A/N: Excuse the absence. It hasn't been a fun year.

I've changed the crossover tag from the general Spider-Man comic one to the Into the Spider-Verse movie one. It makes it easier to state which characters are the important ones in the cross. I've also been asked to redact a cast list, due to the number of characters. I have one up now in the other sites the fic has been crossposted at, but I'm unsure how to include it here in ffnet. If you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear them.

Anya was already waiting for them as they came out of the portal into the cathedral. "Welcome back."

She wasn't alone. At her side was a middle-aged redhead in a white and pink costume. "Hi Gwen, good to see you again."

"Hey guys", Gwen acknowledged and turned to the older woman. "Glad to see you too, MJ."

Having only briefly met her once or twice, Gwen didn't know much about Spinnerette, the Mary Jane Watson of Earth 18199. Only that she was Annie's mother, and that she wasn't a real totem, borrowing her husband's powers thanks to some technology in her suit.

As for Annie, Gwen saw her wave a hand at them a distance. She was at the other side of the cathedral, seated at a table in a meeting along with her father Peter, Mayday, and uncle Ben, all of them seeming to be at an amicable meeting with four other people. Judging by their hair, three of them, looked like Osborns: a teenager, a young man, and an older woman. The fourth was a demure man with glasses and a lab coat that Gwen couldn't recognize. "Who're the guests?"

Anya gave a glance to the meeting. "The younger two are Normie Osborn from Annie and Mayday's worlds. The woman and the man with her are Peni's uncle Ben and Harriet Osborn. MJ suggested talking with friendly versions of the Osborns for some support."

"Just a little enterprising idea", MJ said. "This is just a meet and greet, and I wouldn't expect them to give us a blank cheque for whatever, but it only makes sense to find sympathetic people willing to help us be heroes and let them exchange anything that could benefit them and their worlds."

"Aww, did I miss the other Peni being around?" the currently present Peni interrupted with a pout, again out of her armor and sitting on top of it. "I wanted to meet her!"

"She didn't come, she's usually too busy to do courtesy visits", Anya explained to her. "But her uncle is pretty desperate for anything that could free her time for some R&R, or just allow anyone else to help Peni share her workload. Last I was paying attention, one of the Normies was mentioning something to buff up her armor, but who knows, maybe she'll be able to hang around in the future."

Peni pumped her fist in the air. "Yes! Peni squared is still on track."

"Anyway. Octavia told me you got good news about our new totem?" Anya said, focusing on the matter that brought Gwen and her team.

"Actually yeah", Gwen replied. "Took us a bit to look around, but her name's Taylor Hebert. She had run away from home, and I was talking with the father, not an hour ago", she said as she brought her arm around Gwendy's shoulders, bringing her to attention, "when the kid just so happened to step into her and run to her rescue. All knightress in shining armor, from what I heard."

"It was nothing like that", Gwendy shrugged, dismissive. Gwen was just poking some innocent fun, but she didn't miss her embarrassed eye roll. "I mean, it was more like running away with her from trouble."

Did Gwendy have some trouble recognizing when she had done something good? Gwen made a mental note to try and rectify that in the future as she withdrew her arm.

"You say this Taylor is a runaway?" MJ asked. "What happened?"

"We think she went through a long period of bullying that was ignored by the school", Octavia answered. "Add a dead parent, and another who didn't recover from the loss fast enough to take notice of her life…"

MJ nodded, understanding what Octavia was implying. "Many kids have left town for less. But you let her go? You should have just brought her in."

"It wasn't worth forcing the issue", Gwen explained. "I've been a runaway too, and I could see she was just looking for the hidden camera or just any reason to bolt and run. Someone asking about her powers? She'd go straight into paranoia county. I plan to keep in touch with her, wait until it looks like she feels safe enough. If no one minds, me and the guys could stay around in Bet for a while. The place could use some help cleaning the trash, and we can make sure Taylor is safe. Besides, Gwendy seems to have hit off with her fairly well, and the guys get to practice working as a team."

"I'm in favor of spending a bit of time in town", Noir said. "The nazi folks there can use some of what I preach." He then brought his hands together at his waist, like a priest during a sermon, while a sudden gust of wind moved his coat. "And what I preach, is pain."

"Yeah, dramatics aside, it sounds good", Peni added. "We'll have to work out a time frame, but we're all friends here anyway, right?"

"Sure", Gwendy agreed. "Might be fun."

