how important this was and made them realize how dark the bags under his eyes were."—is proof of not just the fruits of your labor but the amazing competence of your group. There's quite a lot of eyes on it and that also means more eyes on the company, nothing public yet, but the support we could gather with this from the people behind the scenes is immense."
The group stood a bit straighter, smiling as they realized that outside of the money they could rake in. It also meant growing their influence for the better.
But Franklin's next words put a damper on their mood.
"Who knows, if this all goes well I might revisit that new dimension research proposal." Franklin commented as he walked out of the office.
The group paused, Reed especially. The man glanced at Sue who kept her face carefully blank. He then glanced at Ben, who was doing a bit of a worse job than Sue but still carefully hidden. The man took a deep breath and sighed before they walked out of the office as well.
He really hoped once the dust settled, Franklin would forgive them.
[-]
Peter hummed as he sat beside Johnny, both in light clothing, as they worked on the contraption in front of them. Their breath was slightly labored as sweat dripped down their foreheads. They had worked on it for several days now. They had the option of hiring people to help them but they thought adding strangers to help them make what was supposed to be a secret experiment was a bad idea—it helped that they already had a history of just creating the tech all on their own due to how specific it needed to be.
"Y'know, I never take you as someone that knows their way with a wrench." Johnny commented, his tongue poking out as he tightened up a few screws.
"I'm not as good as you but I can help with a car at least." Peter chuckled as he checked on the energy readings, trying to see if their work was causing any reactions.
"Hah! No one is as good as me." Johnny boasted. "But you're not too bad yourself."
'Iron Man would say otherwise.' Peter silently snarked, remembering how the man had built a whole suit from a bunch of scraps in a cave.
"But still, this isn't really a car now is it." Johnny noted, eyeing the engineering marvel before them with some awe. "I know we say it a lot but damn, Reed is one hell of a dude."
"Yeah…"
Peter could understand where Johnny's sense of awe was coming from. Sure they were building it themselves with minimal help, but by the end of the day, Reed was the one that designed the whole blueprint for it.
Seeing it on paper was one thing, but looking at it with their own eyes was something else.
Right in front of them was a massive gate, an arch of steel with exposed cables and circuits all over. Attached to the gate was a bunch of wires that connected it to another room, a bunker of sorts created to watch things from a safe distance while also protecting them.
Peter looked around at the massive space given to their team. He sometimes wondered just how massive the company's budget was because the sheer scope of everything was insane, especially with their free reign on it.
'Guess that's what you get for being a top scientist.' Not for the first time Peter had thought of it and certainly not the last.
Peter then looked back at the gate. It was clearly a portal gate, they hadn't tested out the safety limits yet but they were getting there. A few more days and he reckoned they would figure it out.
'But that's not our main goal is it?' Peter narrowed his eyes.
If it was just purely for transport then it was close to being finished. But to travel to another dimension? Not even close. Dimensional transport was a whole nother beast compared to just teleporting around the planet. First, they had to tune up the coordinator to latch in on a dimension. With what little knowledge they still had on it, that's gonna be a bit difficult. It's like throwing out bait in the middle of the sea while at night with no lights on. Just you, the boat, your fishing rod, and hoping that you get a catch and that catch won't kill you the moment you reel it in.
Very difficult and that was supposed to be the easy part.
A new dimension meant another layer of reality that ran on completely different rules. While their dimension might have gravity and friction, the other dimension might not, which meant a lot of dangerous implications for their squishy human bodies. Reed and he had gone back and forth on how to deal with that problem and decided that just a protective suit wouldn't be enough. They need to figure out how to tune their dimensional frequencies to match the new dimensions so they didn't immediately die on contact.
Peter sighed and scratched his head, already dreading the late nights in the future. But that's fine, they were close to figuring it out. Hell, he had even taken some notes from his Spider-Tracer designs to see if he could use anything there to help with it. So far, there was definitely a bit of overlap. Sharing a frequency with his Spider-Sense was oddly similar to the concept of the dimensional tuning device, but just applied on a bigger scale.
Huh, there might be more to his Spider-Sense.
Peter shook his head, whatever. He could figure that out later. He just gotta keep working on this portal with Johnny and make sure everything was smooth sailing.
[-]
A few days passed, and the team kept on working on the portal. Peter had gone through quite a bit of sleepless nights that were definitely taking a bit of a toll on his superhuman body. He had pushed himself before but now it was just something else.
It definitely affected his activity as Spider-Man too. He had been taking longer and longer breaks in between patrols and the rest of his friends had noticed. They weren't mad about it, if anything they were happy. Peter Parker actually taking a break from being Spider-Man for a bit was a happy occasion.
Felicia had even cheered, thinking she could finally chill on the vigilante stuff and relax with him. Her glare when she heard that he would still be putting a lot of time on Future Foundation for his work had been downright glacial.
Gwen and Harry weren't as happy to hear about it either; all of them had long noticed that he was spending more and more time on his internship. They weren't mad at him, so to speak, more a bit upset that he was so busy but they understood. His work this time was too important, he had told them that the team he was with was messing with some serious stuff and he wanted to make sure everything went well.
They were still a bit upset but they understood. That being said, it didn't mean he didn't have to pay back all that lost time later though. Hoo boy…
Still, through all the sleepless nights and some liberal amounts of caffeine that would probably kill lesser college kids, they managed to do it. With his Spider-Tracer notes, he was able to help Reed figure out the dimensional tuning device to work on their bodies safely and ensure that whatever rules the other dimension runs on, they won't immediately die the moment they take one step in.
The group now sat in the lab, marveling at the massive portal in front of them. A massive silver arch that gleamed from the lighting, perched on a pedestal and sitting in the middle of the room like it was the main focus of the lab. The mess of wires that had previously been present was now gone, neatly sorted, and hidden away so that they had some free space to move.
Johnny chuckled. "Finally, it's done!"
"God, I can now sleep with my wife." Ben groaned as he rolled his shoulders, having done a good amount of the heavy lifting to build the damn thing, wincing when that made his shoulder pop. God, his whole body felt sore.
The rest chuckled, Sue shaking her head and sighed. "All that's left is to finish up the paperwork. Then we can get to testing."
"What are we even gonna say to Dr. Storm though?" Peter asked. "I mean, he'd definitely want to see the portal in action but then how are we going to test out the other features?"
"Don't worry about it." Reed waved it off. "He's in another state for the week and has already given us the go-ahead to test it out. We'll mark it under 'safety precautions test' until he gets here. Then we'll make it to the official test."
"So while dad's away, we get to play." Johnny realized with a smirk, rubbing his hands with a mischievous gleam.
"Behave, Johnny." Sue warned. "Peter and I would still be here to make sure everything is going fine, so don't go around making a mess."
"We'll be fine!" Johnny assured before gesturing to Reed. "We got Reed here. The portal's gonna work smoothly and you'll feel stupid for being so worried."
"If all goes well, I hope that's the case…" Sue muttered, giving a small glance at Peter, who was eyeing the portal gate with trepidation.
As worried as she was, Peter was feeling worse than her. She had noticed it as they worked on the project. He still talked and joked with her like normal, much more than usual even. She was beginning to realize that was his usual way of handling stress.
'Well, at least it's somewhat healthy. Can't say much about that on my end.' Sue remarked. She wasn't exactly the type to air out her frustrations so willingly. However, she was beginning to notice that she had an easier time about it with Peter.
She couldn't help it, something about him just made it so easy to let her guard down.
While Sue contemplated, Peter exhaled deeply at her side. He'd admit that part of him was feeling pretty nervous, but there was also a deep excitement bubbling inside him, the scientist in him chomping at the bit at the discovery. There wasn't anything like it in the previous timeline, and the memories he got from the other two Peters showed that their worlds were lagging in terms of technology.
With all of that new knowledge at his fingertips, he could understand why Reed was so adamant about being the first to explore it.
"So, when are we testing it out?" Peter asked.
"Tonight."
Reed's answer caught a few stares, his team and intern staring like he had just grown a new head.
"'Tonight?'" Ben repeated with wide eyes.
Reed nodded before giving them a pleading look. "Yes, I know you guys are tired but the faster we do it, the faster we can get it done."
The group relented at Reed's words; for as much as they were excited about the things they could find, all of them were getting pretty close to just wanting to get it done.
"Well we got a few hours left, might as well take a shower and get something to eat." Sue brought, already getting to her feet. "Thinking of ordering takeout; you guys got any suggestions?"
"You paying?" Johnny shamelessly asked.
"Everyone except yours, yeah." Sue smoothly answered.
"Oh, come on!"
"Thinking pizza could be good; can't go wrong with pizza." Peter suggested, quietly ignoring the pouting Johnny.
"If we're going with pizza, I'm having Hawaiian." Ben requested, patting his growling stomach.
"Can never understand your love of pineapples on pizza." Reed shook his head, even Peter crinkled a little at that.
"What? It's sweet!" Ben defended.
"Boys, I'm too hungry to listen to you argue about this for the nth time. So order up before I change my mind." Sue sighed.
"Right right, I think I'll just have Supreme." Reed ordered.
"I'll have what he's having." Peter gestured to Reed.
"And I'll have—"
"So that's everyone, okay." Sue promptly cut her brother off.
Johnny gaped, watching Sue walk away. "Oh, you asshole! Listen to me, Sue! Sue!"
The rest laughed as they watched Johnny chase after his sister.
[-]
It was the dead of night, but the floor was filled with activity. The lights were still on and the sound of machinery filled the empty halls of the building, creating quite a contrasting atmosphere. But this was common for them, so anyone familiar with the building wouldn't even give it a second glance, especially in a city like New York.
Reed and his team were in the portal room, sitting inside the safety of their bunker as they typed into the various computers around them. It was mostly Sue, Reed, and Peter doing the majority of the heavy lifting as Ben and Johnny didn't have much know-how on this side of the expertise field. The room inside the bunker was lined with computers, Reed being at the forefront as he was responsible for directing the setting and launching of the portal while Sue and Peter sat further at the back, keeping an eye on the energy readings and making tweaks to ensure safety as they managed the portal. At the side were Johnny and Ben who were just watching, ready to help in case they were needed. They weren't going to enter the portal or anything like it (they weren't that eager) but it was good to be prepared, especially with them about to reach into new territory.
"Energy level stable," Sue called. "Can begin powering at command."
"Begin powering the Quantum Tunnel." Reed ordered.
"Powering the Quantum Tunnel." Sue rogered, typing into the computer to begin the sequence.
The whole room starts to come to life, thrumming in power the whole place begins to vibrate. Some of them, namely Johnny and Peter as they were the ones with less experience, were starting to look worried at the shakes but didn't bring it up since no one looked worried. Peter glanced at his monitor and sighed in relief when he saw the readings were still stable.
"Energy readings still stable." Peter called out, "Can begin preparations for the next phase."
"Begin the next phase." Reed immediately ordered.
"Removing the tunnel locks," Sue called, the silver arch visibly shifting as panels began to pop out from it. "Energy level?"
"Still good." Peter answered.
"Flowing them into the gate, now." With the press of a button, the thrum intensifies. The shakes were now noticeable, the lights were blinking in and out but the gate had come to life. The portal began sparking to life, yellow-golden light began peaking at the edges before slowly turning blue, the light coalescing in the middle into a blue vortex.
The group let out a collective sigh of relief. They weren't out of danger yet but they were happy that it was smooth sailing so far. The activation of the portal was the hard part, everything had to go right the first time before they could even begin setting the coordinates. As long as the gate was working, they could immediately start setting the coordinates.
"Quantum Tunnel hot and ready for transport." Sue smiled, glancing at everyone and sharing a small laugh. She then glanced at Peter and her smile fell a little, the young man was eyeing the blue vortex in front of them with trepidation. Guess he's still nervous about this, not that she could blame him.
Idly she reached out to him, Peter suddenly glancing at her in surprise as she gave him a reassuring smile. Peter's surprise melted away, nodding at her appreciatively. No one noticed the brief contact between the two of them, no one except Johnny.
"Alright, I'll begin setting the coordinates. We'll start small first and try to portal to anywhere in the city." Reed ordered, taking everyone's attention. All of them had already decided on how to do this before, making a list of private or out-of-the-way places where people wouldn't see a sudden massive vortex appearing out of nowhere. Reed began inputting into the monitor, "Inputting coordinates, set. Launching destination in 3…2…1—"
VOOOM
With a jolt, the vortex sparked, the coalesced energy in the middle began expanding into a circle, reaching the edges and revealing the sight before them. The group gasped at the sight, even Peter couldn't help it since he was very familiar with the sight due to his web swinging.
The skyline of New York was clear for them to see, it was much higher in the air and they were hoping and praying to any god out there that the saying 'people rarely look up' was true but right now, they were enjoying the sight that their portal worked.
"Ben, can you grab something and toss it in there?" Reed asked.
"What? You want me to get out?" Ben asked incredulously.
"We gotta see if anything can pass through somehow." Reed said. "Grab that pizza box, it should be good."
Ben gaped, looking at everyone who glanced at him expectantly. He sighed and grabbed the empty pizza box before heading to the door, shakily he opened it. He stepped out, staring at the massive portal with clear fear, glancing back at everyone else who all gave him some thumbs up or some smiles of encouragement. Ben rolled his eyes and groaned, slowly walking his way to the portal before he stopped a good distance from it. From the distance, he could already feel the cold air of New York from the other side, the stench thankfully didn't reach inside. With a huff, he threw the box like frisbee, barely even passing through the portal and—
THONK
—landing on a nearby roof, unharmed.
"Woo!"
"Hell yeah!"
"Atta boy, Ben!" Reed chuckled, dabbing up his best friend who had rushed his way inside the moment he tossed the box.
Ben chuckled. "I am not going there alone after this."
Reed just rolled his eyes in exasperation but didn't say anything. "Alright let's check out other places." Reed continued, his excitement palpable. "Changing coordinates, set. Launching in 3…2…1—!"
VOOM
Much faster than before, the portal jolted again. The circle shrinks for only a short moment before expanding, this time showing a different sight of New York. Specifically from the very top of the Statue of Liberty.
Laughter erupted from the room, all of them smiling ear to ear.
"Changing!"
VOOM
"Changing!"
VOOM
"Changing!"
VOOM
Change after change, the portal shifted through different locations and with each shift, their smiles turned wider and wider. The portal worked! And all that was left was the final test. All of them realized it and knew how big this was, creating a heavy atmosphere.
"Okay," Reed breathed, glancing at Peter. "Quantum Tuner?"
"Ready, just need the coordinates to start synching." Peter nodded.
"Alright, here we go," Reed muttered. "Shifting the dimensional axis, launching 'hook'." Peter's analogy about fishing in the dark had caught on a little, which got leaked into their protocols here. The monitor gave steady readings, having launched the 'hook' and waiting for it to anchor to a dimension. Then, the lights turned green and a beep could be heard, Reed licking his suddenly dry lips. "Hook anchored, uncovering coordinates and sending it to the tuner."
"Coordinates received," Peter called before inputting the data into his monitor. "Quantum Tuner is live! Uncovering the dimension's natural laws and synching the portal." The room then fell silent, filled with only the beepings of the monitors around them. The process would take a bit so all of them would just have to be patient. After a solid minute, Peter's monitor beeped with a green light. "Tuner is ready to go!"
Reed breathed out a long sigh, anticipation filling him. He glanced around the room, noting everyone's eyes on him. The moment he opened that portal, there was no turning back. Mind now set, he begins the process.
"Dimensional Axis, set. Launching in 3…2…1—!"
VOOOOOOM
The portal jolted much more intensely than before, the blue hue of the vortex now tinging gold as it expanded into a circle. The view was dark until the sight at the other side properly came into view. The group gasped in awe, right before their eyes was a strange sight. The ground was barren, a jaggy field of rock and stone that created odd formations that filled the wasteland. The skies were pitch black yet clear for them to see, revealing the countless stars that coalesced in the bright sky akin to a nebula. Reed then narrowed his eyes, it wasn't that they weren't like Nebulas, they were Nebulas!
"I can't believe it, to see stars so close to each other and so visibly." Reed gasped, his mind racing at the implication."
"Place is a waste though, nothing to see." Johnny commented.
"Not quite." Ben shook his head. "Look at all those mountains and how it formed, that ain't how it should look."
"Ben's right, the terra formations of the planet we've stumbled on must be pretty unique." Sue commented. "There's a lot we can learn just from that."
"Peter, Sue, anything on the energy readings?" Reed asked.
"The cosmic energy is off the charts," Sue immediately answered. "The things we could learn or even just harvest would be massive." Her words made everyone smile, other than possibly being rich as hell, the things they could change with it would be amazing. Just like Reed had predicted.
"So how are we gonna grab all of that?" Johnny asked.
"I'm more worried about that." The group turned to the direction Peter pointed at, spotting a massive yellow light that was shining in the distance.
"Is that the sun?" Johnny asked.
Peter narrowed his eyes, his Spidey Sense giving a low buzz. "...I don't think so—"
BROOOOMM
Everything suddenly shook, the group finding their footing unstable as the bright golden light in the distance suddenly expanded so explosively that the aftershock even managed to reach through the portal and into their room. They all gaped as they saw the golden light expand, wisps of cosmic energy whip out from the center and scorching the planet, leaving burning shockwaves in its path, uprooting the firm ground beneath as—
"It's heading this way…" Ben realized.
"Shut the portal." Reed immediately commanded, typing into the monitor as he did so.
"Already on it!" Sue was already typing the moment the explosion was released, sweat already forming as she tried to close it down.
"It's not working." Peter realized.
"What?!"
"The portal is not closing! The explosion must have done something to it!" Peter replied.
"Can't we just pull the plug?!" Johnny panickedly asked.
"The major plugs are outside—!" Reed couldn't even finish before Ben rushed out of the room, immediately heading straight to the cables and pulling them out.
"I'll go help him!" Johnny immediately followed.
"Johnny, wait!" Sue called.
"No, Sue! We need to try on our end too! Have you tried the emergency shutdown?" Reed asked.
"I did! But it didn't work!"
Reed groaned as he eyed the encroaching energy wave, "Peter?"
"Trying to redirect the energy into the Tuner!"
"Huh, why?" Reed asked
"If we can sync dimensions with it, then I can desync it enough to destabilize the portal."
"Yes, yeah that can work. I'll help." Reed immediately began typing into his monitor while Sue rushed to Peter's station, watching over his work.
The group rushed to close it, sweat dripping down their foreheads as they tried everything to close it down. Suddenly the portal sparked, the silver gate erupting with golden energy and pulsed!
"GAAAH!"
"Johnny!"
"Ben!"
Their screams were audible to them, Reed already rushing to the door to check on his friend while Sue remained frozen, her eyes stuck on the encroaching wave of destruction so close to the gate.
"Come on, come on!" Peter was the only one left focused, already using his superhuman speed to get the Tuner to destabilize.
DING
"Got it!"
The portal pulsed again, this time imploding into itself. The golden vortex shrank into a blue hue right as the wave reached it!
"No…" Sue softly gasped.
Bright light filled their vision before the whole floor crumbled.
Chapter 20 - What A Heavy Day
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SKaine
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Chapter 20 - What A Heavy Day
Pain. That was the only thing that Peter could think of. Pure, unfiltered pain wrecked through his body as he felt his limbs creaking and snapping as he struggled even to think.
Peter croaked breathlessly, faintly feeling his body arch to and fro as his head tried to grasp his fragmented consciousness. He couldn't even begin to describe the pain he was in; he had nothing to compare it to. Not even when Thanos snapped him to dust, the only thing that hurt at that time was how intense his Spider-Sense was before he disappeared.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled his mind together, using nothing but pure will to wade through the pain and piece his head back together. 'Strands' of what could only be pieces of his mind reach out, following the trails left behind from his fractured consciousness and reaching another 'strand'. With a pull that exerted more effort than he could possibly imagine, he reconnected them. A mental 'click' resounded through his mind and his hearing suddenly returned. He didn't even know he had lost it, but now he could hear bones snapping and crunching.
He gasped soundlessly, relief flooding him as the pain numbed a little. It hadn't faded, but it showed that he was on the right track.
Groaning, he pulled. Reaching out to every 'piece' and pulling them closer, the 'strands' of his mind reaching out and reconnecting—reweaving itself back into form. The sound of bones creaking and snapping together filled his ears, but he ignored them. Each time a piece tied back, the pain numbed away as the feeling returned to his aching body. Peter groaned and rasped, steeling through the agony with nothing but his will to get his mind and body back together.
He could feel it, his body was there. He was unsure of what condition he was in but covered in what he could only describe as a mass of tangled strands. He would have tried to process more if he could see more, his sight had returned, but something was blocking his eyes from seeing anything. Despite the lack of sight, he could still feel it. Feel it oh so painfully yet so familiarly. It felt like—No, it was his psychic armor. The mass of tangled, fragmented strands encapsulating him bore that familiar feeling of crystallized psionic energy. The armor had suddenly expanded, pulling his mind along with it and now torturing him in this psychotic pain while trapped in a coffin of his own making.
A sense of claustrophobia encroached, and his breathing turned erratic as he fidgeted. Panic was sinking in even as he tried to remain calm. The pain, ironically, had taken his focus away, and now that it had faded, he was tossed into another kind of hell.
He was trapped, he couldn't even move, see, let alone breathe. All that he could hear was his panicking breathing. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't think. He couldn't even feel anything, he couldn't feel his body anymore. All he could feel was him sinking into panic in this stuffy coffin as he suffocated—
"Ugh!"
A voice reached his ears, even through the tangled fragments he could hear it well. He recognized that voice too, was that—
"P-Peter! W-where are you?! I'm–I–"
'Sue!'
Her voice was all he needed to recenter himself, her cry for help the only drop of motivation to rekindle the flame of his will as he pulled again. Groaning with spite and rage he tugged and tied the fragments back together, spite at his situation and anger at himself. Sue was still here, afraid and scared and here he was losing his damn mind? Unacceptable.
Fresh air hits his lower mouth, a choked groan passes through his lips. Twisting his body, he shakily got to his feet, finally feeling his toes as the pain faded away. A scream reached his ears, Peter instinctively turned to it as a piece of the psychic plate around his head crumbled—unraveled and rewoven itself to the surface of his mind, revealing half of his face.
"Peter?"
His lone eye finally saw her, widening in shock. Sue was kneeling on the floor and breathing heavily but she looked different, her lower body shifting in and out of sight while her arms mimicked it. Her eyes were red, probably from crying as she stared at him with hope and fear.
"Peter! H-help me!"
Peter stumbled, his body still stiff with all the plates surrounding his body. Lumbering forward, his hands grasped a nearby panel to steady himself and accidentally crushed it. Peter winced but his only focus was on Sue.
The woman sobbed, crawling to her feet as she shakily ran towards him. She would have crashed into the nearby broken rubble with how dark it was but she somehow passed through them, Sue sobbing as she looked down on her shifting body in horror.
"P-peter! My body, it's–it's!" The woman stumbled, her eyes widened as she lost her footing and was ready to hit the floor. She saw Peter reaching out to her and the only thing she could think of was how she would pass through him like she did earlier and fall, maybe further if she passed through the floor too.
"I got you!" Peter's voice came out a little muffled, but his arms reached out to her, somehow holding her solidly.
Sue held on to him desperately, afraid that she'd phase through him just like she did before. Sobbing and crying as she dove into his neck despite the plate separating them.
"Shh, I got you. I'm not letting you go, I got you." Peter assured her, his mind now fully centered as the armor around him slowly receded, the plates unraveling and rejoin the threads that make up the psionic barrier that layering his mind.
Peter was about to fully pull them back into him until he felt Sue slowly sinking into him. There was a faint suction he could feel with the armor, as if it was 'clinging' to her, unraveling the 'threads' that layered and tied up to make up the armor was slowly weakening that feeling so he quickly 'reweave' the armor back up before Sue could notice, his hold on her became a lot more secure and stopped that minute feeling of her sinking through him. He was curious about that but was much more focused on the sobbing woman in his arms who clearly needed him.
"P-peter, my body. I-I don't know what's happening to me." Sue babbled. "It's there but it's not there, I–"
"Sue, breathe." Peter reminded, using his armored hand to rub her head soothingly. The gesture was surprisingly comfortable despite the plates. "Can you still feel them?"
"I-I can."
"Then focus on them, try to bring them back." Peter advised. He wasn't sure what he was doing if he was being honest but damn if he wouldn't try. "Just breathe and focus."
"I can't, Peter! It's–"
"Yes, you can, Sue. You're stronger than this, you can do it. You just need to try."
That seemed to snap Sue out of it a little, the woman taking in deep breaths as she held onto his back tightly with her invisible fingers. Peter slowly pulled them down, Sue almost jostling in shock before realizing that Peter was just seating them down with her on his lap.
Sue focused, using Peter's soothing hold and whispers to center herself. She could still feel her limbs, could still feel and move them. They were shifting in and out of sight and it was slowly spreading throughout her body. Not seeing her body yet still 'seeing' it still made her horrified. But feeling Peter's arms secure around her when she couldn't even touch anything, feeling his comforting warmth on her skin as she slowly pulled herself back together kept her centered and most importantly, safe.
'Was he always this warm?' Sue couldn't help but think of how secure she was here, how calm everything was. As if everything didn't matter but here, in this moment right now.
As her breathing steadied, she felt solid again. Before it felt like her body was so light it would have flown up. Now, she finally felt like she was back on her feet and not at risk of falling. Opening her eyes hesitantly, she glanced down at her arm, secured on Peter's neck, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's there, it stopped." Sue couldn't help but let out another sob, this time in happiness.
"See? You could do it." Peter smirked.
Sue could only nod, despite no longer feeling like she'd fall away into the world, she still wasn't confident to let go of Peter. "What happened to us?" She instead asked.
Multiple things go through Peter's mind, "Nothing concrete but I think we got powers." Or mutated an already existing one in his case. His psychic armor had never fully covered him before and after reeling it all back to his mind, the usual psychic barrier around it felt…thicker for lack of a better word. Felt a lot more complete too, though there was that odd feeling to the armor, how it was made up of threads that he just 'weaved' into existence.
He would have loved to explore more of it and that weird interaction it had with whatever happened to Sue back there but it could wait.
"Powers? Like Mutants?" Sue asked, her tone shocked.
"Yeah, seems like it."
Sue didn't even know what to say to that, part of her wanted to violently reject the idea of having something like this but another part of her, who was still secure in Peter's arms, was saying that as long as Peter was here, she would be fine. Right?
"Still, we gotta find the others."
"Oh god, Johnny." Sue belatedly realized, mentally berating herself for forgetting them. "Reed and Ben too. We gotta find them."
"Let's go then."
The two got up to their feet and slowly went through the rubble, Sue unwilling to let go of Peter's arm. Peter could understand after everything that had happened. He then narrowed his eyes, looking at the mess around him with a complicated look. The place was a mess, the whole room was littered with dust and rubble, and the front window they used to look at the main portal room was destroyed and blocked by debris. Honestly, Peter considered them lucky to not be buried under them.
Peter then blinked, realizing there was no light. His night vision made him see things easily of course but Sue shouldn't be able to see a thing.
"Sue, there's no light."
"What? But, we can see just fine."
"Not sure what happened to me but for you, it might be connected to that whole invisible thing you had going on."
Sue pursed her lips, her eyes felt normal but there was no denying what Peter said was true. There was no light source, all the lamps got destroyed and they were trapped in basically a cave of debris. So how could they see anything?
"I…it was dark at first when I woke up. I thought it was just the lights going out or something and then everything just…brightened up."
"There's gotta be a reason for it." Peter reasoned as they waded through the small room, trying to get to the entrance.
"I think it started because I just want to see everything again." Sue narrowed her eyes, trying to remember what she felt before everything went to hell. Her eyes widened in shock when everything started to get dark again before she renewed her 'need to see', the whole world brightening back up again. "Huh."
"What is it?"
"It happened again. Everything slowly turned dark when I realized what was happening so I just did what I did back then. It's much easier than expected to be honest."
"Well better count your lucky stars that it came that easily. Wouldn't want a repeat of last time right?"
"Yeah…" Sue definitely didn't want a repeat of feeling like she'd disappear.
The two then finally reached the entrance, their expression falling when they saw what was blocking their way.
"We're trapped…" Sue realized, her tone vacant.
Peter glanced at the massive boulders blocking their path, the metal door that used to be there was dented and ruined on the opposite side. Peter felt conflicted when he saw it, he could easily remove that but Sue was right here. He quickly shoved that thought, it didn't matter now. Sue needs his help and if he had to use his powers to get to the others, then so he might as well. Not like he didn't have a convenient excuse anyway.
"Peter?" Sue glanced at him questioningly when he tried to pry away her hands.
"It's okay, Sue. I think I can move it."
"What?"
Peter gestured to the ruined consoles. "I did that when I tried getting to you. If I can do that, then…" He trailed off, glancing at the boulder meaningfully.
"...Okay then." Sue clearly didn't want to but hesitantly let go of his arms.
Peter gave her a reassuring smile before he walked up to the boulder. With a deep breath, he reached out to his armor. That faint gnawing of claustrophobia returned as his psionic armor reweaved itself, but he pushed it to the side, more focused and concerned on the situation. The moment the helmet formed, Peter got worried about not being able to see until everything blinked back into view. Could he see through the armor? Or was it like seeing with the armor? He wasn't sure about the specifics since even his senses weren't helping him much, but at least he could see now.
Peter glanced down at his arms, the sheer power he felt through his body was greater than before. The full coverage led to a significant upgrade to his already impressive physical specs. He could just use his normal super strength, but part of him wanted to get used to his new mutation as fast as he could.
Putting his hands on the boulder, he didn't even grunt as he pushed it to the side. The massive stone rolled across the ground and was pushed to the side with ease. Peter looked back at the entrance and narrowed his eyes, knowing that there was still debris hidden behind. Carefully, he started digging through them, punching them gently enough to crack them open and then digging them out of the way.
"Couldn't you just push them out or something?" Sue asked curiously. He did have super strength now.
"If I do that, I could accidentally send these things flying and hurt someone." Peter pointed out, his voice clear despite the block from his armor. His comment made Sue fall silent, feeling a little stupid for suggesting something like that.
She stared silently as Peter worked, feeling guilty at being unable to do anything. She wasn't even sure what had happened to her, even with Peter telling her that she just got powers. Part of her was pretty impressed that Peter adapted so fast.
Finally, the entrance cleared up, the pile of rocks crumbling onto the floor without injuring anyone. Not like they could see anyone past the room anyway. Peter eyed it with some weariness as his armor dissolved back into threads, leaving only his limbs covered as a just-in-case. He turned back, nearly jumping from the sudden appearance of Sue by his side. He hadn't even heard her!
Shaking his head, he gestured to the entrance. "Let's go." Sue quickly took back his arm and he guided her out without complaint.
The moment they walked out, wires filled their vision. There was some light peeking through which made things easier to see thankfully but they were just surrounded by destroyed machinery, dangling wires, and of course, rubble everywhere. The thick strings of black cables were strewn around everywhere, entangling all over the room and making it harder for them to navigate. Peter frowned when he saw it being tangled up with another strand, the color odd to him. Did they use anything like that—
Sue's muted gasp took his attention. Turning to where she was looking, he widened his eyes at the sight of a burning pile. Peter immediately looked for a fire extinguisher before he shunted that thought away. Whatever fire extinguisher nearby would have been destroyed by the explosion.
Then they heard something. It was a groan, coming straight from the burning pile.
"Ugh…Wha…"
"Johnny? Johnny!" Sue recognized the voice despite how low it was, being more than familiar with her brother, she quickly rushed to the burning pile. Peter quickly followed, rushing ahead of her and using his armored limbs to kick and push the burning rubble away. He sounded fine but having all that heat around you would be a bad idea.
The two paused once they cleared it away, Sue's eyes threatened to spill tears as they saw Johnny's body covered in flames. The only thing they could see that even suggested that it was Johnny was the faint silhouette of his body and…his surprisingly calm yet groggy voice.
"S-Sue?" He asked.
"J-Johnny. Oh my god, what happened to you?" Sue whispered, kneeling before her brother's prone form with wide eyes. Despite the close distance, she barely even felt any heat from him.
"W-what? What are you talking about and…why is everything so…orange?" Johnny coughed, turning to the side as he groaned in pain. His head dipped low and finally laid eyes on the rest of his body. "What the—What the hell?! What happened to me?! I'm burning!"
"Johnny, calm down! You're not hurt, I–well I don't think you are since you don't look like you feel it…" Sue muttered.
"I…You're right. It's–everything's warm but I feel fine." Johnny gasped, holding up his burning hands in wonder. "The hell happened to me, hell what happened to Pete?! His arms look weird!"
"Long story," Peter sighed, gripping his armored fingers as he eyed Johnny wearily. "You okay? Can you turn back?"
"I–I can try." Johnny took a deep breath, focusing inward on his new…power? Was this how Mutants felt?
"Deep breaths, Johnny. Try to feel out what's different." Sue advised, remembering how she felt. Her earlier fright pushed to the side and now fully focused on her still-living brother. She wasn't sure how he survived, but she wasn't questioning it.
"I'm trying just—let me focus, sis."
While Sue helped her brother, Peter was immediately looking around for Ben and Reed. Johnny had tried to help Ben earlier, so he must be nearby, right?
A gasp from Johnny made him turn back, smiling once he saw Johnny back to normal and relatively unharmed.
"Hah! It worked! Sis, it worked!" Johnny whooped as he hugged his sister tight, the woman more than happy to wrap her arms around and laugh along with him.
A grunt then caught Peter's attention. Peter looked for the source and found another pile of debris, this time bigger than the previous ones he had seen.
"Ugh, Reed! Sue! Anyone? I–I'm stuck!"
The three turned to the rubble with a mixture of relief and amazement.
"Ben!" Sue gasped.
"You two stay there, I'll get him!" Peter rushed to the rubble, "I got you, Ben! You hurting anywhere?!"
"I…I can't feel anything." His words dropped lead on Peter's stomach. "I-I can still move my toes but I can't feel through them? It's weird, you gotta get me out of here."
"I gotcha, don't worry." Peter assured him, already digging through the pile of rocks with his armored limbs. Pushing and pulling on every large stone, easing the burden for Ben. "Tell me when you feel like you can move!"
"I—" A grunt, some of the stones slowly lifting. "Yeah, I think I can. Just a little bit—"
"Wait, Ben, it's still too big for you to–!"
"UARRGH!"
Peter took a couple of steps back in shock as the rubble was pushed away violently. His eyes widened as he caught another glimpse of orange along with a giant silhouette.
"Holy fuck…" Johnny gasped right behind him.
"What? What are you looking at me like…that?" Ben muttered. The smoke from the sudden push finally let him see his hands. His eyes widened as he saw his arms covered in rocky texture, solid stacks of orange stone covering his whole body. "What the hell…What happened to me?!" He shrieked, his now rocky face morphed a little to show his shock.
"Ben, sit down, please. Something similar happened to us, you could turn back too." Peter assured him.
"I…Alright." Ben nodded, hesitantly sitting down and wincing when the ground cracked from his weight. He stared at his hands with fright and confusion. "How do I–"
Peter immediately answered. "It's different from us, I think but try to find anything that feels different. Start from there."
"I–Okay." Ben nodded and closed his eyes, his expression shifting as he tried and failed to feel anything different. "I–I can't feel my skin, but there's nothing weird."
"There's gotta be something…" Peter muttered.
"I'm trying but I can't find it!" Ben let out a frustrated grunt. "You sure this works?"
"It worked on us." Johnny answered. Sue remained silent as she stared at Ben in concern.
"Well, it ain't working for me." Ben gruffed. "Fuck, what the hell I'm supposed to say to Alicia."
"It's gonna be okay, Ben." Sue immediately rushed forward, unhesitantly hugging his rock-hard body, and pressed their foreheads together. "We can fix this, we'll find a way."
"I…I…" Ben sniffed, on the verge of crying as he listlessly leaned his head on Sue's. Mentally overwhelmed by what had happened to him.
"Wait, where's Reed?" Johnny suddenly asked.
"H-he chased after you two when he heard you scream," Sue explained, her eyes looking around for him.
The group began looking around, Peter and Johnny already searching through the rubble while Sue stayed with the devastated Ben. The two young men called out for his name as they walked through the devastated lab.
"Reed!" Peter screamed, already splitting up from Johnny. "Where are you?!"
"...uh…"
Peter's eyes widened at the faint voice that reached his ears, immediately booking to where he might have heard it.
"Reed!"
"...ugh…"
"Come on, man! Give me something." Peter whispered that last part as he reached a dead end, his eyes flitted around and only spotting the thick wires tangled around him.
"..Pete…"
Peter froze, the voice now extremely close yet still low. He eyed the tangled wires, finally processing the color of them and how odd it was. They—they never had wires in that color.
"...Pete…"
Slowly, his eyes trailed the wires and went up and up until his horrified eyes reached the source. Before him was what could be called a human spaghetti, the skin and hair stretched unnaturally as they reached and pierced through the gaps in the debris and walls around them. The flesh-like tendrils were all around them, and Peter could spot some orifices attached to them. The nearest wire had a sole eye gazing at him listlessly.
"Peter…" Peter jolted in horror, looking at a corner and noticing half of Reed's face staring right at him, his other half stretched unnaturally along with his hair, forming tendrils that connected to the abomination around them. His sole vacant eye stared at him with untold pain.
The only thing Peter could do at the sight was dropped down on his ass, his hand cupping his face in horror.
Everything had gone worse, so much worse than he could have expected…
[-]
"Are you sure you're alright, dear?"
"I'm fine, May." Peter sighed as he leaned on the wall. His phone pressed to his ear as he sat down on the floor, clearly tired. "Just…been a long day is all."
"Alright. Are you sure we can't visit? Ben is already home and we can make our way there right. Your friends are here too!"
Her words warmed his heart, which made his next words all the more painful. "I'd love nothing more but to have you guys here, May. But I can't, the accident is…bad. Worse than bad. I can't say much but I'm lucky that I could even call you right now."
"I…Okay. We'll be here until you give us the green light then. Did you call Emma already?"
"I tried but she didn't pick up." Peter sighed. "Must be busy."
"Alright then, keep us in contact okay? I…I can't lose you too."
"And you won't, Aunt May. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Bye…"
"...Take care, Peter."
"You too, Aunt May. Tell the others I say 'Hi' and that I'm okay."
"I will, dear."
Peter ended the call and let his hand hang limply on his lap, staring at his phone screen with a complicated look. It was already morning and the news had long reached through the city. The media was abuzz trying to figure out what happened for a whole floor of a building to explode. They were lucky that nothing about the true cause got leaked and that no one else got hurt.
They could probably thank Franklin Storm for that. The man had immediately rushed back to New York on the company jet once the news reached him. The moment he saw their states, he didn't even hesitate before transporting them to the Baxter Building for quarantine. It was a private building owned by him and hadn't seen much use, so they all got transported here for examination and special quarantine.
Peter glanced down the hallway, Franklin should be in the room now talking with the others. He should probably join them. He had specifically asked to have some time to call his family, he had been the only one to do so since Reed didn't have much of one and Ben was still too out of it to do so. Sue and Johnny spoke for themselves since their father was right there in the room with them.
Grunting, he got to his feet and immediately headed to the nearby door. His eyes were still mentally exhausted from…everything, but he pushed through like usual.
Pushing the double door open, he entered a massive circular room. It was filled to the brim with state-of-the-art equipment, all of which had been just recently transported to monitor the quarantined patients. All of whom were lying down on a bed right in the corner of the room. The place was still under a bit of work so everything was still pretty messy.
Walking towards them, he eyed how each bed was occupied by every single member of the team, the furniture placed on another circular space of the room, curving at the edge and allowing them to face everyone easily. However, he did notice Ben's bed struggling to hold his weight, already a little bit bent. He was also pretty relieved to see Reed now back to normal, properly waking him up had helped put him back together, so to speak.
Sitting on the chair in the middle of the circle was the tired-looking Dr Storm. Technically, no one was supposed to come near them, but no one had the balls to tell the company's CEO that, especially considering the state he was in. The normally composed scientist-turned-businessman looked unkempt. His shirt was untucked, buttons and tie loose, his hair slightly messy, and his eyes dead tired. Heavy eyebags framed under it as he stared at his approaching form.
"Ah, Mr Parker. Good of you to join us, we've been waiting for you. Have a seat." He gestured to one of the beds. Peter didn't make a sound as he hurriedly sat down on the bed. Right beside him was Sue, followed by Reed, Ben, and finally, Johnny.
The group (Sans Ben, who still looked vacant) stared at Franklin, waiting for him with bated breath.
Franklin sighed, somewhat relieving the tension in the room. "Reed Richards and his team were experimenting with an experimental prototype before it went awry, causing an explosion that took out Future Foundation's 67th floor." Franklin spoke, getting confused looks from them. "Well, that would be the excuse to the public anyway. There will be blowbacks of course, but nothing our connections couldn't settle."
"That's…good." Sue sighed.
"Yes, but we all know it's bullshit." His words gained wide-eyed looks from everyone, surprised to hear the normally composed man suddenly curse.
"Sir?" Reed asked.
"I read up the files, you know." Franklin revealed. "It all looked normal of course but then I started digging into the blueprints and I spotted these little…gaps. Did you take me for an idiot? That I wouldn't notice them?"
They all looked down at that.
"I…trusted you. I thought you'd be smarter than pulling something behind my back." Franklin sighed. "I don't know what you planned, but considering how pushy you were about the new dimension, I assume it had some connection to that." Reed flinched, which answered everything Franklin needed to know. "It is, isn't it? Goddamit, Reed. How many times does it take for me to pound it into your head that these stunts are dangerous!"
"He didn't do it alone, dad—"
"Which made it worse, Johnny!" Franklin honed in on his son, who flinched at his father's tone. "I expected better from you, from both of you." Sue avoided her father's gaze. "I thought putting you there would help curb Reed's impulses, Sue. Guess I was wrong." The group fell silent at that, Franklin eyeing them one by one. "I have half a mind to just sue you for this, Reed."
"Dad!" Sue was cut off by Franklin raising his hand.
"But I won't. Because as much as this is your fault, it's also mine. For trusting you when I shouldn't. For thinking that my children would be safe and benefit from you." Franklin nearly spat, Reed looking down in shame at his words. The man then huffed. "I still have meetings to get to, fixing all this mess will take some time. All of you will be sitting here until I say otherwise, got it?"
Realizing he wouldn't accept anything but a yes for an answer, they all nodded.
"Good." With that, he promptly left. The door opened and shut with a loud 'bang'.
Everyone fell silent at that, a depressive air hung over them. Peter leaned on his bed with a huff, wondering what he should do now.
"...What should we do now?" Johnny asked, unknowingly mimicking Peter's question.
"If we follow protocol," Sue spoke up. "We're gonna get checked up until we get the clean bill and show we won't be a hazard to everyone."
"...and after that?" The previously silent Ben suddenly asked.
"...We fix this." Reed muttered.
"How?" Johnny asked.
"Gather funds, do some research, get further into the new dimension—"
"Oh for fuck's sake, Reed." Sue sighed, finally breaking whatever was left of her patience. "It's because of that damn thing that we got here in the first place! Did you even listen to my dad?!"
"It's the only thing that can help us fix Ben!" Reed shouted back.
"And how are we gonna do that? After this, no way in hell is Dad ever giving us—giving you another chance!" Sue asked.
"... There are other options, other opportunities." Reed muttered. "There will be people interested in how we got our powers."
"...Reed, what are you talking about?" Peter finally spoke up, standing up from his bed and walking nearer to the center.
"It's not the best thing, but the military—"
"NO!"
"Absolutely not!"
Both Peter and Sue immediately rejected the idea. Reed shook his head as he stared at them with desperate eyes. "Then how else are we going to fix this? We might be fine, but I'm not gonna leave my best friend like this!"
"Reed…" Ben gasped, unsure how to take his words with the lengths he wanted to go.
"Okay, maybe not the military but–" Johnny tried placating. "How about we just be superheroes?"
Silence dropped, and everyone stared at Johnny like he had grown a new head.
"What?" Reed asked.
"Yeah, you lost me here." Peter admitted.
"We can't weaponize this kind of thing to the military, but how about we show that we can still use these powers as a force for good?" Johnny snapped his finger, and a candle flame lit from the tip of his nail. "Get our name out there, be the next public heroes, get some sponsors, and rake in enough money to fund a cure for Ben."
"...It's not the worst idea." Reed admitted.
"Would mean tying our life down to a corporation." Sue pointed out.
"You guys talk like Ben isn't here." Peter sighed before turning to the man himself. "You okay with this?"
"I…" Ben looked down before giving them a steely look. "If it'll get me back to normal, I'll turn into a circus clown for you."
Reed sighed. "You're not gonna be a circus clown, Ben—"
"With how I look, I might as well be!" Ben gruffed. "We're gonna be a show pony for everyone to gawk at anyway, might as well make it happen on my terms."
"Well, that's three out of five, you two?" Johnny asked, trying to move on from the sensitive topic.
"I…" Sue looked down, conflicted. Unsure of what she should do. Of course, she wants to help Ben but…she turned to Peter as if he would have the answer.
Peter, not noticing the look, didn't even take long to answer. "...No."
"Oh come on, this again?"
"What?"
"Let me explain." Peter held up his hand, his eyes trained specifically on the hurt-looking Ben. "If you guys want to go ahead with this, go ahead. I'll even help you with finding the cure, but I'm not gonna join this hero thing." His words seemed to placate Ben a little; the rest, on the other hand…
"Why not?" Johnny asked. "You don't like the idea?"
"I…" Peter mumbled, unsure how to answer that.
"It's more than that, isn't it?" Reed suddenly asked. "What is it, Peter?"
"I…just can't." Peter closed his eyes in consternation. Too many people know now, too many than he was comfortable with. He had hit his limit a long time ago and he's not gonna reveal something so close to the reason he became Spider-Man.
"What, you don't trust us now? Is that it? After everything?" Johnny asked, feeling a little hurt. After going through something so horrifying, he would have thought they'd be closer.
"Johnny!"
"No, Sue, he's right." Reed shook his head, standing up from his bed and walking up to Peter. "What's wrong, Peter? You can tell us. What is it?"
"I…"
"Pete–"
"Don't pressure him, Johnny."
"I'm not! I just want to know why he's like this!"
"Then be patient and give him room to breathe."
"Peter, say something."
"What did I just say, Reed?!"
"He needs to answer now or it'll come between us all in the future, Sue."
Peter looked even more overwhelmed by that. "I…"
Suddenly, a gentle, chiding voice interrupted them.
"Oh dear, I look away for a day, and you've made a mess already. Connecting to the Negative Planes of all things."
Everyone immediately turned to the source. Peter's eyes widened when he saw a familiar bald wizard making her way to them.
"Ancient One?!" He blurted out.
"Ancient?" Johnny turned to him weirdly, eyeing the bald woman up and down. "She's not that old Peter, damn. And they say I'm insensitive."
The Ancient One chuckled as she stopped before them. "You flatter me but no, that's merely a title. One I prefer you all use."
"And why should we? How did you even get here?" Reed suddenly asked, stepping right beside Peter and staring her down.
"Magic." She simply answered.
"Haha." Reed sarcastically laughed.
"Doubt me all you want but you'll soon learn the truth of it." The woman simply smiled before turning to Peter. "I'm much more focused on him right now to bother explaining."
"What do you want with Peter?" Sue asked the clearly dangerous woman as she, Johnny, and even Ben stood up to stand beside Peter protectively.
"Oh, you all are so cute." The woman however just laughed at the display, her eyes still trained on Peter. "They'd make good allies, Peter. Tell them."
"What?"
"Tell them, Peter." The Ancient One softly urged. "About everything, your other life and your status."
"What? Why?!" Peter asked with wide eyes, confusing the others.
