MCU Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen fic, as requested in another thread. Made it over a few hours so...
Two Spiders on a Web (MCU Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen Crossover)
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A Whole new Web
MCU Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen fic, as requested in another thread. Made it over a few hours so it's not my best work:
So someone suggested a crossover between Spider-Gwen and MCU Spider-Man and I thought, 'why not'? Might be a nice break from writing Looking Glass and it'd give me some experience in writing a closer-to-character Spider-Man rather than the ball of angst and cynicsm Noir tends to be. So here's my attempt at a crossover between the two.
Take note that it's probably not gonna be the best since I don't know how to write 'cinnamon roll' characters. I tend to default to more anti-heroic protagonists. If anything can be improved then please mention it. I only made this over the course of a few hours so it's likely going to be pretty rough.
The fic was suggested as a romance between MCU Spidey and Spider-Gwen. While I think it's more viable than Gwen and Noir are in Looking Glass, I do still have my doubts. I left some questions at the bottom to get the readers' thoughts.
Chapter 1: A whole new Web
"Mr. Stark...I don't feel so good."
He remembered it all. The shock at seeing everyone around him disintegrate into dust, watching as Star Lord, Drax, Dr. Strange and Mantis all fell - turned to dust and blown away by the wind. He didn't have time to think it through or wonder what exactly happened to them all. All he knew was one thing: Thanos won, and that meant they all lost.
"I don't know- I don't know what's happening..."
His spider-sense warned him first. It was subtle for just a second before it suddenly screamed out, warning him of danger everywhere. He wanted to run, to jump and swing away as far as he could, but he knew it wouldn't have done anything. It wasn't an attack he could just dodge with a flip and a quip. People were dying, and even if he didn't know why he knew it was coming for them.
"I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go... Sir, please, I don't want wanna go...I don't wanna go..."
He wanted to be brave, to go out like a hero, but he couldn't. He remembered hugging Mr. Stark tightly and begging, pleading for him or anyone to to make it stop. His spider-sense told him he was next and he couldn't take the idea of leaving, not yet. He was too young, he hadn't said goodbye to May or everyone else...it was just like when Liz's dad trapped him under the warehouse. Suddenly he wasn't Spider-Man, just a kid in over his head.
"I'm sorry...
Peter didn't know why he apologized. It wasn't his fault. He was tempted to blame Star Lord, but he understood why he did it. If someone told him May or Ned were dead and their murderer was right in front of him he didn't know if he'd be able to control himself. He nearly lost control completely when he went after the man who shut Uncle Ben. So he couldn't blame him, not really.
Maybe he thought he failed. He'd messed up during the fight at the airport and then the ferry. He didn't tell Mr. Stark or the others, but it still bothered him sometimes. Maybe if he'd just pulled harder, maybe if he knocked Star Lord away to keep him from hitting the big purple guy in the face, maybe...
Always maybes. May told him he always had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Fading away wasn't painful. He was cold at first, but soon enough there was nothing. He remembered looking up at Mr. Stark; determined to go with some sort of dignity, at least. His last thoughts were of May, Ned and the rest of his friends. Were they safe? Would they ever find out what happened to him? He wondered if May would be proud of what he did, what he tried to do. She'd cried the first time she found out the truth, wondered if he'd be next after Uncle Ben and leave her alone.
When Peter closed his eyes he didn't expect he'd open them again.
He did.
Peter sat up with a loud gasp of breath, "Wh-What...?" He tried to stand, but his legs felt like jelly. Hands clumsily gripped the closest wall to pull himself up. He was in an alley, or at least that's what it looked like - brick walls, piled up cardboard boxes and and puddles of what he hoped was water barely lit up by the setting sun. It smelled like garbage and every breath he took felt like someone punching him in the chest, but he was alive. He'd take it.
"M-Mr. Stark...?" He pulled himself up fully and looked around. The alleyway was barren and he saw a few cars passing through the alley at the exit. For a second he thought it was all a dream, a little paybacks from all the burritos he ate last night, but one look down cut that thought away immediately. Mr. Stark's new suit was still on him, albeit dirty and damaged from the fight back on Titan.
He'd survived...
Peter laughed and cried at the same time. He thought - he knew - that he died, but he was still here, still breathing, "Wow..." He wiped away the last of his tears and trudged down the alley, trying and failing to get the suit to give him a new mask before quickly giving up. He didn't care. He was pretty sure wherever he was they had more to worry about with that big purple guy trying to destroy half of the life in the galaxy.
When he made it to the end of the alley he was almost floored when a screeching car slid past him and a few people passed him by, most of them not even looking up from their phones. Just another reminder that he was alive, "Wow..." He pushed himself on the wall and tried to ignore the throbbing in his skull. He had to...Mr. Stark was still there on Titan with that blue robot woman. He had to do something. Call Happy or Ms. Potts or...
He almost fainted. Peter grabbed the closest wall and threw up. A few people looked at him, some with pity and some with disgust. Peter wiped his mouth and stumbled down the street, using to wall to keep himself standing. His vision swam and the urge to pass out then and there grew worse by the second. He was tired, hungry and sick all at once.
He rushed to catch up with a nearby businesswoman and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and gave him a wary look, her eyes darting down to his torn suit, "Hey, uh, weird question, but where are we?" Her wary look worsened, "I-I don't mean the street or anything, just...what city is this?" She looked American, and so did most of the other people, so maybe he got lucky and New York was in car-surfing distance.
"We're in New York. Now please leave me alone."
She walked away. Peter didn't bother chasing after her; he got what he needed, "New York...?" This place felt...different, but she had no reason to lie to him, right? He groped through the suit's 'backpack' till he found his (miraculously intact) phone, "No signal..." Calling May and the others would've had to wait. Still, the GPS would've been useful. He didn't recognize this part of town.
The dizziness finally began to fade. Peter stood up straighter and made to duck into another alley to swing away before a call from behind made him turn, "Dude, what the heck are you wearing?" A brunette woman asked, her eyes looking down at his torn suit through his red-rimmed glasses, "You some kind of new Superhero? Where's your mask?"
"Uh..." Quick, he had to say something, "No...?" He shook his head, "Um, I mean...I'm wearing this cause of a bet?"
"Oh...well, that's lame." She sighed and walked past him. Peter shook his head and ducked into the closest alley he could. She didn't recognize him, but he wasn't that surprised. Spider-Man costume copies were all over the place and no one else saw Mr. Stark's new suit. Probably just thought he was another fan cosplaying on the street or something.
He crawled up the wall to the building to get a better view. From higher up he vaguely recognized the place - now he just had to figure out where to go. Going to the Stark offices would let him talk to Happy or Ms. Potts, maybe make contact with Mr. Stark again, but he wanted to go home and make sure Ned and everyone else was okay. He checked his phone again and frowned at the lack of bars. What the heck was wrong with it?
Groaning softly, he tapped into the suit's controls and forced it to give him another mask, ignoring the warning about possible nanobot instability. Mr. Stark wouldn't be happy with him messing with the suit again, but it was better than swinging around without a mask, "Come on, Spider-Man..." He took a deep breath and checked his webshooters. Still working, so no worries on that front.
He looked left and right one last time before he jumped and swung his way to the direction of Stark offices. He'd just drop in, tell Happy and Ms. Potts what happened, then leave to go check on Aunt May. He was sure it'd take a while for even them to make a plan to get Mr. Stark back, so it was better if they found out as soon as possible.
A few people looked up at him as he was passed. He was used to staring and being recorded. This was different. The people were surprised, like they were seeing Spider-Man for the first time. Peter didn't think much on it. He just had to tell them what happened on Titan and then check on everyone.
That was the plan, at least. Peter landed on a close by alley and looked down at his suit. He didn't have a change of clothes - left it before the fight with those creepy guys with Mr. Stark and Dr. Strange (cool name). Could he just walk in? Mr. Stark planned to make him an Avenger all those months ago, and right now really counted as an emergency.
He was going in.
A few of the people waiting in the lobby gave him weird looks when he rushed in and talked to the woman at the desk, "I-I need to see Happy and Ms. Potts! It's urgent!" She looked up at him, her lips puckered in annoyance but otherwise showing no other reaction to his plea, "Please, we don't have time!"
"...Do you have an appointment?" Her voice was flat and annoyed.
"Uh, no, but-"
"No appointment, no meeting." She turned back to her computer, "If you wish to make an appointment then please call Mr. Stark's secretary and state your business. Ms. Potts will give you a call within 24 hours time to inform you if you're allowed to meet or not-"
"We don't have time for that!" Peter screamed, "Mr. Stark's out in space and he might be in danger! If we don't do something he might be stuck there with no way or-or he might be-"
"I might be what?"
Peter turned around and gaped when he saw Mr. Stark standing right in front of him. He looked different - no wounds and wearing a charcoal suit instead of his armor - but it was definitely him. Mr. Stark gave him a curious look, his eyebrows arched together and just waiting for him to explain himself. Peter wanted to be the one to ask him that. How did he get off Titan? Was Thanos gone? Did they all make it?
He didn't ask any of that. Instead he practically stumbled towards the man and hugged him tightly. Mr. Stark grunted in surprise and froze for a moment before he suddenly pushed Peter off, "I know I have that effect on people, but respect the personal space, please." He dusted his off his suit and looked down at him curiously, "Now, who the heck are you, kid? Last I checked I didn't know any kids wearing onesies?"
"Wh-What?" Peter waited for him to say he was joking, but nothing came. A few of the other waiting people whispered among themselves, "M-Mr. Stark, it's me! Spider-Man!"
"Yeah...I don't remember any 'spiderman', sorry." Peter stood slack jawed. What the hell was happening? "Look, kid, if you wanna put on a costume and play pretend then do it outside, okay? People are working here."
"W-Wait, this doesn't make any sense," Peter said, "Wh-What about Thanos? A-And Dr. Strange and everyone else? Are they alright? Did we beat him?"
"Look, kid, you're obviously in your head about this, but I don't have the time to play pretend." He grabbed him by the shoulders and nudged towards the door, "Now scoot before security gets antsy, okay?"
"M-Mr. Stark-" The sliding doors shut in his face. Peter watched the older hero wave him off before he made his way to the elevator, a few of the other visitors immediately surrounding him to talk about something he couldn't make out.
That was Mr. Stark, he was sure of it, so why did he act like that? "What the heck's going on?" He backed away and debated crawling up to his office before thinking better of it. Mr. Stark had a reason for doing it, he had to. Maybe...Maybe someone was listening in? Maybe he had a plan and he couldn't tell anyone? If he got himself out of Titan then he had to have a plan, right?
Well...Mr. Stark seemed alright and so was the city, so maybe they saved the day after all? it would explain why he was back home again. Peter took a deep breath and swung his way back home. If Mr. Stark was safe then that meant they had some time, at least. He'd check in on May and Ned first, see if they were both alright. At least then he could see if he had to panic.
Peter breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he saw the window to his room. Ever since May found out about his identity he didn't have to sneak in any more, though the curfews made him wish for those days again. Nine o' clock sharp, she said, or he'd be grounded till he was in college. So far he wasn't dumb enough to test her on it. She'd screamed Mr. Stark's ear off (after the crying) when she found out.
As soon he was inside he knew something was wrong. His room looked different - no METS posters, no cobbled together computer and none of his half-finished science projects. Instead the room was neat and tidy with a sleek laptop on a nearby study desk. Did May redecorate? No, she wouldn't do that without telling him, and she wouldn't have had the time. The place was normal just last morning before he left.
He didn't get much time to think about it before the door suddenly opened. Peter snapped his head to the source and found himself face to face with a guy a year or two younger than him. The two of them just stared at one another, the guy's hand frozen on the knob while Peter was hunched warily, until he screamed.
"Dad! There's a burglar here!"
"What? No, no, no! I'm not a burglar!" His pleas were drowned out by the younger boy's continued screams. Peter heard the rushing pad of footsteps and soon enough a big man he assumed was the guy's dad barrelled into the room, a baseball bat in his hands, "Sir, please, let me explain!"
"Get the fuck outta here!" He swung the bat at his chest.
Peter ducked under the blow and backed away, both hands raised, "Look, it was a mistake! I thought this was my place-" He swung again. This time Peter jumped up to the roof and clung to the wall.
He expected them to be surprised, but seeing the look of absolute fear on their faces felt like a punch in the gut, "Richard, run!" The man pushed his kid towards the door and rushed towards the cabinet. His spider-sense blared softly just before the man pulled out a pistol and aimed it right for him, "Fucking spider freaks! You aren't going to hurt my son!"
Peter didn't stay to explain. He jumped through the open window and swung away, gunshots ringing behind him.
He waited till he was far enough away in Chinatown before he finally stopped. Peter put his hands on his knees and panted, ripping away his mask so he could breath easier. What the heck was that? The guy acted like he was some kind of crazy murderer or something! He knew it was a bad scene, but most people knew Spider-Man was a good guy, right?
Peter wiped away the sweat on his forehead and swallowed nervously. Okay, so the guy was overprotective; so what? May kinda freaked when she saw him in his room, though the reasons for different.
Still, what the heck happened back there? Did he make a mistake? May wasn't there - or maybe she was? he didn't get a chance to look - but he was sure that was his room, even if it did look pretty different. May couldn't have sold the apartment, so-
Screams from below jolted him out of his thoughts. Putting his mask back on, he looked over the edge and found an all too familiar sight, "Don't tell me you forgot! This week's protection money is due, motherfucker, and I don't take no excuses!" A large Black woman in a white fur coat grabbed an old man by the collar and pulled him close, her face marred by a deep scowl, "Do I gotta make an example out of you?!"
"N-No, please, sales weren't good this week! And my daughter's sick, I needed-"
"I don't give a damn about your damn daughter! Money every week, like I-"
Peter landed on a nearby lamppost, "Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" he said. The woman's scowl worsened and she looked up at him, "Might be a bit hard, though. Maybe lose the coat? Looks like it's adding a few pounds."
"Who the fuck are you?"
"Call me Spider-Man." She webbed her hand and yanked her away from the old man, "What's your name, soon to be jailed person?"
She didn't answer. Her scowl changed to a smirk and he saw something under her coat glow yellow before his spider-sense tingled. Peter jumped away and just barely avoided the large, golden rings that suddenly flew through the air at dangerous speeds, "Woah, that's new!" He swung through the barrage and clung to the nearby wall, "How are you generating those rings? Your belt isn't large enough to store all of them. Some kind of liquid compound, maybe?"
"Man, shut the fuck up!"
"You don't have to be so rude about it!" Peter swung through the next barrage and winced when one of the rings hit his shoulder. They packed a wallop! "So, really, what's your Supervillain name? Everyone has those, right?"
She shot another curse at him that he wasn't comfortable repeating. Sighing, Peter webbed her belt with a few balls of webbing till the entire hole was covered, "Think that's gonna work on me?!" She took aim again and...nothing. The web stretched slightly, the rings trying to push through, but nothing happened. Her right eye twitched and she tried again.
His spider-sense didn't warn him about the explosion. Peter's eyes widened at the sudden boom and the new wave of rings that suddenly shot out of the belt in all directions, "Oh, no, no, no!" He webbed as many as he could to the ground and walls. From what he could see the rings bounced around and the last thing he needed was anyone else getting hurt.
He was halfway to getting through them all when more of the rings were suddenly webbed down, "Hey, need some help?" A female voice asked. He caught a blur of black and white above him. He didn't have enough time to get a good look before another ring came for his neck and he dodged. Seriously, how did she fit it all in that in that one belt? It wasn't a liquid composite like his webbing.
When the last ring was finally taken down he got a chance to look at his rescuer. It was hard to tell from her crouching position on top of the car, but she looked about as tall as he was. She was covered her to to in a black and white costume that had smatterings of pink and teal on her arms and feet. On her head was a hood, though he didn't see why since she had a mask underneath it. It did looked cool, though.
The first thing that came to mind was 'female Spider-Man', and the webbing she had just made it worse. Was that egotistical of him? It wasn't like he was the only Spider hero around. Black Widow was one too.
"Thanks for the help." The lady with ring belt - Ringer! That sounded good - was on the ground, groaning and unconscious but still alive. Peter debated on whether he should web her down before the other Spider - Spider-Girl? Spider-Woman? She seemed like a Spider-Woman - did it first.
"Cool. By the way, we should probably get outta here before the cops arrive. They aren't exactly a fan of Spiders."
He didn't ask questions and just followed her. She swung through the air too, and she could cling to walls - if Mr. Stark were here (and he wasn't acting like he didn't know him) then he probably would've told Peter to start complaining about copyright.
She waited till they were on a billboard out of sight before she spoke, "We made a mess back there." She sighed and put her hands on her hips, "It's not like Spider-Woman isn't already walking on eggshells. Couldn't resist hitting the glowy belt, huh?"
"Sorry." He would've been the first to admit that he wasn't the neatest Superhero. He was just glad that no one got hurt this time...well, except Ringer, but she kinda deserved it.
"Ah, whatever, it's not like they don't already hate me." She waved a hand through the air, "So, what brings you to this dimension? More inter-dimensional Vampires coming to hunt us down or are you just sightseeing on one of the worst dimensions in the multiverse?"
"Um...what?" Peter blinked. Was that code for something.
"What? Did the Inheritors get out or not? Cause if not then I should probably tell you I'm already in the Web Warriors and that's been keeping me pretty busy on the inter-dimensional front-"
"Wait, wait, wait." Peter took a deep breath to calm himself, "Okay, um...I dunno how to say this so I'll just ask straight out: what the heck are you talking about?"
She looked at him blankly (maybe? it was hard to tell with the mask on) before she crossed her arms, "Alright, so just answer this question: you do know you're in an alternate dimension, right?"
"An alternate what?" Peter almost laughed, if only to try to calm himself, "Um...I mean, alternate dimensions have been theorized in some journals, but there's never been any proof just yet. We haven't even begun to understand how to access these alternate dimensions, assuming they really exist. I heard that S.H.I.E.L.D was making some headway before they got decomissioned-"
"Okay, just hold for a second." She put her hands on her waist again and started pacing, "...Crap, you didn't meant to come here, did you?" She didn't wait for him to answer, "Alright, um...I'm gonna have to do some explaining, so just wait here a sec, kay?"
She swung over the corner and disappeared from sight. Peter debated on following her before he sat down at the top of the billboard, his legs dangling over the edge. An alternate dimension? A weird explanation, but it'd definitely explain all the weirdness going on. And heck, Dr. Strange used magic and they tried to stop a giant purple dude with a weird chin from using gems to genocide half the galaxy. At this point he'd accept anything.
The other Spider returned eventually, carrying some sodas and corndogs in a clear plastic bag, "Sorry, didn't want to do this on an empty stomach." She sat next to him and placed the bag between them, raising the mask up to her nose, "Anyway, I'm not really one of the science-y types, so uh...alright, do you know waht the multiverse is? You've watched movies and read comics before, right?"
"Yeah, I mean...I kinda get it." Peter raised his own mask and took a sip of the soft drink only to cough. It tasted like liquid sugar, "Like something happens and it's like the roads diverge or something. Like there's one world where I sneeze and another where I don't sneeze and both of them exist at the time, right?"
"I guess? Like I said I'm not an expert." She shrugged, "Okay, so I'm guessing you didn't come here on your own or on purpose. What happened?"
"We were, uh..." He licked his lips. The memories of dying were still fresh, "Um...there was this alien guy called Thanos. He was crazy, thought that everything would be better if half of everyone just...died. We tried to stop him, but he got away and..." He took a slow breath, "I don't know what happened, but suddenly most of us just started...turning into dust, me included."
"Turning into dust?"
"Yeah. I mean, I know that sounds crazy-"
"Crazy? Did you not hear me about the inter-dimensional Vampires?" She snorted and took a bite out of one of the corndogs, "I'm no expert, but it sounds like whatever this Thane guy did it's what brought you here."
"Yeah..." He looked down at can, "I-I gotta go back. I gotta make sure everyone's alright. Mr. Stark, May, my friends...who knows what happened to them."
"May..." She pursed her lips briefly, "...I know I might just be beating a dead horse, but are you Peter Parker under that mask?"
He was tempted to refuse at first before eventually thinking better of it. He was in another dimension, who cared if another Superhero knew him? Besides, his spider-sense didn't warn him, just like when May and Ned found out, "Yeah." He took off his mask and placed it besides him. He probably looked like a mess, "How'd you know?" He turned to her and found her looking at him, mouth slightly open, "Wh-What's the matter?"
"Nothing, nothing, it's just...you're younger than I thought you'd be."
"Hey, I'm 17..." He hated being called a kid. He could stop a runaway truck with his bare hands, didn't that count for something?
"No, no, it's just...most of the other Spider guys I know are in their 20's." She set her food down and swung her legs idly, "Well, I think I can help you. I've got a dimensional watch back in my place. We just use it, port over to the Web Warriors base and we can have you back home before dinner."
"O-Oh, really? That'd be great!" He smiled. Finally something was going his way, "Hey, um, you seem to know who I am. Do I know you? In my...dimension, I mean."
"Ha, maybe, though I'm probably dead where you're from."
He didn't get a chance to respond to that before she suddenly pulled her mask off. Peter blinked and let out a small sound of recognition when he saw her face in full. It was somewhat hard to tell without the headband and the couple of extra years, but he definitely knew who it was. He couldn't believe it was her. The multiverse worked in weird ways, but at least it was someone he knew.
"Yeah, it's me, Gwen-"
"Betty Brant!"
An uncomfortable silence settled over the pair. Betty- Gwen's sheepish smile was replaced by a look of utter confusion. Peter suddenly felt swinging away, "Uh...what?" She gave him a look that that screamed 'what the hell?', "Um...no, not Betty. I'm Gwen Stacy."
"Gwen...Stacy? Uh..." Did he know a Gwen Stacy? "Uh...oh, there's a Gwen Stacy in Midtown! She's that transfer student from France! Ned has a crush on her! Is that you?"
"What? France? How does that even- no, you know what, I met the Indian version of you, I'm not gonna question it." She rolled her eyes and laughed wryly, "Is her dad the police chief?"
"Uh...I think? She said she transferred cause of her dad's job in law enforcement."
"Huh, so there's a world where I'm French. Who knew?" She put her mask back on and stood, "Know what, least it means I'm not dead. Come on, let's go to my place."
"Right behind you, uh...sorry, what was your name? Superhero name, I mean."
"Spider-Woman. So original, I know." She clicked her tongue and clapped him on the shoulder, "Guessing you're Spider-Man. Or is it Spider-Boy?" He could practically see the smile under he
"Spider-Man." Where was Karen when he needed her? Interrogation mode would've been really nice right about now, "So, uh...I'll follow your lead?"
"Sure. Keep up, Spidey!"
She jumped off the billboard and swung, Peter following after her soon afterwards. Maybe things were looking up.
Test chapter done. This was mostly setup, but I did use the last quarter to establish a communication between Gwen and Peter. Remember, I'm taking criticisms/suggestions for improvement given my lack of experience writing lighter characters.
And yes, there'll be a reason why MCU Spidey doesn't immediately go home in the next chapter, so don't worry about this being the only chapter.
Questions:
1. When in the Spider-Gwen timeline do you guys want this to take place? I'm torn between either it being during her early issues where she only had her dad for support and she was still being hunted by the cops or the current/later timeline where she gained control of Venom, exposed her identity and is presumably going to function as an unmasked hero under SHIELD. The former leads to more angst and depression on Gwen's POV's while the latter is there for readers who want a more lighthearted romp between two Spiders.
2. In the same way, do you guys want a Gwen that's already experienced in dimensional travel or someone who has no idea? The former allows her to be calmer when dealing with Peter (she'd already be used to alternate versions of him) while the latter makes her just as blind as him. If you guys pick the latter scenario I'll have to re-write the ending of this chapter.
3. So...romance or not? Personality wise these two could bounce off each other better- at the very least they won't be arguing and attacking each other. Their ages - Peter's 17-18 and Gwen's 19-20 - are close enough for it as well. If we don't go for a romance I can have Gwen and him being best buds/older sister and younger brother like Ultimate Gwen and Peter were, so give your thoughts.
So someone suggested a crossover between Spider-Gwen and MCU Spider-Man and I thought, 'why not'? Might be a nice break from writing Looking Glass and it'd give me some experience in writing a closer-to-character Spider-Man rather than the ball of angst and cynicsm Noir tends to be. So here's my attempt at a crossover between the two.
Take note that it's probably not gonna be the best since I don't know how to write 'cinnamon roll' characters. I tend to default to more anti-heroic protagonists. If anything can be improved then please mention it. I only made this over the course of a few hours so it's likely going to be pretty rough.
The fic was suggested as a romance between MCU Spidey and Spider-Gwen. While I think it's more viable than Gwen and Noir are in Looking Glass, I do still have my doubts. I left some questions at the bottom to get the readers' thoughts.
Chapter 1: A whole new Web
"Mr. Stark...I don't feel so good."
He remembered it all. The shock at seeing everyone around him disintegrate into dust, watching as Star Lord, Drax, Dr. Strange and Mantis all fell - turned to dust and blown away by the wind. He didn't have time to think it through or wonder what exactly happened to them all. All he knew was one thing: Thanos won, and that meant they all lost.
"I don't know- I don't know what's happening..."
His spider-sense warned him first. It was subtle for just a second before it suddenly screamed out, warning him of danger everywhere. He wanted to run, to jump and swing away as far as he could, but he knew it wouldn't have done anything. It wasn't an attack he could just dodge with a flip and a quip. People were dying, and even if he didn't know why he knew it was coming for them.
"I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go... Sir, please, I don't want wanna go...I don't wanna go..."
He wanted to be brave, to go out like a hero, but he couldn't. He remembered hugging Mr. Stark tightly and begging, pleading for him or anyone to to make it stop. His spider-sense told him he was next and he couldn't take the idea of leaving, not yet. He was too young, he hadn't said goodbye to May or everyone else...it was just like when Liz's dad trapped him under the warehouse. Suddenly he wasn't Spider-Man, just a kid in over his head.
"I'm sorry...
Peter didn't know why he apologized. It wasn't his fault. He was tempted to blame Star Lord, but he understood why he did it. If someone told him May or Ned were dead and their murderer was right in front of him he didn't know if he'd be able to control himself. He nearly lost control completely when he went after the man who shut Uncle Ben. So he couldn't blame him, not really.
Maybe he thought he failed. He'd messed up during the fight at the airport and then the ferry. He didn't tell Mr. Stark or the others, but it still bothered him sometimes. Maybe if he'd just pulled harder, maybe if he knocked Star Lord away to keep him from hitting the big purple guy in the face, maybe...
Always maybes. May told him he always had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Fading away wasn't painful. He was cold at first, but soon enough there was nothing. He remembered looking up at Mr. Stark; determined to go with some sort of dignity, at least. His last thoughts were of May, Ned and the rest of his friends. Were they safe? Would they ever find out what happened to him? He wondered if May would be proud of what he did, what he tried to do. She'd cried the first time she found out the truth, wondered if he'd be next after Uncle Ben and leave her alone.
When Peter closed his eyes he didn't expect he'd open them again.
He did.
Peter sat up with a loud gasp of breath, "Wh-What...?" He tried to stand, but his legs felt like jelly. Hands clumsily gripped the closest wall to pull himself up. He was in an alley, or at least that's what it looked like - brick walls, piled up cardboard boxes and and puddles of what he hoped was water barely lit up by the setting sun. It smelled like garbage and every breath he took felt like someone punching him in the chest, but he was alive. He'd take it.
"M-Mr. Stark...?" He pulled himself up fully and looked around. The alleyway was barren and he saw a few cars passing through the alley at the exit. For a second he thought it was all a dream, a little paybacks from all the burritos he ate last night, but one look down cut that thought away immediately. Mr. Stark's new suit was still on him, albeit dirty and damaged from the fight back on Titan.
He'd survived...
Peter laughed and cried at the same time. He thought - he knew - that he died, but he was still here, still breathing, "Wow..." He wiped away the last of his tears and trudged down the alley, trying and failing to get the suit to give him a new mask before quickly giving up. He didn't care. He was pretty sure wherever he was they had more to worry about with that big purple guy trying to destroy half of the life in the galaxy.
When he made it to the end of the alley he was almost floored when a screeching car slid past him and a few people passed him by, most of them not even looking up from their phones. Just another reminder that he was alive, "Wow..." He pushed himself on the wall and tried to ignore the throbbing in his skull. He had to...Mr. Stark was still there on Titan with that blue robot woman. He had to do something. Call Happy or Ms. Potts or...
He almost fainted. Peter grabbed the closest wall and threw up. A few people looked at him, some with pity and some with disgust. Peter wiped his mouth and stumbled down the street, using to wall to keep himself standing. His vision swam and the urge to pass out then and there grew worse by the second. He was tired, hungry and sick all at once.
He rushed to catch up with a nearby businesswoman and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and gave him a wary look, her eyes darting down to his torn suit, "Hey, uh, weird question, but where are we?" Her wary look worsened, "I-I don't mean the street or anything, just...what city is this?" She looked American, and so did most of the other people, so maybe he got lucky and New York was in car-surfing distance.
"We're in New York. Now please leave me alone."
She walked away. Peter didn't bother chasing after her; he got what he needed, "New York...?" This place felt...different, but she had no reason to lie to him, right? He groped through the suit's 'backpack' till he found his (miraculously intact) phone, "No signal..." Calling May and the others would've had to wait. Still, the GPS would've been useful. He didn't recognize this part of town.
The dizziness finally began to fade. Peter stood up straighter and made to duck into another alley to swing away before a call from behind made him turn, "Dude, what the heck are you wearing?" A brunette woman asked, her eyes looking down at his torn suit through his red-rimmed glasses, "You some kind of new Superhero? Where's your mask?"
"Uh..." Quick, he had to say something, "No...?" He shook his head, "Um, I mean...I'm wearing this cause of a bet?"
"Oh...well, that's lame." She sighed and walked past him. Peter shook his head and ducked into the closest alley he could. She didn't recognize him, but he wasn't that surprised. Spider-Man costume copies were all over the place and no one else saw Mr. Stark's new suit. Probably just thought he was another fan cosplaying on the street or something.
He crawled up the wall to the building to get a better view. From higher up he vaguely recognized the place - now he just had to figure out where to go. Going to the Stark offices would let him talk to Happy or Ms. Potts, maybe make contact with Mr. Stark again, but he wanted to go home and make sure Ned and everyone else was okay. He checked his phone again and frowned at the lack of bars. What the heck was wrong with it?
Groaning softly, he tapped into the suit's controls and forced it to give him another mask, ignoring the warning about possible nanobot instability. Mr. Stark wouldn't be happy with him messing with the suit again, but it was better than swinging around without a mask, "Come on, Spider-Man..." He took a deep breath and checked his webshooters. Still working, so no worries on that front.
He looked left and right one last time before he jumped and swung his way to the direction of Stark offices. He'd just drop in, tell Happy and Ms. Potts what happened, then leave to go check on Aunt May. He was sure it'd take a while for even them to make a plan to get Mr. Stark back, so it was better if they found out as soon as possible.
A few people looked up at him as he was passed. He was used to staring and being recorded. This was different. The people were surprised, like they were seeing Spider-Man for the first time. Peter didn't think much on it. He just had to tell them what happened on Titan and then check on everyone.
That was the plan, at least. Peter landed on a close by alley and looked down at his suit. He didn't have a change of clothes - left it before the fight with those creepy guys with Mr. Stark and Dr. Strange (cool name). Could he just walk in? Mr. Stark planned to make him an Avenger all those months ago, and right now really counted as an emergency.
He was going in.
A few of the people waiting in the lobby gave him weird looks when he rushed in and talked to the woman at the desk, "I-I need to see Happy and Ms. Potts! It's urgent!" She looked up at him, her lips puckered in annoyance but otherwise showing no other reaction to his plea, "Please, we don't have time!"
"...Do you have an appointment?" Her voice was flat and annoyed.
"Uh, no, but-"
"No appointment, no meeting." She turned back to her computer, "If you wish to make an appointment then please call Mr. Stark's secretary and state your business. Ms. Potts will give you a call within 24 hours time to inform you if you're allowed to meet or not-"
"We don't have time for that!" Peter screamed, "Mr. Stark's out in space and he might be in danger! If we don't do something he might be stuck there with no way or-or he might be-"
"I might be what?"
Peter turned around and gaped when he saw Mr. Stark standing right in front of him. He looked different - no wounds and wearing a charcoal suit instead of his armor - but it was definitely him. Mr. Stark gave him a curious look, his eyebrows arched together and just waiting for him to explain himself. Peter wanted to be the one to ask him that. How did he get off Titan? Was Thanos gone? Did they all make it?
He didn't ask any of that. Instead he practically stumbled towards the man and hugged him tightly. Mr. Stark grunted in surprise and froze for a moment before he suddenly pushed Peter off, "I know I have that effect on people, but respect the personal space, please." He dusted his off his suit and looked down at him curiously, "Now, who the heck are you, kid? Last I checked I didn't know any kids wearing onesies?"
"Wh-What?" Peter waited for him to say he was joking, but nothing came. A few of the other waiting people whispered among themselves, "M-Mr. Stark, it's me! Spider-Man!"
"Yeah...I don't remember any 'spiderman', sorry." Peter stood slack jawed. What the hell was happening? "Look, kid, if you wanna put on a costume and play pretend then do it outside, okay? People are working here."
"W-Wait, this doesn't make any sense," Peter said, "Wh-What about Thanos? A-And Dr. Strange and everyone else? Are they alright? Did we beat him?"
"Look, kid, you're obviously in your head about this, but I don't have the time to play pretend." He grabbed him by the shoulders and nudged towards the door, "Now scoot before security gets antsy, okay?"
"M-Mr. Stark-" The sliding doors shut in his face. Peter watched the older hero wave him off before he made his way to the elevator, a few of the other visitors immediately surrounding him to talk about something he couldn't make out.
That was Mr. Stark, he was sure of it, so why did he act like that? "What the heck's going on?" He backed away and debated crawling up to his office before thinking better of it. Mr. Stark had a reason for doing it, he had to. Maybe...Maybe someone was listening in? Maybe he had a plan and he couldn't tell anyone? If he got himself out of Titan then he had to have a plan, right?
Well...Mr. Stark seemed alright and so was the city, so maybe they saved the day after all? it would explain why he was back home again. Peter took a deep breath and swung his way back home. If Mr. Stark was safe then that meant they had some time, at least. He'd check in on May and Ned first, see if they were both alright. At least then he could see if he had to panic.