MJ shared a look with Anya. "I don't mind about the rest, but I don't know… I still think we should just bring Taylor in."

"Look, just give me time", Gwen asked. "She had a friend with her, and I didn't want to bring the subject in front of him in case she hasn't done so herself. We gave her a phone number and…" Gwen paused to think and turned to Octavia. "Hey, you think you could fix the cell phone you got me? I want her to reach me if I'm in a different universe."

"It should be easy enough to link your bracelet to the phone. I'll just need to give its operative system a look first", Octavia answered before she took both objects from Gwen. "Peni, you have some skill in tinkering, right? Do you want to learn a bit of practical multidimensional engineering?"

"Do I want to?" Peni exclaimed, sitting straight. "You already had me at 'learn'!" The display in her armor emoted with a smiling grimace and a drop of sweat.

Anya ignored the excited exchange. "Alright Gwen, if you think that's the best to keep Taylor safe until she's ready, I have no issue with all of you staying in Brockton Bay. I'll convince the others about it. You can intervene against the local supervillains as well; we were talking about contacting the local authorities soon, so be sure to play nice."

That made Gwen raise an eyebrow. "That's… something we do now? Collaborating with the establishment?"

"I'll explain later. And talking about collaborating." Anya turned around to the meeting happening at the other side of the ruined cathedral. "May, a moment?" she called out. Mayday looked in their direction and sat up, walking up to them as Anya continued. "Gwen, I'd also like to talk with you in private, if you got the time?"

Gwen nodded. "I got no dates waiting for me." She then turned to May as she arrived. "Hey girl, how have you been?"

"Oh, real bored heroing wise, which means it's all good at home", the short black haired teen said with a charming smile, her athletic physique decked in deep blue and red costume and her metal bracers. "But getting to know Annie makes up for the lack of entertainment. And you? No more rebelling against authority?"

"Pshh, some, a bit, as a treat, when it makes sense", Gwen shrugged with a back and forth waving of her hand. "I had other things eating my time, you know?"

"May, they're talking about spending some time in Earth Bet as a team", Anya explained. "I was thinking that you could spend time with the team and help Gwen."

"Sure, I should have time to spare." May turned to Gwen. "And seeing you leading a team ought to be interesting."

"Oh, I can feel the trust", Gwen joked. "You can make the hard decisions if you want, and leave the punching to me."

"Oh no, nothing like that, I want my first-row seat to watch you fail", May said with a smirk, then beamed a smile to the entire group. "Seriously now, I'm sure you'll do fine. I'll be glad to help around."

"Alright then, Ghost Team", Anya said to the group, driving Gwen to roll her eyes in amusement. Anya noticed it. "Hey, screw you", she said, thankfully without any bite. "You want to try a better name on the spot, be my guest."

"No no, it's fine", Gwen replied. "It's just weird being so formal. And nice. Reminds me of Billy."

Anya smiled, pleased with the comparison, and continued. "While you are in Earth Bet, you are to assist Octavia with her research, keep Taylor safe until it's clear she's able to fend for herself, and practice your teamwork in kicking supervillain ass. You can work out the details tomorrow. Everyone good with it?"

The whole of the newly formed Ghost Team agreed in unison.

"It's getting late", MJ interrupted. "And I'm sure our new members will want to go back home." She then turned to the group. "But before you leave, I can show you to your rooms. We've cleaned a few that people can use to rest. I'm afraid the best ones are already picked, but otherwise it's first come first served. Annie can send you home after that."

"Yeah, might as well if we're going to spend any time around", Gwendy agreed.

"I'll go with you", May said when they agreed. "Some of those corridors are a real maze until we get the rubble cleaned, and we can get to know each other along the way." She then turned to Gwen and offered her a closed fist. "Glad to have you aboard again, sister. I missed you goofing around."

"Same thing to you, buddy." Gwen bumped May's fist with her own, and left her to walk away with her new teammates.

Navigating the corridors of the cathedral wasn't too bad, Gwendy thought. The place was immense, true, but she was sure she wouldn't have much trouble with finding her way around.

"These are big rooms won't be ready yet for some time", MJ explained as they passed some of the doors with some significant separation between each other. "But we think they might work as barracks or infirmaries as needed."

"Expecting a lot of recruits?" Noir asked as they followed her and May. It was only him and Gwendy, as Peni and her spider had gone a different path with Octavia, saying she didn't mind waiting to pick a room until later.

