Figured I should update a little sooner than every six months so here you go. The next update should hopefully be a little less difficult since it's just a talky chapter with MCU Peter and Gwen back in the spotlight rather than juggling multiple Spider POV's.

The ending of the first segment might turn people off so I suggest reading the bottom author's notes before giving your thoughts. Just a heads up.

Side Note - I'm currently watching The Boys so I gotta try really hard not to make the segments cynical. Hopefully I succeeded.

Gwen yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "Mmgh..." She looked down at the chipped black polish on her nails and slowly stood up. Alarm still hadn't rang but whatever. Early bird caught the worm and all that.

She did the usual daily routine then walked out of her room. The apartment was pretty small compared to their last place but that was what happened when you get blipped for five years. Dad moved to another place since he was one of the 'lucky' ones who didn't get taken. As much as he refused to admit it, it was pretty obvious to her that he wanted out of any reminder of what he lost. It was a miracle he didn't move out of New York entirely, but she knew that was because of work. He needed something to throw himself into so he wouldn't break and there was a lot of things that needed doing with half the world gone.

Dad was already at the dinner table sipping his coffee, of course. No matter how early she woke up she never managed to beat him. He even joked(?) that he was mostly made out of coffee by now, "Morning, Gwennie."

"Hey, dad." She walked past him sleepily and grabbed for some cereal. Back before the blip the two of them took turns cooking. Now it was all takeout, cereal and easy-bake meals. Made sense in a depressing kind of way. Even after all the happy reunions and teary hugs life couldn't just go back to normal even after two months. Hell, her dad was one of the 'lucky' ones if you believed those guys blathering on their podcasts. At least he still had a job, cause apparently that was a fair trade-off to losing his daughter for five years.

She sat across from him and waited in silence to see who'd start the conversation first. It was always like this most days. As happy as her dad was to have her back it was hard to reconcile those five years. To her she'd just blinked and snapped forward five years. To him he had to live all those years slowly trying to piece his life back together right before she came crashing back in.

And God did he look it. The dad she knew a couple of months back (to her) was strong with a full head of blonde hair and a goatee that she always joked made him look like a wannabe ladies man. It was gone now, replaced by a thick beard that he at least tried to keep tidy when he got back. His hair had streaks of premature gray even though he was barely pushing 45. He looked like he aged at least twice of those five years.

Eventually the quiet got too much for her and she had to speak, "Any new cases pop up?" She hated talking about work. Her dad already threw himself into it and now she was just dredging it up again. But what else could she really talk about? The things they talked about before she got blipped were painful for both of them. The bands she liked, people she used to follow, plans for the future...everything was so different for the both of them. Work and school were the only constants they had left.

Most days he'd usually tell her vague details at best. It wasn't dinner talk, he said, even though at this point neither of them knew what that was, "Yeah..." She looked up from her bowl. That didn't sound good, "Something odd happened last night. Got a call about an attack on a Chinese restaurant and the officers came back with a Triad member by the name of Rooster Lo along with his entire entourage."

"Rooster? Seriously?" She snorted.

"I didn't come up with the nickname." And, just for a second, her dad smiled. She wanted to see more of it, "Despite the name he's actually pretty big in the triad. They came to power...a while ago." She frowned. Her dad still thought he had to walk on eggshells around her. She didn't have enough guts to tell him otherwise, "So you'd think given his rank he might've been the perpertrator."

"He was the vic?" Gwen raised a brow. Talking with her dad about cases was fun back then. He always encouraged her input, "Huh...now who'd have the muscle and balls to attack a member of the Triads."

"Well I wasn't there at the crime scene myself, but I heard enough from the on-site officers. Apparently there were webs."

"Webs? Must've been the Spider-Guy then." Gwen hummed. She didn't really know a lot about him. She and her dad transferred to New York just a few weeks before the blip happened and apparently Spider-Guy was one of the people who got dusted.

