Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

One moment he's staring at another version of himself, then he's glitching and the next moment, he's waking up in his bedroom, in his universe. At least, he’s pretty sure it's his own universe. It certainly looks like his universe, but then again, so did the other one at first. 

But then he hears his dad's voice and a rush of relief floods him. Was it all a dream? It didn't feel like a dream. His gaze scans the room as he sits up slowly, searching for some kind of clue. Then it hits him; Peter! That thought is all it takes for him to practically leap out of bed. Miles rushes to get dressed, and in the process, his gaze catches sight of the calendar. Saturday. That means he won't have to skip out on school. As he rushes from the house, he makes an excuse about meeting his friends for breakfast, and thankfully his parents don't question it. He wonders silently how long that will last. 

Once he gets outside he takes a second to think about where Peter's house is. But then he remembers May and thinks it might be a better idea to go there first. Halfway there, he realizes that he's quite possibly just running off facts from a dream, but there's a part of him that really doesn't think it was just a dream. He doesn't know how to explain it, this feeling, he just knows he can go to Aunt May. 

He's barely to the front door when it swings open, revealing May with a curious but warm expression. “I was wondering if you'd come around,” she greets him warmly and steps back, and Miles blinks at her for a second before slowly stepping into the house. 

“You…you know who I am?” 

“Of course, Miles,” she nods with a knowing smile and ushers him further into the house. “Peter! Miles is here,” the older woman calls out, and Miles pauses slightly, eyes widening as he glances at May in confusion. 

“Hey, kiddo,” his attention snaps up at the voice, so familiar yet…not. The blonde hair is a dead giveaway, and Miles stares at his world's Peter Parker for a long moment, alive and well, leaning casually against the door frame. “Long time no see,” he adds softly, and Miles swallows thickly. 

“You…”

“Died? Yeah, I remember,” Peter nods, pushing off the wall and stepping forward. “Some sort of quantum reset, I think. What happened? You know, after…” he asks hesitantly, almost like he isn't sure he should. But right now, Peter and May are all he has, so Miles takes a breath and dives into his story. 

He tells them both about the other dimensions, the other Spidermans, everything. Once he starts, the words just keep coming, and he can't stop. Everything comes spilling out, and Peter and May both listen raptly. Finally, when he gets to the end of his story, it's May that presses a steaming cup of hot chocolate into his hands. “Don't worry, Miles. We'll figure it out,” she tells him. Miles nods before he takes a sip of his cocoa. 

“What if…” he starts slowly, not even sure his idea is a plausible one, but it's the only one he thinks will work. “What if we send the spider back to its home dimension?” Miles looks up at the two adults in the room, gaze flicking back and forth between them as they look at him and then each other. 

“Do you know how hard it'll be to find a single spider in all of New York, kid?” Peter asks, and Miles shakes his head. 

“But I know where it bit me!” He counters. “In the subway tunnels! We have to go—”

“You're not going anywhere, Miles,” May interrupts him and he turns his focus on her as a shock of betrayal stings through him. He opens his mouth to argue, but she holds up a hand. “That's not what I meant,” she says, like she knows exactly where his mind went. “But you're fourteen, Miles. You can't just go running off and leaving your parents wondering where you are,” she adds pointedly, and Miles deflates slightly, knowing she's right. 

“We know you won't stay out of it, kid. But if we're doing this, we need to do it right,” Peter adds, though Miles watches curiously as May gives her nephew a look and the younger man winces. “Well, we need to do better. So. How do you feel about a physics internship with Peter Parker that will take up quite a bit of your time outside of school?” Peter looks at him then, and Miles stares at him for a minute. 

“Really?” 

“Well, it's as good a cover as any, right?” Peter lifts a brow and Miles is quick to nod in agreement. “Great. Aunt May and I will work out the details, okay? Give me a day or two.”

“What do I do until then?” 

“Go see your family, Miles. And go to school. You have to go to school to be able to get cool internships, you know,” Peter tells him pointedly, mouth turning up in a half grin and that makes Miles grin in return. 

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” he nods in agreement. “But…I can still come back here right? If I need—if I want to?” Miles glances at May this time, who smiles warmly at him. 

“Of course, Miles,” she nods. Miles takes another long drink of his hot chocolate and sighs softly. Even though he doesn't really know this Peter, he feels like he does. Maybe it's all his experience with the other Spidermans, Miles doesn't know. But Peter feels like family, and so does Aunt May. He doesn't know what he's going to do about his uncle yet, or even if anything can be done—Kingpin’s claws are hard to remove once they've dug in—but he wants to try, even if that means he doesn't get to be Spiderman anymore. After all, he wasn't really meant to be, was he? It was all an accident; a glitch.

Chapter Text

He's mildly surprised by how easy it is to convince Miles’ parents to let him partake in a “physics internship” with him. With Aunt May’s help, Peter manages to set up fake paperwork and false schedules so that it looks official to both Miles’ parents and his school. He also rearranges his own schedule—not that being Spiderman actually lets him have much of a schedule—and then he decides to tell MJ about it. 

As he gets home the evening after getting everything finalized, he tries to figure out exactly what to tell his wife. He doesn't want to lie to her, but he's not sure how to explain that he woke up in the past and that a fourteen year old kid also woke up in the past, after watching him die and becoming Spiderman himself. 

Peter runs a hand through his hair as he closes the door behind him, and he can't help the smile that brightens his expression when MJ appears from the hall. But then he sees the look on her face and pauses, feeling his wife's scrutiny pass over him before she finally smiles. “Ready to tell me about Miles, yet, my love?” MJ murmurs, and Peter's eyes go wide with shock. 

“You—?”

“Yes, Peter,” she nods, her expression softening as she crosses the room towards him. Peter stares down at her as she reaches up and rests a palm against his cheek. “I thought it was just me, until you brought up some fake internship for Miles,” a soft chuckle escapes her lips and he just blinks at her. With a quick kiss, she's retreating back towards the kitchen, Peter following after her automatically. 

“What… I mean… how?” He stutters over his words and MJ gives him an amused glance over her shoulder. 

“I don't know,” she shrugs. “But I did live through the last…whatever it was, with the collider causing issues. Your aunt's aware too, isn't she?” MJ asks curiously and Peter finds himself just nodding as his wife turns to face him, leaning against the counter. “So, what's the plan?” She lifts a brow in prompting and his mouth quirks up at the look she gives him. He runs his hand through his hair again before shaking his head with a soft huff of breath. 

