Chapter Text
SCENE 1
An athletic woman with short pink hair—TEMPEST MONROE—sits on a bench in Central Park, idly scrolling on her phone. Suddenly, a few meters away, what appears to be a bright pink hole in the fabric of reality appears. A few bystanders are startled, but overall the reaction comes off less as terror or shock and more as though the appearance of a portal is mildly interesting. Tempest looks up from her phone to stare at the portal.
Miguel steps out of the portal hesitantly as though worried that setting foot on the other side might blow him up. As soon as he is all the way out, the portal disappears. A few people stare at him. He stands still, looking at the sky, for about ten seconds—and then he faints.
Tempest stands up and approaches him.
TEMPEST:
Hey, are you okay? Do you need me to call 911?
MIGUEL:
(dazed)
No, no, I’m—I’m alright.
He stands up and walks away. Tempest shrugs and returns to her bench.
Camera follows Miguel as he walks through the park, barely able to comprehend the place. He pauses for a few seconds to stare at some geese standing around on the grass, then at some seagulls floating on a nearby pond. He continues walking, then stops again to stare at a magnolia tree covered in bright pink blossoms.
Fade into the exact same location, in 2099. The entirety of Central Park is gone; where it used to be, there is now an enormous complex of Alchemax-branded factory buildings. This shot lasts five seconds.
Cut to:
SCENE 2
A classroom in 2081. Among the students is six-year-old Miguel. A teacher, MS. ÁLVAREZ, stands at the front of the class, next to a smart board displaying a kindergarten-level graphic about weather.
MS. ÁLVAREZ:
(speaking in the classic kindergarten teacher voice)
You’ve all heard before that the sky used to be blue. Isn’t that silly? Blue! Well, believe it or not, old-time cameras weren’t able to capture the color of the sky, so it would come out looking blue in old pictures and movies…
Cut to:
SCENE 3
2014. A busy street with lots of traffic and lots of people on the sidewalk; including Miguel, who, rather than looking where he’s going, observes the cars on the road instead (and, to a lesser extent, the other people around him). This shot lasts fifteen seconds.
Fade into the same location in 2099; the street, now part of Downtown Nueva York, is nearly deserted except for two patrolling Watchdog officers. The buildings have all fallen into disarray, the windows dark and boarded up with plastic. The road is cracked and full of potholes. This shot lasts five seconds.
Cut to:
SCENE 4
The High Line, sunset. The sky is all sorts of purple, pink, orange, and yellow. The Statue of Liberty can be seen in the distance. Miguel sits on a bench, staring at the sky for about ten seconds before remembering that he still has his phone with him. He opens the camera app and takes a picture of the sky.
Fade into the same location in 2099; the park walkway is replaced by one of uptown Nueva York’s metal-and-plastic raised sidewalks with Public Eye cameras everywhere and a featureless red sky. The Statue of Liberty is gone. This shot lasts five seconds.
Cut to:
SCENE 5
Red tables and chairs in Times Square. Stark Tower is visible. It is now dark out, and snowing. The snow sparkles as it falls. Miguel sits in one of the chairs, looking around and taking pictures. He is absolutely transfixed by the snow…and the traffic, and the lights and billboards, and how many people are out walking in the middle of the night. Everything about this place is alien to him.
Fade into the same location in 2099; now part of Downtown Nueva York, the square has fallen into a similar state of disrepair as the street from scenes 3 and 4. Only a very few of the billboards are still operational, and all of them are displaying military or Public Eye recruitment ads, or propaganda. The sky is blocked out by the understructure of an uptown sidewalk. This shot lasts five seconds.
Cut to:
SCENE 6
A classroom in 2087 (the same as in episode 18 of season 1, with the same people present). The smart board at the front of the class displays a graphic on the water cycle. A hologram of Mr. Bélanger stands by the board. Xina raises her hand. Mr. Bélanger sighs.
MR. BÉLANGER:
What is it, Kwan?
XINA:
There were many different kinds of precipitation—
MR. BÉLANGER:
Well, that isn’t what we’re studying today.
XINA:
But snow sounds like such an interesting weather phenomenon! Frozen water falling from the sky? That’s pretty sick.
