Part I of The Voice of Reason. Beta-ed by Swan Parker

Spoilers ahead. Set in the same universe as, "The Mask of Responsibility". After chapter 43.

"So what would you do if I was a zombie?"

Peter was in the process of munching on a cracker, but stopped when he heard the question. He looked to his girlfriend

"What?" He said through a mouthful of cracker.

"If I was a zombie," Felicia stirred at her soup with a spoon. "Would you kill me?"

Peter sat back in his desk chair, looking at his blank computer screen like the answer would be written across the desktop. Felicia's hypothetical questions never really seemed to stop. She always had something hidden up her sleeve that would catch him by surprise.

"I don't know." He answered honestly. "It depends really."

Felicia raised her spoon to her lips and slurped up the soup from the utensil. She was currently sitting cross-legged on Peter's desk, having dropped by Horizon Labs to share his lunch.

"What does it depend on?"

"On a lot of things," Peter exhaled heavily and brushed his hair off his forehead. It was getting long again. "Is there a cure? Are you a fast zombie or a slow one? Are you even trying to kill me?"

She tapped the spoon against her chin, raising her eyes to the ceiling and biting her bottom lip.

"No cure, I'm trying to eat you, and I'm just a regular zombie."

"I'd kill you." He said simply, reaching for his drink. Peter took a long draft and when he lowered his cup, he saw Felicia glaring at him through narrowed eyes. "What?" He huffed, rolling his eyes.

"You'd kill me?!" She asked, incredulously.

"Yeah I would," He made his fingers into a gun and mimed shooting her. "Blam, right between the eyes."

"That's messed up."

"How? I know you'd kill me."

Felicia opened her mouth to disagree, but paused. Would she kill Peter if she had to? When he was possessed by the Venom, she hadn't had a problem knocking him around a bit, but this scenario was different. The Venom transformation was reversible, temporary. What if Peter was gone forever? Could she end his life to protect herself?

"Yeah." She lied. "I would."

"Why can't you ask any normal questions," Peter rotated his chair slightly and allowed Felicia to kick her feet up and rest them across his lap. "Like, Felicia, what's your favorite movie?"

"O.C. Babes and the Slasher of Zombie Town," She answered instantly, smirking as he grimaced in obvious distaste. "What about you?"

"Uh," He thought for a moment, while he played idly with the laces of her boots. "I like a lot of movies. It's kind of hard to pick a favorite."

"That's why," She thumped him on the head with her spoon. "Your questions suck and mine rule. It's easy to answer the hard questions, but hard to answer the easy questions."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Yes it does. Like my zombie question, for example. You answered that one quickly, but you can't even answer the movie one. The more complex the question is, the simpler the answer is."

Peter groaned and slouched in his chair, waving her away with a limp hand.

"Go away Felicia, you're making my head hurt. I thought lunch was supposed to be relaxing."

"You're just too easily stressed." She leapt lightly from the desk and positioned herself behind him, kneading his shoulders with firm fingers. "How's your side feeling?"

Peter put a hand to his shirt, gingerly touching the bandage beneath that covered his stab wound. Doctor Nguyen had done a good job patching him up, and paired with his advanced healing factor, it wouldn't be long until nothing remained of his injury but an ugly scar. He shivered, remembering the feeling of the metal pipe sliding in between his ribs and ripping at his flesh. Getting impaled would not go down as one of his proudest moments.

Felicia sensed his anxiety and cooed softly in his ear. She was getting good at reading his emotions. Pretty soon he wouldn't be able to hide anything from her. It was yet to be known whether that would be a good thing or not.

"I'm alright," He answered finally, brushing her off. "I mean, my side is fine."

"That's good," She spun his chair around so that they face each other. "Because you have another ten minutes of break," Slowly, Felicia climbed into his lap to straddle him. "And I intend to make the most of it."

The chair squeaked in protest, but neither of the two occupants paid it any attention. It wouldn't be the first time that this particular piece of furniture had been abused like this. It would however, be the last.

The entire planet seemed to suddenly shake up and down violently. The desk chair toppled onto its side, spilling Peter and Felicia onto the rug. Pictures rattled loudly against the wall and Felicia's abandoned bowl of soup danced off the desk to join them on the floor. Peter rolled over Felicia and used his body to pin her to the floor, simultaneously protecting her from any falling debris. The tremors continued for about a minute before slowly decreasing in amplitude, eventually petering out.