“Honestly? Find the damn spider that doesn't belong here and send it back to its own universe. Other than that? Just keep the kid safe,” he tells her slowly. His wife nods with a soft smile. 

“He's a good kid,” she says warmly, and he's reminded that she must have spent more time with him after…before. “Have you thought about contacting Miguel?” Her next suggestion makes Peter wince slightly. 

“Miguel isn't going to be any help, MJ,” he replies with a shake of his head. 

“Are you sure? Won't he be all ‘have to protect the canon' about it all?” MJ counters, prompting Peter to run a hand over his face. 

“Probably, but what if he's like us? He's the reason Miles ended up in that other universe, but do you really think he's going to see it that way?” Peter scowls as he shakes his head. He may deal with Miguel when he has to, thanks to the whole multiverse thing, but he's not the man's biggest fan, that's for sure. Even less so after hearing Miles' story of everything that happened after he died. “I just…I'll contact him if we need to, but I want to try to handle this on our own first,” he says with a sigh. Thankfully, MJ just nods, stepping forward and letting him pull her into a hug. They stand there for a long moment and Peter drops a soft kiss on his wife's head before they separate, each stepping in a different direction as they get started on dinner.

The next morning, he's up early and headed to Kingpin's lab. Theoretically, he knows what he's looking for, but he has a feeling that finding a single spider is not going to go as smoothly as he hopes it will. He also isn't sure if the spider is even still in captivity—after learning about the spider's origin story from Miles, Peter knows it's possible that the spider has already been set loose on the world. He hopes that is not the case.

He's not that lucky.

Peter spends a little over a week sneaking around the lab, and even with MJ's help, they don't find any sign of the troublesome arachnid. He really wants to keep this damn kid safe, but it's Aunt May that reminds him not for the first time that Miles took up his mantle before; he can handle this.

"He's just a kid," Peter grumbles from where he sits at Aunt May's dining room table.

"So were you," she reminds him gently, and Peter runs a hand over his face with a frustrated groan. When May reaches across the table to take his hand, he sighs and meets his aunt's knowing gaze.

"But we're back here to change things, aren't we? He shouldn't have to be responsible for any of this! That's the whole point!" Peter argues in frustration, only for his aunt to give him a soft look.

"Are you sure?" Aunt May's words bring his racing mind to a sudden halt and he frowns as he stares across the table at her.

"What do you mean?"

"This little spider isn't the only thing you need to think about," she says pointedly, and Peter feels his stomach sink as he lets his head fall forward into his hands.

"You mean the collider," he murmurs.

"Don't you think it's odd that you haven't had that little altercation again, and there also hasn't been any collider activity yet either?" May prompts, and Peter lifts his head again to look at her.

"I just…I just figured that it was because Miles is still normal," he admits slowly, and he winces even as the words leave his mouth. A frustrated sound escapes his mouth as he runs a hand through his hair and pushes his chair back. As he stands, his aunt gives him a knowing smile and an approving nod.

"Be safe, Peter," she calls as he heads for the door.

Chapter Text

He knows he probably shouldn't be sneaking out like this, but he's tired of feeling useless. Peter has told him countless times that he isn't, and he knows that logically, that's true, but it still feels like it. Just the other day, Peter mentioned the fact that Kingpin hasn't even tried to turn the collider on yet, and who even knows what that means? They need to find this stupid spider. Or… Miles pauses halfway out his window as a thought hits him suddenly.

To send the spider back to its own universe…don't they have to use the collider? On that note… Miles scowls out into the night as he realizes that they don't even know if the spider has been brought into this universe yet. Have they just been running in circles? Times like this, Miles wishes for his invisibility again. It would certainly make things a lot easier, that's for sure.

Finally making up his mind after coming to such a revelation, Miles slips out his window and closes it quietly behind him. The city is dark—well, dark as it gets with the street lamps everywhere—but it's the city, so it's never quiet, making it rather easy to scramble down to the ground from several stories up without drawing any attention. Even so, he stays as quiet as he can and sticks to the shadows as he moves.

He doesn't even realize where exactly he's going until he's standing outside Peter's house. There's a light on in one of the upper rooms, and Miles knows that Peter must still be awake. Even without his spidey-abilities, Miles manages to climb up to the window of the lit room—he still wants to be good at these things, even if he doesn't have the special abilities to rely on.

Peter doesn't look up from the computer even as Miles slides the window open and swings into the room, but Miles isn't surprised. He's sure that Peter knew he was here even before he actually got here.

"What if the spider isn't even here yet?" Miles breaks the silence in a quiet voice, and this time, Peter looks up at him. He can see in the older man's gaze that he's come to the same conclusion.

"You said before that it came through a test run of the collider, but from what I can tell, there hasn't been a test run. At least not yet," Peter replies with a sigh, his posture casual, as if Miles hasn't just climbed through his second story window in the middle of the night. Miles would chuckle if the topic of conversation wasn't so concerning.

"The guy that does it, have you seen him around the lab?" Miles closes the window behind him and leans back against it.

"Yeah, he's there," Peter confirms.

"Do you…do you think that just the fact that we know things has changed stuff?" Miles asks slowly. He watches as Peter frowns in contemplation, and the look on his face reminds him of Peter B. His first mentor. For a moment, Miles wonders what Peter B is up to. Does this weird ripple of theirs extend to other universe? That thought of course leads to Gwen, and then Miles thinks about the whole collection of Spideys in Miguel's network. Miles wonders what Miguel would say about this. Clearly not everything is set in stone, he thinks.

"It's possible," Peter's words pull him out of his thoughts and Miles blinks, refocusing on the older man. "That just means we need to be even more careful, and you need to stay under the radar," Peter tells him. Miles opens his mouth to protest again, but Peter gives him a look and he just sighs.

"So what do we do?"

"All we can do is wait, Miles. And make sure we're ready whenever it finally happens," Peter replies.

"Will it even happen?" Miles frowns as Peter nods almost immediately.

"Kingpin will do whatever it takes—you know that, Miles," he tells him, and Miles finds himself nodding in agreement. He does know, but there's still a part of him that hopes maybe, things will just be okay.

"Yeah," he sighs softly.

Before either of them can say anything else, there are footsteps in the hall and the door opens to reveal MJ. Her smile is soft and knowing as she steps into the room with three mugs. "Thought I heard some scheming going on in here," she greets them easily as she hands out hot cocoa. Miles takes his with a small smile, glancing at Peter, who nods in response to his wife's comment. When MJ lifts a questioning brow and looks between them, Miles takes a sip of his cocoa and sighs heavier than a normal fourteen year old ever should.