"I guess. Still not used to all these heroes coming back." Her dad shook his head. Back before they moved he wasn't a fan of the Supers. He was a pretty supportive of the Accords, something they spent way too much time arguing about. Hey if she was in danger she really would've preferred if the heroes didn't have to ask permission first before saving her. Nowadays he changed his mind. Heroes saving half the universe tended to change people's minds.

"Ooh, did he pop into the office? Did you become his commissioner Gordon?" She asked with a grin.

"Hardly. Rooster was in a panic when he was brought in. Told the detectives that he was willing to deal a whole lot of sensitive information if we put him into witness protection." He took a slow sip of his coffee, "Looked like he had the fear of god put into him. His men were panicking too. Apparently Rooster talked and now looking from his own family. They don't take to turncoats well."

"No honor among thieves." Gwen shrugged, "Wonder how Spider-Guy made him talk?"

"Not sure. He didn't show any signs of extreme interrogation and his wounds aren't any worse than what you'd find on some of the more popular vigilantes." There was that word again: vigilantes. Even after he changed his mind he was still stubborn about that word, "We'll catch up on the case later when we can. Hopefully Rooster's information will give us a head on the Yellow Lotus. They've been a real pain in the neck these last five..."

He trailed off and Gwen clenched her hands at the sudden change in mood. Even now he still did his best to not mention all the time that passed. It was obvious - the effects were literally everywhere she looked - but they both acted like if they just didn't talk about it overtly they could somehow ignore it. Gwen wanted to scream, she just didn't know to who. Her dad for walking around on eggshells or her for letting him?

"...I'm gonna head over to a friend's place after school. That cool?" She did her best to give him that good girl smile of hers and hoped he couldn't tell she was lying through her teeth.

"Another decathlon thing?"

"Yeah. I promised Peter I'd help him with history." Great, a couple of days into their burgeoning friendship ad she was already using him for excuses. She was the worst.

"Hm, fine. Just don't stay out too late, alright? Curfew's-"

"10'o clock, I know." That was a new addition and she wasn't willing to test breaking it. Especially since she got nearly mugged last night and she wasn't going to tell her dad that. Last thing she needed was even more papa wolf worries.

School was actually a nice change of pace. As much as she and the rest of the students (rightfully) complained about having to repeat the year she knew the feeling of familiarity was a relief to a lot of them; some more than others. Literally every person she managed to make friends with avoided the blip and were in college now, and she wasn't keen on trying to call up and talk about the good old times.

She was grabbing the books out of her locker when Mr. Personality showed up, "What do you want, Flash?" She sighed and gave him a deadpan look. She'd only been at the decathlon for a few days but she was pretty sure she didn't like the guy. He reminded her of the bullies back in France. Rich pricks who thought that just cause their daddies were rich they could get away with anything.

"Woah, what's with the hostility?" He held up both hands in that smug, 'I don't really care' way.

"You know why."

"What, you really like Parker that much? Trust me, you could do way better."

She smiled sweetly and leaned forward till they were close enough to make his cocky grin fall off, "I think I'll take my chances, Eugene." She slammed the door, making him jump like a cat, and walked off. Typical smug asshole. Probably thought she was just someone he needed to given the lowdown to so she could see he was right all along. As if he had any business telling her who she liked.

...Not that she liked Peter or anything. Well she did like the guy but it was just as friends.

...

It was way too early for this.

She sat next to Ned for Physics, "Hey." She smiled and looked at empty seat on Ned's other side, "Where's Peter?"

"Oh, he got really sick."

"Really? Poor guy, there's gonna be a killer Stat test tomorrow. Maybe we can visit him later and give him notes?" That's what friends did, right? At least she definitely remembered being on both ends back in France. Maybe it was different over here in New York.

And it'd give her an alibi if her dad asked. It still counted as heading over if you just stayed for five minutes, right?

"Uh...no, I don't think we need to. I-I mean he said he's gonna come over later."

"...Didn't you just say he's really sick?"

"O-Oh, yeah, but you know Pete. Guy wouldn't miss school even if he had, like, cancer or something."