MR. BÉLANGER:
That’s actually a myth; “snow” was an old word for cold rain.
XINA:
Uh, I’m pretty sure it was a separate—
MR. BÉLANGER:
Please don’t—I don’t have time to argue with you about history today, Kwan. Now, moving on…
Cut to:
SCENE 7
Continuous from the first part of scene 5.
MIGUEL:
(whispering)
Frozen water…huh.
He looks up at Stark Tower, with its massive lit-up Avengers insignia. He realizes what building it is.
MIGUEL:
Holy shit.
Miguel yawns. He stretches half-heartedly. He stands up and walks away, his movements noticeably sluggish.
Cut to:
SCENE 8
Another street, distinct from the one in scene 3. Still snowing. Although it is past midnight, there are still plenty of people on the sidewalk, and a decent amount of traffic on the road. Miguel walks slowly; he walks like somebody who either just woke up or is extremely drunk. He yawns.
Switch to Miguel’s POV. Everything is blurry and lights appear overexposed.
Back to normal POV. Miguel continues walking.
Cut to:
SCENE 9
Daytime. A sidewalk passing by two buildings that are very close together, close enough it is likely a fire hazard. Miguel lies in between the two buildings, somehow fast asleep in broad daylight in the middle of a very loud bustling city. A few people passing by on the sidewalk notice him, but they mind their own business.
Cut to:
SCENE 10
2083. A dark room, nondescript and empty except for a concrete chair in the middle of the room. Eight-year-old Miguel sits in the chair, his wrists and ankles restrained. Suddenly, the walls all light up, a blinding white flooding the room. This scene lasts about fifteen seconds and is completely silent except for the sound of heavy breathing.
Cut to:
SCENE 11
Continuous from scene 9. Miguel sits up slowly, groaning. He looks around. A pigeon pecks his foot. He looks at it. After two seconds, it flies away. Miguel stands up and wanders off again. Camera follows Miguel as he walks down the street. He approaches a column covered in flyers and the like, some of them ripped or damaged, and stops to read them. One is a flyer published by the Daily Bugle offering a $500 reward for information leading to the discovery of Spider-Man’s true identity. Close-up on one of the flyers; a poster advertising a Bruce Springsteen concert on May 13 at Times Union Center in Albany. Zoom back out. The eyes of Miguel’s mask are comically wide.
MIGUEL:
(incredulous)
2014…oh, you are shitting me. I have to figure out…what…I’m gonna…do? Is there a way back?
Miguel slaps himself in the face.
MIGUEL:
Ugh, get a grip! (He laughs hysterically) What is that, what am I saying, “get a grip?” I’m eighty-five years in the past! Nothing about my life is grounded in reality right now! I can do whatever! I can to to a shocking concert if I want to—or, well, if I had money, somehow I doubt they accept Alchemax credits in 2014 before Alchemax was even founded, and even if they did, I don’t have my card, and…I’m talking out loud on a crowded sidewalk and I definitely look like a lunatic right now. Why is this place so crowded?
He walks away, out of the frame, then immediately walks back over to the column and takes a picture of the concert flyer before walking away again.
Cut to:
SCENE 12
A road—Interstate 87—outside New York. It is night again. A white-and-red Serval Industries-branded semi-truck drives along the highway. Pan inside the cabin. An out-of-shape middle-aged man sits with one hand on the wheel, holding his phone to his ear with the other.
TRUCKER:
Yeah—yeah, I know! Look, I’ve got a deadline, okay? I haven’t slept in a million fuckin’ years, get off my dick! What’s the worst that can happen, I get a ticket? I know what I’m doing—huh?
A bright blue light appears in the middle of the road, getting brighter until it completely floods the scene. The trucker takes his hand off the wheel to shield his eyes. Pan back outside the truck; a human silhouette stands in the middle of the road. The truck slams into them at full speed. The truck is absolutely totaled; the silhouette doesn’t budge.
The light fades, leaving the mysterious figure visible; a TOTEM AGENT, a tall person wearing some sort of mechanized suit and mask. They look around. In the background, traffic stops. A man gets out of his car (a silver minivan) and approaches the agent.