"Well," Peter said, lifting his head and examining the room. "That happened."

He promptly went back to nibbling on Felicia's neck, causing her to gasp

"Peter!" She writhed beneath him. "That didn't seem like a normal earthquake. We need to," Felicia bit her lip as he worked his way down to her collar bone. "Investigate."

"Maybe later," He mumbled against her skin. "I'm sort of busy right now."

Felicia wanted to protest, but she felt her resolve slowly slipping. He was still covering her, smothering any of her attempts to resist. There was something off about the tremors, she was positive about that. They needed to get out into the city, help anyone who was hurt, and find out the source. But...

She smiled at the familiar zip of her leather jacket being undone. Spider-Man wasn't the only source of aid for the possibly injured. What are emergency services for, if not for emergencies? Would it really hurt if Spider-Man was a little late to the party? Her hands started tugging at his shirt, un-tucking it from his pants. Would it hurt if Spider-Man was really late?

The door to Peter's office opened with a click and Carl the security guard poked his head inside.

"Break it up kiddos," He called to them. "Peter, Mr. Modell needs our help."

Both Peter and Felicia were forced to shift their focus away from each other and towards the newcomer. Not many words could be used to describe the stare they gave Carl. Let's just say that the security guard was lucky that looks can't kill.

"Alright," Peter growled, rising to his knees. "Give us a second will you?"

Carl nodded and shut the door again. Peter sighed and looked down at his girlfriend, still sprawled on the carpet, but now breathing heavily.

"Rain check?" He offered.

Felicia only nodded, too upset or too flustered for words. Peter bounced to his feet and helped to woman to her feet. He set his chair back up and straightened a few books that had fallen askew, as she zipped up her jacket again with a shaking hand.

"Do you think Modell knows something about the quake?" Felicia asked, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. This had become a common action for her, often using it to combat whatever the female version of "blue balls" is. Sometimes having a superhero for a boyfriend, who could be called upon at any inopportune moment, was a real pain in the ass.

"I don't know," Peter answered. "He probably just wants some help cleaning up the lab. You should go home," He nodded at her. "Make sure the apartment isn't completely wrecked."

"Not a chance. If I'm right, and this quake is more than it seems, you're going to be right in the middle of the action." She brushed her fingers through her short dark hair. "I know where I belong, Peter and that's right next to you."

"That's cute," Peter opened the door to his office again. "You should write that down."

"Har, har'" Felicia smirked as she brushed past him and out into the hall. "One of us has to be the sweet one."

"I just never thought it would be you." Peter muttered under his breath, following Carl as the guard led him and his girlfriend deeper into Horizon Labs.

The first thing Peter noticed was that they weren't heading towards Modell's lab, but several floors down to Debra Whitman's workstation. A tingle along the back of his neck seemed to grow more prominent as he watched the numbers tick down on the elevator display. Something was definitely not right.

"We shouldn't be taking the lift," Felicia voiced suddenly. "If there was an earthquake, we should take the stairs right?"

Carl shot Peter a look, rolling his eyes and nudging his co-worker in the side. Peter grimaced as the beefy man's arm brushed his wound.

"Not to worry girlie," Carl drawled, leaning against the wall. "All of Horizon Labs is built to withstand a nuclear explosion. It'll take more than a few shakes to put a dent in this baby."

Peter felt Felicia bristle at the 'girlie' comment and coughed loudly to draw attention to himself.

"Did Modell say why he needed us?" He asked.

"Nope," Carl popped his "p" loudly. "I got a message on my pager, saying something about a big emergency, utmost discretion, terrible danger, blah, blah, blah."

Peter and Felicia shared a look. Her hypothesis had been correct, but was there really any doubt? Trouble seemed to follow Peter Parker like some kind of virus, infecting his daily life and spreading to his companions.

"Utmost discretion," Peter repeated. "Were you even supposed to tell me about it?"

"Uh, I think so?"

The elevator doors opened with a ding and all hell broke loose. An explosion of wind burst through the open doors, whipping back their hair and nearly sucking them off their feet. Peter grabbed Felicia's hand to keep her upright and charged into Debra's laboratory with her in tow.

Random documents, folders, and even a few smaller pieces of equipment, flipped through the air, carried aloft by some unexplained current. Max Modell and Debra Whitman were running around the floor, shouting to each other of the wind and typing furiously into several different consoles. They looked like a couple of human pinball's, bouncing around in some twisted arcade machine.