"Miles came to ask some pretty good questions," Peter starts, taking a long drink of his own cocoa before continuing. "We've come to the conclusion that the spider isn't even here yet," Miles watches the pair as they seems to have another, silent conversation before MJ speaks again.

"So we take out the collider before he can use it," her tone has a finality to it, but Miles can still hear the slightest bit of worry. Peter nods in response to his wife's statement and Miles frowns, but also nods in agreement.

The three of them spend the next several hours planning. At first, Peter tries to tell Miles to stay home and stay safe, but Miles refuses to be left out.

"Come on! I can handle this, Peter!"

"This might turn out to be a big battle, Miles. You don't have any abilities right now, but Kingpin won't think twice about killing you if he thinks you're involved," Peter reminds him with a shake of his head. Miles scowls as he paces across the room in frustration. But then he stops short as an idea forms in his head.

"I can make sure my uncle is distracted!" Miles exclaims quietly. "That's one less bad guy you have to worry about," he adds pointedly. His gaze flicks between Peter and MJ as the two share another silent conversation. After another silent minute, he sees Peter's posture shift and knows he's won this one. When the older man looks at him and gives him a slow nod, Miles grins.

"You still have to be careful, Miles. If he figures out you know who he is…" Peter trails off, but Miles shakes his head.

"He died to save me last time, Peter. He's not going hurt me," Miles tells him firmly. Peter gives him a pained look, but eventually he nods.

"Okay. You still need to be careful, though. Even if your uncle won't do anything, if anyone else finds out—"

"I know," Miles cuts him off and Peter just sighs. Then his gaze flicks sideways and he frowns before meeting Miles' gaze again.

"You need to get back before anyone knows you were gone," Peter tells him, prompting Miles to glance at the clock. He blinks in surprise when he realizes it's almost time for him to be getting up.

"Oh dang! Okay, I'll see you guys later!" Miles moves towards the window, only for MJ to snag his arm and nudge him towards the door with a soft laugh.

"You can use the door, Miles," she chides him in amusement, and Miles feels his cheeks heat up in mild embarrassment.

"Right," he nods and lets MJ usher him out into the hall and down the stairs. Peter trails after them and Miles says goodbye to both of them before he finally slips out into the night. Thankfully, he makes it back to school with enough time to snooze for almost an hour before his alarms go off.

Chapter Text

Two days after Miles showed up in the middle of the night, Peter is ready to destroy the collider. He spends most of the day planning out his routes and planting a few things at the lab that he might need later. He also does one last sweep looking for the spider, but when he doesn't come up with anything, Peter settles on a final plan for tonight.

After Miles is out of school, they all meet at Aunt May's house for an early dinner and one last planning session as a whole. Peter goes over his plans for the night, and then he makes Miles recite his own plans for the evening.

"I go home for just a little bit, then I'll go to Uncle Aaron's. I'll make up some story about girl trouble or something, that worked pretty well last time," the boy says with a shrug. Peter resists the urge to sigh. It's not that he doesn't have faith in Miles, because he does. But it's the fact that he feels like he shouldn't have to. The kid is fourteen! Swallowing his frustration, he gives Miles an approving nod.

"I'll let you know as soon as I get to the lab," he tells the boy quietly. That's going to be Miles' signal to go to his uncle's place.

"Everyone needs to be careful tonight," Aunt May says firmly, her gaze flicking back and forth between him and Miles.

"We've got this! I mean, come on, this has to be way easier than doing it while the universe is literally crumbling," Miles says, and Peter has to admit the kid has a point. He doesn't know what it looks like when the universe is falling apart, but from what Miles has told him, he sure as hell hopes that this goes a lot smoother than that.

Later that night, he wonders if they jinxed their good luck with those words.

Peter makes it to the lab without a hiccup, and he texts Miles before he goes in. He moves quietly through the halls, and it quickly becomes clear that there are people here. His instincts start to scream at him to abort the mission, but Peter ignores it. He wants to know what they're up to.

Sneaking around the lab has become easy, so it doesn't take long for Peter to locate the heart of whatever is going on tonight. When he figures it out, however, he feels his blood run cold. Sticking to the ceiling, staying in the shadows, Peter stares with wide eyes as he watches Liv and Jonathan Ohnn walk into the observation room for the collider. Slowly, he sneaks closer, and finds himself wishing he had the invisibility that Miles has talked about so much. He catches sight of Kingpin through the cracked door, too, and all the alarm bells start going off in his head.

Peter's gaze flicks back and forth between the group gathered in the room, and the collider beyond. He's torn by indecision, trying to figure out if he should do something to stop them here, or if he should go down and still try to kill the collider. Be careful tonight, his aunt's words come back to him and Peter finally makes his decision. Even if they bring the spider through the collider tonight, it will be easy enough to send it back. But he wasn't prepared for this to be happening tonight, which makes him wonder what other surprises he might come across. It'll be safer to regroup, and come up with a new plan, he thinks silently as he slowly starts to retreat back the way he came.

He's halfway back to the door he came in through when his Spidey senses go off, and he curses silently. Dropping down from the ceiling and slipping into a dark corridor, Peter takes a moment to figure out where exactly the threat is coming from. When he realizes it's coming from the way he was going, Peter frowns. He made sure to check, double check, and triple check that there was no one on this side of the building before he snuck in. Which only leaves one thing; someone else has arrived.

Several minutes pass, and then the figure comes into full view. Peter's stomach drops as he sees Miles' uncle walking down the hall. What is he doing here? He has no idea why Prowler is here, considering he's not a scientist like the others working on the collider. Why does Kingpin need him here tonight?

Miles.

Peter has to stifle the sharp breath that inflates his lungs as he realizes that Miles must know by now that his uncle isn't home. Not only that, but Peter has a feeling that when Miles doesn't get any kind of response from him—you can't risk carrying your phone on you when you're sneaking around—the kid will probably do whatever it takes to warn him. Only Peter doesn't need a warning, because he's looking right at the man. Thankfully, Aaron isn't wearing his mask, which means he can't read Peter's presence, tucked back in hiding.

When Aaron pauses a little too close for comfort, Peter holds his breath. Seconds tick by, and he watches Aaron take his phone out and look at it. Then he seems to type out a message—Peter wonders if it's to Miles—and tucks his phone back into his pocket before finally continuing down the hall. As soon as it's clear, Peter sags with relief and slips back out into the hall to hurry for the way out. Only, it doesn't turn out to be as clear as he thought it was.