Peter breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he saw the window to his room. Ever since May found out about his identity he didn't have to sneak in any more, though the curfews made him wish for those days again. Nine o' clock sharp, she said, or he'd be grounded till he was in college. So far he wasn't dumb enough to test her on it. She'd screamed Mr. Stark's ear off (after the crying) when she found out.
As soon he was inside he knew something was wrong. His room looked different - no METS posters, no cobbled together computer and none of his half-finished science projects. Instead the room was neat and tidy with a sleek laptop on a nearby study desk. Did May redecorate? No, she wouldn't do that without telling him, and she wouldn't have had the time. The place was normal just last morning before he left.
He didn't get much time to think about it before the door suddenly opened. Peter snapped his head to the source and found himself face to face with a guy a year or two younger than him. The two of them just stared at one another, the guy's hand frozen on the knob while Peter was hunched warily, until he screamed.
"Dad! There's a burglar here!"
"What? No, no, no! I'm not a burglar!" His pleas were drowned out by the younger boy's continued screams. Peter heard the rushing pad of footsteps and soon enough a big man he assumed was the guy's dad barrelled into the room, a baseball bat in his hands, "Sir, please, let me explain!"
"Get the fuck outta here!" He swung the bat at his chest.
Peter ducked under the blow and backed away, both hands raised, "Look, it was a mistake! I thought this was my place-" He swung again. This time Peter jumped up to the roof and clung to the wall.
He expected them to be surprised, but seeing the look of absolute fear on their faces felt like a punch in the gut, "Richard, run!" The man pushed his kid towards the door and rushed towards the cabinet. His spider-sense blared softly just before the man pulled out a pistol and aimed it right for him, "Fucking spider freaks! You aren't going to hurt my son!"
Peter didn't stay to explain. He jumped through the open window and swung away, gunshots ringing behind him.
He waited till he was far enough away in Chinatown before he finally stopped. Peter put his hands on his knees and panted, ripping away his mask so he could breath easier. What the heck was that? The guy acted like he was some kind of crazy murderer or something! He knew it was a bad scene, but most people knew Spider-Man was a good guy, right?
Peter wiped away the sweat on his forehead and swallowed nervously. Okay, so the guy was overprotective; so what? May kinda freaked when she saw him in his room, though the reasons for different.
Still, what the heck happened back there? Did he make a mistake? May wasn't there - or maybe she was? he didn't get a chance to look - but he was sure that was his room, even if it did look pretty different. May couldn't have sold the apartment, so-
Screams from below jolted him out of his thoughts. Putting his mask back on, he looked over the edge and found an all too familiar sight, "Don't tell me you forgot! This week's protection money is due, motherfucker, and I don't take no excuses!" A large Black woman in a white fur coat grabbed an old man by the collar and pulled him close, her face marred by a deep scowl, "Do I gotta make an example out of you?!"
"N-No, please, sales weren't good this week! And my daughter's sick, I needed-"
"I don't give a damn about your damn daughter! Money every week, like I-"
Peter landed on a nearby lamppost, "Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" he said. The woman's scowl worsened and she looked up at him, "Might be a bit hard, though. Maybe lose the coat? Looks like it's adding a few pounds."
"Who the fuck are you?"
"Call me Spider-Man." She webbed her hand and yanked her away from the old man, "What's your name, soon to be jailed person?"
She didn't answer. Her scowl changed to a smirk and he saw something under her coat glow yellow before his spider-sense tingled. Peter jumped away and just barely avoided the large, golden rings that suddenly flew through the air at dangerous speeds, "Woah, that's new!" He swung through the barrage and clung to the nearby wall, "How are you generating those rings? Your belt isn't large enough to store all of them. Some kind of liquid compound, maybe?"
"Man, shut the fuck up!"
"You don't have to be so rude about it!" Peter swung through the next barrage and winced when one of the rings hit his shoulder. They packed a wallop! "So, really, what's your Supervillain name? Everyone has those, right?"
She shot another curse at him that he wasn't comfortable repeating. Sighing, Peter webbed her belt with a few balls of webbing till the entire hole was covered, "Think that's gonna work on me?!" She took aim again and...nothing. The web stretched slightly, the rings trying to push through, but nothing happened. Her right eye twitched and she tried again.
His spider-sense didn't warn him about the explosion. Peter's eyes widened at the sudden boom and the new wave of rings that suddenly shot out of the belt in all directions, "Oh, no, no, no!" He webbed as many as he could to the ground and walls. From what he could see the rings bounced around and the last thing he needed was anyone else getting hurt.
He was halfway to getting through them all when more of the rings were suddenly webbed down, "Hey, need some help?" A female voice asked. He caught a blur of black and white above him. He didn't have enough time to get a good look before another ring came for his neck and he dodged. Seriously, how did she fit it all in that in that one belt? It wasn't a liquid composite like his webbing.
When the last ring was finally taken down he got a chance to look at his rescuer. It was hard to tell from her crouching position on top of the car, but she looked about as tall as he was. She was covered her to to in a black and white costume that had smatterings of pink and teal on her arms and feet. On her head was a hood, though he didn't see why since she had a mask underneath it. It did looked cool, though.
The first thing that came to mind was 'female Spider-Man', and the webbing she had just made it worse. Was that egotistical of him? It wasn't like he was the only Spider hero around. Black Widow was one too.
"Thanks for the help." The lady with ring belt - Ringer! That sounded good - was on the ground, groaning and unconscious but still alive. Peter debated on whether he should web her down before the other Spider - Spider-Girl? Spider-Woman? She seemed like a Spider-Woman - did it first.
"Cool. By the way, we should probably get outta here before the cops arrive. They aren't exactly a fan of Spiders."
He didn't ask questions and just followed her. She swung through the air too, and she could cling to walls - if Mr. Stark were here (and he wasn't acting like he didn't know him) then he probably would've told Peter to start complaining about copyright.
She waited till they were on a billboard out of sight before she spoke, "We made a mess back there." She sighed and put her hands on her hips, "It's not like Spider-Woman isn't already walking on eggshells. Couldn't resist hitting the glowy belt, huh?"
"Sorry." He would've been the first to admit that he wasn't the neatest Superhero. He was just glad that no one got hurt this time...well, except Ringer, but she kinda deserved it.
"Ah, whatever, it's not like they don't already hate me." She waved a hand through the air, "So, what brings you to this dimension? More inter-dimensional Vampires coming to hunt us down or are you just sightseeing on one of the worst dimensions in the multiverse?"
"Um...what?" Peter blinked. Was that code for something.
"What? Did the Inheritors get out or not? Cause if not then I should probably tell you I'm already in the Web Warriors and that's been keeping me pretty busy on the inter-dimensional front-"
"Wait, wait, wait." Peter took a deep breath to calm himself, "Okay, um...I dunno how to say this so I'll just ask straight out: what the heck are you talking about?"
She looked at him blankly (maybe? it was hard to tell with the mask on) before she crossed her arms, "Alright, so just answer this question: you do know you're in an alternate dimension, right?"
"An alternate what?" Peter almost laughed, if only to try to calm himself, "Um...I mean, alternate dimensions have been theorized in some journals, but there's never been any proof just yet. We haven't even begun to understand how to access these alternate dimensions, assuming they really exist. I heard that S.H.I.E.L.D was making some headway before they got decomissioned-"
"Okay, just hold for a second." She put her hands on her waist again and started pacing, "...Crap, you didn't meant to come here, did you?" She didn't wait for him to answer, "Alright, um...I'm gonna have to do some explaining, so just wait here a sec, kay?"
She swung over the corner and disappeared from sight. Peter debated on following her before he sat down at the top of the billboard, his legs dangling over the edge. An alternate dimension? A weird explanation, but it'd definitely explain all the weirdness going on. And heck, Dr. Strange used magic and they tried to stop a giant purple dude with a weird chin from using gems to genocide half the galaxy. At this point he'd accept anything.
The other Spider returned eventually, carrying some sodas and corndogs in a clear plastic bag, "Sorry, didn't want to do this on an empty stomach." She sat next to him and placed the bag between them, raising the mask up to her nose, "Anyway, I'm not really one of the science-y types, so uh...alright, do you know waht the multiverse is? You've watched movies and read comics before, right?"
"Yeah, I mean...I kinda get it." Peter raised his own mask and took a sip of the soft drink only to cough. It tasted like liquid sugar, "Like something happens and it's like the roads diverge or something. Like there's one world where I sneeze and another where I don't sneeze and both of them exist at the time, right?"
"I guess? Like I said I'm not an expert." She shrugged, "Okay, so I'm guessing you didn't come here on your own or on purpose. What happened?"
"We were, uh..." He licked his lips. The memories of dying were still fresh, "Um...there was this alien guy called Thanos. He was crazy, thought that everything would be better if half of everyone just...died. We tried to stop him, but he got away and..." He took a slow breath, "I don't know what happened, but suddenly most of us just started...turning into dust, me included."
"Turning into dust?"
"Yeah. I mean, I know that sounds crazy-"
"Crazy? Did you not hear me about the inter-dimensional Vampires?" She snorted and took a bite out of one of the corndogs, "I'm no expert, but it sounds like whatever this Thane guy did it's what brought you here."
"Yeah..." He looked down at can, "I-I gotta go back. I gotta make sure everyone's alright. Mr. Stark, May, my friends...who knows what happened to them."
"May..." She pursed her lips briefly, "...I know I might just be beating a dead horse, but are you Peter Parker under that mask?"
He was tempted to refuse at first before eventually thinking better of it. He was in another dimension, who cared if another Superhero knew him? Besides, his spider-sense didn't warn him, just like when May and Ned found out, "Yeah." He took off his mask and placed it besides him. He probably looked like a mess, "How'd you know?" He turned to her and found her looking at him, mouth slightly open, "Wh-What's the matter?"
"Nothing, nothing, it's just...you're younger than I thought you'd be."
"Hey, I'm 17..." He hated being called a kid. He could stop a runaway truck with his bare hands, didn't that count for something?
"No, no, it's just...most of the other Spider guys I know are in their 20's." She set her food down and swung her legs idly, "Well, I think I can help you. I've got a dimensional watch back in my place. We just use it, port over to the Web Warriors base and we can have you back home before dinner."
"O-Oh, really? That'd be great!" He smiled. Finally something was going his way, "Hey, um, you seem to know who I am. Do I know you? In my...dimension, I mean."
"Ha, maybe, though I'm probably dead where you're from."
He didn't get a chance to respond to that before she suddenly pulled her mask off. Peter blinked and let out a small sound of recognition when he saw her face in full. It was somewhat hard to tell without the headband and the couple of extra years, but he definitely knew who it was. He couldn't believe it was her. The multiverse worked in weird ways, but at least it was someone he knew.
"Yeah, it's me, Gwen-"
"Betty Brant!"
An uncomfortable silence settled over the pair. Betty- Gwen's sheepish smile was replaced by a look of utter confusion. Peter suddenly felt swinging away, "Uh...what?" She gave him a look that that screamed 'what the hell?', "Um...no, not Betty. I'm Gwen Stacy."
"Gwen...Stacy? Uh..." Did he know a Gwen Stacy? "Uh...oh, there's a Gwen Stacy in Midtown! She's that transfer student from France! Ned has a crush on her! Is that you?"
"What? France? How does that even- no, you know what, I met the Indian version of you, I'm not gonna question it." She rolled her eyes and laughed wryly, "Is her dad the police chief?"
"Uh...I think? She said she transferred cause of her dad's job in law enforcement."
"Huh, so there's a world where I'm French. Who knew?" She put her mask back on and stood, "Know what, least it means I'm not dead. Come on, let's go to my place."
"Right behind you, uh...sorry, what was your name? Superhero name, I mean."
"Spider-Woman. So original, I know." She clicked her tongue and clapped him on the shoulder, "Guessing you're Spider-Man. Or is it Spider-Boy?" He could practically see the smile under he
"Spider-Man." Where was Karen when he needed her? Interrogation mode would've been really nice right about now, "So, uh...I'll follow your lead?"
"Sure. Keep up, Spidey!"
She jumped off the billboard and swung, Peter following after her soon afterwards. Maybe things were looking up.
Test chapter done. This was mostly setup, but I did use the last quarter to establish a communication between Gwen and Peter. Remember, I'm taking criticisms/suggestions for improvement given my lack of experience writing lighter characters.
And yes, there'll be a reason why MCU Spidey doesn't immediately go home in the next chapter, so don't worry about this being the only chapter.
Questions:
1. When in the Spider-Gwen timeline do you guys want this to take place? I'm torn between either it being during her early issues where she only had her dad for support and she was still being hunted by the cops or the current/later timeline where she gained control of Venom, exposed her identity and is presumably going to function as an unmasked hero under SHIELD. The former leads to more angst and depression on Gwen's POV's while the latter is there for readers who want a more lighthearted romp between two Spiders.
2. In the same way, do you guys want a Gwen that's already experienced in dimensional travel or someone who has no idea? The former allows her to be calmer when dealing with Peter (she'd already be used to alternate versions of him) while the latter makes her just as blind as him. If you guys pick the latter scenario I'll have to re-write the ending of this chapter.
3. So...romance or not? Personality wise these two could bounce off each other better- at the very least they won't be arguing and attacking each other. Their ages - Peter's 17-18 and Gwen's 19-20 - are close enough for it as well. If we don't go for a romance I can have Gwen and him being best buds/older sister and younger brother like Ultimate Gwen and Peter were, so give your thoughts.
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
First off, this is pretty sweet. I fell of your Noir/Gwen crossover awhile back and haven't found the time to catch up. If you're starting a new fic, I'm really happy I can jump on again. You're writing's fantastic and there's not enough good Spider-related fics that last around.
As for your questions...
1. I'd prefer earlier, since I'm not really up to date on Spider-Gwen. I'm actually not up to date on most comics. I should fix that...
2. That's slightly more complicated. While my gut says that having her already experienced with dimension hopping makes things too easy, I did like what you had already. It was different from what I've seen before and different can be interesting. So both options are good to me and I think my decision would actually be tied to the third question.
3. I'm actually pretty good with either romance or the older sister thing. I'm a sap and I love a good romance in my comic books but I also think that MCU Spider-Man is a character that works best with a mentor. Plus, the mentor roll isn't really one I've seen Gwen in before and I'd like to see that. So, I'm good with either. But to tie it back into what I was saying in the second question, I think that if you go with the Older Sister route, it makes more sense for Gwen to already know what's going on, since she's supposed to be the mentor. But if you go romance, she should be just as blind as Peter, since there's a metaphorical significance there. You know, figuring stuff out together.
As for your questions...
1. I'd prefer earlier, since I'm not really up to date on Spider-Gwen. I'm actually not up to date on most comics. I should fix that...
2. That's slightly more complicated. While my gut says that having her already experienced with dimension hopping makes things too easy, I did like what you had already. It was different from what I've seen before and different can be interesting. So both options are good to me and I think my decision would actually be tied to the third question.
3. I'm actually pretty good with either romance or the older sister thing. I'm a sap and I love a good romance in my comic books but I also think that MCU Spider-Man is a character that works best with a mentor. Plus, the mentor roll isn't really one I've seen Gwen in before and I'd like to see that. So, I'm good with either. But to tie it back into what I was saying in the second question, I think that if you go with the Older Sister route, it makes more sense for Gwen to already know what's going on, since she's supposed to be the mentor. But if you go romance, she should be just as blind as Peter, since there's a metaphorical significance there. You know, figuring stuff out together.
AXCN
Live to Read - (Shippers of many Ships)
This has potential. We'll have to see where it goes.
Anyway; considering the situation Peter finds himself in we really don't think romance is something that he would really be interested in right now. We'd rather see Gwen be the big sister in this. But that's just our opinion, you do you!
Anyway; considering the situation Peter finds himself in we really don't think romance is something that he would really be interested in right now. We'd rather see Gwen be the big sister in this. But that's just our opinion, you do you!
Hey, been a while since I saw you
Yeah, Looking Glass isn't doing so hot here, which I can blame on too fast updating and convoluted plot. This is easier.As for your questions...
1. Current votes list a preference for the later timeline, mostly so there's little angst.
2 and 3. There might be issues if we have her be inexperienced. In Looking Glass Noir and Gwen were similarly inexperienced and this led to scenes wherein both characters actively doubted whether Gwen really cared about Noir for who he was or she only did so because he's 'Peter Parker' for her. Having her be experienced would actually downplay this issue since then she would look past that 'he's Peter Parker' issue far faster and there's little identity angst like in Looking Glass.
As for the sister role, her mentorship isn't too obvious. Gwen has 2 years of experience on him and she dealt with more crap, but Peter also dealt with some heavy shit like Vulture, Thanos and some heavily implied off-screen adventures prior to Infinity War. Someone suggested a differing power dynamic if they enter a relationship, but I also had my doubts on that since, despite being older, Gwen was never in a relationship either and was utterly clueless to her two best guy friends having the hots for her. I guess people assume there's gonna be an imbalance since MCU Peter's such a cinnamon roll.[/QUOTE]
Huh, you're the one guy who's not into this romance. Neat.
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Chapter 2 - A New Fantastic Dimension
Wow...this ended up getting more attention than I anticipated (at least in other sites). So to follow up on the requests, here's the second chapter for the fic. Like before I just made it over the course of a few hours so it's probably not my best work, but I tried.
Anyway, this chapter is mostly setup and explanations on why MCU doesn't just leave. The next chapters are more where the story beats pick up.
Going by the voting poll, the current status quo is: Later Venomized timeline, Gwen experienced with dimensional travel, and an overwhelming desire for a romance between the pair. For those hoping for the opposite then I apologize, but I will add some angst and drama when appropriate, worry not.
Side Note - For Looking Glass readers, I wanna assure you: I am not putting in another stupid plot twist for MCU Spidey like I did for Noir despite their similar circumstances in Chapter 1. This is a more straightforward affair and an exercise in writing an Ideal Male hero and a more lighthearted romance/friendship. Just wanted to make that clear.
Chapter 2: A New Fantastic Dimension
Peter didn't know what he expected Spider-Woman's place would be like, but he definitely didn't think it'd be a smallish apartment that looked like a tornado ran through it. Spider-Woman ushered him through the window (classic) first before shutting it behind her, "Sorry about the mess." She picked up an empty packet of chips and tossed it at a nearby plastic bag, "Wasn't really expecting guests, you know?"
"Oh no, it's cool. Totally get it." He looked around the room. It was bigger than his room, though not by much. Every little inch of space was filled with either furniture, wrappers, books (none of which were in the bookcase, oddly enough, which was instead filled with CD's and albums) and various other knick-knacks, "I mean, I'm the same way. Should see my room back home. May always gets on my case to be neater.
"May..." She paused, "...Hey, I know this might be a dumb question to ask, but...is Ben Parker still..."
"He, uh, he died." And it was his fault. He was riding high on being Spider-Man that he thought a thief was too beneath him, "Could we not talk about him? Sorry, it's just-"
"Hey, you don't have to explain. Tragedy seems to follow us Spiders around." She squeezed his right shoulder briefly and nudged her head to the door, "Well, make yourself at home. I just need to find my portal watch and we'll be good to go."
Portal watch...she acted like something that could tear apart the fabric of reality was no big deal, "Cool..." They stared at one another for a few quiet seconds before he spoke up again, "Uh, I mean, yeah, I'll make myself at home."
"Mi casa es tu casa." She laughed, "There's some food in the fridge if you want something." She bent down and started rummaging through some stuff.
He was starving, actually, but he couldn't focus on eating anything right now. Mumbling his thanks, he left the room and plopped down on the small couch, taking off his mask as he did. The place wasn't much bigger than his and May's apartment, which was comforting in a way. Familiar, "Man, I hope they're alright..." Maybe he'd been wrong, maybe he wasn't dying and just panicked cause his Spider-Sense just overblew it. It did that sometimes.
It was better than the alternative, at least.
Minutes passed and eventually she stepped out of the room, a silver watch/gauntlet thing on her right wrist and her mask off again. Peter focused on her face again. She definitely looked like Betty Brant, he hadn't just been imagining that: same shade of blonde hair, same color of skin, same eyes...the only thing she didn't have was the headband and a few inches of hair.
"Found it. It was under a pizza box." She grinned lightly and ushered for him to stand, "You might wanna step back. Been a bit since I used this thing."
She tapped one of the buttons on the 'watch' and, before Peter could say anything, a blue portal suddenly opened on the rightmost wall. Peter's eyes widened and he almost jumped up the roof in surprise. He couldn't deny that a part of him didn't believe she could just casually pop between dimensions, especially not after he saw the state of her apartment, but there it was.
"Wow..." Peter mumbled.
"Yeah, that was my reaction when Billy recruited me." She winked and nudged him forward, "Now come on, get in. It's not going to bite or make you explode or anything."
"Uh...you first." Peter took a cautious step back, "May told me to never go through bright, interdimensional portals without making sure it was safe first. She's kind of a worrywart."
"Sounds just like Aunt May." Aunt May? That was weirdly close. Spider-Woman - Gwen, he reminded himself - rolled her eyes and stepped through the portal, "See, it's just fine. Now get your butt over here and- Oh, oh my god! What is that thing?! Aghhhhh!"
"Spider-Woman!"
He almost rushed through the portal before her head popped back up, an amused grin on her face, "Nah, just kidding. We're good."
"Oh my God!" Peter put both hands on his hair and was torn between screaming and laughing.
"Sorry, sorry! My friend Jess played that joke on us once and I didn't think I'd get another chance to play it on a newb, so..." Her grin never faded despite the supposed apologies, "You had to admit, it was pretty funny!"
"That's not funny! I thought some kind of interdimensional monster got you or something!"
"Interdimensional monster? You've been watching too much Stranger Things." She rolled her eyes again and offered him a hand, "Now seriously, get in here. Portals aren't meant to be open for long."
"Yeah...how do I know you're not the monster who ate Spider-Woman trying to lure me to my doom?"
"Huh, good point."
Without saying anything else she webbed him in the chest and pulled, dragging him through the portal. Peter raised both hands and closed his eyes as he stumbled through the blue gateway. It was odd. He expected it to feel like he was being pulled through dimensions (that felt cold, right?), but instead there was nothing. When Peter opened his eyes again he found himself on a corridor of what looked like an old castle.
"Wh-Where are we?" Peter asked, so surprised he paid no attention to the dangling bit of web attached to his chest.
"Depends. Technically it's Earth-001 according to the watch, but we kinda just call it homebase or loomworld. This is where the vampires I mentioned before used to live." The pointer finger on her left hand turned into a sharp claw and she used it to snip the webbing off. He was too shocked stupid to comment on it, "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone and then we can send you back. Hopefully Karn's not too hungry."
She led him to large room with a bunch of webs on the ceiling and walls and some pillars holding everything up. The first thing he noticed was the big, circular machine with spindly legs at the center roof. Inside it was a guy in a fancy blue coat that looked like something out a Victorian era play. Everything from his waist below was hidden by a hole in the machine he'd slotted himself into, leaving only his upper body exposed. His face was hidden by a weird metal diving mask, which Peter found kinda creepy.
"Honeys, I'm home!" Spider-Woman called.
The 'honeys' in question ended up just being two people, both of them also unmasked. The first one caught his attention immediately. Peter didn't know how to describe him (it was a him, right?). The closest thing he could say was cartoon pig, cause it definitely didn't look like any normal kind of pig with its big eyes, brown hair and red and blue costume.
That and he was eating what definitely looked like a ham sandwich and he didn't want to think about cannibalism.
The second one was a teenage girl who looked about the same age as him. Her costume was a red and dark blue ensemble that matched his and the cartoon pig's, though the web patterns were more numerous and she had what looked like web wings on her underarms. She looked up to greet them and he caught brown, almost auburn hair and wide blue eyes.
She was pretty. If he wasn't so worried about the fate of the entire universe he probably would've talked to Ned about her as soon as he got back.
"Gwen!" The other girl grinned and hugged Spider-Woman as soon as she was close enough, "Where the heck were you? You just dropped off the grid, like, a year ago!"
"Sorry about that." Spider-Woman laughed and returned the gesture before pushing her off gently, "I was dealing with Matt Murderdock. He kinda stole my watch, I went to jail for a bit, it was a bad trip." She sighed, "Anyway, I should be good now. Back to Web Warriors duty, if you need me."
"Good thing, then, cause we're kinda flaggin' here." The cartoon pig said. Somehow he sounded exactly like Peter thought he would; like someone out of Looney Tunes, "I mean everyone's agreed to help us, but you wouldn't believe how many of em go 'do you really need me for this?' any time we ask for help? It's like pulling teeth, I tell ya!"
"Heh...good to see you too, Ham," Spider-Woman said. Peter was mostly trying to wrap his head around the fact that a cartoon pig was named (or allowed people to call him) Ham. Wasn't that like calling a cartoon fish 'Fishsticks'? "Where's everyone else?"
"Lady Spider's back in her world with Billy. Patrolling, they said, but they're obviously going out. Anya's there as a 'chaperone', which means she's trying to make sure her crush doesn't get any." The blue and red Spider-Woman - Spider-Girl? Spider-Lady? He wasn't sure - rolled her eyes in amusement, "Octavia and Pavitr are in the lab designing some new gizmo-" she looked past Spider-Woman to him, "-hey, who's your friend?"
"Oh, sorry." Spider-Woman beckoned him closer and he reluctantly followed, "This is Spider-Man aka Peter Parker. He got dumped by my dimension by accident and I was hoping we could send him back."
"Another one? Man, you'd think whoever gave us our powers would let someone else have some fun," The cartoon pig said, "Well, kid, the name's Peter Porker, but you can just call me Spider-Ham. Now I know what you're thinking, and yes, that means I'm you as a pig. Don't ask, cause I dunno either."
"Uh..." Peter blinked. Honestly sounded less insane than the big purple dude with six gems that could blow up half the galaxy, "So...you were a pig bitten by a radioactive spider?"
"Nah, spider bitten by a radioactive pig." Peter just stared, "...Why does everyone act like that's such a weird thing? Not like you hairless apes getting bitten by radioactive spiders makes any more sense."
"Right..." The other Spider-Woman took his hand in a firm handshake, "Most people call me Mayday, but I usually go by Spider-Woman - Spider-Girl to a few stubborn guys who don't like the name change." She smiled at him, "Anyway, nice to meet you. Maybe once you deal with whatever dumped you in Gwen's place you'll think of joining the Web Warriors? I kinda need someone to sub in for me."
"O-Oh, uh, maybe?" Mr. Stark made him an Avenger on the ship, but he kinda doubted that would've stuck once Thanos was dealt with. Heat of the moment, Mr. Stark would say, "I mean, yeah, sure, if you think I could work." He was still shaking her hand...why was he still shaking her hand? Mayday was starting to look at him weird. God, he thought Liz would've taught him better. His face flushed, "So, uh-"
"This is Mayday Parker," Spider-Woman suddenly said, her face contorted in a weird expression.
"Parker?" His hand pulled back like it'd been zapped, "Wait...are you, like, a female version of me-"
"What? No! God, no!" Mayday (calling her Spider-Woman was hard with the other Spider-Woman there) gestured through the air and shook her head, "I'm...okay, I was kinda hoping to avoid this cause some of you guys always freak out when you find out, but I'm uh...I'm Peter Parker's - my Peter Parker's - daughter."
"Daughter...?" It took a few seconds for the word to register in his mind, and when it did the first thing he wanted to do was scream. He didn't, though he ended up looking green in the face, "Um...so, that's good to know."
"See, this is why I didn't want to deal with that can of worms." Mayday - 'his' daughter - sighed and turned to Spider-Woman, "Why'd you have to bring it up?"
"I had to! He was going to ask you out!"
"What?! N-No I wasn't!" Peter said, though his voice came out more feebly than he liked.
"Oh, please, you were smiling like a doof and shaking her hand way too long! Any longer and you would've asked her about the weather!" Spider-Woman scoffed while Mayday's face suddenly had a look of someone who had seen something that could never be unseen, "Trust me, better we rip the band-aid now before it got all Game of Thrones in here."
"Okay, zip it! I've been traumatized enough!" Mayday held up both hands and made a noise of disgust that Peter shared. Ham just laughed, "Ugh...damn it, Gwen, couldn't you have handled it better?"
"Honesty is the best policy." Spider-Woman shrugged shamelessly.
"Wow, um..." Peter swallowed to keep himself from throwing up and looked at Mayday again, "So...who's your mom? I mean can I find that out or will that cause your timeline to just pop out of existence?"
"It's alternate dimensions, Pete, not time travel," Spider-Woman said, "Anyway, apparently you ended up with MJ, which is kinda weird for me since my world's MJ and Peter weren't even friends."
"MJ..." Peter coughed as soon as the realization hit. There was only one person with that nickname he knew, "I-I end up with Michelle?" Not that there was anything wrong with Michelle, but considering she flipped him off at Homecoming he didn't think there was a lot of romance in that future.
"Michelle?" Mayday gave him a questioning look, "Who the heck's- no, MJ's short for Mary Jane. Mary Jane Watson?"
"Mary Jane..nope, sorry. I don't know anyone like that." Whoever she was she must've been a looker if Mayday was any- oh, God, make it stop!
"That makes one of us." Spider-Ham said, "In my world she's Mary Crane Watsow. My kid's Mayday Porker, if you're curious. She goes by Swiney girl."
Peter chose to ignore that in favor of covering his face with both hands and groaning. And he thought possibly dying was the most traumatizing thing he'd go through today. Spider-Woman used his trauma as a chance to speak up, "Look, Peter, could you give me a bit to talk with Karn? We need to find your home, so just sit tight."
"Yeah..." Peter took a few steps away from the old group and tried to put all vomit-inducing thoughts out of his head. He didn't know how these alternate dimensions worked, but the fact that he thought 'his' daughter was pretty was enough to make him wanna dunk his head in a bucket. One thing was for sure - he was definitely going to leave this out when he told Ned.
He stopped walking when he felt something crush underfoot. Looking down, he winced when he saw the mechanical spider twitching before it quickly deactived, "...Hope that wasn't too expensive." He scraped it off and watched as dozens of other mechanical spiders climbed around the webbing that covered the entirety of the room. What was it? He doubted it was just made by an oversized spider. Did the guy in the machine do it?
His eyes trailed after a few of the spiders before be caught sight of the dark figure skulking above, his face covered in a mask unlike the rest. Peter blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was there. A big guy dressed in all black, from his pants to his mask to his (kinda emo looking) trenchcoat. The two of the stared at one another, the other guy's face hidden under his mask, without either saying a word.
"Uh...hi?" Peter raised his hand and waved weakly.
He didn't say anything; just went back to focusing on the revolver in his hands. Peter was tempted to ask the others if he was supposed to be there before Mayday's voice came from behind him, "I see you met the grumpy uncle of our little family." The word 'family' made him cringe, but he managed to ignore it, "That's Spider-Man, though we just call him Noir because...well, just look at him."
"He doesn't mind?"
"Helps label. You'd be surprised how many Spider-Men pass through here." She crossed her arms and yelled, "Hey, Noir, get down here and say hi to our guest! Don't be rude!"
Peter heard him sigh before he dropped down. Peter stepped back slightly when he stood up to his full height. The guy was huge, "...Another one?" His voice came out in a rough rasp, like one of those 80's guys.
"Wait, what do you mean another one?" Peter asked.
"Either another Spider-Man or another Peter Parker. Both could apply to him," Mayday replied, "And yeah, to get that out of the way, he's the Peter Parker of his world, which is still in the 1930's. Like Ham said, Peter Parkers tend to be the go-to Spiders around the multiverse."
"Huh..." Well, at least he wasn't a cartoon pig. Still, did that mean he was going to end up looking like that when he got older? He kinda hoped so. 17 years old and still barely clearing 5'6. It was beginning to worry him, "So, uh, you're the Spider-Man in your world? What's that like?"
"You've read the history books," he muttered, "Let's just say you're lucky you ended up in a place that doesn't have genocidal racists in charge."
"Oh..." Right, World War II. Was that consistent throughout all the universes? If it was it kinda said bad things about how things were going, "So...why were you up there? And what were those bots for?"
"Keeping an eye on the web. Someone has to do it." He gave Mayday a pointed glance, which she responded to with an annoyed roll of the eyes, "The bots are supposed to do that, but people keep stepping on them." Peter cringed. He wondered how much it'd cost to pay back, "...I heard what happened to you. Someone sent you to Stacy's place?"
"Yeah...Thanos." Well, he couldn't be sure it was him, but he was pretty darn sure that it was.
"Thanos?" Mayday's brows furrowed worriedly, "I heard about him from dad. Something about how he got his hands on a gauntlet with six gems on it or something. Used it to kill half of the people in the universe because he was literally in love with death."
"Th-That's what he tried to do to us! Well...except for the in love with death thing. He did it because he thought the universe was overpopulated and that the only way to save everyone was to kill half of the people." It sounded crazy even saying it out loud. Peter was more into science than sociology or history, but he was pretty sure half the population suddenly being killed (transported to another dimension?) wouldn't solve any kind of problem.
"Love or a savior complex, madmen are madmen," Noir said, "I knew a guy who thought he could save the world by gassing innocent Jews to death. Didn't end so well for him."
"Yeah, yeah, you killed Hitler and Red Skull. That's impressive, but you don't have to keep bringing it up," Mayday said. Peter was more curious on what she'd been through to make killing Hitler and Red Skull seem boring.
"Wait, you had Thanos in your place?" he asked Mayday, who gave a nod in turn, "So...how did you guys beat him? Cause, like, Dr. Strange said there were 14 million something futures or something where we tried and failed."
"I...don't know exactly, sorry. It was before my time, back when my dad was still heroing, but I heard that they managed to undo the whole 'half of life got erased' thing. From what I heard Franklin Richards and the Fantastic Four ended up killing Thanos later, but I don't know the exact details. Maybe you could ask the F4 when you get back home?"
"We don't have a Fantastic Four..."
He was about to ask something else before Spider-Woman suddenly cut in, "Hey, Pete. Karn said the portal's ready. Apparently your world is Earth-19999?" It was? Huh, good to know. Spider-Woman turned from him to Noir and frowned, "Playing nice, Noir?"
"Don't have to worry about me, Stacy."
"Yeah, well, when you hide a sample of Venom and we have to find out after it dropped from your pocket during a fight..." Peter blinked. Venom? What did she mean by that? "We were lucky Pavitr was around to purify it. Seriously, getting a slice of demon goop? What in the fuck?"
"I was being prepared." He scowled.
"No, you were being stupid," Mayday said, deliberately slurring the word, "Next time maybe talk to your teammates instead of going behind our backs and nabbing something that nearly killed you guys while Billy and me were MIA?"
"Hasn't stopped Stacy from getting a little something of her own." He gestured to the floor next to her. Peter blinked in surprise at the group of small, black spiders that were crawling around. How did he not notice them before? "Pot calling the kettle black, huh?"
