Chapter Text
Peter One isn't quite sure how to feel about Kilo.
Part of him feels bad, for mistaking his intentions with Miles and keeping him locked up. Another part of him can't help but laugh at the fact that he's using a unit of measurement as a nickname. (maybe it's normal in Miles' universe?) He’s still struggling to use it in a conversation without smiling a little. In his defence, he has gotten better since his problem with Otto. (But also, come on. That could not be a coincidence.)
But there is another smaller part of him he's afraid to admit is still wary. He doesn't trust Kilo. Even after it all, there's still a small voice in his head that tells him it's all an act. Just like Mysterio. After everything he went through, Peter promised himself to be smarter about who he trusted. If not for himself, then for the sake of those he loves, and after losing May he finds himself more concerned with protecting who he has left than ever. The only reason he believes Miles is as innocent as he seems is because the poor kid looked about one bad day away from a mental breakdown when they said they'd help him at the whiteboard.
Peter knows Miles was earnest because he knows the look on his face, saw the panic and desperation in his eyes behind his threats in the medbay when the kid first woke up.
But Kilo doesn't show his face. They don't know anything about him, except that he's helping Miles and cares about him and the mission a lot. Peter's sure of this in particular because the guy was tapping his foot throughout the whole discussion at the whiteboard, ready to run off before he heard they had three more days to save Miles' dad. But as much as he likes theorising with Three, theories can only get you so far without evidence.
Plus, despite everything Peter wants to trust him. He does seem like he has the potential to be a good friend to him and the rest of his weird-interdimensional makeshift family. A fierce one, if his friendship with Miles is anything to go by.
So once he gets off the phone with MJ and Ned, sadly the late notice is too much- their college that Peters is going to reapply to as soon as he possibly can, is demanding enough to keep them there for the night-but they promise to show up at sunrise tomorrow. ( somehow managing to only receive the bare minimum of scolding from both MJ and surprisingly Ned-If only because of how interested they are in the idea of the Spider Society and Miles.) He decides to warn- tell Miles and Kilo about the Game Night himself. At least to give them some four hours warning, since it starts at 9.00.
He takes a breath and tries to shut out all the thoughts telling him otherwise and begins walking to their makeshift Medbay. Even though Strange said so, he's still a bit surprised when he arrives at the old wooden door and can already hear:-
" I wish I was a little bit taller,
Wish I had a baller,
Wish I had a girl that looked good. I would call her -"
Sung by both a man in..he wants to guess in his late 30s? and what can only be the quiet hums of the two guests' voices.
He cringes a little internally. He's interrupting something where both of them seem to sound more relaxed than he's ever heard them. (Granted, five hours isn't a long time to know someone). Not to mention, they both clearly need time to heal.
But.. Peter also knows that if he doesn't do this now, he'll talk himself out of talking to them later. He sighs, what's the worst that can happen? He knocks on the door, as soft as he can, because the last thing Miles needs is a headache as well as everything else.(Thank you, super hearing! Now, he's terrified of concerts!)
"Quick!" He hears Miles voice whisper-shout, followed by the sound of something glass hitting the floor with a thud. Not really thinking he pushes the door open, worried for their newest "Spider-Bro" as Three had so eloquently dubbed him.
Instead of finding Miles in distress, the kid is sitting on his bed, leaning over the mattress to look at the floor between his and Kilo's bed with a worried expression.The sound of what he thinks is his metal mask snapping into place meets his ears as he spots a small rectangle lying on the middle of the floor.
"My phone!" Kilo's modulated voice exclaims, one still-clawed hand on his head.
"Oh god! I am so sorry!- stay there I'll just-" Peter dives for the phone, trying to ignore whatever looks Miles and Kilo are giving him from their beds and gently picking it up by the sides with his fingers.
Peter kneels down, one eye closed as he slowly turns it around to face him. "...how many cracks were on your phone screen?" He tentativly asks, but can't bring himself to look up at the person in question.
"..one-"
"OH THANK FUCK." Peter can't stop himself from thinking as he lifts it up in his palm, standing fully. He slowly stands up and looks to Miles and Kilo.
He can't read Kilo's expression, but Miles looks at him almost frozen-with a half open smile on his face, and eyes wide with amusement.