"You'll need them, Peter. They've known you for such a short while yet they are willing to stand beside you so fiercely. These are the kinds of allies you'll need in your fights, Peter."
"I–How are you so sure?" Peter asked.
"I have my ways." The woman smiled mysteriously before becoming a bit sullen. "I just wished I had known about it a little earlier. Time is a fickle thing, yet it tends to show us how important some things are. In fact, I had to come here personally to make sure you don't screw it up. That's how important this is."
Peter looked down at that. "I can't just…"
The Ancient One patted Peter's shoulder assuringly, uncaring how the others tensed. "You can do it, Peter. Open up your heart, further than you have before. Willingly instead of your hands being forced."
The last few times, he had to tell the people he cared about his status out of necessity. This time, he would be the one who prompted it.
Peter snorted. "Do I have to tell everyone now?"
"Of course not." She huffed. "But only to those that are truly trusted. Loose lips and all that."
Peter sighed, turning around and eyeing the confused scientist. All of them clearly had questions but were more than willing to have him talk.
Peter huffed, his mind settled. Here goes nothing.
Crouching down, their eyes widened when he leaped up and stayed up. His legs stuck to the ceiling above them as they all stared at him with dawning realization.
"Let me reintroduce myself," Peter smirked, letting a little bit of Spider-Man leak into his voice. "My name is Peter Parker, better known as The Amazing Spider-Man. What people don't know is that I'm from a parallel future."
[-]
The Ancient One hummed as she leaned on a wall, a cup of tea with a silver platter in her hand, gingerly bringing the cup to her lips to take a sip. She eyed the confused-looking scientists as they sat by their beds with various expressions, Peter long gone to give them time after explaining things to them.
Part of her couldn't help but pity Peter, she didn't need to have the Time Stone to know this would be a constant in the future whenever Peter brought more people into the fold. It's not a matter of if but a when. The young man had this charisma that attracted all sorts of people, it would be a matter of time until he stumbled on the right one.
She then eyed the four carefully; these four were definitely the right ones. She had planned to just observe things with the Time Stone, only to have her mind bombarded with all sorts of possibilities, the four standing before her at the forefront of them. Some had them fighting alongside Peter as one team, some had them be separate heroes but still close, and some were…
The city was desolate; ruined and toppled buildings filled her vision. Before her eyes was an assortment of heroes, be they demigods or men of power, all face down on the destroyed street, defeated and broken.
Standing before them was a smirking man, wearing a pitch-black bodysuit that absorbed all light with only a spherical light in the center of his chest, a white band connected it to another smaller one at the upper part where his heart would be. The man wore an imposing helmet, the metallic surface extending at the back with a blue visor at the front. A massive blue orb could be seen at the forefront of the helmet.
The man held up his gloved hand, six gems of infinite power shone with malicious light.
The woman could barely suppress a shudder, eyeing Reed Richards with a worried look. That man was still at the precept of change, she just hoped it wouldn't lead to that horrible future she saw.
"From the fucking future, we sure he didn't lose it?" Johnny incredulously asked.
"He looks too damn serious for that." Ben reasoned with arms crossed, looking contemplative. "Eyes don't lie and his…"
"They were haunted." Sue finished for Ben, her back to them as she considered what Peter had told them.
"We also have to assume the alternative." Reed brought up, "Peter believes it's the truth despite it not being so."
"And what are you implying Dr Richards?" The Ancient One idly asked without an ounce of concern.
"That you did something to him to make him believe that." Reed narrowed his eyes, suspicion clear as he eyed her wearily.
"A reasonable concern but a baseless one. I assure you I have no use doing such a thing."
"Implying that you can." Reed countered, standing up from his bed and staring her down.
"You don't believe me."
"Why should we? Peter might vouch for you, but it still doesn't change the fact that you broke into the building." Reed brought up heatedly.
The Ancient One hummed as she puts away her tea, understanding his concern. "Very well then, how can I show that I mean no harm and didn't do anything to Peter?"
"How you got here for one." Reed asked.
"Magic. Portal Magic to be specific." She simply answered yet completely seriously.
"Magic isn't real."
"Believe what you will, Reed Richards, but that is the truth."
"That's it, you're clearly lying. You better get Peter back here and fix whatever you did to him before—"
Her hand lashed out, the palm hitting him square in the chest and sending him a couple of feet back. Reed gasped as the world suddenly slowed.
Everything had stopped, Reed looked back and realized the others had looked in his direction in alarm. Ben was already about to rush the Ancient One with a snarl, the slowed world letting Reed capture every detail of his friend's pissed-off expression.
He then glanced back, his eyes widening further when he saw his body suspended in the air. The Ancient One with her hand and palm outstretched, similarly frozen.
"What the…?!" Reed froze at the sound of his voice, the sound reverberating oddly. Looking down on his arms he noticed that his whole body was translucent.
"Welcome to the Astral dimension, Reed Richards."
Reed turned to the voice, his eyes widened in shock when he noticed a similarly translucent Ancient One.
"What did you do to me? Did you drug me?!" Reed asked breathlessly.
"Nothing that barbaric. I merely pushed your astral form away from your body to prove a point. But I believe someone of your intellect and skepticism requires a bit more."
Reed's eyes widened as he was flung away, the world shattering around him as visions filled his eyes.
"The world is vast, Dr Richards, holding wonders that would make any man weep in joy and fear." The woman's voice reached his ears as he watched the kaleidoscope of colors form into shapes and things that would drive lesser men insane. "The world is much more complex than you could ever believe, dear doctor. So complex that even if you spend a whole lifetime studying it, you would still find only a speck of discovery. And some of those discoveries… are best left forgotten." The wizard spoke as Reed crashed into the many kaleidoscopic mirages, coming into view of a massive storm of cosmic proportions. "The mere existence of Magic should be the least of your worries."
From within that storm, a faint visage of a massive being with an elongated head with two horns sprouting at the side could be seen. Its purple eyes were trained on him with apathy.
With a wave of a hand, Reed felt a strong pull as he lurched back into his body. Yet the things he saw would be burned into his head forever. With a blink, he found himself back in his body.
"You—!"
"Ben, wait!" Reed reached a hand out to his friend, stopping the rock-like man in his tracks who was visibly confused. He watched his best friend sweat, his eyes alight with both wonder and confusion.
"Reed?"
While Reed was trying to process what had happened, the wizard made a circular motion with her hand. The scientists' eyes widened when a familiar-looking orange sparked into the air before manifesting a portal. A portal that looked similar to how they had accessed the different dimensions.
"Holy shit…" Johnny gasped.
"I repeat, Dr Richards. Portal Magic." With a clap of her hands, the portal dissipated.
"...Okay, I'm a believer now." Johnny muttered.
"Aye," Ben agreed easily, the two much more open-minded than their confused friend.
"I'm more curious about what you showed to Reed." Sue asked as she eyed him with concern.
"Nothing but the sheer incomprehensible wonders of the world." The Ancient One smiled before it dropped a little. "And those wonders would cease to exist without Peter."
"Peter? Why him?" Johnny asked.
"That boy, he is special. A lot more than any of you could ever imagine. His role in this universe is important, so important that without him we all would be dead in the coming future." The Ancient One explained.
"Thanos." Sue realized.
"And so much more." The wizard sighed. "His burden is heavy and I could only do so much; he needs allies. Friends and loved ones that can help him carry that burden."
Sue thought it over as all the things that Peter had said about the future filled her mind. She didn't even need to think twice about it. "Then he'll have it with me."
"Shit, if Sis is on board then I am." Johnny quickly added.
"Kid can always count on me. This…new body might have a use after all." Ben added.
The three then turned to Reed, who was still recovering from what he had just seen.
"...He'll have me too."
"All of us, he'll have all of us. We'd be like a family." Sue added, making the rest smile at her.
The Ancient One smiled gratefully. "Then thank you."
"Still, uh... Ya mind if I ask something?" Ben raised his hand.
"Go ahead."
"This magic, you think it could fix me?" Ben hesitantly asked.
Ancient One hummed, waving a hand over Ben and letting out a trail of golden energy that followed her fingers. Her eyes read the fluctuations over with a critical gaze before she answered. "That would be completely up to you, Mr Grimm."
"H-how so?" Ben asked, completely focused on her.
"The changes done to your body are deep, changing back would require an immense amount of work and would be a difficult process." Ben's expression fell, which made the wizard chuckle. "I said it was 'difficult,' Mr Grimm, not impossible. There's still hope for you."
"Then what I gotta do?"
"Come by the New York Sanctum, Peter knows the way so you can ask him. There, I can help you learn the dimensional currents that are going through you—" She held up her hand, their eyes widened as it morphed and changed into a rock-like texture similar to Ben. "—and change it back." With a clench of her fist, the rock-like skin exploded outwards. They all flinch back as the pebbles dissolve into particles of light before disappearing.
Everyone stared at her in wonder, Ben especially as if he had found a source of hope. All of them missing the complicated look from Reed.
[-]
'Well, that went better than expected.' Peter sighed as he sat down on the balcony.
The Ancient One was still there even after he explained things to the others. Part of him wondered why she had to actually personally involve herself, but considering she could somehow see through timelines, that must have meant that the four scientists were important in some way that was beyond just their skills.
Still, explaining everything had been a massive pain. Just like it had been with Felicia, they find it hard to believe, and even with Ancient One vouching for him, it didn't mean much when they didn't know her or her significance. Still, although they didn't fully believe him on some things, that didn't mean he couldn't prove it.
2012… this very year, New York City would face an alien invasion by the Chitauri. If they didn't believe him before, they really wouldn't believe him now but at the same time, they knew him long enough to find it odd for him to lie about something like this.
So here he was, outside by the balcony as the four discussed with each other under the wizard's attention. He could overhear them but he didn't bother; it would just be disrespectful and…part of him wanted to keep up the illusion of them believing in him just for a while longer.
The Ancient One said it so easily but…there were a lot of reasons why he didn't want to reveal himself. The last time he did, bad things happened to a lot of people and if it weren't for the universe unraveling, he would have been forgotten by everyone just to make sure the universe was safe. He just got this second chance and ruining it by having everyone think he was crazy would just…break him.
He'd climb back up, piece himself back together, as he always did. Even in the new memories he had, it was a constant for 'Peter Parker'. But that didn't mean it made it any easier. He was lucky so far and despite the short time, he had come to treasure his time with his team at Future Foundation. So for now, he just wants to stick with the illusion for as long as he can.
"Hey, Peter."
Peter turned and noticed Sue walking up to him, sitting right beside him as they stared out at the city. There was a sense of calm to it, sitting here right beside Sue as they enjoyed the view.
"So we talked about it." Sue started.
"And?" Peter asked, his heart already palpating with nervousness.
"We thought you were a nutcase from the start, then we figured you got coerced into this instead." Sue bluntly spoke with Peter nodding as if he had expected that.
"Johnny has quite the active imagination." Peter all but accused who had said those things.
Sue didn't even deny it. "It's how he copes." Who brought up the coerced point was left unsaid.
"Fair 'nuff. What about you? What do you think?" Peter could admit to himself that of all of them, Sue's opinion probably mattered the most to him right now.
"I…I don't know what to think if I'm being honest." Sue sighed, propping her body up with her hands to the back. "All this talk of alien invasion, secret organization, and magic really makes it hard to believe. Reed especially didn't believe that last one even after she showed us proof."
"Lacking a lot of wonder that one." Peter sarcastically sighed.
Sue chuckled at that but continued. "But then I really think about it and we live in a world where a good chunk of the human race have this gene that could give them crazy powers. Also helped that the wizard showed off some magic for us. We literally just got out of a freak accident that gave us powers too!" Sue exclaimed, bringing up her hand as if it would turn invisible again. "It's a little too early but…I guess time travel would have come around sooner or later."
"So…you believe me?" Peter hesitantly asked.
Sue looked down, "There's a lot of things in this world that you just…can't fake Peter. No matter how good of an actor a person is, there are just some things that come from the heart that will always be genuine. And that genuine thing is what I saw when you spoke Peter, and you look haunted. You died, you came back sure but only to have any memory involving you erased. If the universe didn't hit the reset button, you'd have been alone." Sue reached out, grasping his hand. "That kind of thing leaves a mark on anyone, so yes I do believe you."
Peter took in a shuddering breath, smiling weakly at her. "Thanks, Sue. It means a lot."
Sue smiled back, tightening her hold on him. "It means a lot more to me that you trust us enough to tell us everything."
Peter snorted. "Yeah, not without some convincing."
"Yes, but you still told us everything. I know there are still details you left out to save time but you still did, and that means something to me."
"And I'm just glad that you didn't immediately call me crazy for it."
Sue huffed in amusement. "You're practically family now, Peter. If I can't trust family, then who else can I trust?"
"Family, huh?"
Sue hummed and nodded. "After that accident? I don't think we can rely on anyone else but each other now. Ben especially needs it." She glanced back, eyeing her now rocky friend before looking back at Peter. "And you definitely need it."
"Alright, alright." Peter sighed before smiling again. "Still, now what do you guys plan to do?"
Sue hummed. "Probably do what Johnny suggested, as inane as it is. We won't involve you like you wanted, but that doesn't mean you won't have a place here."
Peter smiled, appreciating the gesture. "Thanks, but what about your dad?"
"I did think of it, I didn't want any random company sponsoring us and attaching strings we don't like so I had thought of getting Dad to do that for us."
"To make up for what happened?"
"That's part of it," Sue muttered.
"I don't think it'll work though." Peter admitted.
"Not with Reed in the lead, no. Not after what had happened. That's why everyone agreed that it'll be better if I take the leading mantle."
Peter thought it over. "Nothing against you, Sue but are you sure? Your Dad is mad at you too."
"None taken. But…I can convince him, I just need to find the right angle for it. I just hope he's willing to hear me out." Sue muttered.
"Well, he's your Dad, so I'm sure he will."
Sue smiled mirthlessly. "I told you a little bit of it before but…our relationship with Dad is complicated. He wants the best for us but has a hard time showing it. It's kinda sad that it took us nearly dying and getting superpowers for me to finally see him act like one." Sue's eyes downturned, a little depressed at the thought.
Peter reassuringly rubbed her hand, "Just shows that even deep down he still cares, in his own way. So I think you'll do just fine, he's not the father of the year but he'd definitely at least hear you out if he still cares about you."
Sue smiled, nodding at his words. "Yeah, I really hope so."
The two stared into each other's eyes, smiling almost lovingly as they basked in each other's comforting presence before they stared back out at the city, enjoying each other's company. Oblivious to the stares from their friends.
Pain. That was the only thing that Peter could think of. Pure, unfiltered pain wrecked through his body as he felt his limbs creaking and snapping as he struggled even to think.
Peter croaked breathlessly, faintly feeling his body arch to and fro as his head tried to grasp his fragmented consciousness. He couldn't even begin to describe the pain he was in; he had nothing to compare it to. Not even when Thanos snapped him to dust, the only thing that hurt at that time was how intense his Spider-Sense was before he disappeared.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled his mind together, using nothing but pure will to wade through the pain and piece his head back together. 'Strands' of what could only be pieces of his mind reach out, following the trails left behind from his fractured consciousness and reaching another 'strand'. With a pull that exerted more effort than he could possibly imagine, he reconnected them. A mental 'click' resounded through his mind and his hearing suddenly returned. He didn't even know he had lost it, but now he could hear bones snapping and crunching.
He gasped soundlessly, relief flooding him as the pain numbed a little. It hadn't faded, but it showed that he was on the right track.
Groaning, he pulled. Reaching out to every 'piece' and pulling them closer, the 'strands' of his mind reaching out and reconnecting—reweaving itself back into form. The sound of bones creaking and snapping together filled his ears, but he ignored them. Each time a piece tied back, the pain numbed away as the feeling returned to his aching body. Peter groaned and rasped, steeling through the agony with nothing but his will to get his mind and body back together.
He could feel it, his body was there. He was unsure of what condition he was in but covered in what he could only describe as a mass of tangled strands. He would have tried to process more if he could see more, his sight had returned, but something was blocking his eyes from seeing anything. Despite the lack of sight, he could still feel it. Feel it oh so painfully yet so familiarly. It felt like—No, it was his psychic armor. The mass of tangled, fragmented strands encapsulating him bore that familiar feeling of crystallized psionic energy. The armor had suddenly expanded, pulling his mind along with it and now torturing him in this psychotic pain while trapped in a coffin of his own making.
A sense of claustrophobia encroached, and his breathing turned erratic as he fidgeted. Panic was sinking in even as he tried to remain calm. The pain, ironically, had taken his focus away, and now that it had faded, he was tossed into another kind of hell.
He was trapped, he couldn't even move, see, let alone breathe. All that he could hear was his panicking breathing. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't think. He couldn't even feel anything, he couldn't feel his body anymore. All he could feel was him sinking into panic in this stuffy coffin as he suffocated—
"Ugh!"
A voice reached his ears, even through the tangled fragments he could hear it well. He recognized that voice too, was that—
"P-Peter! W-where are you?! I'm–I–"
'Sue!'
Her voice was all he needed to recenter himself, her cry for help the only drop of motivation to rekindle the flame of his will as he pulled again. Groaning with spite and rage he tugged and tied the fragments back together, spite at his situation and anger at himself. Sue was still here, afraid and scared and here he was losing his damn mind? Unacceptable.
Fresh air hits his lower mouth, a choked groan passes through his lips. Twisting his body, he shakily got to his feet, finally feeling his toes as the pain faded away. A scream reached his ears, Peter instinctively turned to it as a piece of the psychic plate around his head crumbled—unraveled and rewoven itself to the surface of his mind, revealing half of his face.
"Peter?"
His lone eye finally saw her, widening in shock. Sue was kneeling on the floor and breathing heavily but she looked different, her lower body shifting in and out of sight while her arms mimicked it. Her eyes were red, probably from crying as she stared at him with hope and fear.
"Peter! H-help me!"
Peter stumbled, his body still stiff with all the plates surrounding his body. Lumbering forward, his hands grasped a nearby panel to steady himself and accidentally crushed it. Peter winced but his only focus was on Sue.
The woman sobbed, crawling to her feet as she shakily ran towards him. She would have crashed into the nearby broken rubble with how dark it was but she somehow passed through them, Sue sobbing as she looked down on her shifting body in horror.
"P-peter! My body, it's–it's!" The woman stumbled, her eyes widened as she lost her footing and was ready to hit the floor. She saw Peter reaching out to her and the only thing she could think of was how she would pass through him like she did earlier and fall, maybe further if she passed through the floor too.
"I got you!" Peter's voice came out a little muffled, but his arms reached out to her, somehow holding her solidly.
Sue held on to him desperately, afraid that she'd phase through him just like she did before. Sobbing and crying as she dove into his neck despite the plate separating them.
"Shh, I got you. I'm not letting you go, I got you." Peter assured her, his mind now fully centered as the armor around him slowly receded, the plates unraveling and rejoin the threads that make up the psionic barrier that layering his mind.
Peter was about to fully pull them back into him until he felt Sue slowly sinking into him. There was a faint suction he could feel with the armor, as if it was 'clinging' to her, unraveling the 'threads' that layered and tied up to make up the armor was slowly weakening that feeling so he quickly 'reweave' the armor back up before Sue could notice, his hold on her became a lot more secure and stopped that minute feeling of her sinking through him. He was curious about that but was much more focused on the sobbing woman in his arms who clearly needed him.
"P-peter, my body. I-I don't know what's happening to me." Sue babbled. "It's there but it's not there, I–"
"Sue, breathe." Peter reminded, using his armored hand to rub her head soothingly. The gesture was surprisingly comfortable despite the plates. "Can you still feel them?"
"I-I can."
"Then focus on them, try to bring them back." Peter advised. He wasn't sure what he was doing if he was being honest but damn if he wouldn't try. "Just breathe and focus."
"I can't, Peter! It's–"
"Yes, you can, Sue. You're stronger than this, you can do it. You just need to try."
That seemed to snap Sue out of it a little, the woman taking in deep breaths as she held onto his back tightly with her invisible fingers. Peter slowly pulled them down, Sue almost jostling in shock before realizing that Peter was just seating them down with her on his lap.
Sue focused, using Peter's soothing hold and whispers to center herself. She could still feel her limbs, could still feel and move them. They were shifting in and out of sight and it was slowly spreading throughout her body. Not seeing her body yet still 'seeing' it still made her horrified. But feeling Peter's arms secure around her when she couldn't even touch anything, feeling his comforting warmth on her skin as she slowly pulled herself back together kept her centered and most importantly, safe.
'Was he always this warm?' Sue couldn't help but think of how secure she was here, how calm everything was. As if everything didn't matter but here, in this moment right now.
As her breathing steadied, she felt solid again. Before it felt like her body was so light it would have flown up. Now, she finally felt like she was back on her feet and not at risk of falling. Opening her eyes hesitantly, she glanced down at her arm, secured on Peter's neck, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's there, it stopped." Sue couldn't help but let out another sob, this time in happiness.
"See? You could do it." Peter smirked.
Sue could only nod, despite no longer feeling like she'd fall away into the world, she still wasn't confident to let go of Peter. "What happened to us?" She instead asked.
Multiple things go through Peter's mind, "Nothing concrete but I think we got powers." Or mutated an already existing one in his case. His psychic armor had never fully covered him before and after reeling it all back to his mind, the usual psychic barrier around it felt…thicker for lack of a better word. Felt a lot more complete too, though there was that odd feeling to the armor, how it was made up of threads that he just 'weaved' into existence.
He would have loved to explore more of it and that weird interaction it had with whatever happened to Sue back there but it could wait.
"Powers? Like Mutants?" Sue asked, her tone shocked.
"Yeah, seems like it."
Sue didn't even know what to say to that, part of her wanted to violently reject the idea of having something like this but another part of her, who was still secure in Peter's arms, was saying that as long as Peter was here, she would be fine. Right?
"Still, we gotta find the others."
"Oh god, Johnny." Sue belatedly realized, mentally berating herself for forgetting them. "Reed and Ben too. We gotta find them."
"Let's go then."
The two got up to their feet and slowly went through the rubble, Sue unwilling to let go of Peter's arm. Peter could understand after everything that had happened. He then narrowed his eyes, looking at the mess around him with a complicated look. The place was a mess, the whole room was littered with dust and rubble, and the front window they used to look at the main portal room was destroyed and blocked by debris. Honestly, Peter considered them lucky to not be buried under them.
Peter then blinked, realizing there was no light. His night vision made him see things easily of course but Sue shouldn't be able to see a thing.
"Sue, there's no light."
"What? But, we can see just fine."
"Not sure what happened to me but for you, it might be connected to that whole invisible thing you had going on."
Sue pursed her lips, her eyes felt normal but there was no denying what Peter said was true. There was no light source, all the lamps got destroyed and they were trapped in basically a cave of debris. So how could they see anything?
"I…it was dark at first when I woke up. I thought it was just the lights going out or something and then everything just…brightened up."
"There's gotta be a reason for it." Peter reasoned as they waded through the small room, trying to get to the entrance.
"I think it started because I just want to see everything again." Sue narrowed her eyes, trying to remember what she felt before everything went to hell. Her eyes widened in shock when everything started to get dark again before she renewed her 'need to see', the whole world brightening back up again. "Huh."
"What is it?"
"It happened again. Everything slowly turned dark when I realized what was happening so I just did what I did back then. It's much easier than expected to be honest."
"Well better count your lucky stars that it came that easily. Wouldn't want a repeat of last time right?"
"Yeah…" Sue definitely didn't want a repeat of feeling like she'd disappear.
The two then finally reached the entrance, their expression falling when they saw what was blocking their way.
"We're trapped…" Sue realized, her tone vacant.
Peter glanced at the massive boulders blocking their path, the metal door that used to be there was dented and ruined on the opposite side. Peter felt conflicted when he saw it, he could easily remove that but Sue was right here. He quickly shoved that thought, it didn't matter now. Sue needs his help and if he had to use his powers to get to the others, then so he might as well. Not like he didn't have a convenient excuse anyway.
"Peter?" Sue glanced at him questioningly when he tried to pry away her hands.
"It's okay, Sue. I think I can move it."
"What?"
Peter gestured to the ruined consoles. "I did that when I tried getting to you. If I can do that, then…" He trailed off, glancing at the boulder meaningfully.
"...Okay then." Sue clearly didn't want to but hesitantly let go of his arms.
Peter gave her a reassuring smile before he walked up to the boulder. With a deep breath, he reached out to his armor. That faint gnawing of claustrophobia returned as his psionic armor reweaved itself, but he pushed it to the side, more focused and concerned on the situation. The moment the helmet formed, Peter got worried about not being able to see until everything blinked back into view. Could he see through the armor? Or was it like seeing with the armor? He wasn't sure about the specifics since even his senses weren't helping him much, but at least he could see now.
Peter glanced down at his arms, the sheer power he felt through his body was greater than before. The full coverage led to a significant upgrade to his already impressive physical specs. He could just use his normal super strength, but part of him wanted to get used to his new mutation as fast as he could.
Putting his hands on the boulder, he didn't even grunt as he pushed it to the side. The massive stone rolled across the ground and was pushed to the side with ease. Peter looked back at the entrance and narrowed his eyes, knowing that there was still debris hidden behind. Carefully, he started digging through them, punching them gently enough to crack them open and then digging them out of the way.
"Couldn't you just push them out or something?" Sue asked curiously. He did have super strength now.
"If I do that, I could accidentally send these things flying and hurt someone." Peter pointed out, his voice clear despite the block from his armor. His comment made Sue fall silent, feeling a little stupid for suggesting something like that.
She stared silently as Peter worked, feeling guilty at being unable to do anything. She wasn't even sure what had happened to her, even with Peter telling her that she just got powers. Part of her was pretty impressed that Peter adapted so fast.
Finally, the entrance cleared up, the pile of rocks crumbling onto the floor without injuring anyone. Not like they could see anyone past the room anyway. Peter eyed it with some weariness as his armor dissolved back into threads, leaving only his limbs covered as a just-in-case. He turned back, nearly jumping from the sudden appearance of Sue by his side. He hadn't even heard her!
Shaking his head, he gestured to the entrance. "Let's go." Sue quickly took back his arm and he guided her out without complaint.
The moment they walked out, wires filled their vision. There was some light peeking through which made things easier to see thankfully but they were just surrounded by destroyed machinery, dangling wires, and of course, rubble everywhere. The thick strings of black cables were strewn around everywhere, entangling all over the room and making it harder for them to navigate. Peter frowned when he saw it being tangled up with another strand, the color odd to him. Did they use anything like that—
Sue's muted gasp took his attention. Turning to where she was looking, he widened his eyes at the sight of a burning pile. Peter immediately looked for a fire extinguisher before he shunted that thought away. Whatever fire extinguisher nearby would have been destroyed by the explosion.
Then they heard something. It was a groan, coming straight from the burning pile.
"Ugh…Wha…"
"Johnny? Johnny!" Sue recognized the voice despite how low it was, being more than familiar with her brother, she quickly rushed to the burning pile. Peter quickly followed, rushing ahead of her and using his armored limbs to kick and push the burning rubble away. He sounded fine but having all that heat around you would be a bad idea.
The two paused once they cleared it away, Sue's eyes threatened to spill tears as they saw Johnny's body covered in flames. The only thing they could see that even suggested that it was Johnny was the faint silhouette of his body and…his surprisingly calm yet groggy voice.
"S-Sue?" He asked.
"J-Johnny. Oh my god, what happened to you?" Sue whispered, kneeling before her brother's prone form with wide eyes. Despite the close distance, she barely even felt any heat from him.
"W-what? What are you talking about and…why is everything so…orange?" Johnny coughed, turning to the side as he groaned in pain. His head dipped low and finally laid eyes on the rest of his body. "What the—What the hell?! What happened to me?! I'm burning!"
"Johnny, calm down! You're not hurt, I–well I don't think you are since you don't look like you feel it…" Sue muttered.
"I…You're right. It's–everything's warm but I feel fine." Johnny gasped, holding up his burning hands in wonder. "The hell happened to me, hell what happened to Pete?! His arms look weird!"
"Long story," Peter sighed, gripping his armored fingers as he eyed Johnny wearily. "You okay? Can you turn back?"
"I–I can try." Johnny took a deep breath, focusing inward on his new…power? Was this how Mutants felt?
"Deep breaths, Johnny. Try to feel out what's different." Sue advised, remembering how she felt. Her earlier fright pushed to the side and now fully focused on her still-living brother. She wasn't sure how he survived, but she wasn't questioning it.
"I'm trying just—let me focus, sis."
While Sue helped her brother, Peter was immediately looking around for Ben and Reed. Johnny had tried to help Ben earlier, so he must be nearby, right?
A gasp from Johnny made him turn back, smiling once he saw Johnny back to normal and relatively unharmed.
"Hah! It worked! Sis, it worked!" Johnny whooped as he hugged his sister tight, the woman more than happy to wrap her arms around and laugh along with him.
A grunt then caught Peter's attention. Peter looked for the source and found another pile of debris, this time bigger than the previous ones he had seen.
"Ugh, Reed! Sue! Anyone? I–I'm stuck!"
The three turned to the rubble with a mixture of relief and amazement.
"Ben!" Sue gasped.
"You two stay there, I'll get him!" Peter rushed to the rubble, "I got you, Ben! You hurting anywhere?!"
"I…I can't feel anything." His words dropped lead on Peter's stomach. "I-I can still move my toes but I can't feel through them? It's weird, you gotta get me out of here."
"I gotcha, don't worry." Peter assured him, already digging through the pile of rocks with his armored limbs. Pushing and pulling on every large stone, easing the burden for Ben. "Tell me when you feel like you can move!"
"I—" A grunt, some of the stones slowly lifting. "Yeah, I think I can. Just a little bit—"
"Wait, Ben, it's still too big for you to–!"
"UARRGH!"
Peter took a couple of steps back in shock as the rubble was pushed away violently. His eyes widened as he caught another glimpse of orange along with a giant silhouette.
"Holy fuck…" Johnny gasped right behind him.
"What? What are you looking at me like…that?" Ben muttered. The smoke from the sudden push finally let him see his hands. His eyes widened as he saw his arms covered in rocky texture, solid stacks of orange stone covering his whole body. "What the hell…What happened to me?!" He shrieked, his now rocky face morphed a little to show his shock.
"Ben, sit down, please. Something similar happened to us, you could turn back too." Peter assured him.
"I…Alright." Ben nodded, hesitantly sitting down and wincing when the ground cracked from his weight. He stared at his hands with fright and confusion. "How do I–"
Peter immediately answered. "It's different from us, I think but try to find anything that feels different. Start from there."
"I–Okay." Ben nodded and closed his eyes, his expression shifting as he tried and failed to feel anything different. "I–I can't feel my skin, but there's nothing weird."
"There's gotta be something…" Peter muttered.
"I'm trying but I can't find it!" Ben let out a frustrated grunt. "You sure this works?"
"It worked on us." Johnny answered. Sue remained silent as she stared at Ben in concern.
"Well, it ain't working for me." Ben gruffed. "Fuck, what the hell I'm supposed to say to Alicia."
"It's gonna be okay, Ben." Sue immediately rushed forward, unhesitantly hugging his rock-hard body, and pressed their foreheads together. "We can fix this, we'll find a way."
"I…I…" Ben sniffed, on the verge of crying as he listlessly leaned his head on Sue's. Mentally overwhelmed by what had happened to him.
"Wait, where's Reed?" Johnny suddenly asked.
"H-he chased after you two when he heard you scream," Sue explained, her eyes looking around for him.
The group began looking around, Peter and Johnny already searching through the rubble while Sue stayed with the devastated Ben. The two young men called out for his name as they walked through the devastated lab.
"Reed!" Peter screamed, already splitting up from Johnny. "Where are you?!"
"...uh…"
Peter's eyes widened at the faint voice that reached his ears, immediately booking to where he might have heard it.
"Reed!"
"...ugh…"
"Come on, man! Give me something." Peter whispered that last part as he reached a dead end, his eyes flitted around and only spotting the thick wires tangled around him.
"..Pete…"
Peter froze, the voice now extremely close yet still low. He eyed the tangled wires, finally processing the color of them and how odd it was. They—they never had wires in that color.
"...Pete…"
Slowly, his eyes trailed the wires and went up and up until his horrified eyes reached the source. Before him was what could be called a human spaghetti, the skin and hair stretched unnaturally as they reached and pierced through the gaps in the debris and walls around them. The flesh-like tendrils were all around them, and Peter could spot some orifices attached to them. The nearest wire had a sole eye gazing at him listlessly.
"Peter…" Peter jolted in horror, looking at a corner and noticing half of Reed's face staring right at him, his other half stretched unnaturally along with his hair, forming tendrils that connected to the abomination around them. His sole vacant eye stared at him with untold pain.
The only thing Peter could do at the sight was dropped down on his ass, his hand cupping his face in horror.
Everything had gone worse, so much worse than he could have expected…
[-]
"Are you sure you're alright, dear?"
"I'm fine, May." Peter sighed as he leaned on the wall. His phone pressed to his ear as he sat down on the floor, clearly tired. "Just…been a long day is all."
"Alright. Are you sure we can't visit? Ben is already home and we can make our way there right. Your friends are here too!"
Her words warmed his heart, which made his next words all the more painful. "I'd love nothing more but to have you guys here, May. But I can't, the accident is…bad. Worse than bad. I can't say much but I'm lucky that I could even call you right now."
"I…Okay. We'll be here until you give us the green light then. Did you call Emma already?"
"I tried but she didn't pick up." Peter sighed. "Must be busy."
"Alright then, keep us in contact okay? I…I can't lose you too."
"And you won't, Aunt May. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Bye…"
"...Take care, Peter."
"You too, Aunt May. Tell the others I say 'Hi' and that I'm okay."
"I will, dear."
Peter ended the call and let his hand hang limply on his lap, staring at his phone screen with a complicated look. It was already morning and the news had long reached through the city. The media was abuzz trying to figure out what happened for a whole floor of a building to explode. They were lucky that nothing about the true cause got leaked and that no one else got hurt.
They could probably thank Franklin Storm for that. The man had immediately rushed back to New York on the company jet once the news reached him. The moment he saw their states, he didn't even hesitate before transporting them to the Baxter Building for quarantine. It was a private building owned by him and hadn't seen much use, so they all got transported here for examination and special quarantine.
Peter glanced down the hallway, Franklin should be in the room now talking with the others. He should probably join them. He had specifically asked to have some time to call his family, he had been the only one to do so since Reed didn't have much of one and Ben was still too out of it to do so. Sue and Johnny spoke for themselves since their father was right there in the room with them.
Grunting, he got to his feet and immediately headed to the nearby door. His eyes were still mentally exhausted from…everything, but he pushed through like usual.
Pushing the double door open, he entered a massive circular room. It was filled to the brim with state-of-the-art equipment, all of which had been just recently transported to monitor the quarantined patients. All of whom were lying down on a bed right in the corner of the room. The place was still under a bit of work so everything was still pretty messy.
Walking towards them, he eyed how each bed was occupied by every single member of the team, the furniture placed on another circular space of the room, curving at the edge and allowing them to face everyone easily. However, he did notice Ben's bed struggling to hold his weight, already a little bit bent. He was also pretty relieved to see Reed now back to normal, properly waking him up had helped put him back together, so to speak.
Sitting on the chair in the middle of the circle was the tired-looking Dr Storm. Technically, no one was supposed to come near them, but no one had the balls to tell the company's CEO that, especially considering the state he was in. The normally composed scientist-turned-businessman looked unkempt. His shirt was untucked, buttons and tie loose, his hair slightly messy, and his eyes dead tired. Heavy eyebags framed under it as he stared at his approaching form.
"Ah, Mr Parker. Good of you to join us, we've been waiting for you. Have a seat." He gestured to one of the beds. Peter didn't make a sound as he hurriedly sat down on the bed. Right beside him was Sue, followed by Reed, Ben, and finally, Johnny.
The group (Sans Ben, who still looked vacant) stared at Franklin, waiting for him with bated breath.
Franklin sighed, somewhat relieving the tension in the room. "Reed Richards and his team were experimenting with an experimental prototype before it went awry, causing an explosion that took out Future Foundation's 67th floor." Franklin spoke, getting confused looks from them. "Well, that would be the excuse to the public anyway. There will be blowbacks of course, but nothing our connections couldn't settle."
"That's…good." Sue sighed.
"Yes, but we all know it's bullshit." His words gained wide-eyed looks from everyone, surprised to hear the normally composed man suddenly curse.
"Sir?" Reed asked.
"I read up the files, you know." Franklin revealed. "It all looked normal of course but then I started digging into the blueprints and I spotted these little…gaps. Did you take me for an idiot? That I wouldn't notice them?"
They all looked down at that.
"I…trusted you. I thought you'd be smarter than pulling something behind my back." Franklin sighed. "I don't know what you planned, but considering how pushy you were about the new dimension, I assume it had some connection to that." Reed flinched, which answered everything Franklin needed to know. "It is, isn't it? Goddamit, Reed. How many times does it take for me to pound it into your head that these stunts are dangerous!"
"He didn't do it alone, dad—"
"Which made it worse, Johnny!" Franklin honed in on his son, who flinched at his father's tone. "I expected better from you, from both of you." Sue avoided her father's gaze. "I thought putting you there would help curb Reed's impulses, Sue. Guess I was wrong." The group fell silent at that, Franklin eyeing them one by one. "I have half a mind to just sue you for this, Reed."
"Dad!" Sue was cut off by Franklin raising his hand.
"But I won't. Because as much as this is your fault, it's also mine. For trusting you when I shouldn't. For thinking that my children would be safe and benefit from you." Franklin nearly spat, Reed looking down in shame at his words. The man then huffed. "I still have meetings to get to, fixing all this mess will take some time. All of you will be sitting here until I say otherwise, got it?"
Realizing he wouldn't accept anything but a yes for an answer, they all nodded.
"Good." With that, he promptly left. The door opened and shut with a loud 'bang'.
Everyone fell silent at that, a depressive air hung over them. Peter leaned on his bed with a huff, wondering what he should do now.
"...What should we do now?" Johnny asked, unknowingly mimicking Peter's question.
"If we follow protocol," Sue spoke up. "We're gonna get checked up until we get the clean bill and show we won't be a hazard to everyone."
"...and after that?" The previously silent Ben suddenly asked.
"...We fix this." Reed muttered.
"How?" Johnny asked.
"Gather funds, do some research, get further into the new dimension—"
"Oh for fuck's sake, Reed." Sue sighed, finally breaking whatever was left of her patience. "It's because of that damn thing that we got here in the first place! Did you even listen to my dad?!"
"It's the only thing that can help us fix Ben!" Reed shouted back.
"And how are we gonna do that? After this, no way in hell is Dad ever giving us—giving you another chance!" Sue asked.
"... There are other options, other opportunities." Reed muttered. "There will be people interested in how we got our powers."
"...Reed, what are you talking about?" Peter finally spoke up, standing up from his bed and walking nearer to the center.
"It's not the best thing, but the military—"
"NO!"
"Absolutely not!"
Both Peter and Sue immediately rejected the idea. Reed shook his head as he stared at them with desperate eyes. "Then how else are we going to fix this? We might be fine, but I'm not gonna leave my best friend like this!"
"Reed…" Ben gasped, unsure how to take his words with the lengths he wanted to go.
"Okay, maybe not the military but–" Johnny tried placating. "How about we just be superheroes?"
Silence dropped, and everyone stared at Johnny like he had grown a new head.
"What?" Reed asked.
"Yeah, you lost me here." Peter admitted.
"We can't weaponize this kind of thing to the military, but how about we show that we can still use these powers as a force for good?" Johnny snapped his finger, and a candle flame lit from the tip of his nail. "Get our name out there, be the next public heroes, get some sponsors, and rake in enough money to fund a cure for Ben."
"...It's not the worst idea." Reed admitted.
"Would mean tying our life down to a corporation." Sue pointed out.
"You guys talk like Ben isn't here." Peter sighed before turning to the man himself. "You okay with this?"
"I…" Ben looked down before giving them a steely look. "If it'll get me back to normal, I'll turn into a circus clown for you."
Reed sighed. "You're not gonna be a circus clown, Ben—"
"With how I look, I might as well be!" Ben gruffed. "We're gonna be a show pony for everyone to gawk at anyway, might as well make it happen on my terms."
"Well, that's three out of five, you two?" Johnny asked, trying to move on from the sensitive topic.
"I…" Sue looked down, conflicted. Unsure of what she should do. Of course, she wants to help Ben but…she turned to Peter as if he would have the answer.
Peter, not noticing the look, didn't even take long to answer. "...No."
"Oh come on, this again?"
"What?"
"Let me explain." Peter held up his hand, his eyes trained specifically on the hurt-looking Ben. "If you guys want to go ahead with this, go ahead. I'll even help you with finding the cure, but I'm not gonna join this hero thing." His words seemed to placate Ben a little; the rest, on the other hand…
"Why not?" Johnny asked. "You don't like the idea?"
"I…" Peter mumbled, unsure how to answer that.
"It's more than that, isn't it?" Reed suddenly asked. "What is it, Peter?"
"I…just can't." Peter closed his eyes in consternation. Too many people know now, too many than he was comfortable with. He had hit his limit a long time ago and he's not gonna reveal something so close to the reason he became Spider-Man.
"What, you don't trust us now? Is that it? After everything?" Johnny asked, feeling a little hurt. After going through something so horrifying, he would have thought they'd be closer.
"Johnny!"
"No, Sue, he's right." Reed shook his head, standing up from his bed and walking up to Peter. "What's wrong, Peter? You can tell us. What is it?"
"I…"
"Pete–"
"Don't pressure him, Johnny."
"I'm not! I just want to know why he's like this!"
"Then be patient and give him room to breathe."
"Peter, say something."
"What did I just say, Reed?!"
"He needs to answer now or it'll come between us all in the future, Sue."
Peter looked even more overwhelmed by that. "I…"
Suddenly, a gentle, chiding voice interrupted them.
"Oh dear, I look away for a day, and you've made a mess already. Connecting to the Negative Planes of all things."
Everyone immediately turned to the source. Peter's eyes widened when he saw a familiar bald wizard making her way to them.
"Ancient One?!" He blurted out.
"Ancient?" Johnny turned to him weirdly, eyeing the bald woman up and down. "She's not that old Peter, damn. And they say I'm insensitive."
The Ancient One chuckled as she stopped before them. "You flatter me but no, that's merely a title. One I prefer you all use."
"And why should we? How did you even get here?" Reed suddenly asked, stepping right beside Peter and staring her down.
"Magic." She simply answered.
"Haha." Reed sarcastically laughed.
"Doubt me all you want but you'll soon learn the truth of it." The woman simply smiled before turning to Peter. "I'm much more focused on him right now to bother explaining."
"What do you want with Peter?" Sue asked the clearly dangerous woman as she, Johnny, and even Ben stood up to stand beside Peter protectively.
"Oh, you all are so cute." The woman however just laughed at the display, her eyes still trained on Peter. "They'd make good allies, Peter. Tell them."
"What?"
"Tell them, Peter." The Ancient One softly urged. "About everything, your other life and your status."
"What? Why?!" Peter asked with wide eyes, confusing the others.
"You'll need them, Peter. They've known you for such a short while yet they are willing to stand beside you so fiercely. These are the kinds of allies you'll need in your fights, Peter."
"I–How are you so sure?" Peter asked.
"I have my ways." The woman smiled mysteriously before becoming a bit sullen. "I just wished I had known about it a little earlier. Time is a fickle thing, yet it tends to show us how important some things are. In fact, I had to come here personally to make sure you don't screw it up. That's how important this is."
Peter looked down at that. "I can't just…"
The Ancient One patted Peter's shoulder assuringly, uncaring how the others tensed. "You can do it, Peter. Open up your heart, further than you have before. Willingly instead of your hands being forced."
The last few times, he had to tell the people he cared about his status out of necessity. This time, he would be the one who prompted it.
Peter snorted. "Do I have to tell everyone now?"
"Of course not." She huffed. "But only to those that are truly trusted. Loose lips and all that."
Peter sighed, turning around and eyeing the confused scientist. All of them clearly had questions but were more than willing to have him talk.
Peter huffed, his mind settled. Here goes nothing.
Crouching down, their eyes widened when he leaped up and stayed up. His legs stuck to the ceiling above them as they all stared at him with dawning realization.
"Let me reintroduce myself," Peter smirked, letting a little bit of Spider-Man leak into his voice. "My name is Peter Parker, better known as The Amazing Spider-Man. What people don't know is that I'm from a parallel future."
[-]
The Ancient One hummed as she leaned on a wall, a cup of tea with a silver platter in her hand, gingerly bringing the cup to her lips to take a sip. She eyed the confused-looking scientists as they sat by their beds with various expressions, Peter long gone to give them time after explaining things to them.
Part of her couldn't help but pity Peter, she didn't need to have the Time Stone to know this would be a constant in the future whenever Peter brought more people into the fold. It's not a matter of if but a when. The young man had this charisma that attracted all sorts of people, it would be a matter of time until he stumbled on the right one.
She then eyed the four carefully; these four were definitely the right ones. She had planned to just observe things with the Time Stone, only to have her mind bombarded with all sorts of possibilities, the four standing before her at the forefront of them. Some had them fighting alongside Peter as one team, some had them be separate heroes but still close, and some were…
The city was desolate; ruined and toppled buildings filled her vision. Before her eyes was an assortment of heroes, be they demigods or men of power, all face down on the destroyed street, defeated and broken.
Standing before them was a smirking man, wearing a pitch-black bodysuit that absorbed all light with only a spherical light in the center of his chest, a white band connected it to another smaller one at the upper part where his heart would be. The man wore an imposing helmet, the metallic surface extending at the back with a blue visor at the front. A massive blue orb could be seen at the forefront of the helmet.
The man held up his gloved hand, six gems of infinite power shone with malicious light.
The woman could barely suppress a shudder, eyeing Reed Richards with a worried look. That man was still at the precept of change, she just hoped it wouldn't lead to that horrible future she saw.
"From the fucking future, we sure he didn't lose it?" Johnny incredulously asked.
"He looks too damn serious for that." Ben reasoned with arms crossed, looking contemplative. "Eyes don't lie and his…"
"They were haunted." Sue finished for Ben, her back to them as she considered what Peter had told them.
"We also have to assume the alternative." Reed brought up, "Peter believes it's the truth despite it not being so."
"And what are you implying Dr Richards?" The Ancient One idly asked without an ounce of concern.
"That you did something to him to make him believe that." Reed narrowed his eyes, suspicion clear as he eyed her wearily.
"A reasonable concern but a baseless one. I assure you I have no use doing such a thing."
"Implying that you can." Reed countered, standing up from his bed and staring her down.
"You don't believe me."
"Why should we? Peter might vouch for you, but it still doesn't change the fact that you broke into the building." Reed brought up heatedly.
The Ancient One hummed as she puts away her tea, understanding his concern. "Very well then, how can I show that I mean no harm and didn't do anything to Peter?"
"How you got here for one." Reed asked.
"Magic. Portal Magic to be specific." She simply answered yet completely seriously.
"Magic isn't real."
"Believe what you will, Reed Richards, but that is the truth."
"That's it, you're clearly lying. You better get Peter back here and fix whatever you did to him before—"
Her hand lashed out, the palm hitting him square in the chest and sending him a couple of feet back. Reed gasped as the world suddenly slowed.
Everything had stopped, Reed looked back and realized the others had looked in his direction in alarm. Ben was already about to rush the Ancient One with a snarl, the slowed world letting Reed capture every detail of his friend's pissed-off expression.
He then glanced back, his eyes widening further when he saw his body suspended in the air. The Ancient One with her hand and palm outstretched, similarly frozen.
"What the…?!" Reed froze at the sound of his voice, the sound reverberating oddly. Looking down on his arms he noticed that his whole body was translucent.