"Whatever, go back to your little brooding corner." She scoffed and walked towards the large blue portal in the center of the room. Peter got the feeling that there was bad blood between the two. Still, seeing it the portal a second time just wasn't as impressive, "Alright, so Karn rigged this place up so we could drop you off in a safe corner of New York. Right, Karn?"
"Yes, Ms. Stacy." Karn - the Vitorian era guy in the machine above them - said. His voice sounded off. Soft and raspy and muffled by his helmet, but besides that there was something about it that brought a chill down his spine "The portal should take him to his home."
"Oh...cool." Peter gulped nervously and looked back at Gwen, "Well...I guess this is it. Thanks for all your help."
"No prob." She smiled, "Go kick that big purple dude's ass. I'll drop by in a few days and give you a portal watch if you want it."
"Yeah, that'd be great." Peter took a deep breath and stepped closer to the portal. Once he got there he'd have to find Mr. Stark and May and everyone else and make sure they were all right. After that...well, Mr. Stark and the rest would know what to do, right? They had to.
He'd barely put a hand on the blue surface before he felt it, "No..." His spider-sense blared inside his skull, as strong as it did back in Titan. Before he could so much as let out a warning or a cry the biting chill from before returned. Peter raised his hand and screamed as the tips of his fingers turned to dust and blew away. It was happening. He was dying again.
"Peter!"
Peter fell and Spider-Women caught him, cradling him gently in her arms as best she could as she set him down on the ground. Just barely he heard Noir and Ham screaming too, the former groaning out a muffled curse while the latter squealed like a dying pig, "Karn, turn it off!" Noir screamed, his voice coming out in a hoarse scream, "God damn it, shut it off!"
The portal in front of him disappeared. Peter suddenly felt breath return and he sat up with a strangled gasp, Spider-Woman's arms wrapped around his shoulders to keep him steady. Behind him Noir was on his knees while Mayday patted his back and tried to her best to keep him upright. Ham was flat on the ground, his eyes blankly looking up at the ceiling.
"What...was that?" Ham said, "My spider-sense was going haywire, like I was being roasted over the world's worst spitfire."
"Yeah..." Noir stood up and pulled off his mask so he could breath easier, "What the hell did you do, Karn?"
"I did nothing untoward, Mr. Parker," Karn said. Despite the situation he was calm, creepily so, "Our previous method of transporation was damaging the web, so I merely tethered this chamber to the dimension briefly while the gate opened. This ensured that anything or anyone that passed through wouldn't cause damage. This also means, however, that anything that affected that strand of the the web affected us as well.
Mayday was the first to speak, "Meaning whatever happened back in Spider-Man's world..."
"It was happening here..." Peter finished. It happened the way he thought, then; he'd died, or at least it felt like it, "Thanos said that...that he was going to kill only half of everyone."
"Six of us in this room, three of us got punked. Seems about right," Ham looked down at his spilled sandwich and groaned, "Oh, my sandwich! Dang it!"
"Or it only affected Peter Parkers," Noir said, "If you turned to dust before ending up in Stacy's place then that means anyone like you is persona non grata as far as your place is concerned."
"Th-That's..." That meant he couldn't go back, right? Peter's breath increased in pitch and Spider-Woman hugged him tighter. It helped, "S-So, how am I going to..."
"You cannot, at least not as of this moment," Karn said, "Whatever event happened in your universe - this power that rendered half of all life non-existent - has left its mark on you as well. Until those that remain fix the problem or we find a way to shield you from its effects then you cannot return." He paused, "My apologies for this. I know what it's like to be banished from your home."
"B-But I can't be!" Peter stood up and stared Karn dead on with a pleading gaze, "Th-There has to be some other way! Maybe if we open the portal again we can-"
"You open that portal again and all three of us are gonna die." Noir snarled, "Kid, you got a raw deal, but committing suicide ain't gonna help."
"B-But...they need me." Mr. Stark, May, Ned, his friends, the entire universe...he could still fight, he could still try to undo whatever it was Thanos did to them all, "I can't just stay here and not do anything!"
"I will try to find a way to return you to you world, Mr. Parker, but until then you cannot take that risk," Karn said, "For now I suggest you return to Earth-65. Your presence here in the loomworld is a risk due to its proximity to the web of life itself."
"Wait, what?" Spider-Woman asked, "So you're saying he's stuck in my world?"
"It appears so, Ms. Stacy. Whatever force sent him there I can only assume that it meant for him to stay there as well, at least for the time being," Karin said, "Please send Mr. Parker back to your world. We must discuss recent events."
"But..." She looked down at Peter, her face etched in a frown, "I...okay. Peter, go back to the apartment for a bit, kay? I'll catch up."
Gwen opened another portal and watched him hesitate to go through. Suddenly she felt like an ass for that joke she played earlier. She waited till he was gone before looking back at Karn, "Okay, so what's the deal? Why can't we send him back? I mean I know you said that thing with connected dimensions, but-"
"I cannot send him back, not unless you wish his death." She cringed. No, she definitely didn't wish that, "I'm not aware of whether he was specifically marked for death by this Thanos or it was by chance, but the effects are all too clear. Mr. Parker is, to quote the dark Spider-Man, persona non-grata in that universe. I can only assume your world is a sanctuary for him."
"So...what do we do? You said that you'd try to find a way, but..."
"Something tells me the kid's gonna be stuck for a while," Noir said. Gwen scowled at him, "Hey, I wasn't the one who put him here, so ease up on the growling there, Stacy. You weren't the one who nearly got turned into chalk."
"I hate to say it, but I agree with Noir. Seems like this is a long haul problem." Mayday crossed her arms and frowned, "We'll see what we can do here with Karn, so just call us if you need anything. We'll drop by and visit, make sure that d- uh, Peter is settling in alright."
"Yeah...count me out on that second part. Something tells me cartoon pigs aren't welcome wherever Spider-Gwen's staying," Ham said.
"Please stop calling me that." Gwen sighed. Bad enough that press was calling her that back home, cause apparently Spider-Gwen was so much catchier than Spider-Woman. Even some of the Supervills were getting in on it, "Alright, look, it's been a long day and I'm fucking beat. I'll let Pete stay over at my place till we think of a better solution. Anyone gets any ideas you contact me immediately, got it?"
"Sure, Gwen."
"Whatever you say, Stacy."
"Yupperino, Spider-Gwen."
Sighing, Gwen opened another portal to her apartment living room and trudged through it. This was a disaster. Her identity was outed just a few days ago and she definitely wasn't in the right place to be dealing with this right now. Then again, she thought glumly, it wasn't like she was at her best when she helped out Miles with that thing with his dad. At least this time she didn't have Murderdock hanging over her and the cops weren't chasing her any more.
Thank you, Captain America.
If there was one thing she didn't expect to see when she got through the portal, it was seeing Betty and Peter talking on the couch like all was right in the world. Her bandmate's head snapped up when she stepped through, her face locked in a grin, "Gwen! You're back!" Betty practically tackled her in an embrace. Betty was always the huggy type, but it went into overdrive recently, "I met your new pal! He's neat!"
"Uh...yeah, I guess he is?" She looked past Betty at Peter who only shrugged helplessly, a weak smile on his face.
"Can we keep him?" She went back to the couch and wrapped an arm around Peter's neck to pull him close, his head hitting against the side of her chest. His face flushed an adorable - where did that come from? - shade of red, though Betty didn't notice or care, "Please, can we keep him? I promise I'll feed him and walk him and give him belly rubs! And Murderface'll love him!"
"Betty, he's not a dog! And no, he's not a spider either!" Gwen was torn between groaning and laughing. Betty always had a way of up-ending the mood, "Look, he's gonna be staying here for a few, alright? He can take the couch."
"So...we are keeping him!" Before Gwen could say anything else she whooped and left, barely calling out an "I'm gonna go get some takeout!" as she did.
The two of them just stood there in awkward silence for a few seconds before Gwen sighed, "So...I had a chat with Karn. He, uh, said that he'll try to find a way to get you back, but till then it's best if you stayed here."
"Here? You mean, like, here in your apartment here?" Despite everything he still seemed to find that something to be embarrassed about. It was both funny and sad, "I mean, is that a good idea?"
"Well, unless you have any other place to stay."
"No. I mean, I don't know anyone else here..." He looked down.
"Thought so." She sighed, "Look, it's cool. You can stay here till we figure out something better. We're Spiders, we should be good at squeezing through." She grinned weakly and punched him in the shoulder, "Besides, Betty seems to like you."
"Yeah, she caught me when I was walking out that portal. Started asking me a lot of questions when she saw the costume." He laughed softly, "Still can't believe that's supposed to be Betty Brant. I mean, she doesn't look or act anything like the one I know."
"In your world I'm French and in another you end up marrying one of my best friends. The multiverse is a weird place." That wasn't even mentioning the versions of him that were either cartoon pigs or just annoying jackasses. Then again, a part of her thought bitterly, at least Ham and Noir were still alive, "I'll go find some shirts that can fit you. We'll talk tomorrow about what we can do, okay?"
"Yeah...and uh, thank you. For everything." Gwen stopped. It was odd, hearing those two simple words. Up until she'd been declared innocent the most common two words she got for her daring rescues were 'fuck off'. Sometimes she still got them, "I mean it. I'd be dead without you, Spider-Woman-"
"Gwen."
"Huh?"
"It's Gwen, remember? Not Spider-Woman, at least not to friends." She stuck her hand out and he took it in a firm handshake, "And don't worry about it. Like I said before, us Spiders gotta stick together."
"Yeah, well...thanks again, Gwen." He smiled.
"You're welcome, Pete."
So yeah, MCU Spidey is stuck and currently has no way back unless Karn manages to BS a way around the Infinity Stones. The next chapter will delve more into Gwen's current status quo, having the two protags talk more about themselves and, something I'm sure some readers are looking forward to, meeting the rest of the Mary Janes band. Given Spidey's reaction to Mayday (ick, ick, ick!) something tells me he might like redheads
This chapter was supposed to be longer, but again for the purposes of not dragging or overwhelming readers I try to keep to 5k-6k words.
Anyway, the next Spider-Gwen is coming out soon. Between that, the Into the Spider-Verse movie and Spider-Geddon (that has both Noir and Gwen it ) I'm definitely getting a lot of material for both this and Looking Glass.
Question:
1. Where do you want the focus to be for the story? I'm currently torn between doing villain of the week stories or just sidelining the bad guys and action in favor of just a Superhero slice of life between the two leads. So far I'm leaning towards the latter to fit the tone. That's not to say there won't be fighting or action, but it'll be rare and more a way for the leads to interact and bond.
2. Would you guys prefer a more limited/focused cast or a more varying one? The dimensional portal allows the story access to other dimensions, so characters like the ones from 616 or Amazing 8 (utopia where Gwen married Miles) could work...or even Tsum Tsum Spider-Man, if MCU isn't enough of a cinnamon roll. If we wanna keep it focused then we'll just stick to Earth-65 with the occasional visits to Loomworld.
Anyway, this chapter is mostly setup and explanations on why MCU doesn't just leave. The next chapters are more where the story beats pick up.
Going by the voting poll, the current status quo is: Later Venomized timeline, Gwen experienced with dimensional travel, and an overwhelming desire for a romance between the pair. For those hoping for the opposite then I apologize, but I will add some angst and drama when appropriate, worry not.
Side Note - For Looking Glass readers, I wanna assure you: I am not putting in another stupid plot twist for MCU Spidey like I did for Noir despite their similar circumstances in Chapter 1. This is a more straightforward affair and an exercise in writing an Ideal Male hero and a more lighthearted romance/friendship. Just wanted to make that clear.
Chapter 2: A New Fantastic Dimension
Peter didn't know what he expected Spider-Woman's place would be like, but he definitely didn't think it'd be a smallish apartment that looked like a tornado ran through it. Spider-Woman ushered him through the window (classic) first before shutting it behind her, "Sorry about the mess." She picked up an empty packet of chips and tossed it at a nearby plastic bag, "Wasn't really expecting guests, you know?"
"Oh no, it's cool. Totally get it." He looked around the room. It was bigger than his room, though not by much. Every little inch of space was filled with either furniture, wrappers, books (none of which were in the bookcase, oddly enough, which was instead filled with CD's and albums) and various other knick-knacks, "I mean, I'm the same way. Should see my room back home. May always gets on my case to be neater.
"May..." She paused, "...Hey, I know this might be a dumb question to ask, but...is Ben Parker still..."
"He, uh, he died." And it was his fault. He was riding high on being Spider-Man that he thought a thief was too beneath him, "Could we not talk about him? Sorry, it's just-"
"Hey, you don't have to explain. Tragedy seems to follow us Spiders around." She squeezed his right shoulder briefly and nudged her head to the door, "Well, make yourself at home. I just need to find my portal watch and we'll be good to go."
Portal watch...she acted like something that could tear apart the fabric of reality was no big deal, "Cool..." They stared at one another for a few quiet seconds before he spoke up again, "Uh, I mean, yeah, I'll make myself at home."
"Mi casa es tu casa." She laughed, "There's some food in the fridge if you want something." She bent down and started rummaging through some stuff.
He was starving, actually, but he couldn't focus on eating anything right now. Mumbling his thanks, he left the room and plopped down on the small couch, taking off his mask as he did. The place wasn't much bigger than his and May's apartment, which was comforting in a way. Familiar, "Man, I hope they're alright..." Maybe he'd been wrong, maybe he wasn't dying and just panicked cause his Spider-Sense just overblew it. It did that sometimes.
It was better than the alternative, at least.
Minutes passed and eventually she stepped out of the room, a silver watch/gauntlet thing on her right wrist and her mask off again. Peter focused on her face again. She definitely looked like Betty Brant, he hadn't just been imagining that: same shade of blonde hair, same color of skin, same eyes...the only thing she didn't have was the headband and a few inches of hair.
"Found it. It was under a pizza box." She grinned lightly and ushered for him to stand, "You might wanna step back. Been a bit since I used this thing."
She tapped one of the buttons on the 'watch' and, before Peter could say anything, a blue portal suddenly opened on the rightmost wall. Peter's eyes widened and he almost jumped up the roof in surprise. He couldn't deny that a part of him didn't believe she could just casually pop between dimensions, especially not after he saw the state of her apartment, but there it was.
"Wow..." Peter mumbled.
"Yeah, that was my reaction when Billy recruited me." She winked and nudged him forward, "Now come on, get in. It's not going to bite or make you explode or anything."
"Uh...you first." Peter took a cautious step back, "May told me to never go through bright, interdimensional portals without making sure it was safe first. She's kind of a worrywart."
"Sounds just like Aunt May." Aunt May? That was weirdly close. Spider-Woman - Gwen, he reminded himself - rolled her eyes and stepped through the portal, "See, it's just fine. Now get your butt over here and- Oh, oh my god! What is that thing?! Aghhhhh!"
"Spider-Woman!"
He almost rushed through the portal before her head popped back up, an amused grin on her face, "Nah, just kidding. We're good."
"Oh my God!" Peter put both hands on his hair and was torn between screaming and laughing.
"Sorry, sorry! My friend Jess played that joke on us once and I didn't think I'd get another chance to play it on a newb, so..." Her grin never faded despite the supposed apologies, "You had to admit, it was pretty funny!"
"That's not funny! I thought some kind of interdimensional monster got you or something!"
"Interdimensional monster? You've been watching too much Stranger Things." She rolled her eyes again and offered him a hand, "Now seriously, get in here. Portals aren't meant to be open for long."
"Yeah...how do I know you're not the monster who ate Spider-Woman trying to lure me to my doom?"
"Huh, good point."
Without saying anything else she webbed him in the chest and pulled, dragging him through the portal. Peter raised both hands and closed his eyes as he stumbled through the blue gateway. It was odd. He expected it to feel like he was being pulled through dimensions (that felt cold, right?), but instead there was nothing. When Peter opened his eyes again he found himself on a corridor of what looked like an old castle.
"Wh-Where are we?" Peter asked, so surprised he paid no attention to the dangling bit of web attached to his chest.
"Depends. Technically it's Earth-001 according to the watch, but we kinda just call it homebase or loomworld. This is where the vampires I mentioned before used to live." The pointer finger on her left hand turned into a sharp claw and she used it to snip the webbing off. He was too shocked stupid to comment on it, "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone and then we can send you back. Hopefully Karn's not too hungry."
She led him to large room with a bunch of webs on the ceiling and walls and some pillars holding everything up. The first thing he noticed was the big, circular machine with spindly legs at the center roof. Inside it was a guy in a fancy blue coat that looked like something out a Victorian era play. Everything from his waist below was hidden by a hole in the machine he'd slotted himself into, leaving only his upper body exposed. His face was hidden by a weird metal diving mask, which Peter found kinda creepy.
"Honeys, I'm home!" Spider-Woman called.
The 'honeys' in question ended up just being two people, both of them also unmasked. The first one caught his attention immediately. Peter didn't know how to describe him (it was a him, right?). The closest thing he could say was cartoon pig, cause it definitely didn't look like any normal kind of pig with its big eyes, brown hair and red and blue costume.
That and he was eating what definitely looked like a ham sandwich and he didn't want to think about cannibalism.
The second one was a teenage girl who looked about the same age as him. Her costume was a red and dark blue ensemble that matched his and the cartoon pig's, though the web patterns were more numerous and she had what looked like web wings on her underarms. She looked up to greet them and he caught brown, almost auburn hair and wide blue eyes.
She was pretty. If he wasn't so worried about the fate of the entire universe he probably would've talked to Ned about her as soon as he got back.
"Gwen!" The other girl grinned and hugged Spider-Woman as soon as she was close enough, "Where the heck were you? You just dropped off the grid, like, a year ago!"
"Sorry about that." Spider-Woman laughed and returned the gesture before pushing her off gently, "I was dealing with Matt Murderdock. He kinda stole my watch, I went to jail for a bit, it was a bad trip." She sighed, "Anyway, I should be good now. Back to Web Warriors duty, if you need me."
"Good thing, then, cause we're kinda flaggin' here." The cartoon pig said. Somehow he sounded exactly like Peter thought he would; like someone out of Looney Tunes, "I mean everyone's agreed to help us, but you wouldn't believe how many of em go 'do you really need me for this?' any time we ask for help? It's like pulling teeth, I tell ya!"
"Heh...good to see you too, Ham," Spider-Woman said. Peter was mostly trying to wrap his head around the fact that a cartoon pig was named (or allowed people to call him) Ham. Wasn't that like calling a cartoon fish 'Fishsticks'? "Where's everyone else?"
"Lady Spider's back in her world with Billy. Patrolling, they said, but they're obviously going out. Anya's there as a 'chaperone', which means she's trying to make sure her crush doesn't get any." The blue and red Spider-Woman - Spider-Girl? Spider-Lady? He wasn't sure - rolled her eyes in amusement, "Octavia and Pavitr are in the lab designing some new gizmo-" she looked past Spider-Woman to him, "-hey, who's your friend?"
"Oh, sorry." Spider-Woman beckoned him closer and he reluctantly followed, "This is Spider-Man aka Peter Parker. He got dumped by my dimension by accident and I was hoping we could send him back."
"Another one? Man, you'd think whoever gave us our powers would let someone else have some fun," The cartoon pig said, "Well, kid, the name's Peter Porker, but you can just call me Spider-Ham. Now I know what you're thinking, and yes, that means I'm you as a pig. Don't ask, cause I dunno either."
"Uh..." Peter blinked. Honestly sounded less insane than the big purple dude with six gems that could blow up half the galaxy, "So...you were a pig bitten by a radioactive spider?"
"Nah, spider bitten by a radioactive pig." Peter just stared, "...Why does everyone act like that's such a weird thing? Not like you hairless apes getting bitten by radioactive spiders makes any more sense."
"Right..." The other Spider-Woman took his hand in a firm handshake, "Most people call me Mayday, but I usually go by Spider-Woman - Spider-Girl to a few stubborn guys who don't like the name change." She smiled at him, "Anyway, nice to meet you. Maybe once you deal with whatever dumped you in Gwen's place you'll think of joining the Web Warriors? I kinda need someone to sub in for me."
"O-Oh, uh, maybe?" Mr. Stark made him an Avenger on the ship, but he kinda doubted that would've stuck once Thanos was dealt with. Heat of the moment, Mr. Stark would say, "I mean, yeah, sure, if you think I could work." He was still shaking her hand...why was he still shaking her hand? Mayday was starting to look at him weird. God, he thought Liz would've taught him better. His face flushed, "So, uh-"
"This is Mayday Parker," Spider-Woman suddenly said, her face contorted in a weird expression.
"Parker?" His hand pulled back like it'd been zapped, "Wait...are you, like, a female version of me-"
"What? No! God, no!" Mayday (calling her Spider-Woman was hard with the other Spider-Woman there) gestured through the air and shook her head, "I'm...okay, I was kinda hoping to avoid this cause some of you guys always freak out when you find out, but I'm uh...I'm Peter Parker's - my Peter Parker's - daughter."
"Daughter...?" It took a few seconds for the word to register in his mind, and when it did the first thing he wanted to do was scream. He didn't, though he ended up looking green in the face, "Um...so, that's good to know."
"See, this is why I didn't want to deal with that can of worms." Mayday - 'his' daughter - sighed and turned to Spider-Woman, "Why'd you have to bring it up?"
"I had to! He was going to ask you out!"
"What?! N-No I wasn't!" Peter said, though his voice came out more feebly than he liked.
"Oh, please, you were smiling like a doof and shaking her hand way too long! Any longer and you would've asked her about the weather!" Spider-Woman scoffed while Mayday's face suddenly had a look of someone who had seen something that could never be unseen, "Trust me, better we rip the band-aid now before it got all Game of Thrones in here."
"Okay, zip it! I've been traumatized enough!" Mayday held up both hands and made a noise of disgust that Peter shared. Ham just laughed, "Ugh...damn it, Gwen, couldn't you have handled it better?"
"Honesty is the best policy." Spider-Woman shrugged shamelessly.
"Wow, um..." Peter swallowed to keep himself from throwing up and looked at Mayday again, "So...who's your mom? I mean can I find that out or will that cause your timeline to just pop out of existence?"
"It's alternate dimensions, Pete, not time travel," Spider-Woman said, "Anyway, apparently you ended up with MJ, which is kinda weird for me since my world's MJ and Peter weren't even friends."
"MJ..." Peter coughed as soon as the realization hit. There was only one person with that nickname he knew, "I-I end up with Michelle?" Not that there was anything wrong with Michelle, but considering she flipped him off at Homecoming he didn't think there was a lot of romance in that future.
"Michelle?" Mayday gave him a questioning look, "Who the heck's- no, MJ's short for Mary Jane. Mary Jane Watson?"
"Mary Jane..nope, sorry. I don't know anyone like that." Whoever she was she must've been a looker if Mayday was any- oh, God, make it stop!
"That makes one of us." Spider-Ham said, "In my world she's Mary Crane Watsow. My kid's Mayday Porker, if you're curious. She goes by Swiney girl."
Peter chose to ignore that in favor of covering his face with both hands and groaning. And he thought possibly dying was the most traumatizing thing he'd go through today. Spider-Woman used his trauma as a chance to speak up, "Look, Peter, could you give me a bit to talk with Karn? We need to find your home, so just sit tight."
"Yeah..." Peter took a few steps away from the old group and tried to put all vomit-inducing thoughts out of his head. He didn't know how these alternate dimensions worked, but the fact that he thought 'his' daughter was pretty was enough to make him wanna dunk his head in a bucket. One thing was for sure - he was definitely going to leave this out when he told Ned.
He stopped walking when he felt something crush underfoot. Looking down, he winced when he saw the mechanical spider twitching before it quickly deactived, "...Hope that wasn't too expensive." He scraped it off and watched as dozens of other mechanical spiders climbed around the webbing that covered the entirety of the room. What was it? He doubted it was just made by an oversized spider. Did the guy in the machine do it?
His eyes trailed after a few of the spiders before be caught sight of the dark figure skulking above, his face covered in a mask unlike the rest. Peter blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was there. A big guy dressed in all black, from his pants to his mask to his (kinda emo looking) trenchcoat. The two of the stared at one another, the other guy's face hidden under his mask, without either saying a word.
"Uh...hi?" Peter raised his hand and waved weakly.
He didn't say anything; just went back to focusing on the revolver in his hands. Peter was tempted to ask the others if he was supposed to be there before Mayday's voice came from behind him, "I see you met the grumpy uncle of our little family." The word 'family' made him cringe, but he managed to ignore it, "That's Spider-Man, though we just call him Noir because...well, just look at him."
"He doesn't mind?"
"Helps label. You'd be surprised how many Spider-Men pass through here." She crossed her arms and yelled, "Hey, Noir, get down here and say hi to our guest! Don't be rude!"
Peter heard him sigh before he dropped down. Peter stepped back slightly when he stood up to his full height. The guy was huge, "...Another one?" His voice came out in a rough rasp, like one of those 80's guys.
"Wait, what do you mean another one?" Peter asked.
"Either another Spider-Man or another Peter Parker. Both could apply to him," Mayday replied, "And yeah, to get that out of the way, he's the Peter Parker of his world, which is still in the 1930's. Like Ham said, Peter Parkers tend to be the go-to Spiders around the multiverse."
"Huh..." Well, at least he wasn't a cartoon pig. Still, did that mean he was going to end up looking like that when he got older? He kinda hoped so. 17 years old and still barely clearing 5'6. It was beginning to worry him, "So, uh, you're the Spider-Man in your world? What's that like?"
"You've read the history books," he muttered, "Let's just say you're lucky you ended up in a place that doesn't have genocidal racists in charge."
"Oh..." Right, World War II. Was that consistent throughout all the universes? If it was it kinda said bad things about how things were going, "So...why were you up there? And what were those bots for?"
"Keeping an eye on the web. Someone has to do it." He gave Mayday a pointed glance, which she responded to with an annoyed roll of the eyes, "The bots are supposed to do that, but people keep stepping on them." Peter cringed. He wondered how much it'd cost to pay back, "...I heard what happened to you. Someone sent you to Stacy's place?"
"Yeah...Thanos." Well, he couldn't be sure it was him, but he was pretty darn sure that it was.
"Thanos?" Mayday's brows furrowed worriedly, "I heard about him from dad. Something about how he got his hands on a gauntlet with six gems on it or something. Used it to kill half of the people in the universe because he was literally in love with death."
"Th-That's what he tried to do to us! Well...except for the in love with death thing. He did it because he thought the universe was overpopulated and that the only way to save everyone was to kill half of the people." It sounded crazy even saying it out loud. Peter was more into science than sociology or history, but he was pretty sure half the population suddenly being killed (transported to another dimension?) wouldn't solve any kind of problem.
"Love or a savior complex, madmen are madmen," Noir said, "I knew a guy who thought he could save the world by gassing innocent Jews to death. Didn't end so well for him."
"Yeah, yeah, you killed Hitler and Red Skull. That's impressive, but you don't have to keep bringing it up," Mayday said. Peter was more curious on what she'd been through to make killing Hitler and Red Skull seem boring.
"Wait, you had Thanos in your place?" he asked Mayday, who gave a nod in turn, "So...how did you guys beat him? Cause, like, Dr. Strange said there were 14 million something futures or something where we tried and failed."
"I...don't know exactly, sorry. It was before my time, back when my dad was still heroing, but I heard that they managed to undo the whole 'half of life got erased' thing. From what I heard Franklin Richards and the Fantastic Four ended up killing Thanos later, but I don't know the exact details. Maybe you could ask the F4 when you get back home?"
"We don't have a Fantastic Four..."
He was about to ask something else before Spider-Woman suddenly cut in, "Hey, Pete. Karn said the portal's ready. Apparently your world is Earth-19999?" It was? Huh, good to know. Spider-Woman turned from him to Noir and frowned, "Playing nice, Noir?"
"Don't have to worry about me, Stacy."
"Yeah, well, when you hide a sample of Venom and we have to find out after it dropped from your pocket during a fight..." Peter blinked. Venom? What did she mean by that? "We were lucky Pavitr was around to purify it. Seriously, getting a slice of demon goop? What in the fuck?"
"I was being prepared." He scowled.
"No, you were being stupid," Mayday said, deliberately slurring the word, "Next time maybe talk to your teammates instead of going behind our backs and nabbing something that nearly killed you guys while Billy and me were MIA?"
"Hasn't stopped Stacy from getting a little something of her own." He gestured to the floor next to her. Peter blinked in surprise at the group of small, black spiders that were crawling around. How did he not notice them before? "Pot calling the kettle black, huh?"
"Whatever, go back to your little brooding corner." She scoffed and walked towards the large blue portal in the center of the room. Peter got the feeling that there was bad blood between the two. Still, seeing it the portal a second time just wasn't as impressive, "Alright, so Karn rigged this place up so we could drop you off in a safe corner of New York. Right, Karn?"
"Yes, Ms. Stacy." Karn - the Vitorian era guy in the machine above them - said. His voice sounded off. Soft and raspy and muffled by his helmet, but besides that there was something about it that brought a chill down his spine "The portal should take him to his home."
"Oh...cool." Peter gulped nervously and looked back at Gwen, "Well...I guess this is it. Thanks for all your help."
"No prob." She smiled, "Go kick that big purple dude's ass. I'll drop by in a few days and give you a portal watch if you want it."
"Yeah, that'd be great." Peter took a deep breath and stepped closer to the portal. Once he got there he'd have to find Mr. Stark and May and everyone else and make sure they were all right. After that...well, Mr. Stark and the rest would know what to do, right? They had to.
He'd barely put a hand on the blue surface before he felt it, "No..." His spider-sense blared inside his skull, as strong as it did back in Titan. Before he could so much as let out a warning or a cry the biting chill from before returned. Peter raised his hand and screamed as the tips of his fingers turned to dust and blew away. It was happening. He was dying again.
"Peter!"
Peter fell and Spider-Women caught him, cradling him gently in her arms as best she could as she set him down on the ground. Just barely he heard Noir and Ham screaming too, the former groaning out a muffled curse while the latter squealed like a dying pig, "Karn, turn it off!" Noir screamed, his voice coming out in a hoarse scream, "God damn it, shut it off!"
The portal in front of him disappeared. Peter suddenly felt breath return and he sat up with a strangled gasp, Spider-Woman's arms wrapped around his shoulders to keep him steady. Behind him Noir was on his knees while Mayday patted his back and tried to her best to keep him upright. Ham was flat on the ground, his eyes blankly looking up at the ceiling.
"What...was that?" Ham said, "My spider-sense was going haywire, like I was being roasted over the world's worst spitfire."
"Yeah..." Noir stood up and pulled off his mask so he could breath easier, "What the hell did you do, Karn?"
"I did nothing untoward, Mr. Parker," Karn said. Despite the situation he was calm, creepily so, "Our previous method of transporation was damaging the web, so I merely tethered this chamber to the dimension briefly while the gate opened. This ensured that anything or anyone that passed through wouldn't cause damage. This also means, however, that anything that affected that strand of the the web affected us as well.
Mayday was the first to speak, "Meaning whatever happened back in Spider-Man's world..."
"It was happening here..." Peter finished. It happened the way he thought, then; he'd died, or at least it felt like it, "Thanos said that...that he was going to kill only half of everyone."
"Six of us in this room, three of us got punked. Seems about right," Ham looked down at his spilled sandwich and groaned, "Oh, my sandwich! Dang it!"
"Or it only affected Peter Parkers," Noir said, "If you turned to dust before ending up in Stacy's place then that means anyone like you is persona non grata as far as your place is concerned."
"Th-That's..." That meant he couldn't go back, right? Peter's breath increased in pitch and Spider-Woman hugged him tighter. It helped, "S-So, how am I going to..."
"You cannot, at least not as of this moment," Karn said, "Whatever event happened in your universe - this power that rendered half of all life non-existent - has left its mark on you as well. Until those that remain fix the problem or we find a way to shield you from its effects then you cannot return." He paused, "My apologies for this. I know what it's like to be banished from your home."
"B-But I can't be!" Peter stood up and stared Karn dead on with a pleading gaze, "Th-There has to be some other way! Maybe if we open the portal again we can-"
"You open that portal again and all three of us are gonna die." Noir snarled, "Kid, you got a raw deal, but committing suicide ain't gonna help."
"B-But...they need me." Mr. Stark, May, Ned, his friends, the entire universe...he could still fight, he could still try to undo whatever it was Thanos did to them all, "I can't just stay here and not do anything!"
"I will try to find a way to return you to you world, Mr. Parker, but until then you cannot take that risk," Karn said, "For now I suggest you return to Earth-65. Your presence here in the loomworld is a risk due to its proximity to the web of life itself."
"Wait, what?" Spider-Woman asked, "So you're saying he's stuck in my world?"
"It appears so, Ms. Stacy. Whatever force sent him there I can only assume that it meant for him to stay there as well, at least for the time being," Karin said, "Please send Mr. Parker back to your world. We must discuss recent events."
"But..." She looked down at Peter, her face etched in a frown, "I...okay. Peter, go back to the apartment for a bit, kay? I'll catch up."
Gwen opened another portal and watched him hesitate to go through. Suddenly she felt like an ass for that joke she played earlier. She waited till he was gone before looking back at Karn, "Okay, so what's the deal? Why can't we send him back? I mean I know you said that thing with connected dimensions, but-"
"I cannot send him back, not unless you wish his death." She cringed. No, she definitely didn't wish that, "I'm not aware of whether he was specifically marked for death by this Thanos or it was by chance, but the effects are all too clear. Mr. Parker is, to quote the dark Spider-Man, persona non-grata in that universe. I can only assume your world is a sanctuary for him."
"So...what do we do? You said that you'd try to find a way, but..."
"Something tells me the kid's gonna be stuck for a while," Noir said. Gwen scowled at him, "Hey, I wasn't the one who put him here, so ease up on the growling there, Stacy. You weren't the one who nearly got turned into chalk."
"I hate to say it, but I agree with Noir. Seems like this is a long haul problem." Mayday crossed her arms and frowned, "We'll see what we can do here with Karn, so just call us if you need anything. We'll drop by and visit, make sure that d- uh, Peter is settling in alright."
"Yeah...count me out on that second part. Something tells me cartoon pigs aren't welcome wherever Spider-Gwen's staying," Ham said.
"Please stop calling me that." Gwen sighed. Bad enough that press was calling her that back home, cause apparently Spider-Gwen was so much catchier than Spider-Woman. Even some of the Supervills were getting in on it, "Alright, look, it's been a long day and I'm fucking beat. I'll let Pete stay over at my place till we think of a better solution. Anyone gets any ideas you contact me immediately, got it?"