"Modell!" Peter shouted. "What the hell is going on?!"

The lead scientist stopped his rushing and turned on the new voice, glaring at the new comers.

"Parker, what in god's name are you doing here?" Modell made his way over to security guard, his lab coat flipping wildly in an attempt to trip him up. "Carl I told you to come alone!"

"You did no such thing!" Carl exclaimed. "You said to 'come help' and when someone needs help around here they usual ask for Peter."

"Why can't you ever just follow instructions?!"

"Psshh, you aren't my boss."

"Carl!" Modell grabbed the other man by the collar and shook him. "I am your boss!"

"Stop it both of you!" Debra dashed forward to separate the pair. "Peter is here now and we could use his help," She caught sight of Felicia then. "But who are you?"

"I'm the girlfriend." Introduced Felicia, throwing her hands on to her hips.

"Girlfriend!" Modell cried, throwing his hands in the air. "The last thing we need is a civilian getting in the way."

"Everyone calm down!" Peter silenced the group. "What's going on, Modell? Tell me now."

"See for yourself." It was Debra who spoke as she gestured to the center of the room.

All eyes followed her pointed finger and Peter, Felicia and Carl froze in confusion. There was basically a pit in the center of the room, dark, gaping, and apparently the source of the torrential wind. Every so often, bright purple sparks would erupt from the hole and burn out mid-air. Peter's spider-sense kicked up another notch.

"And what is that?" Peter asked, moving in between Felicia and the hole.

"Maybe I should start at the beginning." Debra turned to Modell.

"Yes, but hurry up. We're running out of time." He nodded.

"Alright, well let's see. For the last year I've been working on my own personal hadron-collider." Debra explained. "That was my secret project. For those in the room who don't know, a hadron-collider is a machine that is used to slam protons together, generating a massive amount of energy. Through my experiments, I seemed to have created the stable conditions needed to contain the energy. However, when we tested it just now…" She gestured again towards the hole.

"Yes, but what is it?" Peter demanded again.

"It might… Possibly be…. Maybe," Debra closed her eyes. "A portal to an alternate demission."

There was silence for a moment. No one spoke except the giant hole in the center of the room, which howled at them through the wind.

"I call bullshit." Felicia finally said.

"Watch your mouth," Modell snapped, as he started to pace. "Although I wish Ms. Whitman was wrong, all of our data is telling us that there is in fact a large amount of matter on the other side of the portal. It could only be another dimension."

"Of course!" Peter huffed. "What else could it possibly be!?"

"Wh- wait- what do we do?" Carl shifted his weight uneasily. "This shouldn't have happened right?"

"No it shouldn't have," Modell continued. "And now our entire universe is at risk. Two parts of space and time that shouldn't have ever touched are now being pressed together. Everything we know is at risk of crumbling before our very eyes!"

The scientist was getting frantic, shouting and flinging his arms about like a lunatic. Felicia grabbed Peter's arm and dragged him aside.

"You don't believe any of this right?" She hissed in his ear. "These people are obviously unstable."

"I don't know." Peter responded honestly. "I trust Modell, if he says that this is dangerous then it probably is. I mean," he nodded at the pit. "Seeing is believing, right?"

"Well what are you going to do?"

"Whatever they need me to do," He stepped away from his girlfriend and addressed the group at large. "Uh- so what happens now?"

"Well," Debra pushed her glasses further up her nose. "When the portal first opened, the hadron-collider fell down into it. According to my readings, the collider was damaged upon arrival in the other dimension." She looked to Peter. "Basically, we need you to go get it and bring it back. Once we activate it again here, the portal should close."

"No, screw that. Peter is not going in there." Felicia stared down Debra.

The scientist met her gaze evenly and responded quickly.

"You heard Maxwell, if we don't get the collider back then everything crumbles like a dry biscuit."

"Well why don't you go get it yourself? Peter has responsibilities, he can't just risk his life for every little problem you people have."

Debra opened her mouth to snap back, but Modell stepped in.

"First off, don't call me Maxwell." He began. "And secondly, Peter, Debra, and I will be the ones to enter the portal."

All eyes turned as one again, this time to fix on him and the blood drained from Debra's face.

"What? Why me?" She retreated, as if putting more distance between herself and her boss could prevent her from being nominated again.