"That's...really worrying. I think you need to talk to him about that."

Peter did actually show up right around lunch time. Apparently he had a note from his aunt saying he had to help out with some Salvation Army stuff...which wasn't at all what Ned said, but okay. She didn't question it. She wasn't a proponent of ditching school on principle but she'd done it once or twice when she needed.

And it looked like he definitely needed it. His skin was clammier than usual and he had bags under his eyes. Poor guy needed more sleep.

He didn't look much better when they got to their study group. He was half-distracted and kept looking at his phone and the clock every few minutes, "Are you alright?" she asked eventually. It was getting pretty hard to ignore and she tried super hard to.

"H-Huh?" He gave her a gobsmacked blink, "Uh, yeah, yeah! I was just...up helping May out with Salvation Army stuff. You know there's been a lot of stuff happening lately and I really wanted to help her out."

"Yeah? That's cool. Still, you need to watch out for yourself. Doesn't help anyone if you overwork yourself." A reminder she had to tell her dad more times than she wanted to count. Never really stuck, especially not now.

They spent the next hour helping each other out with their weakest subjects before calling it a day. Flash didn't bother them, which helped her mood a lot, though for some reason Michelle kept her distance. Weird. For some reason Peter acted pretty cagey around her too. She thought they were old friends or something.

Whatever, she'd deal with it another day. Right now she had other things to worry about.

So...she wasn't being honest with her dad about where she went, but only cause if she knew he'd disapprove. Overprotectiveness and all that. She just...didn't want to go back home right now. Dad would be out late with that new case and she felt too guilty to ask for more when he spent like a month helping her acclimate back and spend time with her. She'd already gotten too much.

Thankfully she had other family in the city.

She looked around (for what?) before entering the fancy apartment building. The security took one look at her and frowned but didn't do anything. She'd been here enough times that she already had an in even if she wasn't one of the exclusive residents.

Didn't mean she had to like her, though.

Gwen tried to keep her head down as she went into the elevator. As much as she liked coming to visit the actual building felt like she was sitting on cheese graters. Everyone here was so clean-cut and well to do and here she was looking like she stepped out of some kind of alternative fashions warning. Still, beggars couldn't be choosers and a few stares were worth coming up here.

She knocked on the door and waited with a small grin as she heard the telltale footsteps. The door opened with a quiet hiss and she looked up to see him grinning back.

"Hey, Uncle Beck."

Uncle Beck wasn't an uncle by blood. He married Aunt Nancy a couple of years before they moved to New York and helped them get settled in. Neither he or Aunt Nancy got blipped but apparently there was trouble in those five years that he didn't want to tell her about. No matter what happened it ended with Aunt Nancy leaving New York without a word and her dad blaming him for losing another piece of her family.

Her dad would kill her if he found out she was meeting him, but family was family. And he didn't treat her like she was fine china you were scared of breaking.

"Hey, Gwendy." He stepped aside to let her pass, "You're earlier than usual. Not worried about the old man catching you?"

"He's out on a new case. Something with the Triads." She plopped down on the couch and tossed the beanie next to her, "I'm really worried about him. I mean I don't know much about the Yellow Lotus or anything but I gotta assume they're not good news. And now dad's dealing with trying to set up a witness protection thing for one of their guys. That's big, right?"

"Hmm, definitely. Last informant for the Yellow Lotus a couple of years back got Death by a Thousand Cuts." Gwen grimaced and he sat down next to her, "Hey, your old man's gonna be alright. He's survived this long, hasn't he?"

"I just...are you sure we can't help? I mean I know that you told me that you can't but come on, you're a superhero-"

"You know we can't." His face hardened and she flinched. Uncle Beck was always nice but he was never afraid to put his foot down.

"But this is nothing! You're fighting giant elemental monsters! Why can't we do anything about a bunch of gangsters? You have other heroes like Spider-Man who-"

"Because you're not ready." She wanted to argue before he continued, "Are you ready for what happens when someone points a gun at you? Or how about when you have to save people and a split second decision can lead to someone's death?" Gwen bit her lower lip and didn't say anything, "I know you want to help, Gwendy, but in this kind of work you can't afford a single mistake."