"Sure, Gwen."
"Whatever you say, Stacy."
"Yupperino, Spider-Gwen."
Sighing, Gwen opened another portal to her apartment living room and trudged through it. This was a disaster. Her identity was outed just a few days ago and she definitely wasn't in the right place to be dealing with this right now. Then again, she thought glumly, it wasn't like she was at her best when she helped out Miles with that thing with his dad. At least this time she didn't have Murderdock hanging over her and the cops weren't chasing her any more.
Thank you, Captain America.
If there was one thing she didn't expect to see when she got through the portal, it was seeing Betty and Peter talking on the couch like all was right in the world. Her bandmate's head snapped up when she stepped through, her face locked in a grin, "Gwen! You're back!" Betty practically tackled her in an embrace. Betty was always the huggy type, but it went into overdrive recently, "I met your new pal! He's neat!"
"Uh...yeah, I guess he is?" She looked past Betty at Peter who only shrugged helplessly, a weak smile on his face.
"Can we keep him?" She went back to the couch and wrapped an arm around Peter's neck to pull him close, his head hitting against the side of her chest. His face flushed an adorable - where did that come from? - shade of red, though Betty didn't notice or care, "Please, can we keep him? I promise I'll feed him and walk him and give him belly rubs! And Murderface'll love him!"
"Betty, he's not a dog! And no, he's not a spider either!" Gwen was torn between groaning and laughing. Betty always had a way of up-ending the mood, "Look, he's gonna be staying here for a few, alright? He can take the couch."
"So...we are keeping him!" Before Gwen could say anything else she whooped and left, barely calling out an "I'm gonna go get some takeout!" as she did.
The two of them just stood there in awkward silence for a few seconds before Gwen sighed, "So...I had a chat with Karn. He, uh, said that he'll try to find a way to get you back, but till then it's best if you stayed here."
"Here? You mean, like, here in your apartment here?" Despite everything he still seemed to find that something to be embarrassed about. It was both funny and sad, "I mean, is that a good idea?"
"Well, unless you have any other place to stay."
"No. I mean, I don't know anyone else here..." He looked down.
"Thought so." She sighed, "Look, it's cool. You can stay here till we figure out something better. We're Spiders, we should be good at squeezing through." She grinned weakly and punched him in the shoulder, "Besides, Betty seems to like you."
"Yeah, she caught me when I was walking out that portal. Started asking me a lot of questions when she saw the costume." He laughed softly, "Still can't believe that's supposed to be Betty Brant. I mean, she doesn't look or act anything like the one I know."
"In your world I'm French and in another you end up marrying one of my best friends. The multiverse is a weird place." That wasn't even mentioning the versions of him that were either cartoon pigs or just annoying jackasses. Then again, a part of her thought bitterly, at least Ham and Noir were still alive, "I'll go find some shirts that can fit you. We'll talk tomorrow about what we can do, okay?"
"Yeah...and uh, thank you. For everything." Gwen stopped. It was odd, hearing those two simple words. Up until she'd been declared innocent the most common two words she got for her daring rescues were 'fuck off'. Sometimes she still got them, "I mean it. I'd be dead without you, Spider-Woman-"
"Gwen."
"Huh?"
"It's Gwen, remember? Not Spider-Woman, at least not to friends." She stuck her hand out and he took it in a firm handshake, "And don't worry about it. Like I said before, us Spiders gotta stick together."
"Yeah, well...thanks again, Gwen." He smiled.
"You're welcome, Pete."
So yeah, MCU Spidey is stuck and currently has no way back unless Karn manages to BS a way around the Infinity Stones. The next chapter will delve more into Gwen's current status quo, having the two protags talk more about themselves and, something I'm sure some readers are looking forward to, meeting the rest of the Mary Janes band. Given Spidey's reaction to Mayday (ick, ick, ick!) something tells me he might like redheads
This chapter was supposed to be longer, but again for the purposes of not dragging or overwhelming readers I try to keep to 5k-6k words.
Anyway, the next Spider-Gwen is coming out soon. Between that, the Into the Spider-Verse movie and Spider-Geddon (that has both Noir and Gwen it
) I'm definitely getting a lot of material for both this and Looking Glass.Question:
1. Where do you want the focus to be for the story? I'm currently torn between doing villain of the week stories or just sidelining the bad guys and action in favor of just a Superhero slice of life between the two leads. So far I'm leaning towards the latter to fit the tone. That's not to say there won't be fighting or action, but it'll be rare and more a way for the leads to interact and bond.
2. Would you guys prefer a more limited/focused cast or a more varying one? The dimensional portal allows the story access to other dimensions, so characters like the ones from 616 or Amazing 8 (utopia where Gwen married Miles) could work...or even Tsum Tsum Spider-Man, if MCU isn't enough of a cinnamon roll. If we wanna keep it focused then we'll just stick to Earth-65 with the occasional visits to Loomworld.
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ZFighter18
I'm not a god. I AM WHAT A GOD PRAYS TO.
- Location
- Maryland
Spider-Tsum is the best Tsum.
Chapter 3 - Nowhere Else to Go
This'll be the last of the setup/exposition chapters. After this the characters will settle into a more comfortable status quo and I can focus more on slice of life with the occasional Supervillain attack to keep things fresh. So far I don't plan to include any big villains like in Looking Glass, mostly cause going home is an actual tangible goal that (hopefully) won't be forgotten.
Speaking of slice of life, I'm still trying to determine how far the characters go. In Looking Glass characters indulged in drinking, one night stands and (mostly for Noir) various other vices. This doesn't really fit the tone here, though Gwen does canonically go clubbing and presumably drinking despite being 19. It'll be a bit of a balancing act with cinnamon roll Spidey being one of the protags...
Side Note - I saw a preview for the upcoming Spider-Gwen. Not saying anything, but...yeah, I can't use it to add to this fic. Ah well. Also, massive downturn in likes and comments here on SV from Ch. 1 to Ch.2. Expected, but ouch
Chapter 3: Nowhere Else to Go
Dinner was...actually kinda fun, Peter thought. Thoughts about what happened just a couple of hours prior still jumped around his head, but Betty and Spi- er, Gwen, helped distract him. Betty especially. Gwen warned him earlier that she could be 'overwhelming', but the last thing he expected was for her to come literally bouncing back with bags full of takeout and a cat wrapped around her head like a hat.
"So this big Rhino guy goes after Captain Stacy like 'pow'!" Betty said, swinging her chopsticks through the air enthusiastically. For the past hour he just listened to her talk about Gwen's 'Spider-Woman tales', or so Betty called them. He had to admit, she'd had an eventful past year. Almost made his fight with Liz's dad and that weird scorpion dude kinda boring when he looked back at it.
Gwen herself was mostly quiet, pitching in only when Betty's stories got too far. According to her, she definitely did not 'suplex Frank Castle through a window and then teabag his unconscious body'. He mostly wondered how the cat managed to stay on Betty's head despite how often she moved and jumped around.
"So, what about you?" Betty asked, mouth full of noodles. If Aunt May were here she would've said something about table manners, "Like, Gwen said you're a Spider-Man like the pig or the Indian dude, so do you have any badass stories?"
"Um...not really. I mean, I had some fights here and there, but..." He wasn't really in the sharing mood, not after how their last fight ended. He still wasn't sure if Mr. Stark and the others were alright at this point.
"Oh, come on, you gotta have something!" Betty said, "Seriously, you don't just put on a costume and go around stopping jaywalkers, right?"
"Well, not jaywalkers, no..." More old ladies who needed directions and bike thieves. There was that one guy with a crowbar, but he actually owned the car. He felt pretty bad about him being stuck there for a couple of hours, "I mean...there was that big fight in the airport we had against Captain America's team." And Liz's dad a few months later, but he also didn't like thinking about that. At least no one was trying to kill him in the airport fight.
"Woah, woah! You fought Captain America?" Gwen gave him an exaggerated look of worry, "Did I take a supervillain Spider in? Cause trust me, Spider-Carnage was a whole thing back in Octavia's world and Noir's pretty damn close to it sometimes."
"What? No, no, no! It was- er," He sighed, "There was this thing where the government kinda decided that the Avengers - that's a superhero team, by the way - should, like, have some rules in place with the government or something. They called it the Sokovia Accords. Cap thought that they worked better on their own, Mr. Stark said they weren't and there was this whole thing with Cap's friend Bucky getting framed for bombing the UN embassy and..."
"Wow, and you said you didn't have anything." Betty grinned. It was actually kinda creepy. Most people weren't really happy when he told them this story; Aunt May definitely wasn't, "So, who was in this fight?"
"Um, well, it was me, Mr. Stark - Iron Man's his Superhero name -, War Machine, that Black Panther Guy, Agent Romanoff and a robot Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner made called Vision. Cap had his guys-"
"Wait, Captain America's a guy in your world?" Betty asked.
"Uh...yeah?"
"Huh...that's weird." Wait, was this world's Captain America a woman? Well, given that it had a Spider-Woman instead of a Spider-Man maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised, "So, like, there was this entire civil war about this whole thing? Team Cap or Team Iron whatever that dude's name is? By the way, am I the only one who finds it weird that Tony Stark is a superhero?"
"Definitely not just you, but apparently he's a hero in just about every other dimension except ours," Gwen said, "Even Murderdock's a hero, if you can believe it. From what I heard from Jess apparently he's the Kingpin's arch-nemesis and he runs around dressed like big red devil."
"And yet you're the only Superhero in our world, Spider-Gwen." Betty hugged Gwen close, the cat mewling softly as Gwen laughed.
"Wait, what? What do you mean?" Peter asked.
"Powers are kinda rare here, Pete. I've been through a bunch of different worlds with the Web Warriors, and yeah, there are a lot of dimensions where you can't go two blocks without running into someone with a costume and powers, but here it's rarer than winning the lottery. It's basically just me, this Agent Drew guy, and Shadowcat and her dad. No idea where the last two are and last I checked Agent Drew's back to normal after he gave me his power ups."
"Wait, so who stopped the Chitauri invasion or Ultron?"
"We didn't have those here. And hopefully we don't cause those two names don't exactly inspire warm fuzzies." Gwen said, "Anyway, you were saying something about an airport fight?"
Exchanging was stories was fun. He still didn't like thinking about a lot of things, but it was interesting to hear just how different everything was. First, apparently the (kinda) crazy person next to Gwen really was Betty Brant. How the genetics of that worked out he had no clue, but there it was. There were a bunch of other things too: Mr. Stark never became Iron Man, Sam(antha) Wilson was Captain America, her female clone was Falcon, a blind lawyer was the Kingpin, S.H.I.E.L.D was still active and led by Peggy Carter and...
And there were no Avengers.
That struck a cord in him more than anything, even above Mr. Stark 'demolishing childhood dreams to make mini malls', to use Betty's words. The Avengers were only made a few years ago, but for him they already felt like a staple of everyday life; like Ganke making awesome legos or Aunt May burning the meatloaf every couple of nights.
Gwen said it wasn't an odd thought - apparently her friend Jess was a member of the Avengers in another dimension and she worried about it too - but she didn't see the big deal. Apparently this dimension was pretty boring compared to everywhere else, blind lawyer Kingpins notwithstanding.
It was all going well...until he stepped right on the landmine.
"So...it's kinda obvious you know me. Peter Parker, I mean." Gwen's chopstick paused mid-air. He should've taken that as a cue to shut up, but he kept talking, "What's he like? I mean I'm guessing he's not Spider-Man, but does he know who you are?"
Whatever happy mood in the table disappeared, replaced by a sudden quiet that made his spine tingle nervously. Gwen looked down at her food, grip on her chopsticks shaky and her expression twitching. Betty wasn't much better. The brunette looked between Peter and Gwen and tried to say something, but all that came out were a few muttered 'ums' and 'ers'.
"I'm...I'm full." Gwen set her noodles down and stood, "Just dunk it in the trash when you guys are done. Spider-Man, you can take the couch."
Spider-Man? Why was she- "Wait, was it something I-"
"Goodnight."
She trudged to the other room and shut it behind her without another word. Peter looked down at the cold food in his hands and set it down on the table, "Yeah, I'm...I'm not hungry either." He wasn't an idiot. Something about the Peter Parker of this world set her off, but he had no idea what. She didn't hate him, so he couldn't have been some kind of Supervillain here, right?
"Shit, I shoulda figured this would happen." Betty sighed, "Look, Petey, it ain't you. It's just...she has issues with the guy."
"Issues? D-Does she hate him?"
"What? Balls no, dude. That'd be easy." She sighed again. It must've been really serious, "It ain't my place to say anything. If she wants to say something then she'll say it. Just give her some time."
"I don't...is he a bad guy?"
"...No, he wasn't. Least I don't think so."
Wasn't. He doubted Betty noticed the slip of the tongue, but he caught it clear as day. Peter suddenly felt like throwing up, though he held it in till Betty was out of the room. He put away the containers in a haze. What did she mean by that? Was it just a mistake and he was reading too much into it? Best case scenario he and Gwen just weren't on speaking terms anymore, but the worst case...
"It's just...you're younger than I thought you'd be."
Did she mean something by that? She said the other Spider-Men she knew were older than that, but was he just comparing him with them or the Peter Parker she knew?
...Rrgh, it was giving him a headache.
Peter found himself on the couch with an old, scratchy quilt for a blanket. At least he wasn't alone, "Keeping me company, little guy?" He smiled and scratched at the cat draped across his chest. So far it didn't do much besides sleep and glare at him every time he moved, but he found it comforting regardless. Cats didn't judge, even if they looked like they were damning you to fluffy hell every time they looked at you.
His head lolled to look at the table. The nanomachines - son!...heh, sorry - were back in their compartment. He wanted to keep using them, but he didn't know how they worked except for the basics of the basics. Something to keep him busy, at least. Next to the compartment was his old suit and mask, both of which were covered in tears and smudges of dirt. The fight on Titan really took a toll, nanotech or no.
He was almost asleep before his spider-sense tingled. Danger, but not an attack. Not exactly, "What...?" He grabbed Murderface (weird name) and stood up, walking towards the window. His spider-sense beat against his skull like the world's laziest drum. Eyes narrowed, he pulled back the curtains ever so slightly and peered through the outside.
It didn't take him long to spot the guy with the camera on the opposite roof.
"Crap!" He stumbled back and grabbed his mask and one of his webshooters. No time to put on the full costume. The guy was definitely looking in on Gwen's room, he was sure of it. A mob spy? A stalker with a crush? Didn't matter, he couldn't let it continue.
He put on the mask and webshooter and jumped out the window. He looked silly - a guy in a red mask, an oversized band shirt, shorts and a pair of socks climbing up a roof - but he didn't care. He had more things to worry about than his image.
Peter barely managed to make it up to the roof before he called out, "Hey, you know it's not nice to spy on people!"
The guy turned and Peter got a better look at him. Young - probably mid-30's - with a dark, patchy beard and a big cap that covered most of his features. His blue eyes were wide with shock and, before Peter could do anything, he jumped.
In hindsight he should've seen the fire escape, but people jumping to their seeming deaths had a habit of causing him to panic. Peter ran over to the edge and groaned when he saw the guy jump from the fire escape and run down the alley like a pro athlete, the camera held close to his chest like a baby. There was only one kind of person he'd seen like that before.
Paparazzi.
Peter jumped down and gave chase. Why was a journalist (and he used that term very loosely) stalking Gwen? Was she famous outside of being Spider-Woman? She said she was in a band with her friends, so was that it?
He didn't get much of a chance to think about it before Spider-Woman landed in front of the photographer in full costume, "Another one? I thought you guys would take the hint after I sent that last guy packing!" Her voice was loud, annoyed, but different from when she talked to that creepy Noir guy back in the chamber. Now she actually sounded angry, "This is my home, asshole!"
"It's a free country, lady, and you're the big news!" The guy defended shamelessly. Peter had to give him props; guy had guts. Gwen didn't say anything, but Peter thought grabbing the camera and crushing it in her hands said enough of a message, "Hey, you have any idea how much that cost me?!"
"Don't care. I'm not warning you assholes again. You try and stalk me in my home next time I'm webbing you guys to the lamp posts!"
"That's a crime!"
"And so's stalking and taking pictures without someone's consent! Eye for an eye, TMZ," She grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and pushed him to the end of the alley, "Now leave before I decide to call the police and press charges, cause I can do that now! Spider-Woman's not a criminal anymore! I served my time! Get that through your thick skulls!"
The guy grumbled and cursed, but he left all the same. Gwen looked at his retreating form briefly, eyes narrowed, before she let out a frustrated breath and punched the brick wall hard enough to crack it. More of the spiders from before pooled around where she just hit, "Fuck. I'm getting sick of this shit..." She took a deep breath and turned to face him. For a second he thought about swinging away before she said, "...Nice Spider jammies."
"Huh...?" It took a few seconds to realize that she'd just made a joke, "Um...what?"
"Guess my funnies aren't that good tonight." She sighed, "Come on, let's get back. I'll make some hot chocolate."
Five minutes later the two of them were back on the couch nursing a (lukewarm) cup of hot choco each. Peter looked down at his cup and tried to ignore the spiders that jumped in and out of her suit. Those were definitely not normal, "So..." he started slowly, still unable to meet her gaze, "That guy was paparazzi, right? I mean I just assumed, but-"
"Yeah, he was." She took a frustrated sip of her drink, "I...my identity got exposed a year ago. It's a long story, but I...I guess I thought that maybe things would be better if people knew, if I didn't have to hide anymore. Went to prison for year, got out, thought that'd be it for a second there."
"It didn't?"
"Nah, paps are still real eager to snag pics of me like I'm the newest Kardashian." She smiled sardonically, "No Supervill attacks so far, thank fuck, but it's getting more and more annoying. The band hasn't taken any gigs since my outing and I haven't even gone to school. I'm not even sure if I haven't flunked considering the whole year in prison thing"
"...Sorry." He didn't know why he apologized, but it felt appropriate.
"Why? Last I checked you're not the Kingpin." She grinned, though it was weak, "Besides, you've got it worse than me. I'm sorry we couldn't send you back. I know this must be terrible."
"I...I'm not sure." He set the untouched drink down, "I...I felt myself dying, Gwen. I shouldn't be here right now, but I am." He took a deep breath, "Before we fought Thanos Dr. Strange said he looked into millions of futures and there was only one where we won. After Thanos got away and we all started...dying, he looked at Mr. Stark and said...'it was the only way'."
"What do you think that means?"
"Maybe...Maybe it means we haven't lost. I mean I'm supposed to be dead, but I'm not. I'm here, still...I can still fight. Maybe I'm just not meant to go back yet, you know? Maybe Dr. Strange or Mr. Stark will just send a message somehow when I have to go back and help fight. I-I mean, it makes sense, right? Why else would he say that if we just lost?"
"I...I dunno, Pete. I dunno." She pursed her lips, "I don't know what you went through, so I'm not gonna say you're right or wrong. I just know you're alive now, and that's good thing."
"Yeah..." There had to be a way out of this. There had to, he had to keep to that hope, "So...um," He gulped, "Could I...ask you about Peter Parker?"
"I knew this was coming," She laughed, soft and bitter, "I acted fucking weird at dinner, right?"
"Well..." He shrugged, trying to be light.
"Sorry about that. I've gotten better at dealing with it, but it's still a bit of a sore spot. Okay, okay, Peter Parker is..." She took a deep breath, "He was my best friend. We moved to Queens when I was like six or seven and we were neighbors with the Parkers. We were best friends on Day 1. Peter didn't have friends - no one liked the same things he did - and I was the new kid on the block. We just clicked, you know?"
"I guess. Me and Ned were kinda the same when we first met."
"We did everything together. Dad was overprotective, but he didn't have to worry. I didn't think of him like that." There was something bitter in her words, "Things changed when I went on that field trip. Stop me if you heard this before - bitten by radioactive spider, fainted, then woke up accidentally breaking stuff and finding out you could cling to walls. Any of this ringing a bell?"
"Y-Yeah, except for the radioactive part. I think the spider that bit me was genetically modified."
"Not surprised. Mayday was born with her powers, Ham was bitten by a radioactive pig, Anya got magic tattoos and Noir got bitten by a magic fucking spider that made him trip balls. Guess the Spider-God or whatever Karn calls it likes to vary it up, huh?"
"Haha, yeah..."
"Well, like I said, things changed. I was a celebrity when I got my powers. Everyone was interested in the shiny new superhuman with the kickass costume. I was riding high on that. Got more confident, spent less time with my friends and more making talkshow appearances. I felt invincible."
"So what happened?"
"Peter was...he was always bullied. Carl King, Sally Avril and the jackasses at school. To them he was just an easy target. I never stood up for him before, not really, but with my new powers...it was easy. I wasn't afraid of them hitting me anymore or having to run to dad for help. What could they do, right? I can dodge anything they throw at him and lift them with one pinky."
"I know that feeling." That party back at Liz's place. It was so tempting to show up Flash and prove him wrong.
"Maybe I should've just kept a lid on it. I dunno if me stepping up for him like some kind of glorified bodyguard helped or not, but in the end it didn't matter. A while later Peter took Dr. Connors' research notes. He was doing research on Lizards, trying to help vets grow back their arms and legs the same way lizards grow back their tails."
"Sounds like a good cause."
"Yeah, it was." Her hands clenched into shaky fists, "Peter...used it for something else. He was tired of being bullied, tired of being unable to fight back and...and he wanted to be special." She spat out the word like a curse, "The serum he made...it turned him into a monster. A giant four ton Lizard...he was so warped that I didn't even recognize him. All I saw was a giant monster that would've hurt everyone else so I-"
"Gwen-"
"I killed him." She closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath, "Mr. Nelson and Cap argued extenuating circumstances, self-defense and all that crap, but I still can't help but think I could've done something. I...Peter begged me to stop, but I just thought he was stalling, and I was...I was angry and frustrated and scared. I thought that if I let up for even a second I'd lose and because of that I-"
She never got to finish before Peter pulled her into a sudden embrace. She was frozen stiff at the gesture, hands still clenched into tight fists, before she eventually reciprocated. He didn't know how much it helped her, but back then, when he'd blamed himself for Uncle Ben's death, Aunt May just hugged him. It helped him, so maybe it could do the same for her.
They stayed that way for about a minute before they eventually separated, "...Thanks." She smiled. It was small and strained, but sincere.
"It's fine." He did his best to smile back, "I dunno if I can say this, but...it doesn't sound like it was your fault. Like you said you didn't know it was him, right? I mean when you see a giant lizard your first thought isn't..." He shook his head, "I just...I dunno where I was going."
"Don't worry, I get it." She laughed softly, "My Peter...he was the farthest thing from Spider-Man. He was a guy who loved to play D&D and followed me around like a puppy. Seeing some of the other Peter's is hard sometimes, but they're just different enough: Pavitr's Indian - and God that sounds fucking racist-, Ham's a pig, Noir's an asshole, the Spider-Man in Jess and Cin's place is like some super CEO...they all have the same face, but they're just different enough."
"What about me...?"
"You? Well..." She pressed her hands together, "I don't really know you that well, not yet, but..." She sighed, "You're the same age he was...when he died."
"Oh..." Peter rubbed the back of his head, "Would it help if I put the mask on?"
"What? God, that'd just make this more awkward." She laughed, "Look, it's fine, okay? Sorry for making this weird, it's just that I didn't think this was gonna happen today, you know? I kinda hoped I'd take a bigger break from the dimension hopping thing, focus more on my dimension.
"Huh, that sounds..." Change the subject, darn it. Anything was better than talking about this, "Dimension hopping. That sounds like a story."
"You'd think, but it's mostly the same thing everywhere. Supervillains do supervillainy stuff, sexy guys and gals in spandex stop them." She winked, "Although...there was that one time we went to Earth-69, but I don't think that's for innocent ears."
"Hey, I'm 17!"
"So you keep saying." She grinned, "Let's just say the multiverse apparently has a sense of humor and Earth-69 lived up to its namesake. Apparently in that place Superheroes and Supervillains settle their differences...differently compared to the normal punching and kicking we get up to."
"...What the heck happened?"
"Look, it was a traumatizing experience all around. We got a distress signal that apparently the world was in danger. I'll spare you the details, but by the end of it Anya was crying for an adult, Pavitr took an extended leave of absence, Noir had most of his clothes off and was trying to drink himself stupid to forget, Mayday was rocking back and forth in the corner after that version of her dad tried for a Lannister thing, Ham spent the entire rest of the day throwing up and Billy actually tried to destroy the portal so we could never go back."
"You mean..." Why was he both scared and intrigued?
"Yeah, apparently the distress signal was less a 'cry for help' and more a 'cry for more people in skintight spandex'. All of us needed a change of costume after it was all said and done. Hell, Noir and Mayday burned their suits just to make sure." She let out an amused breath, "We all collectively agreed that we would never speak of it again after that.."
"...Wait, you told me how the others reacted, what about you?"
"What about me? I was cool as a cucumber."
"Uh...bullshit?"
"Ah, ah, language! There are children in the room!" She gestured to the sleeping Murderface on the table.
"C-Come on, be honest!"
"Fine, fine! I may or may not have run into my counterpart who expressed an interest in what it'd be like to make out with herself." Alright...less scared and more intrigued now, "And she may or may not have already planned on how to incorporate webbing into said interest and had...diagrams and live demonstrations prepared in advance."
"Ha!"
"But I was cool as cucumber! I stand by that!" It would've been more convincing if her cheeks weren't red. The two of them looked at one another for a moment before breaking out into a fit of laughter, "...My life's so stupid!I ever tell you about the time I rode a flying pig in a cartoon world?"
"You are now."
They spent the next few hours just talking. It was nice, to forget how insane the past few hours had been, albeit only because Gwen explained how insane the rest of her life was. Mostly he was interested on the whole thing with the 'Inheritors' and how apparently they were feeding on Spiders all across the multiverse. She said he was luck to have missed it, but he wondered if he could have helped.
He didn't even remember falling asleep, but he was woken up by the sound of the door slamming open, "Yo, Gwencent, rise and shine!" That wasn't a voice a recognized. One hand groped for his mask (failed) while the other raised the quilt to cover him better (kinda succeeded), "Up and at em, Spider-Gwen, we got- who the fuck are you?"
Peter blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked up at the new arrivals. One closer to him was a Black woman dressed in a gray tanktop, jeans and red sneakers. She looked at him with obvious suspicion: eyes narrowed, lips pursed and her arms crossed in a way that reminded him of Aunt May every time he tried to convince her that skipping school one time to be Spider-Man was a good idea.
The one behind her drew his attention more. The first thing he noticed was the shocking head of red hair barely covered by a black beanie. She was dressed in typical punk style - a long sleeved gray shirt covered by a brown vest, red shorts, ripped tights and brown boots. Unlike her friend she didn't look at him with suspicion and more with a muted surprise.
...Why did she remind him of Mayday?
"Uh..."
He was stopped from voicing his eloquent response by Gwen suddenly opening the door to her room, "Don't you guys ever knock?" Gwen groused. Her costume was gone, replaced by an oversized shirt and a pair of boxer shorts. Betty wasn't far behind her, the brunette yawning lazily and grabbing the sleeping cat from the table without a care.
"You gave us a key for a reason, Gwencent." The redhead jiggled a key and grinned at the irate blonde, "Speaking of which, back on topic: who's your guest? You taking in strays now?"
"Yup!" Betty said, "He's our new Spiderling. I'm taking him and Murderface on a walk later."
"Betty, would you just..." Gwen ran a hand through her messy hair, "This is, uh, Peter Parker. You guys should know who that is."
"...What the fuck?" The Black girl (he was starting to feel kinda racist...) said.
"Yeah, I'm with Glory. What is he, a zombie? A clone? A zombie clone?" The redhead asked.
"Zombie cl- don't be fucking stupid!" Gwen pinched the bridge of her nose, "He's from another dimension, okay? He got stuck here because of a long story I don't wanna repeat and I let him stay over for a bit. Couldn't just leave him out on the streets."
"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" The redhead said. She seemed way too calm about this, "So, is he the the Indian guy or the one from the 30's? Cause he's definitely not the pig."
"Neither. He's a new guy." Gwen rolled her eyes and looked down at him, "Lemme introduce everyone. The one giving you the stink eye is Gloria Grant, but we just call her Glory. Don't mind the glaring, she's just overprotective. The redhead is Mary Jane Watson; MJ to most people." She put a hand on his shoulder, "This is Spider-Man, Peter Parker under the mask. Everyone please play nice."
"N-Nice to meet you..." He stuck his free hand out, the other still holding onto the blanket.
"Heh, same." Mary Jane smiled and shook his hand. Well, at least she was friendly- wait. Mary Jane...MJ...Mayday's mother was...
...
Mary Jane blinked in surprise when Peter pulled back and fell over the couch, "Uh...are you okay?" Peter looked up at her through widened eyes, his mouth hanging agape in shock, "Uh...I think he's broken."
"Y-You're Mary Jane Watson!" Peter said.
"...That's my name, don't wear it out? What, am I famous rockstar in your world or something? Please say yes. I need the ego boost."
"Pfft, like you need an excuse to be even more of a drama queen," Glory teased.
"You love me for it." Mary Jane rolled her eyes and offered Peter a hand, "So, really, what's with the big gasp? Do you know me?"
"N-No, but you're Mayday's m-"
"Ahahaha, Pete, we need to talk!" Before he could utter back a response Gwen grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the other room. Peter was too stunned stupid to say a word till she slammed the door shut, cutting off her three friends from view.
"Th-That was-"
"Ixnay on the MJ being a mom thing!" Gwen hissed, looking between him and the door, "I'm still easing them into the whole 'I'm a superhero who can travel between dimensions' stuff. You start blabbing about alternate universes and they're never gonna stop asking questions. I already regret telling them about the Web Warriors and Loomworld. MJ's got it in her head that she can bring rock and roll to that place and be some rocker messiah."
"...Could she?"
"I dunno, I didn't ask Karn! We had more important problems!" Gwen sighed, "Just put a lid on it, okay? I have enough to worry about without adding this to the pile."
"Uh...okay, sure." Peter nodded nervously, "Still, that's Mayday's mom, huh? Wow...I mean, she's...um-"
"...Oh my God, you have a crush on her." Gwen groaned and rubbed the sides of her temples, "Just what we needed, huh? Spider-Man loves Mary Jane."
"Wh-What? I don't..." It was just...well, she was hot, and he had to wonder what kind of game his alternate universe counterpart if he was able to get together with her and get a daughter out of the deal. He couldn't even get a prom date without her crying by the end of the night...though in fairness he blamed that more on Mr. Toomes being an arms dealer who put alien weapons on the streets.
"Talk to me when you get rid of that tomato you have for a head." She laughed under her breath and his blush (darn it!) worsened, "Look, I get it, she's pretty and she's got a great voice, but could we maybe worry more about the immediate things first? We need to buy you a change of clothes and I gotta find a new job before rent comes in a couple weeks and get back to classes..."
"I-I can find work. I mean, it's not like I'll be doing anything else for a while..." Not until that Karn guy managed to do something, at least.
"Appreciate the offer, but you don't exactly have any papers and you're even younger than I am. Listen, me and the girls are gonna practice. You can take off if you want. Should be some money on the counter."
"C-Could I stay? You said you were in a band and I wanna hear what you music you guys have."
"...You just wanna stare at MJ, don't you?"
"Wh-What?! No, I-"
"I'm just joshing you, Pete. It's cool...just hope you don't mind being in your jammies around four girls."
"...Why do you do this to me?" Peter both hands on his face and groaned.
"Because it's way too easy." She laughed, "Come on, MJ'll be happy to play in front of someone new. You can put on the Spidey suit if it makes you feel more comfortable. Not gonna judge."
"Would you just-" Peter let out a frustrated breath. It was just a joke, but it was better than looking like this, right? "...I'm putting on the suit."
"Ha!"
Done. Apologies for Gwen pretty down for most of the chapter; I'll try to have her be more cheerful in future chapters. Anyway, Gwen and MCU have started getting along better and MCU's gotten a (teeny tiny) crush on Mary Jane. Do you guys like his chances? Maybe it's just me but I'm kinda doubtful considering her first impression was seeing him in his (technically Gwen's...) jammies.
Next chapter will have MCU working in Starkbucks to earn some rent and getting a certain AI back online. Meanwhile Gwen's either going back to college and dealing with the fallout of being a public hero or she meets up with 616 Silk and Jessica Drew and discusses her new Spider problem. Dunno which yet, might just flip a coin.
On a personal note, it felt...weird writing that convo between MCU and Gwen about 65-Peter. The last time I did that in Looking Glass the tone was massively different and the two leads were still in friction with one another. I gotta say, I'm actually not that used to writing two well-balanced and stable individuals making fast friends. Really gotta work on this. At least this fic is good practice in that regard.
Speaking of slice of life, I'm still trying to determine how far the characters go. In Looking Glass characters indulged in drinking, one night stands and (mostly for Noir) various other vices. This doesn't really fit the tone here, though Gwen does canonically go clubbing and presumably drinking despite being 19. It'll be a bit of a balancing act with cinnamon roll Spidey being one of the protags...
Side Note - I saw a preview for the upcoming Spider-Gwen. Not saying anything, but...yeah, I can't use it to add to this fic. Ah well. Also, massive downturn in likes and comments here on SV from Ch. 1 to Ch.2. Expected, but ouch
Chapter 3: Nowhere Else to Go
Dinner was...actually kinda fun, Peter thought. Thoughts about what happened just a couple of hours prior still jumped around his head, but Betty and Spi- er, Gwen, helped distract him. Betty especially. Gwen warned him earlier that she could be 'overwhelming', but the last thing he expected was for her to come literally bouncing back with bags full of takeout and a cat wrapped around her head like a hat.
"So this big Rhino guy goes after Captain Stacy like 'pow'!" Betty said, swinging her chopsticks through the air enthusiastically. For the past hour he just listened to her talk about Gwen's 'Spider-Woman tales', or so Betty called them. He had to admit, she'd had an eventful past year. Almost made his fight with Liz's dad and that weird scorpion dude kinda boring when he looked back at it.
Gwen herself was mostly quiet, pitching in only when Betty's stories got too far. According to her, she definitely did not 'suplex Frank Castle through a window and then teabag his unconscious body'. He mostly wondered how the cat managed to stay on Betty's head despite how often she moved and jumped around.
"So, what about you?" Betty asked, mouth full of noodles. If Aunt May were here she would've said something about table manners, "Like, Gwen said you're a Spider-Man like the pig or the Indian dude, so do you have any badass stories?"
