CHAPTER 6: HEARTBEAT CITY

***PETER***

Hiro and Wasabi lead the rest of us back into the media room, where The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is still paused on the scene where I'm standing over a grave. Gwen's grave, I realize with a sickening jolt. Thankfully, Hiro goes over to the DVD player quickly and switches that disc for something a little sweeter and fluffier - another favorite of mine, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Unfortunately, I don't really have it in me to concentrate on the movie. Because while everyone else is sitting together and talking animatedly about what Coulson might have in mind for us to do in New York, I see Gwen sitting apart from the others, rocking slightly in her seat.

I guess she wasn't quite satisfied with Baymax's care after all. Maybe I can help her feel better? Then again, there's not much else I can give her besides hugs and sweet words.

I sit next to Gwen, watching her continue to rock back and forth for a few seconds before she notices me. "Hey, Peter," she says. "What's up?"

I shrug, sparing a second to glance over at the others assembled halfway across the room. "Just countin' the seconds till they start bombarding us with questions." I take her hand and rub her knuckles with my thumb - a memory of me doing that before has just surfaced in my brain.

"Speaking of questions, I got one for you," Gwen says. "Do you remember our first kiss?"

"You remember it too?"

Gwen manages to smile for a split second. "I remember you were tryin' to tell me you were Spider-Man, and you couldn't get the words out, so you just showed me your webline. I think you hit me with it right on my back, then you spun me around and, well…"

I laugh lightly. "Are you just remembering that scene from the movie, or are you remembering it for real?"

"I...I…" Gwen pauses. "I dunno. The only thing I remember for real, I think, is me dying. Oh, and that time you came to my room all banged up and I was cleaning your wounds."

"Haha, of course you would remember that one," I say. At that time, I'd been shirtless. And naturally, we started making out right there in Gwen's room.

"Damn right, bug boy." Gwen lays her head on my shoulder. "That's what I called you, right?"

"That's how we know it's a real memory, I bet," I say. "Nobody remembers movie lines like that."

"I dunno," Gwen says. "I've sometimes overheard you and Clint talkin' movies, and you can quote 'em a mile a minute."

"I usually get 'em wrong, though." I try to concentrate on my memory of the shirtless make-out. It had been after a fight with the Lizard, and I'd had some pretty nasty wounds on my chest. How I didn't get infected with some kind of lethal reptilian disease, I have no idea.

I want to think about where exactly Gwen and I had been at the time. Did I ever look out the window and see the New York skyline, like the movie shows? Or was it in San Castiel? Either way, I don't exactly remember getting a glimpse of the outside world. Mostly because my mind was entirely in that one room at the time. It was a safe space.

The memories of sharing passionate kisses with Gwen when we were already in a pretty suggestive position also get me thinking of something else - did we, by any chance, turn in our V-cards? It didn't have to necessarily be that night - but as the memory progresses, it moves on to me putting my Spider-Man suit back on (and while that suit is really cool-looking, it's also got a tendency to bind in certain sensitive places) and carrying Gwen with me as I swing over the city on my weblines.

At that point, the memory ends, so I have no idea how intimate we got that night. Or any other night - the most I can remember is kissing her. On the mouth, of course.

I decide to put that thought aside, though. It doesn't seem quite as important, given the real issues we're facing right now.

I look again at the others and briefly catch Stark's eye. He then gets up and walks over to us, sitting behind Gwen. "Hey, guys," he says. "Not gonna hang out with the rest of us?"

Gwen shakes her head. "Nope. I don't really feel like hanging out right now."

"Yeah, I get it." Stark's about to leave his seat, but then he stops and asks, "Gwen, I...well, I hope you don't mind me askin' this, but...what's it like? Dying, I mean."

I glare at him. "Insensitive much?"