"Not really, just considering what we have to work with", May said. "The cathedral might be in ruins at the upper levels, where the Web is housed, but the rest is mostly fine, and it's a lot of cathedral. The locals may have the entire planet, but they want nothing to do with this place. So we get to keep it, and the unenviable work of making stock of everything inside."

"Why wouldn't they want the place?" Gwendy asked. "If it's still serviceable, and with such an important artifact in it, I'd expect someone to be interested."

MJ shared a look with May, apparently just as curious as Gwendy. May sighed. "It's kind of a long story; basically the previous owners, and by owning I mean conquering, also controlled the entire planet in this and many other universes. Most people living in Loomworld are transplants from these other worlds, brought as workforce or whatever. Now that they're free, they just don't want anything related to their previous masters. They're perfectly happy to let us occupy the place."

"Sounds like they were charming folk, these masters", Noir commented. "Who were they? Are they still around somewhere?"

"Nobody told you about the Inheritors yet?"

Two heads expressed their shared negative.

"Well, it's not like they matter anymore", May said, slowing down as they neared the end of the corridor. "They were a family that had used the Web of Life to use the multiverse as their hunting grounds for millennia, hunting us spider totems and feeding in our life energies like a vampire sucking your blood."

MJ grimaced, fishing a keyring from a pocket. "If you needed an entire army of superhumans to put down a single vampire, that's it."

"And if that vampire got their mind transferred to a cloned body in a secure universe, to return fresh to the fight."

"Must have been a hell of a fight", Gwendy said.

"Fights. We scrambled every spider we could find to fight two wars of survival one after another", May corrected. "We lost much, and… lost many."

Gwendy nodded in sympathy at the last words. She knew the sentiment in them too well herself.

The doors were about a dozen of them now being more close to each other at this point. MJ and May opened them except for a few, allowing the newcomers to look inside. "As far as we can tell, most of these rooms were reserved for the more important servants and butlers", May explained as they gave them the tour.

"Some rooms are communal, and others are individual; four of those are already picked", MJ added. "But they all have windows so you don't have to worry about closed spaces. We got a kitchen, a bathroom with showers, and a laundry. Everything is on the humble side, but the rooms are clean, the beds are dressed, and we have electricity and water running."

"Just remember, if you're going to put anything on the fridge, make sure it has your name on it. Ham tends to not think twice about eating anything he finds in there, and sometimes even if it has a name on it."

"A shower sounds mighty tempting right now", Noir said. "This get-up isn't the most comfortable after a day under the sun in that blasted town. Which door is it?" He then started walking to the door May directed him to. "Thanks, lady."

Gwendy spoke up before he disappeared behind the door. "Not going to take a room first?"

"We're not moving in, and any room is as good as any other. First pick is yours." And with that, he closed the door.

"Alright then", Gwendy whispered. "Guess that simplifies things."

"Well, don't be in a hurry to choose if you don't feel like it", May told her. "I don't think these rooms will be filled by the end of the week anyway."

"I was thinking about maybe one of the communal ones." Gwendy held that thought. "Do you know if Gwen has already picked one?"

"Huh, dunno, I don't think so", May confessed. "Unlike the rest of us, she's pretty much free to go to any universe she wants at any time, so she can just go to her own house instead. Even before the Web was damaged, when everyone could use the bracelets for it, she only treated the cathedral as a meeting place"

"Why would you want to share a room with her anyway?" MJ asked.

Gwendy shrugged with some levity. "Well, if she's as much of a mess as I am, can we really be angry with each other?"

May gave MJ an amused look. "Maybe she just wants to be with someone similar. Kind of like me and Annie."

For whatever reason, MJ seemed worried about it. "That's… not exactly why I'm asking. You know what she's done, right? And what she's carrying inside."

Gwendy blinked, not sure where this was going. "She told me she went to jail for murder. And yeah, she told me about the symbiote."

"And none of that worries you?"

"Mo- MJ, what are you talking about?" May asked just as confused.

MJ simply shook her head. "Forget I said anything, I'm tired. I'll go back to the main hall, make sure Annie will be available to send you back home in an hour." She then began to walk in the direction where they have come from.

"What was that?" Gwen asked once they were out of earshot.

"I don't know. My mother is also an MJ, but I can't say I know this one in particular that well", May said, and frowned. "Gwen never hid her troubles with the law or the symbiote from us." She gave out a hum. "Maybe she is right about being tired; all of us have been up for days making sure things start being up and running. Just talking with the mayor about access to electricity and water was exhausting."