UNNAMED MAN:
Holy shit, is—is everything okay? What j—
TOTEM AGENT:
(distorted voice)
Subject accomplishes nothing of note and never has children. Irrelevant to the timeline.
The agent grabs the man, lifting him up with one arm and snapping his neck. They then get in the man’s car and drive away.
Cut to:
SCENE 13
Union Square Park, still nighttime. Miguel approaches a tree, stares at it for a moment, then climbs it. Lounging in the branches, he takes out his phone and starts typing. Show the screen; it’s open to a sort of notes app, on a document containing notes about the year 2014, reading:
“the year is 2014, i think? i’m pretty sure it’s 2014
very crowded. shouldn’t the neoyorquino (or whatever they called people from old new york) population be lower? whatever, i’m not an anthropologist
bruce springsteen is still alive and touring (holy shit) (find a way to attend concert?)
nobody wearing face masks
nobody wearing armor either for that matter. not even pauldrons. lots of beige (ew)
no alchemax (yay) = no public eye? not sure what sort of surveillance they used in 2014”
Miguel types one more (“plants EVERYWHERE!” ) and closes the app. He yawns.
MIGUEL:
(drowsy, sluggish)
Do I get—(he yawns again)—sleepy at night, now? Is this gonna be a thing? Maybe my brain’s still…injured? Shock, brain damage is just what I need right now, huh. God, was it always this cold in the old days?
He closes his eyes. Suddenly, a silver minivan with its headlights off drives into the park, headed for the tree Miguel is lying in. Other people at the park panic. Miguel jolts; he makes to get down from the tree, but simply falls out instead. He stands up with some difficulty and reaches out forward. The car collides with his hands and pushes him back several feet before coming to a stop (Miguel is unharmed). The TOTEM agent gets out.
TOTEM AGENT:
Spider-Man.
MIGUEL:
(slurring)
You—no, I’m not Spider-Man.
TOTEM AGENT:
Database identifies you as Dr. Miguel O’Hara, you are the Spider-Man variant native to this dimension in the year 2099.
MIGUEL:
What the shock are you talking about?
TOTEM AGENT:
I am an agent from TOTEM. It’s our job to clear up temporal anomalies, and, unfortunately, somebody who was born in 2074 showing up in the year 2014 is an anomaly.
MIGUEL:
So…you’re here to get me back?
The agent sighs.
TOTEM AGENT:
(tired)
No, unfortunately that would be illegal. Time travel without a permit is a criminal offense, and you don’t have a permit, and I don’t have the authority to give you one. So unfortunately, I’m here to kill you.
MIGUEL:
What? That’s—
TOTEM AGENT:
Stupid? Yeah, I know. If I could just take you to 2211 and let you take it up with the government, I would.
The agent’s left hand morphs into a futuristic firearm; they shoot a white beam of light at Miguel. He jumps to avoid it; it hits the tree, vaporizing it. The agent fires again; Miguel dodges.
TOTEM AGENT:
You’re dragging this out.
The agent fires again. Miguel dodges again, tries to run away, and trips over his own foot and falls over. The agent approaches him, getting ready to finish the job. Suddenly, somebody else enters the frame, picking up the agent and throwing them. Show the mysterious other person: a giant, nine-foot-tall and vaguely feminine humanoid figure with four yellow insect-like wings, turquoise scales and patches of exoskeleton, and short pink human hair on her head. Her face is mostly human, although she has wasp-like mandibles on either side of her mouth.
She looks down at Miguel.
MYSTERIOUS INSECTOID PERSON:
Come on, let’s get outta here.
Miguel and the figure both run. Miguel collapses after a few seconds. He tries to get back up, to no avail. The person bends over to pick him up, then flies off. However, she isn’t a particularly adept flier, and ends up landing clumsily on the roof of a tall building. She and Miguel both sit on the roof, panting.
MYSTERIOUS INSECTOID PERSON:
Sorry, I, uh, I’m not great at flying. Who was that guy?
MIGUEL:
Time travel cop? I’m gonna—(he yawns)—I’m gonna be honest with you, I think I’m about to fall asleep.
He falls over, lying still on the roof. The bug-woman looks back in the direction of the park, checking if the agent followed her, then looks back at Miguel. She sighs.
Fade out.