"Welcome to the Astral dimension, Reed Richards."
Reed turned to the voice, his eyes widened in shock when he noticed a similarly translucent Ancient One.
"What did you do to me? Did you drug me?!" Reed asked breathlessly.
"Nothing that barbaric. I merely pushed your astral form away from your body to prove a point. But I believe someone of your intellect and skepticism requires a bit more."
Reed's eyes widened as he was flung away, the world shattering around him as visions filled his eyes.
"The world is vast, Dr Richards, holding wonders that would make any man weep in joy and fear." The woman's voice reached his ears as he watched the kaleidoscope of colors form into shapes and things that would drive lesser men insane. "The world is much more complex than you could ever believe, dear doctor. So complex that even if you spend a whole lifetime studying it, you would still find only a speck of discovery. And some of those discoveries… are best left forgotten." The wizard spoke as Reed crashed into the many kaleidoscopic mirages, coming into view of a massive storm of cosmic proportions. "The mere existence of Magic should be the least of your worries."
From within that storm, a faint visage of a massive being with an elongated head with two horns sprouting at the side could be seen. Its purple eyes were trained on him with apathy.
With a wave of a hand, Reed felt a strong pull as he lurched back into his body. Yet the things he saw would be burned into his head forever. With a blink, he found himself back in his body.
"You—!"
"Ben, wait!" Reed reached a hand out to his friend, stopping the rock-like man in his tracks who was visibly confused. He watched his best friend sweat, his eyes alight with both wonder and confusion.
"Reed?"
While Reed was trying to process what had happened, the wizard made a circular motion with her hand. The scientists' eyes widened when a familiar-looking orange sparked into the air before manifesting a portal. A portal that looked similar to how they had accessed the different dimensions.
"Holy shit…" Johnny gasped.
"I repeat, Dr Richards. Portal Magic." With a clap of her hands, the portal dissipated.
"...Okay, I'm a believer now." Johnny muttered.
"Aye," Ben agreed easily, the two much more open-minded than their confused friend.
"I'm more curious about what you showed to Reed." Sue asked as she eyed him with concern.
"Nothing but the sheer incomprehensible wonders of the world." The Ancient One smiled before it dropped a little. "And those wonders would cease to exist without Peter."
"Peter? Why him?" Johnny asked.
"That boy, he is special. A lot more than any of you could ever imagine. His role in this universe is important, so important that without him we all would be dead in the coming future." The Ancient One explained.
"Thanos." Sue realized.
"And so much more." The wizard sighed. "His burden is heavy and I could only do so much; he needs allies. Friends and loved ones that can help him carry that burden."
Sue thought it over as all the things that Peter had said about the future filled her mind. She didn't even need to think twice about it. "Then he'll have it with me."
"Shit, if Sis is on board then I am." Johnny quickly added.
"Kid can always count on me. This…new body might have a use after all." Ben added.
The three then turned to Reed, who was still recovering from what he had just seen.
"...He'll have me too."
"All of us, he'll have all of us. We'd be like a family." Sue added, making the rest smile at her.
The Ancient One smiled gratefully. "Then thank you."
"Still, uh... Ya mind if I ask something?" Ben raised his hand.
"Go ahead."
"This magic, you think it could fix me?" Ben hesitantly asked.
Ancient One hummed, waving a hand over Ben and letting out a trail of golden energy that followed her fingers. Her eyes read the fluctuations over with a critical gaze before she answered. "That would be completely up to you, Mr Grimm."
"H-how so?" Ben asked, completely focused on her.
"The changes done to your body are deep, changing back would require an immense amount of work and would be a difficult process." Ben's expression fell, which made the wizard chuckle. "I said it was 'difficult,' Mr Grimm, not impossible. There's still hope for you."
"Then what I gotta do?"
"Come by the New York Sanctum, Peter knows the way so you can ask him. There, I can help you learn the dimensional currents that are going through you—" She held up her hand, their eyes widened as it morphed and changed into a rock-like texture similar to Ben. "—and change it back." With a clench of her fist, the rock-like skin exploded outwards. They all flinch back as the pebbles dissolve into particles of light before disappearing.
Everyone stared at her in wonder, Ben especially as if he had found a source of hope. All of them missing the complicated look from Reed.
[-]
'Well, that went better than expected.' Peter sighed as he sat down on the balcony.
The Ancient One was still there even after he explained things to the others. Part of him wondered why she had to actually personally involve herself, but considering she could somehow see through timelines, that must have meant that the four scientists were important in some way that was beyond just their skills.
Still, explaining everything had been a massive pain. Just like it had been with Felicia, they find it hard to believe, and even with Ancient One vouching for him, it didn't mean much when they didn't know her or her significance. Still, although they didn't fully believe him on some things, that didn't mean he couldn't prove it.
2012… this very year, New York City would face an alien invasion by the Chitauri. If they didn't believe him before, they really wouldn't believe him now but at the same time, they knew him long enough to find it odd for him to lie about something like this.
So here he was, outside by the balcony as the four discussed with each other under the wizard's attention. He could overhear them but he didn't bother; it would just be disrespectful and…part of him wanted to keep up the illusion of them believing in him just for a while longer.
The Ancient One said it so easily but…there were a lot of reasons why he didn't want to reveal himself. The last time he did, bad things happened to a lot of people and if it weren't for the universe unraveling, he would have been forgotten by everyone just to make sure the universe was safe. He just got this second chance and ruining it by having everyone think he was crazy would just…break him.
He'd climb back up, piece himself back together, as he always did. Even in the new memories he had, it was a constant for 'Peter Parker'. But that didn't mean it made it any easier. He was lucky so far and despite the short time, he had come to treasure his time with his team at Future Foundation. So for now, he just wants to stick with the illusion for as long as he can.
"Hey, Peter."
Peter turned and noticed Sue walking up to him, sitting right beside him as they stared out at the city. There was a sense of calm to it, sitting here right beside Sue as they enjoyed the view.
"So we talked about it." Sue started.
"And?" Peter asked, his heart already palpating with nervousness.
"We thought you were a nutcase from the start, then we figured you got coerced into this instead." Sue bluntly spoke with Peter nodding as if he had expected that.
"Johnny has quite the active imagination." Peter all but accused who had said those things.
Sue didn't even deny it. "It's how he copes." Who brought up the coerced point was left unsaid.
"Fair 'nuff. What about you? What do you think?" Peter could admit to himself that of all of them, Sue's opinion probably mattered the most to him right now.
"I…I don't know what to think if I'm being honest." Sue sighed, propping her body up with her hands to the back. "All this talk of alien invasion, secret organization, and magic really makes it hard to believe. Reed especially didn't believe that last one even after she showed us proof."
"Lacking a lot of wonder that one." Peter sarcastically sighed.
Sue chuckled at that but continued. "But then I really think about it and we live in a world where a good chunk of the human race have this gene that could give them crazy powers. Also helped that the wizard showed off some magic for us. We literally just got out of a freak accident that gave us powers too!" Sue exclaimed, bringing up her hand as if it would turn invisible again. "It's a little too early but…I guess time travel would have come around sooner or later."
"So…you believe me?" Peter hesitantly asked.
Sue looked down, "There's a lot of things in this world that you just…can't fake Peter. No matter how good of an actor a person is, there are just some things that come from the heart that will always be genuine. And that genuine thing is what I saw when you spoke Peter, and you look haunted. You died, you came back sure but only to have any memory involving you erased. If the universe didn't hit the reset button, you'd have been alone." Sue reached out, grasping his hand. "That kind of thing leaves a mark on anyone, so yes I do believe you."
Peter took in a shuddering breath, smiling weakly at her. "Thanks, Sue. It means a lot."
Sue smiled back, tightening her hold on him. "It means a lot more to me that you trust us enough to tell us everything."
Peter snorted. "Yeah, not without some convincing."
"Yes, but you still told us everything. I know there are still details you left out to save time but you still did, and that means something to me."
"And I'm just glad that you didn't immediately call me crazy for it."
Sue huffed in amusement. "You're practically family now, Peter. If I can't trust family, then who else can I trust?"
"Family, huh?"
Sue hummed and nodded. "After that accident? I don't think we can rely on anyone else but each other now. Ben especially needs it." She glanced back, eyeing her now rocky friend before looking back at Peter. "And you definitely need it."
"Alright, alright." Peter sighed before smiling again. "Still, now what do you guys plan to do?"
Sue hummed. "Probably do what Johnny suggested, as inane as it is. We won't involve you like you wanted, but that doesn't mean you won't have a place here."
Peter smiled, appreciating the gesture. "Thanks, but what about your dad?"
"I did think of it, I didn't want any random company sponsoring us and attaching strings we don't like so I had thought of getting Dad to do that for us."
"To make up for what happened?"
"That's part of it," Sue muttered.
"I don't think it'll work though." Peter admitted.
"Not with Reed in the lead, no. Not after what had happened. That's why everyone agreed that it'll be better if I take the leading mantle."
Peter thought it over. "Nothing against you, Sue but are you sure? Your Dad is mad at you too."
"None taken. But…I can convince him, I just need to find the right angle for it. I just hope he's willing to hear me out." Sue muttered.
"Well, he's your Dad, so I'm sure he will."
Sue smiled mirthlessly. "I told you a little bit of it before but…our relationship with Dad is complicated. He wants the best for us but has a hard time showing it. It's kinda sad that it took us nearly dying and getting superpowers for me to finally see him act like one." Sue's eyes downturned, a little depressed at the thought.
Peter reassuringly rubbed her hand, "Just shows that even deep down he still cares, in his own way. So I think you'll do just fine, he's not the father of the year but he'd definitely at least hear you out if he still cares about you."
Sue smiled, nodding at his words. "Yeah, I really hope so."
The two stared into each other's eyes, smiling almost lovingly as they basked in each other's comforting presence before they stared back out at the city, enjoying each other's company. Oblivious to the stares from their friends.
Chapter 21 - Destined With Blessings
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SKaine
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Chapter 21 - Destined With Blessings
Peter stood in front of the New York Sanctum with trepidation, a little nervous about his sudden apprenticeship under the Sorcerer Supreme. He was excited about learning magic but still, he wasn't really sure what to expect.
"Why the long face? We're learning Magic, man!" Harry nudged him with a huge grin on his face.
"Yeah! This is like the best thing that could ever happen to us!" Felicia added on his other side.
Gwen hummed in a noncommittal way. "Don't really see the appeal, if I'm being honest."
"'Course you don't, you nerd." Felicia huffed.
"I'm just saying! This whole thing about magic is just really suspect." Gwen defended herself. "You heard Peter, it's strong, but we could also fuck up with it really bad."
"Can't really argue against that." Harry muttered, with Felicia begrudgingly agreeing.
"It's also our ticket to the big leagues." Peter begrudgingly admitted. "Gwen's right. It can go wrong, but not learning about it also won't help anyone." His words made the others blink. Gwen sighed as she begrudgingly accepted his words.
He still remembered how Dr Strange had gone toe-to-toe with Thanos, who had the Infinity Stones with him. Magic was far too useful for him not to consider learning it.
He was too afraid of the consequences before to even consider it, but now things had changed. The Ancient One had put some things in perspective for him, he needed trustworthy people to help him if he wanted to save the future, so why couldn't he extend that trust to other things? Even if he couldn't learn the best spells, he reckoned magic would at least help him with locating the Infinity Stones. He still hadn't solved that issue.
"Come on, let's get inside already." Peter sighed and walked up the steps, his friends following close behind as he knocked on the door.
By the third knock, the door immediately opened, Daniel Drumm greeting them with a small smile.
"Ah, Peter! I was informed you would be here, though I was also told there should be more than this?" Daniel asked as he eyed their headcount curiously.
Peter felt a little confused before he realized what he meant. "Ah right, Ben couldn't come here. I'm lucky that I could even be here, to be honest." Peter sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, "Things are a little hectic in the Baxter Building, and I'm the only one who got cleared to leave the quarantine."
The portal explosion was still pretty recent. Despite it being obvious that he had gained powers like the others, he was cleared a lot faster. He had a feeling Sue played a role there; she had insisted that he go through all the necessary checks first and promptly got the green light to go back home without worrying about irradiating everything he touched, something that surprised a lot of people once they got the test results. Guess getting bitten by a radioactive spider had its perks.
He still had to check back on the Baxter Building, but at least he could go around without worry now.
"I see. Come in, come in. I shouldn't be letting you all stand outside like this." Daniel gestured for them to come in.
"Thanks, Mr Drumm." Gwen thanked him, already informed of his name by Peter.
"Yes, no worries. Leave your coats by the hanger and follow me; I'm sure everyone is excited to get started." Daniel chuckled, spotting the excited twinkle in their eyes.
"Oh, you have no idea." Harry laughed as they all followed after him after leaving their coats behind. "Learning magic? Like actual magic? This is the best day of my life!"
"I thought going to Alison Blaire's concert with us was the best day of your life?" Gwen teased, reminded of how excited Harry was at the time. Not that they were any better.
"You got tickets to Alison 'The Dazzler' Blaire's concert?! The tickets always sold out. How did you guys even get that?!" Felicia blurted out. The Mutant singer was popular due to her songs, and the fact that she was an open Mutant led to a lot of attention, both good and bad.
"Harry's/My dad." The trio answered at the same time. Felicia blinked at the synchronized answer before nodding.
"Oookay."
Harry then turned to Gwen. "Look, I love Alison, but she's not out here teaching me how to rock a stage in a nineties get-up for a whole album. So she has to make do with second place."
"I appreciate the excitement, but I must warn you, learning magic, while wondrous, still requires quite a bit of discipline." Daniel interrupted with a warning as they moved through the corridors.
Peter narrowed his eyes as they turned another corner. Were they not teleporting around the mansion? Guess Daniel was easing them into it. Peter did kinda intrude back when he first came here.
"Trust me, I'm as disciplined as I can be." Felicia bragged, though with how she was eyeing all the priceless furniture and paintings in the house with barely concealed desire, it was pretty easy for anyone here to know that was bullshit.
"If you say so." Daniel made a mental note to keep an eye on that one right as they finally arrived at a specific door. He promptly pushed it open, letting the others see the contents of the room.
The place was spacious, a lot more than what the exterior would suggest. The lighting made it rather bright, there were mats on the floor, and the walls were lined with various shelves filled with all kinds of weapons. They could also spot an archway connected to another room, spotting rows of shelves filled with books.
"This will be our dojo. It's connected straight to the Sanctum's library, so you can immediately practice whatever you learn if needed." Daniel introduced.
Felicia whistled as she looked around. "This is pretty cool."
"Wait, we're next to the library? You sure we won't accidentally burn it down?" Harry asked.
Daniel chuckled. "An understandable worry, however—" With a flick of his wrist, some of them yelped with shock as a golden bolt shot out of his hand and straight toward the archway. The entrance flickered, the bolt stopped dead in its tracks before dissipating from the sudden barrier. "—We've already taken that into account."
"Oh yeah, that is really cool." Felicia laughed.
"I'm glad you find it amusing." The group turned, spotting the Ancient One making her way to them with a small smile. "Because it will be one of many things you'd be able to learn in this mansion."
"Ancient One!" Daniel bowed, the rest following a bit awkwardly. The Sorcerer Supreme chuckled a little and gestured for them to stop.
"No need for that, Master Drumm. We are in more casual company." The woman smiled.
"Very well then." Daniel raised back up before turning to them. "As you know by now, this is the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme."
Some of them raised an eyebrow at that; the title sounded important. The three of them glanced at Peter, suspecting that she was there because of him.
"Huh, I know you said that we'd be having lessons, but didn't expect you to personally be here," Peter admitted while crossing his arms, vaguely reminded of how little of a presence Tony had back in his timeline.
"Well, considering our situation, I believe it's necessary." The sorcerer spoke.
"Be grateful you four, not many have the privilege to be mentored by the Sorcerer Supreme." Daniel reminded. "She has many duties to attend to, the fact that she put them aside to teach you means she's investing a lot into your development."
"Sheesh, no pressure." Felicia muttered, cracking some smiles from the others.
"Indeed." Ancient One smiled. "But it's because of those duties, I won't be able to be here as much as I would want. So I have also recruited Master Drumm here and another to help me with mentoring you four whenever I am unavailable to do so."
"And what are these duties again?" Gwen curiously asked.
"Defense against beings outside this plane of existence, balancing the mystical threats that exist in this plane of existence, guiding the sorcerers at Kamar-Taj, and many more." Ancient One rattled off.
Harry whistled. "That's a lot. Though when you say sorcerers at this Kamar-Haj–?"
"Kamar-Taj." Ancient One softly corrected. "And yes, there are others as well. All tucked away in Kamar-Taj, home of the Mystic arts."
"And why are we not there? Learning inside the home of magic with experienced sorcerers around us sounds like a better idea." Peter wondered.
"Well, it's in Nepal for one," Daniel answered. "While we can just portal you there, the Ancient One believes it is better to keep you four here in a more private environment." Judging by his tone, Daniel was also confused by the decision but chose not to question it.
"I also predict that the environment there would be…unsuitable for some of you." Her eyes briefly trained on Felicia and, surprisingly, Peter. The two of them blinked at the sudden scrutiny.
"Felicia, I get—" Gwen ignored the "Hey!", "—But Peter?"
"The environment cultivated there valued rigidity and structure. While there is freedom to learn anything you wish inside, the environment could stifle the growth of the more spirited and free-minded among you. Especially someone with such sticky fingers." Her eyes then trained on Felicia, holding out her hand with an expectant gaze. "Which reminds me, the gnome you took, please."
The three friends turned to her with varying emotions, mostly incredulity.
"Licia!"
"Come on, man!"
"Fine, fine!" Felicia raised her arms in surrender, pulling out the small wooden carving of a gnome from her pocket, and handed it to the sorcerer's expectant arm. "Can't blame me for trying. How did you even know anyway?"
"Magic." The woman answered simply with a mischievous grin.
"Haha." Felicia sarcastically huffed. The others laughed a little at her reply.
"In any case, from this moment on, your training in the Mystic Arts shall formally begin. Throw all of your prior knowledge of the world out the window, it would not help you here. What you will experience is a world much bigger than you could possibly imagine, all waiting to be grasped. All you need to do to experience them is to free your mind."
The four hold varying expressions, some still skeptical, some excited. But all of them stood before the two sorcerers with determination. The Ancient One smiled at what she saw. Yes, she had high hopes for them. The potential that lay inside them would bring great calm to the disasters that await them in the future.
"Now then, my dear students, are you ready to learn what lies beyond?"
[-]
"Tell me, what do you understand about magic?"
Peter watched as the Ancient One stood before them with an expectant gaze. Gwen and Felicia were sitting by his side, with Harry nowhere to be seen. He had been taken away by Daniel once their training had started, something about how there was a different plan with Harry.
"They defy all known laws of physics," Gwen answered blandly.
"They're cool." Felicia simply answered.
"From what little I got in the previous timeline, it looked like wizards were drawing in power from a different dimension."
Ancient One nodded at Peter's answer. "Close. In general, Magic involves invoking power from a mystical source. It could be from you, from a different plane of existence or dimension, as you call it, or a powerful cosmic being. With all these different sources, it is no wonder that multiple schools of magic exist."
"So, which of them would we be learning?" Gwen curiously asked.
"There are two schools that we would be focusing on. One for the Spider-Totems—" Peter and Gwen perked up at that. "—and the other is for you, Miss Hardy."
"Sweet, can I go first?" Felicia rubbed her hands excitedly.
"Of course." Ancient One chuckled. She then held her hand up. From it, a black and blue energy erupted, flowing like a candle flame as the three studied it. There was a sense of something vile to it. Not outright evil, but something close to it.
"What the…" Felicia gasped, feeling something inside her pulse the moment she laid her eyes on it. Like she was staring at something right for her. But that couldn't be right? There was no way something inside her was calling for something so wrong.
"There is a mystic art that originated from Japan before spreading throughout East Asia during the Heian Period. They call it Jujutsu Sorcery, the art of manipulating Curses." The Ancient One introduced it to them.
"Curses?" Felicia asked with incredulity.
"Yes, Curses." The Sorceress nodded. "As I said before, there are many sources that one can invoke to perform magic. This is one of them. By funneling your negative emotions into a condensed state, you'd be able to produce Cursed Energy, the foundation of Jujutsu Sorcery."
Felicia blinked, taking all that info in. "And why did you think this would be perfect for me?"
"Because you have been using it unconsciously, Miss Hardy." The Ancient One answered as she walked closer to her. "Tell me, have you had moments where you come across great fortune? Times when you felt extremely lucky?"
"Yeaaaah?" Felicia didn't like where this was going.
"These moments where you encounter luck were nothing more than occurrences where you had accidentally used Cursed Energy. During times of great need, you unconsciously circulated your Cursed Energy, spreading it out and cursing the source of your problems and thus bringing you great luck."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Felicia stood up, waving her hands frantically. "But it didn't happen all the time, my luck is good, yeah, but there are times when I could use it, but it did nothing!"
"Just like any energy, it can run out." The sorceress simply answered. "You must have used it quite a bit to the point it runs dry."
"...Huh." Felicia didn't have any retort to that. It sounded like it added up. "So, what? I'm just a walking negativity magnet now?" She asked incredulously.
"Not necessarily." The woman chuckled. "I understand that you find this concerning—"
"No shit."
"—But Jujutsu Sorcery is much more noble than it seems. During the ancient days in Japan, Jujutsu was used to combat disasters. They let the negativity that was created from misfortunes, gave it form, and destroyed them to bring peace and prosperity to the villages under their protection."
"Fighting fire with fire." Gwen realized
"Wait, when you say give it form?" Peter asked.
"Yes, they quite literally combat the problems away by giving them a solid form." She elaborated. "Cursed Spirits are quite the peculiar creatures, and the rituals involving them often help drive away famine or natural disasters. Exorcism at the time quite literally saved lives."
"...Huh, that does sound pretty cool," Felicia admitted. "And I have talent in this?"
"It appears so. It is quite rare, as people who can use Cursed Energy have dwindled exponentially over the centuries. You can blame the Renaissance for that. That era had led to a large improvement in the understanding of the physical world around us, creating this sphere of enlightenment that naturally lessens the fears people have over certain things. Famines and natural disasters are no longer monstrous creatures, but tangible things you can deal with. Fear over them lessens, the negativity over them also dwindles, and the need for Jujutsu becomes scarce."
"And now I have the honor of somehow inheriting all of that." Felicia sighed, looking down at her arms in thought.
"Quite." The Ancient One smiled, then she turned to the two spiders. "Though, while Jujutsu had quite the role to play in history, nothing in this world can quite rival the necessity of Spider-Totems."
"You kept calling us that, but what does it mean?" Gwen asked.
"Totems are what you call people chosen by a mystic representation of certain animals. As you can guess, you two have been chosen by a Spider-God to be its heralds. Hence, Spider-Totems."
Peter widened his eyes at that, remembering the giant Spider that represented his spider half.
Gwen didn't notice this, so she continued. "But the thing that gave us powers was a radioactive spider bite."
"The methods of becoming a Totem can be varied, Miss Stacy. Simply wearing a costume with a cat motif could turn you into a Cat Totem if the related beast god felt like it." Everyone turned to Felicia at that, who gaped at her.
"You mean I'm a Totem too?!"
"No, but don't be surprised if you do end up as one."
Felicia huffed in exasperation, bringing chuckles out of everyone.
"But as I mentioned, Spider-Totems are necessary to the world. You can have as many or as few Totems as possible in any plane of existence, but you must at least have one Spider-Totem in any period of time. That is how important they are."
"Can you tell us why?" Peter asked, leaning forward with interest.
The Ancient One smiled. "Of course, it is also connected to your particular situation."
"It does?" Everyone stared at her, wide-eyed.
"Mhmm." She hummed. "Spider-Totems are beings connected to a massive cosmic construct called The Great Web." With a wave of her hand, golden energy flowed. The lines of power intersect and branch out from each other randomly, yet still retain this odd sense of orderly beauty. Slowly, but surely, it began to look like a spider's web.
"Woah…" Gwen gasped.
"The Web of Life and Destiny." The Sorceress presented. "It represents the bonds of all things, how everything connects in a series of cause and effect. Through this connection, it serves as a bonding agent that shapes the universe. Though some had used it as a cosmic map because of how intertwined it is with the world."
The three stared at the image in front of them, amazed by the sight. From between the weblines, they could see images of other dimensions, how it constantly shifted between realities, and let them glimpse into the various dimensions that existed within their universe.
"And we're connected to this?" Peter asked.
"Yes. Spider-Totems exist to maintain and expand The Great Web. It is their divine duty to ensure its continued existence."
"And how do we do that exactly?" Gwen curiously asked. "It's not like we've been doing anything like it ever since we got these powers."
"You technically don't need to do anything." The sorceress clarified. "From what we gathered, Spider-Totems naturally ensure the quality of the Web by merely existing, unraveling and reweaving any flaws in the universe just by being near them."
"So that's what it meant…" Peter realized, taking everyone's attention. "Before I…came back, there was this giant spider. It said it was my power, the spider to my man." He weakly joked. "It told me that the universe's weave needs to be reinforced and until it's finished, I need to stop anyone from ever doing massive changes to reality or using the Infinity Stones."
"You have a giant spider inside you?" Felicia asked, looking a little perturbed. "Like an actual giant hairy spider?"
"More like I have another part of me that is a giant spider. It was pretty mean too." Peter shrugged. He still remembered how pissed it was with him.
"Do I have a giant spider in me?" Gwen asked, also a little disturbed.
"If I have one, you should have one. I'm not having one alone."
"Eww." Gwen cringed.
"Gwen, we have spider powers. A giant spider as a part of you shouldn't be that bad."
"Still." Gwen shuddered. "I guess this big hairy spider is doing all the reality fixing in the background. Right?" She turned to the Ancient One, who was looking at them with a strange glint in her eyes.
"Who knows."
"What do you mean, who knows?!" Felicia nearly shrieked. "I thought you were supposed to be the expert here?"
"I am, but I never admitted to being all knowing." Her answer frustrated them, huffing at her nonchalance. "Spider-Totems are mysterious. There have been many attempts at uncovering their secrets in the past, but they have always failed. We have some records of Spider-Totems existing before and we could only use them as a basis for how to train you in the Mystic Arts."
"Well, it's as good as any I guess. So what should we expect?" Peter asked.
"Beyond the basic spider traits that are common among you, they each have shown natural inclinations to two specific mystic energies. Tantra and Chaos."
The three blanched a little, recognising and kinda not liking what one of those meant. Well, except Felicia. She looked like a cat that caught the canary.
"Tantra." Felicia slowly spoke, her shit eating grin obvious to all. "Like that weird sex energy that people keep talking about in Yoga?"
Unaware or uncaring of the paling faces of Peter and Gwen, the Ancient One nodded. "It works a little differently, but yes, the sex energy."
Felicia laughed, full-on belly laughter as she held her stomach. "HAHAHA! Seriously?!"
"Eugh, she's gonna be annoying now." Gwen groaned as she rubbed her head. Peter wasn't any better, sighing in exasperation.
"That can't just be it." Peter whined.
"Of course not." The sorceress confirmed, much to Gwen and Peter's relief. "Tantra encompasses more than just sex. It manifests when bonds are created, connected, and maintained. Making friends, connecting with a lover, spending time with family, all of that and more are representations of Tantra."
The two Totems stared at her with rapt attention, feeling a little overwhelmed and touched that they were connected to such a sentimental power. There was also a part of them that seemed to sing when she spoke, as if it felt just right for them.
"But they still get stronger from sex, right?" Felicia then ruined that feeling with a smile of a cat that admitted they just pushed a cup off the table and knew you couldn't do anything about it.
"Yes, they do. I believe it's one of the best ways to get the purest form of Tantra."
Felicia turned to the two spiders with teasing eyes. "Seems like you two need to get busy~"
Peter rolled his eyes, but Gwen blushed bright red at the idea. Her and Peter?
'Well, not like I mind.' Gwen turned to Peter considerably. 'Would make Felicia shut up too.'
Felicia, realizing her mistake, paled. "Gwen, what are you thinking?"
"That I need to get busy~" Gwen smirked, unashamedly staring at Peter with half-lidded eyes, the young man trying and failing to think up a response. What the hell should he even do in this situation?!
'Fuck!' Felicia cursed, she had to open her big fat mouth!
"Consider what's happening inside Peter, it might do him some good." The Ancient One's words snapped them out of their reverie, staring at her with wide eyes.
"What? What's happening to me?" Peter hurriedly asked.
The sorceress sighed, waving a hand in front of her. The massive web-like construct before them dissipates into particles, the orbs of light surging into Peter. The three gasped as the particles reappeared, bringing a black and red miasma out with them.
"What the…"
"Peter?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know, Gwen. This is news to me too." There wasn't anything like this with the other Peters' memories, and he certainly didn't remember anything like this.
"As naturally as Spider-Totems collect Tantra, they also absorb Chaos just as easily. This energy serves as a direct opposite of Tantra, manifesting when bonds are destroyed, severed, and degraded. And Peter had sat right in the middle of the destruction of a whole universe."
Peter stared at his red miasma-covered hands, the implication hitting him like a truck. He had been in the middle of the biggest destruction in existence, and the Chaos within him was proof. Proof that he was there and a reminder of what he had done. It wasn't just some weird mystic energy to him.
This was blood on his hands.
"Peter?" Felicia called out, worry in her tone.
"It's okay." Peter held in a shudder, trying his best to ignore this realization.
The Ancient One narrowed her eyes. She had landed on the same conclusion Peter did and sighed. "This is why I urged you to trust more, Peter. To let more people in so that the Tantra you would gain can help balance out the Chaos within you."
"What would that even do? It won't change what I did." Peter sighed, drawing concerned looks from the other two girls.
"No, it won't. But now here you stand at a time where all of that can be changed, stopped from even occurring in the first place. And the power you'd gain from achieving a balance of Tantra and Chaos can aid in that greatly."
Peter stared at her, surprise clear. "What do you mean?"
The Ancient One considered her words, looking contemplative. "The Spider-Totems before you had never reached it, but they have spoken of it with reverence. An inner balance of Chaos and Tantra. They call it Totality. I know not what kind of power it wields, but using either of those energy sources has allowed your predecessors to do miraculous things. I believe it could be of great aid to you."
Peter considered it, realizing the chance offered to him. He had been mostly going around like a headless chicken, but if he had something like this, even without a proper plan, he would be confident in handling the upcoming threats. It still wouldn't erase his sins, but now he would have an easier time atoning for what he did.
'Atonement shouldn't be easy.' Peter mirthlessly grinned. Considering his luck, it won't ever be even with the things stacked in his favor.
"Alright then, when can we get started?"
Peter stared at his new teacher, the two girls still staring at him with concern, but decided not to push for now. All three looked to the Ancient One with various levels of determination.
The sorceress smiled. She liked the look in their eyes, she just hoped they could keep it.
Peter stood in front of the New York Sanctum with trepidation, a little nervous about his sudden apprenticeship under the Sorcerer Supreme. He was excited about learning magic but still, he wasn't really sure what to expect.
"Why the long face? We're learning Magic, man!" Harry nudged him with a huge grin on his face.
"Yeah! This is like the best thing that could ever happen to us!" Felicia added on his other side.
Gwen hummed in a noncommittal way. "Don't really see the appeal, if I'm being honest."
"'Course you don't, you nerd." Felicia huffed.
"I'm just saying! This whole thing about magic is just really suspect." Gwen defended herself. "You heard Peter, it's strong, but we could also fuck up with it really bad."
"Can't really argue against that." Harry muttered, with Felicia begrudgingly agreeing.
"It's also our ticket to the big leagues." Peter begrudgingly admitted. "Gwen's right. It can go wrong, but not learning about it also won't help anyone." His words made the others blink. Gwen sighed as she begrudgingly accepted his words.
He still remembered how Dr Strange had gone toe-to-toe with Thanos, who had the Infinity Stones with him. Magic was far too useful for him not to consider learning it.
He was too afraid of the consequences before to even consider it, but now things had changed. The Ancient One had put some things in perspective for him, he needed trustworthy people to help him if he wanted to save the future, so why couldn't he extend that trust to other things? Even if he couldn't learn the best spells, he reckoned magic would at least help him with locating the Infinity Stones. He still hadn't solved that issue.
"Come on, let's get inside already." Peter sighed and walked up the steps, his friends following close behind as he knocked on the door.
By the third knock, the door immediately opened, Daniel Drumm greeting them with a small smile.
"Ah, Peter! I was informed you would be here, though I was also told there should be more than this?" Daniel asked as he eyed their headcount curiously.
Peter felt a little confused before he realized what he meant. "Ah right, Ben couldn't come here. I'm lucky that I could even be here, to be honest." Peter sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, "Things are a little hectic in the Baxter Building, and I'm the only one who got cleared to leave the quarantine."
The portal explosion was still pretty recent. Despite it being obvious that he had gained powers like the others, he was cleared a lot faster. He had a feeling Sue played a role there; she had insisted that he go through all the necessary checks first and promptly got the green light to go back home without worrying about irradiating everything he touched, something that surprised a lot of people once they got the test results. Guess getting bitten by a radioactive spider had its perks.
He still had to check back on the Baxter Building, but at least he could go around without worry now.
"I see. Come in, come in. I shouldn't be letting you all stand outside like this." Daniel gestured for them to come in.
"Thanks, Mr Drumm." Gwen thanked him, already informed of his name by Peter.
"Yes, no worries. Leave your coats by the hanger and follow me; I'm sure everyone is excited to get started." Daniel chuckled, spotting the excited twinkle in their eyes.
"Oh, you have no idea." Harry laughed as they all followed after him after leaving their coats behind. "Learning magic? Like actual magic? This is the best day of my life!"
"I thought going to Alison Blaire's concert with us was the best day of your life?" Gwen teased, reminded of how excited Harry was at the time. Not that they were any better.
"You got tickets to Alison 'The Dazzler' Blaire's concert?! The tickets always sold out. How did you guys even get that?!" Felicia blurted out. The Mutant singer was popular due to her songs, and the fact that she was an open Mutant led to a lot of attention, both good and bad.
"Harry's/My dad." The trio answered at the same time. Felicia blinked at the synchronized answer before nodding.
"Oookay."
Harry then turned to Gwen. "Look, I love Alison, but she's not out here teaching me how to rock a stage in a nineties get-up for a whole album. So she has to make do with second place."
"I appreciate the excitement, but I must warn you, learning magic, while wondrous, still requires quite a bit of discipline." Daniel interrupted with a warning as they moved through the corridors.
Peter narrowed his eyes as they turned another corner. Were they not teleporting around the mansion? Guess Daniel was easing them into it. Peter did kinda intrude back when he first came here.
"Trust me, I'm as disciplined as I can be." Felicia bragged, though with how she was eyeing all the priceless furniture and paintings in the house with barely concealed desire, it was pretty easy for anyone here to know that was bullshit.
"If you say so." Daniel made a mental note to keep an eye on that one right as they finally arrived at a specific door. He promptly pushed it open, letting the others see the contents of the room.
The place was spacious, a lot more than what the exterior would suggest. The lighting made it rather bright, there were mats on the floor, and the walls were lined with various shelves filled with all kinds of weapons. They could also spot an archway connected to another room, spotting rows of shelves filled with books.
"This will be our dojo. It's connected straight to the Sanctum's library, so you can immediately practice whatever you learn if needed." Daniel introduced.
Felicia whistled as she looked around. "This is pretty cool."
"Wait, we're next to the library? You sure we won't accidentally burn it down?" Harry asked.
Daniel chuckled. "An understandable worry, however—" With a flick of his wrist, some of them yelped with shock as a golden bolt shot out of his hand and straight toward the archway. The entrance flickered, the bolt stopped dead in its tracks before dissipating from the sudden barrier. "—We've already taken that into account."
"Oh yeah, that is really cool." Felicia laughed.
"I'm glad you find it amusing." The group turned, spotting the Ancient One making her way to them with a small smile. "Because it will be one of many things you'd be able to learn in this mansion."
"Ancient One!" Daniel bowed, the rest following a bit awkwardly. The Sorcerer Supreme chuckled a little and gestured for them to stop.
"No need for that, Master Drumm. We are in more casual company." The woman smiled.
"Very well then." Daniel raised back up before turning to them. "As you know by now, this is the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme."
Some of them raised an eyebrow at that; the title sounded important. The three of them glanced at Peter, suspecting that she was there because of him.
"Huh, I know you said that we'd be having lessons, but didn't expect you to personally be here," Peter admitted while crossing his arms, vaguely reminded of how little of a presence Tony had back in his timeline.
"Well, considering our situation, I believe it's necessary." The sorcerer spoke.
"Be grateful you four, not many have the privilege to be mentored by the Sorcerer Supreme." Daniel reminded. "She has many duties to attend to, the fact that she put them aside to teach you means she's investing a lot into your development."
"Sheesh, no pressure." Felicia muttered, cracking some smiles from the others.
"Indeed." Ancient One smiled. "But it's because of those duties, I won't be able to be here as much as I would want. So I have also recruited Master Drumm here and another to help me with mentoring you four whenever I am unavailable to do so."
"And what are these duties again?" Gwen curiously asked.
"Defense against beings outside this plane of existence, balancing the mystical threats that exist in this plane of existence, guiding the sorcerers at Kamar-Taj, and many more." Ancient One rattled off.
Harry whistled. "That's a lot. Though when you say sorcerers at this Kamar-Haj–?"
"Kamar-Taj." Ancient One softly corrected. "And yes, there are others as well. All tucked away in Kamar-Taj, home of the Mystic arts."
"And why are we not there? Learning inside the home of magic with experienced sorcerers around us sounds like a better idea." Peter wondered.
"Well, it's in Nepal for one," Daniel answered. "While we can just portal you there, the Ancient One believes it is better to keep you four here in a more private environment." Judging by his tone, Daniel was also confused by the decision but chose not to question it.
"I also predict that the environment there would be…unsuitable for some of you." Her eyes briefly trained on Felicia and, surprisingly, Peter. The two of them blinked at the sudden scrutiny.
"Felicia, I get—" Gwen ignored the "Hey!", "—But Peter?"
"The environment cultivated there valued rigidity and structure. While there is freedom to learn anything you wish inside, the environment could stifle the growth of the more spirited and free-minded among you. Especially someone with such sticky fingers." Her eyes then trained on Felicia, holding out her hand with an expectant gaze. "Which reminds me, the gnome you took, please."
The three friends turned to her with varying emotions, mostly incredulity.
"Licia!"
"Come on, man!"
"Fine, fine!" Felicia raised her arms in surrender, pulling out the small wooden carving of a gnome from her pocket, and handed it to the sorcerer's expectant arm. "Can't blame me for trying. How did you even know anyway?"
"Magic." The woman answered simply with a mischievous grin.
"Haha." Felicia sarcastically huffed. The others laughed a little at her reply.
"In any case, from this moment on, your training in the Mystic Arts shall formally begin. Throw all of your prior knowledge of the world out the window, it would not help you here. What you will experience is a world much bigger than you could possibly imagine, all waiting to be grasped. All you need to do to experience them is to free your mind."
The four hold varying expressions, some still skeptical, some excited. But all of them stood before the two sorcerers with determination. The Ancient One smiled at what she saw. Yes, she had high hopes for them. The potential that lay inside them would bring great calm to the disasters that await them in the future.
"Now then, my dear students, are you ready to learn what lies beyond?"
[-]
"Tell me, what do you understand about magic?"
Peter watched as the Ancient One stood before them with an expectant gaze. Gwen and Felicia were sitting by his side, with Harry nowhere to be seen. He had been taken away by Daniel once their training had started, something about how there was a different plan with Harry.
"They defy all known laws of physics," Gwen answered blandly.
"They're cool." Felicia simply answered.
"From what little I got in the previous timeline, it looked like wizards were drawing in power from a different dimension."
Ancient One nodded at Peter's answer. "Close. In general, Magic involves invoking power from a mystical source. It could be from you, from a different plane of existence or dimension, as you call it, or a powerful cosmic being. With all these different sources, it is no wonder that multiple schools of magic exist."
"So, which of them would we be learning?" Gwen curiously asked.
"There are two schools that we would be focusing on. One for the Spider-Totems—" Peter and Gwen perked up at that. "—and the other is for you, Miss Hardy."
"Sweet, can I go first?" Felicia rubbed her hands excitedly.
"Of course." Ancient One chuckled. She then held her hand up. From it, a black and blue energy erupted, flowing like a candle flame as the three studied it. There was a sense of something vile to it. Not outright evil, but something close to it.
"What the…" Felicia gasped, feeling something inside her pulse the moment she laid her eyes on it. Like she was staring at something right for her. But that couldn't be right? There was no way something inside her was calling for something so wrong.
"There is a mystic art that originated from Japan before spreading throughout East Asia during the Heian Period. They call it Jujutsu Sorcery, the art of manipulating Curses." The Ancient One introduced it to them.
"Curses?" Felicia asked with incredulity.
"Yes, Curses." The Sorceress nodded. "As I said before, there are many sources that one can invoke to perform magic. This is one of them. By funneling your negative emotions into a condensed state, you'd be able to produce Cursed Energy, the foundation of Jujutsu Sorcery."
Felicia blinked, taking all that info in. "And why did you think this would be perfect for me?"
"Because you have been using it unconsciously, Miss Hardy." The Ancient One answered as she walked closer to her. "Tell me, have you had moments where you come across great fortune? Times when you felt extremely lucky?"
"Yeaaaah?" Felicia didn't like where this was going.
"These moments where you encounter luck were nothing more than occurrences where you had accidentally used Cursed Energy. During times of great need, you unconsciously circulated your Cursed Energy, spreading it out and cursing the source of your problems and thus bringing you great luck."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Felicia stood up, waving her hands frantically. "But it didn't happen all the time, my luck is good, yeah, but there are times when I could use it, but it did nothing!"
"Just like any energy, it can run out." The sorceress simply answered. "You must have used it quite a bit to the point it runs dry."
"...Huh." Felicia didn't have any retort to that. It sounded like it added up. "So, what? I'm just a walking negativity magnet now?" She asked incredulously.
"Not necessarily." The woman chuckled. "I understand that you find this concerning—"
"No shit."
"—But Jujutsu Sorcery is much more noble than it seems. During the ancient days in Japan, Jujutsu was used to combat disasters. They let the negativity that was created from misfortunes, gave it form, and destroyed them to bring peace and prosperity to the villages under their protection."
"Fighting fire with fire." Gwen realized
"Wait, when you say give it form?" Peter asked.
"Yes, they quite literally combat the problems away by giving them a solid form." She elaborated. "Cursed Spirits are quite the peculiar creatures, and the rituals involving them often help drive away famine or natural disasters. Exorcism at the time quite literally saved lives."
"...Huh, that does sound pretty cool," Felicia admitted. "And I have talent in this?"
"It appears so. It is quite rare, as people who can use Cursed Energy have dwindled exponentially over the centuries. You can blame the Renaissance for that. That era had led to a large improvement in the understanding of the physical world around us, creating this sphere of enlightenment that naturally lessens the fears people have over certain things. Famines and natural disasters are no longer monstrous creatures, but tangible things you can deal with. Fear over them lessens, the negativity over them also dwindles, and the need for Jujutsu becomes scarce."
"And now I have the honor of somehow inheriting all of that." Felicia sighed, looking down at her arms in thought.
"Quite." The Ancient One smiled, then she turned to the two spiders. "Though, while Jujutsu had quite the role to play in history, nothing in this world can quite rival the necessity of Spider-Totems."
"You kept calling us that, but what does it mean?" Gwen asked.
"Totems are what you call people chosen by a mystic representation of certain animals. As you can guess, you two have been chosen by a Spider-God to be its heralds. Hence, Spider-Totems."
Peter widened his eyes at that, remembering the giant Spider that represented his spider half.
Gwen didn't notice this, so she continued. "But the thing that gave us powers was a radioactive spider bite."
"The methods of becoming a Totem can be varied, Miss Stacy. Simply wearing a costume with a cat motif could turn you into a Cat Totem if the related beast god felt like it." Everyone turned to Felicia at that, who gaped at her.
"You mean I'm a Totem too?!"
"No, but don't be surprised if you do end up as one."
Felicia huffed in exasperation, bringing chuckles out of everyone.
"But as I mentioned, Spider-Totems are necessary to the world. You can have as many or as few Totems as possible in any plane of existence, but you must at least have one Spider-Totem in any period of time. That is how important they are."
"Can you tell us why?" Peter asked, leaning forward with interest.
The Ancient One smiled. "Of course, it is also connected to your particular situation."
"It does?" Everyone stared at her, wide-eyed.
"Mhmm." She hummed. "Spider-Totems are beings connected to a massive cosmic construct called The Great Web." With a wave of her hand, golden energy flowed. The lines of power intersect and branch out from each other randomly, yet still retain this odd sense of orderly beauty. Slowly, but surely, it began to look like a spider's web.
"Woah…" Gwen gasped.
"The Web of Life and Destiny." The Sorceress presented. "It represents the bonds of all things, how everything connects in a series of cause and effect. Through this connection, it serves as a bonding agent that shapes the universe. Though some had used it as a cosmic map because of how intertwined it is with the world."
The three stared at the image in front of them, amazed by the sight. From between the weblines, they could see images of other dimensions, how it constantly shifted between realities, and let them glimpse into the various dimensions that existed within their universe.
"And we're connected to this?" Peter asked.
"Yes. Spider-Totems exist to maintain and expand The Great Web. It is their divine duty to ensure its continued existence."
"And how do we do that exactly?" Gwen curiously asked. "It's not like we've been doing anything like it ever since we got these powers."
"You technically don't need to do anything." The sorceress clarified. "From what we gathered, Spider-Totems naturally ensure the quality of the Web by merely existing, unraveling and reweaving any flaws in the universe just by being near them."
"So that's what it meant…" Peter realized, taking everyone's attention. "Before I…came back, there was this giant spider. It said it was my power, the spider to my man." He weakly joked. "It told me that the universe's weave needs to be reinforced and until it's finished, I need to stop anyone from ever doing massive changes to reality or using the Infinity Stones."
"You have a giant spider inside you?" Felicia asked, looking a little perturbed. "Like an actual giant hairy spider?"
"More like I have another part of me that is a giant spider. It was pretty mean too." Peter shrugged. He still remembered how pissed it was with him.
"Do I have a giant spider in me?" Gwen asked, also a little disturbed.
"If I have one, you should have one. I'm not having one alone."
"Eww." Gwen cringed.
"Gwen, we have spider powers. A giant spider as a part of you shouldn't be that bad."
"Still." Gwen shuddered. "I guess this big hairy spider is doing all the reality fixing in the background. Right?" She turned to the Ancient One, who was looking at them with a strange glint in her eyes.
"Who knows."
"What do you mean, who knows?!" Felicia nearly shrieked. "I thought you were supposed to be the expert here?"
"I am, but I never admitted to being all knowing." Her answer frustrated them, huffing at her nonchalance. "Spider-Totems are mysterious. There have been many attempts at uncovering their secrets in the past, but they have always failed. We have some records of Spider-Totems existing before and we could only use them as a basis for how to train you in the Mystic Arts."
"Well, it's as good as any I guess. So what should we expect?" Peter asked.
"Beyond the basic spider traits that are common among you, they each have shown natural inclinations to two specific mystic energies. Tantra and Chaos."
The three blanched a little, recognising and kinda not liking what one of those meant. Well, except Felicia. She looked like a cat that caught the canary.
"Tantra." Felicia slowly spoke, her shit eating grin obvious to all. "Like that weird sex energy that people keep talking about in Yoga?"
Unaware or uncaring of the paling faces of Peter and Gwen, the Ancient One nodded. "It works a little differently, but yes, the sex energy."