"No, it's okay," Gwen says, turning so she can look at Stark properly. "Well, it didn't hurt - maybe for a really tiny fraction of a second, but not long enough for me to really process it. But the really scary part was the emptiness. It was like, boom, now I was in a big black void. Like dreamless sleep. I couldn't really feel or hear or see anything."

"What about coming back to life?" Stark asks.

"I don't remember that," Gwen says. "I bet it would be even worse, though. Because if you think about it, dead things usually wanna stay dead."

"Unless they're you, of course," Stark says.

"And Coulson," chimes in Simmons, who's just now approaching us. As soon as the words are out, though, she claps her hands over her mouth, muttering a few swear words under her breath. "Oh my God, did I just say that out loud? Um, forget I said that, please?"

Stark's eyes nearly close as he puts on a devilish grin. "Your boss used to be dead? Whoa, baby. This I gotta hear."

"He doesn't like to talk about it, though," Skye says. "And after hearin' what they put him through, I can see why." She turns to Gwen. "I just hope that whatever they did to bring you back to life wasn't anywhere near as bad."

"If I know the way every story like that goes," Stark says, "it probably will be. Sorry, Gwen, but good guys don't get a break."

"Okay, I'm sorry I called you 'insensitive' before," I say. "I think I meant something a little more along the lines of, I dunno, 'cynical?'"

"I would've gone for 'brutally honest' myself," Stark says with a proud smile, "but that works too."

"Good to know."

I find the nearest porthole and look outside. The plane is descending, and I can see the East Coast approaching. We're heading right for New York. It's maybe forty or fifty miles ahead of us. I can almost pick out the shapes of the more recognizable skyscrapers. One World Trade Center, the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings, and even two that I've only seen in superhero movies. Bryan Tower, with its distinctive "A" logo for the Avengers, and Sandcorp Tower - or, as the movie-based memories are telling me, Oscorp Tower - in all its glossy, futuristic 108-story glory. (So if Stark is supposed to be Iron Man, does that mean Bryan Tower is called Stark Tower in this world?)

Skye seems to confirm the answer to my question when she says, "The Stark Tower light is white. Good. That means we can land."

"You can see that from here?" I ask, peering again through the porthole. I wish I had my glasses with me. Sure, contacts are a little more aesthetically pleasing, or so society says, but they don't really improve my vision nearly as much as glasses do.

"You know what else?" I ask, turning back to Skye. "How did we get to New York so fast? Did that warp gate move us across the country or something?"

"No," Skye says. "It's in the same exact place in both universes. We can thank good old Alistair Krei for that." She sticks her tongue out. Hiro, who's standing behind Skye, rolls his eyes along with her.

"I'm guessing this Alistair Krei dude isn't the best guy around."

"You guess right," Hiro says. "Guy once tried to steal a science experiment of mine right from under my nose. Luckily, Tadashi's professor caught him and made him give up the stuff." He laughs, ruffling his own already-messy hair. "Oh, and also, this plane is just barely subsonic. It's, like, Mach 0.998 or something."

In the background, the movie ends, and Hiro takes the DVD out and puts it away in a hidden cabinet under the floor. Skye, meanwhile, takes me and Gwen aside so she can run the latest plan by us. "We're gonna start by takin' you guys to your old homes," she says. "We'll split up, take you separately so we can get it done a little faster. Peter, Fitz-Simmons and Hiro will take you to your place. After you're done lookin' there, you can come meet me and Clint at Gwen's place." She pauses, then looks around the room. "Oh, and Tadashi's going with Gwen and me, too," she adds. "And Tony can go with you, Peter."

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Gwen asks.

"I'll explain to you on the way," Skye says. "Peter, you're gonna want to find your dad's glasses. If our research is correct, they're gonna unlock a crucial memory of yours."