"Um...not really. I mean, I had some fights here and there, but..." He wasn't really in the sharing mood, not after how their last fight ended. He still wasn't sure if Mr. Stark and the others were alright at this point.
"Oh, come on, you gotta have something!" Betty said, "Seriously, you don't just put on a costume and go around stopping jaywalkers, right?"
"Well, not jaywalkers, no..." More old ladies who needed directions and bike thieves. There was that one guy with a crowbar, but he actually owned the car. He felt pretty bad about him being stuck there for a couple of hours, "I mean...there was that big fight in the airport we had against Captain America's team." And Liz's dad a few months later, but he also didn't like thinking about that. At least no one was trying to kill him in the airport fight.
"Woah, woah! You fought Captain America?" Gwen gave him an exaggerated look of worry, "Did I take a supervillain Spider in? Cause trust me, Spider-Carnage was a whole thing back in Octavia's world and Noir's pretty damn close to it sometimes."
"What? No, no, no! It was- er," He sighed, "There was this thing where the government kinda decided that the Avengers - that's a superhero team, by the way - should, like, have some rules in place with the government or something. They called it the Sokovia Accords. Cap thought that they worked better on their own, Mr. Stark said they weren't and there was this whole thing with Cap's friend Bucky getting framed for bombing the UN embassy and..."
"Wow, and you said you didn't have anything." Betty grinned. It was actually kinda creepy. Most people weren't really happy when he told them this story; Aunt May definitely wasn't, "So, who was in this fight?"
"Um, well, it was me, Mr. Stark - Iron Man's his Superhero name -, War Machine, that Black Panther Guy, Agent Romanoff and a robot Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner made called Vision. Cap had his guys-"
"Wait, Captain America's a guy in your world?" Betty asked.
"Uh...yeah?"
"Huh...that's weird." Wait, was this world's Captain America a woman? Well, given that it had a Spider-Woman instead of a Spider-Man maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised, "So, like, there was this entire civil war about this whole thing? Team Cap or Team Iron whatever that dude's name is? By the way, am I the only one who finds it weird that Tony Stark is a superhero?"
"Definitely not just you, but apparently he's a hero in just about every other dimension except ours," Gwen said, "Even Murderdock's a hero, if you can believe it. From what I heard from Jess apparently he's the Kingpin's arch-nemesis and he runs around dressed like big red devil."
"And yet you're the only Superhero in our world, Spider-Gwen." Betty hugged Gwen close, the cat mewling softly as Gwen laughed.
"Wait, what? What do you mean?" Peter asked.
"Powers are kinda rare here, Pete. I've been through a bunch of different worlds with the Web Warriors, and yeah, there are a lot of dimensions where you can't go two blocks without running into someone with a costume and powers, but here it's rarer than winning the lottery. It's basically just me, this Agent Drew guy, and Shadowcat and her dad. No idea where the last two are and last I checked Agent Drew's back to normal after he gave me his power ups."
"Wait, so who stopped the Chitauri invasion or Ultron?"
"We didn't have those here. And hopefully we don't cause those two names don't exactly inspire warm fuzzies." Gwen said, "Anyway, you were saying something about an airport fight?"
Exchanging was stories was fun. He still didn't like thinking about a lot of things, but it was interesting to hear just how different everything was. First, apparently the (kinda) crazy person next to Gwen really was Betty Brant. How the genetics of that worked out he had no clue, but there it was. There were a bunch of other things too: Mr. Stark never became Iron Man, Sam(antha) Wilson was Captain America, her female clone was Falcon, a blind lawyer was the Kingpin, S.H.I.E.L.D was still active and led by Peggy Carter and...
And there were no Avengers.
That struck a cord in him more than anything, even above Mr. Stark 'demolishing childhood dreams to make mini malls', to use Betty's words. The Avengers were only made a few years ago, but for him they already felt like a staple of everyday life; like Ganke making awesome legos or Aunt May burning the meatloaf every couple of nights.
Gwen said it wasn't an odd thought - apparently her friend Jess was a member of the Avengers in another dimension and she worried about it too - but she didn't see the big deal. Apparently this dimension was pretty boring compared to everywhere else, blind lawyer Kingpins notwithstanding.
It was all going well...until he stepped right on the landmine.
"So...it's kinda obvious you know me. Peter Parker, I mean." Gwen's chopstick paused mid-air. He should've taken that as a cue to shut up, but he kept talking, "What's he like? I mean I'm guessing he's not Spider-Man, but does he know who you are?"
Whatever happy mood in the table disappeared, replaced by a sudden quiet that made his spine tingle nervously. Gwen looked down at her food, grip on her chopsticks shaky and her expression twitching. Betty wasn't much better. The brunette looked between Peter and Gwen and tried to say something, but all that came out were a few muttered 'ums' and 'ers'.
"I'm...I'm full." Gwen set her noodles down and stood, "Just dunk it in the trash when you guys are done. Spider-Man, you can take the couch."
Spider-Man? Why was she- "Wait, was it something I-"
"Goodnight."
She trudged to the other room and shut it behind her without another word. Peter looked down at the cold food in his hands and set it down on the table, "Yeah, I'm...I'm not hungry either." He wasn't an idiot. Something about the Peter Parker of this world set her off, but he had no idea what. She didn't hate him, so he couldn't have been some kind of Supervillain here, right?
"Shit, I shoulda figured this would happen." Betty sighed, "Look, Petey, it ain't you. It's just...she has issues with the guy."
"Issues? D-Does she hate him?"
"What? Balls no, dude. That'd be easy." She sighed again. It must've been really serious, "It ain't my place to say anything. If she wants to say something then she'll say it. Just give her some time."
"I don't...is he a bad guy?"
"...No, he wasn't. Least I don't think so."
Wasn't. He doubted Betty noticed the slip of the tongue, but he caught it clear as day. Peter suddenly felt like throwing up, though he held it in till Betty was out of the room. He put away the containers in a haze. What did she mean by that? Was it just a mistake and he was reading too much into it? Best case scenario he and Gwen just weren't on speaking terms anymore, but the worst case...
"It's just...you're younger than I thought you'd be."
Did she mean something by that? She said the other Spider-Men she knew were older than that, but was he just comparing him with them or the Peter Parker she knew?
...Rrgh, it was giving him a headache.
Peter found himself on the couch with an old, scratchy quilt for a blanket. At least he wasn't alone, "Keeping me company, little guy?" He smiled and scratched at the cat draped across his chest. So far it didn't do much besides sleep and glare at him every time he moved, but he found it comforting regardless. Cats didn't judge, even if they looked like they were damning you to fluffy hell every time they looked at you.
His head lolled to look at the table. The nanomachines - son!...heh, sorry - were back in their compartment. He wanted to keep using them, but he didn't know how they worked except for the basics of the basics. Something to keep him busy, at least. Next to the compartment was his old suit and mask, both of which were covered in tears and smudges of dirt. The fight on Titan really took a toll, nanotech or no.
He was almost asleep before his spider-sense tingled. Danger, but not an attack. Not exactly, "What...?" He grabbed Murderface (weird name) and stood up, walking towards the window. His spider-sense beat against his skull like the world's laziest drum. Eyes narrowed, he pulled back the curtains ever so slightly and peered through the outside.
It didn't take him long to spot the guy with the camera on the opposite roof.
"Crap!" He stumbled back and grabbed his mask and one of his webshooters. No time to put on the full costume. The guy was definitely looking in on Gwen's room, he was sure of it. A mob spy? A stalker with a crush? Didn't matter, he couldn't let it continue.
He put on the mask and webshooter and jumped out the window. He looked silly - a guy in a red mask, an oversized band shirt, shorts and a pair of socks climbing up a roof - but he didn't care. He had more things to worry about than his image.
Peter barely managed to make it up to the roof before he called out, "Hey, you know it's not nice to spy on people!"
The guy turned and Peter got a better look at him. Young - probably mid-30's - with a dark, patchy beard and a big cap that covered most of his features. His blue eyes were wide with shock and, before Peter could do anything, he jumped.
In hindsight he should've seen the fire escape, but people jumping to their seeming deaths had a habit of causing him to panic. Peter ran over to the edge and groaned when he saw the guy jump from the fire escape and run down the alley like a pro athlete, the camera held close to his chest like a baby. There was only one kind of person he'd seen like that before.
Paparazzi.
Peter jumped down and gave chase. Why was a journalist (and he used that term very loosely) stalking Gwen? Was she famous outside of being Spider-Woman? She said she was in a band with her friends, so was that it?
He didn't get much of a chance to think about it before Spider-Woman landed in front of the photographer in full costume, "Another one? I thought you guys would take the hint after I sent that last guy packing!" Her voice was loud, annoyed, but different from when she talked to that creepy Noir guy back in the chamber. Now she actually sounded angry, "This is my home, asshole!"
"It's a free country, lady, and you're the big news!" The guy defended shamelessly. Peter had to give him props; guy had guts. Gwen didn't say anything, but Peter thought grabbing the camera and crushing it in her hands said enough of a message, "Hey, you have any idea how much that cost me?!"
"Don't care. I'm not warning you assholes again. You try and stalk me in my home next time I'm webbing you guys to the lamp posts!"
"That's a crime!"
"And so's stalking and taking pictures without someone's consent! Eye for an eye, TMZ," She grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and pushed him to the end of the alley, "Now leave before I decide to call the police and press charges, cause I can do that now! Spider-Woman's not a criminal anymore! I served my time! Get that through your thick skulls!"
The guy grumbled and cursed, but he left all the same. Gwen looked at his retreating form briefly, eyes narrowed, before she let out a frustrated breath and punched the brick wall hard enough to crack it. More of the spiders from before pooled around where she just hit, "Fuck. I'm getting sick of this shit..." She took a deep breath and turned to face him. For a second he thought about swinging away before she said, "...Nice Spider jammies."
"Huh...?" It took a few seconds to realize that she'd just made a joke, "Um...what?"
"Guess my funnies aren't that good tonight." She sighed, "Come on, let's get back. I'll make some hot chocolate."
Five minutes later the two of them were back on the couch nursing a (lukewarm) cup of hot choco each. Peter looked down at his cup and tried to ignore the spiders that jumped in and out of her suit. Those were definitely not normal, "So..." he started slowly, still unable to meet her gaze, "That guy was paparazzi, right? I mean I just assumed, but-"
"Yeah, he was." She took a frustrated sip of her drink, "I...my identity got exposed a year ago. It's a long story, but I...I guess I thought that maybe things would be better if people knew, if I didn't have to hide anymore. Went to prison for year, got out, thought that'd be it for a second there."
"It didn't?"
"Nah, paps are still real eager to snag pics of me like I'm the newest Kardashian." She smiled sardonically, "No Supervill attacks so far, thank fuck, but it's getting more and more annoying. The band hasn't taken any gigs since my outing and I haven't even gone to school. I'm not even sure if I haven't flunked considering the whole year in prison thing"
"...Sorry." He didn't know why he apologized, but it felt appropriate.
"Why? Last I checked you're not the Kingpin." She grinned, though it was weak, "Besides, you've got it worse than me. I'm sorry we couldn't send you back. I know this must be terrible."
"I...I'm not sure." He set the untouched drink down, "I...I felt myself dying, Gwen. I shouldn't be here right now, but I am." He took a deep breath, "Before we fought Thanos Dr. Strange said he looked into millions of futures and there was only one where we won. After Thanos got away and we all started...dying, he looked at Mr. Stark and said...'it was the only way'."
"What do you think that means?"
"Maybe...Maybe it means we haven't lost. I mean I'm supposed to be dead, but I'm not. I'm here, still...I can still fight. Maybe I'm just not meant to go back yet, you know? Maybe Dr. Strange or Mr. Stark will just send a message somehow when I have to go back and help fight. I-I mean, it makes sense, right? Why else would he say that if we just lost?"
"I...I dunno, Pete. I dunno." She pursed her lips, "I don't know what you went through, so I'm not gonna say you're right or wrong. I just know you're alive now, and that's good thing."
"Yeah..." There had to be a way out of this. There had to, he had to keep to that hope, "So...um," He gulped, "Could I...ask you about Peter Parker?"
"I knew this was coming," She laughed, soft and bitter, "I acted fucking weird at dinner, right?"
"Well..." He shrugged, trying to be light.
"Sorry about that. I've gotten better at dealing with it, but it's still a bit of a sore spot. Okay, okay, Peter Parker is..." She took a deep breath, "He was my best friend. We moved to Queens when I was like six or seven and we were neighbors with the Parkers. We were best friends on Day 1. Peter didn't have friends - no one liked the same things he did - and I was the new kid on the block. We just clicked, you know?"
"I guess. Me and Ned were kinda the same when we first met."
"We did everything together. Dad was overprotective, but he didn't have to worry. I didn't think of him like that." There was something bitter in her words, "Things changed when I went on that field trip. Stop me if you heard this before - bitten by radioactive spider, fainted, then woke up accidentally breaking stuff and finding out you could cling to walls. Any of this ringing a bell?"
"Y-Yeah, except for the radioactive part. I think the spider that bit me was genetically modified."
"Not surprised. Mayday was born with her powers, Ham was bitten by a radioactive pig, Anya got magic tattoos and Noir got bitten by a magic fucking spider that made him trip balls. Guess the Spider-God or whatever Karn calls it likes to vary it up, huh?"
"Haha, yeah..."
"Well, like I said, things changed. I was a celebrity when I got my powers. Everyone was interested in the shiny new superhuman with the kickass costume. I was riding high on that. Got more confident, spent less time with my friends and more making talkshow appearances. I felt invincible."
"So what happened?"
"Peter was...he was always bullied. Carl King, Sally Avril and the jackasses at school. To them he was just an easy target. I never stood up for him before, not really, but with my new powers...it was easy. I wasn't afraid of them hitting me anymore or having to run to dad for help. What could they do, right? I can dodge anything they throw at him and lift them with one pinky."
"I know that feeling." That party back at Liz's place. It was so tempting to show up Flash and prove him wrong.
"Maybe I should've just kept a lid on it. I dunno if me stepping up for him like some kind of glorified bodyguard helped or not, but in the end it didn't matter. A while later Peter took Dr. Connors' research notes. He was doing research on Lizards, trying to help vets grow back their arms and legs the same way lizards grow back their tails."
"Sounds like a good cause."
"Yeah, it was." Her hands clenched into shaky fists, "Peter...used it for something else. He was tired of being bullied, tired of being unable to fight back and...and he wanted to be special." She spat out the word like a curse, "The serum he made...it turned him into a monster. A giant four ton Lizard...he was so warped that I didn't even recognize him. All I saw was a giant monster that would've hurt everyone else so I-"
"Gwen-"
"I killed him." She closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath, "Mr. Nelson and Cap argued extenuating circumstances, self-defense and all that crap, but I still can't help but think I could've done something. I...Peter begged me to stop, but I just thought he was stalling, and I was...I was angry and frustrated and scared. I thought that if I let up for even a second I'd lose and because of that I-"
She never got to finish before Peter pulled her into a sudden embrace. She was frozen stiff at the gesture, hands still clenched into tight fists, before she eventually reciprocated. He didn't know how much it helped her, but back then, when he'd blamed himself for Uncle Ben's death, Aunt May just hugged him. It helped him, so maybe it could do the same for her.
They stayed that way for about a minute before they eventually separated, "...Thanks." She smiled. It was small and strained, but sincere.
"It's fine." He did his best to smile back, "I dunno if I can say this, but...it doesn't sound like it was your fault. Like you said you didn't know it was him, right? I mean when you see a giant lizard your first thought isn't..." He shook his head, "I just...I dunno where I was going."
"Don't worry, I get it." She laughed softly, "My Peter...he was the farthest thing from Spider-Man. He was a guy who loved to play D&D and followed me around like a puppy. Seeing some of the other Peter's is hard sometimes, but they're just different enough: Pavitr's Indian - and God that sounds fucking racist-, Ham's a pig, Noir's an asshole, the Spider-Man in Jess and Cin's place is like some super CEO...they all have the same face, but they're just different enough."
"What about me...?"
"You? Well..." She pressed her hands together, "I don't really know you that well, not yet, but..." She sighed, "You're the same age he was...when he died."
"Oh..." Peter rubbed the back of his head, "Would it help if I put the mask on?"
"What? God, that'd just make this more awkward." She laughed, "Look, it's fine, okay? Sorry for making this weird, it's just that I didn't think this was gonna happen today, you know? I kinda hoped I'd take a bigger break from the dimension hopping thing, focus more on my dimension.
"Huh, that sounds..." Change the subject, darn it. Anything was better than talking about this, "Dimension hopping. That sounds like a story."
"You'd think, but it's mostly the same thing everywhere. Supervillains do supervillainy stuff, sexy guys and gals in spandex stop them." She winked, "Although...there was that one time we went to Earth-69, but I don't think that's for innocent ears."
"Hey, I'm 17!"
"So you keep saying." She grinned, "Let's just say the multiverse apparently has a sense of humor and Earth-69 lived up to its namesake. Apparently in that place Superheroes and Supervillains settle their differences...differently compared to the normal punching and kicking we get up to."
"...What the heck happened?"
"Look, it was a traumatizing experience all around. We got a distress signal that apparently the world was in danger. I'll spare you the details, but by the end of it Anya was crying for an adult, Pavitr took an extended leave of absence, Noir had most of his clothes off and was trying to drink himself stupid to forget, Mayday was rocking back and forth in the corner after that version of her dad tried for a Lannister thing, Ham spent the entire rest of the day throwing up and Billy actually tried to destroy the portal so we could never go back."
"You mean..." Why was he both scared and intrigued?
"Yeah, apparently the distress signal was less a 'cry for help' and more a 'cry for more people in skintight spandex'. All of us needed a change of costume after it was all said and done. Hell, Noir and Mayday burned their suits just to make sure." She let out an amused breath, "We all collectively agreed that we would never speak of it again after that.."
"...Wait, you told me how the others reacted, what about you?"
"What about me? I was cool as a cucumber."
"Uh...bullshit?"
"Ah, ah, language! There are children in the room!" She gestured to the sleeping Murderface on the table.
"C-Come on, be honest!"
"Fine, fine! I may or may not have run into my counterpart who expressed an interest in what it'd be like to make out with herself." Alright...less scared and more intrigued now, "And she may or may not have already planned on how to incorporate webbing into said interest and had...diagrams and live demonstrations prepared in advance."
"Ha!"
"But I was cool as cucumber! I stand by that!" It would've been more convincing if her cheeks weren't red. The two of them looked at one another for a moment before breaking out into a fit of laughter, "...My life's so stupid!I ever tell you about the time I rode a flying pig in a cartoon world?"
"You are now."
They spent the next few hours just talking. It was nice, to forget how insane the past few hours had been, albeit only because Gwen explained how insane the rest of her life was. Mostly he was interested on the whole thing with the 'Inheritors' and how apparently they were feeding on Spiders all across the multiverse. She said he was luck to have missed it, but he wondered if he could have helped.
He didn't even remember falling asleep, but he was woken up by the sound of the door slamming open, "Yo, Gwencent, rise and shine!" That wasn't a voice a recognized. One hand groped for his mask (failed) while the other raised the quilt to cover him better (kinda succeeded), "Up and at em, Spider-Gwen, we got- who the fuck are you?"
Peter blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked up at the new arrivals. One closer to him was a Black woman dressed in a gray tanktop, jeans and red sneakers. She looked at him with obvious suspicion: eyes narrowed, lips pursed and her arms crossed in a way that reminded him of Aunt May every time he tried to convince her that skipping school one time to be Spider-Man was a good idea.
The one behind her drew his attention more. The first thing he noticed was the shocking head of red hair barely covered by a black beanie. She was dressed in typical punk style - a long sleeved gray shirt covered by a brown vest, red shorts, ripped tights and brown boots. Unlike her friend she didn't look at him with suspicion and more with a muted surprise.
...Why did she remind him of Mayday?
"Uh..."
He was stopped from voicing his eloquent response by Gwen suddenly opening the door to her room, "Don't you guys ever knock?" Gwen groused. Her costume was gone, replaced by an oversized shirt and a pair of boxer shorts. Betty wasn't far behind her, the brunette yawning lazily and grabbing the sleeping cat from the table without a care.
"You gave us a key for a reason, Gwencent." The redhead jiggled a key and grinned at the irate blonde, "Speaking of which, back on topic: who's your guest? You taking in strays now?"
"Yup!" Betty said, "He's our new Spiderling. I'm taking him and Murderface on a walk later."
"Betty, would you just..." Gwen ran a hand through her messy hair, "This is, uh, Peter Parker. You guys should know who that is."
"...What the fuck?" The Black girl (he was starting to feel kinda racist...) said.
"Yeah, I'm with Glory. What is he, a zombie? A clone? A zombie clone?" The redhead asked.
"Zombie cl- don't be fucking stupid!" Gwen pinched the bridge of her nose, "He's from another dimension, okay? He got stuck here because of a long story I don't wanna repeat and I let him stay over for a bit. Couldn't just leave him out on the streets."
"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" The redhead said. She seemed way too calm about this, "So, is he the the Indian guy or the one from the 30's? Cause he's definitely not the pig."
"Neither. He's a new guy." Gwen rolled her eyes and looked down at him, "Lemme introduce everyone. The one giving you the stink eye is Gloria Grant, but we just call her Glory. Don't mind the glaring, she's just overprotective. The redhead is Mary Jane Watson; MJ to most people." She put a hand on his shoulder, "This is Spider-Man, Peter Parker under the mask. Everyone please play nice."
"N-Nice to meet you..." He stuck his free hand out, the other still holding onto the blanket.
"Heh, same." Mary Jane smiled and shook his hand. Well, at least she was friendly- wait. Mary Jane...MJ...Mayday's mother was...
...
Mary Jane blinked in surprise when Peter pulled back and fell over the couch, "Uh...are you okay?" Peter looked up at her through widened eyes, his mouth hanging agape in shock, "Uh...I think he's broken."
"Y-You're Mary Jane Watson!" Peter said.
"...That's my name, don't wear it out? What, am I famous rockstar in your world or something? Please say yes. I need the ego boost."
"Pfft, like you need an excuse to be even more of a drama queen," Glory teased.
"You love me for it." Mary Jane rolled her eyes and offered Peter a hand, "So, really, what's with the big gasp? Do you know me?"
"N-No, but you're Mayday's m-"
"Ahahaha, Pete, we need to talk!" Before he could utter back a response Gwen grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the other room. Peter was too stunned stupid to say a word till she slammed the door shut, cutting off her three friends from view.
"Th-That was-"
"Ixnay on the MJ being a mom thing!" Gwen hissed, looking between him and the door, "I'm still easing them into the whole 'I'm a superhero who can travel between dimensions' stuff. You start blabbing about alternate universes and they're never gonna stop asking questions. I already regret telling them about the Web Warriors and Loomworld. MJ's got it in her head that she can bring rock and roll to that place and be some rocker messiah."
"...Could she?"
"I dunno, I didn't ask Karn! We had more important problems!" Gwen sighed, "Just put a lid on it, okay? I have enough to worry about without adding this to the pile."
"Uh...okay, sure." Peter nodded nervously, "Still, that's Mayday's mom, huh? Wow...I mean, she's...um-"
"...Oh my God, you have a crush on her." Gwen groaned and rubbed the sides of her temples, "Just what we needed, huh? Spider-Man loves Mary Jane."
"Wh-What? I don't..." It was just...well, she was hot, and he had to wonder what kind of game his alternate universe counterpart if he was able to get together with her and get a daughter out of the deal. He couldn't even get a prom date without her crying by the end of the night...though in fairness he blamed that more on Mr. Toomes being an arms dealer who put alien weapons on the streets.
"Talk to me when you get rid of that tomato you have for a head." She laughed under her breath and his blush (darn it!) worsened, "Look, I get it, she's pretty and she's got a great voice, but could we maybe worry more about the immediate things first? We need to buy you a change of clothes and I gotta find a new job before rent comes in a couple weeks and get back to classes..."
"I-I can find work. I mean, it's not like I'll be doing anything else for a while..." Not until that Karn guy managed to do something, at least.
"Appreciate the offer, but you don't exactly have any papers and you're even younger than I am. Listen, me and the girls are gonna practice. You can take off if you want. Should be some money on the counter."
"C-Could I stay? You said you were in a band and I wanna hear what you music you guys have."
"...You just wanna stare at MJ, don't you?"
"Wh-What?! No, I-"
"I'm just joshing you, Pete. It's cool...just hope you don't mind being in your jammies around four girls."
"...Why do you do this to me?" Peter both hands on his face and groaned.
"Because it's way too easy." She laughed, "Come on, MJ'll be happy to play in front of someone new. You can put on the Spidey suit if it makes you feel more comfortable. Not gonna judge."
"Would you just-" Peter let out a frustrated breath. It was just a joke, but it was better than looking like this, right? "...I'm putting on the suit."
"Ha!"
Done. Apologies for Gwen pretty down for most of the chapter; I'll try to have her be more cheerful in future chapters. Anyway, Gwen and MCU have started getting along better and MCU's gotten a (teeny tiny) crush on Mary Jane. Do you guys like his chances? Maybe it's just me but I'm kinda doubtful considering her first impression was seeing him in his (technically Gwen's...) jammies.
Next chapter will have MCU working in Starkbucks to earn some rent and getting a certain AI back online. Meanwhile Gwen's either going back to college and dealing with the fallout of being a public hero or she meets up with 616 Silk and Jessica Drew and discusses her new Spider problem. Dunno which yet, might just flip a coin.
On a personal note, it felt...weird writing that convo between MCU and Gwen about 65-Peter. The last time I did that in Looking Glass the tone was massively different and the two leads were still in friction with one another. I gotta say, I'm actually not that used to writing two well-balanced and stable individuals making fast friends. Really gotta work on this. At least this fic is good practice in that regard.
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RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
That was really good. Yeah, Gwen mighta been a little down about her Peter but the rest of the chapter was just really fun and cute. Definitely put a smile on my face.
Also, I know how disappointing it can be as a writing when feedback drop of is a thing, so I'll do my best to comment on every chapter after this one. I'm willing to be that most will be quick opinions like this one.
Oh, and of the two Gwen options, the one where she chats with Silk and Drew is more immediately appealing. For a guy, I have a strange love of girl talk chapters. /shrug
Also, I know how disappointing it can be as a writing when feedback drop of is a thing, so I'll do my best to comment on every chapter after this one. I'm willing to be that most will be quick opinions like this one.
Oh, and of the two Gwen options, the one where she chats with Silk and Drew is more immediately appealing. For a guy, I have a strange love of girl talk chapters. /shrug
ZFighter18
I'm not a god. I AM WHAT A GOD PRAYS TO.
- Location
- Maryland
I really enjoyed this chapter and don't want you to stop writing because of feedback drop.
You should try crossposting on SpaceBattles as well.
Peter's reaction to MJ was delightful, BTW
You should try crossposting on SpaceBattles as well.
Peter's reaction to MJ was delightful, BTW
\
Thanks
Anyway, I'll still be deciding where to put Gwen, though I'll keep what you want in mind. Did cross-post to spacebattles and fanfiction; more comments and feedback there
Anyway, I actually wondered if Peter having a crush right off the bat was a bit much, even if most versions do go gaga when they see her the first time in their canon like 616, New Animated Series, Spectacular etc etc. That and MCU never showed equal attraction to Gwen despite her arguably being just as pretty.A question for anyone who's read Spider-Gwen's comic (or just gained a reasonable assumption of her character from reading this fic): if MCU just said he liked her what's the likelihood of her actually reciprocating? We know she has issues with guilt from what happened with her Peter and one reason she liked Miles was 'he doesn't remind me of Peter'...yeah, that was actually a plus point in her view. This goes double for MCU since, presumably, he'd look near-identical to 65-Peter given that they're the same age and genetic equals.
While I do think I have some leeway given that this takes place near the tail end of her run, meaning she's already putting her demons to rest, it really can't be denied that she has a fucked up view of 65-Peter and that night at prom. Her fear toxin hallucination is all over this:
Making things more complicated is the fact that MCU, at least partially, must act like 65-Peter given that, from what we hear of him from Gwen and Aunt May, he was warm and caring and friendly, at least to them. This gives one the impression that he was hiding/repressing his more negative traits when it came to Gwen and the Parkers. Given this, I'm starting to have doubts that a relationship wouldn't just be angsty, guilt-ridden and doubtful on Gwen's end.
While I do think I have some leeway given that this takes place near the tail end of her run, meaning she's already putting her demons to rest, it really can't be denied that she has a fucked up view of 65-Peter and that night at prom. Her fear toxin hallucination is all over this:
Making things more complicated is the fact that MCU, at least partially, must act like 65-Peter given that, from what we hear of him from Gwen and Aunt May, he was warm and caring and friendly, at least to them. This gives one the impression that he was hiding/repressing his more negative traits when it came to Gwen and the Parkers. Given this, I'm starting to have doubts that a relationship wouldn't just be angsty, guilt-ridden and doubtful on Gwen's end.
Chapter 4 - Settling In
Back to this This took me a few hours to do - constantly distracted by other shit - but hopefully this works out. This chapter ended up feeling like filler. The next one should hopefully be better.
Anyway, I heard Silk/Cindy Moon is gonna get her own movie It being led by Sony has me wary, but I do hope that they make it work since Silk, at least after she got her own ongoing/got away from Dan Slott, is one of my favorite Spiders. That and her issues feel like classic Amazing Spider-Man for the most part.
Chapter 4: Settling In
Over a week passed. Peter wished he could say that everything worked out best and they'd kicked Thanos' butt and saved the day, but that was far from the truth. He was still here in Gwen's home - Earth-65, according to her transporter watch - with no progress made. According to what Gwen told him the rest of the Web Warriors were definitely trying to fix it and they'd tell him as soon as they made any progress.
No luck so far, though they did confirm that 'Peter Parker' was persona non grata as far as Earth-19999 (how did the watch know what to name them?) was concerned. Apparently Ham, Noir and someone else called Pavitr couldn't even be in the same room or they'd start doing the dust shuffle. It wasn't good news, but at least it helped put things more into perspective.
Last he checked they were gearing up to actually go to his home and see the damage, though Billy - Spider-UK, cause apparently naming Spiders after countries was a whole thing - said it would 'take weeks of preparation and training'. He wanted them to both hurry up and postpone that part.
So he was here, just trying to keep himself from going nuts thinking about what happened to everyone back home. He mostly stayed at Gwen's place. A part of him was was antsy and wanted to patrol, but Gwen told him it was a bad idea right now. Spider-Woman just got declared innocent so wait a week or two, she'd said. He didn't like it, but she knew best in this place.
He actually didn't see Gwen all that much. She was always busy with something, either visiting someone she didn't want to tell him about (he didn't pry) or doing something with this world's Captain America (Samantha Wilson, while her male clone was Falcon). Most days he just hung out with Betty and Murderface or tried to hack through the training wheels program that Mr. Stark put extra security in. He felt kinda guilty just sitting around while Gwen brought home the bacon.
Which led him here.
"I'll have a slice of pizza to go."
Working in retail.
"Wh-What? Um..." Peter looked back down at the list, "We, uh, we don't sell pizza here. Dollar Dog, you know? It's, uh, just the hotdogs. Cordnogs, actually." The old owner was very clear about that. No burgers, pizzas, ice cream, pretzels or drugs. Just corndogs.
"Oh...well how about some ice cream?"
"We don't have that either. Again, just the hotdogs."
"Ugh, fine." The guy rolled his eyes, like it was somehow Peter's fault that this was a hotdog place, ""I'll take two corndogs, hold the mayo."
"Coming right up!" Peter smiled (company policy) and picked up two of the corn dogs from the heater. The Dollar Dog - which had the creepiest mascot - was willing to hire anyone and didn't look too close at the whole 'no papers in this dimension' problem he had. Heck, he was pretty sure the manager didn't look up from his phone once during the interview. As long as he had two hands and didn't spit in the dogs he was hired.
He did try to work for Baskin-Robbins a couple days ago, but they found out something was up and he had to leave. Apparently Baskin-Robbins always found out. At least he got a mango fruit blast out of it.
The young man with the purple dyed hair put the bills on the counter and left without a word, a huff in his step. Peter's smile twitched and he put the money in the register. He'd worked in bodegas before - Mr. Delmar's place gave all employees a discount for the best sandwiches in Queens - so he knew a bit on what to expect. Still, the...'clientele' in this place was enough to jar him out.
"Oh, dude, I think I'm gonna..."
Speaking of which.
Peter turned to the source of the voice and cringed when one of the customers vomited out the (free, they made that very clear) artinasal pickle water, "Clean up on aisle two," one of his bosses said, not even looking up from his phone.
Mr. Albie - the old owner - grumbled and made his way for the mop. Peter beat him to it, "I'll do it, sir."
"Hmph, do what you want." He threw up his hands and grumbled some more. Peter didn't blame him. From what he heard a Supervillain attacked the place and he had to sell, so now he was taking orders from some guy half his age while he did most of the work. Peter didn't exactly agree with the whole 'I'm older so I have the right to be bitter about young people' thing, but he still felt sorry for the guy considering most of the other 'employees' spent more time facegabbing than working. Being friends with the new boss apparently paid.
He mopped up the mess and sighed. Today was the end of his first week and his boss agreed to give him an advance on his bi-monthly paycheck. He'd been making progress on hacking through the defenses Mr. Stark put up. Apparently he really wanted to make sure Peter couldn't get all that cool stuff back.
The day was almost out when it happened. Peter's first thought when he saw the guy in the green jacket, jail shirt and domino mask was Hamburglar, though the smell was more trashman. Peter covered his nose and breathed through his mouth as the smell of garbage wafted up his nostrils. He'd gone dumpster diving before for parts. Was that what he smelled like to Aunt May and Ned?
"People, people, you know the drill!" he shouted confidently. No one looked up from their phones, both the employees and the few customers that remained content to focus on their own thing. Only Mr. Albie paid him any mind, and he looked more annoyed than anything else, "That's right, the Bodega Bandit is back in business! Give up the corndogs or face the consequences!"
"Yeah, yeah," his boss said, still not looking him in the eye, "Corndogs in plastic wraps. See you next week, bandit."
Was this...a robbery? It definitely looked like it, but the lack of caring by everyone made it seem more like a bad advertisement.
"What, really?" The burglar(?) blinked in surprise before quickly regaining his composure, "I mean...good! I'll be back next week!"
Peter watched him go. Was he supposed to stop him? He didn't pay for the food, but it was already prepared for him. Was it a call order? "Um...what was that?" he whispered to Mr. Albie, "Was he a bad guy?"
