Chapter 4 Parallel

In the suburbs of Midtown everything was peaceful. No one who didn't have to be awake was, not even Peter. On his desk were a few possible design sketches for Silk's new outfit. None were colored in yet, not beyond black and white, but next time he saw Cindy he'd show them to her.

Close to midnight, the window to Peter's room was being opened from the outside. Peter slowly began to wake up, his enhanced hearing picking this up but for some reason his spider sense was on silent. He opened his eyes and bolted up in his bed, since there was only one thing he knew of that could get around his spider sense.

"Who the heck are you? What are you doing in my room?"

Peter blinked. 'That's not Venom's voice.'

Reaching over, he turned on a lamp and saw his intruder. It wasn't Eddie Brock reunited with the symbiote like he had feared, it was an ordinary young girl.

"What are you doing here little girl? Do you go sneaking into people's houses all the time?" Peter asked.

"This is my house." The girl stated. "And this is my room."

"Uhh no this is my room and my house." Peter corrected. "C'mon, go home already. I really don't want to have to make some phonecalls over this."

The girl looked over the room, seeing what she could in the limited light. "Seriously, what is going on here? I know this is my house, it looks the same and has the exact same address." She headed for the door. "Aunt May will explain everything."

"What?" Peter asked, confused. The girl left the room and Peter followed. She was pretty quick on her feet and moved through the house as if she knew exactly where everything was, allowing her to get to May's door and knock on it.

Peter caught up to her when the door opened and May looked with understandable surprise at the girl. "Who are you? Shouldn't you be home?"

The girl silently gasped and backed away. "Who are you? You're not Aunt May." She tried to look behind the old woman. "Uncle Ben? Are you in there? Please tell me it's really you."

Peter and May looked at each other, both confused as hell. May knelt down. "Calm down, just tell me who you are and we can sort this all out."

The girl collapsed and started crying. "What's going on? What happened to my family? Why are you people here in my house? I want to go home."

May wrapped her arms around the upset girl in a hug, and despite her claiming she was not the real Aunt May, it did suffice for the young girl who slowly cried less.

"Okay, let's start from the beginning to sort out this whole mess." Peter said as he knelt down too. "What is your name?"

She sniffled a bit before answering. "My name is... Penelope Parker."

Both Peter and May were as wide-eyed as could be to hear that.

"Penelope... Parker?" Peter repeated.

Penelope nodded. "I've lived with my uncle Ben and aunt May in this house ever since my parents died in a plane crash."

'Okay this is getting weird.' The teenage boy thought.

May let go of the young girl, and then they saw strands of spiderweb connecting her to Penelope's wrists.

'And it's getting weirder.' Peter added.

"Spider webs?" May asked. Penelope panicked and tried to brush them away, as if that would make them forget about the webs.

"You have spider powers?" Peter asked.

Penelope still looked frightened, but she huddled into herself protectively. "...yes. My class went on a field trip last month and I got bitten by this weird spider there. Next thing I know, I'm shooting gross webs out of my hands and climbing up walls." She sniffled a bit then looked to May. "I thought it was horrible, but Aunt May said this could be a good thing. That I could help people with these powers."

'So the spider that bit me and Cindy bit her too?' Peter asked himself. 'No, that can't be it. It's been at least a year since I've been bitten and if that spider has been alive this whole time shouldn't there be more people with spider powers out there? And it still doesn't explain how this girl thinks this is her home and how she has a nearly identical family and backstory to me.'

"Who are you people?" Penelope asked. "You look similar to my aunt, but you're definitely not her. Who are you?"

May cleared her throat. "I know this won't make sense to you, but I am May Parker. This is my nephew Peter. He's lived here in this very house with me and my husband Ben since his parents died in a plane crash too."

Penelope was stunned. "What?"

"I'm sorry, but this not your home. And I don't know of any other Parkers, so you must be confused dear." May tried to assure her.

"No, I'm telling the truth. I can prove it." Penelope said, then reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a pink cellphone with a unicorn decal on the back. She pulled up the gallery app then showed them the screen. "See?"

May took the phone and saw a photo of Penelope in front of this very house. That wasn't enough, so May checked the next one, and saw a girly bedroom that looked eerily like Peter's room in structure and color if not decoration. The next picture was the most surprising, for it showed May and Ben, but she had her hair worn down instead of up and different glasses, and Ben was missing some of his hair. Both looked about five to ten years younger than May was now, and both of them were standing with a smiling Penelope.

"Peter, could these be faked?" May asked, starting to really question how much of the girl's story was true.

"It's not impossible, but why would she fake these?" Peter asked back, checking another picture that showed a different young girl with red hair, possibly a friend of Penelope. 'Weird, this girl reminds me of Mary Jane.'

"I'm not lying. These are pictures of my life, my home. It's bad enough I'm a freak who shoots webs out her wrists, don't make me lose my home too." Penelope pleaded.

"You're not a freak." Peter said.

Penelope looked away. "Easy for you to say. You're not a spider weirdo like me."

The teenage boy glanced towards his aunt, and if she had not been there he was certain he would have said more on that particular subject.

"You must be tired. Why don't you take my room tonight, get some sleep, and we'll figure everything out tomorrow morning?" May suggested.

Penelope nodded, though she didn't look too happy about it.

The next morning Peter woke up earlier than the others but still slept in. Considering what had happened last night, May allowed him to skip school today. He had to call the school himself though to inform them, claiming it to be a family situation.

'Okay, hours later and this still makes no sense.' He thought as he made some toast. 'I've dealt with a living costume, seen a man turned into molten metal, found out the spider that bit me bit another girl too, and somehow this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen.'