Felicia laughed, full-on belly laughter as she held her stomach. "HAHAHA! Seriously?!"
"Eugh, she's gonna be annoying now." Gwen groaned as she rubbed her head. Peter wasn't any better, sighing in exasperation.
"That can't just be it." Peter whined.
"Of course not." The sorceress confirmed, much to Gwen and Peter's relief. "Tantra encompasses more than just sex. It manifests when bonds are created, connected, and maintained. Making friends, connecting with a lover, spending time with family, all of that and more are representations of Tantra."
The two Totems stared at her with rapt attention, feeling a little overwhelmed and touched that they were connected to such a sentimental power. There was also a part of them that seemed to sing when she spoke, as if it felt just right for them.
"But they still get stronger from sex, right?" Felicia then ruined that feeling with a smile of a cat that admitted they just pushed a cup off the table and knew you couldn't do anything about it.
"Yes, they do. I believe it's one of the best ways to get the purest form of Tantra."
Felicia turned to the two spiders with teasing eyes. "Seems like you two need to get busy~"
Peter rolled his eyes, but Gwen blushed bright red at the idea. Her and Peter?
'Well, not like I mind.' Gwen turned to Peter considerably. 'Would make Felicia shut up too.'
Felicia, realizing her mistake, paled. "Gwen, what are you thinking?"
"That I need to get busy~" Gwen smirked, unashamedly staring at Peter with half-lidded eyes, the young man trying and failing to think up a response. What the hell should he even do in this situation?!
'Fuck!' Felicia cursed, she had to open her big fat mouth!
"Consider what's happening inside Peter, it might do him some good." The Ancient One's words snapped them out of their reverie, staring at her with wide eyes.
"What? What's happening to me?" Peter hurriedly asked.
The sorceress sighed, waving a hand in front of her. The massive web-like construct before them dissipates into particles, the orbs of light surging into Peter. The three gasped as the particles reappeared, bringing a black and red miasma out with them.
"What the…"
"Peter?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know, Gwen. This is news to me too." There wasn't anything like this with the other Peters' memories, and he certainly didn't remember anything like this.
"As naturally as Spider-Totems collect Tantra, they also absorb Chaos just as easily. This energy serves as a direct opposite of Tantra, manifesting when bonds are destroyed, severed, and degraded. And Peter had sat right in the middle of the destruction of a whole universe."
Peter stared at his red miasma-covered hands, the implication hitting him like a truck. He had been in the middle of the biggest destruction in existence, and the Chaos within him was proof. Proof that he was there and a reminder of what he had done. It wasn't just some weird mystic energy to him.
This was blood on his hands.
"Peter?" Felicia called out, worry in her tone.
"It's okay." Peter held in a shudder, trying his best to ignore this realization.
The Ancient One narrowed her eyes. She had landed on the same conclusion Peter did and sighed. "This is why I urged you to trust more, Peter. To let more people in so that the Tantra you would gain can help balance out the Chaos within you."
"What would that even do? It won't change what I did." Peter sighed, drawing concerned looks from the other two girls.
"No, it won't. But now here you stand at a time where all of that can be changed, stopped from even occurring in the first place. And the power you'd gain from achieving a balance of Tantra and Chaos can aid in that greatly."
Peter stared at her, surprise clear. "What do you mean?"
The Ancient One considered her words, looking contemplative. "The Spider-Totems before you had never reached it, but they have spoken of it with reverence. An inner balance of Chaos and Tantra. They call it Totality. I know not what kind of power it wields, but using either of those energy sources has allowed your predecessors to do miraculous things. I believe it could be of great aid to you."
Peter considered it, realizing the chance offered to him. He had been mostly going around like a headless chicken, but if he had something like this, even without a proper plan, he would be confident in handling the upcoming threats. It still wouldn't erase his sins, but now he would have an easier time atoning for what he did.
'Atonement shouldn't be easy.' Peter mirthlessly grinned. Considering his luck, it won't ever be even with the things stacked in his favor.
"Alright then, when can we get started?"
Peter stared at his new teacher, the two girls still staring at him with concern, but decided not to push for now. All three looked to the Ancient One with various levels of determination.
The sorceress smiled. She liked the look in their eyes, she just hoped they could keep it.
Chapter 22 - Press The Accelerator Until It Turns Red-Hot
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Chapter 22 - Press The Accelerator Until It Turns Red-Hot
"I suck at Magic?!"
Daniel grimaced, not really enjoying the conversation he was having with the shocked boy. He and the Ancient One had quickly noticed the issue with Harry and had thought it best that they pull him to the side and inform him of his situation privately.
Didn't make it any easier for him.
"Not necessarily. It's just… you're very limited to certain fields of it." Daniel elaborated.
Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means exactly what it means. Due to your condition, your potential in magic is a lot more… 'problematic' than normal." Daniel cringed, unsure if he was framing it the right way.
With how Harry looked, he shared that sentiment. "Problematic? Wha–What condition?"
Daniel sighed. "When using Magic, a user would draw power from a specific source. The source varies of course; some call on nature, others call on the Gods to bestow them power, some even draw from another plane of existence entirely."
Harry nodded, following along so far.
"But your condition made it…troublesome. Your body is vulnerable to outside influence and due to this, it is highly recommended that you limit the scope of the source you draw from."
Harry thought it over, catching like half of that. "Outside influence? Like eldritch stuff?"
"Essentially." Daniel hummed. It was a bit more complicated, but for now, it would do. "Different dimensions, gods, an aspect of nature itself–these powerful beings all contain power that is dangerous to your body."
"How? Why?" Harry couldn't understand why this was happening to him. Just when he thought he could finally be on the field with his friends, reality decided to screw him over.
"I'm not sure. There could be a lot of things that caused this." Daniel's answer only frustrated him. "Is there any sickness or genetic condition that you know of in your family?"
Harry stilled, the answer obvious to him.
"My… Mom. She's been sick ever since she gave birth to me. Same thing happened to her mom. Apparently, it's a thing with her family." Harry spoke, remembering his bedridden parent. "It was slow, at first they'd be in a wheelchair, but after a few years they'd be stuck in a bed. Then it just gets worse from there…" He trailed off with a faraway look. He had seen that 'worse'.
Daniel remained silent, giving him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's fine, did that help?" Harry moved on.
"Somewhat, a genetic condition can affect a caster's magical potential."
"And you think whatever happened to my mom affected me?"
"Possibly, yes. But–!" Harry perked up before he could even be depressed. "That doesn't mean it can't be handled. Just because your invocation options are limited doesn't mean you can't use magic."
Some sparks returned to Harry's eyes. His previously dimmed excitement came back with full force. "Really?"
"Of course. We just need to figure out which school of thought would be fitting for you. There are also relics, powerful items that can handle powers that you can't but we're getting a little ahead there."
A weight lifted from his shoulders, a sense of relief flowed through him. While part of him was still sad that he might not be able to follow Peter in the field fully, there were still other ways he could help.
Then a thought occurred to him. One he didn't thought of until it was brought up.
"Hey, Mr Drumm?"
"What is it?" The sorcerer sensed the small change in the young man. It was different from the faint despair of before; there was now tentative hope.
"Magic…it's pretty miraculous, right?"
"Yes, I'd say it is."
"Then, do you think I can use it to help cure my mom?"
Harry couldn't help but consider the possibility. No one could figure out what was happening to her, not even his own dad. The best doctors money could buy were all stumped by the condition, and part of Harry couldn't help but feel like his father blamed him for it. He always thought that was why his dad was so hard on him.
His mother was as healthy as she could be; it wasn't like his grandmother, who started getting sick way before she even gave birth to his mother. It happened right after his mother gave birth to him. So if there was a chance that he could help his mother, then he needed to take it.
"Hmmm, I can't promise anything." Daniel hummed. "But we had a sorcerer who managed to regain feeling in his paralysed legs through the use of magic. I'm sure you might find something in the library that could be of use."
Better than nothing, Harry supposed. Still, what Daniel had mentioned sparked some hope in him. He just hoped he'd be able to use it.
[-]
Peter breathed deeply, his skin flushed red as sweat dripped. Even with his superhuman state, he couldn't help but feel exhausted like he had just finished rearranging his whole room after spending the entire day lifting furniture. It was an odd analogy, but that was the thought that came to mind.
'Then again, sparring with Gwen never got this far before.' Peter thought.
It was the only thing he could do really. He couldn't really see with the blindfold on and without all the visual input, it left his mind wandering.
"Focus, Peter." The Ancient One chided.
Right, he was in the middle of training. Just as he thought of that, his Spider-Sense blared.
Ducking, he felt a whiff of air pass by his head. Was that a punch? No, it was a kick. An overhead kick with the back of the leg, to be specific. How did he know this? Spider-Sense. The image was vague, barely even an image really. It was more of a 'buzz', a hazy feeling in the back of his head that alerted him to a threat.
Said hazy feeling was starting to be a lot clearer with the training. Depriving him of his sight helped him focus more on his Spider-Sense, honing it and making these faint 'buzzes' into solid feelings he could work with. He had never thought of this; even the other Peters had never done anything like this.
'Probably because of how other problems kept bothering us.' Peter grouched as he jumped, dodging another kick.
Trying to fight with just his Spider-Sense was kinda pushing it though. He could try incorporating his other senses but that was easier said than done. His Spider-Sense was faster and easier to focus on.
'I mean, how do you even try to feel the air with your skin anyway?'
"Peter." Ancient One warned.
"My bad!"
"Can you please take this seriously?!" Gwen growled.
"I am!" Peter sidestepped the incoming punch, feeling the irritated strength put behind it.
Peter mentally reached out, thinking of stepping into any of the six directions around him until one of them caused his sixth sense to be alert. Gwen was there, also equipped with a blindfold. It was in a different direction from where he had just dodged the attack, so she must have moved around him.
Deliberately, he raised a fist. The buzzing suddenly pulsed, quickly directing to another direction.
'Jumpy, are we?' Peter mulled over it. He could work with that.
He moved, sending basic and repeatable combos of punches and kicks. Fast enough to give Gwen trouble, but not too much that it drained him. Usually, Gwen would have noticed the tempo and how he was repeating his patterns, but with how jumpy she was, it was unlikely to happen. Her focus was on her Spider-Sense, not him.
Letting her jump over his sweep, he leaned to the side a little to avoid the retaliatory punch. His sensitive nose caught the salty scent wafting off her, his ears detected her heavy breath, and even his skin could feel the droplets of sweat that dropped on him from some close calls.
'Oooooh, so that's what she meant by using my other senses.' It was simpler than he thought.
With that realization, he pounced, aiming a kick right at her side. His Spider-Sense buzzed again, alerting him of the crossed arm block and most importantly, the open palm waiting to grab his leg and spin him down to the floor. He had learnt to be careful the hard way early in their spar. She had probably finally started to figure out how to use her Spider-Sense more offensively.
Too little, too late.
He shifted his other leg, pivoting his kicking knee and aiming his leg higher. Whether Gwen noticed the sudden change or not, she didn't manage to react quickly enough, taking the question mark kick right on top of her shoulder. The spider woman crashed down to the dojo mat with a pained grunt.
"Enough."
Peter let out a breath, immediately pulling his blindfold off at the call. The lights blinded him for a second but he adjusted. Looking down, he noticed a groaning Gwen, blindfold already pulled down to her neck while nursing her struck shoulder.
"I saw it, but I couldn't even react. And here I thought I was the fast one." Gwen chuckled a bit bitterly.
"That's because of the pacing." The Ancient One interjected, the woman standing between them with her hands clasped behind her. "Peter noticed how jumpy you were and used it to his advantage, forcing you to make big moves reacting from your Spider-Sense while Peter was saving his energy with simpler ones. Am I correct?"
Peter blinked at that. "Uh, yeah, pretty much. I noticed it when you dodged just from me raising my hand."
Gwen groaned. "I knew something was up but I just couldn't tell what."
"Is it still too fuzzy for you?" Peter asked curiously.
Gwen scrunched up, "Fuzzy? Oh!" It took her a second to realize what he meant. "Yeah, kinda. I get the direction that my Spidey Sense is showing me, where it's coming and the angle of it, but I can't really tell what kind of attack it is. For all I know, it could be a kick, a punch, a stab, or whatever."
Peter waved it off. "Then you're already doing great. I got ahead because I got three sets of memories in my head helping me."
Gwen made a face at that. "Still not sure how to feel about that. I know you said two of them feel detached from you, but still…"
Peter sighed. "Yeah, I get ya, took me a bit too."
"How does it feel like anyway?" Gwen asked curiously.
Peter thought it over. He had never thought about it before. "There's really not much difference. It's pretty normal to be honest, though I do have to be careful when I'm trying to remember something. The big stuff I could separate just fine, but the smaller stuff? I could mix up the memories and not know it came from who."
"Well, that's convenient. Which I think was the point." Gwen hummed. She remembered Peter saying that the memories were a gift to help him.
"Don't worry, Gwen. Whatever I know, I'll pass it to you anyway. So it's not like you're lagging behind too much."
"Yeah, at least I got you around." Gwen smiled at him, something he returned.
"Both of you are doing better than your friend at least." The Ancient One suddenly spoke.
The two turned to the sorceress with curious looks before they shifted to another occupant in the room. At the other side of the dojo was Felicia, sitting in a lotus position with a constipated expression. Blue and black energy flared around her form almost violently, shifting and pulsing with every pinched expression.
"Hmmm, I might need to revise the training I had planned for her." Ancient One muttered, eyeing the shifting flow of negativity with a worried expression.
"Will Felicia be okay?" Gwen asked, also worried for her friend.
"Don't worry, she just hit a snag in her training. A snag that I didn't expect and one I will have to rectify later."
"Is it okay to leave her like that?" Peter brought up with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, I just want her to be familiar with the energy. It isn't an issue for her now and I will handle it when needed. Right now, you two should focus on yourself."
The two spiders glanced at each other before nodding. She was the expert and so far, things were pretty smooth.
"When are we gonna focus on our spider magic?" Peter suddenly asked.
"When I feel like you're ready."
"Is this gonna be like where the master tells us that we're not ready because we still haven't got our wax on, wax off down pat yet?" Gwen snarked.
The sorceress smiled. "As amusing as that would be, no. Until you get your Spider-Sense up to a decent level, then we'll get into the magic surrounding the Spider-Totems. So get to training."
The two sighed but got back to their stances. Gwen even groaned in pain from the previous kick from him, shifting her shoulder a little before she settled back into her stance.
"You gonna be alright?" Peter asked with a worried look.
"I'll deal. You'll pay for it anyway. "Gwen casually sniffed.
"That's not worrying at all."
"As if you're not used to it. Remember Flash?"
"Touche."
With one final snark, they grabbed their blindfold.
"Ready?" The Ancient One called.
The two spiders nodded.
"Proceed."
They lifted their blindfold, wrapping it around their eyes wordlessly.
"Begin."
The room was filled with the sound of clashing limbs for the next few hours.
"I suck at Magic?!"
Daniel grimaced, not really enjoying the conversation he was having with the shocked boy. He and the Ancient One had quickly noticed the issue with Harry and had thought it best that they pull him to the side and inform him of his situation privately.
Didn't make it any easier for him.
"Not necessarily. It's just… you're very limited to certain fields of it." Daniel elaborated.
Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means exactly what it means. Due to your condition, your potential in magic is a lot more… 'problematic' than normal." Daniel cringed, unsure if he was framing it the right way.
With how Harry looked, he shared that sentiment. "Problematic? Wha–What condition?"
Daniel sighed. "When using Magic, a user would draw power from a specific source. The source varies of course; some call on nature, others call on the Gods to bestow them power, some even draw from another plane of existence entirely."
Harry nodded, following along so far.
"But your condition made it…troublesome. Your body is vulnerable to outside influence and due to this, it is highly recommended that you limit the scope of the source you draw from."
Harry thought it over, catching like half of that. "Outside influence? Like eldritch stuff?"
"Essentially." Daniel hummed. It was a bit more complicated, but for now, it would do. "Different dimensions, gods, an aspect of nature itself–these powerful beings all contain power that is dangerous to your body."
"How? Why?" Harry couldn't understand why this was happening to him. Just when he thought he could finally be on the field with his friends, reality decided to screw him over.
"I'm not sure. There could be a lot of things that caused this." Daniel's answer only frustrated him. "Is there any sickness or genetic condition that you know of in your family?"
Harry stilled, the answer obvious to him.
"My… Mom. She's been sick ever since she gave birth to me. Same thing happened to her mom. Apparently, it's a thing with her family." Harry spoke, remembering his bedridden parent. "It was slow, at first they'd be in a wheelchair, but after a few years they'd be stuck in a bed. Then it just gets worse from there…" He trailed off with a faraway look. He had seen that 'worse'.
Daniel remained silent, giving him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's fine, did that help?" Harry moved on.
"Somewhat, a genetic condition can affect a caster's magical potential."
"And you think whatever happened to my mom affected me?"
"Possibly, yes. But–!" Harry perked up before he could even be depressed. "That doesn't mean it can't be handled. Just because your invocation options are limited doesn't mean you can't use magic."
Some sparks returned to Harry's eyes. His previously dimmed excitement came back with full force. "Really?"
"Of course. We just need to figure out which school of thought would be fitting for you. There are also relics, powerful items that can handle powers that you can't but we're getting a little ahead there."
A weight lifted from his shoulders, a sense of relief flowed through him. While part of him was still sad that he might not be able to follow Peter in the field fully, there were still other ways he could help.
Then a thought occurred to him. One he didn't thought of until it was brought up.
"Hey, Mr Drumm?"
"What is it?" The sorcerer sensed the small change in the young man. It was different from the faint despair of before; there was now tentative hope.
"Magic…it's pretty miraculous, right?"
"Yes, I'd say it is."
"Then, do you think I can use it to help cure my mom?"
Harry couldn't help but consider the possibility. No one could figure out what was happening to her, not even his own dad. The best doctors money could buy were all stumped by the condition, and part of Harry couldn't help but feel like his father blamed him for it. He always thought that was why his dad was so hard on him.
His mother was as healthy as she could be; it wasn't like his grandmother, who started getting sick way before she even gave birth to his mother. It happened right after his mother gave birth to him. So if there was a chance that he could help his mother, then he needed to take it.
"Hmmm, I can't promise anything." Daniel hummed. "But we had a sorcerer who managed to regain feeling in his paralysed legs through the use of magic. I'm sure you might find something in the library that could be of use."
Better than nothing, Harry supposed. Still, what Daniel had mentioned sparked some hope in him. He just hoped he'd be able to use it.
[-]
Peter breathed deeply, his skin flushed red as sweat dripped. Even with his superhuman state, he couldn't help but feel exhausted like he had just finished rearranging his whole room after spending the entire day lifting furniture. It was an odd analogy, but that was the thought that came to mind.
'Then again, sparring with Gwen never got this far before.' Peter thought.
It was the only thing he could do really. He couldn't really see with the blindfold on and without all the visual input, it left his mind wandering.
"Focus, Peter." The Ancient One chided.
Right, he was in the middle of training. Just as he thought of that, his Spider-Sense blared.
Ducking, he felt a whiff of air pass by his head. Was that a punch? No, it was a kick. An overhead kick with the back of the leg, to be specific. How did he know this? Spider-Sense. The image was vague, barely even an image really. It was more of a 'buzz', a hazy feeling in the back of his head that alerted him to a threat.
Said hazy feeling was starting to be a lot clearer with the training. Depriving him of his sight helped him focus more on his Spider-Sense, honing it and making these faint 'buzzes' into solid feelings he could work with. He had never thought of this; even the other Peters had never done anything like this.
'Probably because of how other problems kept bothering us.' Peter grouched as he jumped, dodging another kick.
Trying to fight with just his Spider-Sense was kinda pushing it though. He could try incorporating his other senses but that was easier said than done. His Spider-Sense was faster and easier to focus on.
'I mean, how do you even try to feel the air with your skin anyway?'
"Peter." Ancient One warned.
"My bad!"
"Can you please take this seriously?!" Gwen growled.
"I am!" Peter sidestepped the incoming punch, feeling the irritated strength put behind it.
Peter mentally reached out, thinking of stepping into any of the six directions around him until one of them caused his sixth sense to be alert. Gwen was there, also equipped with a blindfold. It was in a different direction from where he had just dodged the attack, so she must have moved around him.
Deliberately, he raised a fist. The buzzing suddenly pulsed, quickly directing to another direction.
'Jumpy, are we?' Peter mulled over it. He could work with that.
He moved, sending basic and repeatable combos of punches and kicks. Fast enough to give Gwen trouble, but not too much that it drained him. Usually, Gwen would have noticed the tempo and how he was repeating his patterns, but with how jumpy she was, it was unlikely to happen. Her focus was on her Spider-Sense, not him.
Letting her jump over his sweep, he leaned to the side a little to avoid the retaliatory punch. His sensitive nose caught the salty scent wafting off her, his ears detected her heavy breath, and even his skin could feel the droplets of sweat that dropped on him from some close calls.
'Oooooh, so that's what she meant by using my other senses.' It was simpler than he thought.
With that realization, he pounced, aiming a kick right at her side. His Spider-Sense buzzed again, alerting him of the crossed arm block and most importantly, the open palm waiting to grab his leg and spin him down to the floor. He had learnt to be careful the hard way early in their spar. She had probably finally started to figure out how to use her Spider-Sense more offensively.
Too little, too late.
He shifted his other leg, pivoting his kicking knee and aiming his leg higher. Whether Gwen noticed the sudden change or not, she didn't manage to react quickly enough, taking the question mark kick right on top of her shoulder. The spider woman crashed down to the dojo mat with a pained grunt.
"Enough."
Peter let out a breath, immediately pulling his blindfold off at the call. The lights blinded him for a second but he adjusted. Looking down, he noticed a groaning Gwen, blindfold already pulled down to her neck while nursing her struck shoulder.
"I saw it, but I couldn't even react. And here I thought I was the fast one." Gwen chuckled a bit bitterly.
"That's because of the pacing." The Ancient One interjected, the woman standing between them with her hands clasped behind her. "Peter noticed how jumpy you were and used it to his advantage, forcing you to make big moves reacting from your Spider-Sense while Peter was saving his energy with simpler ones. Am I correct?"
Peter blinked at that. "Uh, yeah, pretty much. I noticed it when you dodged just from me raising my hand."
Gwen groaned. "I knew something was up but I just couldn't tell what."
"Is it still too fuzzy for you?" Peter asked curiously.
Gwen scrunched up, "Fuzzy? Oh!" It took her a second to realize what he meant. "Yeah, kinda. I get the direction that my Spidey Sense is showing me, where it's coming and the angle of it, but I can't really tell what kind of attack it is. For all I know, it could be a kick, a punch, a stab, or whatever."
Peter waved it off. "Then you're already doing great. I got ahead because I got three sets of memories in my head helping me."
Gwen made a face at that. "Still not sure how to feel about that. I know you said two of them feel detached from you, but still…"
Peter sighed. "Yeah, I get ya, took me a bit too."
"How does it feel like anyway?" Gwen asked curiously.
Peter thought it over. He had never thought about it before. "There's really not much difference. It's pretty normal to be honest, though I do have to be careful when I'm trying to remember something. The big stuff I could separate just fine, but the smaller stuff? I could mix up the memories and not know it came from who."
"Well, that's convenient. Which I think was the point." Gwen hummed. She remembered Peter saying that the memories were a gift to help him.
"Don't worry, Gwen. Whatever I know, I'll pass it to you anyway. So it's not like you're lagging behind too much."
"Yeah, at least I got you around." Gwen smiled at him, something he returned.
"Both of you are doing better than your friend at least." The Ancient One suddenly spoke.
The two turned to the sorceress with curious looks before they shifted to another occupant in the room. At the other side of the dojo was Felicia, sitting in a lotus position with a constipated expression. Blue and black energy flared around her form almost violently, shifting and pulsing with every pinched expression.
"Hmmm, I might need to revise the training I had planned for her." Ancient One muttered, eyeing the shifting flow of negativity with a worried expression.
"Will Felicia be okay?" Gwen asked, also worried for her friend.
"Don't worry, she just hit a snag in her training. A snag that I didn't expect and one I will have to rectify later."
"Is it okay to leave her like that?" Peter brought up with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, I just want her to be familiar with the energy. It isn't an issue for her now and I will handle it when needed. Right now, you two should focus on yourself."
The two spiders glanced at each other before nodding. She was the expert and so far, things were pretty smooth.
"When are we gonna focus on our spider magic?" Peter suddenly asked.
"When I feel like you're ready."
"Is this gonna be like where the master tells us that we're not ready because we still haven't got our wax on, wax off down pat yet?" Gwen snarked.
The sorceress smiled. "As amusing as that would be, no. Until you get your Spider-Sense up to a decent level, then we'll get into the magic surrounding the Spider-Totems. So get to training."
The two sighed but got back to their stances. Gwen even groaned in pain from the previous kick from him, shifting her shoulder a little before she settled back into her stance.
"You gonna be alright?" Peter asked with a worried look.
"I'll deal. You'll pay for it anyway. "Gwen casually sniffed.
"That's not worrying at all."
"As if you're not used to it. Remember Flash?"
"Touche."
With one final snark, they grabbed their blindfold.
"Ready?" The Ancient One called.
The two spiders nodded.
"Proceed."
They lifted their blindfold, wrapping it around their eyes wordlessly.
"Begin."
The room was filled with the sound of clashing limbs for the next few hours.
Chapter 23 - Is It My Turn To Be The Hero?
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Chapter 23 - Is It My Turn To Be The Hero?
"So be real with me, how chaotic is it?" Peter asked as he paced around his room, his eyes scanning what to pack and what to leave behind.
A groan reached out from the other side of the call, "Eugh, as much as you expect from a mansion full of kids with mutant powers."
Peter laughed at Jean's tone; he could only imagine. He was winging it pretty hard with Gwen and Felicia, and they were at least people he knew. A bunch of strangers all struggling with how to handle their own powers? Yeah, he wouldn't even know how even to begin to get them all under control.
Unaware of his thought process, Jean continued.
"Illyana kept portaling around, Kitty just phased through doors without knocking, and Forge kept making so much new stuff that we had to ban him from the lab. I swear it's like there's something new every day. Though not all of them were bad, we got Bobby to make an ice slide at the pond earlier… Not really the best idea since it was too cold to even sit on, let alone slide through."
Peter chuckled. "Bet the teachers didn't like that."
"Not one bit, Ororo had Bobby spend the rest of the evening melting it. I think he's still at it."
"What about Emma? What's she doing?" Peter asked.
Jean's hum took on a more curious tone. "Pretty busy actually. She's taking a quick course to earn a teaching license with Professor Xavier's help. Didn't have much chance to talk with her, but we still spent some time together when she could."
Sounded about right. That was the same thing Emma told him when he had the chance to call her. She must be pretty swamped with work if even Jean barely managed to hang out with her.
"That's too bad then, still it's good to hear you found some new friends."
"Yeah, everyone here is pretty cool. Maybe I can introduce them when you visit?"
Right, the visit. He had promised her that he'd do that.
"Sure, looking forward to it. Things in New York are slowly winding down, and we already got the new base all set up."
"Right, that. Sorry you had to move out because of us." Jean sighed.
"Hey, no worries. Besides, I think we were overdue for an upgrade anyway. We needed the extra space. Don't tell Gwen I said that."
"Secret safe with me." Jean giggled before voices could be heard on the other side. "Oh, they're calling for me. I gotta go."
Peter could hear how much Jean wanted to keep talking to him but had to stop. "Hey, it's fine. We can call later when you're free."
"I'll hold you to that. There's so much here I want to talk about. Did you know we have an underground jet hangar?"
Peter raised an eyebrow; interest definitely piqued. "They do?! Yeah, we're definitely picking this up later."
"Absolutely. I'll call you later, Peter."
"Alright. Bye, Jean!"
"Bye, love you!"
The call was silent for a moment. Jean squeaked before abruptly hanging up. He stared back at the phone with a raised eyebrow.
"Alright…"
He won't even attempt to figure that out. That was future Peter's problem; he already had his hands full here.
"Now where did I put my webshooters again…" He still has his patrol to get to. Best not leave Harry waiting.
In a certain mansion, Jean stared at her phone with wide eyes. Her cheeks were as red as her hair as she realized what she had just said.
"Soooo, love you, huh?"
Jean glared at the source, face to face with a certain phasing brown haired friend of hers.
"Not one word."
"Girl, we're having more than just one word about this." She teased.
Jean groaned. Kitty definitely wouldn't shut up about it, and she'd definitely drag the others into this. It would be worse if Emma found out. As busy as she was, she always seemed to know whenever something juicy happened. She didn't even use her psychic powers, Jean checked! It was like Emma had a radar for drama. Knowing the woman, she probably did.
As Peter went on his patrol, the red-haired psychic faced a teenager's worst enemy: Public embarrassment.
[-]
Spider-Man hummed, feeling the buzz of his Spider-Sense guide him. Ever since Ancient One helped him train, his sixth sense had been a lot…clearer, for lack of a better word. He could tell actual directions with it now and get actual visuals that he could work with.
He twisted and turned, dodging the kicks and punches from the thugs around him before casually webbing them up without even looking at them. It was easy before, but now it is genuinely effortless.
Glancing at the groaning thugs and wannabe gangsters webbed up to the wall, he huffed.
"Alright, be nice and stay here until the boys in blue come by, mmkay?" Curses and groans replied back, but Peter didn't pay them any mind. "Attaboy, don't let me see you around now!"
Thwips rang, and he was back in the skyline swinging, zipping, and arching between buildings without even needing to see. Usually, he'd need to focus a little when swinging, but now it was just as effortless.
"Spider-Man?"
"Sup, Webline."
"Just checking up. How are things going?" Harry's comforting voice rang back.
"Oh, you know, catch a few mugs here and there. How's the new base going?" Peter asked. They had finally found a new one to nestle in and were in the process of getting everything in.
"Pretty sweet, got a whole cart to myself. Whatever rewiring you did to keep us off the grid is also working."
"Good to hear. One of these days, I gotta gift something to Forge for letting us keep that Fabricator." That thing had been so useful in helping him create their own generator to keep them off the grid.
"I'll help. How's the training serving you by the way?"
"I swear everything feels like a breeze now with my Spidey Sense tuned up. Things are so easy now. What about you? How are things on your end?"
"Like work-wise or magic-wise?"
"Magic-wise. If it's 'work' you'd tell me already."
"Yeah, you're right." Harry groaned. "Well, it's going decent. I can tap into the magic at least. Making it work for me, though? Yeah, it's not listening to me at all."
Peter hummed, not really sure how to help. He hadn't really started on actually learning Magic, more focused on tuning up his sixth sense. Made harder with Harry's 'condition'; he had told them about it after their first Magic class.
"Maybe that's the problem?" Peter grunted, arching by the corner of a building and spotting the Manhattan Bridge. "You're forcing it too much when it should be natural. Let it flow through you or something like that."
"I think Daniel said something like that, but more cryptic. What is it with wizards and being vague? I thought that's just in movies." Harry's frustrations were audible through their comms.
"Patience, young padawan. Let the magic flow, you must. Do or do not, there is no try." Peter snickered, his Yoda impression failing in the middle.
"That's so bad. You should feel bad. Feel bad right now."
"You're right, I gotta sharpen up my Yoda voice more when I got time."
"Yeah, sure. That's the thing you gotta work on." The sarcasm was thick enough to be syrup.
Before Peter could say anything, a large boom could be heard in the distance. Peter glanced back up and noticed a large pillar of smoke in the distance, straight from the Manhattan Bridge.
"That doesn't sound good."
"Don't look good either. I'll check it out."
"Need me to call in Gwen?"
"Nah, she's still working on her Spider-Sense back with the Ancient One. Don't want her to test out something she's not confident with when lives are on the line."
"Right, I guess that's ditto on Felicia."
"Especially Felicia." He had seen her training and boy, she had a lot to work on. Better not.
"I'll try to get back-up there quicker then. Be safe, Spidey."
"Counting on you!" Shutting off his comms, he quickly zipped his way to the bridge. He made record time with his newly tuned Spidey-Sense guiding him through an optimal path. Every couple of steps ahead planned with this extra awareness of the world around him.
With record speed, he perched himself on top of the massive metal lines linking the tower gates. His lenses narrowed, screams erupting as the civilians ran or gawked at the sight of the turned-over vehicles. He spotted the burning fuel tank crashed to the side of the bridge. The railings were broken apart, cars were spilled over and hanging at the edges, while the leaking oil made everything worse.
'FWOOSH'
'Aaaand, it's burning. Cuz why not.' The universe ain't making it easy for him, but what else was new?
Before he could hop in, a strange sight happened. A streak of orange erupted, shooting by the side of the bridge before floating to a stop by the broken railing, revealing a distinct yet still burning humanoid form. The nearby crowd gawked and stared at him.
"Uuh, I don't think I can help much here, Sue!" A familiar voice rang out.
"Johnny?!"
The now flaming blond perked up, spotting him. "Pete— I mean, Spidey! You're just in time!"
"What are you doing here?!"
"Helping people, duh! Actually, hold on a minute, Sue!"
Suddenly, the air around the flames rippled, the light bending into a sphere and keeping the flames contained so they wouldn't spread.
"Johnny! Evacuate everyone!" From among the crowds emerged the beautiful blond woman. Still in her office attire, her hands raised with gritted teeth, clearly struggling to contain the roaring flames with her newfound powers.
"You heard her folks, get out of here!"
The crowd shifted, still a bit shocked from the sight of a flying, burning man.
"Why you all standin' round here for?" A gravely voice caught their attention, spotting a very large man sporting a large trenchcoat and a fedora hat. Beneath, they could spot the rocky orange skin. "Out of here, now!"
Scared of Ben's voice and shady appearance, they quickly moved. Parents picked up their children, office workers grabbed their suitcases, people gripped their belongings– all screamed and hollered as they ran to safety.
"Ben, Reed! The cars!" Sue ordered, sweat dripping down the side of her head.
The golem rumbled, the ground thudding with each step as Ben rushed to the cars. Right beside him was Reed, the man hard to spot with his giant of a best friend dwarfing him.
Peter took that as his cue to join, dropping from the ledge and letting the air pass through him. His eyes scanned through the scene as he dropped, but his Spidey-Sense was a second faster. The scene burned into his head as his prodigal mind devised a solution.
"Sue, drop the barrier!" Peter barked.
Credit to Sue, she didn't flinch or show surprise at his sudden voice. Hands dropped with a huff right as Peter cracked the pavement with his landing. Flicking his wrist, the web-shooters shifted to Cryo Webs before Peter shot a barrage of them straight at the burning wreckage. The spider hopped and flipped, reaching for better angles as he turned in the air, smothering the flames with cryo-soaked webbings.
"Didn't expect to see you here." Sue smiled from between her sweaty bangs. The sight made his stomach do backflips.
"Y-yeah well, I was in the neighborhood. Speaking of—" Peter pulled his attention away and headed straight for the hanging cars, spotting Ben pulling the cars away while Reed stretched his arms for the victims inside and pulled them to safety.
The psionic layer that shielded his mind peeled slightly, coating his arms in jet black armor. More out of need for practice than anything actually practical. Strength surged right as Spidey shot out multiple weblines, sticking to the rest over cars that Ben hadn't reached. With a heave, he reeled them all back in with a minor dip into his superhuman strength.
"Reed, get them all out!" Spidey barked, Reed nodding in response. The older scientist stretched his body and arms, reaching for the freaked-out civilians before gently putting them to safety.
Peter then jumped over the cars and above the waters below, his arms flicking to Concrete Webs and quickly shooting out a barrier of webbing so that nothing else would fall out. He then dropped, letting gravity carry him closer to the water. Shooting out a webline, he let the momentum carry him under the bridge and upwards. Letting the line pass his fingers, he angled himself and landed deftly on top of one of the empty cars. The others flinched a bit at the sound and stared at him with wide eyes.
"Alright, we stopped the fire, but the danger isn't gone. We still need to make sure everyone is off the bridge just in case." He quickly explained. "That's a lot of people in tight spaces. If any of them fall, they could get injured in the rush. I'll chase after Johnny. You guys go after the other side and make sure everyone's safe."
"Got it, let's go." Sue nodded, keeping herself composed as she led Ben and Reed the other way. Peter nodded at the sight and zipped after Johnny.
Just like he expected, there were a few people who had fallen over. Quickly, he zipped his way to them and brought them up.
"Alright, people, nice and easy! Don't step on anyone and I won't have to baby you the entire way." Spidey quipped as he lifted a man gently and made sure he could walk ahead.
"Thanks, Spidey!"
"Hey, anytime. Where's Johnny anyway?" Peter muttered as he looked around. He then quickly spotted the orange trail high in the sky, surveying the area along with him. Peter didn't bother greeting Johnny, still focused on the work.
It took a solid half an hour to get everyone off the bridge. Enough time for the firefighters to arrive and help with the evacuation. The place was hectic, and Peter had to run up and down the bridge to get everyone out. By the time he regrouped with the others, he spotted them surrounded by a crowd, all cheering and clapping for them.
"Woo!"
"You go!"
Peter laughed a little as he landed beside them; the four immediately focused on him. "First applause?"
"Nope." Johnny popped the 'P', grinning smugly. Though it didn't really do much to detract from the fact that he was naked and only had a big towel to cover him. "First time for this kind of thing though."
"We helped them." Sue muttered, realization settling in.
"That you did. Still, surprised to see you guys here." Peter whispered, idly waving at the still cheering crowd.
"We were just heading out, grabbing some air." Reed answered, still a bit overwhelmed by the looks of it. "Didn't expect to get in the middle of an accident."
"Dad's gonna be so disappointed; he had our debut planned and everything." Sue chuckled, still a bit taken aback.
"Then let me formally welcome you four." Peter fully turned to them, the crowd dying down as they all focused on him. "Welcome to the hero job, it's 24/7 and no, there are no off days."
Everyone laughed a little at that, appreciating the safety and how they had passed the danger.
"It's great to be here, Spider-Man." Sue smiled back. "Hope we could be of help."
"I really hope so too." Peter muttered, mind drifting to the oncoming invasion. He's gonna need all the help he could get.
[-]
"Hey, sorry I'm late!" The sound of the door slamming shut vaguely rang somewhere through the hallway, followed by Peter's voice.
Felicia groaned as she shifted her position on the couch, still nursing her bruises from…her accidents. God learning magic was painful.
"Hey– Fel? You alright?" Peter asked, spotting her lying on the sofa. Beneath her sinfully tight clothing, he could spot the bandages covering her. The girl looked positively miserable.
Felicia glanced up from the couch and spotted him standing by the entrance of the living room, concern clear in his eyes. "Other than the bruises, yeah I'm good." Felicia grunted.
Peter chuckled a little. "You exploded again?"
"I didn't!... Well, maybe a little." Felicia admitted, remembering how the volatile energy went to town on her. Feeling her whole body explode with pain from the inside was not fun. At least it wasn't as bad as the first time; handling pure negativity was rough. "I have no idea how the people back then dealt with this; if it weren't for the Ancient One healing me every time I messed up, I would probably be in a hospital by now…"
"Well, they were training it out of necessity, and desperate people can do desperate things." Peter noted, remembering the short history lesson on Cursed Energy. He wondered what kind of things the people had endured to ward away misfortune, the horrors they must have seen…
"Well, I'm feeling pretty desperate to get the pain to stop. Is that good enough?" Felicia depressively laughed.
"You tell me; you're the one learning it. I hadn't even started yet." Peter shook his head exasperatedly, putting his bag near the sofa. Before he left for the training room, he glanced at Felicia. "You need anything?"
A cheshire grin formed, the bandaged covered girl looking at him cheekily. "A kiss to make the pain go away?"
All she got from him was a look that screamed exasperation. Felicia just shrugged at him.
"What? We're learning magic and it could be a thing. Couldn't hurt to test out, you know?"
Felicia expected him to just roll his eyes, maybe laugh it off. What she didn't expect was for him to walk up to her, eyes completely serious, before bending down and giving her forehead and cheek a quick smooch.
"Better?" Peter grinned down.
"B-better." Felicia squeaked, face completely red.
Peter laughed, shaking his head as he walked off. Her eyes were still trained on his solid back until he walked out of the room. Still trained on the closed door, she couldn't help but palm her cheek, the one that Peter had kissed. She couldn't help the goofy grin.
"...Hehe, suck it, Gwen."
Lady Luck shone again for Felicia Hardy.
Making his way to the training room, Peter expected to see Gwen hard at work while the Ancient One sat at the side, calmly observing. Opening the door, he blinked at the sight of Gwen getting slammed to the ground by an unknown man.
Oh, and the Ancient One sitting at the side, calmly observing. 1 out of 2 correct predictions is good enough for him.
"Augh…" Gwen groaned, staying still on the ground with a constipated look. She looked like she was one second away from puking with how red she was.
"Ah, Peter, good timing. Gwen was just getting familiar with your new master." The Ancient One grinned, sipping on her usual honey tea.
Peter blinked, looking back at his new 'master', the man dusting off his palms and grinning at him cheerfully. He was Asian, looked barely a couple of years older than them if he was honest, with short black hair and black eyes, while also wearing a simple white shirt and track pants. Despite the comfy look, there was a sense of regal serenity around him.
"Ah, you must be Peter. My name is Zheng Shang-Chi." The man cupped his hands together, odd golden rings jingling on his arms from the movement, before bowing at the waist. "But you can just call me Shang."
Peter awkwardly followed the bow, a bit taken aback by him. "Y-yeah, nice to meet you, Shang."
"Now that you are acquainted." The ancient sorceress hummed as they raised back up, catching their attention. "As you both know, I have other duties I must attend to. Responsibilities I cannot afford to ignore. I have enlisted Master Drumm to aid you in your lessons, but he alone would not be enough. Which is why I enlisted Master Shang-Chi here as well."
Shang-Chi properly faced them, with Gwen recovered enough to sit up and give him her full focus.
"I am no expert in the Mystic Arts of Spider-Totem, but my knowledge overlaps enough for me to help guide you." The man nodded.
"Do not let his youth fool you; this young man is skilled enough to earn the title of Master of Kung Fu."
"You praise me too much, Ancient One." Shang hummed with a serene smile, though he didn't deny the claim.
"It's legit." Gwen huffed, looking at Shang with clear respect in her eyes. "He handed my butt in a silver platter and still got enough moves to decorate the dish without breaking a sweat."
Peter eyed Shang-Chi with some awe. He had sparred with Gwen, seen her fight; if she said Shang-Chi was good, he was good.
"This also marks the true beginning of your magic lessons." The Ancient One revealed.
The two spiders widened their eyes. "You mean—" Peter gasped.
"Yes, your Spider-Sense has reached a level where you can begin. I will be formally in charge of your lessons in learning the Mystic Arts, along with your martial needs." Shang-Chi spoke. "My speciality mostly revolves around Chi and how to use it in tandem with the natural gifts of the body. But the mystic traits of a Spider-Totem share many similarities with my field of speciality. While it won't be perfect, I hope we both can learn something together."
Gwen and Peter glanced at each other, Peter blinking in wonder while Gwen shrugged. Like she was saying, 'yeah, he's naturally like that'.
Peter sighed before smiling at Shang. "Well, as long as it can help us, I'm looking forward to learning under you, Master Shang." Peter offered him a hand.
Shang shook it with similar enthusiasm. His smile was blindingly bright. "I am pleased to hear that. But please, outside of training, you can drop the formalities."
"Alright, Shang. So what you got for us?"
Unaware of Gwen's wince, Peter watched as Shang's smile changed; the usual serene look now had a hint of edge to it. Peter couldn't help but gulp in nervousness; even his Spider-Sense was giving him a low buzz, telling him that 'you done fucked up.'
"Plenty of things, my dear student."
That didn't sound ominous at all.
[-]
Peter groaned; his whole body ached in places he didn't know existed.
"Damn, he really pushed us to the ground." Peter complained.
"Helped a lot though. I'm finally making a lot of progress in hand-to-hand." Gwen pointed out, walking right beside him. "We really learn a lot from him."
"Speak for yourself, I'm still figuring out how to get my Cursed Energy under control." Felicia sighed, finally free from the bandages. Healing magic was kinda amazing; maybe he should learn more about it when he could.
"Did you get any tips from Daniel?" Peter asked. While Shang was in charge of him and Gwen, Daniel was in charge of Harry and Felicia.
"That I should try keeping a better hold of my feelings." Felicia huffed. "Said he had a special way to train me too for the next class, something about dolls and movies…"
All three of them wondered what that would look like, but didn't give it much thought as they finally arrived at an abandoned station. A different one from before that Gwen had picked out as her secret hideout.
"Here's the new base!" Peter introduced.
The two girls looked in awe. It was bigger, a lot more spacious too. The circular station was a lot cleaner, Peter and Harry putting in the elbow grease to shape up the place. The circular archway that decorated the ceiling also helped enhance the place, making it look a lot brighter and welcoming.
There were also the carts; while still abandoned, there was a lot more available to them now. Peter had reserved a whole cart for a pseudo workshop, stationing the Fabricator inside along with whatever other equipment they got. Their 'war room' had also been stationed inside a separate cart; Harry's computers, their costumes, and field equipment were put in the same place for easy access. With all the big space, they even got their own personal changing room.
"You made sure there's a whole bedroom for us, right?" Felicia suddenly asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I did." Peter then pointed to a specific cart, one at the very edge of the station. "I still don't get why you wanted us to huddle together. We have enough carts for everyone! Harry got one to himself!"
"I am not sleeping alone inside an abandoned station." Gwen quickly rejected.
"Ditto, having a big strong man like you nearby is pretty reassuring, you know?" Felicia grinned at him.
"Felicia, you can literally beat up a whole group of men by yourself."
"It's the principle of the matter."
"Anyway." Gwen cuts off, "Where's Harry at? We still have a couple of schematics we need to check up together, right Peter?"
"Oh yeah!" Peter perked, missing Gwen's victorious look and Felicia clicking her tongue. "Come on, I still have a few things I want to show you."
"Lead the way." Gwen let Peter rush ahead, giving Felicia a smug look before promptly following.
Felicia huffed. "Damn it." There goes her plan of having Peter give her a personal tour. Oh well, it didn't mean she couldn't intrude. With a Cheshire grin, she quickly followed. Just because she didn't have an opportunity didn't mean she couldn't make one.
While all of this was happening, Harry spotted the three from the window of his cart. He was decidedly unimpressed. He then looked around his personal cart, a makeshift bed pushed to the side, with posters and shelves filling one corner of the cart. There was also a whole corner with his computer (separate from his work at Webline) just for him to play games or just watch anything he wanted. He was pretty proud of his personal man cave.
"I should drag Peter here." Harry decided. The girls' opinion on that be damned. He could sneak Peter away when they're distracted and maybe play some Monster Hunter together. They'd been slacking on the grind lately.
Hearing their voices outside, he took that as his cue. Besides, he was thinking Peter would find it easier to handle him than sitting between Felicia and Gwen when they started snarking at each other. He'd better be grateful, Harry was sacrificing a lot for his friend here!
"Man, I'm such a good friend." Harry sighed as he stood up, ready to head out and drag Peter away. Fully ready to brave through the chaos for the sake of his best friend.
All in all, a normal day for the vigilantes.
"So be real with me, how chaotic is it?" Peter asked as he paced around his room, his eyes scanning what to pack and what to leave behind.
A groan reached out from the other side of the call, "Eugh, as much as you expect from a mansion full of kids with mutant powers."
Peter laughed at Jean's tone; he could only imagine. He was winging it pretty hard with Gwen and Felicia, and they were at least people he knew. A bunch of strangers all struggling with how to handle their own powers? Yeah, he wouldn't even know how even to begin to get them all under control.
Unaware of his thought process, Jean continued.