"That's fair." Gwendy nodded, deciding that was enough of an explanation. "By the way, what's the door at the end of the corridor?"

"Hmm?"

"You said four of the rooms you left closed were already picked. That one makes five."

"Oh, that one", May said, turning to that door. "That's Anya's now, I guess. Nobody has gone into that one for a while, except her, and not many times at that."

"You make it sound like it's not hers. Or wasn't always."

"Well, you see, it was Billy's before."

"Billy", Gwendy said, more a question than a statement. "Gwen mentioned him before."

May opened the door. Inside, Gwendy didn't see anything that made it more special than the other rooms.

Except for the big Union Jack flag covering the wall opposite to the door, and the mannequin in one corner, dressed in a ragged and singed blue and red suit similar to those she had seen some Peters wear, but with the upper half being half of the same flag.

"Billy Braddock, Spider-UK. He was a member of the Captain Britain Corps. They were the ones taking care of the multiverse before Billy went off to gather spiders for the first war against the Inheritors."

"And where are they now?"

"Gone. All of them, Billy too."

"Damn. What happened?"

"No idea about the Corps. I think Billy knew but didn't share it with us. I'd bet on nothing good if he didn't return to them. After our first conflict with the Inheritors, he formed the Warriors with the few of us who volunteered. He led and trained us the best he could. Pretty sure he wanted us to succeed the Corps." May crossed her arms and drummed on one of her bracers with her fingers, silent for a moment. "When the Inheritors came back, he was the first one they killed. One second he was there, the next… he was on the floor with a broken neck."

"Sorry."

"Anya took it harder than the rest of us. Billy had taken her under his wing, grooming her to command the Warriors…" May smiled. "I like to think he'd be happy. I honestly didn't expect her getting us to start again after we disbanded."

May was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Gwen was the first one he took in, you know? You could say she was his first Web-Warrior."

Gwendy shook her head. "She didn't tell me anything like that."

"She was very independent at first, didn't listen to his battle plans. I mean, she was probably the most natural of us at this. When you see her fighting, you just knew she was born for it."

"C'mon, she was that good?"

"On the offensive? I've seen some good spiders and with more experience than her in a fight, and let me tell you, she has it in her blood. But following battle plans?" May huffed. "What battle plans? She just kept doing her own thing, and it could be frustrating. Billy still kept her around no matter what. I guess he had hopes that she would rise above her instincts. She seemed to take his death harder than Anya, now that I think about it. Maybe he finally got something through her thick skull."

"You know, back there I noticed… Can I ask how old you and Anya are?"

May was taken aback by the change of subject as she closed the door to Billy's room. "We're seventeen. Any reason to ask? That came a bit out of the left field."

"Just wondering. Everyone seems to treat you like adults. Gwen calls me 'kid', and I get why, but she seemed to treat you as equals."

"Please tell me this isn't a 'I want to be older' situation", May pleaded with a small giggle. "No, no girl, it's just that we have gone through enough crap on our own and together that nobody questions what we can do."

"Such as? I get that Anya was trained to lead, but what about you?"

May took a moment to think about it. "Have you ever fought a god one on one?"

Gwendy opened her mouth and for a second she found it difficult to close again. "You… What. Seriously?"

"It wasn't a pleasant experience. Experiences." May shrugged. "But I got witnesses if you want."

"No need", Gwendy declined. "I guess I'm stuck with being the 'kid' until I impress someone?" she groused.

"C'mon, I get what you're saying, but you're overthinking it. We're all spiders here, nobody will do that. I'm sure it's just Gwen's way to show she cares. Stay in this business for a while, and you'll be sure to have a big moment on your name." She pocketed the keys and motioned May to leave the place. "By the way, you and I might want to agree on new codenames. Anya will just go by Araña again, but it's going to be confusing to have several Spider-Girls, Women or Man around, and there are more of those that you'd think."

Gwendy made a non-committal sound, recalling a similar situation not that long ago. And after shouting at Noir that he had less than an hour to finish, they began the return to the main hall without exchanging any more words.

Eventually, Gwendy broke the silence. "Say, before I go home, do you think I could visit another universe?

It had been a long day for Miles Morales. But when he laid down on his bed, switched off his lamp, put on his headphones, and at last closed his eyes, he felt pretty satisfied with how it had gone.