He could hear someone walking towards him, and turned to see a groggy Penelope, rubbing her right eye while yawning. "Sleep well?" He asked.

"I hope I'm still asleep, because I'd hate for this to not be a dream." She remarked, then sat down at the table. "This looks so much like my kitchen, but it's not the same."

Peter poured two glasses of milk and gave her one, which she accepted. "So... Penelope? You say that this is your address, and you have an aunt named May and an uncle named Ben, right?" She nodded. "What were your parent's names?"

She looked hesitant to answer. "My dad was Richard and my mom was Mary."

"And you're how old?"

"Eleven."

"Let me guess, you go to Midtown Elementary?" Peter tested.

Penelope nodded. "Yep. I'm in Ms Kraven's class."

"Wait, did you say Ms Kraven?" Peter asked, surprised.

Penelope nodded again. "Yeah, did you have her at my age?"

"Can't say I did." He replied. 'Okay, it's not impossible that the Kraven I know has some relatives, but wow is that unexpected.'

"Aren't you more interested in my spider powers?" Penelope inquired, wondering why he was asking about everything else. "I mean, I can hang from the ceiling like a bat. Why go on about my school?"

"About that, you see... I was bitten by a spider too."

Penelope perked up and blinked several times. "You mean... you can..."

"Everything except the webs. I need a gadget for that. But yes, you're not the only one. I know another girl my age who got bitten too, and she can make her own webs. I'll have you meet her when we can."

Penelope stared at him for a moment, then she seemed to look a little relieved. "I'm not the only one." She said this as if a weight had been lifted off her.

"No, but Aunt May, my Aunt May, she doesn't know."

Penelope looked confused. "You haven't told her? Why not? I told mine. I would have told Uncle Ben too, but she said it wasn't the right time. I was so worried about everything I couldn't help but agree."

"Aunt May has heart issues. I'm afraid the news would be too much for her. And if it isn't, the stress of worrying about what I do as Spiderman would make it worse."

"Spiderman?" Penelope repeated, confused. "Weird, I called myself Spidergirl when I had to save Flash from falling."

'She knows someone named Flash too?' Peter asked himself. "How long have you had these powers? I've had mine for a year now."

"I've only had them for a few weeks." She replied. "What do you do with yours? I mostly just swing around buildings for fun."

"Yeah that is fun. I'd be surprised if a girl your age was out dealing with the kind of criminals I have to fight every week."

"You fight criminals?" Penelope inquired.

"Yeah, not just normal bankrobbers or pickpockets. I've had to fight an old man dressed like a vulture, a guy whose whole body is made out of sand, a scientist transformed into a giant lizard, and my best friend's father dressed as a goblin throwing around grenades."

"Wow, the worst thing I've had to deal with as Spidergirl was a bunch of angry pigeons." Penelope stated before having some more milk. "So... Peter, right?" He nodded. "How many of us are there?"

"Counting you, I only know of three. But I'm starting to wonder if there might be more."

"Hey, maybe there's one more and we can make a spider version of the Fabulous Four and go fight King Doom."

Peter arched an eyebrow. "Fabulous Four? King Doom?"

She nodded. "Yeah, don't you know about the four astronauts that got exposed to cosmic radiation and the armored leader of Latveria?"

"Yes, but they're called Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom. Everyone knows that."

Penelope looked confused. "I'm pretty sure they've always been called the Fabulous Four and King Doom, Peter."

"It's not important. What's important is finding your family and clearing up this confusion. For now, I'll see if I can get Aunt May to let you stay here, since you have nowhere else to go, and Cindy and I will help you with your powers."

"Thank you."

"By the way, what's the last thing you remember before you came here?" Peter added.

Penelope looked up and put her hand on her chin. "I was going for a walk, wishing I could be swinging around the city. I didn't because I didn't have my costume with me and I didn't want to be seen. Newspapers were starting to talk about me, and I didn't want anyone to catch me."

"Word to the wise, keep that up here. The newspaper here hates Spiderman, they keep calling me a masked menace. I have to work harder than other heroes just to prove them wrong."

There was a moment of silence after this, so Penelope continued. "Anyway, I remember the sky turning bright white all of a sudden. Like the sun was overloading or something. Everything got so bright I had to cover my eyes, then the next thing I know I'm in an alley in the city and it was night. Like six hours had just passed in a blink."

Peter had nothing to say. What could he say regarding that? All he knew was that did not happen yesterday, and thus he only had more questions neither could answer.

Neither said anything anymore. Penelope got up and helped herself to a small breakfast while Peter finished his toast. After ten minutes, May came into the kitchen.

"Good morning kids." She said, trying to sound like it wasn't weird Penelope was here. "Have you tried calling anyone?"

Penelope nodded. "Yes, several times. Each time the call fails to go through. It's like none of my contacts exist anymore."

"Alright, then perhaps I should take you to the police station and see if they can help locate your family." May offered.

Penelope looked worried, and Peter couldn't blame her. "Actually Aunt May, I think I had a better idea."

"Oh, what is it Peter?"

"I could take here to the hospital for a blood test. That would be a quicker way to find relatives. And since she says she's a Parker no one would ask too many questions."

May thought it over. "Hmm... I suppose that could work just as well. But what do we do in the meantime? Her family must be worried."

Penelope closed her eyes and looked down. "I already tried calling everyone I could, but all I got was some message saying the numbers didn't exist."

May reached over and patted the young girl's back. "You can stay here until we find your family."

"Thank you." Penelope said quietly, just above a whisper.