"Illyana kept portaling around, Kitty just phased through doors without knocking, and Forge kept making so much new stuff that we had to ban him from the lab. I swear it's like there's something new every day. Though not all of them were bad, we got Bobby to make an ice slide at the pond earlier… Not really the best idea since it was too cold to even sit on, let alone slide through."
Peter chuckled. "Bet the teachers didn't like that."
"Not one bit, Ororo had Bobby spend the rest of the evening melting it. I think he's still at it."
"What about Emma? What's she doing?" Peter asked.
Jean's hum took on a more curious tone. "Pretty busy actually. She's taking a quick course to earn a teaching license with Professor Xavier's help. Didn't have much chance to talk with her, but we still spent some time together when she could."
Sounded about right. That was the same thing Emma told him when he had the chance to call her. She must be pretty swamped with work if even Jean barely managed to hang out with her.
"That's too bad then, still it's good to hear you found some new friends."
"Yeah, everyone here is pretty cool. Maybe I can introduce them when you visit?"
Right, the visit. He had promised her that he'd do that.
"Sure, looking forward to it. Things in New York are slowly winding down, and we already got the new base all set up."
"Right, that. Sorry you had to move out because of us." Jean sighed.
"Hey, no worries. Besides, I think we were overdue for an upgrade anyway. We needed the extra space. Don't tell Gwen I said that."
"Secret safe with me." Jean giggled before voices could be heard on the other side. "Oh, they're calling for me. I gotta go."
Peter could hear how much Jean wanted to keep talking to him but had to stop. "Hey, it's fine. We can call later when you're free."
"I'll hold you to that. There's so much here I want to talk about. Did you know we have an underground jet hangar?"
Peter raised an eyebrow; interest definitely piqued. "They do?! Yeah, we're definitely picking this up later."
"Absolutely. I'll call you later, Peter."
"Alright. Bye, Jean!"
"Bye, love you!"
The call was silent for a moment. Jean squeaked before abruptly hanging up. He stared back at the phone with a raised eyebrow.
"Alright…"
He won't even attempt to figure that out. That was future Peter's problem; he already had his hands full here.
"Now where did I put my webshooters again…" He still has his patrol to get to. Best not leave Harry waiting.
In a certain mansion, Jean stared at her phone with wide eyes. Her cheeks were as red as her hair as she realized what she had just said.
"Soooo, love you, huh?"
Jean glared at the source, face to face with a certain phasing brown haired friend of hers.
"Not one word."
"Girl, we're having more than just one word about this." She teased.
Jean groaned. Kitty definitely wouldn't shut up about it, and she'd definitely drag the others into this. It would be worse if Emma found out. As busy as she was, she always seemed to know whenever something juicy happened. She didn't even use her psychic powers, Jean checked! It was like Emma had a radar for drama. Knowing the woman, she probably did.
As Peter went on his patrol, the red-haired psychic faced a teenager's worst enemy: Public embarrassment.
[-]
Spider-Man hummed, feeling the buzz of his Spider-Sense guide him. Ever since Ancient One helped him train, his sixth sense had been a lot…clearer, for lack of a better word. He could tell actual directions with it now and get actual visuals that he could work with.
He twisted and turned, dodging the kicks and punches from the thugs around him before casually webbing them up without even looking at them. It was easy before, but now it is genuinely effortless.
Glancing at the groaning thugs and wannabe gangsters webbed up to the wall, he huffed.
"Alright, be nice and stay here until the boys in blue come by, mmkay?" Curses and groans replied back, but Peter didn't pay them any mind. "Attaboy, don't let me see you around now!"
Thwips rang, and he was back in the skyline swinging, zipping, and arching between buildings without even needing to see. Usually, he'd need to focus a little when swinging, but now it was just as effortless.
"Spider-Man?"
"Sup, Webline."
"Just checking up. How are things going?" Harry's comforting voice rang back.
"Oh, you know, catch a few mugs here and there. How's the new base going?" Peter asked. They had finally found a new one to nestle in and were in the process of getting everything in.
"Pretty sweet, got a whole cart to myself. Whatever rewiring you did to keep us off the grid is also working."
"Good to hear. One of these days, I gotta gift something to Forge for letting us keep that Fabricator." That thing had been so useful in helping him create their own generator to keep them off the grid.
"I'll help. How's the training serving you by the way?"
"I swear everything feels like a breeze now with my Spidey Sense tuned up. Things are so easy now. What about you? How are things on your end?"
"Like work-wise or magic-wise?"
"Magic-wise. If it's 'work' you'd tell me already."
"Yeah, you're right." Harry groaned. "Well, it's going decent. I can tap into the magic at least. Making it work for me, though? Yeah, it's not listening to me at all."
Peter hummed, not really sure how to help. He hadn't really started on actually learning Magic, more focused on tuning up his sixth sense. Made harder with Harry's 'condition'; he had told them about it after their first Magic class.
"Maybe that's the problem?" Peter grunted, arching by the corner of a building and spotting the Manhattan Bridge. "You're forcing it too much when it should be natural. Let it flow through you or something like that."
"I think Daniel said something like that, but more cryptic. What is it with wizards and being vague? I thought that's just in movies." Harry's frustrations were audible through their comms.
"Patience, young padawan. Let the magic flow, you must. Do or do not, there is no try." Peter snickered, his Yoda impression failing in the middle.
"That's so bad. You should feel bad. Feel bad right now."
"You're right, I gotta sharpen up my Yoda voice more when I got time."
"Yeah, sure. That's the thing you gotta work on." The sarcasm was thick enough to be syrup.
Before Peter could say anything, a large boom could be heard in the distance. Peter glanced back up and noticed a large pillar of smoke in the distance, straight from the Manhattan Bridge.
"That doesn't sound good."
"Don't look good either. I'll check it out."
"Need me to call in Gwen?"
"Nah, she's still working on her Spider-Sense back with the Ancient One. Don't want her to test out something she's not confident with when lives are on the line."
"Right, I guess that's ditto on Felicia."
"Especially Felicia." He had seen her training and boy, she had a lot to work on. Better not.
"I'll try to get back-up there quicker then. Be safe, Spidey."
"Counting on you!" Shutting off his comms, he quickly zipped his way to the bridge. He made record time with his newly tuned Spidey-Sense guiding him through an optimal path. Every couple of steps ahead planned with this extra awareness of the world around him.
With record speed, he perched himself on top of the massive metal lines linking the tower gates. His lenses narrowed, screams erupting as the civilians ran or gawked at the sight of the turned-over vehicles. He spotted the burning fuel tank crashed to the side of the bridge. The railings were broken apart, cars were spilled over and hanging at the edges, while the leaking oil made everything worse.
'FWOOSH'
'Aaaand, it's burning. Cuz why not.' The universe ain't making it easy for him, but what else was new?
Before he could hop in, a strange sight happened. A streak of orange erupted, shooting by the side of the bridge before floating to a stop by the broken railing, revealing a distinct yet still burning humanoid form. The nearby crowd gawked and stared at him.
"Uuh, I don't think I can help much here, Sue!" A familiar voice rang out.
"Johnny?!"
The now flaming blond perked up, spotting him. "Pete— I mean, Spidey! You're just in time!"
"What are you doing here?!"
"Helping people, duh! Actually, hold on a minute, Sue!"
Suddenly, the air around the flames rippled, the light bending into a sphere and keeping the flames contained so they wouldn't spread.
"Johnny! Evacuate everyone!" From among the crowds emerged the beautiful blond woman. Still in her office attire, her hands raised with gritted teeth, clearly struggling to contain the roaring flames with her newfound powers.
"You heard her folks, get out of here!"
The crowd shifted, still a bit shocked from the sight of a flying, burning man.
"Why you all standin' round here for?" A gravely voice caught their attention, spotting a very large man sporting a large trenchcoat and a fedora hat. Beneath, they could spot the rocky orange skin. "Out of here, now!"
Scared of Ben's voice and shady appearance, they quickly moved. Parents picked up their children, office workers grabbed their suitcases, people gripped their belongings– all screamed and hollered as they ran to safety.
"Ben, Reed! The cars!" Sue ordered, sweat dripping down the side of her head.
The golem rumbled, the ground thudding with each step as Ben rushed to the cars. Right beside him was Reed, the man hard to spot with his giant of a best friend dwarfing him.
Peter took that as his cue to join, dropping from the ledge and letting the air pass through him. His eyes scanned through the scene as he dropped, but his Spidey-Sense was a second faster. The scene burned into his head as his prodigal mind devised a solution.
"Sue, drop the barrier!" Peter barked.
Credit to Sue, she didn't flinch or show surprise at his sudden voice. Hands dropped with a huff right as Peter cracked the pavement with his landing. Flicking his wrist, the web-shooters shifted to Cryo Webs before Peter shot a barrage of them straight at the burning wreckage. The spider hopped and flipped, reaching for better angles as he turned in the air, smothering the flames with cryo-soaked webbings.
"Didn't expect to see you here." Sue smiled from between her sweaty bangs. The sight made his stomach do backflips.
"Y-yeah well, I was in the neighborhood. Speaking of—" Peter pulled his attention away and headed straight for the hanging cars, spotting Ben pulling the cars away while Reed stretched his arms for the victims inside and pulled them to safety.
The psionic layer that shielded his mind peeled slightly, coating his arms in jet black armor. More out of need for practice than anything actually practical. Strength surged right as Spidey shot out multiple weblines, sticking to the rest over cars that Ben hadn't reached. With a heave, he reeled them all back in with a minor dip into his superhuman strength.
"Reed, get them all out!" Spidey barked, Reed nodding in response. The older scientist stretched his body and arms, reaching for the freaked-out civilians before gently putting them to safety.
Peter then jumped over the cars and above the waters below, his arms flicking to Concrete Webs and quickly shooting out a barrier of webbing so that nothing else would fall out. He then dropped, letting gravity carry him closer to the water. Shooting out a webline, he let the momentum carry him under the bridge and upwards. Letting the line pass his fingers, he angled himself and landed deftly on top of one of the empty cars. The others flinched a bit at the sound and stared at him with wide eyes.
"Alright, we stopped the fire, but the danger isn't gone. We still need to make sure everyone is off the bridge just in case." He quickly explained. "That's a lot of people in tight spaces. If any of them fall, they could get injured in the rush. I'll chase after Johnny. You guys go after the other side and make sure everyone's safe."
"Got it, let's go." Sue nodded, keeping herself composed as she led Ben and Reed the other way. Peter nodded at the sight and zipped after Johnny.
Just like he expected, there were a few people who had fallen over. Quickly, he zipped his way to them and brought them up.
"Alright, people, nice and easy! Don't step on anyone and I won't have to baby you the entire way." Spidey quipped as he lifted a man gently and made sure he could walk ahead.
"Thanks, Spidey!"
"Hey, anytime. Where's Johnny anyway?" Peter muttered as he looked around. He then quickly spotted the orange trail high in the sky, surveying the area along with him. Peter didn't bother greeting Johnny, still focused on the work.
It took a solid half an hour to get everyone off the bridge. Enough time for the firefighters to arrive and help with the evacuation. The place was hectic, and Peter had to run up and down the bridge to get everyone out. By the time he regrouped with the others, he spotted them surrounded by a crowd, all cheering and clapping for them.
"Woo!"
"You go!"
Peter laughed a little as he landed beside them; the four immediately focused on him. "First applause?"
"Nope." Johnny popped the 'P', grinning smugly. Though it didn't really do much to detract from the fact that he was naked and only had a big towel to cover him. "First time for this kind of thing though."
"We helped them." Sue muttered, realization settling in.
"That you did. Still, surprised to see you guys here." Peter whispered, idly waving at the still cheering crowd.
"We were just heading out, grabbing some air." Reed answered, still a bit overwhelmed by the looks of it. "Didn't expect to get in the middle of an accident."
"Dad's gonna be so disappointed; he had our debut planned and everything." Sue chuckled, still a bit taken aback.
"Then let me formally welcome you four." Peter fully turned to them, the crowd dying down as they all focused on him. "Welcome to the hero job, it's 24/7 and no, there are no off days."
Everyone laughed a little at that, appreciating the safety and how they had passed the danger.
"It's great to be here, Spider-Man." Sue smiled back. "Hope we could be of help."
"I really hope so too." Peter muttered, mind drifting to the oncoming invasion. He's gonna need all the help he could get.
[-]
"Hey, sorry I'm late!" The sound of the door slamming shut vaguely rang somewhere through the hallway, followed by Peter's voice.
Felicia groaned as she shifted her position on the couch, still nursing her bruises from…her accidents. God learning magic was painful.
"Hey– Fel? You alright?" Peter asked, spotting her lying on the sofa. Beneath her sinfully tight clothing, he could spot the bandages covering her. The girl looked positively miserable.
Felicia glanced up from the couch and spotted him standing by the entrance of the living room, concern clear in his eyes. "Other than the bruises, yeah I'm good." Felicia grunted.
Peter chuckled a little. "You exploded again?"
"I didn't!... Well, maybe a little." Felicia admitted, remembering how the volatile energy went to town on her. Feeling her whole body explode with pain from the inside was not fun. At least it wasn't as bad as the first time; handling pure negativity was rough. "I have no idea how the people back then dealt with this; if it weren't for the Ancient One healing me every time I messed up, I would probably be in a hospital by now…"
"Well, they were training it out of necessity, and desperate people can do desperate things." Peter noted, remembering the short history lesson on Cursed Energy. He wondered what kind of things the people had endured to ward away misfortune, the horrors they must have seen…
"Well, I'm feeling pretty desperate to get the pain to stop. Is that good enough?" Felicia depressively laughed.
"You tell me; you're the one learning it. I hadn't even started yet." Peter shook his head exasperatedly, putting his bag near the sofa. Before he left for the training room, he glanced at Felicia. "You need anything?"
A cheshire grin formed, the bandaged covered girl looking at him cheekily. "A kiss to make the pain go away?"
All she got from him was a look that screamed exasperation. Felicia just shrugged at him.
"What? We're learning magic and it could be a thing. Couldn't hurt to test out, you know?"
Felicia expected him to just roll his eyes, maybe laugh it off. What she didn't expect was for him to walk up to her, eyes completely serious, before bending down and giving her forehead and cheek a quick smooch.
"Better?" Peter grinned down.
"B-better." Felicia squeaked, face completely red.
Peter laughed, shaking his head as he walked off. Her eyes were still trained on his solid back until he walked out of the room. Still trained on the closed door, she couldn't help but palm her cheek, the one that Peter had kissed. She couldn't help the goofy grin.
"...Hehe, suck it, Gwen."
Lady Luck shone again for Felicia Hardy.
Making his way to the training room, Peter expected to see Gwen hard at work while the Ancient One sat at the side, calmly observing. Opening the door, he blinked at the sight of Gwen getting slammed to the ground by an unknown man.
Oh, and the Ancient One sitting at the side, calmly observing. 1 out of 2 correct predictions is good enough for him.
"Augh…" Gwen groaned, staying still on the ground with a constipated look. She looked like she was one second away from puking with how red she was.
"Ah, Peter, good timing. Gwen was just getting familiar with your new master." The Ancient One grinned, sipping on her usual honey tea.
Peter blinked, looking back at his new 'master', the man dusting off his palms and grinning at him cheerfully. He was Asian, looked barely a couple of years older than them if he was honest, with short black hair and black eyes, while also wearing a simple white shirt and track pants. Despite the comfy look, there was a sense of regal serenity around him.
"Ah, you must be Peter. My name is Zheng Shang-Chi." The man cupped his hands together, odd golden rings jingling on his arms from the movement, before bowing at the waist. "But you can just call me Shang."
Peter awkwardly followed the bow, a bit taken aback by him. "Y-yeah, nice to meet you, Shang."
"Now that you are acquainted." The ancient sorceress hummed as they raised back up, catching their attention. "As you both know, I have other duties I must attend to. Responsibilities I cannot afford to ignore. I have enlisted Master Drumm to aid you in your lessons, but he alone would not be enough. Which is why I enlisted Master Shang-Chi here as well."
Shang-Chi properly faced them, with Gwen recovered enough to sit up and give him her full focus.
"I am no expert in the Mystic Arts of Spider-Totem, but my knowledge overlaps enough for me to help guide you." The man nodded.
"Do not let his youth fool you; this young man is skilled enough to earn the title of Master of Kung Fu."
"You praise me too much, Ancient One." Shang hummed with a serene smile, though he didn't deny the claim.
"It's legit." Gwen huffed, looking at Shang with clear respect in her eyes. "He handed my butt in a silver platter and still got enough moves to decorate the dish without breaking a sweat."
Peter eyed Shang-Chi with some awe. He had sparred with Gwen, seen her fight; if she said Shang-Chi was good, he was good.
"This also marks the true beginning of your magic lessons." The Ancient One revealed.
The two spiders widened their eyes. "You mean—" Peter gasped.
"Yes, your Spider-Sense has reached a level where you can begin. I will be formally in charge of your lessons in learning the Mystic Arts, along with your martial needs." Shang-Chi spoke. "My speciality mostly revolves around Chi and how to use it in tandem with the natural gifts of the body. But the mystic traits of a Spider-Totem share many similarities with my field of speciality. While it won't be perfect, I hope we both can learn something together."
Gwen and Peter glanced at each other, Peter blinking in wonder while Gwen shrugged. Like she was saying, 'yeah, he's naturally like that'.
Peter sighed before smiling at Shang. "Well, as long as it can help us, I'm looking forward to learning under you, Master Shang." Peter offered him a hand.
Shang shook it with similar enthusiasm. His smile was blindingly bright. "I am pleased to hear that. But please, outside of training, you can drop the formalities."
"Alright, Shang. So what you got for us?"
Unaware of Gwen's wince, Peter watched as Shang's smile changed; the usual serene look now had a hint of edge to it. Peter couldn't help but gulp in nervousness; even his Spider-Sense was giving him a low buzz, telling him that 'you done fucked up.'
"Plenty of things, my dear student."
That didn't sound ominous at all.
[-]
Peter groaned; his whole body ached in places he didn't know existed.
"Damn, he really pushed us to the ground." Peter complained.
"Helped a lot though. I'm finally making a lot of progress in hand-to-hand." Gwen pointed out, walking right beside him. "We really learn a lot from him."
"Speak for yourself, I'm still figuring out how to get my Cursed Energy under control." Felicia sighed, finally free from the bandages. Healing magic was kinda amazing; maybe he should learn more about it when he could.
"Did you get any tips from Daniel?" Peter asked. While Shang was in charge of him and Gwen, Daniel was in charge of Harry and Felicia.
"That I should try keeping a better hold of my feelings." Felicia huffed. "Said he had a special way to train me too for the next class, something about dolls and movies…"
All three of them wondered what that would look like, but didn't give it much thought as they finally arrived at an abandoned station. A different one from before that Gwen had picked out as her secret hideout.
"Here's the new base!" Peter introduced.
The two girls looked in awe. It was bigger, a lot more spacious too. The circular station was a lot cleaner, Peter and Harry putting in the elbow grease to shape up the place. The circular archway that decorated the ceiling also helped enhance the place, making it look a lot brighter and welcoming.
There were also the carts; while still abandoned, there was a lot more available to them now. Peter had reserved a whole cart for a pseudo workshop, stationing the Fabricator inside along with whatever other equipment they got. Their 'war room' had also been stationed inside a separate cart; Harry's computers, their costumes, and field equipment were put in the same place for easy access. With all the big space, they even got their own personal changing room.
"You made sure there's a whole bedroom for us, right?" Felicia suddenly asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I did." Peter then pointed to a specific cart, one at the very edge of the station. "I still don't get why you wanted us to huddle together. We have enough carts for everyone! Harry got one to himself!"
"I am not sleeping alone inside an abandoned station." Gwen quickly rejected.
"Ditto, having a big strong man like you nearby is pretty reassuring, you know?" Felicia grinned at him.
"Felicia, you can literally beat up a whole group of men by yourself."
"It's the principle of the matter."
"Anyway." Gwen cuts off, "Where's Harry at? We still have a couple of schematics we need to check up together, right Peter?"
"Oh yeah!" Peter perked, missing Gwen's victorious look and Felicia clicking her tongue. "Come on, I still have a few things I want to show you."
"Lead the way." Gwen let Peter rush ahead, giving Felicia a smug look before promptly following.
Felicia huffed. "Damn it." There goes her plan of having Peter give her a personal tour. Oh well, it didn't mean she couldn't intrude. With a Cheshire grin, she quickly followed. Just because she didn't have an opportunity didn't mean she couldn't make one.
While all of this was happening, Harry spotted the three from the window of his cart. He was decidedly unimpressed. He then looked around his personal cart, a makeshift bed pushed to the side, with posters and shelves filling one corner of the cart. There was also a whole corner with his computer (separate from his work at Webline) just for him to play games or just watch anything he wanted. He was pretty proud of his personal man cave.
"I should drag Peter here." Harry decided. The girls' opinion on that be damned. He could sneak Peter away when they're distracted and maybe play some Monster Hunter together. They'd been slacking on the grind lately.
Hearing their voices outside, he took that as his cue. Besides, he was thinking Peter would find it easier to handle him than sitting between Felicia and Gwen when they started snarking at each other. He'd better be grateful, Harry was sacrificing a lot for his friend here!
"Man, I'm such a good friend." Harry sighed as he stood up, ready to head out and drag Peter away. Fully ready to brave through the chaos for the sake of his best friend.
All in all, a normal day for the vigilantes.
Chapter 24 - Keep With Me In The Moment
New
SKaine
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Chapter 24 - Keep With Me In The Moment
Peter yawned, lounging on the couch with practically nothing to do for once, which didn't make sense at first glance with how packed his schedule could be.
There was his internship with Reed, which was shortened thanks to the lab accident. He was still paid and was just waiting for a call so he could return to work. There were his lessons with Shang; he had made a lot of progress, but his teacher had forced him to take a rest for the rest of the week. He could patrol around the neighbourhood but Gwen, Harry, and Felicia all vetoed that and forced him to take a break for the day, which left him with nothing to do.
Well, there are classes but it wasn't a problem for him. He was years ahead of his peers; every assignment and homework was done in record speed. He no longer needed to worry about classes and exams.
So yeah, here was Peter Parker on a break. It felt surreal. When was the last time he had taken a break? He would have jumped right back out on the streets if he could help it; resting here felt like an insult. But Harry was watching; he could sense it. His Spidey sense was trained enough for him to be able to tell there were eyes on him. The moment he set foot on the window with his suit on, Harry would tattle on him in a heartbeat.
'The traitor.' Peter huffed. Then again, between handling him or an irate Gwen and Felicia, he couldn't really blame his best friend for snitching on him as his pick.
He twiddled his fingers, humming a random tune as he wondered what to do. Not like he could watch the TV, there was nothing there that either he hadn't seen before or would interest him. Peter sighed. This was one of those things they don't warn you about time travel. The entertainment in this timeline hadn't caught up yet, so you're just stuck waiting for everyone else to play catch-up.
"Well, if it isn't my nephew? It felt like forever since I last saw you."
Peter winced at that, glancing up to see Uncle Ben making his way to the kitchen with keys in hand. He didn't mean to ignore him; everything had just flooded in and taken his attention away.
"Sorry, Uncle Ben."
Ben waved it off. "Oh, don't worry about it, I'm just messing with ya. Still, it's good to see you finally sit down in the house for once. Last few weeks, I've seen you jumping around from one project to another."
Peter blinked. Had it really been that long since he really sat down in the house for a bit?
"Have I? I really should cut that down."
"Probably." Ben shrugged, sitting down on a nearby chair. "But hey, it looked like you were having fun with your friends, so I figured I shouldn't stop you from enjoying your youth."
Peter thought it over. He really didn't think he had that much fun, worrying about the apocalypse and everything. But…he still did. Had fun, he meant. In between the patrols, the planning, and the preparations, he managed to find some enjoyment because his friends were there. Made that heavy burden on his shoulder a lot more bearable.
Part of him felt guilt at the idea, like he didn't deserve it. But another bigger part of him, the one that valued his bonds unearned as it was, refused to let it take hold. The whole reason he was doing this, taking up the mask and stopping other costumed freaks, was because of his family and friends. To avoid the tragedy in the other timeline from occurring because he couldn't be assed to stop them.
"Still, I shouldn't have ignored you and May," Peter admitted, sitting up on the couch as he did.
Ben scoffed incredulously. "What are you talking about? You know how happy you made us when we saw you going out and spending time with your friends? You were out there having fun while probably inventing things that could help people in that internship of yours. You don't have time for old folks like us."
Peter shook his head. "No, Ben. I think I do. I should even. I'm making those things because of old folks like you who couldn't leave things well enough alone. Like taking care of a lonely kid who just lost his parents." He smirked.
"You're family, Peter. That's different."
"Then what about our frosty neighbor that ended up as my tutor because you two kept reaching out to her?"
"May did more there. I barely did much."
"Maybe, but you helped whenever you could. I think that still counts for Emma."
Ben sighed, though there was a hint of amusement. "I can't win here, can I?"
"Nope, I got that stubbornness from you."
Ben shook his head, standing up from his seat. "Sometimes I think you got it from May instead."
"Let's call it an equal contribution and leave it at that."
Ben laughed at that before he went out.
"Bye, Ben! Drive safe!"
"I will. Later, Pete!"
Peter watched him walk out of the house with a smile before it dropped. Now what should he do? Could he check back on his suit? He had finished detailing his upgrades, including the magic stuff he had learnt to make the new suit better, and sent the data to the fabricator to start manufacturing. Maybe some second or third checks won't hurt.
He spent the next hour doing just that, revising his notes and streamlining his work a little bit more. It wasn't all that extensive, but cross-referencing the notes he made and the data on the fabricator did take a little bit of time. Part of him thought Harry would notice and tell Felicia and Gwen, but it seemed like doing nerd stuff (his words, not Peter's) counted as taking a break.
He was snapped out of it when his door got knocked on. Peter blinked. May and Ben didn't tell him about anyone coming today. So what was at the door?
Mind alert but still lax, he quickly made his way to the door and looked through the peephole. His eyebrow raised when he saw what was clearly a government agent behind the door. All black suit? Check. Black sunglasses? Check. Relaxed but ready posture, complete with clasped hands at the front? Extra check. Oh, he could even vaguely see an earbud. Must be the communicator. Surprisingly advanced for the time.
"Who is it?" Peter called. His voice might be relaxed, but his whole body was ready to jump at any moment. Why the hell was there a government agent at the door? He could come up with multiple reasons as to why, and none of them made him feel any better.
"Agent Coulson. From the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. Please open the door, we have a lot to talk about."
Peter's first thought was what was up with that long name and where he had heard it before. It sounded familiar. His second thought was eyeing the window, wondering if he should jump out right now.
"Please don't jump out the window, Mr Parker. It will just make things difficult for everyone."
Peter blinked. How did he know that?
"It's the first thing most people think of when trying to escape. Well, that or just barreling through this door guns blazing."
Peter hummed. Sounds legit. With a quick unlock, he opened his front door.
"What do you want?"
"To talk. Can I come in?"
"I don't know, can you?"
The agent raised an eyebrow. "Really? Grammar nitpick?"
"Sue me, you just caught me finishing my English homework."
"Somehow I doubt that."
"Not winning yourself any favors here, Mr Coulson."
"Fair enough, then. How can I make it up to you?"
"Well, tell me what we're talking about for one."
"Your extracurricular activities."
"My internship? Sue did say my web fluid patent would attract attention but I didn't expect a personal visit." Peter scratched his head, acting baffled.
"Peter, please. You know that's not what I meant." The agent still saw through that, eyes almost pleading for him to take this seriously and be honest.
Peter sighed, frustration bleeding through his teeth. His muscles tensed and relaxed as he pondered his next set of actions. His Spidey sense wasn't warning him about anything, but he was still ready for action. He was half tempted to just web up the agent and interrogate him somewhere more private. The more time he spent in this timeline, the more people found out about his identity. It's supposed to be a secret; that's why it's called a secret identity, dammit!
Clicking his tongue, he opened the door wider and stepped aside. Coulson nodded in thanks as he stepped inside. Better have him in his house than outside, where anyone could see. He was so glad that May and Ben were at work today.
He closed and locked the door, walking back into the living room where the agent was already making himself comfortable, sitting in the previous seat Ben had taken.
"Nice place, comfy."
"Thanks, but I doubt you're here to compliment my home." Peter sighed, sitting back on the sofa but still facing Coulson.
"Right, straight to business." Coulson nodded with a disarming smile, but Peter didn't believe it for a second. "As I mentioned, I am Agent Phil Coulson. From the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. But you can just call it SHIELD."
His mind immediately froze, mental alarms ringing. SHIELD did a lot of good, forming the Avengers being one of them. Actual saviours of the world type of good. But if he remembered right, it also got leaked that the whole damn agency was filled with remnants of HYDRA. A literal Nazi group that fought against Captain America. Bad doesn't even begin to cover it and here he was sitting right in front of a SHIELD agent.
Despite his turbulent mind, his face remained controlled. He could thank Shang Chi's training for that.
"I'm here because of a program," He began, reaching inside the jacket of his suit and pulling out a yellow folder. Peter raised an eyebrow but grabbed the offered folder, his suspicion making way to an impossible idea. "The world's changing, fast. Fast enough that threats are popping out faster than we can stop them. That's why we need people like you, Mr Parker. Remarkable people who could be something more."
Peter opened the folder, eyes scanning through the pages and pictures clipped inside with wide eyes. His cool was already lost as he read the content. A redheaded spy partnered with an archer who never missed, an angry green giant that tore through tanks with contemptuous ease, a being wreathed in lightning with a hammer in hand, a soldier from out of time that just got out of ice, and finally, a billionaire genius with a high-tech suit of armor.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling overwhelmed. This was…this was the Avengers. He was being recruited to join the Avengers.
He kept reading through the file, finally landing on his page. The information was scarce, like they barely managed to get much info on him. They know his identity and family sure, but records of his abilities were much more scarce compared to the other members.
He vaguely realized that Gwen, Felicia, and Harry weren't in the file either. Did SHIELD not figure them out yet, or were they not part of the recruitment pitch?
"You gave us quite the hard time, you know? Trying to get any info on you was surprisingly difficult." Coulson complimented, though it did send alarm bells in Peter's head. Did they try to spy on him?
"Then how did you get anything on me?" Peter asked. Trying to sound as curiously disarming as he could.
The glint in Coulson's eyes made Peter think he saw through him, but the agent answered anyway. "The explosion in the Future Foundation. It attracted quite a bit of commotion, especially since it involved another scientist we've been keeping an eye on. It was curious how all four scientists during that explosion gained powers except for the intern."
Peter silently hummed, so they noticed despite Sue's best efforts. That's fine, these people were the spy agency. Guess hiding his identity from them was just hopeful thinking. Still, that didn't answer the biggest question in his head right now.
"Why me?"
Coulson paused at that, mulling over his words. "I'll admit, you weren't our first choice. When Spider-Man got brought up, the higher-ups didn't want to include you. They thought you didn't have what it takes. Too focused on the things that don't matter, they said." Peter narrowed his eyes, not liking the implications at all. "But I pushed for it, you already proved yourself capable with Gargan, and there's also that incident with the kidnapped Mutants. I would have pushed for your friends as well, but just getting you in is already an uphill battle. Personally, I think you saving cats from trees just makes you all the more worth it. We could benefit a lot from someone like you."
Peter looked down at the file even as Coulson stood up. The agent placed a card on the nearby table before glancing back at him. "Think on it, Peter. Call me when you have your answer."
"Sure…"
Peter watched as Coulson left his home, looking down at the file in his hands with mixed expressions. He then glanced around the house, suddenly realizing how vulnerable he was right now.
"I got a call to make…" Peter sighed before looking around suspiciously. His spidey sense buzzed in alert. "And check if the house is bugged."
[-]
"You gotta be kidding me!"
Peter sighed, feeling an incoming headache. Sitting right beside him was Gwen, who was keeping herself as close to him as possible as he contemplated his next move. Harry was sitting across from him, content to be quiet.
The one that was giving him a headache was Felicia, who was pacing in and out of the rooms inside his house, searching through every nook and cranny.
"Not a single camera or mic, what kind of spies are these?!" Felicia grouched.
"Felicia, enough." Gwen ordered. "You've practically turned over the whole house already. We're lucky May and Ben haven't come back home yet."
"Aren't you a little bit too calm about this?" Felicia asked incredulously. The former thief couldn't believe how accepting her friends were about this situation.
"No use overreacting about it." Gwen then glanced at Peter. "Peter here mentioned them as the spy agency in the world. If you can't find any, that means they have other ways to monitor him or don't see him as a threat that requires it."
"Like that sounds any better." Felicia grumbled but ended up sitting right on the other open space beside Peter. "So now what?"
"Join the future top superhero group and be really popular, or stay down here with us and be moderately popular as you are now. Gee, tough choice." Harry snarked.
"Harry." Gwen glared.
Harry raised his hands, looking as innocent as possible. "What? I just don't see why it's such a hard choice."
"HYDRA." Peter muttered. Harry's face fell at the reminder.
"Oh riiiight." Getting near crazy, hidden Nazis hell-bent on world domination definitely made it harder.
"As much as I hate to say it, rejection also has its own cons." Gwen pointed out. "We'd be denying ourselves useful resources and allies. There's no way everyone in SHIELD is compromised."
"Do we even need it?" Felicia scoffed. "We already got the magic folks up at the sanctum, I'd say they have better chances at helping us with the future stuff than government agents."
"Not necessarily." Gwen shook her head. "The sorcerers prioritise mystic threats, who's to say they can help us when we need it if some separate mystic threat comes along?"
"Drumm also told me that masters of the Mystic Arts usually don't bother with the public." Harry added. "So there's no way they'd have much info on the secret stuff that SHIELD might know about."
"So that's it? We're just gonna work with them?" Felicia asked incredulously.
"Not really. I'd be in the Avengers, sure, but it's not like I'd be attached to SHIELD twenty-four seven." Peter brought up with a calculating glint in his eyes. "Even in the other timeline, there were plenty of its members who mostly did their own thing until SHIELD called for help. A good chunk of them have strong personalities, and trying to rein them in is an exercise in futility." Peter took a breath to calm himself. "Joining them won't be an issue; I'll just have to make sure not to do or say anything that could benefit HYDRA."
"Easier said than done," Gwen muttered. "I think the main problem is, how are we getting the Infinity Stones right under their noses?"
Silence filled the room as they fell deep in thought. Ever since the Ancient One told him that she could peer through the other timeline, she had also told him of the location of the Infinity Stones. How each of them was hidden, some in a secret location, others in a completely different form. And two of them would be in New York during the invasion.
"We'll figure it out when we get there. For now, I'll accept the offer." Peter decided. He finally has a lead on how to tackle his Mad Titan problem. If he could get his hands on at least one of the stones, then he could use it to track down the rest.
'Or use the Time Stone to track the others down.' But that's only as a last resort. If he'd fail to get his hands on the Tesseract and Loki's scepter, then he'd have to risk asking the Ancient One about her most prized possession. The only reason he hadn't asked yet was because of how close he was to the invasion.
Felicia sighed. "Alright, if we fail to grab the stones, Peter would at least still be within reach of them. I still don't like it, though."
"I know, and I'm not expecting you to." Peter smiled. "But getting close to the Avengers and keeping a close eye on any possible HYDRA movement is still important."
Gwen nudged him, leaning on his shoulder as she looked up at his eyes. "Still won't stop us from worrying. What are we gonna do if you're out of town? From what you said, the Avengers get around the world a lot."
"You'd guys be fine. I trust New York would be in safe hands with you three here." Peter smiled down at her, enjoying the close warmth. "Not like you guys won't have anyone else to ask for help."
"Hm." Gwen hummed but still stayed leaning on him, enjoying the short moment of peace. Almost petulantly, Felicia joined from the other side, for once not making any comment and letting all three of them enjoy each other's presence.
"Anyway, now that's done, you guys still going to Xavier's Mansion?" Harry asked. All the while doing his best to ignore the intimacy in front of him.
"Yeah, we're still going. Would help a lot with getting our minds off for a bit." Felicia nodded, hair tickling Peter's cheek from the movement.
"Ah man, well I can't go."
"Why?" Gwen asked.
"I got an event that I have to attend, Dad's orders. If I skip it, he'd be pissed." Harry sighed.
The three of them winced at that, already familiar with their relationship.
"Those dick-measuring contests of an event? Man, I don't miss those. I'm glad Mom stopped dragging me to them." Felicia admitted.
The admission suddenly reminded Peter of something.
"Y'know speaking of, I don't think you talk much about your parents."
"I didn't?" Felicia asked, confused as well.
"Nope." Gwen confirmed. "Mentioned them like once or twice, but that's it. I think I remember you saying that your dad was a collector or something?"
"Private collector, but really that's just a generous way to say he's a thief."
"Like father, like daughter." Harry deadpanned.
"Exactly. Best there is too from what I can gather." Felicia cheered before her smile dropped. "Then when I was 6, he just went missing. Never saw him again."
"Sorry to hear that." Peter sympathized. He had lost his parents a bit too young to really remember them, but it was clear Felicia did.
"It's fine." Despite her words, Felicia cuddled closer to his side, almost curling like a cat as she did. "I admit I actually started being Black Cat to get an idea of what happened, but I kinda stopped lately."
The three blinked, all looking at her with a bit of guilt. "Did we—"
"Nah, don't worry about it." She stopped Gwen from finishing. "It's on me, it's kinda a flimsy excuse anyway. I just wanted to have fun and found a convenient way to do it. I can't remember much about him anymore and getting actual answers is more about giving my mom closure."
A short silence passed, letting it hang for a bit before Gwen continued, the blonde woman mimicking Felicia, curdling closer to Peter as she spoke. "Still, you should probably get back to finding answers. For your mom's sake, if not yours. It'll do her a lot of good, much more than you'd expect."
"How so?"
Gwen was quiet, mulling over her words before she spoke. "My mom…she died to some random punk that tried to steal from her. Dad told me he was twitchy. Had no trigger discipline at all. Saw her go out for groceries, and then the next thing I knew, I saw my dad come back home, hugging me with tears in his eyes. After that, he went on a manhunt for that thief throughout the city until he was caught."
Gwen looked at Felicia, their eyes meeting with unspoken solidarity. Between their bodies, Peter's hand found Gwen's. He already knew the story and tried to give her a reassuring squeeze. A sentiment that Gwen appreciated.
"When my mom died, my dad was never the same. But that closure, that knowledge of putting the person responsible for it behind bars, pulled him from whatever edge he was hanging from. Gave me my dad back."
Felicia mulled it over, digesting Gwen's short story. "Might have some truth there. Ever since dad was gone, mom became a lot… colder. She's still my mom, the same old loving hardass I know. But…maybe losing dad did affect her badly, I just never noticed." Felicia sighed before she whined. "Guess I gotta dust off my old notes. There are so many of them, too! You three are helping me, no excuses by the way."
"Sure, Felicia. Anything you want." Peter smiled.
"Ooouh, careful there, Tiger. I might take that literally~"
"Get in line, then. He owes me a session." Gwen huffed, hugging his arm close to her chest.
"Session?" Harry and Felicia stared. Peter would facepalm if the two girls weren't holding his arms so tightly.
"Session." Gwen wasn't any better, refusing to elaborate. Judging by the glint in Felicia's eyes, Peter could tell that wasn't stopping her.
This would be a long evening, he could tell already.
Peter yawned, lounging on the couch with practically nothing to do for once, which didn't make sense at first glance with how packed his schedule could be.
There was his internship with Reed, which was shortened thanks to the lab accident. He was still paid and was just waiting for a call so he could return to work. There were his lessons with Shang; he had made a lot of progress, but his teacher had forced him to take a rest for the rest of the week. He could patrol around the neighbourhood but Gwen, Harry, and Felicia all vetoed that and forced him to take a break for the day, which left him with nothing to do.
Well, there are classes but it wasn't a problem for him. He was years ahead of his peers; every assignment and homework was done in record speed. He no longer needed to worry about classes and exams.
So yeah, here was Peter Parker on a break. It felt surreal. When was the last time he had taken a break? He would have jumped right back out on the streets if he could help it; resting here felt like an insult. But Harry was watching; he could sense it. His Spidey sense was trained enough for him to be able to tell there were eyes on him. The moment he set foot on the window with his suit on, Harry would tattle on him in a heartbeat.
'The traitor.' Peter huffed. Then again, between handling him or an irate Gwen and Felicia, he couldn't really blame his best friend for snitching on him as his pick.
He twiddled his fingers, humming a random tune as he wondered what to do. Not like he could watch the TV, there was nothing there that either he hadn't seen before or would interest him. Peter sighed. This was one of those things they don't warn you about time travel. The entertainment in this timeline hadn't caught up yet, so you're just stuck waiting for everyone else to play catch-up.
"Well, if it isn't my nephew? It felt like forever since I last saw you."
Peter winced at that, glancing up to see Uncle Ben making his way to the kitchen with keys in hand. He didn't mean to ignore him; everything had just flooded in and taken his attention away.
"Sorry, Uncle Ben."
Ben waved it off. "Oh, don't worry about it, I'm just messing with ya. Still, it's good to see you finally sit down in the house for once. Last few weeks, I've seen you jumping around from one project to another."
Peter blinked. Had it really been that long since he really sat down in the house for a bit?
"Have I? I really should cut that down."
"Probably." Ben shrugged, sitting down on a nearby chair. "But hey, it looked like you were having fun with your friends, so I figured I shouldn't stop you from enjoying your youth."
Peter thought it over. He really didn't think he had that much fun, worrying about the apocalypse and everything. But…he still did. Had fun, he meant. In between the patrols, the planning, and the preparations, he managed to find some enjoyment because his friends were there. Made that heavy burden on his shoulder a lot more bearable.
Part of him felt guilt at the idea, like he didn't deserve it. But another bigger part of him, the one that valued his bonds unearned as it was, refused to let it take hold. The whole reason he was doing this, taking up the mask and stopping other costumed freaks, was because of his family and friends. To avoid the tragedy in the other timeline from occurring because he couldn't be assed to stop them.
"Still, I shouldn't have ignored you and May," Peter admitted, sitting up on the couch as he did.
Ben scoffed incredulously. "What are you talking about? You know how happy you made us when we saw you going out and spending time with your friends? You were out there having fun while probably inventing things that could help people in that internship of yours. You don't have time for old folks like us."
Peter shook his head. "No, Ben. I think I do. I should even. I'm making those things because of old folks like you who couldn't leave things well enough alone. Like taking care of a lonely kid who just lost his parents." He smirked.
"You're family, Peter. That's different."
"Then what about our frosty neighbor that ended up as my tutor because you two kept reaching out to her?"
"May did more there. I barely did much."
"Maybe, but you helped whenever you could. I think that still counts for Emma."
Ben sighed, though there was a hint of amusement. "I can't win here, can I?"
"Nope, I got that stubbornness from you."
Ben shook his head, standing up from his seat. "Sometimes I think you got it from May instead."
"Let's call it an equal contribution and leave it at that."
Ben laughed at that before he went out.
"Bye, Ben! Drive safe!"
"I will. Later, Pete!"
Peter watched him walk out of the house with a smile before it dropped. Now what should he do? Could he check back on his suit? He had finished detailing his upgrades, including the magic stuff he had learnt to make the new suit better, and sent the data to the fabricator to start manufacturing. Maybe some second or third checks won't hurt.
He spent the next hour doing just that, revising his notes and streamlining his work a little bit more. It wasn't all that extensive, but cross-referencing the notes he made and the data on the fabricator did take a little bit of time. Part of him thought Harry would notice and tell Felicia and Gwen, but it seemed like doing nerd stuff (his words, not Peter's) counted as taking a break.
He was snapped out of it when his door got knocked on. Peter blinked. May and Ben didn't tell him about anyone coming today. So what was at the door?
Mind alert but still lax, he quickly made his way to the door and looked through the peephole. His eyebrow raised when he saw what was clearly a government agent behind the door. All black suit? Check. Black sunglasses? Check. Relaxed but ready posture, complete with clasped hands at the front? Extra check. Oh, he could even vaguely see an earbud. Must be the communicator. Surprisingly advanced for the time.
"Who is it?" Peter called. His voice might be relaxed, but his whole body was ready to jump at any moment. Why the hell was there a government agent at the door? He could come up with multiple reasons as to why, and none of them made him feel any better.
"Agent Coulson. From the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. Please open the door, we have a lot to talk about."
Peter's first thought was what was up with that long name and where he had heard it before. It sounded familiar. His second thought was eyeing the window, wondering if he should jump out right now.
"Please don't jump out the window, Mr Parker. It will just make things difficult for everyone."
Peter blinked. How did he know that?
"It's the first thing most people think of when trying to escape. Well, that or just barreling through this door guns blazing."
Peter hummed. Sounds legit. With a quick unlock, he opened his front door.
"What do you want?"
"To talk. Can I come in?"
"I don't know, can you?"
The agent raised an eyebrow. "Really? Grammar nitpick?"
"Sue me, you just caught me finishing my English homework."
"Somehow I doubt that."
"Not winning yourself any favors here, Mr Coulson."
"Fair enough, then. How can I make it up to you?"
"Well, tell me what we're talking about for one."
"Your extracurricular activities."
"My internship? Sue did say my web fluid patent would attract attention but I didn't expect a personal visit." Peter scratched his head, acting baffled.
"Peter, please. You know that's not what I meant." The agent still saw through that, eyes almost pleading for him to take this seriously and be honest.
Peter sighed, frustration bleeding through his teeth. His muscles tensed and relaxed as he pondered his next set of actions. His Spidey sense wasn't warning him about anything, but he was still ready for action. He was half tempted to just web up the agent and interrogate him somewhere more private. The more time he spent in this timeline, the more people found out about his identity. It's supposed to be a secret; that's why it's called a secret identity, dammit!
Clicking his tongue, he opened the door wider and stepped aside. Coulson nodded in thanks as he stepped inside. Better have him in his house than outside, where anyone could see. He was so glad that May and Ben were at work today.
He closed and locked the door, walking back into the living room where the agent was already making himself comfortable, sitting in the previous seat Ben had taken.
"Nice place, comfy."
"Thanks, but I doubt you're here to compliment my home." Peter sighed, sitting back on the sofa but still facing Coulson.
"Right, straight to business." Coulson nodded with a disarming smile, but Peter didn't believe it for a second. "As I mentioned, I am Agent Phil Coulson. From the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. But you can just call it SHIELD."
His mind immediately froze, mental alarms ringing. SHIELD did a lot of good, forming the Avengers being one of them. Actual saviours of the world type of good. But if he remembered right, it also got leaked that the whole damn agency was filled with remnants of HYDRA. A literal Nazi group that fought against Captain America. Bad doesn't even begin to cover it and here he was sitting right in front of a SHIELD agent.
Despite his turbulent mind, his face remained controlled. He could thank Shang Chi's training for that.
"I'm here because of a program," He began, reaching inside the jacket of his suit and pulling out a yellow folder. Peter raised an eyebrow but grabbed the offered folder, his suspicion making way to an impossible idea. "The world's changing, fast. Fast enough that threats are popping out faster than we can stop them. That's why we need people like you, Mr Parker. Remarkable people who could be something more."
Peter opened the folder, eyes scanning through the pages and pictures clipped inside with wide eyes. His cool was already lost as he read the content. A redheaded spy partnered with an archer who never missed, an angry green giant that tore through tanks with contemptuous ease, a being wreathed in lightning with a hammer in hand, a soldier from out of time that just got out of ice, and finally, a billionaire genius with a high-tech suit of armor.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling overwhelmed. This was…this was the Avengers. He was being recruited to join the Avengers.
He kept reading through the file, finally landing on his page. The information was scarce, like they barely managed to get much info on him. They know his identity and family sure, but records of his abilities were much more scarce compared to the other members.