Oh shi-
"..i..said that aloud didn't i?" He quickly darts his head over his shoulder. If anyone heard he'd be dead right now- Peter is currently in an ongoing war with Two's swear jar. Three would be as well if it weren't for his quote un quote "mutually assured destruction pact" with Two...he doesn't know what that means, and he doesn't want to.
When the disapproving shout he's waiting for doesn't come, Peter hands the phone tentatively back to Kilo, he takes it. His own hand is covered by some black leather glove and noticeably smaller than he expected, but Peter doesn't mention.
A soft "thanks." Is all he gets from him, then the room goes silent again for a pause.
Kilo turns to look at him, staring with his thin angry lenses. "..did you want something?" He asks. There's no specific tone in his voice, but the thin angry looking eye lenses don't help Peter's imagination.
Peter decides to ignore it. "Oh!Yeah,” scrambling for something to keep the conversation going, his thoughts are drawn to what he's been wondering about the most. “I've been meaning to ask, what's the relationship between you guys..are you like his friend or relative.." he looks at Kilo's unchanging mask.
Suddenly there's a tenseness in the air or like all oxygen has abruptly left the room, both are silent, but he doesn't miss the almost defensive look on Miles’ face from the corner of his eye.
He's about to issue the first panicked apology his brain can conjure the words for when he hears Kilo's low voice mutter something. Usually, this isn't a problem, super hearing is very handy for situations like these actually. The problem is that what Kilo just said doesn't sound like a word.
" Sorry?" He tries. Maybe he's panicking too much and mishearing?
"Nun' ya business." Comes Kilo's voice, now at a normal level, definitely ticked off.
However, instead of telling Peter to leave, Miles snorts and facepalms dramatically. " Oh my GOD. You did not just "Nunya" him." He mumbles into his hands.
"What? It was funny." Kilo turns at Miles and gives him a weak shrug.
"No, no it isn't," Miles crosses his arms and glares at him. " It made you sound like every 10 year old leaving Moana for the first time."
" -Oh I'm sorry did the Rock invent that joke?" Snipes back Kilo, sounding almost like a petulant child.
"-No but I know for sure that's where you got it from."
Kilo huffs and breaks his gaze, looking down with his arms crossed. "I got it from Aaron."
Miles mumbles a quiet" keep telling yourself that." With a wry grin.
Peter watches the two bicker in amazement and slight deja vu. It's almost like watching himself and his brothers. The way he'd talk to May sometimes on the drives back from school when she could pick him up. Not so much the pettiness but the familiarity they have with each other.
He'll add it to the board later.
Just as he finishes that thought, Peter realises that he has no idea what they're talking about.
Sorry.." Peter interrupts, and both turn to look at him almost in synchronisation. "..What?"
" Oh it's that ‘nunya’ joke from Moana." Miles explains, like it's obvious.
"..what's Moana?"
They both look at him like he's grown two heads. Even Kilo, who doesn't even have his face to express with. "You've never seen moana?" He asks in a mystified voice.
"..no?"
"Wait." Miles pauses, his eyes suddenly wide with fear. "Your universe has Disney right?"
"-Oh, yeah of course-it's a disney movie in your dimension or something?" Peter asks, and
" Yeah.." Miles sighs with a relieved smile. Kilo huffs. But in a less off putting way than usual.
Sensing that they seem to be done, Peter decides to fill the silence. "..I'm sorry, it wasn't my place to ask, you guys have basically no reason to trust us and I get that." He says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He tries to hold Kilos' gaze but since the guy doesn't really have one he settles for looking at the wall behind him.
" I know it can be hard to trust again, honestly, especially with everything that's happening now, but- I just wanted to let you both know that we are here for you. Even if it's just a place to heal." He forces out, mainly because he wants to make sure he gets the message across- even if it's not perfect and he knows that they might not fully believe him. He just needs to let them know, at least.
Otto and the rest have been worrying about them running off, but, in Peter's opinion they seem fine with resting here so far, and even if they do go without them (as stupid as that is) Peter cant say he'll blame them. He knows he'd much prefer independence (even when injured.) Over being dependent on people he can't trust. Worst comes to worst they'll just be suprise backup for the pair against the Society. And he doesn't mind that.