He hears the shift of fabric and the footsteps too late—he doesn't know why his senses don't pick it up until it's too late—and barely has time to dodge Prowler's attack. Peter sends web flying back towards the other man, and then he runs. His retreat must catch the other man off guard, because it's several moments before he hears footsteps pounding after him. Shooting more web over his shoulder, Peter keeps running, cursing this strange malfunction of his senses.

The altercation draws more attention though, because he hears shouts and more feet pounding behind him. Thankfully, he's close enough to his exit point that he manages to get out unscathed, but he doesn't let his guard down. Even outside, he has to duck and dodge, and he almost gets snatched by one of Doc Oc's metal tentacles. Peter successfully dodges her though, and pins the metal appendage to a tree trunk with a thick stream of web. It's just as he's slowing down, pretty sure he's managed to lose both Doc Oc and Prowler, that something moves in the shadows of the dark forest. For a moment, he panics at the thought of his danger senses failing again, but then he finally catches sight of the figure. Miles.

Chapter Text

When he finds his uncle's apartment empty, Miles feels panic coil behind his ribs. He searches the apartment, calling out to his uncle, but it's obvious after only a couple minutes that Aaron isn't here. With a frown, he takes his phone out and texts his uncle.

'I thought we were hanging tonight?'

A minute later, he gets a response.

'Sorry Miles, something came up. How bout tomorrow?'

Miles stares at the text for several minutes, trying to decide if the "something" is Uncle Aaron stuff, or Prowler business. Two minutes later, Miles is heading back down to the street. He sends Peter several texts and tries to call him, but he knows the man probably doesn't have his phone on him. Thankfully for him, nobody bats an eye at a kid getting into a taxi alone around here.

He has the taxi take him as close as he dares to the lab, then he waits until the taxi is gone before he runs into the woods. As he runs through the dark forest, Miles is extremely glad he's been keeping up on his exercise. His lungs start to burn eventually, just as his muscles do, but he keeps going. When he hears shouting and the familiar sounds of a fight with Doc Oc, Miles slows down. He might be too late to warn Peter, but he's sure as hell not going to distract the man by crashing into the scene. He wants to help Peter, not give him something else to worry about.

Thankfully, it sounds like Peter manages just fine, and after the commotion dies down, Miles is pretty sure he can hear the soft swishing of someone gliding through the air via web. He squints against the darkness as a shape comes into view, and he feels relief floods him at the familiar sight of the Spider-Man suit. Peter swings from tree to tree rather similarly to how Miles and Peter B had once, and Miles pauses, leaning against a tree as he works on catching his breath.

"Miles!" Peter's quiet hiss makes him look up again, just as the older man drops to the ground in front of him. "What are you doing here??"

"I was trying—to get here—to warn you—about—my uncle!" Miles explains through heaving breaths.

"I can handle them, Miles," Peter replies, his tone chastising. Miles scowls up at him.

"Did you destroy it?" He asks quietly, though he's pretty sure he already knows the answer. When Peter shakes his head in the dark, Miles deflates slightly.

"They were getting ready to test it," Peter tells him quietly, making Miles' eyes widen.

"Did they?"

"Not yet. But that doesn't mean they won't. They think they've gotten rid of me for the night," Peter says slowly.

"They'll be on guard! You can't go back in there!" Miles protests immediately, but Peter reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax, Miles. I'm not going back in tonight. But we need to assume that they'll have the spider now," the older man replies. Miles frowns, but nods. "Now come on, let's get back into the city. We can regroup and figure out our next move," Peter nudges him into motion, and Miles lets Peter lead him through the dark trees. He's not sure what direction they're going in or how much time passes, but by the time they reach Peter's car, Miles practically collapses into the passenger seat.

They're both quiet on the way back into the city, and Miles finds himself thinking about his friends from the other universes. He knows there are a lot of Spidermans that have the ability to 'verse-travel, but the only ones he wants are his friends, and he's pretty sure none of them can do it yet. Or maybe not at all this time, he has no idea. His thoughts are interrupted by the car stopping, and Miles looks up to see that they're at Aunt May's house. Peter nods towards the house as he opens his door, and Miles follows him quietly. The door opens before they reach it.

"Peter? Miles?! What happened? Why are you both here—and together?" MJ meets them on the porch before she pulls them into the house. Peter tells his side of the story first, then Miles tells his, and the four of them sit at the table going over more plans until Miles has to head back home.

It's Friday, so he's sneaking back into his own room instead of the one at school. He stares up at his ceiling for another hour before he finally manages to fall asleep. Miles dreams of another life, and the friends he had once.

When he wakes up, he pastes on a smile for his parents, pretending like everything is perfectly fine. They sit down to breakfast, and when prompted, Miles makes up some story about his internship with Peter. At the end of his story, he looks up at the clock and jumps to his feet. "Oh! I'm gonna be late! I'll see you guys later, love you!" Miles hollers over his shoulder as he runs for the door. He hears his parents call after him, but he's already out the door and running down the street.

Miles heads for Aunt May's, knowing that Peter and MJ stayed over there last night. Sure enough, he finds everyone there. It's Peter that answers the door when he knocks, and MJ and May are both sitting at the table with coffee.

"Sorry, I lost track of time having breakfast with my parents," he says as he sits down.

"You don't need to apologize for spending time with your family, Miles," MJ scolds him lightly, but he knows what she really means; don't take time with family for granted. Miles feels his cheeks heat up as he nods in acknowledgement, and he accepts the mug Peter sets in front of him. From the smell of it, it's cocoa, not coffee, and Miles takes a slow sip, humming pleasantly at the taste of chocolate and cinnamon.

"I know," he says quietly in response to MJ's words, and she gives him a little nod.

"You're sure your parents don't mind you spending the whole day here?" May asks with a tilt of her head.

"They didn't have a problem when we first planned it, and as far as they know, nothing's changed," he replies with a shrug. Originally, they had planned for today to be an "experiment" day in terms of Miles' internship, in the hopes that they would be celebrating the destruction of the collider. Their plans may have shifted, but it's not like his parents know anything about that.

"Alright. I guess we have a lot to do today, then."