He vaguely realized that Gwen, Felicia, and Harry weren't in the file either. Did SHIELD not figure them out yet, or were they not part of the recruitment pitch?
"You gave us quite the hard time, you know? Trying to get any info on you was surprisingly difficult." Coulson complimented, though it did send alarm bells in Peter's head. Did they try to spy on him?
"Then how did you get anything on me?" Peter asked. Trying to sound as curiously disarming as he could.
The glint in Coulson's eyes made Peter think he saw through him, but the agent answered anyway. "The explosion in the Future Foundation. It attracted quite a bit of commotion, especially since it involved another scientist we've been keeping an eye on. It was curious how all four scientists during that explosion gained powers except for the intern."
Peter silently hummed, so they noticed despite Sue's best efforts. That's fine, these people were the spy agency. Guess hiding his identity from them was just hopeful thinking. Still, that didn't answer the biggest question in his head right now.
"Why me?"
Coulson paused at that, mulling over his words. "I'll admit, you weren't our first choice. When Spider-Man got brought up, the higher-ups didn't want to include you. They thought you didn't have what it takes. Too focused on the things that don't matter, they said." Peter narrowed his eyes, not liking the implications at all. "But I pushed for it, you already proved yourself capable with Gargan, and there's also that incident with the kidnapped Mutants. I would have pushed for your friends as well, but just getting you in is already an uphill battle. Personally, I think you saving cats from trees just makes you all the more worth it. We could benefit a lot from someone like you."
Peter looked down at the file even as Coulson stood up. The agent placed a card on the nearby table before glancing back at him. "Think on it, Peter. Call me when you have your answer."
"Sure…"
Peter watched as Coulson left his home, looking down at the file in his hands with mixed expressions. He then glanced around the house, suddenly realizing how vulnerable he was right now.
"I got a call to make…" Peter sighed before looking around suspiciously. His spidey sense buzzed in alert. "And check if the house is bugged."
[-]
"You gotta be kidding me!"
Peter sighed, feeling an incoming headache. Sitting right beside him was Gwen, who was keeping herself as close to him as possible as he contemplated his next move. Harry was sitting across from him, content to be quiet.
The one that was giving him a headache was Felicia, who was pacing in and out of the rooms inside his house, searching through every nook and cranny.
"Not a single camera or mic, what kind of spies are these?!" Felicia grouched.
"Felicia, enough." Gwen ordered. "You've practically turned over the whole house already. We're lucky May and Ben haven't come back home yet."
"Aren't you a little bit too calm about this?" Felicia asked incredulously. The former thief couldn't believe how accepting her friends were about this situation.
"No use overreacting about it." Gwen then glanced at Peter. "Peter here mentioned them as the spy agency in the world. If you can't find any, that means they have other ways to monitor him or don't see him as a threat that requires it."
"Like that sounds any better." Felicia grumbled but ended up sitting right on the other open space beside Peter. "So now what?"
"Join the future top superhero group and be really popular, or stay down here with us and be moderately popular as you are now. Gee, tough choice." Harry snarked.
"Harry." Gwen glared.
Harry raised his hands, looking as innocent as possible. "What? I just don't see why it's such a hard choice."
"HYDRA." Peter muttered. Harry's face fell at the reminder.
"Oh riiiight." Getting near crazy, hidden Nazis hell-bent on world domination definitely made it harder.
"As much as I hate to say it, rejection also has its own cons." Gwen pointed out. "We'd be denying ourselves useful resources and allies. There's no way everyone in SHIELD is compromised."
"Do we even need it?" Felicia scoffed. "We already got the magic folks up at the sanctum, I'd say they have better chances at helping us with the future stuff than government agents."
"Not necessarily." Gwen shook her head. "The sorcerers prioritise mystic threats, who's to say they can help us when we need it if some separate mystic threat comes along?"
"Drumm also told me that masters of the Mystic Arts usually don't bother with the public." Harry added. "So there's no way they'd have much info on the secret stuff that SHIELD might know about."
"So that's it? We're just gonna work with them?" Felicia asked incredulously.
"Not really. I'd be in the Avengers, sure, but it's not like I'd be attached to SHIELD twenty-four seven." Peter brought up with a calculating glint in his eyes. "Even in the other timeline, there were plenty of its members who mostly did their own thing until SHIELD called for help. A good chunk of them have strong personalities, and trying to rein them in is an exercise in futility." Peter took a breath to calm himself. "Joining them won't be an issue; I'll just have to make sure not to do or say anything that could benefit HYDRA."
"Easier said than done," Gwen muttered. "I think the main problem is, how are we getting the Infinity Stones right under their noses?"
Silence filled the room as they fell deep in thought. Ever since the Ancient One told him that she could peer through the other timeline, she had also told him of the location of the Infinity Stones. How each of them was hidden, some in a secret location, others in a completely different form. And two of them would be in New York during the invasion.
"We'll figure it out when we get there. For now, I'll accept the offer." Peter decided. He finally has a lead on how to tackle his Mad Titan problem. If he could get his hands on at least one of the stones, then he could use it to track down the rest.
'Or use the Time Stone to track the others down.' But that's only as a last resort. If he'd fail to get his hands on the Tesseract and Loki's scepter, then he'd have to risk asking the Ancient One about her most prized possession. The only reason he hadn't asked yet was because of how close he was to the invasion.
Felicia sighed. "Alright, if we fail to grab the stones, Peter would at least still be within reach of them. I still don't like it, though."
"I know, and I'm not expecting you to." Peter smiled. "But getting close to the Avengers and keeping a close eye on any possible HYDRA movement is still important."
Gwen nudged him, leaning on his shoulder as she looked up at his eyes. "Still won't stop us from worrying. What are we gonna do if you're out of town? From what you said, the Avengers get around the world a lot."
"You'd guys be fine. I trust New York would be in safe hands with you three here." Peter smiled down at her, enjoying the close warmth. "Not like you guys won't have anyone else to ask for help."
"Hm." Gwen hummed but still stayed leaning on him, enjoying the short moment of peace. Almost petulantly, Felicia joined from the other side, for once not making any comment and letting all three of them enjoy each other's presence.
"Anyway, now that's done, you guys still going to Xavier's Mansion?" Harry asked. All the while doing his best to ignore the intimacy in front of him.
"Yeah, we're still going. Would help a lot with getting our minds off for a bit." Felicia nodded, hair tickling Peter's cheek from the movement.
"Ah man, well I can't go."
"Why?" Gwen asked.
"I got an event that I have to attend, Dad's orders. If I skip it, he'd be pissed." Harry sighed.
The three of them winced at that, already familiar with their relationship.
"Those dick-measuring contests of an event? Man, I don't miss those. I'm glad Mom stopped dragging me to them." Felicia admitted.
The admission suddenly reminded Peter of something.
"Y'know speaking of, I don't think you talk much about your parents."
"I didn't?" Felicia asked, confused as well.
"Nope." Gwen confirmed. "Mentioned them like once or twice, but that's it. I think I remember you saying that your dad was a collector or something?"
"Private collector, but really that's just a generous way to say he's a thief."
"Like father, like daughter." Harry deadpanned.
"Exactly. Best there is too from what I can gather." Felicia cheered before her smile dropped. "Then when I was 6, he just went missing. Never saw him again."
"Sorry to hear that." Peter sympathized. He had lost his parents a bit too young to really remember them, but it was clear Felicia did.
"It's fine." Despite her words, Felicia cuddled closer to his side, almost curling like a cat as she did. "I admit I actually started being Black Cat to get an idea of what happened, but I kinda stopped lately."
The three blinked, all looking at her with a bit of guilt. "Did we—"
"Nah, don't worry about it." She stopped Gwen from finishing. "It's on me, it's kinda a flimsy excuse anyway. I just wanted to have fun and found a convenient way to do it. I can't remember much about him anymore and getting actual answers is more about giving my mom closure."
A short silence passed, letting it hang for a bit before Gwen continued, the blonde woman mimicking Felicia, curdling closer to Peter as she spoke. "Still, you should probably get back to finding answers. For your mom's sake, if not yours. It'll do her a lot of good, much more than you'd expect."
"How so?"
Gwen was quiet, mulling over her words before she spoke. "My mom…she died to some random punk that tried to steal from her. Dad told me he was twitchy. Had no trigger discipline at all. Saw her go out for groceries, and then the next thing I knew, I saw my dad come back home, hugging me with tears in his eyes. After that, he went on a manhunt for that thief throughout the city until he was caught."
Gwen looked at Felicia, their eyes meeting with unspoken solidarity. Between their bodies, Peter's hand found Gwen's. He already knew the story and tried to give her a reassuring squeeze. A sentiment that Gwen appreciated.
"When my mom died, my dad was never the same. But that closure, that knowledge of putting the person responsible for it behind bars, pulled him from whatever edge he was hanging from. Gave me my dad back."
Felicia mulled it over, digesting Gwen's short story. "Might have some truth there. Ever since dad was gone, mom became a lot… colder. She's still my mom, the same old loving hardass I know. But…maybe losing dad did affect her badly, I just never noticed." Felicia sighed before she whined. "Guess I gotta dust off my old notes. There are so many of them, too! You three are helping me, no excuses by the way."
"Sure, Felicia. Anything you want." Peter smiled.
"Ooouh, careful there, Tiger. I might take that literally~"
"Get in line, then. He owes me a session." Gwen huffed, hugging his arm close to her chest.
"Session?" Harry and Felicia stared. Peter would facepalm if the two girls weren't holding his arms so tightly.
"Session." Gwen wasn't any better, refusing to elaborate. Judging by the glint in Felicia's eyes, Peter could tell that wasn't stopping her.
This would be a long evening, he could tell already.
Chapter 25 - Time Goes On, Lasting Road
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SKaine
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Chapter 25 - Time Goes On, Lasting Road
Peter couldn't help but gawk at the sight in front of him. Gwen was the same, and the less said about Felicia, the better. There was a worrying glint in her eyes as she eyed the massive mansion in front of them.
Calling it a mansion might be a disservice if he were being honest. It looked more like a castle. The fortress-like structure was imposing, but the garden that surrounded the place added a gentle feel to it, flowers flourishing proudly with the serene lake adding a calming tinge to the atmosphere. Trees surrounded the premises, hiding it from the view of the outside world, like a secluded Garden of Eden.
The place was beautiful, amazing even. But Peter couldn't help but feel like there was something off about it. Like it was secluded.
"Welcome!"
The three focused on the source, spotting Ororo in a pretty casual outfit walking down the pavement as she made her way to them.
"Jean said you'd be coming today," She greeted them. "It's nice to see you three again."
"It's great to see you again too, Ororo." Peter smiled, though there was a bit of tightness to it. Man, he needs to get more used to more people knowing about him now. It was still taking him a bit of time.
"Come, come. Let's get inside. I'm sure you're all tired from your travels. How did you three get here anyway?" Storm asked curiously.
"Took the train and just web-swing the rest of the way here." Gwen casually answered as they walked through the gate.
"Fast and cost-efficient. Understandable." The mutant nodded.
"And fun." Felicia smirked.
"As someone who can fly, I can definitely understand that." Ororo smiled fondly. Subtly, the air around them also became a bit breezy.
They fully entered the mansion. The inside was as lavish as they expected. Furniture that looked much more expensive than his apartment surrounded them, while the chandelier above gave the place quite the ambient lighting, if the massive windows didn't already.
"After our previous mission, Professor Xavier had heard a lot about you three." Ororo idly commented, guiding them up the stairs and into the upper hallway. Rows of doors greeted them, while at the end was a large double door.
"All good things, I hope." Peter muttered while he idly dragged Felicia away from a particularly shiny object, much to Gwen's embarrassment.
"Great things, actually. He's very interested in your work, especially in the idea of a friendly neighborhood mutant helping out there."
"Yeah, but I haven't really gotten around to telling it to people yet. Not even sure how, to be honest. It's not something you can just bring up casually." Peter scratched his head. Introducing yourself was one thing, but how do you bring up your own race without making it weird? He had never done it before.
"That's fine. We have the option open, and that alone can do wonders for our reputation. That said, we do have to get to that quickly, or it might come across as if you are trying to hide it out of shame." Ororo reasoned.
The three vigilantes winced. They could already imagine how that might turn out.
They reached the double doors, and Ororo knocked. A faint 'come in' could be heard from the other side. Ororo glanced at them in anticipation, as if she was excited to have them meet this Xavier.
The doors swung open as she led them into the office. Shelves of books littered the walls, and they could even spot portraits of maps hanging above them. All around them were tables with various important-looking relics, proudly and carefully arranged to enhance the look of the office. The place was a trove of knowledge, and they could tell that this Xavier definitely spent his time hitting the books whenever he could.
"Ah, these must be our guests. Thank you, Ororo, for guiding them."
"It's my pleasure, Professor."
The three looked to the source and spotted a bald old man in a wheelchair. The man smiled at them kindly, and unlike Magneto, this time the kindly man actually felt like a gentle grandfather. The sight of him actually made them a bit speechless.
"Welcome. I believe you are Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, and Felicia Hardy, correct? My name is Professor Charles Xavier. It is a pleasure to meet you. Jean has told me so much about you three. Especially you, Mr Parker."
Peter snapped out of his stupor, stepping forward and offering the wheelchair bound man a handshake. "Uh, yeah. It's great to meet you too, Professor. Just call me Peter. Mr Parker is my uncle."
"Very well, Peter it is." The professor chuckled. "Please, have a seat. It will be a while before the students finish their classes, so may I interest you in some drinks? Ororo, if you mind?"
"Certainly, professor." Ororo nodded, already heading to the door. "Any preferences?"
"Tea is fine by me." Gwen replied.
"I'll just have the same as her."
"Me too."
Ororo smiled at Peter and Felicia's agreement and quickly headed out.
"Now, while Ororo goes to get our drinks, I believe we have some things to talk about, yes?"
Peter sighed as he sat on the very comfortable sofa. Gwen and Felicia joined him by his side.
"What do you want to know, Professor?" Peter asked.
"Well, plenty of things. Jean tells us lots of stories about you. Despite meeting you for a short time, she talks as if she had known you for far longer." Xavier chuckled.
"Did she now?" Felicia leaned over as if she had heard some juicy gossip. "What did she say?"
"All good things, I assure you." Xavier's eyes glinted, already knowing what Felicia was aiming for and amused by it. "Though she does talk quite a bit about Peter here."
"Hear that, Pete? Quite a bit, he said." Felicia gave him a shit-eating grin.
Peter promptly ignored it. "Yeah, she also told me a few things about this school whenever we called. I heard you've been training the kids here with their powers?"
Xavier hummed. "Yes, I have. The gifts of our kind are as dangerous as they are wondrous. They should learn how to effectively wield them as a safety precaution. We had many out-of-control cases to make it mandatory."
"Huh, kinda like gun training." Gwen cupped her chin. "My dad kept a gun in the house and had me trained as a just-in-case."
"If the gun is biologically built into you, but yes, an apt comparison." Xavier nodded.
"Aren't you worried about how they might use their powers?" Gwen asked.
"A reasonable concern. They are young and don't have the experience that comes with age. But that's why we are here. I assure you, the teaching staff here is always keeping an open eye for any troubles. Be it from within or outside the school." Xavier promised, eyes glinting with intent.
"The X-Men." Peter suddenly spoke. "What are they anyway? Ororo said they go around helping Mutants, but I've never heard of them anywhere."
It was one of those things that had taken him by surprise when he saw them. He never heard about them in the previous timeline, so it could be one of those big changes from the timeline rebuilding itself.
"A necessary precaution at the beginning. Overtly moving as a group would bring unwanted eyes when all I wanted was to create a safe sanctuary for our kind. Bringing such attention to these gifted children is…inadvisable." Peter couldn't argue with that. He could only imagine the kind of mess that would cause. "But I fear the times are changing faster than I expected."
"The Mutant hate…" Felicia realised before her eyes widened. "Magneto."
"Yes." Xavier sagged tiredly but still firm in his tone. "With the rise of extremists on both sides, I fear the time of hiding is nearing its conclusion. It won't be long before Magneto begins moving overtly, and the humans begin to use him as a symbol of hate. You've all already seen the news. The moment he makes his debut, it is inevitable."
Silence pressed down in the room. They couldn't deny that he was right. They had seen it, and it wouldn't surprise them if they began moving aggressively once Magneto made his move.
"Then imagine my happiness to hear that in the bustling city of New York, there are vigilantes willing to lend a helping hand to Mutants." Xavier smiled gently.
Peter smiled sheepishly. "It's nothing, Professor. I'm just doing the right thing.'
"Oh, it might be nothing to you, but it is everything to me." Xavier shook his head. "What you did gave me hope. Hope that my dream is coming ever closer. My dream of coexistence and cooperation between Mutants and Humans."
Peter was floored. The way he spoke, the way he looked at him. It was like a man looking at a source of light at the end of a dark tunnel. Who knew how much darkness he had seen, and yet still, he stood firm in his belief for that light he was striving for.
"Of course, I had seen many had lent their aid before, but I fear they had dwindled. Fear had gripped their hearts, either because of us or because of the possible consequences that might come for helping us. It had gone on for so long that I had thought there were no allies left out there." Xavier sighed. His eyes tracked his form with a smile. "But then you arrived; you didn't just help us but even stood against Magneto because it was simply the right thing to do. It fills me with hope to know that maybe there are more people out there who may think as you do."
Peter didn't know what to say to that. He hadn't even realized that things had gotten this bad to the point Xavier had seen him as some sort of beacon of hope. He swore to himself to do better, maybe not to fix things, but at least to make things easier for any Mutants in New York.
Voices could suddenly be heard beyond the office, getting their attention. The group turned when the door opened, Ororo stepping in with a tray of drinks and a sheepish smile.
"I tried stopping them, Professor, but they wouldn't listen when they heard they had arrived."
Before they could even ask, a red-haired figure barged in.
"Sorry, but they're in here, right? I got to see—" Jean paused, finally spotting the three. "Peter!"
"Nice to see you too, Jean." Peter smirked, already predicting what was coming next.
"What are we, chopped liver?" Felicia mock-sighed.
"It's like we're invisible to her, I swear." Gwen played along.
Jean rolled her eyes. "It's great to see you guys, too."
"Oh, so that's Peter." A voice spoke, catching their gaze behind Ororo and Jean. There, they could spot a group of people around their age. He could even spot Bobby, who was waving at them cheerily. Though he was more concerned about the knowing looks they sent Jean. Especially the teasing glint from the brown-haired ponytail girl.
He could already tell which one would be a handful.
"Gotta say, I can see the appeal." She grinned.
"Kitty!" Jean blushed, realizing that she had just led her friends to something she really wanted to be private.
Peter spotted the predatory glint in Kitty's eyes as she smirked at him. Pair that with Felicia's, and he could already tell it was going to be a mess later.
He sighed. Well at least his first day here wouldn't be boring.
[-]
"That way is the kitchen; students don't eat there. We have our own cafeteria outside. Further ahead is the living room. Some of us hang around there if we want to watch anything on TV." Jean introduced, having spent the last few minutes showing the place around to her friends.
Right behind her was Kitty, and he could see the rest of her friends trailing behind them. After hearing that the three of them got Xavier's permission to spend a few nights in the mansion, they had gotten curious.
"You guys share a TV?" Peter raised an eyebrow. "That won't cause problems at all."
Kitty scoffed. "Oh, you have no idea. Weekends usually have people rise early just to get their hands on the remote. That's if the teachers don't get their hands on it first."
"You know, with how fancy the place is, I thought they had their own in their rooms." Felicia muttered.
"They do! Which makes it worse!" Kitty groaned. "They're doing it just to mess with us, I swear."
"Not like it's the only thing you can do here. There are plenty of things outside. The greenhouse is fun if you're into gardening." Jean offered.
"Not really my thing." Felicia waved it off, Jean nodding in understanding.
"So what do you do between classes, Jean?" Gwen asked curiously as they arrived in the living room. They could spot a few of the students there already. The majority of them were on the younger side. Their attention was fully on the cartoon playing. It wasn't one Peter recognised, so he didn't focus too much on it.
"The library usually." Jean answered, already leading them away from the living room. "Before I met you guys, I usually just used books to distract myself. Keeps me grounded."
"It took a while for me to drag her nose out of the books." Kitty grumbled. "We have all this place to us and she's much more interested in some dusty old library."
Jean turned sheepish but shrugged. "The mansion is great, but it does get a bit much."
"Sorry if we've been overbearing, Jean." A brown haired man apologised. 'Scott, was it?' He had been looking at him with a strange look. Peter couldn't see anything past the ruby red aviators he wore. 'What was up with that anyway?'
"It's fine, Scott. Honestly, the fresh air might have done me some good."
Kitty scoffed. "Some good, she says."
Bobby smirked at them. "Don't let her fool you. If it wasn't for Kitty dragging her out, I'm sure half the class wouldn't even know she existed."
The three chuckled, much to Jean's embarrassment. Gwen then turned. "What about you guys?"
Bobby shrugged. "Not much, to be honest. I usually just do whatever is interesting at the time with Scott here." He nodded at the aforementioned man, who smirked.
"Mostly a few games here and there. I'm in the lead."
"No, you're not! I thought I told you that last one didn't count!"
"It definitely does. Unless you want to fight Rogue's judgement on that."
Bobby turned silent, glancing at the girl with the white streak on her short brown hair. She was beautiful, but her sullen look detracted from it a little. She had been quiet throughout the tour. Though the mention of her name did make her perk up, locking eyes with Bobby.
The two fell silent and quickly looked away, the tension palpable. Peter didn't even need to ask to know there was something going on there.
"...Fine, but we're having a rematch later."
"Whatever you want, Bobby." Scott chuckled.
"Where's Forge, by the way?" Peter asked as he looked around. "I hadn't seen him at all. Still gotta thank him for making that Fabricator for us. That thing is way too useful."
"Forge is mostly focused on the lab; I think he's still there." Jean wondered.
"And another nerd we gotta drag out." Kitty grumbled. "Really, is it so hard to live a little?"
A sigh followed. "Kitty, some people like their privacy."
Peter turned to the voice, spotting a short blond haired girl with blue eyes. She wore a black choker, crop top and jeans that hugged her bottom tightly. She was like Rogue, beautiful in that dark and mysterious way. Unlike Rogue, she seemed to revel in it.
The girl, Illyana if he remembered, turned to him. The disinterest look she sported minutely morphed into a knowing smirk. "I'm sure you'd agree."
"Y-yeah." Peter helplessly nodded. He wasn't sure what that was all about.
"So where's Emma? I'm surprised she isn't here too." Peter asked to change the subject. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like having Illyana's attention wasn't necessarily a good thing.
"Out." Jean shrugged. "She's been pretty swamped with work ever since we got here."
Peter nodded. He had expected that. The rare few times he did manage to call her, she had said the same thing. Apparently getting her credentials and managing the students in this mansion had taken up more time than expected.
"What about that other girl?" Gwen suddenly asked.
"Other girl?" Kitty asked, confused.
Gwen glanced at Peter, who also looked confused. "You know? The one that Logan had problems with?"
Jean blinked. "Oh you mean Laura!"
It was quiet but it was obvious. Peter visibly saw the rest of the group wilting a little at the mention of her name.
"...Those faces tell some stories." Felicia bluntly pointed out.
Kitty sighed. "Long stories."
"Come on guys, Laura isn't that bad!" Jean defended.
"She ripped my favourite shirt." Kitty countered.
"Made a mess of the living room that one time and ruined TV day." Illyana added with her usual disinterested tone.
"She literally growled at anyone that even sat close to her." Bobby shrugged. "I mean, what is she, a dog?"
"I think Logan might take offense to that." Peter blandly snarked.
"He's not here, is he?" Bobby suddenly looked around warily.
"The point is," Scott got things back on track, looking at Jean with an apologetic look. "Jean, you're the only one that she even lets sit close to her. I mean, the rest of our classmates don't even want to do anything with her. We don't even know where she is right now."
"I'm here."
"GAAH!
The screams were unanimous. Everyone flinched and whipped to the back, spotting the raven haired girl standing behind them with a blank look.
"Jesus Christ!" Bobby gasped as he gripped his chest.
"Laura, what the fuck?!" Kitty hissed. "How long were you there?"
Peter liked to know that too as he tried to calm his beating heart. His Spider-Sense didn't even register her. And he liked to think he had trained it pretty well after his lessons with Shang-Chi.
"Since I saw you guys leave Xavier's office." Came the bland reply.
"So the whole time?" Illyana looked at Laura with some respect in her eyes. "Not bad."
"Laura! Why didn't you say anything?" Jean immediately rushed to her, already holding her hand with concern.
"Thought it wasn't important." Laura avoided looking at her, though some of them noticed that she kept glancing at Peter.
"Well, you're joining us now. Honestly, you should have said something." Jean grumbled as she dragged the sullen girl to the front.
As they did, they walked past Peter. Peter's eyes narrowed as he saw her sharp eyes locking on him with a strange intensity.
The moment passed; Jean continued on the tour with the rest of the group following. Peter lagged behind but kept pace, wondering what the look meant.
"She seems weirdly focused on you."
Peter looked to the side, noticing Illyana had matched his pace and walked beside him.
"Yeah. Not sure why though."
Illyana smirked. "No, I think you do."
That got his attention, making him look at her with suspicion.
"You know the saying: birds of a feather flock together. I think she sees something in you that she sees in herself."
"I don't think we're all that similar. I'm sure Jean can tell you that."
"Maybe, on a surface level." Illyana shrugged. "But there's something in you, Peter Parker. Something that she sees. Something that I see."
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Or maybe it's everything." Illyana's smirk turned…hungry for lack of a better word. "But I do know it would be interesting once we see it."
Peter wasn't sure he liked what she meant by that.
"Sometimes the ugly parts in ourselves are also the most beautiful. Think about it, Peter." Illyana purred. Her voice sent tingles down his spine. Judging from her wink, she noticed.
"Hey, you two! Keep up!"
She then looked up, her features smoothing back to disinterest as she walked ahead. "Yes, yes. Just a sec."
Peter watched her go away, though he couldn't help but notice the subtle sway in her hips as she walked. He grimaced when he noticed she had glanced back and gave him a smug grin.
What the hell was she trying to do to him…?
Shaking his head, he tried to put the thought away and hurried to catch up. He had a feeling his stay here wouldn't be so uneventful.
Peter couldn't help but gawk at the sight in front of him. Gwen was the same, and the less said about Felicia, the better. There was a worrying glint in her eyes as she eyed the massive mansion in front of them.
Calling it a mansion might be a disservice if he were being honest. It looked more like a castle. The fortress-like structure was imposing, but the garden that surrounded the place added a gentle feel to it, flowers flourishing proudly with the serene lake adding a calming tinge to the atmosphere. Trees surrounded the premises, hiding it from the view of the outside world, like a secluded Garden of Eden.
The place was beautiful, amazing even. But Peter couldn't help but feel like there was something off about it. Like it was secluded.
"Welcome!"
The three focused on the source, spotting Ororo in a pretty casual outfit walking down the pavement as she made her way to them.
"Jean said you'd be coming today," She greeted them. "It's nice to see you three again."
"It's great to see you again too, Ororo." Peter smiled, though there was a bit of tightness to it. Man, he needs to get more used to more people knowing about him now. It was still taking him a bit of time.
"Come, come. Let's get inside. I'm sure you're all tired from your travels. How did you three get here anyway?" Storm asked curiously.
"Took the train and just web-swing the rest of the way here." Gwen casually answered as they walked through the gate.
"Fast and cost-efficient. Understandable." The mutant nodded.
"And fun." Felicia smirked.
"As someone who can fly, I can definitely understand that." Ororo smiled fondly. Subtly, the air around them also became a bit breezy.
They fully entered the mansion. The inside was as lavish as they expected. Furniture that looked much more expensive than his apartment surrounded them, while the chandelier above gave the place quite the ambient lighting, if the massive windows didn't already.
"After our previous mission, Professor Xavier had heard a lot about you three." Ororo idly commented, guiding them up the stairs and into the upper hallway. Rows of doors greeted them, while at the end was a large double door.
"All good things, I hope." Peter muttered while he idly dragged Felicia away from a particularly shiny object, much to Gwen's embarrassment.
"Great things, actually. He's very interested in your work, especially in the idea of a friendly neighborhood mutant helping out there."
"Yeah, but I haven't really gotten around to telling it to people yet. Not even sure how, to be honest. It's not something you can just bring up casually." Peter scratched his head. Introducing yourself was one thing, but how do you bring up your own race without making it weird? He had never done it before.
"That's fine. We have the option open, and that alone can do wonders for our reputation. That said, we do have to get to that quickly, or it might come across as if you are trying to hide it out of shame." Ororo reasoned.
The three vigilantes winced. They could already imagine how that might turn out.
They reached the double doors, and Ororo knocked. A faint 'come in' could be heard from the other side. Ororo glanced at them in anticipation, as if she was excited to have them meet this Xavier.
The doors swung open as she led them into the office. Shelves of books littered the walls, and they could even spot portraits of maps hanging above them. All around them were tables with various important-looking relics, proudly and carefully arranged to enhance the look of the office. The place was a trove of knowledge, and they could tell that this Xavier definitely spent his time hitting the books whenever he could.
"Ah, these must be our guests. Thank you, Ororo, for guiding them."
"It's my pleasure, Professor."
The three looked to the source and spotted a bald old man in a wheelchair. The man smiled at them kindly, and unlike Magneto, this time the kindly man actually felt like a gentle grandfather. The sight of him actually made them a bit speechless.
"Welcome. I believe you are Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, and Felicia Hardy, correct? My name is Professor Charles Xavier. It is a pleasure to meet you. Jean has told me so much about you three. Especially you, Mr Parker."
Peter snapped out of his stupor, stepping forward and offering the wheelchair bound man a handshake. "Uh, yeah. It's great to meet you too, Professor. Just call me Peter. Mr Parker is my uncle."
"Very well, Peter it is." The professor chuckled. "Please, have a seat. It will be a while before the students finish their classes, so may I interest you in some drinks? Ororo, if you mind?"
"Certainly, professor." Ororo nodded, already heading to the door. "Any preferences?"
"Tea is fine by me." Gwen replied.
"I'll just have the same as her."
"Me too."
Ororo smiled at Peter and Felicia's agreement and quickly headed out.
"Now, while Ororo goes to get our drinks, I believe we have some things to talk about, yes?"
Peter sighed as he sat on the very comfortable sofa. Gwen and Felicia joined him by his side.
"What do you want to know, Professor?" Peter asked.
"Well, plenty of things. Jean tells us lots of stories about you. Despite meeting you for a short time, she talks as if she had known you for far longer." Xavier chuckled.
"Did she now?" Felicia leaned over as if she had heard some juicy gossip. "What did she say?"
"All good things, I assure you." Xavier's eyes glinted, already knowing what Felicia was aiming for and amused by it. "Though she does talk quite a bit about Peter here."
"Hear that, Pete? Quite a bit, he said." Felicia gave him a shit-eating grin.
Peter promptly ignored it. "Yeah, she also told me a few things about this school whenever we called. I heard you've been training the kids here with their powers?"
Xavier hummed. "Yes, I have. The gifts of our kind are as dangerous as they are wondrous. They should learn how to effectively wield them as a safety precaution. We had many out-of-control cases to make it mandatory."
"Huh, kinda like gun training." Gwen cupped her chin. "My dad kept a gun in the house and had me trained as a just-in-case."
"If the gun is biologically built into you, but yes, an apt comparison." Xavier nodded.
"Aren't you worried about how they might use their powers?" Gwen asked.
"A reasonable concern. They are young and don't have the experience that comes with age. But that's why we are here. I assure you, the teaching staff here is always keeping an open eye for any troubles. Be it from within or outside the school." Xavier promised, eyes glinting with intent.
"The X-Men." Peter suddenly spoke. "What are they anyway? Ororo said they go around helping Mutants, but I've never heard of them anywhere."
It was one of those things that had taken him by surprise when he saw them. He never heard about them in the previous timeline, so it could be one of those big changes from the timeline rebuilding itself.
"A necessary precaution at the beginning. Overtly moving as a group would bring unwanted eyes when all I wanted was to create a safe sanctuary for our kind. Bringing such attention to these gifted children is…inadvisable." Peter couldn't argue with that. He could only imagine the kind of mess that would cause. "But I fear the times are changing faster than I expected."
"The Mutant hate…" Felicia realised before her eyes widened. "Magneto."
"Yes." Xavier sagged tiredly but still firm in his tone. "With the rise of extremists on both sides, I fear the time of hiding is nearing its conclusion. It won't be long before Magneto begins moving overtly, and the humans begin to use him as a symbol of hate. You've all already seen the news. The moment he makes his debut, it is inevitable."
Silence pressed down in the room. They couldn't deny that he was right. They had seen it, and it wouldn't surprise them if they began moving aggressively once Magneto made his move.
"Then imagine my happiness to hear that in the bustling city of New York, there are vigilantes willing to lend a helping hand to Mutants." Xavier smiled gently.
Peter smiled sheepishly. "It's nothing, Professor. I'm just doing the right thing.'
"Oh, it might be nothing to you, but it is everything to me." Xavier shook his head. "What you did gave me hope. Hope that my dream is coming ever closer. My dream of coexistence and cooperation between Mutants and Humans."
Peter was floored. The way he spoke, the way he looked at him. It was like a man looking at a source of light at the end of a dark tunnel. Who knew how much darkness he had seen, and yet still, he stood firm in his belief for that light he was striving for.
"Of course, I had seen many had lent their aid before, but I fear they had dwindled. Fear had gripped their hearts, either because of us or because of the possible consequences that might come for helping us. It had gone on for so long that I had thought there were no allies left out there." Xavier sighed. His eyes tracked his form with a smile. "But then you arrived; you didn't just help us but even stood against Magneto because it was simply the right thing to do. It fills me with hope to know that maybe there are more people out there who may think as you do."
Peter didn't know what to say to that. He hadn't even realized that things had gotten this bad to the point Xavier had seen him as some sort of beacon of hope. He swore to himself to do better, maybe not to fix things, but at least to make things easier for any Mutants in New York.
Voices could suddenly be heard beyond the office, getting their attention. The group turned when the door opened, Ororo stepping in with a tray of drinks and a sheepish smile.
"I tried stopping them, Professor, but they wouldn't listen when they heard they had arrived."
Before they could even ask, a red-haired figure barged in.
"Sorry, but they're in here, right? I got to see—" Jean paused, finally spotting the three. "Peter!"
"Nice to see you too, Jean." Peter smirked, already predicting what was coming next.
"What are we, chopped liver?" Felicia mock-sighed.
"It's like we're invisible to her, I swear." Gwen played along.
Jean rolled her eyes. "It's great to see you guys, too."
"Oh, so that's Peter." A voice spoke, catching their gaze behind Ororo and Jean. There, they could spot a group of people around their age. He could even spot Bobby, who was waving at them cheerily. Though he was more concerned about the knowing looks they sent Jean. Especially the teasing glint from the brown-haired ponytail girl.
He could already tell which one would be a handful.
"Gotta say, I can see the appeal." She grinned.
"Kitty!" Jean blushed, realizing that she had just led her friends to something she really wanted to be private.
Peter spotted the predatory glint in Kitty's eyes as she smirked at him. Pair that with Felicia's, and he could already tell it was going to be a mess later.
He sighed. Well at least his first day here wouldn't be boring.
[-]
"That way is the kitchen; students don't eat there. We have our own cafeteria outside. Further ahead is the living room. Some of us hang around there if we want to watch anything on TV." Jean introduced, having spent the last few minutes showing the place around to her friends.
Right behind her was Kitty, and he could see the rest of her friends trailing behind them. After hearing that the three of them got Xavier's permission to spend a few nights in the mansion, they had gotten curious.
"You guys share a TV?" Peter raised an eyebrow. "That won't cause problems at all."
Kitty scoffed. "Oh, you have no idea. Weekends usually have people rise early just to get their hands on the remote. That's if the teachers don't get their hands on it first."
"You know, with how fancy the place is, I thought they had their own in their rooms." Felicia muttered.
"They do! Which makes it worse!" Kitty groaned. "They're doing it just to mess with us, I swear."
"Not like it's the only thing you can do here. There are plenty of things outside. The greenhouse is fun if you're into gardening." Jean offered.
"Not really my thing." Felicia waved it off, Jean nodding in understanding.
"So what do you do between classes, Jean?" Gwen asked curiously as they arrived in the living room. They could spot a few of the students there already. The majority of them were on the younger side. Their attention was fully on the cartoon playing. It wasn't one Peter recognised, so he didn't focus too much on it.
"The library usually." Jean answered, already leading them away from the living room. "Before I met you guys, I usually just used books to distract myself. Keeps me grounded."
"It took a while for me to drag her nose out of the books." Kitty grumbled. "We have all this place to us and she's much more interested in some dusty old library."
Jean turned sheepish but shrugged. "The mansion is great, but it does get a bit much."
"Sorry if we've been overbearing, Jean." A brown haired man apologised. 'Scott, was it?' He had been looking at him with a strange look. Peter couldn't see anything past the ruby red aviators he wore. 'What was up with that anyway?'
"It's fine, Scott. Honestly, the fresh air might have done me some good."
Kitty scoffed. "Some good, she says."
Bobby smirked at them. "Don't let her fool you. If it wasn't for Kitty dragging her out, I'm sure half the class wouldn't even know she existed."
The three chuckled, much to Jean's embarrassment. Gwen then turned. "What about you guys?"
Bobby shrugged. "Not much, to be honest. I usually just do whatever is interesting at the time with Scott here." He nodded at the aforementioned man, who smirked.
"Mostly a few games here and there. I'm in the lead."
"No, you're not! I thought I told you that last one didn't count!"
"It definitely does. Unless you want to fight Rogue's judgement on that."
Bobby turned silent, glancing at the girl with the white streak on her short brown hair. She was beautiful, but her sullen look detracted from it a little. She had been quiet throughout the tour. Though the mention of her name did make her perk up, locking eyes with Bobby.
The two fell silent and quickly looked away, the tension palpable. Peter didn't even need to ask to know there was something going on there.
"...Fine, but we're having a rematch later."
"Whatever you want, Bobby." Scott chuckled.
"Where's Forge, by the way?" Peter asked as he looked around. "I hadn't seen him at all. Still gotta thank him for making that Fabricator for us. That thing is way too useful."
"Forge is mostly focused on the lab; I think he's still there." Jean wondered.
"And another nerd we gotta drag out." Kitty grumbled. "Really, is it so hard to live a little?"
A sigh followed. "Kitty, some people like their privacy."
Peter turned to the voice, spotting a short blond haired girl with blue eyes. She wore a black choker, crop top and jeans that hugged her bottom tightly. She was like Rogue, beautiful in that dark and mysterious way. Unlike Rogue, she seemed to revel in it.
The girl, Illyana if he remembered, turned to him. The disinterest look she sported minutely morphed into a knowing smirk. "I'm sure you'd agree."
"Y-yeah." Peter helplessly nodded. He wasn't sure what that was all about.
"So where's Emma? I'm surprised she isn't here too." Peter asked to change the subject. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like having Illyana's attention wasn't necessarily a good thing.
"Out." Jean shrugged. "She's been pretty swamped with work ever since we got here."
Peter nodded. He had expected that. The rare few times he did manage to call her, she had said the same thing. Apparently getting her credentials and managing the students in this mansion had taken up more time than expected.
"What about that other girl?" Gwen suddenly asked.
"Other girl?" Kitty asked, confused.
Gwen glanced at Peter, who also looked confused. "You know? The one that Logan had problems with?"
Jean blinked. "Oh you mean Laura!"
It was quiet but it was obvious. Peter visibly saw the rest of the group wilting a little at the mention of her name.
"...Those faces tell some stories." Felicia bluntly pointed out.
Kitty sighed. "Long stories."
"Come on guys, Laura isn't that bad!" Jean defended.
"She ripped my favourite shirt." Kitty countered.
"Made a mess of the living room that one time and ruined TV day." Illyana added with her usual disinterested tone.
"She literally growled at anyone that even sat close to her." Bobby shrugged. "I mean, what is she, a dog?"
"I think Logan might take offense to that." Peter blandly snarked.
"He's not here, is he?" Bobby suddenly looked around warily.
"The point is," Scott got things back on track, looking at Jean with an apologetic look. "Jean, you're the only one that she even lets sit close to her. I mean, the rest of our classmates don't even want to do anything with her. We don't even know where she is right now."
"I'm here."
"GAAH!
The screams were unanimous. Everyone flinched and whipped to the back, spotting the raven haired girl standing behind them with a blank look.
"Jesus Christ!" Bobby gasped as he gripped his chest.
"Laura, what the fuck?!" Kitty hissed. "How long were you there?"
Peter liked to know that too as he tried to calm his beating heart. His Spider-Sense didn't even register her. And he liked to think he had trained it pretty well after his lessons with Shang-Chi.
"Since I saw you guys leave Xavier's office." Came the bland reply.
"So the whole time?" Illyana looked at Laura with some respect in her eyes. "Not bad."
"Laura! Why didn't you say anything?" Jean immediately rushed to her, already holding her hand with concern.
"Thought it wasn't important." Laura avoided looking at her, though some of them noticed that she kept glancing at Peter.
"Well, you're joining us now. Honestly, you should have said something." Jean grumbled as she dragged the sullen girl to the front.
As they did, they walked past Peter. Peter's eyes narrowed as he saw her sharp eyes locking on him with a strange intensity.
The moment passed; Jean continued on the tour with the rest of the group following. Peter lagged behind but kept pace, wondering what the look meant.
"She seems weirdly focused on you."
Peter looked to the side, noticing Illyana had matched his pace and walked beside him.
"Yeah. Not sure why though."
Illyana smirked. "No, I think you do."
That got his attention, making him look at her with suspicion.
"You know the saying: birds of a feather flock together. I think she sees something in you that she sees in herself."
"I don't think we're all that similar. I'm sure Jean can tell you that."
"Maybe, on a surface level." Illyana shrugged. "But there's something in you, Peter Parker. Something that she sees. Something that I see."
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Or maybe it's everything." Illyana's smirk turned…hungry for lack of a better word. "But I do know it would be interesting once we see it."
Peter wasn't sure he liked what she meant by that.
"Sometimes the ugly parts in ourselves are also the most beautiful. Think about it, Peter." Illyana purred. Her voice sent tingles down his spine. Judging from her wink, she noticed.
"Hey, you two! Keep up!"
She then looked up, her features smoothing back to disinterest as she walked ahead. "Yes, yes. Just a sec."
Peter watched her go away, though he couldn't help but notice the subtle sway in her hips as she walked. He grimaced when he noticed she had glanced back and gave him a smug grin.
What the hell was she trying to do to him…?
Shaking his head, he tried to put the thought away and hurried to catch up. He had a feeling his stay here wouldn't be so uneventful.
Chapter 26 - Got No Time To Live
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Chapter 26 - Got No Time To Live
Peter sighed as he leaned by the railing. He had already changed into a red hooded sweater and black pants after all the excitement today. It was hectic to say the least.
Jean had dragged them all over the mansion to show off everything here. Peter was willing to admit that it was livelier than he expected. The place reeked of old money, but it was also because of that Xavier was able to get all the fun stuff here.
A gaming room, a pretty fancy kitchen, a top-of-the-line lab, a massive greenhouse for all sorts of gardening; he even heard there was some sort of exercise room? He didn't get more since Scott had immediately shut that line of questioning down. Probably related to the X-Men.
He didn't even blame the guy for stopping it. Even Jean looked guilty when she let it slip. From their perspective, they were friends of Jean who had some involvement in how Jean and the others got into the mansion. They didn't know anything about their vigilante business or their alliance with the X-Men.
He had to ask Xavier more about the group when he could. He was so caught up with Jean that he had forgotten about it.
Speaking of the redhead, he was disappointed that he hadn't seen Emma yet. It seemed like whatever had brought her out of the mansion had also taken a lot of her time. He understood of course; becoming a staff member here was probably a pretty involved process. He just hoped he could see her before he had to get back home.
The thought of home just reminded him of what was waiting for him soon. He had some plans ready. He got Daniel in the Sanctum, his friends at the Baxter Building, and he even prepared some new suits that Harry was overseeing. Nothing too hands-on, but just to make sure it all came out alright.
His lessons with Magic were still slightly above surface level, at least by the Sorcerer's standards. But the stuff he did get was enough for him to incorporate them into his new suits.
Shaking his head, he tried to shove the thought away. He was here to relax. Unwind and distract himself from the upcoming invasion. Part of him felt guilty and antsy for even considering such a thing, but Felicia and Gwen were insistent that he'd take care of himself. To make sure he wouldn't mess up on the day itself, if nothing else.
"Couldn't sleep?"
Peter turned and spotted Jean smiling at him. The girl was wearing her pajamas, he assumed. It was a simple white shirt with peach baggy pants. She looked comfy, somehow that made her even more enchanting.
"Yeah," Peter quickly replied, realizing that he was staring. "You?"
Jean's smile dipped a little, fidgeting at the question. "Sorta. I want to talk to you about something…"
Peter blinked; the vibe from Jean suddenly changed. He then glanced behind her and finally noticed Laura. The girl had changed into a comfy black hoodie along with black pants. Just like Jean, Peter assumed that she had changed for bed but had come here instead.
"Laura?" Peter asked.
"She's related to why I wanted to talk." Jean shifted guiltily while Laura stared at him unflinchingly.
Peter already didn't like where this was heading.
"So you know how Laura and Logan had a whole…situation when they fought?" Jean winced as she described the situation.
"They had to be calmed down, yeah. Emma worked on Logan while you worked on Laura." Peter was following so far, but he still didn't get why she brought it up.
"Yeah, I tried following what Emma was doing with Logan but…" Jean glanced at Laura, who nodded at her in consent. "...Laura is different. The things she's going through are raw. Still fresh in her mind and, unlike Logan, would need something stronger to bring her back from her rage."
"I assume Logan has experience to help him so that Emma could bring him back easily?" Peter pondered.
Jean nodded. "I don't think Emma knew, at least not at the time. But between us, I think I had the harder option. No offense." Jean smiled sheepishly at her friend. Who just shrugged with her usual blank look.
"I have issues. I know."
"Logan has issues too." Peter added.
"Guess that's something to talk about with him." It was a bit concerning how seriously she actually considered it. She then shook her head. "Anyway, stop beating around the bush, Jean. He deserves to know."
"Right. Like I said, Laura needed something stronger. A powerful stimulus that could help center her. She doesn't have much, and I'm kinda in the same boat." Jean admitted with a shrug. "Growing up constantly hearing the thoughts from the people around you made things pretty rough…"
Peter's tense shoulders dropped as he was reminded of Jean's situation. He could see just talking about it was already a lot for her. But he could see her steel through it with a determined glint in her eyes.
"But then you showed up. All bright with jokes while casually saving all of our lives." Jean smiled wistfully. "Emma was amazing, don't get me wrong. I owe a lot to her, but she managed to help me because of you. You're amazing; I feel like with you around, everything will actually be okay. Especially after we met Magneto. You were this pillar for me. The only pillar I knew…"
Peter was floored. He…didn't know what to say to all of that. He wasn't blind to how Jean saw him; sometimes he felt like he didn't really earn it. But to see her be so transparent with him made him reevaluate that.
Jean's wistful eyes then shifted, looking guilty. "That's why I did what I did. To help Laura, I need a center that can calm her down. And the only center I knew was you. So I fed her my memories, using what I felt when I was around you to help her come back."
Peter immediately realised what she meant. "So she knew my identity."
"And all the other future stuff." Jean nodded guiltily, with Laura stepping up fully beside the redhead as a show of support.
Peter sighed, palming his face. Jean knew his other identity and the fact that he was from the future; it was the reason why Emma managed to know too. And with her feeding Laura all of her memories about him…
'I swear, I wasn't this bad in the other timeline.'