Gwen looked down at the table and didn't say a word. He was right, of course, but she hated feeling like this. So...useless.

Uncle Beck clapped her shoulder gently and gave her a soft smile, "Hey, your time'll come, okay? Once you get a better handle on your powers you can make your big debut. Maybe a sidekick?"

Gwen snorted and finally smiled, "Oh yeah, sidekick to a guy who doesn't even have a superhero name yet."

"Hey we discuss my name when you stop blowing up toasters."

"Once! I blew up a toaster once and you never let it go..." Gwen grumbled. She got her powers about a month before the blip. Her dad still didn't know and Uncle Beck only found out by chance a couple of weeks after she came back. She really thought she'd have to beg him to keep it a secret before he told her about the costumed hero thing he had going on and offered to train her.

Which made sense, she guessed. Who better than someone who worked at Starktech to help a...what was it? Technopath? Technomancer? She was pretty rusty on her Gifted terminology.

"So, ready for training?" He grinned.

"Definitely."

Noir had been through a lot ever since that fateful night at the docks. Back then he thought that seeing a man wear a flesh mask or dreams about extra dimensional monster spiders would be the worst he'd get.

Couldn't believe he was ever so green.

"Move!" Jones shouted seconds after his spider-sense screamed. Noir ducked out of the way of the ball of blue light that zipped over their heads. The chaotic sphere impacted the wall behind them and blew it apart with a large explosion. Dust and debris rained down from above and even the guy who shot had a look of gobsmacked surprise.

Which didn't last long before Drew dropped down from the ceiling and kicked him right in the face.

The three of them spent the past night investigating possible leads on their bomb supplier before one of Jones' contacts gave them a hit. An old warehouse near the docks (classic) where there was a small time smuggling ring. Small time except for tonight where there was supposed to be something special coming in that could let the entire outfit retire.

That something ended up being that damn thing.

Noir rushed to one of the fumbling gunmen and broke his arm, "Grab the weapon!" He webbed down another goon while Jones grabbed whatever the hell that thing was and kept anyone else from getting it.

"Noir, guy with an RPG on the second floor!"

"Got it."

He shot the guy in his left hand made him drop it. Too late to stop the rocket, though, which zipped out of control around the warehouse, "Oh come on!" Drew webbed it, spun around then used it to smack another goon sporting one of those fancy assault rifles right in the chest. Personally he wondered why it didn't blow up or why Drew didn't worry about that, but he'd learned to stop asking those kinds of questions.

"Back off!" Jones knocked away another clown trying to grab for the energy lobber and threw a second one to the wall. Noir webbed down a third going for her back and tugged him the floor, "Ugh, I knew I was gonna regret this!" Jones shouted. Even through the ski mask she had over her head the annoyance in her voice was obvious.

"Too late for Buyer's Remorse. Just finish these people off." Noir grunted.

It took them another couple of minutes before the they were finally done. Noir took down the last guy then tossed the rifle away out of sight. Another thing he had to deal with. Back home tommy guns and a few other rifles were there, sure, but guns never felt so all-encompassing. A century later and people spent billions making guns so they could kill faster and easier.

Then again he couldn't complain too much considering what he got up to.

"Is that all of them? Fuck me..." Jones put her hands on her knees and panted. He doubted she was actually tired, "Jesus, where the hell did these fuckers all come from?"

"I doubt it matters." Drew landed next to them on a crouch, "According to what your contact said these guys just managed to get lucky. What's more important is where they got this bad boy from." She tapped the side of the sleek, metallic frame. Even with all the technology in this dimension it stuck out. Looked like something that belonged to Peni's place than this.

"Well I doubt we're going to get any info them now." Jones gestured to the knocked out goons.

"Exactly, and given that explosion I doubt the cops are far behind." Drew sighed, "Let's grab the weapon and go. Peni can examine it."