Miles looks down with almost a smile, his eyes tired with something more than physical exhaustion. There's no obvious reaction from Kilo, but his shoulders relax a little so that he seems less threatening. (Which is weird that he can even be threatening, considering the guy is currently on a glorified gurney)
His mind wanders back to the Accords. Which feels like centuries ago, in a different life. "Your friends think they're in the right, and that can be dangerous. It can make you feel alone." He looks up to meet Miles in the eyes. There's an uncertainty in his gaze. “But you're not. I promise." He glances over at Kilo. "That much is obvious."
Miles cracks a smile, a real one, small but with genuine happiness behind it. "Thanks.." Then he winces. "I wanna say Three...? "
Peter laughs. " One, but you were kinda close."
"He wasn't, but go off." Kilo surprises him with a reply and gets a small plastic water bottle to the face courtesy of Miles in return. Strange should've known better than to give them one each at throwing distance.
Peter smiles. "You guys heal, I've got stuff to study for. " And closes the door, happy at the 'see you man!’ that comes from Miles before it closes.
'That went better than I thought.'
It's only halfway down the hall that he remembers he didn't even mention the 'Game Night',-and dashes back in.
0o0o0
Family Game Night used to be quite the event in the Morales household, at least from what Miles can remember. Before school got too demanding for him and work too stressful for his parents, once or twice a week, they'd all gather around at the table as a family with good (albeit unhealthy) food and smiles on their faces, and slowly murder each other via Monopoly or Cluedo.
The memories are still so clear in his head, Mom always slipping him extra money ( because she just HAD to play the bank every time ). Dad's god-awful luck with the chance cards, not to mention the amount of bribing jokes he made whenever anyone used a Get-Out-Of-Jail free card.
He remembers laughing most of all, it was always late at night so the tiredness and sugar would make him more susceptible to his dad's bad puns than ever. He remembers sleepily stumbling down the hall to his bedroom after saying goodnight because it got too late on a school night and falling asleep with a smile on his face.
He also remembers how many times recently he's declined opportunities for game nights in favour of patrolling.
Sitting on the plush rug of Dr.Strange's lounge, an old-weather beaten game of Cluedo layed out in front of him with some pieces missing, Peter One and Three on either side, Miles makes himself a promise that he's going to play more often.
"Miles, It's your turn." One interrupts his thoughts and he smiles. Partially because ever since his almost-breaking of Kilo's phone, he's quickly become his favourite out of the group. Not that he doesn't like anyone else, they seem like good people and he hesitantly trusts them as much as he can, but he hasn't really had a non-explanatory talk with anyone but One. Though, that is what the game night is for.
When they started, Three had announced some very specific rules. It would be normal, but everytime you rolled something higher than a 3 on the dice you got to ask a question about someone-and they had to answer (as long as they were comfortable). Roll anything more and they get to ask you.
It's actually been pretty fun so far, not the same as his family game nights, but he isn't expecting it to be. -playing Monopoly in a wizards basement while an mirror version of him makes popcorn (though he hasn't thought of Kilo like that in a while, it's hard to think of him as anything but his own person- and he finds himself briefly wondering if Peter B had to go through that at the start of the Spider Society. He was definitely a multiversal constant of some kind. Then thinking about him hurts)
Trying to push it to the back of his mind (like so many things today), Miles picks up the dice and throws it onto the board. A perfect six.
"My turn!" Three calls with a grin, before his expression changes, ever so slightly. He turns up to look at Miles. "If it's okay to ask, have you ever met any other Peter Parkers?"
'Shit’
Noticing this , Three pulls back. "You don't have to, but in return you can ask me a question after and take my turn." He says, hands half-raised in a placating gesture, that surprisingly doesn't feel patronising.
He catches a look at One, who gives him a shrug and a nervous smile.
Miles sighs, -because if he's going to save the world with these people, he might as well be somewhat open.
Peter B brings back too many memories right now and too many feelings not quite sorted out. So he settles for a different Peter.
"..uh yeah. In my universe actually." Miles manages. It's not a lie exactly, but he keeps his gaze slightly on the half-dead couch they've been ignoring in favour of the floor.
" Woah really? Was i- we- he not spiderman then?" One immediately asks, eyes wide as he leans forward so that one of his hands leans on the board.