Chapter Text

Peter goes back to the lab as soon as it's deemed safe, and it doesn't take much investigating to come to the conclusion that the collider has indeed been tested at least once. He curses silently, but schools his expression and thankfully makes it through the rest of the day without anyone getting suspicious. When he gets back home, he finds MJ waiting for him. By the look on her face, she knows what he's going to say before he has to say it.

"They used it," she sighs, not bothering to frame it as a question. Peter nods anyways. "Alright, and the spider?"

"I didn't see it, but I wasn't exactly looking for it today," he explains quietly. "I'll try to find it tomorrow," he adds, and MJ gives him a small nod. Peter runs a hand over his face with a sigh. He isn't looking forward to having to locate the troublesome arachnid now, but it's not like that wasn't the original plan anyways.

"Come on, get some sleep, Peter. I have no doubt you'll be up early tomorrow," MJ murmurs softly, tugging him towards the stairs.

MJ is right—the next morning, Peter is gone before the sun is even in the sky. At first he's headed to the lab, but then he gets sidetracked by a few Spiderman responsibilities when he drives by some idiots trying to break into a bank. Thankfully he's taken to wearing his suit beneath his regular clothes, so in seconds, he's swinging after the bad guys.

One of them is easy to catch, but another ducks into the subway tunnels and it takes Peter a few minutes to round him up. He realizes too late that this appears to be some sort of trap. Then he's hit with a flash of deja vu as Norm appears in the massive subway cavern he's found himself in. Shit.

Peter can't deny the chill that races down his spine as the fight seems almost a mirror of what happened last time. It won't end the same, though, he tells himself. Miles is still normal.

As far as you know…

He takes a hard hit and shakes his head, forcing the thoughts out of his mind. There's no way he'll win this fight if he can't concentrate, that he knows. So he shoves all those thoughts and memories into a tiny box in the back of his mind and focuses all of his attention on Norm, then on Kingpin. There are another few close calls, but Peter starts to notice the smallest of differences in the situation, and it's also obvious that Miles isn't here, so he's not entirely surprised when he finally gets the upper hand and manages to make it out alive.

When he gets back to the house, he's in a bit of rough shape, but at least he's alive. His wife's eyes get big when she catches sight of him and he mentally winces at the thought of telling her exactly what he just experienced. But he won't lie to her, so when she asks, he tells her.

MJ patches him up, then he calls Aunt May and the two of them head over to his aunt's house. He's mildly surprised to find Miles sitting on the couch when he and MJ walk in, but then he remembers it was supposed to be an internship day before he ended up in the city's underbelly.

"Peter! Are you okay?" Miles jumps up and moves towards him, but doesn't press into his space thankfully.

"Yeah, kiddo, I'm fine. The timeline is definitely different this time around, though, that's for sure," he explains as he moves towards the kitchen. "Had a bit of deja vu today down in the underbelly," he adds, glancing over his shoulder at the boy following him into the kitchen. He guesses MJ went to find his aunt. That thought is confirmed a minute later when he hears footsteps on the stairs and his wife and aunt walk into the kitchen.

"What happened?"

"Norm and Kingpin," he answers with a shrug, trying not to wince at the movement.

"Like…before?" Miles' voice is quiet and hesitant, and Peter nods.

"But I'm fine, Miles. I'm still here," he tries to reassure the boy, but he can tell by the look on Miles' face that it doesn't really work.

"Was my uncle there?" Miles asks slowly, and Peter frowns slightly as he thinks about the fight.

"Now that you mention it, no. I didn't see him," he shakes his head. There's one more difference, I suppose.

"Alright kids, let's get dinner started, then we can go over some plans," Aunt May says as she steps further into the kitchen. Peter pours himself a cup of coffee before he lets his aunt shoo him towards the table. Miles remains in the kitchen however, helping May and MJ with dinner.

It makes Peter smile as he watches the kid that has become like family to him help his aunt and his wife make dinner. Miles laughs with MJ as they discuss spices, and Peter catches his aunt's gaze and shares a warm smile with her. He knows it would probably seem weird to anyone on the outside of their little group, but Miles is one of them, and that won't ever change. Peter just hopes that the kid won't ever have to truly worry about more than school and normal life responsibilities.

Dinner is a relatively lively affair, what with planning and discussion of what's to come. Thankfully, Miles agrees to let Peter handle looking for the spider still. He does say he'll try to distract his uncle again, telling them all how he's supposed to hang out with him tomorrow. Peter's not so sure about the idea of them going down into the tunnels, considering everything that's happened, but he's pretty sure the spider should still be at the lab, so he doesn't protest. He does however, tell Miles to keep him updated on his location and to tell him if his uncle leaves or disappears randomly at all. They all say goodnight after dinner, and Peter watches Miles jog down the street back into the city towards his school.

"He'll be fine, Peter," May tells him as she comes to stand at the window next to him. Peter sighs, but nods in agreement.

"I know."

Chapter Text

Everything seems to go smoothly for the next two weeks. Miles plays interference with his uncle as much as he can while Peter works on locating the spider—it's not much but at least it's one less bad guy to deal with. It takes a few days, but it finally happens with seemingly no hiccups.

He's surprised when he gets to Aunt May's house only for Peter to immediately take him down to the basement and show him a little glass container. Sure enough, Miles recognizes the spider trapped within. As soon as they have his confirmation on the spider's identity, they move into the next part of their plan; send the spider home.

As far as they can tell, even though it takes a while to be able to get access to the collider—and the fight after it's activated is extensive—they manage to get the spider back to its home universe. The four of them celebrate over the weekend, telling his parents that it's another experiment weekend.

Miles decides to celebrate on his own, too. He has a piece he's been working on for days, and it's finally ready to go from paper to paint. At first, he thinks about asking Uncle Aaron to come with him, but then he decides he wants to do this one by himself. After all, he's sure his uncle might have some interesting questions if he saw this one, considering the inspiration.

He heads down into the subway tunnels, knowing the tunnels are a place he is least likely to get caught—he steers clear of the tunnels near the collider though. His music plays through his headphones, but they are around his neck instead of over his ears, ensuring he can still hear everything around him too. If Miles has learned one thing, it's to stay aware of his surroundings at all times.

It doesn't take too long for him to find the perfect wall, and Miles sets his backpack down and pulls out his notebook and his paints. He doesn't really need to look at the design for reference, because it's clear as day in his mind, but he pulls it out anyways, tracing a finger over the design for a second before putting it away. Then he gets started.