Fifteen minutes later, the plane lands at LaGuardia Airport, and immediately heads for a private hangar like the one where the plane was parked at SFO. Skye gets into one of the black SUVs with Barton, Gwen, and Tadashi, while I'm joined by Hiro and Stark in the other. Simmons is driving, and in the front passenger seat sits a guy with curly hair who talks in a strong Scottish accent. He introduces himself as Leo Fitz, and says he's the team's engineer. "Although," he adds, with a meaningful glance at Hiro, "I'm nowhere near as talented as this young lad. Or that one." He jerks his thumb at Stark. "Not to mention you, Peter. After all, you made that Spider-Man suit on your own, didn't ya? Oh, who are we kidding - of course you did."

"Yes, yes, Fitz, we know you're surrounded by equally awesome people with which you can bond," Simmons says. "But we can gush later."

"Yeah...yeah, I try," I say, nodding at Fitz.

"I guess SHIELD Academy isn't all it's cracked up to be, is it?" Fitz asks with a sheepish grin. "I mean, none of you guys ever went there, and yet, here you are."

Stark turns away from the window - the whole time we've been driving, he's been looking towards the Manhattan skyline as it rises up to meet the clouds. Specifically, at the profile of Stark Tower - I can see the white Avengers symbol glowing near its top now. "You guys are sayin' I'm the Avengers' leader?" he asks.

"You are. Or were, before you got de-aged and sent through the portal," Simmons says.

Stark looks awestruck. "You've gotta be kidding. That's so awesome! So when do I get to watch my movie and get my memories back, huh?"

"Maybe later," Fitz says. "It would help if your mind was sufficiently prepared. Brains are delicate instruments to screw around with. I should know. I still haven't quite recovered from my...from my…" He snaps his fingers, grasping for the right word.

"Near-drowning?" Simmons says, turning the car past a sign for Midtown Science High School - just like in the movies.

"Yeah, that's right," Fitz says. "Thanks."

It's not long before we head down a familiar street lined with houses. Simmons stops in front of one of them, then checks the address against something written on her phone screen. "Here we are," she says. "This is where you used to live, Peter."

I get out of the car and walk up to the front door, recognizing the large pane of glass in the door with the number "36" painted on it. Another memory surfaces here - of me having a fight with my Uncle Ben and Aunt May, and then of me running out the door and slamming it with enough force to smash the glass. I guess I must have already gotten my Spider-Man powers by then.

And, based on how the first Amazing Spider-Man movie went, not long after that, Uncle Ben went out to find me, got into a fight with a thief, and was accidentally shot. Like Gwen, he ended up dying in my arms.

There's another person I know who's alive and well in the life I had before today, but I remember their death anyway.

"Peter?" Simmons walks up behind me. "Are you all right?"

I shake my head - not to say no, but to loosen the nuts and bolts in my brain. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you getting another memory?" she asks.

"I said I'm fine."

"I'd listen to the man," Stark says. "Now how the hell do we get in here? Petey, you remember where the spare key is?" He starts checking under the rocks grouped around the bottom of the porch steps - one of those typical spare-key hiding places.

I grind my teeth a bit, but decide there's no point telling Stark to stop nicknaming me. "No, but by all means, keep makin' a mess of the landscaping."

"Relax, dude," Hiro says, pushing past Fitz and Simmons. "I'm on it." He puts on a headband and takes a small black box out of his pocket. When Hiro opens the box, it turns out it's actually clear, and it's the contents of the box that are black. They rise out of the box in a small cloud of what can only be flying microbots.

Hiro taps his headband, and the microbot cloud reshapes itself so it now looks like a key.

Fitz and Simmons have clearly seen this before, because they don't look as impressed as Stark and I do.

The key-shaped cloud floats up to the door. It takes a few tries, but eventually, it enters the lock and turns it, opening the door. I walk into the house and immediately start climbing the stairs, guided by either instinct or another buried memory until I reach what has to be my old room. It's got a computer on the desk like the one I have at home in San Castiel, the bedspread is almost the same. And hell, as I look on the bulletin board behind the computer, I see a photo tacked into place of me with Gwen's head resting on my chest.