He had agreed with the Ancient One to be more transparent with his allies, but sometimes it felt like the universe didn't even give him the chance to do so.
"I'm sorry, Peter."
"No, no. Considering the circumstances, I can't blame you all that much." Peter waved it off. While frustrating, he wasn't going to be unreasonable about it. "Does anyone else know? If there's more–"
"Just us!" Jean quickly said. "I immediately talked to Laura about it when I realized what happened. She promised to keep it a secret."
"I'd die before I let it leave my lips." Laura said matter of frankly.
Peter sighed at her tone and said, "I'd really rather you not, though."
Laura tilted her head in confusion. "But it's an important secret."
"Not more important than your life," said Peter, shaking his head.
His answer floored her, the girl looking at him with the strange intensity that he had spotted earlier in the day.
"You…mean that?" Her question was more aimed at herself than Peter. As if she was confused by the sincerity of his answer.
"Yeah?" Peter blinked. "The secret is important, but if I had to choose between keeping it and risking people's lives, well I'd rather it gets out than having people die over it."
Laura studied him, her usually blank look now having a quiet understanding.
"...I see. I get it now, Jean."
"You do?" Jean was as confused as Peter was, because even she had no idea what was going through in Laura's head right now.
Peter opened his mouth to ask about it—
BZZZT
Peter jerked, eyes immediately looking past the trees. Vaguely, he noticed Laura stepping up beside him, her nose twitching as she picked up foreign scents.
"People." She breathed. "Armed. Lots of them."
"Warn everyone, Jean." Peter ordered, spotting the vague silhouettes coming closer to the mansion with his superhuman eyes. Just the sight of it was making his Spider-Sense pulse with danger. "Now!"
Jean immediately closed her eyes, her psychic powers reaching straight for all the minds inside the mansion.
'Wake up!' Her voice echoed. 'We have intruders!'
Spider-Sense rang alarm bells. Without conscious thought, his hand immediately armored up and caught something that was heading straight for Jean's neck.
The three stared with wide eyes, Peter opening his hand to reveal a tranq dart.
"Inside."
Laura's growl was enough for them to immediately rush inside the building and away from the balcony.
'Everyone, remember the protocol. Head straight to the checkpoint like we trained.' Jean's voice rang inside their heads. Even Peter, who had a psychic shield with his armor, could feel the vibrations of her intent ringing against it without needing to intrude on his mind. 'Stay away from the windows; they have snipers. And make sure to check every corner before turning.'
"Protocol?" Peter asked as they moved through the hallway.
"Something for when the teachers aren't available." Jean explained as she led them. Laura was at his side already eyeing their surroundings for possible threats. "Whenever Xavier leaves the mansion, he always brings Storm with him as a bodyguard. He usually leaves Emma in charge of communications, but since they're both not here…"
"That leaves you." Peter nodded. "Where did Xavier go anyway?"
"An important conference." Jean answered. "Don't have the details but it involves important people talking about Mutants and what to do with them."
"I can see why he needs to be there personally." Peter figured as they immediately turned the corner. With Spidey Sense and Laura's tracking, they didn't have to worry about any ambushes.
"Peter!"
Peter smiled as they saw Felicia and Gwen rushing towards them, glad to see them.
"What's happening? Who's invading?" Gwen asked.
"Was that weird voice against our head you Jean?" Felicia turned to the redhead, who nodded.
"I'm just following their lead," said Peter, nodding at Gwen as he gestured to Jean and Laura. "They got training for this."
"Considering the situation, I'm almost glad to hear it." Felicia muttered. "Still sucks that it's even happening."
"Get used to it." Laura spoke. "I'm gonna go downstairs and help Logan to distract them while the others evacuate. You?"
"Gather the others and help coordinate everyone. We're on our own but we've trained for this." Jean decided before she turned to them. "Can you help us?"
"Didn't even need to ask. What do you need?" Peter smirked, the two girls matching his grin.
Jean's smile brightened before she focused. "I'll direct my friends downstairs to help; that'll be where the soldiers come in, but it will leave upstairs vulnerable."
"So you want us here." Felicia deduced.
"To cover our backs, yes. I'll send anyone available to help just in case. There are still staff members here who can make quick work like Logan and Piotr. Keep your eyes out and make sure to listen out for me. Once everyone gets to the checkpoint, I'll guide you guys there."
"Sounds like a plan."
"We'll meet you three later. Stay safe." Just like that, Jean and Laura immediately ran for the stairs. The three stared at her with mixed reactions.
"They really trained her up for this…" Felicia muttered with a sad look.
"It's messed up, I know. But we gotta focus, Felicia." Gwen reminded her. "To make things easier if nothing else."
"So much for this being a vacation." Felicia sighed as she leaned on Peter. "At the rate we're going, we might not even have one."
"Chin up. The faster we settle this, the faster we can have our holiday." Peter assuaged her.
"I like the sound of that."
The three share a chuckle before they get to moving. Already they could hear the sounds of fighting emanating downstairs. Glasses and doors breaking as the intruders entered the mansion, only to be met with feral shouts and growls.
'Logan probably.' Or Laura, but he was leaning toward the former.
"How much should we reveal?" Gwen idly asked.
"Don't hold anything back, even if it might reveal our identity." Peter decided. "There are innocent lives at stake, and they don't need us half-assing it." That and these people would be their allies in the future. Since the Ancient One wanted him to be more transparent, he reckoned this was a good first step.
"Should we split?" Felicia asked.
Before any of them could answer, someone else answered for them.
'You should.' Jean supplied against their minds. 'I'll be sending each of you to specific rooms on the upper floors as they'll be the most vulnerable. Secure them and we move from there.'
"Got it, anything we should watch out for?" Peter asked aloud since she seemed to be able to hear them.
Though oddly enough, Peter could even vaguely tell how she could. The armor in its semi-dormant state already detected the vague psychic presence around them.
'There are too many of them to go head on. Unless you have the defense for it, stealth is key.'
The three smirked at each other. "You got the right people for that."
'I'll leave it to you then, good luck.'
With that final wish, the three split to their chosen hallway. Peter rushed straight ahead and arrived at a pretty big room with Jean's guidance. It was dark, but he could see it connected to a couple of hallways and there were even multiple couches in here. Another living room, perhaps?
Footsteps reached his ears and Peter immediately brought his hood up, his armor covering his arms.
'What a time to test out the new stuff.' Peter smirked. Despite the situation, he was kinda excited.
Jumping to the ceiling, he blended into the dark as footsteps reached his ears. Soundlessly, he moved. With three sets of experiences, the bright red form of Peter Parker disappeared into the darkness.
[-]
The sound of footsteps filled the room, a squad of soldiers rushing inside with steady precision as they secured the room. All of them were equipped with night vision goggles, kevlar armor, heavy plated boots, and the military grade guns they were carrying were also nothing to scoff at. They were armed from head to toe, fully equipped to hunt some Mutants.
Steadily they moved, covering the room with trained precision. One of the soldiers, Manny, peeked through a corner and gave his call.
"Clear." He called with some minor disappointment.
The place was supposed to be crawling with Mutants and yet here he was stuck checking the upper floors. Logically, the things dwelling here would have evacuated downstairs already. A basement or an escape route. Anything built upstairs would be too noticeable.
'Come on, just one. Let me have just one.' He desperately wished.
"Stop." They suddenly froze.
"Captain?" Eric asked. They didn't turn to him but they did open their ears wide for any orders.
"...We have contact."
A mix of chill and excitement went down his spine. The squad quickly looked among them as Manny tried his best to suppress his heartbeat.
One? Here? Where?
But the next calls made the temperature drop.
"Shit, Jack's gone."
"I don't see Nico."
"Jay's gone too."
The squad fell silent, the implication jumped inside their skulls like a pounding headache.
"Search the perimeter again. One of those muties is here." Their captain ordered.
The squad shifted, but didn't make any obvious movement. Manny glanced at his squadmates in confusion, waiting for them to move into position. He was stuck between them, so unless the front moved, he was stuck here covering.
The captain narrowed his eyes at the vanguards and growled.
"What are you all waiting for? Move!"
"...We can't." One audibly gulped.
"What do you mean you can't?"
"Something got to our feet, Captain." Another one answered, fear clear in his voice.
Manny widened his eyes and glanced down, the nightvision goggles showing an odd substance covering their legs and holding them down to the ground.
"What the fuck–"
The captain couldn't finish his sentence before he was suddenly pulled straight into the dark hallway. The soldiers looked on in horror as they heard their captain scream in terror before abruptly falling silent.
Manny tried peering through the dark, but even with his equipment, he couldn't see anything. Their captain's disappearance happened so fast that they couldn't even spot where he had gone. He cursed, the hallway innocently clear despite what had just happened.
The seconds climbed as sweat dripped down their faces, the uniform felt uncomfortable against their skin. The dark felt dangerous, terrifying. They had the eyes to see through it but still couldn't understand.
It was maddening.
"Vice-Cap?" Manny called, reaching for their Vice to do something.
Silence greeted him back. Manny bit his lips as he looked through the suffocating room and tried again.
"Vice-Captain Rick. Do you copy?"
Still silent. Manny risked a glance behind him, and fear gripped his heart.
Empty. The room was empty. Where there were a full sixteen armed men behind him, they had all disappeared without him noticing.
"Gerald, Nick, we gotta go–" His words died on his lips as he looked forward, his grip slacking as he saw more empty spots.
"Wha…" His legs felt weak, his voice wavering.
Then everything went dark.
[-]
Gwen shifted her footing, perching on the ceiling as the soldiers filled the hallway below her. Even with the nightgoggles, they all missed the perching blonde woman in the corner of the ceiling. She was even wearing white for god's sake!
'Really gotta thank Peter for all those stealth lessons, because this is absurd.'
There was never looking up, and then there was this.
Silently, she fell into their blind spots. Her body compacting into a crouch soundlessly before springing into a spider-like crawl in between their feet. Her limbs contorting unnaturally as she crawled between them with none the wiser.
She reached the end of the corridor, bringing a finger up. Attached to it was a thin line of webbing attached to each of the soldiers' legs.
Gwen breathed, letting the spark that sat within her pulse. She focused, honing her emotions. Love, care, and all those mushy feelings she felt when she's with her friends, calling on the newfound power from her lessons.
Her Spider-Sense pulsed in response to her emotions. What she had only assumed to be just a sense for danger was so much more. That awareness synced with the spark. One warm and serene while the other active and spontaneous. They resonate with practiced control, her blue lightning merged with pure Tantra.
The web glowed neon pink, enough to light up the hallway and caught all of their attention. With a flick of the attached finger, she let it loose.
ZZZTTTT
"GRAAAGH!!
Screams filled the air, lightning coursed through their nerves as they all jerked. Their muscles locked, bones buckled as their screams cut short. Soundless pain torturously gripped them before they felt its merciful release. Consciousness gone as they bonelessly collapsed.
Gwen let out a sigh of relief. The output was still a bit much but it wasn't immediately lethal. The Tantra poured into it made sure of that. They were assholes kidnapping kids, sure, but killing them felt like an easy way out for these people.
She leaped back to the ceiling, crawling through the dark place with a controlled pace. Unlike Peter, she didn't have night vision. So she only had her Spider-Sense to guide her. Not that it was an issue considering how much they had trained it. Even in complete darkness, Gwen was maneuvering with ease.
The lessons with Shang Chi had revealed how sensitive their Spider-Sense truly were. Its affinity for Time-Space made it easy to expand and keep a constant hold on the activity around them. Not even getting into the weird things she could do with Tantra and Chaos energies. More to Tantra since she has a knack for them.
A sound suddenly caught her attention. Looking at the source, she could hear it coming from a nearby room. It wasn't hard to figure out with all the commotion coming from it.
Peeking through, she couldn't help but sigh in exasperation at the sight.
Unlike the controlled stealth she employed, Felicia was having the time of her life. The former thief bounced around the room with a much better performance than she remembered.
"She's too fast!"
"Stay still!"
"And where's the fun in that?" Felicia poked out her tongue in retaliation as she somersaulted between the soldiers, landing deftly on her feet before she spun into an elbow strike.
Gwen narrowed her eyes, spotting the turbulent black sapphire energy that surrounded her. It raged like a river but Felicia controlled it with blood paid ease. Her ceaseless training directed all that power into her elbow, denting the helmet of the soldier and making him drop. The only reason Gwen was even sure he was alive was the faint breathing she could hear.
Felicia flowed her momentum into a crouch, dodging the shots aimed at her previous position. Quickly leaping to the side, she avoided the trail of bullets following her as she punched another soldier, sending him flying into a wall.
She turned, revealing a gun in her grip with snapped straps. Quickly aiming, she shot them in controlled bursts, catching two of them in their knees as they collapsed while the others headed for cover.
Having had enough of waiting, Gwen leaped to join her friend/rival.
Rolling behind the covered soldiers, she shot a quick barrage of pink webs straight at them. Nailing them to their covers as they zapped straight to unconsciousness. Gwen couldn't help but feel satisfied at the sight. Before this, she would struggle to channel her lightning into her webs consistently. Now with Tantra bridging things, it was as easy as breathing.
"Oh, thanks!" Felicia smiled as she tossed away the gun in her hands.
"What would you do without me?" Gwen shook her head as she shot her webs around to make sure the soldiers stayed down and stopped some bleeding in some cases.
"Dunno. Still kicking ass while looking fabulous that's for sure." Felicia shrugged as they walked out of the room and left the mess behind.
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Ego much?"
"It's not ego if it's true. Pete would agree." Felicia winked.
"Don't." Gwen cut in. "Not the time."
"Fine, fine. You're no fun." Felicia shook her head, letting her platinum hair filter the nearby moonlight.
The sight stopped her cold. The earlier mention of her beauty was at the forefront of her mind as Gwen studied her friend. Her platinum hair framed her heart shaped face; her green eyes sparkled with mischief that made her all the more enchanting. She stood confidently, strutting her curvy body with the full knowledge of how much attention she could pull just by being in a room full of people.
Gwen paused, quickly shutting down the thought. What the hell was that?
"Gwen?"
"Nothing." Gwen shook her head. "Come on, we got a job to do."
"Okay?" Felicia raised an eyebrow but quickly followed her friend.
Suddenly, a voice rang against their minds.
'Backup incoming. I'm sending Piotr and Illyana your way.' Jean informed them. Her voice had helped guide them through the floor earlier but not as consistently as they had expected. Guess she had left them to their business since they were doing so well.
Felicia hummed, considering the names they had been given. She didn't know Piotr but she'd definitely remember the pretty little blond goth making subtle eyes at Peter. Yeah, she noticed that. Kinda hard not to when it's the same kind of looks she had been giving Peter.
"Illyana…" Gwen muttered before she narrowed her eyes. "Great, another one." Somehow it didn't surprise her that Gwen had also caught on.
"Peter is really getting all the attention, huh? First, Jean and now Illyana." Felicia pouted before she smirked. "Gotta step our game up, Gwen."
"And how do you propose that?" Gwen sarcastically asked.
"Well," Felicia bit her lip, studying Gwen up and down. While she got her heart set on Spider, his partner wasn't all that bad either.
'Especially that ass.' Felicia smirked as she eyed her peach-shaped derriere. God, you could bounce a coin off that ass.
She saddled up to her, snaking a hand around her waist and pulled her close. Gwen squeaked, eyes wide as she blushed. Felicia smirked, her breath brushing her ears.
"What are you doing?!"
"Aw, don't be shy, Gwen. We make a good duo already; how about a tag team and really blow Peter's mind~." Gwen had a suspicion that Felicia had a different thing in mind with what she meant by blowing.
"Licia, not now!" Gwen growled with an embarrassed blush.
"Alright, alright." Felicia released her and held her hands up. "But give it a thought okay?"
Gwen avoided Felicia's eyes, scared by how serious she looked. She also tried to ignore how much she was actually considering the idea.
'Focus!'
She really hated how easily Felicia got under her skin.
[-]
On a dimly lit staircase, a blond haired girl could be seen rushing up to the top. Sliding to a stop, she immediately spotted the few people that somehow slipped past their guests.
"Contact–"
The soldier couldn't even finish as Illyana– Magik leapt forward. Her hand brandished a handle with a black horned hilt. With a flourish, white arcs followed as she swung the bladeless handle.
The soldiers grunted in pain as they buckled to their knees, Magik sliding to her knees as she ran past them. In her hands was now a glowing white blade.
Magik breathed as she turned, exhaling as she swung. The blade extended, the blade covering the space between them and phased through all three targets with a single swipe. Despite the lack of blood, all three shouted in pain as they fell into unconsciousness.
'Soul damage is a bitch.' She grinned vindictively. They'd recover, of course. It'd take a lot more than that to genuinely injure the soul. But unlike physical damage, it took longer to recover and they'd be suffering through it.
Flourishing the blade, she stood to her feet and swaggered through the hallway, more than satisfied with what she just did. Some of her friends might have preferred softer methods, but as long as they didn't die, everything was fair game, no?
"Remember, Illyana. Don't drag it out unnecessarily."
Speaking of softies, she sighed as she turned to her brother. The man was already encased in his metal form.
"No need to repeat it, Piotr. I heard you the first time." For someone with a tough shell, he was surprisingly a huge softie inside.
"It bears repeating." He exasperated in a tone that suggested that they had done this song and dance multiple times already. And in a way they did.
Illyana couldn't help but shake her head. For people who were obsessed with causing societal change, they sure were soft about it. She wouldn't agree with Magneto but she did agree with the idea of using a little extra violence to get what they want. It was the only language that people understood.
'Magik, Colossus. I've sent you where you need to go.' Jean suddenly spoke against their minds. A vivid vision of their location already reflected in their mind's eye. An odd way of psychic communication without intruding into their heads, more similar to how physical senses gather information. Though it only worked for powered individuals, something about their brainwaves being different. She didn't bother to know the specifics.
She appreciated it, though. She preferred her privacy and clearly Jean agreed since she came up with this method.
'Peter, Gwen, and Felicia would be nearby. Call them if you need help.'
"I doubt it, but I'll keep it in mind, Jean." Magik huffed before she smirked. "Though, I wouldn't mind seeing your boy in action. I need to know what you see in him."
'Can we not?'
"Illyana, please behave." Her brother's tone was still exasperated, but it had a hint of fondness to it.
"No. This girl talked him up for quite a bit, and I want to see if he lives up to the hype." Magik rolled her shoulder as she walked, limbering her swinging arm. She then smirked. "He's cute though, I'll give you that." She relished Jean's embarrassed groan.
It was only half truth. In any circumstances, she wouldn't even give this much effort to a boy that a friend was interested in. She wasn't so gung-ho to the point that she had to give them the 'business' or anything. No, her reasoning was much simpler yet also complicated.
He had blood on him. Not lightly stained or even dipped in blood. No, Peter was drenched in the stuff. Enough that it should leave a stench that suggested he was involved in multiple massacres personally.
So imagine her surprise that even with all that blood dripping down his soul, there wasn't even a scent of corruption stuck to him. It…confused her. Someone so steeped in chaos should have something but instead it just colored his soul ruby red. A twisted corruption that left something enchanted instead.
It was beautiful.
It had drawn her, enough to make her more than curious. How could someone be so steeped in blood and yet retain such purity? Could such a thing even be natural? How was it possible?
Could she have something like that?
And so Magik headed for her checkpoint, splitting up from her brother with a nod to each other.
"Be safe, sister."
"You too."
Despite their differing opinions, they still loved each other. Those months where they could only rely on each other still stuck in her mind and would continue to do so for decades to come.
She rushed ahead, keeping an open eye on the dark with ease. Ducking into corners, she spied another squad already rushing through the hallway. Before Magik could even ready her blade, someone intercepted.
"Ngk!"
"No! HELP–!"
"Get out and face me you—Ngrrk!"
It was like something out of a horror movie. She would never admit it but the sight was pretty eerie. Soldiers were taken off one by one and dragged into the dark. Their night vision did nothing to combat it. Even when they tightened up their formation, it still did nothing but give them a front row view of their friend's disappearance.
By the time it finished, she could vaguely see a silhouette in the middle of it. The dark did an excellent job of hiding the red sweater the figure was wearing.
"Come out."
Magik flinched. He noticed her? Shaking her head, she left her cover and kept her cool. Idly, she let her blade brighten to illuminate the corridor just because she was curious as to what happened to the earlier soldiers.
Part of her wished she hadn't.
Stuck and spread-eagled were the soldiers, covered from head to toe as thick lines of webbing cocooned them to the ceiling and walls. Some of them were knocked out. Others were fully aware as they stared wide eyed, finally able to see what was keeping them stuck and quiet.
It looked like a giant spider had caught them and saved them for later feeding.
She shook her head, eyeing the man standing in the middle of the web. "Peter?"
"Illyana?" The hooded Peter tilted his head, somehow looking even more eerie. "You got here pretty fast."
Her tensed shoulder relaxed a little from the casual voice. Hearing him speak normally did a lot to convince her that it was actually Peter and not some spider stuck in human skin.
Though, it did remind her about the spider themed vigilantes in New York…
"You're not so bad yourself." She complimented as she walked closer to him, the light of her blade illuminating his hidden features. "Though all of this is a little…creepy."
Peter looked around, studying the scene before he winced. "My bad."
"Don't be," She shrugged it off, walking up to him and feeling a little thrill at how much taller he was. Her head barely reached above his chest. "I like creepy."
"Oookay?" Peter blinked, clearly unsure how to answer that.
"Though it would be a pain to clean up." Illyana pointed out as an out. She was nice like that.
"I'll help with it." Peter quickly promised.
"You better be. Leaving all this white sticky mess is just rude." Magik smirked. "Usually you need to warn a girl before you let out all your load."
'Oh my god, there're two of them now.' Peter mentally groaned, already hoping that Felicia didn't find out about her.
Though just like Felicia, he had learned that not responding usually encouraged them to be worse.
"I think not warning them is the point."
"Oh, you're into that kind of thing? Should I warn Jean that the person she spends a lot of time with is a freak who likes a surprise?"
"That's not what I meant and you know it."
"Sure did sound like it though~"
Before they could keep talking, a loud sound filled the air as light suddenly shined on them. Both narrowed their eyes as they turned to the nearby window.
Right outside was a helicopter gunning straight for the mansion.
"Oh…" They both breathed.
The two immediately spotted the rotary barrel attached to its side, already loading up and spinning.
"Run."
The world turned into a mass of shrapnel.
Peter sighed as he leaned by the railing. He had already changed into a red hooded sweater and black pants after all the excitement today. It was hectic to say the least.
Jean had dragged them all over the mansion to show off everything here. Peter was willing to admit that it was livelier than he expected. The place reeked of old money, but it was also because of that Xavier was able to get all the fun stuff here.
A gaming room, a pretty fancy kitchen, a top-of-the-line lab, a massive greenhouse for all sorts of gardening; he even heard there was some sort of exercise room? He didn't get more since Scott had immediately shut that line of questioning down. Probably related to the X-Men.
He didn't even blame the guy for stopping it. Even Jean looked guilty when she let it slip. From their perspective, they were friends of Jean who had some involvement in how Jean and the others got into the mansion. They didn't know anything about their vigilante business or their alliance with the X-Men.
He had to ask Xavier more about the group when he could. He was so caught up with Jean that he had forgotten about it.
Speaking of the redhead, he was disappointed that he hadn't seen Emma yet. It seemed like whatever had brought her out of the mansion had also taken a lot of her time. He understood of course; becoming a staff member here was probably a pretty involved process. He just hoped he could see her before he had to get back home.
The thought of home just reminded him of what was waiting for him soon. He had some plans ready. He got Daniel in the Sanctum, his friends at the Baxter Building, and he even prepared some new suits that Harry was overseeing. Nothing too hands-on, but just to make sure it all came out alright.
His lessons with Magic were still slightly above surface level, at least by the Sorcerer's standards. But the stuff he did get was enough for him to incorporate them into his new suits.
Shaking his head, he tried to shove the thought away. He was here to relax. Unwind and distract himself from the upcoming invasion. Part of him felt guilty and antsy for even considering such a thing, but Felicia and Gwen were insistent that he'd take care of himself. To make sure he wouldn't mess up on the day itself, if nothing else.
"Couldn't sleep?"
Peter turned and spotted Jean smiling at him. The girl was wearing her pajamas, he assumed. It was a simple white shirt with peach baggy pants. She looked comfy, somehow that made her even more enchanting.
"Yeah," Peter quickly replied, realizing that he was staring. "You?"
Jean's smile dipped a little, fidgeting at the question. "Sorta. I want to talk to you about something…"
Peter blinked; the vibe from Jean suddenly changed. He then glanced behind her and finally noticed Laura. The girl had changed into a comfy black hoodie along with black pants. Just like Jean, Peter assumed that she had changed for bed but had come here instead.
"Laura?" Peter asked.
"She's related to why I wanted to talk." Jean shifted guiltily while Laura stared at him unflinchingly.
Peter already didn't like where this was heading.
"So you know how Laura and Logan had a whole…situation when they fought?" Jean winced as she described the situation.
"They had to be calmed down, yeah. Emma worked on Logan while you worked on Laura." Peter was following so far, but he still didn't get why she brought it up.
"Yeah, I tried following what Emma was doing with Logan but…" Jean glanced at Laura, who nodded at her in consent. "...Laura is different. The things she's going through are raw. Still fresh in her mind and, unlike Logan, would need something stronger to bring her back from her rage."
"I assume Logan has experience to help him so that Emma could bring him back easily?" Peter pondered.
Jean nodded. "I don't think Emma knew, at least not at the time. But between us, I think I had the harder option. No offense." Jean smiled sheepishly at her friend. Who just shrugged with her usual blank look.
"I have issues. I know."
"Logan has issues too." Peter added.
"Guess that's something to talk about with him." It was a bit concerning how seriously she actually considered it. She then shook her head. "Anyway, stop beating around the bush, Jean. He deserves to know."
"Right. Like I said, Laura needed something stronger. A powerful stimulus that could help center her. She doesn't have much, and I'm kinda in the same boat." Jean admitted with a shrug. "Growing up constantly hearing the thoughts from the people around you made things pretty rough…"
Peter's tense shoulders dropped as he was reminded of Jean's situation. He could see just talking about it was already a lot for her. But he could see her steel through it with a determined glint in her eyes.
"But then you showed up. All bright with jokes while casually saving all of our lives." Jean smiled wistfully. "Emma was amazing, don't get me wrong. I owe a lot to her, but she managed to help me because of you. You're amazing; I feel like with you around, everything will actually be okay. Especially after we met Magneto. You were this pillar for me. The only pillar I knew…"
Peter was floored. He…didn't know what to say to all of that. He wasn't blind to how Jean saw him; sometimes he felt like he didn't really earn it. But to see her be so transparent with him made him reevaluate that.
Jean's wistful eyes then shifted, looking guilty. "That's why I did what I did. To help Laura, I need a center that can calm her down. And the only center I knew was you. So I fed her my memories, using what I felt when I was around you to help her come back."
Peter immediately realised what she meant. "So she knew my identity."
"And all the other future stuff." Jean nodded guiltily, with Laura stepping up fully beside the redhead as a show of support.
Peter sighed, palming his face. Jean knew his other identity and the fact that he was from the future; it was the reason why Emma managed to know too. And with her feeding Laura all of her memories about him…
'I swear, I wasn't this bad in the other timeline.'
He had agreed with the Ancient One to be more transparent with his allies, but sometimes it felt like the universe didn't even give him the chance to do so.
"I'm sorry, Peter."
"No, no. Considering the circumstances, I can't blame you all that much." Peter waved it off. While frustrating, he wasn't going to be unreasonable about it. "Does anyone else know? If there's more–"
"Just us!" Jean quickly said. "I immediately talked to Laura about it when I realized what happened. She promised to keep it a secret."
"I'd die before I let it leave my lips." Laura said matter of frankly.
Peter sighed at her tone and said, "I'd really rather you not, though."
Laura tilted her head in confusion. "But it's an important secret."
"Not more important than your life," said Peter, shaking his head.
His answer floored her, the girl looking at him with the strange intensity that he had spotted earlier in the day.
"You…mean that?" Her question was more aimed at herself than Peter. As if she was confused by the sincerity of his answer.
"Yeah?" Peter blinked. "The secret is important, but if I had to choose between keeping it and risking people's lives, well I'd rather it gets out than having people die over it."
Laura studied him, her usually blank look now having a quiet understanding.
"...I see. I get it now, Jean."
"You do?" Jean was as confused as Peter was, because even she had no idea what was going through in Laura's head right now.
Peter opened his mouth to ask about it—
BZZZT
Peter jerked, eyes immediately looking past the trees. Vaguely, he noticed Laura stepping up beside him, her nose twitching as she picked up foreign scents.
"People." She breathed. "Armed. Lots of them."
"Warn everyone, Jean." Peter ordered, spotting the vague silhouettes coming closer to the mansion with his superhuman eyes. Just the sight of it was making his Spider-Sense pulse with danger. "Now!"
Jean immediately closed her eyes, her psychic powers reaching straight for all the minds inside the mansion.
'Wake up!' Her voice echoed. 'We have intruders!'
Spider-Sense rang alarm bells. Without conscious thought, his hand immediately armored up and caught something that was heading straight for Jean's neck.
The three stared with wide eyes, Peter opening his hand to reveal a tranq dart.
"Inside."
Laura's growl was enough for them to immediately rush inside the building and away from the balcony.
'Everyone, remember the protocol. Head straight to the checkpoint like we trained.' Jean's voice rang inside their heads. Even Peter, who had a psychic shield with his armor, could feel the vibrations of her intent ringing against it without needing to intrude on his mind. 'Stay away from the windows; they have snipers. And make sure to check every corner before turning.'
"Protocol?" Peter asked as they moved through the hallway.
"Something for when the teachers aren't available." Jean explained as she led them. Laura was at his side already eyeing their surroundings for possible threats. "Whenever Xavier leaves the mansion, he always brings Storm with him as a bodyguard. He usually leaves Emma in charge of communications, but since they're both not here…"
"That leaves you." Peter nodded. "Where did Xavier go anyway?"
"An important conference." Jean answered. "Don't have the details but it involves important people talking about Mutants and what to do with them."
"I can see why he needs to be there personally." Peter figured as they immediately turned the corner. With Spidey Sense and Laura's tracking, they didn't have to worry about any ambushes.
"Peter!"
Peter smiled as they saw Felicia and Gwen rushing towards them, glad to see them.
"What's happening? Who's invading?" Gwen asked.
"Was that weird voice against our head you Jean?" Felicia turned to the redhead, who nodded.
"I'm just following their lead," said Peter, nodding at Gwen as he gestured to Jean and Laura. "They got training for this."
"Considering the situation, I'm almost glad to hear it." Felicia muttered. "Still sucks that it's even happening."
"Get used to it." Laura spoke. "I'm gonna go downstairs and help Logan to distract them while the others evacuate. You?"
"Gather the others and help coordinate everyone. We're on our own but we've trained for this." Jean decided before she turned to them. "Can you help us?"
"Didn't even need to ask. What do you need?" Peter smirked, the two girls matching his grin.
Jean's smile brightened before she focused. "I'll direct my friends downstairs to help; that'll be where the soldiers come in, but it will leave upstairs vulnerable."
"So you want us here." Felicia deduced.
"To cover our backs, yes. I'll send anyone available to help just in case. There are still staff members here who can make quick work like Logan and Piotr. Keep your eyes out and make sure to listen out for me. Once everyone gets to the checkpoint, I'll guide you guys there."
"Sounds like a plan."
"We'll meet you three later. Stay safe." Just like that, Jean and Laura immediately ran for the stairs. The three stared at her with mixed reactions.
"They really trained her up for this…" Felicia muttered with a sad look.
"It's messed up, I know. But we gotta focus, Felicia." Gwen reminded her. "To make things easier if nothing else."
"So much for this being a vacation." Felicia sighed as she leaned on Peter. "At the rate we're going, we might not even have one."
"Chin up. The faster we settle this, the faster we can have our holiday." Peter assuaged her.
"I like the sound of that."
The three share a chuckle before they get to moving. Already they could hear the sounds of fighting emanating downstairs. Glasses and doors breaking as the intruders entered the mansion, only to be met with feral shouts and growls.
'Logan probably.' Or Laura, but he was leaning toward the former.
"How much should we reveal?" Gwen idly asked.
"Don't hold anything back, even if it might reveal our identity." Peter decided. "There are innocent lives at stake, and they don't need us half-assing it." That and these people would be their allies in the future. Since the Ancient One wanted him to be more transparent, he reckoned this was a good first step.
"Should we split?" Felicia asked.
Before any of them could answer, someone else answered for them.
'You should.' Jean supplied against their minds. 'I'll be sending each of you to specific rooms on the upper floors as they'll be the most vulnerable. Secure them and we move from there.'
"Got it, anything we should watch out for?" Peter asked aloud since she seemed to be able to hear them.
Though oddly enough, Peter could even vaguely tell how she could. The armor in its semi-dormant state already detected the vague psychic presence around them.
'There are too many of them to go head on. Unless you have the defense for it, stealth is key.'
The three smirked at each other. "You got the right people for that."
'I'll leave it to you then, good luck.'
With that final wish, the three split to their chosen hallway. Peter rushed straight ahead and arrived at a pretty big room with Jean's guidance. It was dark, but he could see it connected to a couple of hallways and there were even multiple couches in here. Another living room, perhaps?
Footsteps reached his ears and Peter immediately brought his hood up, his armor covering his arms.
'What a time to test out the new stuff.' Peter smirked. Despite the situation, he was kinda excited.
Jumping to the ceiling, he blended into the dark as footsteps reached his ears. Soundlessly, he moved. With three sets of experiences, the bright red form of Peter Parker disappeared into the darkness.
[-]
The sound of footsteps filled the room, a squad of soldiers rushing inside with steady precision as they secured the room. All of them were equipped with night vision goggles, kevlar armor, heavy plated boots, and the military grade guns they were carrying were also nothing to scoff at. They were armed from head to toe, fully equipped to hunt some Mutants.
Steadily they moved, covering the room with trained precision. One of the soldiers, Manny, peeked through a corner and gave his call.
"Clear." He called with some minor disappointment.
The place was supposed to be crawling with Mutants and yet here he was stuck checking the upper floors. Logically, the things dwelling here would have evacuated downstairs already. A basement or an escape route. Anything built upstairs would be too noticeable.
'Come on, just one. Let me have just one.' He desperately wished.
"Stop." They suddenly froze.
"Captain?" Eric asked. They didn't turn to him but they did open their ears wide for any orders.
"...We have contact."
A mix of chill and excitement went down his spine. The squad quickly looked among them as Manny tried his best to suppress his heartbeat.
One? Here? Where?
But the next calls made the temperature drop.
"Shit, Jack's gone."
"I don't see Nico."
"Jay's gone too."
The squad fell silent, the implication jumped inside their skulls like a pounding headache.
"Search the perimeter again. One of those muties is here." Their captain ordered.
The squad shifted, but didn't make any obvious movement. Manny glanced at his squadmates in confusion, waiting for them to move into position. He was stuck between them, so unless the front moved, he was stuck here covering.
The captain narrowed his eyes at the vanguards and growled.
"What are you all waiting for? Move!"
"...We can't." One audibly gulped.
"What do you mean you can't?"
"Something got to our feet, Captain." Another one answered, fear clear in his voice.
Manny widened his eyes and glanced down, the nightvision goggles showing an odd substance covering their legs and holding them down to the ground.
"What the fuck–"
The captain couldn't finish his sentence before he was suddenly pulled straight into the dark hallway. The soldiers looked on in horror as they heard their captain scream in terror before abruptly falling silent.
Manny tried peering through the dark, but even with his equipment, he couldn't see anything. Their captain's disappearance happened so fast that they couldn't even spot where he had gone. He cursed, the hallway innocently clear despite what had just happened.
The seconds climbed as sweat dripped down their faces, the uniform felt uncomfortable against their skin. The dark felt dangerous, terrifying. They had the eyes to see through it but still couldn't understand.
It was maddening.
"Vice-Cap?" Manny called, reaching for their Vice to do something.
Silence greeted him back. Manny bit his lips as he looked through the suffocating room and tried again.
"Vice-Captain Rick. Do you copy?"
Still silent. Manny risked a glance behind him, and fear gripped his heart.
Empty. The room was empty. Where there were a full sixteen armed men behind him, they had all disappeared without him noticing.
"Gerald, Nick, we gotta go–" His words died on his lips as he looked forward, his grip slacking as he saw more empty spots.
"Wha…" His legs felt weak, his voice wavering.
Then everything went dark.
[-]
Gwen shifted her footing, perching on the ceiling as the soldiers filled the hallway below her. Even with the nightgoggles, they all missed the perching blonde woman in the corner of the ceiling. She was even wearing white for god's sake!
'Really gotta thank Peter for all those stealth lessons, because this is absurd.'
There was never looking up, and then there was this.
Silently, she fell into their blind spots. Her body compacting into a crouch soundlessly before springing into a spider-like crawl in between their feet. Her limbs contorting unnaturally as she crawled between them with none the wiser.
She reached the end of the corridor, bringing a finger up. Attached to it was a thin line of webbing attached to each of the soldiers' legs.
Gwen breathed, letting the spark that sat within her pulse. She focused, honing her emotions. Love, care, and all those mushy feelings she felt when she's with her friends, calling on the newfound power from her lessons.
Her Spider-Sense pulsed in response to her emotions. What she had only assumed to be just a sense for danger was so much more. That awareness synced with the spark. One warm and serene while the other active and spontaneous. They resonate with practiced control, her blue lightning merged with pure Tantra.
The web glowed neon pink, enough to light up the hallway and caught all of their attention. With a flick of the attached finger, she let it loose.
ZZZTTTT
"GRAAAGH!!
Screams filled the air, lightning coursed through their nerves as they all jerked. Their muscles locked, bones buckled as their screams cut short. Soundless pain torturously gripped them before they felt its merciful release. Consciousness gone as they bonelessly collapsed.
Gwen let out a sigh of relief. The output was still a bit much but it wasn't immediately lethal. The Tantra poured into it made sure of that. They were assholes kidnapping kids, sure, but killing them felt like an easy way out for these people.
She leaped back to the ceiling, crawling through the dark place with a controlled pace. Unlike Peter, she didn't have night vision. So she only had her Spider-Sense to guide her. Not that it was an issue considering how much they had trained it. Even in complete darkness, Gwen was maneuvering with ease.
The lessons with Shang Chi had revealed how sensitive their Spider-Sense truly were. Its affinity for Time-Space made it easy to expand and keep a constant hold on the activity around them. Not even getting into the weird things she could do with Tantra and Chaos energies. More to Tantra since she has a knack for them.
A sound suddenly caught her attention. Looking at the source, she could hear it coming from a nearby room. It wasn't hard to figure out with all the commotion coming from it.
Peeking through, she couldn't help but sigh in exasperation at the sight.
Unlike the controlled stealth she employed, Felicia was having the time of her life. The former thief bounced around the room with a much better performance than she remembered.
"She's too fast!"
"Stay still!"
"And where's the fun in that?" Felicia poked out her tongue in retaliation as she somersaulted between the soldiers, landing deftly on her feet before she spun into an elbow strike.
Gwen narrowed her eyes, spotting the turbulent black sapphire energy that surrounded her. It raged like a river but Felicia controlled it with blood paid ease. Her ceaseless training directed all that power into her elbow, denting the helmet of the soldier and making him drop. The only reason Gwen was even sure he was alive was the faint breathing she could hear.
Felicia flowed her momentum into a crouch, dodging the shots aimed at her previous position. Quickly leaping to the side, she avoided the trail of bullets following her as she punched another soldier, sending him flying into a wall.
She turned, revealing a gun in her grip with snapped straps. Quickly aiming, she shot them in controlled bursts, catching two of them in their knees as they collapsed while the others headed for cover.
Having had enough of waiting, Gwen leaped to join her friend/rival.
Rolling behind the covered soldiers, she shot a quick barrage of pink webs straight at them. Nailing them to their covers as they zapped straight to unconsciousness. Gwen couldn't help but feel satisfied at the sight. Before this, she would struggle to channel her lightning into her webs consistently. Now with Tantra bridging things, it was as easy as breathing.
"Oh, thanks!" Felicia smiled as she tossed away the gun in her hands.
"What would you do without me?" Gwen shook her head as she shot her webs around to make sure the soldiers stayed down and stopped some bleeding in some cases.
"Dunno. Still kicking ass while looking fabulous that's for sure." Felicia shrugged as they walked out of the room and left the mess behind.
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Ego much?"
"It's not ego if it's true. Pete would agree." Felicia winked.
"Don't." Gwen cut in. "Not the time."
"Fine, fine. You're no fun." Felicia shook her head, letting her platinum hair filter the nearby moonlight.
The sight stopped her cold. The earlier mention of her beauty was at the forefront of her mind as Gwen studied her friend. Her platinum hair framed her heart shaped face; her green eyes sparkled with mischief that made her all the more enchanting. She stood confidently, strutting her curvy body with the full knowledge of how much attention she could pull just by being in a room full of people.
Gwen paused, quickly shutting down the thought. What the hell was that?
"Gwen?"
"Nothing." Gwen shook her head. "Come on, we got a job to do."
"Okay?" Felicia raised an eyebrow but quickly followed her friend.
Suddenly, a voice rang against their minds.
'Backup incoming. I'm sending Piotr and Illyana your way.' Jean informed them. Her voice had helped guide them through the floor earlier but not as consistently as they had expected. Guess she had left them to their business since they were doing so well.
Felicia hummed, considering the names they had been given. She didn't know Piotr but she'd definitely remember the pretty little blond goth making subtle eyes at Peter. Yeah, she noticed that. Kinda hard not to when it's the same kind of looks she had been giving Peter.
"Illyana…" Gwen muttered before she narrowed her eyes. "Great, another one." Somehow it didn't surprise her that Gwen had also caught on.
"Peter is really getting all the attention, huh? First, Jean and now Illyana." Felicia pouted before she smirked. "Gotta step our game up, Gwen."
"And how do you propose that?" Gwen sarcastically asked.
"Well," Felicia bit her lip, studying Gwen up and down. While she got her heart set on Spider, his partner wasn't all that bad either.
'Especially that ass.' Felicia smirked as she eyed her peach-shaped derriere. God, you could bounce a coin off that ass.
She saddled up to her, snaking a hand around her waist and pulled her close. Gwen squeaked, eyes wide as she blushed. Felicia smirked, her breath brushing her ears.
"What are you doing?!"
"Aw, don't be shy, Gwen. We make a good duo already; how about a tag team and really blow Peter's mind~." Gwen had a suspicion that Felicia had a different thing in mind with what she meant by blowing.
"Licia, not now!" Gwen growled with an embarrassed blush.
"Alright, alright." Felicia released her and held her hands up. "But give it a thought okay?"
Gwen avoided Felicia's eyes, scared by how serious she looked. She also tried to ignore how much she was actually considering the idea.
'Focus!'
She really hated how easily Felicia got under her skin.
[-]
On a dimly lit staircase, a blond haired girl could be seen rushing up to the top. Sliding to a stop, she immediately spotted the few people that somehow slipped past their guests.
"Contact–"
The soldier couldn't even finish as Illyana– Magik leapt forward. Her hand brandished a handle with a black horned hilt. With a flourish, white arcs followed as she swung the bladeless handle.
The soldiers grunted in pain as they buckled to their knees, Magik sliding to her knees as she ran past them. In her hands was now a glowing white blade.
Magik breathed as she turned, exhaling as she swung. The blade extended, the blade covering the space between them and phased through all three targets with a single swipe. Despite the lack of blood, all three shouted in pain as they fell into unconsciousness.
'Soul damage is a bitch.' She grinned vindictively. They'd recover, of course. It'd take a lot more than that to genuinely injure the soul. But unlike physical damage, it took longer to recover and they'd be suffering through it.
Flourishing the blade, she stood to her feet and swaggered through the hallway, more than satisfied with what she just did. Some of her friends might have preferred softer methods, but as long as they didn't die, everything was fair game, no?
"Remember, Illyana. Don't drag it out unnecessarily."
Speaking of softies, she sighed as she turned to her brother. The man was already encased in his metal form.
"No need to repeat it, Piotr. I heard you the first time." For someone with a tough shell, he was surprisingly a huge softie inside.
"It bears repeating." He exasperated in a tone that suggested that they had done this song and dance multiple times already. And in a way they did.
Illyana couldn't help but shake her head. For people who were obsessed with causing societal change, they sure were soft about it. She wouldn't agree with Magneto but she did agree with the idea of using a little extra violence to get what they want. It was the only language that people understood.
'Magik, Colossus. I've sent you where you need to go.' Jean suddenly spoke against their minds. A vivid vision of their location already reflected in their mind's eye. An odd way of psychic communication without intruding into their heads, more similar to how physical senses gather information. Though it only worked for powered individuals, something about their brainwaves being different. She didn't bother to know the specifics.
She appreciated it, though. She preferred her privacy and clearly Jean agreed since she came up with this method.
'Peter, Gwen, and Felicia would be nearby. Call them if you need help.'
"I doubt it, but I'll keep it in mind, Jean." Magik huffed before she smirked. "Though, I wouldn't mind seeing your boy in action. I need to know what you see in him."
'Can we not?'
"Illyana, please behave." Her brother's tone was still exasperated, but it had a hint of fondness to it.
"No. This girl talked him up for quite a bit, and I want to see if he lives up to the hype." Magik rolled her shoulder as she walked, limbering her swinging arm. She then smirked. "He's cute though, I'll give you that." She relished Jean's embarrassed groan.
It was only half truth. In any circumstances, she wouldn't even give this much effort to a boy that a friend was interested in. She wasn't so gung-ho to the point that she had to give them the 'business' or anything. No, her reasoning was much simpler yet also complicated.
He had blood on him. Not lightly stained or even dipped in blood. No, Peter was drenched in the stuff. Enough that it should leave a stench that suggested he was involved in multiple massacres personally.
So imagine her surprise that even with all that blood dripping down his soul, there wasn't even a scent of corruption stuck to him. It…confused her. Someone so steeped in chaos should have something but instead it just colored his soul ruby red. A twisted corruption that left something enchanted instead.
It was beautiful.
It had drawn her, enough to make her more than curious. How could someone be so steeped in blood and yet retain such purity? Could such a thing even be natural? How was it possible?
And so Magik headed for her checkpoint, splitting up from her brother with a nod to each other.
"Be safe, sister."
"You too."
Despite their differing opinions, they still loved each other. Those months where they could only rely on each other still stuck in her mind and would continue to do so for decades to come.
She rushed ahead, keeping an open eye on the dark with ease. Ducking into corners, she spied another squad already rushing through the hallway. Before Magik could even ready her blade, someone intercepted.
"Ngk!"
"No! HELP–!"
"Get out and face me you—Ngrrk!"
It was like something out of a horror movie. She would never admit it but the sight was pretty eerie. Soldiers were taken off one by one and dragged into the dark. Their night vision did nothing to combat it. Even when they tightened up their formation, it still did nothing but give them a front row view of their friend's disappearance.
By the time it finished, she could vaguely see a silhouette in the middle of it. The dark did an excellent job of hiding the red sweater the figure was wearing.
"Come out."
Magik flinched. He noticed her? Shaking her head, she left her cover and kept her cool. Idly, she let her blade brighten to illuminate the corridor just because she was curious as to what happened to the earlier soldiers.
Part of her wished she hadn't.
Stuck and spread-eagled were the soldiers, covered from head to toe as thick lines of webbing cocooned them to the ceiling and walls. Some of them were knocked out. Others were fully aware as they stared wide eyed, finally able to see what was keeping them stuck and quiet.
It looked like a giant spider had caught them and saved them for later feeding.
She shook her head, eyeing the man standing in the middle of the web. "Peter?"