When he finishes, he steps back with a grin, staring up at the swirling colors—red, black, blue, pink and white. Silhouettes stand out amongst the colors, though he's sure he's the only one who knows who they represent. He smiles fondly at the painting, even as an ache lances through him at the thought of the friends that he doesn't think he'll ever see again. With a final smile and a soft sigh, Miles leans down to grab his backpack, turns back towards the tunnels, and starts for home.

He makes it about two steps before a sharp sting at his ankle makes him flinch and curse, kicking out his leg in an automatic reaction. Confusion hits him, but it only lasts a moment before a cold chill runs down his spine. No. It's not possible. Miles shakes his head to himself as he denies the thoughts drifting into his mind. But there is only so much denial he can claim, because he knows that sharp little pain in his very soul. It's the same sharp pain that in another life, changed everything.

"No no no," he shakes his head as he mumbles to himself. "I just imagined it. That's it, it has to be," he tries to convince himself, but it's weak at best.

In a last ditch effort to prove to himself that he imagined the whole thing, Miles' gaze scans the area around him, using his cellphone flashlight to search the area. He turns in a slow circle, eyes narrowing in concentration, but he doesn't see anything. Then a tiny flash of movement catches his attention and Miles spins towards it. His heart drops; two feet away, crawling slowly over the tunnel floor, is a tiny arachnid that he recognizes all too well.

For a long minute, Miles just stares at it as it crawls towards him. He must have shook it off when it bit him. His heart races in his chest as he stares at it. What's he supposed to do now? Miles has no idea.

"Maybe you can reverse engineer it's venom and turn yourself back," Miles nearly jumps out of his skin at the soft voice. Spinning around, he nearly falls over at the sight that greets him.

"Gwen?!" He stares with wide eyes at the blonde girl staring back at him.

"Hey, Miles," she gives him a tight smile.

"What…how—the collider!" Miles stumbles over his words for a moment until realization hits. She must have been pulled through when we tried to send the spider back. "I um, hang on, I need to…" he shakes his head slightly, forcing himself to return focus to the spider. Thankfully, it hasn't disappeared, and he quickly empties the water bottle in his backpack and scoops the arachnid up into it. Once it's safely tucked away, Miles turns back to Gwen, mildly surprised that she's actually here and not some crazy hallucination.

She's leaning against a concrete pillar, watching him. When he lifts a brow curiously at her, she just smiles. "So you obviously remember the last time," she starts slowly, and Miles nods.

"Yeah. Peter, MJ and May do too. We um, we thought…we tried to send the spider back to its home universe. We thought it worked," he explains with a frown. Gwen gives him a pained smile, no doubt understanding what's going on in his head now.

"Well, clearly that didn't happen. What now?"

"I…I don't know. But I mean, your idea could be a good one—about trying to reverse it, I mean," he tells her. "Peter will know more though. Come on. I need to tell him what happened," he nods towards the tunnels, trying his best to keep the panic out of his voice and movements. By the way Gwen is looking at him, he's not sure he succeeds, but that's not really too important. What's important is getting back to the house and telling Peter what happened. Gwen falls into step beside him as they walk, but neither one says anything. What even is there to say, in this situation? He thought everything was going so well, but now…what happened to fixing the timeline? Is it even fixable? Miles doesn't like the questions that are popping up in his mind, but he can't help the feeling that they're missing something. Now if only they can figure out what that something is.

Chapter Text

This time when it happens, Gwen doesn't panic. She knows exactly what's happening, and while a part of her worries, another part can only think about getting to see her friend again. When she lands in Miles' universe, though, she decides to do things a little differently. Instead of going straight to Miles and possibly freaking him out if he doesn't remember anything like she does, Gwen decides to gather some information for herself first.

She spends a day scoping things out, and watches Miles from a distance for a little while. When he goes off on his own, she decides to follow him. It's obvious that he's still normal, and even though she's sure nothing bad will happen to him since no one's after a normal kid from Brooklyn, Gwen doesn't like the idea of leaving him without protection. She's lost enough friends, and she doesn't plan on losing any more.

It's his reaction to getting bitten that tells her Miles is like her. And if that isn't enough, he recognizes her instantly. Gwen watches him panic over the spider for a minute, but then he seems to settle again as they leave the subway tunnel, clearly having had some practice with stressful situations. She wonders what he's been doing since the reset—and how long ago his reset was. Has it been the same amount of time for them both? She considers asking about it, but in the end, she decides that questions like that can wait.

When Miles takes her to a house she doesn't recognize, she's about to ask where they are when the front door opens. "Miles! What's wro—oh! And you must be Gwen," she blinks in surprise as Mary Jane Parker greets them. Slowly, she gives the older woman a nod, glancing at Miles curiously. Miles is focused on MJ, though.

"Where's Peter? I need…we need…the spider didn't go back," Miles stumbles over his words at first, speaking low and fast, and Gwen watches MJ's eyes widen as her skin pales slightly.

"He's just at May's…I'll call him," MJ says in a tight voice, suddenly ushering her and Miles into the house.

"I didn't—I thought I…what do we do? This wasn't supposed to happen!" Miles exclaims as he rushes into the house. Gwen frowns as she watches him start to panic again. But before she can step in to try and reassure him, MJ beats her to it.

"Hey, hey, Miles, look at me," MJ snags Miles' arm and Gwen hovers in the entryway as her friend looks up at the older woman with wide eyes. "Take a breath, Miles. This isn't the first bump we've hit. We can figure it out," the woman continues firmly. Gwen can tell that Miles doesn't believe her, but it doesn't surprise her when Miles nods anyways, taking a deep breath. She wonders if MJ can tell he only does is for the older woman's benefit. "Why don't you take your stuff up to the spare room, then we'll just go straight to May's," MJ adds and Miles nods.

Gwen watches him disappear up the stairs, then brings her gaze back to MJ, who is watching her quietly. "So, you remember everything from last time?" She asks slowly. MJ nods, giving her a slightly pained smile. "If I got pulled here, it's possible that the others might have too. Hopefully we can figure out how to fix this," the young blonde adds softly. "Miles won't give up until we find a way."

"Oh, I know," MJ smiles, but it's strained. "But he's just a kid…so are you," the woman continues and Gwen shrugs, trying not to bristle at the comment.

"I was eighteen by the time we got reset. Miles was seventeen," she tells MJ pointedly. MJ chuckles softly, but it's a warm sound that doesn't grate on Gwen's nerves like she expects it to.