"He's definitely a smelly one," He crinkled his nose in disgust, "That's Bodega Bandit. He's a nuisance; goes through the Bodegas around this area and starts demanding food, arcade machines...anything he thinks will 'up his street cred' or whatever you kids call it." Peter was pretty sure no one said that anymore, but he let him continue, "Most of us stopped bothering trying to stop him. He never stays in jail."
"Why?"
"Who knows?" Mr. Albie shrugged, "Always out before the day's done, that one. We learn to live with him. Like a bad fungus infection."
"Gross..." Peter watched the bandit's retreating form through the glass window. It wasn't right, him just getting away with that. He knew he promised Gwen that he'd let him out, but... "Hey, uh, do you mind if I take my break real quick?"
Two minutes later he'd changed into his costume and was swinging through the city in search of El Bandito. He had to admit, it was a relief to be up in the air again; almost made him forget about how screwed up things were. A bunch of people saw him and immediately started taking pictures. He made sure to wave before turning the corner; always good to say hi to people.
El Bandito didn't get far. Peter found him in an alley, humming and practically skipping, his arms filled to the brim with wrapped corndogs. Peter almost felt bad for what he was going to do.
Almost.
"Hey, Hamburglar!" El Bandito turned around and dropped the corndogs (good thing they were covered) when he saw him hanging on the wall above him, "Didn't anyone ever tell you stealing wasn't nice?"
He continued to gape up at him. Peter debated on whether to web him up right there or try for more banter before he suddenly spoke up, "Who the heck are you?"
"Uh...I'm Spider-Man. Kinda new at this."
"I'll say. Spider-Man? You're not even being original!" Peter blinked. Was he seriously getting lectured on brand originality by a guy dressed up like a McDonalds mascot? "By the way, me and Spider-Woman kinda have a thing. I'm her arch-nemesis, so...yeah. If anyone's gonna stop me then it's gonna be her, you know? There are rules."
"You still broke the law." This guy was Gwen's arch-nemesis? Was he secretly some kind of criminal mastermind or something? "Look, how about you just gimme the corndogs back and we call it even? You don't seem like that bad a guy so I'll let it go if you promise to stop robbing people."
"Stop? Hah!" He grinned, "The Bodega Bandit can't be stopped, not now not ever! And there's nothing you can do to stop me, poser!"
...
Five minutes later he'd webbed him close to the dumpster (apparently it was where he lived) and got all the corndogs back. Peter swung to an alley close to the Dollar Dog and stuffed his costume back into his backpack. A couple of people managed to snap of a pic of his 'fight' with El Bandito. Hopefully Gwen didn't mind; it was an emergency.
"I got the corndogs back!" he said as soon as he was through the door. Mr. Albie and the boss gave him a questioning look, "Um, I mean...Spider-Man got the corndogs back and gave them to me. Saw my uniform." He laughed awkwardly.
"Spider-Man, hmph." Mr. Albie rolled his eyes and took the wrapped corndogs from his arms, "Another admirer of that Gwen Stacy girl. We don't need any more masked freaks running around." Peter cringed. There were definitely people who hated the Gifted back home - apparently that didn't change much here. He'd have thought people would be more grateful after the Avengers saved New York.
"Spider-Woman's cool. It's why everyone hangs around here," the boss said, eyes glued back to his phone, "We're having a Spider promotion thing here next week, btw. Invite your friends, Ken."
"It's, uh, it's Ben." Ben Reilly...well, he couldn't use his real name, right? Better safe than sorry, according to Betty. It wasn't like Aunt May was using her old last name anymore.
He got 'home' by the time the sun was going down. Betty was there already, "Yo, Pete," she looked up at him lazily from her place on the couch, Murderface once again wrapped around her head. At this point he was convinced he lived there, "Done with work?"
"Yup." He emptied out his bag of supplies on the dining room table before unceremoniously dumping his suit next to it, "Gwen here?"
"Nope. Why, need something?"
"No, just wanted to pay my part of the rent." He tossed her the folded bills. Most of it was spent on supplies, but it was a start, "I'll get the other half of my paycheck next week. I know it's not enough, but..."
"You know she didn't want you to think you had to pay her, right?"
"I-I know, it's just...you know, I'd be pretty screwed if it wasn't for her. You guys really pulled my butt out of the fire."
"Well, it's a very fine butt, so it was our pleasure." Peter fumbled and nearly dropped the wires he was holding. She was always like that, joking and flirting, but it still took some getting used to. It wasn't every day that pretty older girls flirted with him, "Anyway, what's all the junk for? Still trying to fix your fembot? What was her name, Carmen?"
"Karen." He put the clamps on the chip and attached it to another wire, "Can I borrow your laptop? Gwen took hers with her to the shop." He put his mask back on. He needed it if Karen was going to talk to him.
"Sure. Just don't open my forbidden folders. I don't wanna ruin our friendship so soon."
"Uh...right." Why did he not know if that was a joke or not? Shaking his head, he grabbed the (non-password protected) laptop and booted up some of the programs. Ned was always the better hacker between them both, but you couldn't get into the Midtown School of Science if you didn't know how to improvise. He'd already made some headway to cracking Mr. Stark's new code. He just had to put the finishing touches.
"So...what's this fembot like?" Betty asked.
"She's, uh, nice." He actually didn't know Karen that long before Mr. Stark put her under lock and key again, "She's an AI, so maybe she's, like, just programmed to be nice, but I like her. It's just, uh..."
"What?"
"Well, she was supposed to be activated after I completed the training wheels protocol, so she's...well, she's really quick to go to instant kill mode." He still didn't like killing people, at least not criminals on the street. He could accept it for evil aliens working for crazy guys who tried to destroy half the galaxy.
"So you got a killer AI? Great, when do we start worshiping our new robot overlords?"
"What? No, no, she's cool. She just likes to make jokes...alright, she made a joke about liking the sight of humans on their knees, but that was only after we watched some old movies." The humor protocol needed some work, according to Mr. Stark, "Anyway, maybe she can help us." He didn't know how, but it was better than being stuck here with no one else he knew.
"Whatever you say, Pete." She stretched her arms above her head and yawned, "Hey, you said there was a Betty back in your place, right?"
"Yeah...?"
"What was she like? Was she in a band like me?"
"Uh...not that I recall." Peter shook his head, "She was in Midtown's news team. Friends with Liz, too."
"Girl with the Supervill dad?"
"Y-Yeah..." He looked back down at the laptop, "Betty didn't like me for a while, considering I ditched Liz at prom and all, but she's nice, I guess." She still didn't like him that much. Not that he could blame her; ditching a girl at prom looked bad even before you take the whole 'dad's secretly an arms dealer' thing, "She, um, actually looks a lot like Gwen. Only difference is she has longer hair."
"Huh...that's weird."
"Alternate dimensions, I guess." Peter shrugged.
It was nighttime by the time he finally cut through all the defenses. Peter rubbed his eyes through his mask and smiled when Betty offered him a burger, "Thanks..." He pulled his mask up to his nose and took a bite, "I'm done. Once I press enter she's gonna be online again."
"Do it. But if we get enslaved I'm blaming you."
He rolled his eyes with a small smile and tapped enter. The lines of code ran down the black screen and he heard a soft whirring followed by an all too familiar voice, "Good evening, Peter. Congratulations on completing your rigorous training wheel protocol. Again."
"Karen!" He smiled. Hearing her voice was such a relief, "God, I can't believe it's you! I mean, I can believe it since you're part of the suit, but-
"It's nice to see you as well, Peter." He could imagine her smiling in return, "Judging by your voice and facial features not much time has passed since my deactivation. Did you hack through the training wheels program again? Mr. Stark won't be pleased."
"Yeah, but I had a good reason!" He took a deep breath, "Just, um...it's a long story. Big bad guy, worse than Hitler kind."
"An invocation of Godwins law, prevalent among teenagers and young adults. Are you making a hyperbole?"
"No, trust me, definitely not." Peter sighed, "Look, it all started at the school field trip..."
"So what's new with you, Spider-Gwen?"
Gwen looked up and caught Jess smirking down at her from the beam above. It was time for her, Jess and Cindy to have their weekly meet-up. She had to admit, she missed having the two of them around, especially after that entire clusterfuck with Muderdock, Castle, the Lizards and losing all her powers. Apparently they'd had an eventful few months as well, so it was nice to get together again.
Even if they were hanging around the top of a building under construction. Hey, at least this way she could be sure no one was going to be taking pics.
"Nothing really." Gwen shrugged, digging into her egg salad sandwich. Not the same as her dad used to make, but she did her best.
"Really?" Jess raised an eyebrow. She should've known the private investigator would pry, "Last we checked in you didn't have any powers and your secret identity was very firmly under close wraps. Now the first thing me and Cindy see is a giant billboard about the all new Spider-Gwen."
"You could use a name change, by the way," Cindy cut in 'helpfully'. The other Spider sat next to her with only the picnic basket separating them, "Spider-Gwen? Doesn't it sound a bit on the nose?"
"Hey, blame the guy who coined it. 'Sides, don't think you have much room to be talking, Silk."
"Hey, at least mine makes sense. Smooth as Silk, get it? Spider-Gwen's just like if we used Super-Clark or Bat-Bruce. Just doesn't ring, ya know?"
"We all make mistakes, Cin. You remember the time you used that old costume?" Jessica said.
Cindy actually blushed at that. Now Gwen was intrigued, "Oh, so our own Silk went through the beta costume phase, huh?" Gwen teased, ignoring the glare the other Spider threw her way, "What was it? A skirt? A jumpsuit? Oooh, a cape! Bet it was a cape." She went through her own thing before Wasp gave her the new threads, but at least just it looked cheap instead of tacky.
"Nothing! It was just-"
"I have a pic," Jess said, cutting off Cindy's vehement denial.
Jess tossed her phone towards Gwen before Cindy could stop her and Gwen was met with a crystal clear picture of their very own Cindy Moon wearing what looked like web fetish gear, "Oh my God..." She knew it was bad - Cindy wouldn't have been in so much denial if it wasn't - but she didn't think it was 'I used to have a mohawk' levels of awful.
"Why do you even have that?!" Cindy screamed.
"Thought it'd be funny. And it was." Jess smirked and took her phone back, "Hey, you were asking for it. I mean, what the heck was with that? It's like when Luke went through his tiara and bracelets stage."
"Oh, like you can talk, Ms. Bodypaint!" Cindy shot back hotly.
"I made it work." Jess laughed, "Anyway, we're getting off topic. What happened with you, Spider-Gwen?"
"Please don't call me that." Gwen sighed, "Look, long story short my identity got outed, I'm stuck with the Venom suit, I spent a year in prison, Cap tried to recruit me to a suicide squad knock-off, which I refused, and now I'm just trying to not go insane"
"Wow...and I thought me fighting Hobgoblin would be the highlight of this visit." Jess whistled, "So, let's go through it in order. Venom suit? You mean like the thing that makes you wanna eat people's brains? Do you feel the urge to refer to yourself as 'we'? Be honest."
"Yes, we certainly do. We can't use proper pronouns now," Gwen replied, only half-sarcastically, "No, Jess, I'm fine. This Venom isn't like the one in your universe. It's more like...you ever have that moment when you wanna eat pizza when you're going through a diet or play video games instead of doing your work? It's kinda like that. Think of it like that little voice at the back of your head telling you to do the things you wanna do instead of what you should do."
"And that's not unhealthy?" Cindy asked.
"I've got a lid on it. Mostly. Still splurge a bit more on pizza than I should, but we all have our moments," Gwen said, "Bright side is I got a power boost. Can probably lift more than both of you."
"Strength isn't everything, Gwen," Jess said.
"Thanks, Mr. Miyagi." She laughed. Cap was real interested on testing her upper limits, but they weren't really talking, "Anyway, I thought that exposing my identity and taking responsibility would be best. Put it all out there. Yeah..." She sighed, "Didn't work so well. Year in prison, like I said. Not fun."
"Identity reveals, huh? Reminds me of that Civil War thing the heroes had before I got out of the bunker," Cindy said.
"Yeah, we don't like to talk about that," Jess coughed uncomfortably, "So, who's on this team Black Cap tried to recruit you in?"
"Last I checked? Shadowcat, Wolverine, that asshole Punisher, Black Cat and, um, evil Cindy. She was kinda the main reason I refused." She still had no fucking clue why Cap thought she'd be a good fit. Were they were gonna recruit Red Skull and M.O.D.A.A.K next?
"My evil twin? Seriously?" Cindy asked.
"Hey, I'm not part of the team, so don't look at me!" Gwen said, "Look, I don't like it either, but it's none of my business. If S.H.I.E.L.D wants to try putting Harley Quinn up there than that's their problem."
"Guess so. Just be sure to keep clear of em, Gwen. I dunno what they're like here, but them being this dimension's Thunderbolts really makes me wary," Jess said.
"Black Cat's not so bad. She's a thief, right?" Cindy asked.
"More like a popstar turned would-be assassin." Yeah...she definitely got the feeling Felicia didn't like her. Punching her in the face and leaving her for the cops tended to do that to people, "...Hey, how close are you guys to Spider-Man? The one from your place, I mean. I was hoping you could ask him something for me." It couldn't hurt to ask, right? So far the WW didn't have any luck with their thing.
"I know his secret identity and I guess we're friends, but I don't talk to him all that much," Jess said, "Of course, being called Spider-Woman tends have people assume. You wouldn't believe how many people think we're married."
"Ditto. We used to date because of that weird totem thing, but I've been keeping my distance. We still team up sometimes," Cindy said, "Why you asking? Please don't tell me you're looking for a date. Cause trust me, been there don't that and he's not that much a catch."
"What? No, God no." Gwen shook her head. That thing with Miles was enough for her, thanks, "It's just...alright, you're probably gonna call bullshit, but a Spider-Man from another dimension kinda just fell over here and now he's stuck. Sending him back home was a bust cause apparently some big purple dude called Thanos used some big gauntlet with a buncha gems to kill half the universe."
"Thanos? Guess I'm not surprised he's a monster in every other universe," Jess said, "Anyway, what'd you want us to ask?"
"Ask him if he, I dunno, knows something about being stuck in one dimension or that Thanos guy. I heard he was there when he did the 'kill half the universe' plan in your dimension." She was really hoping the big purple dude didn't exist here. They didn't have any Norse Gods or Hulks to help stop him, "I mean, Pete can't stay here forever. He has family and friends to get back to."
"So, what, he's just staying here?" Cindy asked.
"Yeah, over at my place. Not like we have any other choice." Gwen sighed. The apartment definitely wasn't built for three people, but it was better to be cramped than to deal with the alternative, "He can't stay in Loomworld and he doesn't have any ID here cause, you know..." Peter Parker was supposed to be dead. So far Cap hadn't caught wind yet, but she got the feeling it was only a matter of time.
"Hm..." Jess pursed her lips, "No offense, Gwen, but are you sure that's a good idea? We all know you have...issues with Peter Parker."
"I don't have-" She sighed again, "'m not saying this is ideal, but we can deal, alright? If it helps he doesn't have anything special with Gwen Stacy back in his place so it's only awkward on one side. Besides, I can't just kick him out, right? Us Spiders gotta stick together." Even if she still sometimes wanted to cry when she looked at him. At least she was getting better about it compared to before. A year stewing on her juices tended to do that.
"If you say so," Cindy mumbled, "Is it weird that this isn't the first time we've run into this? One time me and Jess went into that universe that had another Spider-Gwen and she had a Peter there with her too. Does your drop-in use guns and work with the Punisher? Or fight with devils?"
"What? No!" What the hell did they get up to when she wasn't looking? "Look, it's getting late so I'm gonna take off."
"Sure. Same time next week?" Jess asked.
"You know it. Make sure to tell me if he says anything."
Swinging back home was surprisingly peaceful. No crimes and no paparazzi, at least as far as she could see. She had to admit, she was in a good mood. Not only was the bad press finally dying down but she and the rest of the girls had a concert planned tomorrow; their first ever since she spent all those weeks in her Gwenom phase. It was nice to get back into the swing (heh) of things.
When she got back she found Peter typing something on Betty's laptop while Betty herself wore his mask and nodded along to something, "Hey, guys." She let the suit peel away to reveal her casual clothes, "What's happening?" She crossed her arms and smiled. It was nice to see them getting along.
"Did you know Peter has his own personal Fembot? It's what he was working on all week." Betty asked, her voice muffled by the mask.
"Um...what?"
"She's an AI," Peter said, a slight flush on his cheeks, "I told you before that Mr. Stark made my suit, right? Well, he put an AI and training wheels protocol in there." He gestured to the laptop, "Right now she can only talk to the mask, but I'm trying to make a program so she can use the laptop as a speaker. Figured it'd be easier if she ever wants to chat."
"Oh...cool." His world's Tony Stark definitely sounded a lot nice than this one's, "How's it going?"
"Just about to finish, actually." He typed a few more letters in and hit enter, "Here, how about now?"
"It seems to be functioning well, Peter." The smooth female voice nearly caused Gwen to jump, "The suit's internal power systems should be enough to keep all systems operational for the next few years, but this will help us save energy if needed."
"Uh..." Gwen blinked. There was an AI on her friend's laptop.
"Oh, a new arrival. Forgive me, my sensors are still rebooting. I am the Spider-Man suit's built-in AI, but Peter refers to me as Karen. You can follow his example or choose your own designation for me."
"Karen's cool, thanks. Name's Gwen." She almost stuck her hand out before quickly stopping herself, "Uh...sorry, this is my first time meeting an AI. Not even sure if we have AI in this dimension." Just another thing Cap would get on her ass about if - when - she found out. And here she thought she could actually take it easy. Stacy luck struck again...
"Truly? Peter explained the circumstances that led us both here, but I didn't think I would be the first of my kind present here. This is exciting."
"Right..." She looked to Betty, "Look, MJ and Glory are gonna be here any minute now. We gotta practice for the gig tomorrow."
"I'll clean up all this stuff."
Peter took the mask back from Betty and dragged all the stuff to the other room. He'd barely closed the door before Karen's faint voice came from the mask. He put it back on, "Sorry, what'd you say?"
"I was asking which of the two girls you liked."
Peter nearly dropped the laptop and wires, "U-Uh, what?"
"Do you wish me to repeat it?"
"No, no, I heard you just fine. It's just...a weird thing to ask, ya know?" At least she wasn't asking about Thanos and Titan. He still wasn't ready to think too much about that, even with the hope that this was all part of some cosmic plan.
"Truly? I'm sorry, I was deactivated before I saw the resolution of your attraction to Liz. How did that go, by the way?"
"It...didn't work out. Her dad was the Vulture guy and she had to move away..." It wasn't his fault...so why did he still feel so bad about it? He couldn't just let Mr. Toomes sell those weapons on the streets, right? No matter what reasons he had he was a criminal and he was stealing and endangering people for money. He had to be stopped, even if it meant Liz being hurt.
"Oh, my apologies. Am I correct in saying then that you aren't attracted to either Betty or Gwen?"
"Th-They're just friends!" He shook his head and tried to ignore the heat on his cheeks, "I mean, they really helped me out so I'm grateful for that. Nothing weird's going on, okay?"
"If you say so, Peter." Why did he get the feeling Karen didn't believe him? He shook his head. It didn't matter. At least she was back and he had a job, at least for however long he was staying here. Maybe things were looking up-
Peter jumped when the door suddenly opened and Mary Jane peeked her head in, "Hey, Peter, you joining us for practice?" She paused, "...Why are you wearing a mask?"
"Oh, j-just testing it out." Karen hummed against his ear, "Uh, I'll watch you guys in a bit! Just gonna take care of this stuff." He raised the assembled wires and components.
"Sure. Don't take too long, Tiger."
She winked and shut the door, leaving him with nothing but Karen's humming in his ears. She practically radiated smugness, "Uh...Karen?"
"Yes, Peter?"
"Not a word."
"Of course, Peter. Just friends, correct?"
"...Yeah, totally."
"Of course...Tiger."
Maybe re-activating her wasn't the best idea...
A huge chunk of Gwen's segment ended up being pretty plot dump-y. Apologies for that. Anyway, Karen's back in all her instant kill, matchmaker glory She'll definitely be good for a few laughs, especially once she starts interacting with the rest of the cast who don't know what an actual AI is like outside of Terminator and Matrix.
Next chapter is the Mary Janes concert which, by the laws of comic book narratives, is going to go belly up for the sake of adding drama I'll ask a question with regards to this below.
Questions:
1. What do you guys think of other pairings besides MCU Peter/Spider-Gwen? Some people seem to have been under the assumption that Peter's crush on Mary Jane could lead somewhere, for example. Gwen's lacking in alternatives (unless I make her bi like I did in Looking Glass)...maybe Harry? He should still be kicking around.
2. Whose POV do you guys want the concert to be? Both Peter and Gwen are present but I'd like to stick to the one viewpoint to help keep things simple. This also changes thoughts and combat scenes when we get to the inevitable villain attack given that Peter has Karen while Gwen has her controlled Venom suit.
This took me a few hours to do - constantly distracted by other shit - but hopefully this works out. This chapter ended up feeling like filler. The next one should hopefully be better.Anyway, I heard Silk/Cindy Moon is gonna get her own movie
It being led by Sony has me wary, but I do hope that they make it work since Silk, at least after she got her own ongoing/got away from Dan Slott, is one of my favorite Spiders. That and her issues feel like classic Amazing Spider-Man for the most part.
Chapter 4: Settling In
Over a week passed. Peter wished he could say that everything worked out best and they'd kicked Thanos' butt and saved the day, but that was far from the truth. He was still here in Gwen's home - Earth-65, according to her transporter watch - with no progress made. According to what Gwen told him the rest of the Web Warriors were definitely trying to fix it and they'd tell him as soon as they made any progress.
No luck so far, though they did confirm that 'Peter Parker' was persona non grata as far as Earth-19999 (how did the watch know what to name them?) was concerned. Apparently Ham, Noir and someone else called Pavitr couldn't even be in the same room or they'd start doing the dust shuffle. It wasn't good news, but at least it helped put things more into perspective.
Last he checked they were gearing up to actually go to his home and see the damage, though Billy - Spider-UK, cause apparently naming Spiders after countries was a whole thing - said it would 'take weeks of preparation and training'. He wanted them to both hurry up and postpone that part.
So he was here, just trying to keep himself from going nuts thinking about what happened to everyone back home. He mostly stayed at Gwen's place. A part of him was was antsy and wanted to patrol, but Gwen told him it was a bad idea right now. Spider-Woman just got declared innocent so wait a week or two, she'd said. He didn't like it, but she knew best in this place.
He actually didn't see Gwen all that much. She was always busy with something, either visiting someone she didn't want to tell him about (he didn't pry) or doing something with this world's Captain America (Samantha Wilson, while her male clone was Falcon). Most days he just hung out with Betty and Murderface or tried to hack through the training wheels program that Mr. Stark put extra security in. He felt kinda guilty just sitting around while Gwen brought home the bacon.
Which led him here.
"I'll have a slice of pizza to go."
Working in retail.
"Wh-What? Um..." Peter looked back down at the list, "We, uh, we don't sell pizza here. Dollar Dog, you know? It's, uh, just the hotdogs. Cordnogs, actually." The old owner was very clear about that. No burgers, pizzas, ice cream, pretzels or drugs. Just corndogs.
"Oh...well how about some ice cream?"
"We don't have that either. Again, just the hotdogs."
"Ugh, fine." The guy rolled his eyes, like it was somehow Peter's fault that this was a hotdog place, ""I'll take two corndogs, hold the mayo."
"Coming right up!" Peter smiled (company policy) and picked up two of the corn dogs from the heater. The Dollar Dog - which had the creepiest mascot - was willing to hire anyone and didn't look too close at the whole 'no papers in this dimension' problem he had. Heck, he was pretty sure the manager didn't look up from his phone once during the interview. As long as he had two hands and didn't spit in the dogs he was hired.
He did try to work for Baskin-Robbins a couple days ago, but they found out something was up and he had to leave. Apparently Baskin-Robbins always found out. At least he got a mango fruit blast out of it.
The young man with the purple dyed hair put the bills on the counter and left without a word, a huff in his step. Peter's smile twitched and he put the money in the register. He'd worked in bodegas before - Mr. Delmar's place gave all employees a discount for the best sandwiches in Queens - so he knew a bit on what to expect. Still, the...'clientele' in this place was enough to jar him out.
"Oh, dude, I think I'm gonna..."
Speaking of which.
Peter turned to the source of the voice and cringed when one of the customers vomited out the (free, they made that very clear) artinasal pickle water, "Clean up on aisle two," one of his bosses said, not even looking up from his phone.
Mr. Albie - the old owner - grumbled and made his way for the mop. Peter beat him to it, "I'll do it, sir."
"Hmph, do what you want." He threw up his hands and grumbled some more. Peter didn't blame him. From what he heard a Supervillain attacked the place and he had to sell, so now he was taking orders from some guy half his age while he did most of the work. Peter didn't exactly agree with the whole 'I'm older so I have the right to be bitter about young people' thing, but he still felt sorry for the guy considering most of the other 'employees' spent more time facegabbing than working. Being friends with the new boss apparently paid.
He mopped up the mess and sighed. Today was the end of his first week and his boss agreed to give him an advance on his bi-monthly paycheck. He'd been making progress on hacking through the defenses Mr. Stark put up. Apparently he really wanted to make sure Peter couldn't get all that cool stuff back.
The day was almost out when it happened. Peter's first thought when he saw the guy in the green jacket, jail shirt and domino mask was Hamburglar, though the smell was more trashman. Peter covered his nose and breathed through his mouth as the smell of garbage wafted up his nostrils. He'd gone dumpster diving before for parts. Was that what he smelled like to Aunt May and Ned?
"People, people, you know the drill!" he shouted confidently. No one looked up from their phones, both the employees and the few customers that remained content to focus on their own thing. Only Mr. Albie paid him any mind, and he looked more annoyed than anything else, "That's right, the Bodega Bandit is back in business! Give up the corndogs or face the consequences!"
"Yeah, yeah," his boss said, still not looking him in the eye, "Corndogs in plastic wraps. See you next week, bandit."
Was this...a robbery? It definitely looked like it, but the lack of caring by everyone made it seem more like a bad advertisement.
"What, really?" The burglar(?) blinked in surprise before quickly regaining his composure, "I mean...good! I'll be back next week!"
Peter watched him go. Was he supposed to stop him? He didn't pay for the food, but it was already prepared for him. Was it a call order? "Um...what was that?" he whispered to Mr. Albie, "Was he a bad guy?"
"He's definitely a smelly one," He crinkled his nose in disgust, "That's Bodega Bandit. He's a nuisance; goes through the Bodegas around this area and starts demanding food, arcade machines...anything he thinks will 'up his street cred' or whatever you kids call it." Peter was pretty sure no one said that anymore, but he let him continue, "Most of us stopped bothering trying to stop him. He never stays in jail."
"Why?"
"Who knows?" Mr. Albie shrugged, "Always out before the day's done, that one. We learn to live with him. Like a bad fungus infection."
"Gross..." Peter watched the bandit's retreating form through the glass window. It wasn't right, him just getting away with that. He knew he promised Gwen that he'd let him out, but... "Hey, uh, do you mind if I take my break real quick?"
Two minutes later he'd changed into his costume and was swinging through the city in search of El Bandito. He had to admit, it was a relief to be up in the air again; almost made him forget about how screwed up things were. A bunch of people saw him and immediately started taking pictures. He made sure to wave before turning the corner; always good to say hi to people.
El Bandito didn't get far. Peter found him in an alley, humming and practically skipping, his arms filled to the brim with wrapped corndogs. Peter almost felt bad for what he was going to do.
Almost.
"Hey, Hamburglar!" El Bandito turned around and dropped the corndogs (good thing they were covered) when he saw him hanging on the wall above him, "Didn't anyone ever tell you stealing wasn't nice?"
He continued to gape up at him. Peter debated on whether to web him up right there or try for more banter before he suddenly spoke up, "Who the heck are you?"
"Uh...I'm Spider-Man. Kinda new at this."
"I'll say. Spider-Man? You're not even being original!" Peter blinked. Was he seriously getting lectured on brand originality by a guy dressed up like a McDonalds mascot? "By the way, me and Spider-Woman kinda have a thing. I'm her arch-nemesis, so...yeah. If anyone's gonna stop me then it's gonna be her, you know? There are rules."
"You still broke the law." This guy was Gwen's arch-nemesis? Was he secretly some kind of criminal mastermind or something? "Look, how about you just gimme the corndogs back and we call it even? You don't seem like that bad a guy so I'll let it go if you promise to stop robbing people."
"Stop? Hah!" He grinned, "The Bodega Bandit can't be stopped, not now not ever! And there's nothing you can do to stop me, poser!"
...
Five minutes later he'd webbed him close to the dumpster (apparently it was where he lived) and got all the corndogs back. Peter swung to an alley close to the Dollar Dog and stuffed his costume back into his backpack. A couple of people managed to snap of a pic of his 'fight' with El Bandito. Hopefully Gwen didn't mind; it was an emergency.
"I got the corndogs back!" he said as soon as he was through the door. Mr. Albie and the boss gave him a questioning look, "Um, I mean...Spider-Man got the corndogs back and gave them to me. Saw my uniform." He laughed awkwardly.
"Spider-Man, hmph." Mr. Albie rolled his eyes and took the wrapped corndogs from his arms, "Another admirer of that Gwen Stacy girl. We don't need any more masked freaks running around." Peter cringed. There were definitely people who hated the Gifted back home - apparently that didn't change much here. He'd have thought people would be more grateful after the Avengers saved New York.
"Spider-Woman's cool. It's why everyone hangs around here," the boss said, eyes glued back to his phone, "We're having a Spider promotion thing here next week, btw. Invite your friends, Ken."
"It's, uh, it's Ben." Ben Reilly...well, he couldn't use his real name, right? Better safe than sorry, according to Betty. It wasn't like Aunt May was using her old last name anymore.
He got 'home' by the time the sun was going down. Betty was there already, "Yo, Pete," she looked up at him lazily from her place on the couch, Murderface once again wrapped around her head. At this point he was convinced he lived there, "Done with work?"
"Yup." He emptied out his bag of supplies on the dining room table before unceremoniously dumping his suit next to it, "Gwen here?"
"Nope. Why, need something?"
"No, just wanted to pay my part of the rent." He tossed her the folded bills. Most of it was spent on supplies, but it was a start, "I'll get the other half of my paycheck next week. I know it's not enough, but..."
"You know she didn't want you to think you had to pay her, right?"
"I-I know, it's just...you know, I'd be pretty screwed if it wasn't for her. You guys really pulled my butt out of the fire."
"Well, it's a very fine butt, so it was our pleasure." Peter fumbled and nearly dropped the wires he was holding. She was always like that, joking and flirting, but it still took some getting used to. It wasn't every day that pretty older girls flirted with him, "Anyway, what's all the junk for? Still trying to fix your fembot? What was her name, Carmen?"
"Karen." He put the clamps on the chip and attached it to another wire, "Can I borrow your laptop? Gwen took hers with her to the shop." He put his mask back on. He needed it if Karen was going to talk to him.
"Sure. Just don't open my forbidden folders. I don't wanna ruin our friendship so soon."
"Uh...right." Why did he not know if that was a joke or not? Shaking his head, he grabbed the (non-password protected) laptop and booted up some of the programs. Ned was always the better hacker between them both, but you couldn't get into the Midtown School of Science if you didn't know how to improvise. He'd already made some headway to cracking Mr. Stark's new code. He just had to put the finishing touches.
"So...what's this fembot like?" Betty asked.
"She's, uh, nice." He actually didn't know Karen that long before Mr. Stark put her under lock and key again, "She's an AI, so maybe she's, like, just programmed to be nice, but I like her. It's just, uh..."
"What?"
"Well, she was supposed to be activated after I completed the training wheels protocol, so she's...well, she's really quick to go to instant kill mode." He still didn't like killing people, at least not criminals on the street. He could accept it for evil aliens working for crazy guys who tried to destroy half the galaxy.
"So you got a killer AI? Great, when do we start worshiping our new robot overlords?"
"What? No, no, she's cool. She just likes to make jokes...alright, she made a joke about liking the sight of humans on their knees, but that was only after we watched some old movies." The humor protocol needed some work, according to Mr. Stark, "Anyway, maybe she can help us." He didn't know how, but it was better than being stuck here with no one else he knew.
"Whatever you say, Pete." She stretched her arms above her head and yawned, "Hey, you said there was a Betty back in your place, right?"
"Yeah...?"
"What was she like? Was she in a band like me?"
"Uh...not that I recall." Peter shook his head, "She was in Midtown's news team. Friends with Liz, too."
"Girl with the Supervill dad?"
"Y-Yeah..." He looked back down at the laptop, "Betty didn't like me for a while, considering I ditched Liz at prom and all, but she's nice, I guess." She still didn't like him that much. Not that he could blame her; ditching a girl at prom looked bad even before you take the whole 'dad's secretly an arms dealer' thing, "She, um, actually looks a lot like Gwen. Only difference is she has longer hair."
"Huh...that's weird."
"Alternate dimensions, I guess." Peter shrugged.
It was nighttime by the time he finally cut through all the defenses. Peter rubbed his eyes through his mask and smiled when Betty offered him a burger, "Thanks..." He pulled his mask up to his nose and took a bite, "I'm done. Once I press enter she's gonna be online again."
"Do it. But if we get enslaved I'm blaming you."
He rolled his eyes with a small smile and tapped enter. The lines of code ran down the black screen and he heard a soft whirring followed by an all too familiar voice, "Good evening, Peter. Congratulations on completing your rigorous training wheel protocol. Again."
"Karen!" He smiled. Hearing her voice was such a relief, "God, I can't believe it's you! I mean, I can believe it since you're part of the suit, but-
"It's nice to see you as well, Peter." He could imagine her smiling in return, "Judging by your voice and facial features not much time has passed since my deactivation. Did you hack through the training wheels program again? Mr. Stark won't be pleased."
"Yeah, but I had a good reason!" He took a deep breath, "Just, um...it's a long story. Big bad guy, worse than Hitler kind."
"An invocation of Godwins law, prevalent among teenagers and young adults. Are you making a hyperbole?"
"No, trust me, definitely not." Peter sighed, "Look, it all started at the school field trip..."
"So what's new with you, Spider-Gwen?"
Gwen looked up and caught Jess smirking down at her from the beam above. It was time for her, Jess and Cindy to have their weekly meet-up. She had to admit, she missed having the two of them around, especially after that entire clusterfuck with Muderdock, Castle, the Lizards and losing all her powers. Apparently they'd had an eventful few months as well, so it was nice to get together again.