"Because Miss Whitman, you said it yourself. The collider is still transmitting to us, but it is damaged. We don't know how much though. If Peter tries to move it, he could worsen the damage and the effects of the collider could be rendered irreversible." He pointed at her with a stiff finger. "It's your invention Debra. You're the only one who can make sure it can be repaired." He turned to Peter. "We don't know what's going to be on the other side and a good pair of eyes and some muscle will be needed to move the collider." Finally he pounded a fist against his chest. "And you're all my employees, so if you're going to risk you lives 'dimension jumping' then it's going to be under my supervision."

"Alright," Peter clapped his hands together, before starting to loosen his tie. "Let's get to it."

"Whoa hold up, Peter isn't going anywhere without me." Felicia stepped forward.

"You're not coming." Both Peter and Modell said in unison.

"Traveling dimensions has never been done before and despite some personal research on the topic, not much of anything is known about it." Modell explained. "The less people we have going through the better."

"Basically it's dangerous," Peter rested a hand on his mate's shoulder. "Why don't you sit this one out?"

She slapped his hand away.

"Like that's going to happen. You're planning on running into the unknown with a couple of wimpy scientists, a malfunctioning device with the power to rip apart entire universes, and absolutely no back-up. Peter Parker you're about as stupid as it gets." Felicia grabbed onto his arm and dug her nails into his bicep. "I'm coming and there's nothing you can do about it."

There was something Peter could do about it. He could web Felicia to the wall with a few bio-cables and deal with the fallout after the whole of existence wasn't in jeopardy. She would understandably be pissed and he would have revealed his secret identity to even more people, but at least she would be safe.

"I can't be responsible." Peter stated plainly.

"I've heard about it," She scoffed. "And I don't need you to be." Felicia addressed the scientist. "I can take care of myself and more muscle isn't going to hurt you."

"Fine!" Modell shrugged off his lab coat, balled it up, and threw it into the corner. "Everyone get ready to travel!"

"Wait, what about me?" Carl asked, having stood off to the side for the majority of the conversation.

"You're the security guard Carl, we need you to stay here and guard the portal while we're away." Modell gave Carl a hard stare. "Are you up to that?"

"Of course," The husky security guard snapped his hand to his forehead in a salute. "You can count on me. No one is going anywhere near this thing while you guys are gone."

"Speaking of which," Peter chimed in. "How long will we be gone?"

"The collider should be just on the other side. We should be able to grab it, make sure that it hasn't fallen completely apart, and then jump back." Modell checked his watch. "As I said before, dimension travel has never been done before who knows what the effects might be. The research I've done has all been strictly theoretical."

"Alright," Peter nudged Felicia with an elbow. "Stay close okay."

"Always." She nudged back.

Peter looked around the windswept room, wondering if there was anything he should take. His web shooters were worn under his sleeves, just like always. His suit, on the other hand, was currently locked in a steel suitcase, inside of his locked messenger bag, inside of his locked office. He doubted that Spider-Man would be needed for this particular job and honestly he didn't think he had the patience or the time to retrieve his costume.

He watched Debra fasten up her lab coat to her neck, Modell performing some stretches that caused his back to crack alarmingly, and Felicia check something in her boot, probably a throwing knife or something equally threatening.

This should be easy, right? He thought to himself. After all we're just gonna jump in and jump back out. Piece of cake. No reason to be stressed in the least.

But as Peter stepped up to the lip of the portal, he knew that he was wrong. The dark pit seemed to stretch down into the depths of hell. There was no light, save for the random purple sparks. It was a black abyss ready to swallow up the group. His spider-sense hadn't let up since they had entered the lab, but as Felicia laced her fingers with his, the sense of danger didn't feel quite as threatening.

I want Felicia to be safe, but honestly I'm glad she's here.

He squeezed her hand as Modell spoke.

"On three," He cried over the wind, louder than ever before. "One… Two… Three!"

They leapt.

Well here we are my friends, at the beginning of a brand new spin-off! I sure am excited, don't know about you guys.

This story is a little more "out-there" than my other stuff, with extra sci-fi elements and such. It's a little weird and quirky, but it's an idea that has been bouncing around in my head for a long time and I hope you guys like it.

Big shout-out to Swan Parker for being the first person to read this chapter and being my unofficial Beta. She's one cool lady.

Thanks for reading.

- Mike