"-No, no he was but." Miles swallows. He didn't think this far. It's not like saying he's dead will offend them or anything. But it will bring down the mood which-as good as a time he's having right now, he's not ready to deal with that. No thank you. Nope. His emotional bandwidth has extended to its limit today.
Apparently though, he doesn't need to say anything, as One and Three's expressions shift- almost at exactly the same second, to sympathetic gazes.
"Ah." Is all One says.
'And it's got depressing anyway. Quick thinking Morales’
Miles clenches his teeth, awaiting the expected barrage of questions they no doubt have. The ones he's been worrying about since 2018 if someone ever finds out. 'Did he tell you anything? What were you doing there? Why didn't you do anything?'
He moved past that a long time ago, dealt with the grief and got better at managing the slight imposter syndrome and guilt. But it still echoes back to him sometimes.
" ..did he look better than me?" Is instead the arrangement of words that comes out of Three's mouth and One snaps his head to the young man with a look of pure confusion. Miles doesn't really take in, but he's doing the same.
".. what? "
"-I'm just saying," Three pauses, suddenly seeming more alert and almost..showmanly? " If you had to rate both of us out of ten, would I rank higher?"
Miles blinks, and upon realising that he isn't on something he turns to One praying for an explanation. Instead One groans and puts his hands on his head. "Please Three not this again!"
"Oh yes this again!" Three grins and then turns to face Miles. "You see, I am - obviously the best looking out of the trio. That's basically my whole thing other than being the funniest-" One coughs into his hands something along the lines of- 'you wish' " and now that there's a whole 'multiverse' of Peter Parkers, I've gotta keep my 'brand' y'know?" He finishes with a teasing glint in his eye.
"You have no brand!" One exclaims throwing his hands up. To which Three swings a hand out in front of One's face. " Don't listen to him. He's jealous of my success."
" What success?? "
It takes a second to process what's happening. Or rather, what Three's doing for him. When he does, he can't help the smile that works its way onto his face.
Miles coughs to get their attention. "Oh geez.. I dunno.." he says teasingly " this Peter was blond, Blue eyes, everything.. " Miles puts a hand to his chin and squints like he does when the teacher looks his way in class and he wants to seem like he's thinking. "I'd say you beat him by .5" He grins as he hears three Three let out a ‘ Woohoo !'
One however snorts and crosses his arms, unimpressed, but his lips are turned upwards too. " You know that's a lot of talk from someone who once told May he was 'washing the flag' to cover for his suit."
Three stage gasps, "I told you that in confidence!"
Miles laughs, and hopes Kilo comes back in time to hear this.
0o0o0
Miles practically slams his foot on the trigger for the garbage can lid, and once it opens he hurls the burnt bag of popcorn into its depths with a curse.
He sighs, half hoping the pure heat off the bag causes a fire and saves him from having to deal with trying for yet, a *third* time.
The Wizard's kitchen is confusing to say the least. There's not a specific order to anything -jars of..something pickled and fleshy in one cabinet, books in another, and food brands he's never heard of or look wrong enough to make him suspicious.
And that's nothing compared to that hellspawn of a microwave. The thing looks fifty years old at least and has way too many buttons and dials to know what anything does. It's living proof of that thing Dad used to say "home is where you know how to use the microwave."
He picks the next package of kernels from the bag with his ungloved hand-the last one left and his last chance. He grunts as he shoves it onto the metal plate and shuts the old metal door.
He's close to full on ripping the dials off in frustration when he hears the soft whirring of machinery behind him and tenses.
"Need help?"
He turns around, seeing this world's version of Doc Ock standing in the doorway, his actuators behind him aiming their focus at him almost curiously.
He glances between the doctor, to the popcorn, to the doctor again and gives a nod, stepping away.
Octavius strides forward with ease, immediately his extra appendages begin working away at the dials, and the microwave starts in less than a few seconds.
Miles huffs, the guy made it look easy, though he has to wonder how much time he must spend here to do that as quickly as he did.
As if reading his mind, one of the actuators-the highest one on the left turns from the kitchen counter to look at him, and tilt its head to the side like a confused puppy.
"Uh.. hi?"
The doctor notices and smiles. "Don't worry, they're harmless to you, just curious- got a mind of their own." He gestures to the one focused on Miles and it slowly reaches forward.