Even if they were hanging around the top of a building under construction. Hey, at least this way she could be sure no one was going to be taking pics.
"Nothing really." Gwen shrugged, digging into her egg salad sandwich. Not the same as her dad used to make, but she did her best.
"Really?" Jess raised an eyebrow. She should've known the private investigator would pry, "Last we checked in you didn't have any powers and your secret identity was very firmly under close wraps. Now the first thing me and Cindy see is a giant billboard about the all new Spider-Gwen."
"You could use a name change, by the way," Cindy cut in 'helpfully'. The other Spider sat next to her with only the picnic basket separating them, "Spider-Gwen? Doesn't it sound a bit on the nose?"
"Hey, blame the guy who coined it. 'Sides, don't think you have much room to be talking, Silk."
"Hey, at least mine makes sense. Smooth as Silk, get it? Spider-Gwen's just like if we used Super-Clark or Bat-Bruce. Just doesn't ring, ya know?"
"We all make mistakes, Cin. You remember the time you used that old costume?" Jessica said.
Cindy actually blushed at that. Now Gwen was intrigued, "Oh, so our own Silk went through the beta costume phase, huh?" Gwen teased, ignoring the glare the other Spider threw her way, "What was it? A skirt? A jumpsuit? Oooh, a cape! Bet it was a cape." She went through her own thing before Wasp gave her the new threads, but at least just it looked cheap instead of tacky.
"Nothing! It was just-"
"I have a pic," Jess said, cutting off Cindy's vehement denial.
Jess tossed her phone towards Gwen before Cindy could stop her and Gwen was met with a crystal clear picture of their very own Cindy Moon wearing what looked like web fetish gear, "Oh my God..." She knew it was bad - Cindy wouldn't have been in so much denial if it wasn't - but she didn't think it was 'I used to have a mohawk' levels of awful.
"Why do you even have that?!" Cindy screamed.
"Thought it'd be funny. And it was." Jess smirked and took her phone back, "Hey, you were asking for it. I mean, what the heck was with that? It's like when Luke went through his tiara and bracelets stage."
"Oh, like you can talk, Ms. Bodypaint!" Cindy shot back hotly.
"I made it work." Jess laughed, "Anyway, we're getting off topic. What happened with you, Spider-Gwen?"
"Please don't call me that." Gwen sighed, "Look, long story short my identity got outed, I'm stuck with the Venom suit, I spent a year in prison, Cap tried to recruit me to a suicide squad knock-off, which I refused, and now I'm just trying to not go insane"
"Wow...and I thought me fighting Hobgoblin would be the highlight of this visit." Jess whistled, "So, let's go through it in order. Venom suit? You mean like the thing that makes you wanna eat people's brains? Do you feel the urge to refer to yourself as 'we'? Be honest."
"Yes, we certainly do. We can't use proper pronouns now," Gwen replied, only half-sarcastically, "No, Jess, I'm fine. This Venom isn't like the one in your universe. It's more like...you ever have that moment when you wanna eat pizza when you're going through a diet or play video games instead of doing your work? It's kinda like that. Think of it like that little voice at the back of your head telling you to do the things you wanna do instead of what you should do."
"And that's not unhealthy?" Cindy asked.
"I've got a lid on it. Mostly. Still splurge a bit more on pizza than I should, but we all have our moments," Gwen said, "Bright side is I got a power boost. Can probably lift more than both of you."
"Strength isn't everything, Gwen," Jess said.
"Thanks, Mr. Miyagi." She laughed. Cap was real interested on testing her upper limits, but they weren't really talking, "Anyway, I thought that exposing my identity and taking responsibility would be best. Put it all out there. Yeah..." She sighed, "Didn't work so well. Year in prison, like I said. Not fun."
"Identity reveals, huh? Reminds me of that Civil War thing the heroes had before I got out of the bunker," Cindy said.
"Yeah, we don't like to talk about that," Jess coughed uncomfortably, "So, who's on this team Black Cap tried to recruit you in?"
"Last I checked? Shadowcat, Wolverine, that asshole Punisher, Black Cat and, um, evil Cindy. She was kinda the main reason I refused." She still had no fucking clue why Cap thought she'd be a good fit. Were they were gonna recruit Red Skull and M.O.D.A.A.K next?
"My evil twin? Seriously?" Cindy asked.
"Hey, I'm not part of the team, so don't look at me!" Gwen said, "Look, I don't like it either, but it's none of my business. If S.H.I.E.L.D wants to try putting Harley Quinn up there than that's their problem."
"Guess so. Just be sure to keep clear of em, Gwen. I dunno what they're like here, but them being this dimension's Thunderbolts really makes me wary," Jess said.
"Black Cat's not so bad. She's a thief, right?" Cindy asked.
"More like a popstar turned would-be assassin." Yeah...she definitely got the feeling Felicia didn't like her. Punching her in the face and leaving her for the cops tended to do that to people, "...Hey, how close are you guys to Spider-Man? The one from your place, I mean. I was hoping you could ask him something for me." It couldn't hurt to ask, right? So far the WW didn't have any luck with their thing.
"I know his secret identity and I guess we're friends, but I don't talk to him all that much," Jess said, "Of course, being called Spider-Woman tends have people assume. You wouldn't believe how many people think we're married."
"Ditto. We used to date because of that weird totem thing, but I've been keeping my distance. We still team up sometimes," Cindy said, "Why you asking? Please don't tell me you're looking for a date. Cause trust me, been there don't that and he's not that much a catch."
"What? No, God no." Gwen shook her head. That thing with Miles was enough for her, thanks, "It's just...alright, you're probably gonna call bullshit, but a Spider-Man from another dimension kinda just fell over here and now he's stuck. Sending him back home was a bust cause apparently some big purple dude called Thanos used some big gauntlet with a buncha gems to kill half the universe."
"Thanos? Guess I'm not surprised he's a monster in every other universe," Jess said, "Anyway, what'd you want us to ask?"
"Ask him if he, I dunno, knows something about being stuck in one dimension or that Thanos guy. I heard he was there when he did the 'kill half the universe' plan in your dimension." She was really hoping the big purple dude didn't exist here. They didn't have any Norse Gods or Hulks to help stop him, "I mean, Pete can't stay here forever. He has family and friends to get back to."
"So, what, he's just staying here?" Cindy asked.
"Yeah, over at my place. Not like we have any other choice." Gwen sighed. The apartment definitely wasn't built for three people, but it was better to be cramped than to deal with the alternative, "He can't stay in Loomworld and he doesn't have any ID here cause, you know..." Peter Parker was supposed to be dead. So far Cap hadn't caught wind yet, but she got the feeling it was only a matter of time.
"Hm..." Jess pursed her lips, "No offense, Gwen, but are you sure that's a good idea? We all know you have...issues with Peter Parker."
"I don't have-" She sighed again, "'m not saying this is ideal, but we can deal, alright? If it helps he doesn't have anything special with Gwen Stacy back in his place so it's only awkward on one side. Besides, I can't just kick him out, right? Us Spiders gotta stick together." Even if she still sometimes wanted to cry when she looked at him. At least she was getting better about it compared to before. A year stewing on her juices tended to do that.
"If you say so," Cindy mumbled, "Is it weird that this isn't the first time we've run into this? One time me and Jess went into that universe that had another Spider-Gwen and she had a Peter there with her too. Does your drop-in use guns and work with the Punisher? Or fight with devils?"
"What? No!" What the hell did they get up to when she wasn't looking? "Look, it's getting late so I'm gonna take off."
"Sure. Same time next week?" Jess asked.
"You know it. Make sure to tell me if he says anything."
Swinging back home was surprisingly peaceful. No crimes and no paparazzi, at least as far as she could see. She had to admit, she was in a good mood. Not only was the bad press finally dying down but she and the rest of the girls had a concert planned tomorrow; their first ever since she spent all those weeks in her Gwenom phase. It was nice to get back into the swing (heh) of things.
When she got back she found Peter typing something on Betty's laptop while Betty herself wore his mask and nodded along to something, "Hey, guys." She let the suit peel away to reveal her casual clothes, "What's happening?" She crossed her arms and smiled. It was nice to see them getting along.
"Did you know Peter has his own personal Fembot? It's what he was working on all week." Betty asked, her voice muffled by the mask.
"Um...what?"
"She's an AI," Peter said, a slight flush on his cheeks, "I told you before that Mr. Stark made my suit, right? Well, he put an AI and training wheels protocol in there." He gestured to the laptop, "Right now she can only talk to the mask, but I'm trying to make a program so she can use the laptop as a speaker. Figured it'd be easier if she ever wants to chat."
"Oh...cool." His world's Tony Stark definitely sounded a lot nice than this one's, "How's it going?"
"Just about to finish, actually." He typed a few more letters in and hit enter, "Here, how about now?"
"It seems to be functioning well, Peter." The smooth female voice nearly caused Gwen to jump, "The suit's internal power systems should be enough to keep all systems operational for the next few years, but this will help us save energy if needed."
"Uh..." Gwen blinked. There was an AI on her friend's laptop.
"Oh, a new arrival. Forgive me, my sensors are still rebooting. I am the Spider-Man suit's built-in AI, but Peter refers to me as Karen. You can follow his example or choose your own designation for me."
"Karen's cool, thanks. Name's Gwen." She almost stuck her hand out before quickly stopping herself, "Uh...sorry, this is my first time meeting an AI. Not even sure if we have AI in this dimension." Just another thing Cap would get on her ass about if - when - she found out. And here she thought she could actually take it easy. Stacy luck struck again...
"Truly? Peter explained the circumstances that led us both here, but I didn't think I would be the first of my kind present here. This is exciting."
"Right..." She looked to Betty, "Look, MJ and Glory are gonna be here any minute now. We gotta practice for the gig tomorrow."
"I'll clean up all this stuff."
Peter took the mask back from Betty and dragged all the stuff to the other room. He'd barely closed the door before Karen's faint voice came from the mask. He put it back on, "Sorry, what'd you say?"
"I was asking which of the two girls you liked."
Peter nearly dropped the laptop and wires, "U-Uh, what?"
"Do you wish me to repeat it?"
"No, no, I heard you just fine. It's just...a weird thing to ask, ya know?" At least she wasn't asking about Thanos and Titan. He still wasn't ready to think too much about that, even with the hope that this was all part of some cosmic plan.
"Truly? I'm sorry, I was deactivated before I saw the resolution of your attraction to Liz. How did that go, by the way?"
"It...didn't work out. Her dad was the Vulture guy and she had to move away..." It wasn't his fault...so why did he still feel so bad about it? He couldn't just let Mr. Toomes sell those weapons on the streets, right? No matter what reasons he had he was a criminal and he was stealing and endangering people for money. He had to be stopped, even if it meant Liz being hurt.
"Oh, my apologies. Am I correct in saying then that you aren't attracted to either Betty or Gwen?"
"Th-They're just friends!" He shook his head and tried to ignore the heat on his cheeks, "I mean, they really helped me out so I'm grateful for that. Nothing weird's going on, okay?"
"If you say so, Peter." Why did he get the feeling Karen didn't believe him? He shook his head. It didn't matter. At least she was back and he had a job, at least for however long he was staying here. Maybe things were looking up-
Peter jumped when the door suddenly opened and Mary Jane peeked her head in, "Hey, Peter, you joining us for practice?" She paused, "...Why are you wearing a mask?"
"Oh, j-just testing it out." Karen hummed against his ear, "Uh, I'll watch you guys in a bit! Just gonna take care of this stuff." He raised the assembled wires and components.
"Sure. Don't take too long, Tiger."
She winked and shut the door, leaving him with nothing but Karen's humming in his ears. She practically radiated smugness, "Uh...Karen?"
"Yes, Peter?"
"Not a word."
"Of course, Peter. Just friends, correct?"
"...Yeah, totally."
"Of course...Tiger."
Maybe re-activating her wasn't the best idea...
A huge chunk of Gwen's segment ended up being pretty plot dump-y. Apologies for that. Anyway, Karen's back in all her instant kill, matchmaker glory
She'll definitely be good for a few laughs, especially once she starts interacting with the rest of the cast who don't know what an actual AI is like outside of Terminator and Matrix.Next chapter is the Mary Janes concert which, by the laws of comic book narratives, is going to go belly up for the sake of adding drama
I'll ask a question with regards to this below.Questions:
1. What do you guys think of other pairings besides MCU Peter/Spider-Gwen? Some people seem to have been under the assumption that Peter's crush on Mary Jane could lead somewhere, for example. Gwen's lacking in alternatives (unless I make her bi like I did in Looking Glass)...maybe Harry? He should still be kicking around.
2. Whose POV do you guys want the concert to be? Both Peter and Gwen are present but I'd like to stick to the one viewpoint to help keep things simple. This also changes thoughts and combat scenes when we get to the inevitable villain attack given that Peter has Karen while Gwen has her controlled Venom suit.
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RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
I don't really see the need for other pairings. I'd rather a straightforward love story than some complicated love triangle mess. And for the next chapter, I'd prefer Gwen's perspective. I like Venom perspective and stuff. Although, Karen is pretty funny, so sticking with Peter would be cool too.
Keep up the good work!
Keep up the good work!
ZFighter18
I'm not a god. I AM WHAT A GOD PRAYS TO.
- Location
- Maryland
It's interesting that you're talking about strength because MCU Spider-Man is one of the strongest Spider-Men that I've seen in media.
Catching and lifting a thirty-ton jet bridge that fell several feet onto him? Dope.
Catching a speeding car (3 tons) going at 40 mph? Dope.
Casually catching a hammer swing from the alien in Infinity War that could casually take on a Hulk-Buster armor suit? Super Dope?
This Spider-Man is hitting well over 30 tons.
Catching and lifting a thirty-ton jet bridge that fell several feet onto him? Dope.
Catching a speeding car (3 tons) going at 40 mph? Dope.
Casually catching a hammer swing from the alien in Infinity War that could casually take on a Hulk-Buster armor suit? Super Dope?
This Spider-Man is hitting well over 30 tons.
Venom isn't sentient here, as Gwen says, so it's really just Gwen's POV if we pick her. Also, other pairings might enhance the story if we go that route; one character being jealous, interaction fodder etc etc.
I'm well aware
I discssed this over in SB. Either way Gwen's no slouch - Venom has been shown to lift 70 tons on average, so Gwen's a powerhouse all on her own. She even mentions this when talking with Jessica and Cindy and it's one reason S.H.I.E.L.D wants her on the Thunderbolts - she can physically beat down every other member.
ZFighter18
I'm not a god. I AM WHAT A GOD PRAYS TO.
- Location
- Maryland
I'm well aware
Huh, I wasn't aware Venom was so strong, at least for Gwen.
Haven't read any Venom bits yet.
What I do remember of Spider-Gwen was that she didn't feel as strong as I felt she should.
BerserkerZeroOne
(Unexploded Supernova)
- Location
- On your left!
Enjoying this story, but you haven't Threadmark'd chapter three, it just skips from 2 to 4 and it is really confusing having to go and read it after reading chapter 4.
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
Oddly enough, it feels like his Spider-sense is weaker in comparison. Maybe he's just not that good at reacting to it yet, but when I watched Homecoming, it felt like he was taking a lot more hits than he should have. Although, that did also make him feel like one of the physical tougher Spiders out there. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
ZFighter18
I'm not a god. I AM WHAT A GOD PRAYS TO.
- Location
- Maryland
Yeah, apparently, he's growing into his Spider-Sense and it's nowhere as strong as Garfield!Spidey's.
I mean, ASM!Spidey can react to electricity. That's freaking insane.
Raimi!Spidey was the most durable.
ASM!Spidey was the fastest, physically the weakest, and least durable.
MCU!Spidey is the strongest and slowest.
Fixed
Yeah, Gwen really has shit showings. The worst is when she gets into a fistfight with Frank Castle and doesn't instantly smear him despite getting multiple hits in. Silk also loses a brawl to Black Cat despite her wiki page outright saying she's several times faster than the finest human athlete and can survive injuries that would cripple and maim normals with just minor bruising. Holding back can only go so far, authors...
616 Venom's comic feats are insane. According to Death Battle and Tvtropes, it once lifted 200 tons...during a weakened state. It also survived things it really shouldn't like missiles, pumpkin bombs and, flamethrowers and hellfire. This goes double for Spider-Gwen's symbiote since, as canon indicates, it's not actually weak to sound. Murdock lied about that so Gwen wouldn't use sound against him:
If we assume 65-Venom has even a fraction of the strength 616 Venom has this would actually make Gwen one of the strongest superhumans on the planet, beaten only by Shadowcat and Wolverine due to their healing factor, adamantium/psionic claws and (in the case of the latter) flat out immortality.
Yeah, the most egregious being when Shocker cheapshotted him on his way out of the school. That was really bad since Spidey would absolutely see that one coming. You can't even say he doesn't have a spider-sense since it was confirmed that one reason he uses goggles is because his spider-sense is too strong and overwhelms him...and yet it won't work when he's about to get smacked in the face?
Silk actually has an excuse - she mentions her spider-sense is hyper sensitive and it actually gives her numerous false alarms or exaggerates danger - it once woke her up when a college girl was crying after being ditched by her friends - hence why she tends to drown it out and focuses on using her regular five senses. MCU Peter doesn't have this excuse.
Still, power levels really aren't discussed here since, well, this is a slice of life fic and the villains are there as distractions at best for the most part. Looking Glass makes a deal of it since it provides a contrast point between the protags - Gwen is extremely powerful but hampered by her morals and inexperience. Noir is weak but his brutality and pragmatism make him arguably more effective. Here both MCU and Gwen are about the same - extremely powerful teenagers with wonky spider-sense that dislike killing.
- Location
- Canada
Yeah I don't really see a need for other pairings but that's not important to me. I am liking the story though. Also the little spoilers at the top are a joy
Chapter 5: Face it Tiger
Surprise fast update! Have to study for my upcoming comprehensive exams, so I figured now would be a good time to deal with this.
Anyway, I've been reading the 1993 Robin series with Tim Drake and it's been pretty helpful for writing the relationship between the leads. Early issues Tim and Stepahanie's relationship is helpful here since, despite Tim's moments of dourness, he reminds me well enough of a heroic teenager ala MCU. Post War Games Tim is more dour and bitter, so that's useful for Looking Glass and with Noir.
Stephanie remains stable enough regardless so works either way for Gwen. Two for one
Also, I've been getting suggestions to turn this into a harem thing...uh, no. Sorry, I can barely write romance, you think I can do harem and you're just kidding yourselves. That and I personally dislike writing them since most harems are poor and lack in good characterization. So I'll be avoiding that pratfall, thanks.
I also have to point this out: people keep suggesting power ups for MCU, and I don't see the point. This is not a super big fight fic and he's more than strong enough already, so there's really no point to suggesting he get a Venom suit or suggesting ways he can become even more overpowered in the Earth-65 setting. Remember, in this dimension powers are rare, so there's really no need to suggest merging Venom with nanotech.
Side Note - So far this is far more popular than Looking Glass at its inception On one hand I'm kinda bummed, on the other hand I'm glad my writing experiment for writing Ideal Hero characterization is doing so well. No surprise, though: the MCU fanbase is a powerhouse. Oh, and awesome pic below:
Chapter 5: Face it Tiger
Peter'd never been to a concert before, let alone backstage. When he was younger he was more into baseball games and movies and after Uncle Ben and the whole Spider-Man thing he never found the time. There was marching band, of course, but that was hardly 'brag to my outside school friends (of which he had none)' material. That and he quit that too, and how sad was that? Who quit marching band?
Still, he definitely felt excited seeing the Mary Janes dress up...er, not like that, "This is your band outfit?" he asked. The black and green striped shirts and leggings weren't outstanding enough on their own, but the green paint around their eyes definitely drew attention.
"Yup." Betty strummed her guitar and grinned. The green around her eyes made her look almost manic. Almost, "It was Gwen's idea. Said that people weren't gonna be looking at our shirts anyway since we didn't have our tits out or wear Lady Gaga knockoffs like Felicia did. Looks cool, right?"
"Yeah...cool."
He felt...odd here. The band was given a small room to prepare (after ducking through the people who snuck backstage for an autograph with 'Spider-Gwen') and right now he just watched them prepare. Tuning instruments, finishing up their costumes, reciting songs to themselves...it reminded him of preparation for the decathlon. They were all in their own little world, only focused on making sure they were at their absolute best when it happened.
They gave him front row seats, but he still felt odd being out there. It wasn't the crowd, he was used to being on both ends of that now, but the excitement in the air that was so thick he could web it down. They weren't here for the songs or the band, they were here for Gwen. He could see in their faces, their shirts, the way the ones asking for autographs only looked at Gwen and acted like the other three didn't exist.
And it was bothering MJ, though she tried her best to hide it.
A knock on the door jolted him out of his thoughts, "Ten minutes to showtime everyone." Randy Robertson said. He didn't know much about the guy. All the others told him was that he was their manager and scored their gigs for them, though apparently that wasn't hard nowadays after Gwen's identity reveal. Now it was more deciding which gig came with the most money and adoring crowds.
"I'm gonna go. Break a leg you guys," Peter said, grabbing his backpack as he did. He'd brought his costume along, more out of habit than anything else. Gwen still wanted to wait a few more days before Spider-Man's official debut.
"Make sure to cheer us on, Tiger." Mary Jane winked and he blushed. He had no idea why she kept calling him that - especially since Spider seemed the more obvious choice - but he wasn't complaining. It was way better than Penis Parker...and no, he wasn't going to imagine Mary Jane calling him that in any kind of situation. No sir.
The crowd was in full cheer by the time he made it to his seat. There was an energy in the air, he could feel it in his bones. He heard them whispering to one another, saw the banners and Spider memorabilia in their hands. Did even a single one of them come for the music, he wondered, or were they all just here for Gwen? He'd definitely seen science conventions getting almost quadruple their population when it was confirmed Mr. Stark or Vision would make a guest appearance.
A few minutes passed before the curtain finally opened, "Welcome, everyone!" Mary Jane yelled, a bright grin on her face. The crowd cheered, "Hello, hello! How are we doing today? My name's MJ, that's my girl Glory on the keyboard, Betty on the bass and, I'm sure you all know her, Gwen Stacy on the drums!" The crowd cheered louder. Gwen's cheeks actually flushed red at that. It was surprisingly cute, "We're the Mary Janes! 1, 2, 3, 4!"
The loud music blared all around him. Peter found himself cheering along with the crowd and raising his arms to the beat. He was never one for rock music - May always preferred a soft jazz and he followed along - but there was definitely something exciting about it all. The lights, the loudness, the way the instruments all blended into one another to make an amazing beat.
"There's no use crying over pinpricks!
"Don't fight the name if the name fits! You're doing good, think that you could do better?!"
"Wanna crack your skull, get to the heart of the matter!"
"You gotta face it tiger, face it tiger! It's all you've got!"
"You gotta face it tiger, face it tiger! This is your last shot!"
"You gotta face it tiger, face it tiger! You hit the jackpot!"
There was a pause and both their eyes met. Mary Jane's grin widened and she threw him another wink before continuing to the second verse (same as the first). Tiger...was that why she called him that? He shook his head. He was thinking too much about it. Besides, it wasn't like anything could happen, right? They weren't even on the same dimensions or anything.
...Then again, Gwen did say the portal watches could make portals anywhere and any time.
He was jarred out of his thoughts by the sudden cheers of the crowd. He expected at least a few of them to cheer for the music, but it was anything but, "Spider-Gwen! Spider-Gwen! Spider-Gwen!" Everyone around him shouted, each of them trying to yell over one another. Even the band was stunned silent at the reception. Gwen's eyes were as wide as plates and Mary Jane had a flash of irritation on her face before it was quickly replaced by a forced cheer.
Peter did the only thing he could think of.
"Yeah, Mary Jane!" Somehow she heard him. Their eyes met again and he waved, "Mary Jane, whoo!"
...Okay, so his cheering skills could use some work, but it was worth it to see the genuine smile on her face. Mary Jane shook her head and started up the next song, which was apparently titled after Betty's cat.
They were barely into the second verse before he felt it, "Spider-sense..." Danger, but where? His eyes scanned the crowd, trying to pinpoint the source. It wasn't 'setting off a suicide bomb in the middle of the crowd' levels of danger, but it would definitely disrupt the concert if something happened, he could feel it. He had to do something before whoever or whatever it was did...whatever they were doing.
Peter pushed his way through the crowd, letting his spider-sense guide him. It was hard without his goggles or the mask to dampen it, and the music wasn't doing it any favors. It felt like someone was using his head as a drum.
He was getting close. Peter reached his right hand out and grabbed the guy in the (really obvious, now that he thought about it) brown trenchcoat. As soon as his hand made contact with his arm the guy's head snapped to his and Peter saw his face under the fedora - tan, wrinkled skin, brown eyes and dark hair styled in a bowlcut. The man's expression went from shock to anger and Peter's spider-sense went into overdrive.
The sudden explosion almost knocked him off his feet. No shrapnel or heat, so not a grenade, but he definitely smelled something like rotten eggs in the air. Peter stepped back and coughed, his vision shaky. Just barely he heard people around him screaming and he resisted the urge to puke out his breakfast. His spider-sense was even worse now, screaming at him to jump, duck, or roll out of the way.
He shook his head and looked around him. His vision was shaky, colors blurring together in a weird mesh. Through it all he somehow saw Gwen shift into her costume onstage before jumping towards the crowd, "Everyone, run for the exits!" she screamed. Peter stumbled backstage towards the closest bathroom and pulled his suit out in a rush.
He should've figured something would happen. Something always happened.
Karen's voice immediately greeted him, "Good morning, Peter. I detect the presence of foreign hallucinogens in your system. Would you like to initiate a purge?"
"Yeah, yeah, make it quick!"
Cold air rushed up his nostrils and his vision suddenly cleared. Coughing, Peter dropped his backpack on the stall and stumbled out of the room, his steps growing more and more stable as the seconds passed, "Hallucinogens purged. Make sure to get plenty of bed rest and fluids to ensure no lingering effects." Footsteps from the left, "I detect three hostiles chasing after three fleeing civilians. Do you wish to engage enhanced combat mode?"
"Yeah, but no instant kill!"
The civilians in question ended up being the band, who were in turn being chased by...
Were those guys wearing fishbowls and capes?
Peter shook his head and rushed towards them. No time to worry about that, "Splitter web!" He aimed at two of the closest ones and snagged them both in the chest. They screamed in surprise before Peter tugged and stuck them to the roof.
The last one grabbed Mary Jane, "Regular web!" Mary Jane turned around and, just before the web made impact, smacked the guy on the fishbowl hard enough to break it.
Pulling him off felt more like it was for his sake then hers. Peter webbed him to the ground and landed on his feet, posture bent and ready, "A-Are you guys okay?" He turned to look at them.
"Broke my guitar, but yeah. You?" Mary Jane asked back casually. So much for a daring rescue.
Say something, say something cool!
"...Yeah."
...Nailed it.
"Peter, I detect an increased heart rate. I thought you said you said you were just friends?" There was definitely something teasing in Karen's voice.
"She's-"
"Hey, don't just stand around! Gwen's fighting that fishbowl guy outside!" Glory called out, "We'll look around and make sure everyone gets out, so go be a hero!"
"Break a leg, Pete!" Betty said.
"Make sure Gwen's alright, Tiger!" Mary Jane added.
They ran around the corner out of sight. Taking a deep breath, Peter ignored Karen's humming and swung through the curtains of the stage. The sight that greeted him was bizarre. Gwen was fighting a dozen fishbowl dudes in the center of the floor while people around her either ran in a panic or, and he couldn't believe this, took videos without a single crap given about the danger.
In front of him on the stage, with his back turned towards him, was the biggest fishbowl dude to beat all fishbowl dudes. His cape was long and purple and his green suit looked like something a disco reject would wear, "Yes, take your videos and pictures! Watch your hero fall!" He boomed. His voice sounded like someone shouting through a boombox, "Know that when Spider-Woman faces her final defeat, it is by the hands of the great Mysterio!"
"Tazer web!"
Peter shot the electrified webbing straight at the guys back...
...Only for it to immediately pass through and fall at the edge of the stage with a dull splat.
"Uh..."
"That is a hologram, Peter," Karen 'helpfully' supplied.
"And who is this?! One of your many admirers, perhaps?!" Fishbowl dude turned towards him and crossed his arms. If he was trying to be menacing then he was failing bad at it, "Did you hope to snatch victory from the jaws of your inevitable defeat?! Perhaps gain your moment in the spotlight?!"
"Inevitable defeat? Moment in the spotlight?" Gwen scoffed and leapfrogged over the closest charging fishbowl guy, "Dude, you're the one who's crashing our concert! Badly, might I add! At least Rhino went himself instead of sending his good squad after me!"
"Pah, your false bravado does you no credit, Gwendolyne Stacy!"
"And your Christian Bale impression makes sound like a moron, greenbowl! Not that that's hard; looked in the mirror lately?" She grabbed one of the fishbowl guys and tossed him to two of his friends, "How'd you hire these guys, anyway? Minimum wage?"
"What? No! Mysterio always pays premium! I'm a villain, not a monster!"
"Yeah, well, hope that comes with dental!" She punched another one straight on in the face. The sound of shattering glass made Peter cringe; that must've hurt, "You know we gotta refund people now, right? Couldn't you wait your turn like a normal Supervillain?"
He had to jump in. Peter jumped through the air and locked on to six people charging at Gwen all at once, "Rapid fire web!" He shot a barrage of web balls down, stunning and sticking the half a dozen fishbowl guys right in their tracks.
Gwen looked up and gave him a thumbs up, "Thanks!" She webbed them down fully and looked at the last remaining fishbowl guy, "Alright, you can put your hands up and surrender or I could knock your lights out and hang you upside down. Which way do you wanna do this?"
He put his hands up and let Gwen web his legs to the ground. Smart.
Gwen waited for Peter to stand at her side, "Alright, Christian Bowl, it's just the three of us now." She spread her arms wide and looked up at him on the stage, voice taunting, "Now we gonna do this the easy way or do I gotta get Betty out here to kick your ass again?"
"Hah, the one in the glasses d-doesn't scare me!" Huh...that stutter said otherwise. What the heck did Betty do? "You may have beaten my first wave, you and your lackey-"
"I'm not her lackey!" Peter said.
"-but that was just the beginning!" Fishbowl dude said, ignoring his protests. His spider-sense tingled just before more green gas seeped through the floor, "I will show you your worse fears, Spider-Woman! Your nightmares come true!" He cackled. Peter lowered himself into a crouch and awaited...
Nothing. The gas was dissipating and nothing was happening.
"Peter, I activated the internal gas mask. This gas is no danger to us," Karen said.
"Wait, wh-what about Gwen?"
Gwen stood with her arms crossed and her right foot tapping impatiently, "...Well, I'm waiting." He could practically see her smirk under the mask. Huh...well, she looked just fine to him.
"Wh-What?! Impossible! My gas-"
"I had a few upgrades." She flexed her left arm and the suit moved, "So...any other tricks up your sleeve or can we skip to the part where I web you up to the police and you promise eternal vengeance? Cause I kinda need to pencil you in after White Rabbit and Bodega Bandit."
"What?! I at least deserve to at the top of that list!" ...Was this how Supervillains and Superheroes usually fought in this world? Dealing with Mr. Toomes would've been way easier if they did it like this, "Rrrgh, well, I shall make a tactical retreat for now! Keep wary, Spider-Woman, for I will always be watching! When you sleep, when you wake, when you go the ba...uh, I will always be watching! So do not-"
A red, white and blue disc passed overhead and flew towards the stage. He heard the sound of a dull impact when it passed through the right of the parted curtains followed by something - someone - falling from the low hanging walkway and the disc flying back where it came from.
It was the guy with the trenchcoat.
"Uh..." Peter eyed the hologram frozen mid-maniacal arm raise on the stage, "I...guess that was him." He rubbed his head. That was kinda lame, though maybe the Hamburglar and Ringer should've clued him in that he wasn't exactly facing the Scorpion here.
"...Looks like my ex-babysitter's here," Gwen muttered.
"What?"
She nudged her head back and he watched, eyes wide, at the woman with an all-too familiar costume striding towards them, her left hand holding onto a similarly colored shield. Captain America, the rational part of his mind reminded him. Or at least this world's Captain America, who in any other world would've been the Falcon...and a guy. He was pretty sure about both of those.
"Cap, how you doin'?" Gwen spread her arms wide like she was going for a hug. The people who stayed started taking more pictures, "Back from fighting H.Y.D.R.A and ensuring freedom for all of mankind already?"
"Gwen." She nodded quickly and turned her attention to him. Peter suddenly felt the urge to both shake her hand and swing away screaming at the piercing stare, "I was going to give you a few more days break, but then this," She nodded towards him, "Came to my attention."
"What? Him? No, he's just a friend! I'd never cheat on you, Cap! What we have is special!"
The older (at least he assumed) woman's lip quirked up in a slight smile, "Heh. Funny, but I'm being serious. I thought you said you were going to keep a low profile?"
"What? I was! And Pe- Spider-Man was too! It's not my fault the concert got crashed! This was totally self-defense!" Gwen turned to him. He looked away, "...Spider-Man, you were keeping a low profile too, right?" Her eyes narrowed. Oh crap, he really wanted to swing away right now, "I mean, I kinda made it clear that we needed to keep things on the down low for a bit. You remember that?"
"Well...yeah, but there were some extenuating circumstances-" He shrunk back at her glare, "I-I didn't attract attention!"
"Not according to this." Captain Falcon showed them a phone. The headline and photo - him waving at the crowd below - immediately made him cringe, "'Spider-Man foils Bodega Bandit's crime spree'? 'Who is this new mystery vigilante and what connection does he have to the past unveiled Gwendolyne Stacy'? Do I need to go on?" She put the phone away, "Gwen, this is the opposite of low profile. I wasn't even aware there was a Spider-Man here."
"Yeah, well, a couple of weeks ago neither was I!" Gwen said defensively, "Look, he just kinda fell on my lap and I've been doing the best I can! Alternate universe, you're the expert on that, not me!"
"Hmm..." Cap pursed her lips, "Fine, I suppose I'll need to have a talk with him about how he needs to act if he plans to stay here-"
"What? No, no, no! He's not staying here, alright? This is basically spring break for him! So no Suicide Squad recruitment! You already tried it with me!" Gwen crossed her arms in an X sign, "Look, Spider-Man, I gotta go talk with Cap, alright? Just...take off for a bit, okay? I'll catch up."