"Peter was sixteen when he got bit. But it doesn't matter how old you are, it's still a lot to handle. I'm sure you know that, though," MJ says softly. Gwen just nods, and a moment later, Miles is reappearing, a small clear container in hand, clearly having moved the spider from his water bottle to something better.

"You guys ready?" Miles asks as soon as he reaches the bottom of the stairs. Gwen nods and motions towards the door.

"Lead the way," she follows him out the door with MJ right behind her.

They all get into MJ's car, and it only takes a few minutes to get to Aunt May's. Gwen is quiet as she follows MJ and Miles into the house, gaze travelling over everything warily. She doesn't think anything will happen right now, but it's instinctual at this point.

"MJ? What are you—oh," Gwen's gaze snaps up at the voice and blinks in surprise at the blond, blue-eyed Peter Parker staring at them from the kitchen entryway.

"That's not all," Miles' voice shakes slightly, and Gwen's gaze flicks between Miles and Peter as the older man looks at her friend. When Miles holds up the little clear container for Peter to see, the man's eyes widen in surprise. Then his gaze settles on Miles again and Gwen can see in the man's gaze that he understands exactly what happened. Everyone is quiet as a weight seems to settle over the room, and Gwen feels a bit like an outsider as she watches several silent conversations take place between Peter and Miles and Peter and MJ.

"What's going on down here? Did I hear—MJ? Miles? What—Gwen?" Aunt May's voice has everyone looking up, and Gwen meets the older woman's gaze with a strained smile. "Oh dear," May continues as she makes her way down the stairs. "Well, we knew this was a possibility when we decided to send that little spider back to its own universe," the woman adds with a small huff and a warm smile. "Don't worry, hon, we'll get you back home," May tells her.

"That's...not really the problem," Miles' voice is quiet and pained, and Gwen bites her lip as May turns back to look at the boy. Then she watches as the older woman's gaze finally drops to the container in Miles' hand. May looks up at her nephew for a long moment, then surprisingly over at Gwen questioningly, and the blonde dips her head in a tiny confirmation nod.

"Oh."

Chapter Text

After a relatively short impromptu planning session at Aunt May's, Peter and MJ take the kids back to their house. He likes Miles' friend; Gwen is smart, and he has hope for her idea about reverse-engineering the spider's venom. Since Miles is staying for the weekend, the four of them stay up late into the night working on a few theories before they decide to start testing them. Once the weekend is over, Miles has to go back to school, but Gwen stays with him and MJ.

It takes another week to test the different theories, but unfortunately, nothing seems to be able to un-spidey-ify Miles. Peter can tell that Miles is scared for him, but he's more concerned about Miles. As the days continue on with no solution, he notices that Gwen gets quieter, and Peter wonders if she too, is worried about Miles. He also gets a crash course on the glitching that happens when things aren't as they should be when Gwen glitches in the middle of dinner one night.

As soon as they come to the conclusion that they can't turn Miles back into a normal kid, they turn their focus to getting Gwen back home. It's going to be hard to get access to the collider again—not to mention dangerous—but they're determined to at least do what they know they can and get her home.

While they're waiting for the moment they can access the collider without creating a black hole, Peter decides to start taking Miles—and Gwen—into the city some nights. He knows Miles doesn't need training—the kid learned everything on the fly last time and knows his stuff now—but he still tries to impart to him some of the things he has learned in the last decade.

Miles listens raptly, not that that surprises Peter much; the kid is always hungry for knowledge. But curiously, Miles isn't the only one who listens to him when he talks. Gwen hangs off his every word sometimes, and he knows part of it is probably because she lost her Peter—he remembers MJ's story about the other Peter she met briefly, too. He doesn't mind, though.

Some of the nights that he takes the kids out into the city become battle-training nights. Peter wants them to be prepared for whatever Kingpin will throw at them, no matter what. He has to admit, he's a little jealous of some of Miles' special abilities, but he's also glad that the kid has them. The invisibility certainly comes in handy more than once when they're fighting crime in the city. It's one of those very nights that they run into a new kind of problem.

Peter is swinging from one skyscraper to another with the kids right behind him, when he catches sight of something weird out of the corner of his eye. He hears Miles and Gwen both curse behind him and knows he didn't imagine it, but when he turns to get a better look after sticking to the side of a building, whatever is was is gone.

"Did you see that?" Miles asks quietly, and Peter nods.

"Just a kind of flash out of the corner of my eye. Did you two see it better?"

"It was a glitch," Gwen murmurs with a small nod. Peter catches the way she shares a pained look with Miles. Internally, Peter groans. Is he going to have to contact Miguel after all? He hopes he won't have to, but the thought hovers in the back of his mind over the next few days.

Another temporal glitch happens—well, he sees another, he's sure there have probably been others he hasn't seen—the day he finally gets close to the collider again. Miles is at school and Gwen is at the house with MJ and May while Peter sneaks around. He catches the flash of weird colors and shapes in the tunnels, and the sounds of shouting and cursing follows quickly. The collider is heavily guarded now, and he comes to the conclusion that they're going to have to fight their way in no matter what.

He returns home that night to find everyone half-heartedly playing cards at the table. Everyone looks up when he walks in, and he just sighs as he drops into the chair between Miles and MJ. "We're not going to be able to get in easily," he tells them quietly. "And…there was another glitch today," he adds.

"We saw one earlier, too," Miles says with a frown as Gwen nods in agreement.

"I went out to walk back from the school with Miles and there was a big one. Plus…I glitched really hard earlier, around like noon, I think?" He watches Gwen look at his wife for confirmation on the time of her own glitch, and MJ nods. Peter takes a long, deep breath and lets it out slowly.

"Okay," he nods wearily and looks around the table. "Deal me in, and let's pick a day to do this," Peter says finally. Everyone around the table nods, and he manages a small smile when Miles deals him into the game.

"Did you see who all was guarding it today?" Miles asks once the card game gets started again. Peter nods, jumping into a recount of his day.

They talk late into the night, discussing different ideas and thoughts until the have a somewhat solid plan for how to handle this. He isn't super fond of putting the kids in danger, but as they keep reminding him, they do know what they're doing. The five of them decide that Miles will be the one to sneak into the control room since he's the only one that can turn invisible. Gwen is unknown by all of the bad guys, but her glitching has gotten worse, so it's Peter that will serve as the main distraction with Gwen as a secondary one.

By the time they all go to bed—Miles once again staying over for the weekend under the guise of his physics internship—Peter has faith that they can pull this off. He still doesn't know what they'll do about him and Miles co-existing, but he brushes that to the side for now. Get Gwen home first, then worry about everything else.