Needless to say, I keep a check / She was all bad-bad, nevertheless

It had been a crazy learning week, all things said. But he was glad now that he didn't give up during those first two days. Because now? Now he felt better with himself than he had for a long time.

Callin' it quits now, baby, I'm a wreck / Crash at my place, baby, you're a wreck

"Miles?"

That was weird. He had listened to this song like a thousand times and it never called his name.

Screamin' at my face, baby don't trip / Someone took a big L, don't know how that felt

"Miles!"

He opened his eyes, and to his surprise, it wasn't the walls or the ceiling that caught his attention, but a swirl of colors at the opposite wall, and Gwen Stacy waving at him.

"Miles. You got a minute?"

Ooh-ooh, some things you just can't refuse / She wanna ride me like a cruise / And I'm not tryna lose

He left his headphones hanging around his neck with a smile and checked that his roomie in the bunk below was still asleep.

Then you're left in the dust / Unless I stuck by ya

"Girl, for you always, but next time you can just call my phone."

You're a sunflower / I think your love would be too much

After making sure no one was looking from either side of the alley (and yes, from the windows or the roofs, she had already learned her lesson), Gwen had changed into a shirt and ragged jeans. Now, she was waiting patiently for Anya to do the same behind a trash container.

"You know, I may be projecting here, but for some reason, I had this idea that you weren't concerned with people knowing who you are."

Anya finally came out, her costume in a backpack and wearing black pants and a jacket. "Why, because I was with SHIELD once? Nah, I indeed had to register my public identity back then. But dad made sure they wouldn't make it public just because." She then motioned Gwen to follow her out onto the New York streets of Earth 616 as she loosed her hair. "Come, it's just across the street."

Though she hasn't told her where they were going yet, Gwen was willing to wait and find out; she might have decided to turn it into her new home, but it wasn't the New York she had lived in. And while she could be quite precise with where her portals would open, she needed to personally know the place to do so.

Her pendant, her 'Ticket to the Multiverse', might be miraculous by most standards, but unfortunately, it lacked a USB port or compatibility with most GPS devices.

"Still... I guess you'd want to play safe. You know, with that Kamala law deal."

Anya gave her a curious glance before they joined the pedestrians. "You know, for someone who is not a 'local', I sense a lot of hostility in your tone."

"I might have been, huh." Gwen coughed into her hand. "Unnecessarily vocal, when Peter told me about it.

The recent Underage Superhuman Welfare Act, or Kamala's law, made it illegal for anyone aged under twenty-one to participate in acts of superheroism. It wasn't too long ago when Peter Parker let her know about it, and advised her that, as a minor in 616, she should lay low.

And in turn, she, in somewhat diplomatic terms, had blown a gasket in front of him. And again just after that, when she talked about it with her father.

Her belief that it was a stupid law hadn't changed, and her symbiote shared the sentiment. The issue was that she got angry enough to almost go full Gwenom on Peter and dad if only to shout harder at them. Thankfully, her father understood her position, despite disagreeing with her about how to handle crime (Gwen would offer help, can do it in a blink, no sweat. Captain Stacy would officially refuse, everything is under control, thank you. She would then politely disobey, and he'd politely insist they didn't need her, don't be late home for dinner, take care. Crack some perp heads, release some hostages, hmm dinner's great, dad. Why thank you dear, It's good that no innocent got hurt but please don't interfere again in police business, it confuses the rookies), and didn't mind her little outburst.

But Peter was simply a messenger, and Gwen had already decided by then that she wasn't planning to do any hero work in 616 anyway. She probably owed him an apology the next time they met.

Anya led her through a crosswalk to a neighborhood of apartment buildings. "Yeah well, I can't say I'm enthused by what they're doing. I heard Miles Morales is actively fighting back against it. But I barely had the time to operate here at home, between, you know." A hand rose, waving back and forth. "Web stuff, you know. And if I wasn't at home, I was at school. So it hasn't affected me." She frowned. "I know I sound like I've been ignoring it…"

"Hey, you've been distracted. Nothing wrong with that." Gwen was taking her time to observe their surroundings. She was seeing plenty of gardens and small parks. The apartments looked positively upper class, at least from outside. And judging by the landmarks she recognized, the zone was well situated near the center of New York. Nothing posh or anything, just a nice urban neighborhood.