"Uh...sure, Gwen. Whatever you say..." He hesitated for a few seconds until a nudge on his shoulder made him walk. Peter made his way backstage, his steps slow and sluggish. It felt like that day at the airport again, being shooed away by the 'grown-ups' even after all he did to help. It was hard not to feel kinda resentful being told to go away when he was the topic of conversation.
He caught MJ sitting on one of the crates, her guitar in her hands and her legs swinging idly. She looked up when he got close enough and gave him a lopsided smile, "Hey, Tiger. Glory and Betty are waiting for the police outside. Mission accomplished?"
"Yeah, I guess..." He put up his mask up to his nose and sat next to her...at a respectable distance, "I mean, he wasn't really big bad guy or anything. I think he was just trying to get attention."
"Coasting on Spider-Gwen's fame, huh? I know that feeling..." There was something bitter in her voice.
"...Are you okay? You've been kinda down since this morning."
"Noticed that, huh?" She laughed softly, "Yeah, it's just...I know I'm going to sound like the most self-centered bitch ever, but I guess I'm bummed that we're just Gwen's hangers-ons now."
"You're not-"
"Oh please, you heard everyone out there. 'Spider-Gwen, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Gwen!'" She threw up her arms, "We might as well have been invisible. I knew this was gonna happen, but I guess I just thought that things might be different. Stupid of me, huh?"
"...Sorry."
"It's not your fault. It's Jameson and the Kingpin and everyone else in this city who wanted to hold Gwen 'responsible' because they don't wanna look in the mirror." She sighed, "God, I feel like such an ass. Gwen went through absolute hell these past few months and here I am complaining because I didn't get as much attention I want. Glory was right: I really do want to make everything the MJ show all the time."
"I...I don't think so." Peter mumbled, "I mean, I heard you sing. Y-You're really talented, and the lyrics you made...I get why you'd be kinda bummed why people didn't really listen."
"Heh, thanks..." She smiled warmly, "Well, I know I have one fan, at least. Thanks, Tiger."
She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. It was quick, barely a second, really, but he blushed all the same, "Peter, your body temperature has increased, as did your hormone levels." Peter shut his eyes and desperately wished Karen would shut up. Sadly, the genie wasn't feeling very generous today, "Given the tone set I believe it would be appropriate to either hold her hand or kiss her cheek in turn. If you're feeling bold you can kiss her on the lips-"
"I'm not doing that!" He said before he could stop himself.
MJ recoiled at the sudden scream, "Wait, what are you not doing?"
"N-Nothing, just, um, Karen was doing some status checks and, uh-"
"Peter, I believe if you asked her out on a date she has a 77% chance of saying yes, round up to 80% if you do what Mr. Stark labeled as the smolder-"
"Okay, would you just keep quiet?!" MJ's face shifted to an expression of hurt, "Wha- no, no, no! I wasn't talking to you! It was Karen! She said she was, uh-"
"Hurry, Peter, the percentage is steadily lowering."
"She said she...wanted to explore New York!"
...Someone kill him...except Thanos. Screw that guy.
"...What?" MJ's eyes narrowed.
"Uh...it's a new dimension and she figured that it'd be a good idea to, you know, look at just how some things are different and how some things aren't. I mean the Avengers Tower doesn't exist, so what else could have changed?" It was a lie, but he honestly was curious on that part, "Karen said that...uh, that it'd be a good idea to have someone who lived here show...us around...cause that'd be like a guided tour." Peter cringed. Saying nothing would've been better.
"And...why were you telling her to shut up? That doesn't sound so bad."
"Well, I mean, she wanted me to ask you to do it since, uh, you live here, but I didn't want to bother you since you seem like you're busy doing your band...thing." She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. She didn't believe him, that much was obvious, "I mean I guess I could ask Betty since she's kinda free, but I mean, I guess I wouldn't be against it if you wanted to-"
"Do you wanna ask me out on a date?"
That was...blunt. MJ waited, arms still crossed and face blank, as Peter choked and struggled to form words. It was just like with Liz. Terrible at keeping secrets, she'd said. Considering May and Ned she might've had a point.
"I'll take that as a yes." She laughed under her breath, "Man, your face is all red. I mean, you're a Superhero! You'd think asking a girl out would be easy compared to fighting Supervillains!"
"Y-Yeah, you'd think." Peter laughed nervously.
"Peter, your heart is beating rapidly. Please calm down before sweat pools and the smell ruins the atmosphere," Karen chirped.
"Well, why not?" MJ shrugged, the same warm smile returning, "You're not gonna be here for long and I guess it'd be nice to get taken out again. Last time I had a date Gwen was still on time for practice...sorry, inside joke."
"O-Oh, cool!" Peter gulped audibly, "So, um, when do I...you know?"
"I'll check my schedule, but I think I'll be free in a couple of days," She tapped her guitar, "I'm gonna meet the other two outside. You go wait for Gwen; something tells me she's gonna want someone to talk to." She clapped him on the shoulder and left, humming 'Face it Tiger' to herself. Peter watched her leave with a dopey smile on his face. He probably would've stared longer if Karen didn't suddenly speak up.
"That went well."
"Yeah..." Peter lowered his mask again, "You know, could you not be so pushy next time?"
"Research has found that a push is often needed when it comes to wallflower types."
"I'm not a-"
"Talking to yourself again, Spidey?" He turned to the left and found Gwen standing there in full costume sans mask. He guessed there wasn't really a point considering everyone already knew, "You know that Noir does that too sometimes? Should we start getting you checked?"
"No, no, just...talking with Karen." Should he tell her about the date with MJ? Nah, she didn't need to know, "So...how'd your thing with Captain America go?"
"Pretty well. She gave me the lecture about how the public's still not ready and I should be careful because people are always looking for an excuse." She sat next to him, close enough that their legs were touching. She didn't seem to notice or care, "...She told me to move into a facility upstate, 'at least till things calm down'." She raised both hands and made air-quotes, "I'm not buying it though. I go there and I'll be stuck till I'm 40."
"You're not worried? About your safety, I mean?"
"Why? People already know who I am and I already pissed off the Kingpin." She smirked wryly, "'Sides, I'm more worried for the others. Even if I do go to some upstate facility people already know who my friends and family are. I can't just ask them to give everything up - school, family, their entire lives - just to move into some human bank vault with me. That's why I'm taking precautions and giving them bits of the Venom and everything."
"Oh..." If he'd accepted Mr. Stark's offer was that what it would've been like for him? Just wondering if May and Ned or anyone else he cared about was safe from being hurt to get to him? "...I mean, if you need help with anything, tell me. I owe you."
"You don't owe me anything, Pete. Us Spiders gotta stick together." She squeezed his right shoulder gently, "...Listen, I'm gonna go visit someone, okay? You go with Betty and the others back home.
"I could come with-"
"No, I...wanna do this alone." She took a deep breath, "Just please go back home...and stay away from any paparazzi. I think we've already established a need for the low profile and I don't need to repeat myself, right?" Her smile was chilling. Peter could only nod dumbly, "Good! See you later."
"Yeah...see ya."
He watched her leave. The quiet lasted all of five seconds before Karen spoke up again, "I detect chemistry between you both. Please don't tell me you plan to cheat already, Peter. I don't want to see you go down Mr. Stark's path."
"...God damn it, Karen."
Kinda shorter than usual, but hey that's good, right? Helps to keep the slice of life tone Anyway, this update came pretty fast, but that makes sense since, uh, well I have no clue what to do after this. Okay, not exactly true - I have three chapter ideas and I have no inkling on which one I wanna do for the next chapter, especially since which segments come first does affect the later ones. I'll deal with it in the questions below:
Questions:
1. So I have three segments possible:
- We tackle the MJ date and possibly show off Gwen attending college classes. This leads to more ship tease with MJ and more exposition on how Gwen's civilian life is like now that she's a recently exonerated Superhero who people either admire, fear or both. Might also be able to include a certain professor who's very interested in cloning with a preference for younger girls...
- We deal with Gwen visiting her comatose dad and Peter finding out about that, along with possibly making the Parkers aware of Peter's presence. This is more a plot chapter, though it does have some ship tease between MCU and Gwen since Peter's an absolute cinnamon roll who tries to help her deal with her hang-ups. Also, possibly talking about Venom, finally.
- A lighter chapter of Gwen having a girls day out with Mayday, Cindy and Jessica while Peter has a guy's day out with Ham, Noir and either UK or India. This one is more lighthearted and slapstick-y in nature, though it also advances the 'make contact with Earth-19999' plot given the presence of the Web Warriors. Includes discussions on dating advice for the guys and Mayday cringing at everyone's weird relationship with her dad for the girls.
So yeah, pick your poison
2. I'm curious, did you guys click this fic because of MCU Peter, Spider-Gwen or both? In Looking Glass I had many readers admit they preferred just the one lead - Noir, mostly - and treat the other protagonist as a side-character. I'm curious on whether that's the case here as well.
...Or it could be neither and you guys just wanna make out with the author ;p Wouldn't be the first time :]
Anyway, I've been reading the 1993 Robin series with Tim Drake and it's been pretty helpful for writing the relationship between the leads. Early issues Tim and Stepahanie's relationship is helpful here since, despite Tim's moments of dourness, he reminds me well enough of a heroic teenager ala MCU. Post War Games Tim is more dour and bitter, so that's useful for Looking Glass and with Noir.
Stephanie remains stable enough regardless so works either way for Gwen. Two for one
Also, I've been getting suggestions to turn this into a harem thing...uh, no. Sorry, I can barely write romance, you think I can do harem and you're just kidding yourselves. That and I personally dislike writing them since most harems are poor and lack in good characterization. So I'll be avoiding that pratfall, thanks.
I also have to point this out: people keep suggesting power ups for MCU, and I don't see the point. This is not a super big fight fic and he's more than strong enough already, so there's really no point to suggesting he get a Venom suit or suggesting ways he can become even more overpowered in the Earth-65 setting. Remember, in this dimension powers are rare, so there's really no need to suggest merging Venom with nanotech.
Side Note - So far this is far more popular than Looking Glass at its inception
On one hand I'm kinda bummed, on the other hand I'm glad my writing experiment for writing Ideal Hero characterization is doing so well. No surprise, though: the MCU fanbase is a powerhouse. Oh, and awesome pic below:
Chapter 5: Face it Tiger
Peter'd never been to a concert before, let alone backstage. When he was younger he was more into baseball games and movies and after Uncle Ben and the whole Spider-Man thing he never found the time. There was marching band, of course, but that was hardly 'brag to my outside school friends (of which he had none)' material. That and he quit that too, and how sad was that? Who quit marching band?
Still, he definitely felt excited seeing the Mary Janes dress up...er, not like that, "This is your band outfit?" he asked. The black and green striped shirts and leggings weren't outstanding enough on their own, but the green paint around their eyes definitely drew attention.
"Yup." Betty strummed her guitar and grinned. The green around her eyes made her look almost manic. Almost, "It was Gwen's idea. Said that people weren't gonna be looking at our shirts anyway since we didn't have our tits out or wear Lady Gaga knockoffs like Felicia did. Looks cool, right?"
"Yeah...cool."
He felt...odd here. The band was given a small room to prepare (after ducking through the people who snuck backstage for an autograph with 'Spider-Gwen') and right now he just watched them prepare. Tuning instruments, finishing up their costumes, reciting songs to themselves...it reminded him of preparation for the decathlon. They were all in their own little world, only focused on making sure they were at their absolute best when it happened.
They gave him front row seats, but he still felt odd being out there. It wasn't the crowd, he was used to being on both ends of that now, but the excitement in the air that was so thick he could web it down. They weren't here for the songs or the band, they were here for Gwen. He could see in their faces, their shirts, the way the ones asking for autographs only looked at Gwen and acted like the other three didn't exist.
And it was bothering MJ, though she tried her best to hide it.
A knock on the door jolted him out of his thoughts, "Ten minutes to showtime everyone." Randy Robertson said. He didn't know much about the guy. All the others told him was that he was their manager and scored their gigs for them, though apparently that wasn't hard nowadays after Gwen's identity reveal. Now it was more deciding which gig came with the most money and adoring crowds.
"I'm gonna go. Break a leg you guys," Peter said, grabbing his backpack as he did. He'd brought his costume along, more out of habit than anything else. Gwen still wanted to wait a few more days before Spider-Man's official debut.
"Make sure to cheer us on, Tiger." Mary Jane winked and he blushed. He had no idea why she kept calling him that - especially since Spider seemed the more obvious choice - but he wasn't complaining. It was way better than Penis Parker...and no, he wasn't going to imagine Mary Jane calling him that in any kind of situation. No sir.
The crowd was in full cheer by the time he made it to his seat. There was an energy in the air, he could feel it in his bones. He heard them whispering to one another, saw the banners and Spider memorabilia in their hands. Did even a single one of them come for the music, he wondered, or were they all just here for Gwen? He'd definitely seen science conventions getting almost quadruple their population when it was confirmed Mr. Stark or Vision would make a guest appearance.
A few minutes passed before the curtain finally opened, "Welcome, everyone!" Mary Jane yelled, a bright grin on her face. The crowd cheered, "Hello, hello! How are we doing today? My name's MJ, that's my girl Glory on the keyboard, Betty on the bass and, I'm sure you all know her, Gwen Stacy on the drums!" The crowd cheered louder. Gwen's cheeks actually flushed red at that. It was surprisingly cute, "We're the Mary Janes! 1, 2, 3, 4!"
The loud music blared all around him. Peter found himself cheering along with the crowd and raising his arms to the beat. He was never one for rock music - May always preferred a soft jazz and he followed along - but there was definitely something exciting about it all. The lights, the loudness, the way the instruments all blended into one another to make an amazing beat.
"There's no use crying over pinpricks!
"Don't fight the name if the name fits! You're doing good, think that you could do better?!"
"Wanna crack your skull, get to the heart of the matter!"
"You gotta face it tiger, face it tiger! It's all you've got!"
"You gotta face it tiger, face it tiger! This is your last shot!"
"You gotta face it tiger, face it tiger! You hit the jackpot!"
There was a pause and both their eyes met. Mary Jane's grin widened and she threw him another wink before continuing to the second verse (same as the first). Tiger...was that why she called him that? He shook his head. He was thinking too much about it. Besides, it wasn't like anything could happen, right? They weren't even on the same dimensions or anything.
...Then again, Gwen did say the portal watches could make portals anywhere and any time.
He was jarred out of his thoughts by the sudden cheers of the crowd. He expected at least a few of them to cheer for the music, but it was anything but, "Spider-Gwen! Spider-Gwen! Spider-Gwen!" Everyone around him shouted, each of them trying to yell over one another. Even the band was stunned silent at the reception. Gwen's eyes were as wide as plates and Mary Jane had a flash of irritation on her face before it was quickly replaced by a forced cheer.
Peter did the only thing he could think of.
"Yeah, Mary Jane!" Somehow she heard him. Their eyes met again and he waved, "Mary Jane, whoo!"
...Okay, so his cheering skills could use some work, but it was worth it to see the genuine smile on her face. Mary Jane shook her head and started up the next song, which was apparently titled after Betty's cat.
They were barely into the second verse before he felt it, "Spider-sense..." Danger, but where? His eyes scanned the crowd, trying to pinpoint the source. It wasn't 'setting off a suicide bomb in the middle of the crowd' levels of danger, but it would definitely disrupt the concert if something happened, he could feel it. He had to do something before whoever or whatever it was did...whatever they were doing.
Peter pushed his way through the crowd, letting his spider-sense guide him. It was hard without his goggles or the mask to dampen it, and the music wasn't doing it any favors. It felt like someone was using his head as a drum.
He was getting close. Peter reached his right hand out and grabbed the guy in the (really obvious, now that he thought about it) brown trenchcoat. As soon as his hand made contact with his arm the guy's head snapped to his and Peter saw his face under the fedora - tan, wrinkled skin, brown eyes and dark hair styled in a bowlcut. The man's expression went from shock to anger and Peter's spider-sense went into overdrive.
The sudden explosion almost knocked him off his feet. No shrapnel or heat, so not a grenade, but he definitely smelled something like rotten eggs in the air. Peter stepped back and coughed, his vision shaky. Just barely he heard people around him screaming and he resisted the urge to puke out his breakfast. His spider-sense was even worse now, screaming at him to jump, duck, or roll out of the way.
He shook his head and looked around him. His vision was shaky, colors blurring together in a weird mesh. Through it all he somehow saw Gwen shift into her costume onstage before jumping towards the crowd, "Everyone, run for the exits!" she screamed. Peter stumbled backstage towards the closest bathroom and pulled his suit out in a rush.
He should've figured something would happen. Something always happened.
Karen's voice immediately greeted him, "Good morning, Peter. I detect the presence of foreign hallucinogens in your system. Would you like to initiate a purge?"
"Yeah, yeah, make it quick!"
Cold air rushed up his nostrils and his vision suddenly cleared. Coughing, Peter dropped his backpack on the stall and stumbled out of the room, his steps growing more and more stable as the seconds passed, "Hallucinogens purged. Make sure to get plenty of bed rest and fluids to ensure no lingering effects." Footsteps from the left, "I detect three hostiles chasing after three fleeing civilians. Do you wish to engage enhanced combat mode?"
"Yeah, but no instant kill!"
The civilians in question ended up being the band, who were in turn being chased by...
Were those guys wearing fishbowls and capes?
Peter shook his head and rushed towards them. No time to worry about that, "Splitter web!" He aimed at two of the closest ones and snagged them both in the chest. They screamed in surprise before Peter tugged and stuck them to the roof.
The last one grabbed Mary Jane, "Regular web!" Mary Jane turned around and, just before the web made impact, smacked the guy on the fishbowl hard enough to break it.
Pulling him off felt more like it was for his sake then hers. Peter webbed him to the ground and landed on his feet, posture bent and ready, "A-Are you guys okay?" He turned to look at them.
"Broke my guitar, but yeah. You?" Mary Jane asked back casually. So much for a daring rescue.
Say something, say something cool!
"...Yeah."
...Nailed it.
"Peter, I detect an increased heart rate. I thought you said you said you were just friends?" There was definitely something teasing in Karen's voice.
"She's-"
"Hey, don't just stand around! Gwen's fighting that fishbowl guy outside!" Glory called out, "We'll look around and make sure everyone gets out, so go be a hero!"
"Break a leg, Pete!" Betty said.
"Make sure Gwen's alright, Tiger!" Mary Jane added.
They ran around the corner out of sight. Taking a deep breath, Peter ignored Karen's humming and swung through the curtains of the stage. The sight that greeted him was bizarre. Gwen was fighting a dozen fishbowl dudes in the center of the floor while people around her either ran in a panic or, and he couldn't believe this, took videos without a single crap given about the danger.
In front of him on the stage, with his back turned towards him, was the biggest fishbowl dude to beat all fishbowl dudes. His cape was long and purple and his green suit looked like something a disco reject would wear, "Yes, take your videos and pictures! Watch your hero fall!" He boomed. His voice sounded like someone shouting through a boombox, "Know that when Spider-Woman faces her final defeat, it is by the hands of the great Mysterio!"
"Tazer web!"
Peter shot the electrified webbing straight at the guys back...
...Only for it to immediately pass through and fall at the edge of the stage with a dull splat.
"Uh..."
"That is a hologram, Peter," Karen 'helpfully' supplied.
"And who is this?! One of your many admirers, perhaps?!" Fishbowl dude turned towards him and crossed his arms. If he was trying to be menacing then he was failing bad at it, "Did you hope to snatch victory from the jaws of your inevitable defeat?! Perhaps gain your moment in the spotlight?!"
"Inevitable defeat? Moment in the spotlight?" Gwen scoffed and leapfrogged over the closest charging fishbowl guy, "Dude, you're the one who's crashing our concert! Badly, might I add! At least Rhino went himself instead of sending his good squad after me!"
"Pah, your false bravado does you no credit, Gwendolyne Stacy!"
"And your Christian Bale impression makes sound like a moron, greenbowl! Not that that's hard; looked in the mirror lately?" She grabbed one of the fishbowl guys and tossed him to two of his friends, "How'd you hire these guys, anyway? Minimum wage?"
"What? No! Mysterio always pays premium! I'm a villain, not a monster!"
"Yeah, well, hope that comes with dental!" She punched another one straight on in the face. The sound of shattering glass made Peter cringe; that must've hurt, "You know we gotta refund people now, right? Couldn't you wait your turn like a normal Supervillain?"
He had to jump in. Peter jumped through the air and locked on to six people charging at Gwen all at once, "Rapid fire web!" He shot a barrage of web balls down, stunning and sticking the half a dozen fishbowl guys right in their tracks.
Gwen looked up and gave him a thumbs up, "Thanks!" She webbed them down fully and looked at the last remaining fishbowl guy, "Alright, you can put your hands up and surrender or I could knock your lights out and hang you upside down. Which way do you wanna do this?"
He put his hands up and let Gwen web his legs to the ground. Smart.
Gwen waited for Peter to stand at her side, "Alright, Christian Bowl, it's just the three of us now." She spread her arms wide and looked up at him on the stage, voice taunting, "Now we gonna do this the easy way or do I gotta get Betty out here to kick your ass again?"
"Hah, the one in the glasses d-doesn't scare me!" Huh...that stutter said otherwise. What the heck did Betty do? "You may have beaten my first wave, you and your lackey-"
"I'm not her lackey!" Peter said.
"-but that was just the beginning!" Fishbowl dude said, ignoring his protests. His spider-sense tingled just before more green gas seeped through the floor, "I will show you your worse fears, Spider-Woman! Your nightmares come true!" He cackled. Peter lowered himself into a crouch and awaited...
Nothing. The gas was dissipating and nothing was happening.
"Peter, I activated the internal gas mask. This gas is no danger to us," Karen said.
"Wait, wh-what about Gwen?"
Gwen stood with her arms crossed and her right foot tapping impatiently, "...Well, I'm waiting." He could practically see her smirk under the mask. Huh...well, she looked just fine to him.
"Wh-What?! Impossible! My gas-"
"I had a few upgrades." She flexed her left arm and the suit moved, "So...any other tricks up your sleeve or can we skip to the part where I web you up to the police and you promise eternal vengeance? Cause I kinda need to pencil you in after White Rabbit and Bodega Bandit."
"What?! I at least deserve to at the top of that list!" ...Was this how Supervillains and Superheroes usually fought in this world? Dealing with Mr. Toomes would've been way easier if they did it like this, "Rrrgh, well, I shall make a tactical retreat for now! Keep wary, Spider-Woman, for I will always be watching! When you sleep, when you wake, when you go the ba...uh, I will always be watching! So do not-"
A red, white and blue disc passed overhead and flew towards the stage. He heard the sound of a dull impact when it passed through the right of the parted curtains followed by something - someone - falling from the low hanging walkway and the disc flying back where it came from.
It was the guy with the trenchcoat.
"Uh..." Peter eyed the hologram frozen mid-maniacal arm raise on the stage, "I...guess that was him." He rubbed his head. That was kinda lame, though maybe the Hamburglar and Ringer should've clued him in that he wasn't exactly facing the Scorpion here.
"...Looks like my ex-babysitter's here," Gwen muttered.
"What?"
She nudged her head back and he watched, eyes wide, at the woman with an all-too familiar costume striding towards them, her left hand holding onto a similarly colored shield. Captain America, the rational part of his mind reminded him. Or at least this world's Captain America, who in any other world would've been the Falcon...and a guy. He was pretty sure about both of those.
"Cap, how you doin'?" Gwen spread her arms wide like she was going for a hug. The people who stayed started taking more pictures, "Back from fighting H.Y.D.R.A and ensuring freedom for all of mankind already?"
"Gwen." She nodded quickly and turned her attention to him. Peter suddenly felt the urge to both shake her hand and swing away screaming at the piercing stare, "I was going to give you a few more days break, but then this," She nodded towards him, "Came to my attention."
"What? Him? No, he's just a friend! I'd never cheat on you, Cap! What we have is special!"
The older (at least he assumed) woman's lip quirked up in a slight smile, "Heh. Funny, but I'm being serious. I thought you said you were going to keep a low profile?"
"What? I was! And Pe- Spider-Man was too! It's not my fault the concert got crashed! This was totally self-defense!" Gwen turned to him. He looked away, "...Spider-Man, you were keeping a low profile too, right?" Her eyes narrowed. Oh crap, he really wanted to swing away right now, "I mean, I kinda made it clear that we needed to keep things on the down low for a bit. You remember that?"
"Well...yeah, but there were some extenuating circumstances-" He shrunk back at her glare, "I-I didn't attract attention!"
"Not according to this." Captain Falcon showed them a phone. The headline and photo - him waving at the crowd below - immediately made him cringe, "'Spider-Man foils Bodega Bandit's crime spree'? 'Who is this new mystery vigilante and what connection does he have to the past unveiled Gwendolyne Stacy'? Do I need to go on?" She put the phone away, "Gwen, this is the opposite of low profile. I wasn't even aware there was a Spider-Man here."
"Yeah, well, a couple of weeks ago neither was I!" Gwen said defensively, "Look, he just kinda fell on my lap and I've been doing the best I can! Alternate universe, you're the expert on that, not me!"
"Hmm..." Cap pursed her lips, "Fine, I suppose I'll need to have a talk with him about how he needs to act if he plans to stay here-"
"What? No, no, no! He's not staying here, alright? This is basically spring break for him! So no Suicide Squad recruitment! You already tried it with me!" Gwen crossed her arms in an X sign, "Look, Spider-Man, I gotta go talk with Cap, alright? Just...take off for a bit, okay? I'll catch up."
"Uh...sure, Gwen. Whatever you say..." He hesitated for a few seconds until a nudge on his shoulder made him walk. Peter made his way backstage, his steps slow and sluggish. It felt like that day at the airport again, being shooed away by the 'grown-ups' even after all he did to help. It was hard not to feel kinda resentful being told to go away when he was the topic of conversation.
He caught MJ sitting on one of the crates, her guitar in her hands and her legs swinging idly. She looked up when he got close enough and gave him a lopsided smile, "Hey, Tiger. Glory and Betty are waiting for the police outside. Mission accomplished?"
"Yeah, I guess..." He put up his mask up to his nose and sat next to her...at a respectable distance, "I mean, he wasn't really big bad guy or anything. I think he was just trying to get attention."
"Coasting on Spider-Gwen's fame, huh? I know that feeling..." There was something bitter in her voice.
"...Are you okay? You've been kinda down since this morning."
"Noticed that, huh?" She laughed softly, "Yeah, it's just...I know I'm going to sound like the most self-centered bitch ever, but I guess I'm bummed that we're just Gwen's hangers-ons now."
"You're not-"
"Oh please, you heard everyone out there. 'Spider-Gwen, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Gwen!'" She threw up her arms, "We might as well have been invisible. I knew this was gonna happen, but I guess I just thought that things might be different. Stupid of me, huh?"
"...Sorry."
"It's not your fault. It's Jameson and the Kingpin and everyone else in this city who wanted to hold Gwen 'responsible' because they don't wanna look in the mirror." She sighed, "God, I feel like such an ass. Gwen went through absolute hell these past few months and here I am complaining because I didn't get as much attention I want. Glory was right: I really do want to make everything the MJ show all the time."
"I...I don't think so." Peter mumbled, "I mean, I heard you sing. Y-You're really talented, and the lyrics you made...I get why you'd be kinda bummed why people didn't really listen."
"Heh, thanks..." She smiled warmly, "Well, I know I have one fan, at least. Thanks, Tiger."
She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. It was quick, barely a second, really, but he blushed all the same, "Peter, your body temperature has increased, as did your hormone levels." Peter shut his eyes and desperately wished Karen would shut up. Sadly, the genie wasn't feeling very generous today, "Given the tone set I believe it would be appropriate to either hold her hand or kiss her cheek in turn. If you're feeling bold you can kiss her on the lips-"
"I'm not doing that!" He said before he could stop himself.
MJ recoiled at the sudden scream, "Wait, what are you not doing?"
"N-Nothing, just, um, Karen was doing some status checks and, uh-"
"Peter, I believe if you asked her out on a date she has a 77% chance of saying yes, round up to 80% if you do what Mr. Stark labeled as the smolder-"
"Okay, would you just keep quiet?!" MJ's face shifted to an expression of hurt, "Wha- no, no, no! I wasn't talking to you! It was Karen! She said she was, uh-"
"Hurry, Peter, the percentage is steadily lowering."
"She said she...wanted to explore New York!"
...Someone kill him...except Thanos. Screw that guy.
"...What?" MJ's eyes narrowed.
"Uh...it's a new dimension and she figured that it'd be a good idea to, you know, look at just how some things are different and how some things aren't. I mean the Avengers Tower doesn't exist, so what else could have changed?" It was a lie, but he honestly was curious on that part, "Karen said that...uh, that it'd be a good idea to have someone who lived here show...us around...cause that'd be like a guided tour." Peter cringed. Saying nothing would've been better.
"And...why were you telling her to shut up? That doesn't sound so bad."
"Well, I mean, she wanted me to ask you to do it since, uh, you live here, but I didn't want to bother you since you seem like you're busy doing your band...thing." She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. She didn't believe him, that much was obvious, "I mean I guess I could ask Betty since she's kinda free, but I mean, I guess I wouldn't be against it if you wanted to-"
"Do you wanna ask me out on a date?"
That was...blunt. MJ waited, arms still crossed and face blank, as Peter choked and struggled to form words. It was just like with Liz. Terrible at keeping secrets, she'd said. Considering May and Ned she might've had a point.
"I'll take that as a yes." She laughed under her breath, "Man, your face is all red. I mean, you're a Superhero! You'd think asking a girl out would be easy compared to fighting Supervillains!"
"Y-Yeah, you'd think." Peter laughed nervously.
"Peter, your heart is beating rapidly. Please calm down before sweat pools and the smell ruins the atmosphere," Karen chirped.
"Well, why not?" MJ shrugged, the same warm smile returning, "You're not gonna be here for long and I guess it'd be nice to get taken out again. Last time I had a date Gwen was still on time for practice...sorry, inside joke."
"O-Oh, cool!" Peter gulped audibly, "So, um, when do I...you know?"
"I'll check my schedule, but I think I'll be free in a couple of days," She tapped her guitar, "I'm gonna meet the other two outside. You go wait for Gwen; something tells me she's gonna want someone to talk to." She clapped him on the shoulder and left, humming 'Face it Tiger' to herself. Peter watched her leave with a dopey smile on his face. He probably would've stared longer if Karen didn't suddenly speak up.
"That went well."
"Yeah..." Peter lowered his mask again, "You know, could you not be so pushy next time?"
"Research has found that a push is often needed when it comes to wallflower types."
"I'm not a-"
"Talking to yourself again, Spidey?" He turned to the left and found Gwen standing there in full costume sans mask. He guessed there wasn't really a point considering everyone already knew, "You know that Noir does that too sometimes? Should we start getting you checked?"
"No, no, just...talking with Karen." Should he tell her about the date with MJ? Nah, she didn't need to know, "So...how'd your thing with Captain America go?"
"Pretty well. She gave me the lecture about how the public's still not ready and I should be careful because people are always looking for an excuse." She sat next to him, close enough that their legs were touching. She didn't seem to notice or care, "...She told me to move into a facility upstate, 'at least till things calm down'." She raised both hands and made air-quotes, "I'm not buying it though. I go there and I'll be stuck till I'm 40."
"You're not worried? About your safety, I mean?"
"Why? People already know who I am and I already pissed off the Kingpin." She smirked wryly, "'Sides, I'm more worried for the others. Even if I do go to some upstate facility people already know who my friends and family are. I can't just ask them to give everything up - school, family, their entire lives - just to move into some human bank vault with me. That's why I'm taking precautions and giving them bits of the Venom and everything."
"Oh..." If he'd accepted Mr. Stark's offer was that what it would've been like for him? Just wondering if May and Ned or anyone else he cared about was safe from being hurt to get to him? "...I mean, if you need help with anything, tell me. I owe you."
"You don't owe me anything, Pete. Us Spiders gotta stick together." She squeezed his right shoulder gently, "...Listen, I'm gonna go visit someone, okay? You go with Betty and the others back home.
"I could come with-"
"No, I...wanna do this alone." She took a deep breath, "Just please go back home...and stay away from any paparazzi. I think we've already established a need for the low profile and I don't need to repeat myself, right?" Her smile was chilling. Peter could only nod dumbly, "Good! See you later."
"Yeah...see ya."
He watched her leave. The quiet lasted all of five seconds before Karen spoke up again, "I detect chemistry between you both. Please don't tell me you plan to cheat already, Peter. I don't want to see you go down Mr. Stark's path."
"...God damn it, Karen."
Kinda shorter than usual, but hey that's good, right? Helps to keep the slice of life tone
Anyway, this update came pretty fast, but that makes sense since, uh, well I have no clue what to do after this. Okay, not exactly true - I have three chapter ideas and I have no inkling on which one I wanna do for the next chapter, especially since which segments come first does affect the later ones. I'll deal with it in the questions below:Questions:
1. So I have three segments possible:
- We tackle the MJ date and possibly show off Gwen attending college classes. This leads to more ship tease with MJ and more exposition on how Gwen's civilian life is like now that she's a recently exonerated Superhero who people either admire, fear or both. Might also be able to include a certain professor who's very interested in cloning with a preference for younger girls...
- We deal with Gwen visiting her comatose dad and Peter finding out about that, along with possibly making the Parkers aware of Peter's presence. This is more a plot chapter, though it does have some ship tease between MCU and Gwen since Peter's an absolute cinnamon roll who tries to help her deal with her hang-ups. Also, possibly talking about Venom, finally.
- A lighter chapter of Gwen having a girls day out with Mayday, Cindy and Jessica while Peter has a guy's day out with Ham, Noir and either UK or India. This one is more lighthearted and slapstick-y in nature, though it also advances the 'make contact with Earth-19999' plot given the presence of the Web Warriors. Includes discussions on dating advice for the guys and Mayday cringing at everyone's weird relationship with her dad for the girls.
So yeah, pick your poison
2. I'm curious, did you guys click this fic because of MCU Peter, Spider-Gwen or both? In Looking Glass I had many readers admit they preferred just the one lead - Noir, mostly - and treat the other protagonist as a side-character. I'm curious on whether that's the case here as well.
...Or it could be neither and you guys just wanna make out with the author ;p Wouldn't be the first time :]
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RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
I picked it up because I loved looking glass and kinda felt bad for letting it slide on my reading list.
I'd be interested in all three chapters but I have to admit that Peter meeting the Parkers has me the most curious. Especially since they'd be older than what he's used to.
I'd be interested in all three chapters but I have to admit that Peter meeting the Parkers has me the most curious. Especially since they'd be older than what he's used to.
It's still there to read
Anyway, don't forget to feed me with a like.