Miles gingerly holds out his hand forward. The actuator touches it lightly, just barely grazing his hand. "Huh." Is all he can manage at the sight of just how..genuine it's innocence and curiosity looks. Especially comparing it to the last time he really focused on them-back in the alley when they where glowing an ominous red.
It feels almost unnerving.
"Don't have a mad scientist with robot arms in your universe?" He jokes with a slight eyebrow raise.
Kilo chuckles a little, the sound reverberating through his voice modifier as he reaches out to tentatively touch the robot. His Doctor Octavius- who he's heard try to get money off of Kingpin for her less than ethical experiments, is nothing like the man standing beside him. "I do, but she would kill me before I got this close."
Octavius raises an eyebrow, which makes sense, even with this whole traversing the multiverse deal, it's still weird to wonder just how many versions of yourself are out there. Then, he huffed a little and looked to the side, a slightly sardonic grin on his face.
"If you and your friend had gotten here nine months earlier I probably would have."
Despite the mask, his confusion must be evident because Octavius takes one look at him and sighs.
" You know how each of the Peters are from their own universes, right?" He asks, leaning against the counter.
" ..Yeah." Miles says, trying to sound as not interested as Aaron does when he's in the suit. It doesn't work too well.
"Well, I'm from Two's universe, but I was.." he looks off at something in the distance. "I was destined to die, fighting my Spider-Man because of my own hubris, but because of a magical mishap by Stephen I ended up here instead."
"Oh. Damn." because really, how do you respond to that?
He doesn't seem to mind though, he laughs and continues on, " Ouite, in fact, I was going to get sent right back to die if One hadn't made Stephen promise to let him try to cure me."
"Cure you?"
"My actuators," at the mention of themselves being responsible, the metal appendages seem to slightly curl inwards. " instead of my brain controlling them, they controlled me, and drove me to madness." Miles finds himself staring at the robot in his hand. " But One fixed that for me. Now I'm in control of them, though they seem to have been learning from my own humanity and..growing themselves. He gave me my life back, and I decided to stick around and help him. Pretty soon I found myself becoming fond of them all."
Almost on cue, the sound of muffled laughter, the Peter's and Milo's echo down the hall, and Octavious gazes after the sound with a warm smile.
'Ah,' Miles thinks. 'He's their Octodad.'
‘...wait.’
"... you were supposed* to die, but you didn't?"
The man nods and absentmindedly scratches his chin. "Well, me and a few others from mine and Three's dimension, yes."
" Just like what we're trying to do..” Then he finds himself laughing. “ No wonder Miguel won't touch this universe with a ten foot pole! You guys broke pretty much all of his rules! At the same time!"
Octavius laughs as he opens the microwave hatch, pulling out the perfectly popped popcorn Miles had completely forgotten about with ease. "I guess we did...can you hand me a bowl?"
"Uh yeah, on it."
Miles walks to the other side of the room, remembering where he saw the bowls from his first search for popcorn.
"..though, in our defence, you hardly look like you're following these 'Canon Events' yourself." His voice says from behind Miles.
He opens the wooden door of a cabinet above him and rummages around for a bowl. "What do you mean?"
" Well.. I hope you don't take offence, but you seem a bit too… fearsome to be palling around with Spider-man. Not that I can judge." He explains quickly. Miles doesn't take offence actually, he thinks it's kind of cool. But he's not leading with that .
Instead he grins. "I am."
"How did you end up here? -with him I mean."
Now doesn't that throw a wrench in his plans. Mainly because he's not telling this guy his identity no matter how cool his metal arms are- or how nice. He knows he's too tired to convincingly make up a lie. And if he does, what's the chance he'll get to tell Milo of it in time before he makes up something different and then they're caught out? As much as he hates admitting it they cannot afford to lose their trust right now.
So he does the next best thing to a lie. He just avoids the important parts of the truth.
"I found him messing around with some of my stuff. Chained him to a punching bag. Then.. I realised who he..was and what he was doing and I just. Had to help, I couldn't just leave him alone, he’s-" Miles has to stop himself from saying family, the recently found metallic bowl held loosely in his hands. He settles on another half-truth. "He's a good kid."