Anya might be the younger of the two, but if this was where she lived, Gwen liked it. Much better than her dorm she was currently housed at, for sure. "Weren't you in one or two groups, though? You guys disbanded or something, or they got arrested?"

Anya thought for a moment before she shook her head. "Nah, that was some time ago and didn't pan out anyway. And from what I heard, they've avoided any trouble. I knew one of them, but she just… vanished. No phone calls, no government agents boasting about a capture, no nothing."

She wasn't saying, but it was clear to Gwen that Anya was dearly hurting about it. Gwen decided not to push for details.

"What was that about working with the authorities in Earth Bet, by the way?" Compared to the populated streets they had left behind, there were so few passersby around them now that Gwen didn't feel the need for any more doublespeak. "Most spiders tend to have a rocky relationship with their local law enforcement. And this PRT doesn't look like they like parties any more than SHIELD."

"Back in their New York, Uncle Ben had the idea of checking things like archived newspapers in a public library." Anya passed her phone to Gwen. "Read this. It's like that kind of public knowledge that's also taboo at the same time. They teach about it in schools and publish safety guidelines, but seem to also be afraid of jinxing it if they talk about it in public."

Gwen obeyed, reading what seemed like the guidelines or procedure to follow during a natural catastrophe. Expect an occurrence every three months. Warning sirens going off nationwide on a sighting. Citizens assigned to underground refuges spread through every city.

Four names were provided for the source of so much fear and precaution. Behemoth, Leviathan, Simurgh. Endbringers. And there were measures tailored to each one. "Wait, what the hell is this? Giant monsters?"

"The answer to that is the main reason why I want to contact their authorities. But whatever those 'Endbringers' are, they seem to be very powerful entities that are at least partially responsible for the declining state of their world."

"And you want to know, why exactly?" Gwen asked as she returned the phone. "To help?"

"Can't say yet, but it could be big enough to be related to why those universes were hidden from the Web. And that's something that worries me enough to not discard any possibility. Annie, Octavia, and Pavitr will be doing their thing, but I'm willing to bet someone in the PRT or the Protectorate knows something important."

That made some sense to Gwen. The times she had seen the multiverse get screwed, it was an ugly business, and it wasn't obvious to the observer until you got muddled timelines and memories or a bunch of worlds collapsing on each other. She wouldn't criticize Anya for covering all her bases.

In any case, that wouldn't be Gwen's problem to solve. That would require brains, and she was merely the muscle here. "So you're being thorough, here."

"It's like my father used to say. You can't get or do a good story without embedding yourself in the dirt." A saying that Gwen, as a cop's daughter, agreed with. Anya stopped at one door, and Gwen looked around while the Latina teenager fished a keyring out of her pocket and used it to open the door. "And trust me here, Gwen, I'm smelling so much dirt there you can't believe how bad it stinks."

She stepped into the lobby and held the door open, inviting Gwen to enter. "Anyway. I told you I'd speak with SHIELD. I got good news, and bad news."

"Hit me first with the bad ones I guess." After Gwen came inside, Anya closed the door and led the way up a staircase.

"So, I can't talk with SHIELD. I did speak with Tony Stark for different reasons, and -"

"Tony Stark?" She wasn't fond of the man back home on Earth 65, but rich jerk or no, Gwen knew he was an Avenger in 616, and technically he was paying for her scholarship. She was willing to forget her preconceptions. "Why would you talk with him anyway?"

"I'm not a regular or anything like Jessica or Peter, but you could say I'm welcome at the Avengers headquarters since one time that we helped each other." Anya chuckled, not minding being interrupted. "Back then he took the time to give me some advice, so I wanted to see if he could give me some more now because what I want to do with the Warriors is somewhat similar to the Avengers. Still soon to tell, but turns out he's intrigued enough in what we're doing that he might be willing to provide more help than just some practical wisdom."

"Damn girl. First the Osborns, now Stark. Talk about networking. You aren't turning into a soulless corporate capitalist, are you?"

Anya gave out a laugh. "Shut up, I still have to ask you about contacting your Osborns. Anyway, from what Tony told me, SHIELD was dissolved just after our first conflict with the Inheritors", Anya explained. "I didn't realize it had happened because I was focused on the Warriors. Point is, there's nothing I could get you from them anymore. Sorry if I got your hopes up."