Chapter Text

The glitching is getting worse. Not just hers, but the universal glitching, too. Gwen tries to push through her own glitches, but this is the longest she's been in another universe without one of Miguel's wristbands. Last time, she wasn't here nearly this long, and it's starting to take a toll.

She's starting to feel tired a lot of the day, and her glitches hurt. MJ is the first of the others to really notice, but she's not surprised, since she's been spending a lot of time with the other woman while Miles and Peter are busy. The older woman has seen her glitch several times now, and Gwen always ends up with a cup of hot cocoa afterwards. But then Miles starts to pick up on things too. He catches her early in the morning before they head out towards the collider.

"Are you doing okay?" Miles asks quietly when they have a moment alone. She gives him a strained smile as she nods.

"I'll be fine, Miles," she assures him, but he just frowns.

"That's not what I asked. I asked if you're okay right now, Gwen. Not if you will be," he replies, and Gwen manages a soft chuckle as she rolls her eyes.

"Just tired. The whole glitching thing sucks, you know?" Gwen sighs, blinking when he nods.

"Yeah, I know," he winces as he says it, and Gwen stares at him for a long moment before her eyes go wide. How could she have forgotten??

"Oh my gosh, you–"

"I'm fine," he cuts her off with a look she's sure is supposed to mirror whatever her face was doing when she told him the same thing. "We can talk about it later, yeah? I'm sure you'll get another wristband from Miguel, and I won't take no for an answer, because clearly he got some things wrong about the canon of this universe," Miles tells her, and she can hear the emotion in his voice, so she just nods.

"Okay," she agrees quietly.

"You guys ready to go?" Peter's voice calls up the stairs and both of them jump slightly, before sharing a soft laugh at the ridiculousness.

"Yeah!" Miles calls back and Gwen follows him down the stairs to where the adults are waiting for them. She musters a real, warm smile for MJ and May as she hugs them both. Hopefully, this is goodbye—not for forever, if she can get a wristband from Miguel, but for now.

"Good luck, you three," May says softly, and Gwen can hear the slightest tremble in the older woman's voice. She hates that they all have the same thing on their mind, but no one can bring themselves to actually speak the words. This universe is quite literally falling apart, and Gwen has a good idea of the only thing that might restabilize it. She knows everyone else does too. But at the same time, she hopes that it doesn't come to pass—that somehow, they can figure out a way around it.

Gwen stands with Miles near the door as Peter says goodbye to May and MJ. She politely averts her eyes when Peter kisses his wife, and she and Miles share a silent look of painful understanding. Peter is saying goodbye. She wants to say he doesn't need to, that he'll come home with Miles as soon as they send her home. But the words die in her throat, because deep down, she knows better. And she hates that everyone else seems to as well.

Once Peter finally rips himself away from his wife and aunt, he ushers her and Miles from the house and no one looks back.

Gwen tries to ignore the ache in her bones as well as she can, but she knows the boys are swinging slower than usual to accommodate her exhaustion. She doesn't miss the way Miles constantly glances at her to check on her. And when she glitches halfway through the city, Miles and Peter catch her easily and give her a moment to recover before they keep going. She feels like a burden and she hates it, even though she knows they don't see her that way.

When they reach the part of the city where the collider lays beneath, the three of them pause for a minute. Quietly, they go over the plan one last time, and Gwen feels her heart clench in her chest as Miles disappears before her eyes. Then she looks at Peter and they share a silent nod before they head down into the tunnels.

She keeps to the darkest parts of the tunnels, hoping desperately that she doesn't glitch and give them away before it's time. Her eyes follow Peter as he moves through the shadows a few meters ahead of her. Even when she can't see him, she can feel his presence thanks to their spider-senses.

Drifting voices reach them eventually, and though she can't make out their words yet, she recognizes several of the voices. It's obvious that Peter does too, when he pauses and waits for her to catch up to him. He lifts a brow in question when she reaches him and Gwen nods, watching as he uses his web to get up to the tunnels ceiling. She watches him for another minute until she can't see him anymore, then she heads in the other direction.

It feels like an eternity passes between this moment and the next, but suddenly there's a large commotion and Gwen knows it's time. She sprints into the fray, leaping up and swinging through the massive underground cavern. Her heart is in her throat as she sees Peter in a battle with the Green Goblin and Doc Ock, but she knows she has to get to the collider. He'll be fine, she tells herself, forcing herself to believe it for the moment.

Gwen gets a couple of good, sneaky hits in with some web, but she keeps on task and hurries for the collider. She hears it roar to life and resists the urge to cheer. Miles did it! Her excitement is short-lived though, when she glitches in mid-air a minute later. Pain lances through her as she falls, but she doesn't hit the ground like she expects to.

Looking around in confusion, her eyes widen when she catches sight of a black suit and spider silk in the shadows before it disappears again. "Miles, what are you doing? You should be in the control room!" She hisses.

"I just popped out to check on you guys, and I couldn't let you fall!" Her friend whispers back. "Besides, there's no one inside, they're all out here right now," he adds quietly.

He finally releases her a moment later, when she's stable enough to use her own web to hold herself up. She sees another quick flash of his suit as he appears and disappears, just enough to see him nod before he's gone again. Gwen knows she should follow him to the collider—that she should go home—but when she looks back at Peter, fighting multiple bad guys by himself, she's torn. But then she's hit with another wave of exhaustion so heavy that she trembles where she dangles from the ceiling, and Gwen knows she would only be a hinderance in the fight.

She reaches the collider to find it still running, and a shiver runs through her as she stares at it. "You have to go, Gwen!" Miles calls and she turns, seeing him standing at the shattered observation window. A small smile breaks across her face at the sight of several evil minions plastered to the walls inside with spiderweb. But then she meets Miles' gaze and gives him a nod. See ya later, Miles, she thinks, and she can picture his face beneath his mask, smiling encouragingly at her.

With a deep breath, Gwen turns towards the collider and uses her web to position herself up above the beam that will send her home. She takes one last look around before she lets herself fall, hoping against all odds that Miles and Peter can make it out of this fight without her help. But then something catches her eye at the last second and her eyes widen, terror lancing through her at the sight of Doc Ock appearing behind Miles. "Miles!!" She screams, making a last second decision that might just cost her her life. I don't care. She shoots out another strand of web, pulling herself away from the beam and swinging back towards the fight. Hang on, Miles, I'm coming.