And doesn't that describe him perfectly. Even though he and Milo are practically different people, some part of him can't help wondering about what his existence implies. The classic, a more successful alternate of me trope. He wonders what that makes him. The evil one?
There's a beat of silence, and for a second Miles thinks he messed up when the doctor hums. "He is. A good kid, from what I've seen of him." Miles says nothing and walks over to the microwave and places the bowl on the counter, and watches silently as Two metal appendages tear the bag open and the hot popcorn spills into it.
"-And I'd say you're pretty good too, doing all this for him."
'What?'
"What?"
Octavius turns to look at him, eyes kind. "Well, in your own words, you got 'knocked out twice in a day' for someone just for the sake of helping them. I'd say that's pretty heroic."
Miles scoffs. "Well-of course I did, he's my friend.." But the words sink in none the less, making his chest feel lighter.
"Of course." The doctor smiles placatingly. "I'm just saying, -don't be too hard on yourself. I've been there." He finishes with putting the bowl in Miles' hands and walks away, actuators whirring behind him.
Miles is left standing there, bereft with the warm feeling of hot metal even against his gloved hands.
He laughs a little to himself, and walks out of the kitchen to meet the sounds of laughter coming from down the hall.
0o0o0
Gwen Stacy was a lot of things. She was a vigilante, a drummer, a daughter, an apprentice, and maybe a friend. But one thing she wasn't, -at least not anymore, was an idiot.
She knew how likely it was that if Miles wasn't in 1610, that meant he was probably in a mirror dimension of his own. The same thing happened with Peter B. Parker in 2018. The collider would have picked any other variant of Peter Parker to drag through, but instead he pulled through B because he was closest in dimensions. It was one of the first things she had learned about the multiverse working with Jess. Which was why they were here now.
She was just lucky that this was the first one they searched.
When she first realised that Miles had a mirror dimension of his own, she had asked Jessica if they'd ever go there. Jessica had been having a bad day- something Gwens socially inept ass hadn't picked up on and she scoffed. "You can't go there. It doesn't have a Spider-person because of the Anomaly , Gwen, we don't know how stable it is. It may not be able to take us going in there. "
She was frustrated at what they'd called Miles, but she bit her tongue. That was pretty much all they called him, "Anomaly" "Morales'' . At first she felt right, every time saying the word "Miles" felt like a small victory. But then they'd give her a look.
Half confusion, half frustration. At first, Gwen thought it was okay, but then the pressure from their glances and scoffs got a bit too much. She should've felt okay to do that right? It wasn't like they were going to do anything about it right...?
But what if they did? No- she trusted them!
She trusted her dad, and look where that got her.
But she couldn't bring herself to refer to Miles like he was some computer bug. Not after everything that happened.
So she just didn't refer to him. At least around anyone who wasn't Hobie.
Gwen thinks back to herself at that time. She can understand that she felt alone, and scared, like she had nowhere to go. She also, however, feels the overwhelming urge to kick herself in the face.
"...you knew?"
Gwen clenches her fist. He's in trouble, she just knows he is, but she can't help but feel, as she and the rest of the Spider-Band (dumb name, she knows) race through the halls of Alchemax of dimension-42 that she's already too late.
She's not even that surprised, though down hearted, when she finds Miguel fuming in the lab where the portal is.
Or, used to be anyway. The machine's covered head to toe in scratches and fractures. One of its larger pieces hangs off the rest slightly, exposing wires and circuit boards. Similar damage is found all throughout the walls as well,and the glass panels that used to protect the researchers working here are smashed open without remorse, shards are spread across the floor that she has to avoid getting too near. Gwen silently thanks her, Peter B. and Hobie's intuition to leave Pavitr and most of the band out on guard duty out front. His almost bare feet would not work well for this. She's also glad for her ballet shoes, giving some protection alongside B. With his slippers and Hobie with his platforms.
They hang off the corner of the wall -that used to support the glass panels just enough to see Miguel's form, pacing wildly in circles on the floor of the chamber, talking to LYLA from his watch. The A.I says something Gwen can't make out, along with a holo-diagram of something appearing alongside her. Whatever she tells him, it causes him to stop for a second- and then give a loud sigh in frustration. Well...more like a shout. His voice raises again, and this time Gwen tries to zone in her hearing.