"Eh, I'll survive", Gwen said when reaching the first floor, and she followed Anya down a corridor. "Did you mention my name to him or something? Given he's paying for my scholarship for being 'dimensionally displaced', or maybe Peter and Jessica dropped my name around him…"

"I did mention you, but I'm not sure if it rang any bells for him. Tony wants to visit Loomworld and the cathedral, see how we are organizing ourselves and what we have. After that, maybe we can discuss if there was anything he could do. Dunno, like giving a small extra to your scholarship." Anya stopped at a door, then introduced a key into its lock and opened it. "But he suggested that, if you'd be working directly for me, I should try first to compensate you myself."

"Wait." Gwen's eyes darted from Anya to the door and back. "Are you saying-"

The door now wide open, Anya offered her the keys. "I got a free room if you want to take it?"

Gwen's eyes were fixated on the keys dangling in front of them. "You want me to… be your roommate?"

"Well, second roommate", Anya admitted with a shrug. "I think you'll like Rockie, she already knows that I'm Spider-Girl and is very supportive of it, so you can feel free to not hide your identity here. Point is, I have a spare room, you need a place to stay, so I thought, hey, why not."

"And you can afford it? Just like that?"

"Before dad…" Anya paused, uncomfortable. "Before dad died, he had already paid fully for the house. He left it to my name with nothing left to pay. And because he was such a good friend of the Fantastic Four, Sue Storm and Reed Richards left a sizable fund for me."

"Coolest godparents ever", Gwen said with no small amount of envy.

Anya tilted her head in smug agreement. "I have no economic worries, and I'm the queen of my house. Your diet and your privacy won't be a concern. So I'll ask again." She kneeled now offering the keys again as if she was presenting a ring. "Gwendoline Stacy", she said a lot of fake theatrics, "do you want to be my roomie?"

"Anya Corazón, that's possibly the most beautiful thing any girl in the multiverse has ever said to me."

Taylor waited patiently, though not idly. After leading her to the guest room, Brian had left to phone his sister. Leaving her alone with a bed to dress on her own and her cellphone on the bedside table with the speaker on.

"Alright", he heard Lisa's voice coming from the phone. "I've gone over that recording a couple of times already."

"So what do you think?" Taylor asked aloud.

"I think they're being sincere with you. At least for the most part."

Taylor pinched the bridge of her nose before dressing the pillow. "That sounds awfully trusting of you."

"And I could say that sounds awfully untrusting even for you", Lisa replied, "but I don't think that's an argument I'd win."

"I'm serious, Lisa. These girls show up just at the very moment I need help, admit to stalking me and dad, and then just offer me to 'talk'? And they do that now? No, I don't trust them."

"Taylor, we have to work on your definition of 'stalking'. And how do you think one would try to find someone if they don't know even the most basic information?" Taylor heard a sigh through the speaker. "Was what I did to contact you any different?"

Taylor hesitated before replying. "Well, yes?"

"But only because I had extra help. Everyone else is stuck with doing it the old way."

Taylor laid the pillow over the bed, finally done with it. "Fine. But you have to admit it sounds fishy."

"Taylor, I wasn't there. This recording doesn't have the best sound, so I'm sure there is a lot I'm missing." Taylor took up the phone from the table and to her ear. "This Gwen is giving you a lot of freedom about how you want to meet her. You don't do that if you're intending to gain a benefit." Another pause. "You wanted my opinion, Taylor. I think she does want to help you. I think she wants to be your friend."

"You say that as if I needed any of that."

"Please, Taylor, we both know why you joined us." Despite the shivers, Taylor forced herself to not make any noise. "Fuck, you misunderstood me, girl. I mean you can't just rely on us to make up your entire social circles. Look, how bad could it be to talk with her? If you want, I'll accompany you, and if I see any red flags… well, it's not like you can't defend yourself, or the rest of us can't cover you. And if she's truly friendly, and I'm pretty confident she is, wouldn't that be a good thing? Friends are a luxury in this time and age. You know that."

Taylor bit her lip. Lisa was making some sense putting it like that. "I'll think about it."

"Of course. I suggest you decide sooner rather than later. It's not nice to leave a girl waiting."

"Please", Taylor said with an eye roll. "Even if that would be the case, Gwen is too old for me."

"Oh no, I meant Gwendy. Way you told me, that was some real knight in shining armor power moves she pulled. Good night, Tay, tomorrow will be a busy day."

Lisa cut the call at that moment, giving no time to argue.

And she was pretty sure she could hear the smugness in Lisa's voice at the end. Taylor genuinely had no idea why.