"Illyana?" The hooded Peter tilted his head, somehow looking even more eerie. "You got here pretty fast."
Her tensed shoulder relaxed a little from the casual voice. Hearing him speak normally did a lot to convince her that it was actually Peter and not some spider stuck in human skin.
Though, it did remind her about the spider themed vigilantes in New York…
"You're not so bad yourself." She complimented as she walked closer to him, the light of her blade illuminating his hidden features. "Though all of this is a little…creepy."
Peter looked around, studying the scene before he winced. "My bad."
"Don't be," She shrugged it off, walking up to him and feeling a little thrill at how much taller he was. Her head barely reached above his chest. "I like creepy."
"Oookay?" Peter blinked, clearly unsure how to answer that.
"Though it would be a pain to clean up." Illyana pointed out as an out. She was nice like that.
"I'll help with it." Peter quickly promised.
"You better be. Leaving all this white sticky mess is just rude." Magik smirked. "Usually you need to warn a girl before you let out all your load."
'Oh my god, there're two of them now.' Peter mentally groaned, already hoping that Felicia didn't find out about her.
Though just like Felicia, he had learned that not responding usually encouraged them to be worse.
"I think not warning them is the point."
"Oh, you're into that kind of thing? Should I warn Jean that the person she spends a lot of time with is a freak who likes a surprise?"
"That's not what I meant and you know it."
"Sure did sound like it though~"
Before they could keep talking, a loud sound filled the air as light suddenly shined on them. Both narrowed their eyes as they turned to the nearby window.
Right outside was a helicopter gunning straight for the mansion.
"Oh…" They both breathed.
The two immediately spotted the rotary barrel attached to its side, already loading up and spinning.
"Run."
The world turned into a mass of shrapnel.
Chapter 27 - I Got A Really Crazy Mind To Clean
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Chapter 27 - I Got A Really Crazy Mind To Clean
Shrapnel filled his vision as he tumbled into the air, Illyana's hand already reaching for him as they jumped.
Their fingers brushed as golden light filled his vision. A second later, Peter blinked as he realized they were suddenly in a different living room. Specifically, the one where he had taken down the previous squad. It was a bit hard to see in the dark for her, but the light from Illyana's sword revealed all the cocooned soldiers.
The sound of gunfire resounded from another room, catching their attention. Peter blinked in confusion as the sound died down.
"How did we–" Peter asked.
"Portals." Illyana answered, even as she blinked at the cocoons around them. "I can make Stepping Discs that let us go anywhere."
"Anywhere?" He stressed.
"Well, as long as I'm attuned to the location. It's easier if I've been there before." She elaborated.
Peter nodded, filing the thought away as he came up with a plan.
"Jean?" He tried.
'Peter?'
"Is there anyone stuck anywhere?"
A pause before Jean replied. 'There's a few. The soldiers took them by surprise and tranquilized them before the others could get there.'
Reaching them would be problematic with all the soldiers around buying time, especially with the sudden helicopter making a mess of things.
Peter turned to Illyana, who immediately caught on.
"Think you can give Illyana the location?"
'I can.'
"So go in guns blazing?" She smirked at him; the glint in her eyes showed how much she liked the idea.
Unfortunately, Peter shook his head. "No. In and out. I can power through them and grab the kids before they even realize what's happening."
"Well if we're doing that, we're not keeping the kids here, that's for sure."
'Send them to the greenhouse.' It was a new voice, one that he was familiar with.
"Emma!" He smiled.
He could feel her amusement through their link. 'It's good to see you too, darling. I just wished it was in better circumstances.'
"Well, the faster we finish this, the faster we get to better circumstances."
'Well said. Jean, link with me.'
'Already on it.'
'Magik, Peter. Portal to the Greenhouse.' Emma ordered.
Another golden light, this time Peter could see that it came from beneath them. A golden circle laying beneath them before it rose, encapsulating them and dropping them off somewhere in the woods. Peter looked around and realized they were inside the greenhouse, the sweltering heat and odd smell were already pretty telling.
He looked around and smiled when he spotted the familiar form of Emma Frost.
The woman was wearing a white business suit, because of course it was white. Though it looked more fashionable than actually formal. The blazer's shoulders were a bit more pronounced, while the white blouse underneath was slightly unbuttoned to show off a little bit of skin, but not enough to be scandalous. The white pants hugged her legs tastefully and the white ends of the pants flared out. Paired with her long, straight blond hair that reached her shoulders and lightly done makeup, she was dressed to kill.
"Emma, nice suit." Peter smirked.
"And you're as amazing as ever."
"I'm in a hoodie and pajama pants."
"And it doesn't detract from you at all." Emma smirked before she softened, walking up to him and hugging him tight. "It really is great to see you. There's so much I want to show you, but I was so caught up with everything and now this happens."
"Hey, it's all good." Peter hugged her back before he patted them to separate. "But we can talk more when this settles."
"Right. Time and place." Emma sighed regretfully and nodded. She then turned to Illyana, who was watching them silently. "Magik, I'll be sending you the coordinates and all you need to do is create portals. Peter, just go in, grab the kids, and get out. I'll guide you if necessary."
Peter nodded. "Sure, but is it a good idea to collect the kids here?"
Emma smirked before she gestured behind her, and Peter just realized there was a hidden latch. "This place connects to an underground pathway that heads straight to a secure bunker. Unless they have a tactical nuke in their pocket, nothing is getting them there."
He nodded before he looked around. "Then who will be carrying them into the bunker if they're already sedated?"
"Colossus will. He's finishing on the upper floor and will be coming down to help carry them."
"What if something happens there?" Magik asked.
Emma nodded. "Jean is there to help coordinate Felicia and Gwen, but if anything happens, she'll inform us."
"Okay, works for me. Whenever you girls are ready." Peter shrugged before he armored up, golden strands covering his body before solidifying into black carapace-like armor. Fully clad in armor, he stood before them like an arachnid knight.
"Freaky." Magik grinned, clearly liking the look.
"Magik, sending you the coordinates."
"Opening up." Magik nodded before she reached out, forming the golden portal.
Peter didn't hesitate, immediately jumping in and coming face to face with a full squad that's already lugging an unfortunate soul from their bed.
"Contact–" The words didn't even leave their lips before Peter was already in their face, slamming into the soldiers as their bullets bounced off his armor before flinging them all off. Their bodies bounced off the walls and furniture before they tumbled to the ground painfully.
His hand grasped the kid's chest, using his wall-crawling powers to keep them stuck. The moment he got a good hold, a golden portal appeared in front of him and he immediately rushed in and left behind confused and groaning soldiers.
Peter let the kid down, looking up and nodding at both Magik and Emma.
"Just like that, Peter. Magik, another one."
Another golden portal and Peter disappeared as he moved right as the portal rushed straight to him. This time he appeared inside the kitchen, already grasping two unconscious teenagers while soldiers were sent flying above.
Looking at the source, he scoffed in amusement as he saw both Logan and Laura already cutting their way through a few soldiers with feral snarls. Laura was jumping and leaping between the soldiers with deadly finesse. On the other side, Logan grunted as he stabbed into a soldier and slammed him into the kitchen counter.
Their eyes met; his nose twitched before his eyes lost the hard edge slightly. "A little help here, Webs?"
Peter hefted up the two kids to his shoulders. "Busy being Emma's errand boy, Logan."
Logan grunted as he pushed the soldier in his claw off the counter right as the golden portal formed. "Get going, bub."
"Leave some fun for me though."
"As if." Logan scoffed as the portal enclosed him.
Peter dropped the teenagers as gently as he could right as heavy steps reached his hearing. Looking to the side, he noticed a tall man completely made out of metal coming to view.
"Oooooh, Colossus. Now I get it." Peter nodded understandingly.
"Allow me." The living metal politely requested, his tone carrying a hint of Russian accent.
"I'd make a too-much-drinking joke but these kids are way too young for that." Peter quipped.
"Not like they haven't tried." Emma dryly snarked as another golden portal formed.
"No such thing as too much." Magik huffed.
"Tell that to your liver." Colossus grunted, already looking ready to give a lecture to an exasperated Magik.
Peter just shook his head in amusement as he headed in. The situation kept on repeating like that. Peter headed in, grabbed some kids, roughed up the soldiers that got in his way, and got out as fast as he could. His own agility and armor let him bulldoze through the soldiers and cover the unconscious children before they could get hurt as they portaled out of the room.
Peter grunted as he let down the three kids he had just grabbed. "Man, have I ever said how much I love portals?"
"No, but you can start." Magik smugly preened.
"I really love portals." Peter chuckled, his mind already turning to the sling rings and their potential. He had some training with it but wasn't able to bring them since they were part of the new suit schematics.
'Can't wait to test them out.' Portals were way too useful for him to not ever use them.
"That should be all of them." Emma nodded, eyes flitting to the bunker. "We'll wait here for Colossus to bring them all inside. Jean, where's Logan and Laura?"
'They've brought the fight outside already. Felicia and Gwen are dealing with the leftovers inside.' Jean informed them.
"And where are you?" Peter asked worriedly.
'I'm near the bunker with the others, so I should be fine.'
That brought a relief to him. It would be bad if they had helped everyone just to forget Jean somewhere, as unlikely as it was.
Suddenly, the sound of the helicopter's minigun filled the air again. It was distant, as distant as it could be with it being on the other side of the mansion. The group glanced at each other warily as they heard it gun down the front.
"Weren't Logan and Laura over there?" Peter asked with obvious concern.
"They'll be fine. They can heal, right?" Magik reasoned, though even she looked unsure by her own words.
The shooting finally quieted down, followed by the vague sound of combat. Peter was beginning to think that it was over before shouting erupted again. Gunfire filled the air but there was a faint sense of urgency with how panicked the voices were getting.
Emma was strangely quiet, looking in the direction intensely. She then clicked her tongue, snapping their attention to her.
"Laura's compromised."
"What?" Peter widened his eyes.
Emma looked frustrated by the sudden turn of events. "She got the pilot's full attention and started shooting. Logan managed to pull her out before she got the worst of it, but got dragged into it. She snapped after recovering enough to see Logan's state."
Peter winced, the implication was obvious. Getting barraged by a minigun and then seeing her 'father' get the same treatment probably made her snap.
"What about Logan then?" Peter asked.
"Also regenerating, he'll be joining her in a—" The screams intensified, making Emma sigh in exasperation. "Great, now we have two ferals. And I had hoped we only had to deal with one for a second."
"At least the kids won't be hearing any of this." Colossus spoke, finally arriving and catching the last few seconds of the conversation. "What's our move, Emma?"
Emma considered her options. "We'd need you siblings for our escape if it comes to it. Someone will need to carry the unconscious students and Magik is vital for her portals."
"You're not suggesting we leave them right?" Magik asked with wide eyes.
"The helicopter is making things difficult and our two most experienced fighters are compromised." Emma pointed out with cold logic. "Unless you have any suggestions?"
"I can deal with the pilot." Colossus suggested.
"The gun has enough firepower to send Logan and Laura flying into the mansion. It won't hurt you, but it makes you an open target for the other soldiers." Emma shut that down quickly. "The squads facing Logan and Laura are better equipped. I assumed they were armed for any resistance."
"Then I'll cover my brother." Magik suggested.
"And risk one of them killing you? No. Your portals are too vital." Emma shot down again.
"Then that leaves me." Peter suddenly spoke up. "I'll handle the copter. I got the armor to survive the bullets and I got the speed to make it quick."
The three looked contemplative, Emma especially looked conflicted. She then sighed, looking at him in consideration.
"Are you sure your armor can withstand it?" Emma asked.
Peter nodded. "Sure can. Dented a whole discount Iron Man armor and a vault door with it if you remember. But just in case."
They blinked as Peter walked up to Colossus and raised his hand.
"This is a bit invasive, big guy. So if you don't mind?"
"If it's for the protection of my friends, then do whatever you need." The man didn't even hesitate, gripping the vigilante's hand firmly.
Peter nodded, promising to not let down that trust. Focusing, he reached out to his armor. The chitinous plates that make up the armor were made up of psionic strands. Each strand lined and bound to each other like a series of weaving and knots, reinforcing and supporting his whole body in all manner of ways.
Focusing specifically on the strands around his hand, he flexed them.
The psionic strands reacted, contracting and expanding in ways that made it begin to vibrate. The strands began to excite. The psionic power that made up its composition shifted into a wavelength, tuning itself into the metallic skin of Colossus.
The man himself jolted, feeling an odd sensation focused on his hand. He blinked, but didn't say anything despite the others' curious gazes.
Peter made a frustrated sound. He had hoped he could scrape off some skin from Colossus and make use of them, but the composition of the organic metal made that hideously slow. But it did lead to a fascinating discovery.
"Colossus." The man looked at the shorter vigilante. "Did you know you have a portal inside you?"
Colossus blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Well calling it a portal is exaggerating. It's more like your whole body is covered in a psionic field that shunts your whole body and then reconstructs it with metal from another dimension."
"I believe that Hank had said something similar, so yes." Not said was that it took weeks of extensive observation for the good doctor to come to that conclusion, not a single scan just from a handshake.
Thankfully, Peter already had extensive exposure to the extradimensional from the scientific and magical field. Though his knowledge of the latter was a bit questionable. Not like the former was any better; he got a literal taste of it in the form of a collapsed floor despite the promise of safety.
Not fun at all. 0/10, got paid and still felt like he was ripped off.
"Huh, pretty neat." Peter shrugged. "Do you mind if I borrow some?"
"Sure?" The more time Colossus spent with him, the more confused he was getting. Was this really a good idea?
Before he could even voice his growing doubt, Colossus jolted again. This time, he felt an intense pull coming from deep inside him. One that he could feel flowing straight to the vigilante's hand he was holding.
Before their very eyes, Peter's arachnid themed armor began to change. What had been a glossy black appearance before was now gaining a silver metallic hue. The black carapace shone under the moonlight, the plates becoming sharper as the metallic hue covered its form. Now standing before them, Peter really looked like an arachnid knight.
"What happened?" Magik quickly asked.
"Borrowed some metal from your brother. It's temporary and only surface deep, but it's enough." Peter quickly explained.
A trick he had learned from his time learning under the Ancient One when she had the time. The strands that made up his armor were akin to webs, so he could use it to stick to things just like his wall-crawling powers. But it would be disappointing if it was just limited to that.
The strands were psionic in nature, which made it highly compatible with Magic. Just by itself, Peter had used it to tune and absorb the surrounding materials to give it new traits. But add in Magic's extra dimensional energies? The possibilities became endless.
He wasn't good at it though, at least not yet. If he was, it would have gone deeper than the surface. He hadn't even meant to do something like that with Colossus, thinking his initial method of scraping skin was enough. But it wasn't, so he had to go a little extra. Colossus's mutation also made things disgustingly easier than they should be.
'Master Drumm was right, Mutants are bullshit.'
"Magik, portal please." Peter requested.
Magik snapped out of her staring, nodding as she opened it.
"Good luck." She wished.
"Stay safe." Emma added.
"I will." Peter smiled underneath his helm before leaping into the portal.
And straight into gunfire.
Already, he had to roll and jump across the ruined field just to ensure he didn't get shot. Energy blast after energy blast chased after his nimble form and scorched the ground and far walls of the ruined mansion. Despite having armor, he really rather avoided getting hit in the first place. His head did a quick swivel as he did a spinning somersault, his spider-sense acting as supplementary to his information gathering.
Ruined courtyard, debris all over the place. The front side of the mansion was halfway torn down, the source of the debris obviously from it. The place was practically crawling with soldiers with the aforementioned high-tech equipment Emma pointed out. It reminded him of the same one they had encountered with the Facility back in New York, except way more advanced. That was enough to raise his hackles.
And of course, there were the snarling Mutants leaping and slashing into the armored soldiers like a hot knife through butter. That one was concerning. Their pupils were gone, leaving white sclera in their sockets. Teeth and claws bared as father and daughter jumped from one soldier to another.
It would have been a heartfelt scene if it didn't look so bloody.
Snapping into a split kick, his armored legs slammed into two unsuspecting soldiers, sending them tumbling into a tree. The force of his kick was enough to snap their straps and send their high-tech guns flying.
Landing in a crouch, he crossed his arms over the other and aimed at the guns. Reaching through the armor, he released.
The strands that made up the plates went taut for a split second before relaxing, unraveling off his hands before suddenly coming to life, snapping outward towards the guns and covering them in golden psionic webbing.
Fingers wrapped around the web, he pulled. The golden line turned taut before it recoiled, launching the guns straight for Peter. As it flew, the webs began to seep into the gun.
An image formed in Peter's mind, a tactile feedback from his psi-webs. His prodigious mind began to deconstruct the gun, the pieces disassembled in the air before they all reassembled through the guidance of his psi-web. Intent thickly flowed within the strands as it reconstructed the weapon into a new form.
Standing to his full height, he moved. Twisting and turning his hips while whipping his arms around, the golden web followed his movements. The attached pieces followed the movement of his arms and flowed like a golden river, intercepting the scorching shots that came his way. Spider-sense guided his movements, letting his still-forming weapon flow into the trajectory of the shots and sparing him from them.
Finally he stilled, right as the soldiers stopped too. Some of them quickly reloaded at the presented opportunity while the rest eyed the armored arachnid.
His arms were positioned in a guarded stance, one across his chest while the other at his side. In his grip was what could only be described as a pair of pistons in the shape of a tonfa. They were big and blocky; the body looked like a shield. Within the massive frame was a shaft that extended a few inches beyond his elbow, with the other shorter end sharpened to a point.
The soldiers around him fidgeted on their feet despite the nearby chaos with the berserk mutants, their instinct for threats forced them to focus on the armored vigilante.
Peter smiled under his helm, "So we're just gonna stare at each other or…?"
That did it. Gunfire immediately sounded through the air.
"No staring, got it!" Peter ducked and twisted, avoiding a couple of shots as he covered massive ground in a single twisting leap. Holding the tonfa in reverse, he aimed for one of them.
His psi-webs flexed again, a hum ran through the length and fed into the tonfa. The wavelength from the tuning of his psi-webs funneled through the weapon as it buried into the soldier's guts.
"Spidey Express, coming right up!"
Sound nearly popped, air visibly pushed away the soldier and his nearby squad members and ragdolled them through the ruined courtyard.
Peter didn't pause, pivoting on his feet as he leaped again. This time jumping higher, holding one of the tonfa across his chest and blocking any incoming from blast while the rest grazed his Colossus-reinforced plates.
Once he neared the ground, he held up his other tonfa high.
"Take cover!"
One of them yelled out a warning as they all ran for cover. But it was too late.
The wavelength visibly traveled up his form, Peter funneling a good chunk of his armor into the power as the piston launched as it struck the ground.
BOOM
The shockwave burst from the impact, golden sparks echoed as it launched everyone in the clearing away and into the air. They all landed roughly, some tumbling on the ground while others smacked into any shaking trees and tangled with the branches.
Even Laura and Logan were affected, they weren't all that far from the center and were sent flying into the open mansion.
Peter breathed heavily, feeling a bit drained from the effort. He looked around the blast site and winced.
"Was that too much?"
The sound of a helicopter caught his attention. It had always been there in the background, but now that the majority of its allies had cleared, it wouldn't have to worry about anyone getting in its way. Peter watched in tired exasperation.
"Of course!" He groaned.
Peter then widened his eyes as the barrel started rotating, his hands immediately pushing the tonfas in front of him as they shifted, pulling at some of his own plates to coagulate together into a single massive shield right as the bullets started firing.
The world became loud. Pressure became a constant fact as Peter braced himself against the massive shield rooted to the ground. Worrying, he could feel his shield creaking but held steady. His previous armor-empowered hits had already pushed it pretty hard, and his current situation did not help. His own wall-crawling powers, armor, and super strength were the only reason he was able to even stay in one spot while the ground around him was riddled with massive holes.
The bullets kept firing, with shrapnel bouncing off his armor. Part of him mentally thanked Colossus for letting him reinforce his plates because even he was unsure if they could have held up this well against this barrage of pointed metal.
After a long, painful minute, the bullets finally stopped. The only thing filling his hearing was the sound of spent casings.
He lifted his shield, holding it sideways before pulling it to his side. Right as he did, the shield began shifting again, taking all of Colossus's metal with it. This time it shifted as the previous piston tonfa but with a much more massive size.
Eyeing the now sweating pilot, he steadied his footing.
"My turn."
He jumped.
He was high in the air, high enough to make level eye contact with the pilot as power gathered behind his piston. Holding out one of his arms, webbing shot out and punched through the cockpit and covered the pilot in thick webbing.
He pulled, the line turned taut before rubberbanding him straight ahead. Multiple things happened at once. He went through the broken window, arm holding the webbed up pilot and covered him in his armor. Right as he did, he launched his piston. The shaft shot out of the frame, the momentum carried him far enough to crash through the cockpit and slammed the still moving piston straight into the engine.
BWOOM
Flames covered his vision. Peter kept a secure hold on the pilot as his construct finally gave up, Colossus's metal fading along with it. His psionic webbing released the crumpled heap and lost it to the explosion.
He shot out of the dark smoke straight for the ground, cratering the already ruined courtyard. He even bounced a little from how hard he landed, tumbling sideways and releasing his hold on the bound pilot.
Peter hacked up a lung, his released hold forced the plates to return back to him and let the unconscious pilot lie in the crater. But that wasn't his concern anymore. His focus was spent on trying to steady his breathing.
Peter breathed heavily, pushing himself off the ground a bit unsteadily but looked none the worse for wear. Peter looked down and couldn't help but sigh in relief for his armor. He had thought he had to sacrifice a big portion just to make sure the pilot didn't die, but thankfully, the volume of his psionic webs that made up his armor had grown a lot.
Probably from all the practice. It did keep a little bit of the material it absorbed to grow its mass.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps caught his attention. Looking at the source, he couldn't help but groan.
"Seriously?!"
Right in front of the ruined mansion was Laura, still lost to reason with her teeth and claws bared. Reason nowhere to be seen in her pupil-less eyes.
Peter was tired; he was missing sleep, he pushed himself a bit harder than expected dealing with these soldiers, and the sight of the still angry Laura was pissing him off. His frustration so palpable, his Spider-Sense lurched.
It tuned to it unconsciously. The near-endless waves of Chaos that resided within Peter began to leak. His eyes turned crimson from sheer frustration.
Somewhere in the bunker, Magik flinched from the sudden flare of chaos. Stepping discs unconsciously formed around her eyes, drowning them in magical gold and directing her sight to the source at a moment's notice.
This was it. This was the crimson that stained Peter's somehow pure soul. Her attention fully locked onto him and uncaring of anyone who might notice.
Back at the courtyard, the situation was tense. With no enemy in sight, Laura focused on the only one left standing.
Peter.
With a snarl, she leaped at him. But Peter was faster. His superior speed immediately covered the space between them.
Laura bared her claws, aiming to cut his throat open. Peter calmly pushed it to the side by the wrist, before following it up with a ruthless knee to her guts. Laura gasped, her hazy mind clearing a little. Her instincts responded to the presence of another predator.
Peter's hand lashed out, fingers wrapped around her throat. Her psionic webs hummed with the barest amount of crimson stain, intent thickly veiled his limb as he smashed Laura into the ground.
"Stay down!"
The ground and intent slammed into Laura on two fronts. The girl choked from lack of air and the thickly veiled crimson that pressed against her mind.
Her pupils returned, looking at Peter in a mix of awe and fear. Despite the return of reason, all her eyes could see was the many eyes of a giant spider staring right at her. Its beady eyes stared with no emotion, legs spread and binding her limbs to its web, forcing her to submit.
A blink and it was gone, her breathing heavy as the sight of panting Peter filled her vision instead.
Peter blinked, his eyes returned to normal as he saw Laura looking at him in a confused panic.
"W-what…?"
"Laura! Thank god, you're back." Peter relaxed, releasing his hold.
Peter winced as she crawled away from him and looked around, as if she wasn't even sure where she was.
"Hey." Catching her attention, Peter smiled softly. "Hey, you okay?"
With her breathing somewhat calmed down, she immediately jumped him. Peter let out an "Oof!" as she grasped him in a tight hug.
"Alright. Yep, I'm here." Peter hugged her back, confused but not questioning it. "I'm not going anywhere."
She shivered against his touch but didn't pull away, finding comfort in his hold.
"What the fuck…"
Peter looked to the voice and spotted the confused-looking Logan, the man looking at the sight incredulously.
"What the hell did I miss?" He asked.
The first thing he felt when waking up was a wave of something pressing against his head before it disappeared. Running to the source, the first thing he saw was the sight of his 'daughter' jumping into Peter's arms.
He wasn't sure how to feel about that yet, not without a couple of drinks to go with it.
Peter blew a loud sigh, looking just as mentally exhausted as he was.
"A lot."
Logan looked at the mess around him that he decidedly did not remember happening and scoffed.
"No shit."
Yeah. This would be a pain to explain.
Shrapnel filled his vision as he tumbled into the air, Illyana's hand already reaching for him as they jumped.
Their fingers brushed as golden light filled his vision. A second later, Peter blinked as he realized they were suddenly in a different living room. Specifically, the one where he had taken down the previous squad. It was a bit hard to see in the dark for her, but the light from Illyana's sword revealed all the cocooned soldiers.
The sound of gunfire resounded from another room, catching their attention. Peter blinked in confusion as the sound died down.
"How did we–" Peter asked.
"Portals." Illyana answered, even as she blinked at the cocoons around them. "I can make Stepping Discs that let us go anywhere."
"Anywhere?" He stressed.
"Well, as long as I'm attuned to the location. It's easier if I've been there before." She elaborated.
Peter nodded, filing the thought away as he came up with a plan.
"Jean?" He tried.
'Peter?'
"Is there anyone stuck anywhere?"
A pause before Jean replied. 'There's a few. The soldiers took them by surprise and tranquilized them before the others could get there.'
Reaching them would be problematic with all the soldiers around buying time, especially with the sudden helicopter making a mess of things.
Peter turned to Illyana, who immediately caught on.
"Think you can give Illyana the location?"
'I can.'
"So go in guns blazing?" She smirked at him; the glint in her eyes showed how much she liked the idea.
Unfortunately, Peter shook his head. "No. In and out. I can power through them and grab the kids before they even realize what's happening."
"Well if we're doing that, we're not keeping the kids here, that's for sure."
'Send them to the greenhouse.' It was a new voice, one that he was familiar with.
"Emma!" He smiled.
He could feel her amusement through their link. 'It's good to see you too, darling. I just wished it was in better circumstances.'
"Well, the faster we finish this, the faster we get to better circumstances."
'Well said. Jean, link with me.'
'Already on it.'
'Magik, Peter. Portal to the Greenhouse.' Emma ordered.
Another golden light, this time Peter could see that it came from beneath them. A golden circle laying beneath them before it rose, encapsulating them and dropping them off somewhere in the woods. Peter looked around and realized they were inside the greenhouse, the sweltering heat and odd smell were already pretty telling.
He looked around and smiled when he spotted the familiar form of Emma Frost.
The woman was wearing a white business suit, because of course it was white. Though it looked more fashionable than actually formal. The blazer's shoulders were a bit more pronounced, while the white blouse underneath was slightly unbuttoned to show off a little bit of skin, but not enough to be scandalous. The white pants hugged her legs tastefully and the white ends of the pants flared out. Paired with her long, straight blond hair that reached her shoulders and lightly done makeup, she was dressed to kill.
"Emma, nice suit." Peter smirked.
"And you're as amazing as ever."
"I'm in a hoodie and pajama pants."
"And it doesn't detract from you at all." Emma smirked before she softened, walking up to him and hugging him tight. "It really is great to see you. There's so much I want to show you, but I was so caught up with everything and now this happens."
"Hey, it's all good." Peter hugged her back before he patted them to separate. "But we can talk more when this settles."
"Right. Time and place." Emma sighed regretfully and nodded. She then turned to Illyana, who was watching them silently. "Magik, I'll be sending you the coordinates and all you need to do is create portals. Peter, just go in, grab the kids, and get out. I'll guide you if necessary."
Peter nodded. "Sure, but is it a good idea to collect the kids here?"
Emma smirked before she gestured behind her, and Peter just realized there was a hidden latch. "This place connects to an underground pathway that heads straight to a secure bunker. Unless they have a tactical nuke in their pocket, nothing is getting them there."
He nodded before he looked around. "Then who will be carrying them into the bunker if they're already sedated?"
"Colossus will. He's finishing on the upper floor and will be coming down to help carry them."
"What if something happens there?" Magik asked.
Emma nodded. "Jean is there to help coordinate Felicia and Gwen, but if anything happens, she'll inform us."
"Okay, works for me. Whenever you girls are ready." Peter shrugged before he armored up, golden strands covering his body before solidifying into black carapace-like armor. Fully clad in armor, he stood before them like an arachnid knight.
"Freaky." Magik grinned, clearly liking the look.
"Magik, sending you the coordinates."
"Opening up." Magik nodded before she reached out, forming the golden portal.
Peter didn't hesitate, immediately jumping in and coming face to face with a full squad that's already lugging an unfortunate soul from their bed.
"Contact–" The words didn't even leave their lips before Peter was already in their face, slamming into the soldiers as their bullets bounced off his armor before flinging them all off. Their bodies bounced off the walls and furniture before they tumbled to the ground painfully.
His hand grasped the kid's chest, using his wall-crawling powers to keep them stuck. The moment he got a good hold, a golden portal appeared in front of him and he immediately rushed in and left behind confused and groaning soldiers.
Peter let the kid down, looking up and nodding at both Magik and Emma.
"Just like that, Peter. Magik, another one."
Another golden portal and Peter disappeared as he moved right as the portal rushed straight to him. This time he appeared inside the kitchen, already grasping two unconscious teenagers while soldiers were sent flying above.
Looking at the source, he scoffed in amusement as he saw both Logan and Laura already cutting their way through a few soldiers with feral snarls. Laura was jumping and leaping between the soldiers with deadly finesse. On the other side, Logan grunted as he stabbed into a soldier and slammed him into the kitchen counter.
Their eyes met; his nose twitched before his eyes lost the hard edge slightly. "A little help here, Webs?"
Peter hefted up the two kids to his shoulders. "Busy being Emma's errand boy, Logan."
Logan grunted as he pushed the soldier in his claw off the counter right as the golden portal formed. "Get going, bub."
"Leave some fun for me though."
"As if." Logan scoffed as the portal enclosed him.
Peter dropped the teenagers as gently as he could right as heavy steps reached his hearing. Looking to the side, he noticed a tall man completely made out of metal coming to view.
"Oooooh, Colossus. Now I get it." Peter nodded understandingly.
"Allow me." The living metal politely requested, his tone carrying a hint of Russian accent.
"I'd make a too-much-drinking joke but these kids are way too young for that." Peter quipped.
"Not like they haven't tried." Emma dryly snarked as another golden portal formed.
"No such thing as too much." Magik huffed.
"Tell that to your liver." Colossus grunted, already looking ready to give a lecture to an exasperated Magik.
Peter just shook his head in amusement as he headed in. The situation kept on repeating like that. Peter headed in, grabbed some kids, roughed up the soldiers that got in his way, and got out as fast as he could. His own agility and armor let him bulldoze through the soldiers and cover the unconscious children before they could get hurt as they portaled out of the room.
Peter grunted as he let down the three kids he had just grabbed. "Man, have I ever said how much I love portals?"
"No, but you can start." Magik smugly preened.
"I really love portals." Peter chuckled, his mind already turning to the sling rings and their potential. He had some training with it but wasn't able to bring them since they were part of the new suit schematics.
'Can't wait to test them out.' Portals were way too useful for him to not ever use them.
"That should be all of them." Emma nodded, eyes flitting to the bunker. "We'll wait here for Colossus to bring them all inside. Jean, where's Logan and Laura?"
'They've brought the fight outside already. Felicia and Gwen are dealing with the leftovers inside.' Jean informed them.
"And where are you?" Peter asked worriedly.
'I'm near the bunker with the others, so I should be fine.'
That brought a relief to him. It would be bad if they had helped everyone just to forget Jean somewhere, as unlikely as it was.
Suddenly, the sound of the helicopter's minigun filled the air again. It was distant, as distant as it could be with it being on the other side of the mansion. The group glanced at each other warily as they heard it gun down the front.
"Weren't Logan and Laura over there?" Peter asked with obvious concern.
"They'll be fine. They can heal, right?" Magik reasoned, though even she looked unsure by her own words.
The shooting finally quieted down, followed by the vague sound of combat. Peter was beginning to think that it was over before shouting erupted again. Gunfire filled the air but there was a faint sense of urgency with how panicked the voices were getting.
Emma was strangely quiet, looking in the direction intensely. She then clicked her tongue, snapping their attention to her.
"Laura's compromised."
"What?" Peter widened his eyes.
Emma looked frustrated by the sudden turn of events. "She got the pilot's full attention and started shooting. Logan managed to pull her out before she got the worst of it, but got dragged into it. She snapped after recovering enough to see Logan's state."
Peter winced, the implication was obvious. Getting barraged by a minigun and then seeing her 'father' get the same treatment probably made her snap.
"What about Logan then?" Peter asked.
"Also regenerating, he'll be joining her in a—" The screams intensified, making Emma sigh in exasperation. "Great, now we have two ferals. And I had hoped we only had to deal with one for a second."
"At least the kids won't be hearing any of this." Colossus spoke, finally arriving and catching the last few seconds of the conversation. "What's our move, Emma?"
Emma considered her options. "We'd need you siblings for our escape if it comes to it. Someone will need to carry the unconscious students and Magik is vital for her portals."
"You're not suggesting we leave them right?" Magik asked with wide eyes.
"The helicopter is making things difficult and our two most experienced fighters are compromised." Emma pointed out with cold logic. "Unless you have any suggestions?"
"I can deal with the pilot." Colossus suggested.
"The gun has enough firepower to send Logan and Laura flying into the mansion. It won't hurt you, but it makes you an open target for the other soldiers." Emma shut that down quickly. "The squads facing Logan and Laura are better equipped. I assumed they were armed for any resistance."
"Then I'll cover my brother." Magik suggested.
"And risk one of them killing you? No. Your portals are too vital." Emma shot down again.
"Then that leaves me." Peter suddenly spoke up. "I'll handle the copter. I got the armor to survive the bullets and I got the speed to make it quick."
The three looked contemplative, Emma especially looked conflicted. She then sighed, looking at him in consideration.
"Are you sure your armor can withstand it?" Emma asked.
Peter nodded. "Sure can. Dented a whole discount Iron Man armor and a vault door with it if you remember. But just in case."
They blinked as Peter walked up to Colossus and raised his hand.
"This is a bit invasive, big guy. So if you don't mind?"
"If it's for the protection of my friends, then do whatever you need." The man didn't even hesitate, gripping the vigilante's hand firmly.
Peter nodded, promising to not let down that trust. Focusing, he reached out to his armor. The chitinous plates that make up the armor were made up of psionic strands. Each strand lined and bound to each other like a series of weaving and knots, reinforcing and supporting his whole body in all manner of ways.
Focusing specifically on the strands around his hand, he flexed them.
The psionic strands reacted, contracting and expanding in ways that made it begin to vibrate. The strands began to excite. The psionic power that made up its composition shifted into a wavelength, tuning itself into the metallic skin of Colossus.
The man himself jolted, feeling an odd sensation focused on his hand. He blinked, but didn't say anything despite the others' curious gazes.
Peter made a frustrated sound. He had hoped he could scrape off some skin from Colossus and make use of them, but the composition of the organic metal made that hideously slow. But it did lead to a fascinating discovery.
"Colossus." The man looked at the shorter vigilante. "Did you know you have a portal inside you?"
Colossus blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Well calling it a portal is exaggerating. It's more like your whole body is covered in a psionic field that shunts your whole body and then reconstructs it with metal from another dimension."
"I believe that Hank had said something similar, so yes." Not said was that it took weeks of extensive observation for the good doctor to come to that conclusion, not a single scan just from a handshake.
Thankfully, Peter already had extensive exposure to the extradimensional from the scientific and magical field. Though his knowledge of the latter was a bit questionable. Not like the former was any better; he got a literal taste of it in the form of a collapsed floor despite the promise of safety.
Not fun at all. 0/10, got paid and still felt like he was ripped off.
"Huh, pretty neat." Peter shrugged. "Do you mind if I borrow some?"
"Sure?" The more time Colossus spent with him, the more confused he was getting. Was this really a good idea?
Before he could even voice his growing doubt, Colossus jolted again. This time, he felt an intense pull coming from deep inside him. One that he could feel flowing straight to the vigilante's hand he was holding.
Before their very eyes, Peter's arachnid themed armor began to change. What had been a glossy black appearance before was now gaining a silver metallic hue. The black carapace shone under the moonlight, the plates becoming sharper as the metallic hue covered its form. Now standing before them, Peter really looked like an arachnid knight.
"What happened?" Magik quickly asked.
"Borrowed some metal from your brother. It's temporary and only surface deep, but it's enough." Peter quickly explained.
A trick he had learned from his time learning under the Ancient One when she had the time. The strands that made up his armor were akin to webs, so he could use it to stick to things just like his wall-crawling powers. But it would be disappointing if it was just limited to that.
The strands were psionic in nature, which made it highly compatible with Magic. Just by itself, Peter had used it to tune and absorb the surrounding materials to give it new traits. But add in Magic's extra dimensional energies? The possibilities became endless.
He wasn't good at it though, at least not yet. If he was, it would have gone deeper than the surface. He hadn't even meant to do something like that with Colossus, thinking his initial method of scraping skin was enough. But it wasn't, so he had to go a little extra. Colossus's mutation also made things disgustingly easier than they should be.
'Master Drumm was right, Mutants are bullshit.'
"Magik, portal please." Peter requested.
Magik snapped out of her staring, nodding as she opened it.
"Good luck." She wished.
"Stay safe." Emma added.
"I will." Peter smiled underneath his helm before leaping into the portal.
And straight into gunfire.
Already, he had to roll and jump across the ruined field just to ensure he didn't get shot. Energy blast after energy blast chased after his nimble form and scorched the ground and far walls of the ruined mansion. Despite having armor, he really rather avoided getting hit in the first place. His head did a quick swivel as he did a spinning somersault, his spider-sense acting as supplementary to his information gathering.
Ruined courtyard, debris all over the place. The front side of the mansion was halfway torn down, the source of the debris obviously from it. The place was practically crawling with soldiers with the aforementioned high-tech equipment Emma pointed out. It reminded him of the same one they had encountered with the Facility back in New York, except way more advanced. That was enough to raise his hackles.
And of course, there were the snarling Mutants leaping and slashing into the armored soldiers like a hot knife through butter. That one was concerning. Their pupils were gone, leaving white sclera in their sockets. Teeth and claws bared as father and daughter jumped from one soldier to another.
It would have been a heartfelt scene if it didn't look so bloody.
Snapping into a split kick, his armored legs slammed into two unsuspecting soldiers, sending them tumbling into a tree. The force of his kick was enough to snap their straps and send their high-tech guns flying.
Landing in a crouch, he crossed his arms over the other and aimed at the guns. Reaching through the armor, he released.
The strands that made up the plates went taut for a split second before relaxing, unraveling off his hands before suddenly coming to life, snapping outward towards the guns and covering them in golden psionic webbing.
Fingers wrapped around the web, he pulled. The golden line turned taut before it recoiled, launching the guns straight for Peter. As it flew, the webs began to seep into the gun.
An image formed in Peter's mind, a tactile feedback from his psi-webs. His prodigious mind began to deconstruct the gun, the pieces disassembled in the air before they all reassembled through the guidance of his psi-web. Intent thickly flowed within the strands as it reconstructed the weapon into a new form.
Standing to his full height, he moved. Twisting and turning his hips while whipping his arms around, the golden web followed his movements. The attached pieces followed the movement of his arms and flowed like a golden river, intercepting the scorching shots that came his way. Spider-sense guided his movements, letting his still-forming weapon flow into the trajectory of the shots and sparing him from them.
Finally he stilled, right as the soldiers stopped too. Some of them quickly reloaded at the presented opportunity while the rest eyed the armored arachnid.
His arms were positioned in a guarded stance, one across his chest while the other at his side. In his grip was what could only be described as a pair of pistons in the shape of a tonfa. They were big and blocky; the body looked like a shield. Within the massive frame was a shaft that extended a few inches beyond his elbow, with the other shorter end sharpened to a point.
The soldiers around him fidgeted on their feet despite the nearby chaos with the berserk mutants, their instinct for threats forced them to focus on the armored vigilante.
Peter smiled under his helm, "So we're just gonna stare at each other or…?"
That did it. Gunfire immediately sounded through the air.
"No staring, got it!" Peter ducked and twisted, avoiding a couple of shots as he covered massive ground in a single twisting leap. Holding the tonfa in reverse, he aimed for one of them.
His psi-webs flexed again, a hum ran through the length and fed into the tonfa. The wavelength from the tuning of his psi-webs funneled through the weapon as it buried into the soldier's guts.
"Spidey Express, coming right up!"
Sound nearly popped, air visibly pushed away the soldier and his nearby squad members and ragdolled them through the ruined courtyard.
Peter didn't pause, pivoting on his feet as he leaped again. This time jumping higher, holding one of the tonfa across his chest and blocking any incoming from blast while the rest grazed his Colossus-reinforced plates.
Once he neared the ground, he held up his other tonfa high.
"Take cover!"
One of them yelled out a warning as they all ran for cover. But it was too late.
The wavelength visibly traveled up his form, Peter funneling a good chunk of his armor into the power as the piston launched as it struck the ground.
BOOM
The shockwave burst from the impact, golden sparks echoed as it launched everyone in the clearing away and into the air. They all landed roughly, some tumbling on the ground while others smacked into any shaking trees and tangled with the branches.
Even Laura and Logan were affected, they weren't all that far from the center and were sent flying into the open mansion.
Peter breathed heavily, feeling a bit drained from the effort. He looked around the blast site and winced.
"Was that too much?"
The sound of a helicopter caught his attention. It had always been there in the background, but now that the majority of its allies had cleared, it wouldn't have to worry about anyone getting in its way. Peter watched in tired exasperation.
"Of course!" He groaned.
Peter then widened his eyes as the barrel started rotating, his hands immediately pushing the tonfas in front of him as they shifted, pulling at some of his own plates to coagulate together into a single massive shield right as the bullets started firing.
The world became loud. Pressure became a constant fact as Peter braced himself against the massive shield rooted to the ground. Worrying, he could feel his shield creaking but held steady. His previous armor-empowered hits had already pushed it pretty hard, and his current situation did not help. His own wall-crawling powers, armor, and super strength were the only reason he was able to even stay in one spot while the ground around him was riddled with massive holes.
The bullets kept firing, with shrapnel bouncing off his armor. Part of him mentally thanked Colossus for letting him reinforce his plates because even he was unsure if they could have held up this well against this barrage of pointed metal.
After a long, painful minute, the bullets finally stopped. The only thing filling his hearing was the sound of spent casings.
He lifted his shield, holding it sideways before pulling it to his side. Right as he did, the shield began shifting again, taking all of Colossus's metal with it. This time it shifted as the previous piston tonfa but with a much more massive size.
Eyeing the now sweating pilot, he steadied his footing.
"My turn."
He jumped.
He was high in the air, high enough to make level eye contact with the pilot as power gathered behind his piston. Holding out one of his arms, webbing shot out and punched through the cockpit and covered the pilot in thick webbing.
He pulled, the line turned taut before rubberbanding him straight ahead. Multiple things happened at once. He went through the broken window, arm holding the webbed up pilot and covered him in his armor. Right as he did, he launched his piston. The shaft shot out of the frame, the momentum carried him far enough to crash through the cockpit and slammed the still moving piston straight into the engine.
BWOOM
Flames covered his vision. Peter kept a secure hold on the pilot as his construct finally gave up, Colossus's metal fading along with it. His psionic webbing released the crumpled heap and lost it to the explosion.
He shot out of the dark smoke straight for the ground, cratering the already ruined courtyard. He even bounced a little from how hard he landed, tumbling sideways and releasing his hold on the bound pilot.
Peter hacked up a lung, his released hold forced the plates to return back to him and let the unconscious pilot lie in the crater. But that wasn't his concern anymore. His focus was spent on trying to steady his breathing.
Peter breathed heavily, pushing himself off the ground a bit unsteadily but looked none the worse for wear. Peter looked down and couldn't help but sigh in relief for his armor. He had thought he had to sacrifice a big portion just to make sure the pilot didn't die, but thankfully, the volume of his psionic webs that made up his armor had grown a lot.
Probably from all the practice. It did keep a little bit of the material it absorbed to grow its mass.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps caught his attention. Looking at the source, he couldn't help but groan.
"Seriously?!"
Right in front of the ruined mansion was Laura, still lost to reason with her teeth and claws bared. Reason nowhere to be seen in her pupil-less eyes.
Peter was tired; he was missing sleep, he pushed himself a bit harder than expected dealing with these soldiers, and the sight of the still angry Laura was pissing him off. His frustration so palpable, his Spider-Sense lurched.
It tuned to it unconsciously. The near-endless waves of Chaos that resided within Peter began to leak. His eyes turned crimson from sheer frustration.
Somewhere in the bunker, Magik flinched from the sudden flare of chaos. Stepping discs unconsciously formed around her eyes, drowning them in magical gold and directing her sight to the source at a moment's notice.
This was it. This was the crimson that stained Peter's somehow pure soul. Her attention fully locked onto him and uncaring of anyone who might notice.
Back at the courtyard, the situation was tense. With no enemy in sight, Laura focused on the only one left standing.
Peter.
With a snarl, she leaped at him. But Peter was faster. His superior speed immediately covered the space between them.
Laura bared her claws, aiming to cut his throat open. Peter calmly pushed it to the side by the wrist, before following it up with a ruthless knee to her guts. Laura gasped, her hazy mind clearing a little. Her instincts responded to the presence of another predator.
Peter's hand lashed out, fingers wrapped around her throat. Her psionic webs hummed with the barest amount of crimson stain, intent thickly veiled his limb as he smashed Laura into the ground.
"Stay down!"
The ground and intent slammed into Laura on two fronts. The girl choked from lack of air and the thickly veiled crimson that pressed against her mind.
Her pupils returned, looking at Peter in a mix of awe and fear. Despite the return of reason, all her eyes could see was the many eyes of a giant spider staring right at her. Its beady eyes stared with no emotion, legs spread and binding her limbs to its web, forcing her to submit.
A blink and it was gone, her breathing heavy as the sight of panting Peter filled her vision instead.
Peter blinked, his eyes returned to normal as he saw Laura looking at him in a confused panic.
"W-what…?"
"Laura! Thank god, you're back." Peter relaxed, releasing his hold.
Peter winced as she crawled away from him and looked around, as if she wasn't even sure where she was.
"Hey." Catching her attention, Peter smiled softly. "Hey, you okay?"
With her breathing somewhat calmed down, she immediately jumped him. Peter let out an "Oof!" as she grasped him in a tight hug.
"Alright. Yep, I'm here." Peter hugged her back, confused but not questioning it. "I'm not going anywhere."
She shivered against his touch but didn't pull away, finding comfort in his hold.
"What the fuck…"
Peter looked to the voice and spotted the confused-looking Logan, the man looking at the sight incredulously.
"What the hell did I miss?" He asked.
The first thing he felt when waking up was a wave of something pressing against his head before it disappeared. Running to the source, the first thing he saw was the sight of his 'daughter' jumping into Peter's arms.
He wasn't sure how to feel about that yet, not without a couple of drinks to go with it.
Peter blew a loud sigh, looking just as mentally exhausted as he was.
"A lot."
Logan looked at the mess around him that he decidedly did not remember happening and scoffed.
"No shit."
Yeah. This would be a pain to explain.
SKaine
Making the rounds.
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Hey! Glad to be here!