So does that mean the Spider-Man suit is hiding around here somewhere?

With Stark's help, I look around the room, searching every nook and cranny. There's no sign of the Spider-Man suit, but Stark does find a box full of unused webshooters. He calls up Fitz and Simmons, who take the box down to the car.

Not long after that, I find the thing I was sent in here to find - my dad's glasses. They're exactly how I remember them - black, spidery-looking frames (haha, "spidery") that seem to be a little more flexible than most glasses. They're hiding in a leather briefcase just like in the movie.

Having found the glasses, I detour over to the bathroom and find a contact-lens case sitting on the sink. It's even filled with solution. For the first time, I wonder how long it's been since I was supposedly taken away from this world. It can't have been that long, can it? Especially since the house, while empty, doesn't look abandoned. There's still power, and there are no heavy layers of dust all over everything.

Nevertheless, I carefully remove my contacts. Behind me, I hear Stark groan in disgust. "Ugh. I hated havin' to wear those things. Thank God for laser eye surgery, am I right?"

"You used to wear contacts?" I look at Stark - he's not much more than a blur in my myopic vision.

"I sorta remember it from freshman year or so," Stark says. "'Course, now I know that I'm rememberin' shit that never happened."

"Yeah. Of course."

I put the glasses on, blinking a few times until I get used to seeing things clearly again. These were my dad's? They work very well for my eyes. And hey, they don't look half-bad on me either.

Then the memory comes in, one of the clearest ones yet. I'm in Oscorp tower, looking at Gwen - who's wearing a lab coat because she's an intern there under Dr. Curt Connors, aka the Lizard. And right there, I feel a quick, sharp pain on the back of my neck. Like I just got injected with something.

Or like something bit me.

My hand automatically flies to that spot, and I feel something writhing under my fingers. It's a spider, and a pretty big one, too.

"Ugh," Stark groans again. "Dude, are you seein' yourself right now? I mean...holy shit, man, that's not right."

I blink, and I'm brought back to the here and now. Stark flicks the light on so I can see better the thing he's talking about. There's a thin line of spider silk trailing from my finger right to that spot on the back of my neck.

"Oh my God," I breathe.

Stark leans back down the hall and calls, "Hey, guys, come on up and see this."

"What? No, no, no, Stark-"

A shiver passes up my spine as I feel tiny vibrations in the floor under my feet. At least one of the others is headed this way. The pop-culture catchphrase isn't kidding - my Spidey-senses really are tingling.

I feel Hiro's foot land loudly on the floor right behind Stark an infinitesimal fraction of a second before it happens. And I react by jumping about a mile into the air and getting my hands stuck to a flat surface. Not the wall this time, though - instead, it's the ceiling.

I look down at Stark and Hiro - my head is hanging upside down, so I can't help but chuckle at seeing them from such a weird angle. Both of them have their mouths wide open, but then Stark shuts his and starts talking. "I...yeah, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Show. Off."

"Dude, don't act like you're not impressed." I make the mistake of pulling one hand off the ceiling and making gestures while I talk. (I've always suspected I was at least part Italian because of that particular bad habit of mine.) Unfortunately, with only one hand to support myself, I can't stay crouched on the ceiling any longer, so I end up hanging awkwardly by my sticky fingertips.

At least I stick the landing when I dismount a second later. And when my dad's glasses fall off at the same time, I manage to catch them by hooking one finger around the frames.

"So now you know how to use your Spidey-senses, huh?" Hiro asks.

"I guess so, yeah." I pocket the glasses and put my contacts back on. As I'm about to leave the bathroom, though, I stop just short of running into Simmons.

"Did you remember anything?" she asks.

"I remember the spider bite," I say.

Simmons claps her hands excitedly. "Perfect! Our theory was correct, Fitz!"

"You mean the artifact theory?" Fitz asks.

"Yes, of course!" Simmons says. "Come on, we have to go meet the others. They should still be at Gwen's apartment."