" Keep trying." Comes Miguel's cold, yet exasperated voice to Lyla. Then he turns to where Jessica and Ben have been leaning back. Moving and shifting almost uncomfortably. Gwens’ eye lenses narrow.
If her dad going on about interrogation tactics all the time had taught her anything, they were nervous.
Gwen feels worry pull at her chest. For a second she feels concern for Jess and Ben. They're both good people. They're just ...making the bad choices. She doesn't know what's making them worry but some part of her wishes she could help them. Ben was overdramatic, but always kind to her during missions and even gave her pointers in fighting sometimes.( Turns out explaining what you're hitting your opponent with as you're using it actually helped!...teaching Gwen anyway. )
...and Jess was Gwen’s mentor. She looked up to her so much. She always gave her the right advice and pushed her when she needed to, she was strong, reliable. Someone Gwen could trust.
" -Jessica, Ben, check the perimeters, chances are the others might show up soon" cuts in Miguel's voice and it takes Gwen a second to realise that 'the others' meant them. She turns around to face B., only to find him showing her his phone. Instead of baby pictures, there's a warning for the gang to prepare for what's on their way typed up in the band group chat. ( Thank you Margo )
She gives him a thankful nod, before turning to face where Miguel stood alone.
...What was he worried about? Was it about Miles ?
Well- of course it was about Miles but what about him specifically? He clearly hadn't caught him, so where was he?
Not here.
Gwen frowned. Miguel could be the only one with a hint of where he was, if the marks of a scuffle were anything to go by. She needed to get closer. She's gotten pretty good at reading LYLA'S scans over the months spent at the Society, maybe she can try that?
That's when Hobie pipes up, jumping slightly and scaring Gwen. " ‘Think I've seen that symbol before."
"Symbol? What symbol?" Gwen immediately asks, head swivelling around the room. Hobies' other hand reaches out and points to where Miguel is, more specifically what her ex-employer looking at in the hologram LYLA's trying to explain. For a second, the image changes as a bright red marking appears over it. Similar to a stop sign but cut horizontally in half. Miguel makes another frustrated sound and taps furiously at his watch.
Peter's eyes widen as he follows their gaze " Wait a minute...I know that too.."
"I don't!" Gwen whisper-shouts, "what is it?"
As an answer, Hobie grins. " 'saw it all ta' time when I first joined ta' Society- whenever I tried to trick the watch into letting me into somewhere the Society deemed ' Too Dangerous ''' He makes air quotes with his hands. "That would show up, -round then I figured I'd hafta make my own if I wanted to get anywhere worth goin'."
"Right.." Peter mumbles, but he's distracted, looking somewhere else. Gwen ignores it as the realisation comes crashing forward.
"Miguel accidently locked himself out of a dimension.. and the only place he could be so worried about was the place Miles is in!" Her spirits lifting, she leaps down, feet narrowly avoiding the glass shards. "That means he's somewhere else, -or at least on his way back." Did he do that on purpose? It seems too hard to pull off given how random the collider can be sometimes, but she wouldn't exactly be surprised if he did.
"..How much time would you say that gives us? -And how are we even going to get there if we don't know which dimension Miguel's trying to get to?" Comes Peter's worrying reply, crossing his arms.
" Well, we can at least go anywhere the watches usually can't now-
"Your welcome Gwendy."
"-Was literally just about to say it."
"But doesn't this mean Miles just went to another mirror dimension of his?." Peter B interjects.
"No. You saw the bike outside didn't you?" Gwen swallows, memories of 2018 come falling back. Climbing outside a dorm window while Peter B. tries to console Miles after his first loss. She's taken in a few Prowlers at the Society, she knows what to look for. "He took his uncle."
Peter stiffens next to her. Gwen can't help but feel bad for Miles, she of all people knows the feeling of looking a corpse in the face.
"..which means," she continues, pushing those thoughts away as far as they'll go. "’Chances are the Collider sent them somewhere where there's already a few people in the dimension out of place. That narrows it down a bit.." she starts pacing. It all clicks into place. "..so there's only a few he can be in."
"..are you sure kid? That's a lot of universes."
“ -not that much" Hobie cuts in. " Just the ones tha’ ar’ stable enough ta get ta and have a Spider-man in them."
