Title: Causes and Effects
Universe: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man/Spider-Men
Summary: 616 Peter Parker ruminates over the implications of Miles and his younger self.
"So, you're Spider-man?"
At first he was willing to believe the entire scenario was just a bad dream from a knock on the head, or even one of Mysterio's hallucinations. A boy literally half his age got the better him not once, but twice and with an ability that could give the other Spider-Men's spider-powers a run for their money.
"Yeah, if that's okay?"
He never realized he'd been tagged until he got the jolt; then it was a matter of leaning where it hurt the least despite the lack of control over his motor functions. Cooped up in a Triskelion cell, he allowed himself to rattle off at the mouth everything he could possibly comprehend at the moment. He was presumably in some topsy-turvy world where everyone who was white was now black (and cooler), a woman or a child could be Spider-Man and wearing his own costume was "in bad taste".
"Not, Spider-Boy?"
Compound things even further with the idea that another, even younger version of himself was dead, killed in the line of duty and Peter Parker could officially call the implosion of his mind a mental breakdown.
"No."
Miles, he was just a kid, baby even. He had no business in that suit, playing the hero and throwing himself headlong into danger. He should've been at home with his family, playing games or making friends. The way he spoke, his mannerisms, the sheer enthusiasm he exhibited by simply being in his general area, it all spoke to his youth. Hell, he even apologized for zapping him twice. No one ever apologized to Spider-Man much less thanked him!
It made him wonder if he truly grasped the awesome responsibility that burdened his shoulders. Granted, he as just a kid himself when his own journey began, but it didn't seem right to put another through this hardship, his alternate-self included.
"Please. Please, let this be a dream."
Why wasn't there an alternate version of himself that never- oh, wait, there was and he still turned out to be Spider-Man (or Iron-Spider, whichever). If suffering or the loss a loved one wasn't the prerequisite of becoming Spider-Man, then what was that it kept as a constant in his and others lives? Did Miles feel responsible to carry on his other self's legacy because of Peter's death or did he truly believe in words of his late uncle?
It didn't seem fair to this kid.
TBC