"..and are in the Society's register."
"Okay but that's still not that much to go on." Peters brow furrows.
"Well, it's a start. We can split up and search those dimensions for him- it shouldn't take too long, chances are the Spots’ going to follow close behind." She shrugs and Peter nods, though he seems anything but agreeable right now." Let's head back, tell the team. At least." She begins her slow turn around back to the elevator. "Tha's some great skills of deduction Gwendy'"Hobie says and ruffles the top of her hood and jogging off before she has time to bat him away. She turns to Peter " Did they say where they were going when you warned them about Jess and Ben?"
Peter B says nothing. Gwen turns around and she realises Peter hasn't even started moving. Instead, he's staring down at the scene with Miguel.
"Peter?"
Like he's been shocked, the man jerks a little. "Sorry, what did you say?" He turns to face Gwen at last, but his eyes are wide and distracted.
Shit something's wrong with Peter. Something Gwens currently is not emotionally ready to help with. In fact, with how her day is going, chances are she's about to worsen whatever he's going through-and sadly, there's no miracle baby in sight to chuck at him and make it all better. Mayday was currently in Noir's hands with the rest of the team.
And yet, he's still her friend, even if they haven't really talked all that much for the past few months, reasons aside. "What is it?" She tries softly, making slow, light steps.
"It's just..." Peter sighs, fiddling with the ends of his gloves, turning them up and down between his fingers, his shoulders slightly hunched as his eyes gaze forward, squinting like he's trying to get a clearer view of something Gwen doesn't see.
Until she does. A cluster of small, almost imperceptible dark stains are on the ceiling of the antechamber surrounded by more claw marks and dents than usual, even with one of the panels loosely hanging off.
It's a small amount, but it's enough to make Gwen's heart drop for a second. The idea formed into her mind that Miles' escape wasn't carefully planned but a desperate attempt to get away.
"..shit.." is all that leaves her mouth, eyes stuck to the ceiling.
Peter chuckles, and not with humour. "Yeah, and I... dunno just remembering being on that train, and seeing Miguel," He pauses, they both know what happened on the train, no need to reiterate. "- and he was just screaming at Miles. I couldn't hear a thing with all the wind, but Miguel-I've never seen him like that.-and" he closes his eyes a little. " the look in Miles' eyes, he seemed so.." scared? Sad? Shocked? Gwen remembers it too. she thinks it's burned into both of their minds.
“You knew?”
"Ah." Gwen says, barely a whisper as that awful memory rears its head back into her mind and makes it all she sees for a second. It's so fresh that if she tries, Gwen can almost feel her hands gripping the metal of the train roof. Wind rushing by.
She looks at Peter and sees the guilt in his face. She knows that look, hell- if it weren't for the age difference, she'd say she invented that look " ..I know it was just.. stress or all the little things building up and his grief but." Peter puts a hand to his forehead, and sighs. "I just keep wondering what he told Miles, where the kid- hoe he is now."
Gwen sighs too, she's been feeling something similar for a while now, and ignoring it in favour of focusing on the mission. But she can't ignore it when it's so blatantly in front of her. Her conscience isn't providing her any ideas for comforting Peter, Gwen settles for patting his back. "Maybe once this is all over, Miles will tell you."
'Maybe in anger as he relays every word of what they let him go through, before he shuts them out of his life forever.'
She knows that thought is a little over dramatic -but she can't exactly say they wouldn't deserve it.
"Yeah." Is B's quiet answer.
A breath of silence passes. Even Miguel's distant shouts lessen.
"...was he really the reason?" She can't help herself from asking.
"What?"
"For Mayday, was he really the reason?" She remembers overhearing Peter telling Jess once, but she wants to be sure.
"..yeah, why?"
She attempts a light smile. "Well, if I was the reason a baby existed - especially a ' magical spider-baby ' - I wouldn't exactly deny myself visitation rights. So there's that."
Peter B. Laughs at that, small and not at all like he usually does, but it's genuine and that's what matters.
Gwen laughs too. She does believe that Miles can forgive Peter B. If the man makes an effort ( which he definitely will ), and if everything goes alright ( which she prays it does. )
But as for herself?
Gwen Stacy is many things but she isn't stupid.