"Woah, woah. Hold on a second there, Jumping Jenny. We already did enough shit here with this vigilante beatdown bullshit and now you wanna add stealing something that'll probably get us locked up in Guantanamo?"

"Yeah?" Drew said, dry as the desert, "What exactly was your plan here? We don't have time to interrogate anyone and carrying this around's a heck of a lot easier than kidnapping someone again. Especially since we don't know which of these guys have any info. The weapon might at least get us something."

"Look, I know I told you that Luke and Daredevil have some friends with the police, but this is pushing it. I don't know exactly what that thing is but I've got an idea, and anyone even close to touching one of these things is gonna get thrown into a deep, dark hole with no way out."

"Seriously? You have no problems working with a crime lord and beating up a warehouse full of thugs but this is where you draw the line?"

"I didn't realize you assholes were gonna be this crazy. And how the hell is that kid supposed to help-"

"We don't have time for this," Noir cut in. His head was already throbbing and they weren't making it any better, "If we don't leave right now we're gonna be joining these mooks in the slammer."

"Then you be our tie-breaker cause I doubt we're gonna come to an agreement," Drew said.

"We're honestly doing this?" Noir sighed, "Fine, just grab the damn thing and let's go. Peni can examine it better than any cops can."

"Fine, whatever." Jones put her hands up and didn't say anything else while they got out of there. Just in time too; it was only a minute later that he heard the telltale sounds of sirens behind them. People here were pretty grateful to the masks after Stark saved half the planet but he wasn't gonna push his luck.

None of them said anything as they made their way back to Jones' place. They used Jones' jacket and his trenchcoat to cover the thing. Looked stupid, but it was better than the alternative. Masks were already enough to draw attention but a weapon that looked a thousand years too advanced was even worse.

The others were already there by the time they showed up, "Oh yeah, everyone make themselves at home." Jones went to the fridge to get some booze while he and Drew put the weapon down at the table.

"Where did you get that?" He looked to Spider-Man. The mask of his eyes were even wider than normal and his voice was high with shock.

"A bunch of smugglers down by the docks." Drew replied, "We were hoping to sneak in and get some info but then one of them saw us and things got...troublesome." Noir scoffed. Yeah, that was a word for it, "We were kinda hoping Peni here could help investigate. I doubt anyone else here can do it."

"Am I the only one disturbed that they're letting a 10 year old touch this shit?" Jones said. She was holding a bottle of whiskey in her right hand and Noir was reminded of how long it'd been since he had a decent drink.

"I'm 14, thank you very much." Peni crossed her arms and glared up at her.

"I...know what this is." All eyes turned to Spider-Man, "I mean not that exact thing, but I've seen something similar. That's a modified Chitauri weapon."

"Chitauri? I saw something like that in Mr. Cage's files." Peni hummed, "They were the alien race that showed up here over a decade ago, right?"

"We got aliens now?" Noir clicked his tongue, "This is bad enough. Last thing we need is an extraterrestrial." Aliens and UFO sightings were still a couple of decades off back home but there were already studies even before they got popularized after the second world war. Either way it wasn't something he wanted to deal with.

"Alien tech shouldn't be too hard. I've got schematics downloaded onto SP / dr from back home. I can cross-reference and see if we can find any leads like manufacturing or the chemical makeups."

"You have alien schematics? How?" Iron Fist asked. The room suddenly got quiet, "Also, the way you're talking about the Chitauri invasion...you guys all act like you weren't there. I wasn't in New York at the time but you have to be living under a rock not to know about it."

"Um..." Spider-Man went from one foot to another and looked around awkwardly.

This was getting them nowhere, "Most of us aren't from here." All eyes turned to Noir now, "All of us here except for Spider-Man are from another dimension."

"Noir!" Stacy screamed.

"What? I don't see the point in hiding this. They can scream about it as much as they want, no one's gonna believe them. Ain't like we're telling them something they can use against us." Noir snapped back, "You know we nearly didn't get this damn thing? Jones didn't wanna risk getting caught with it and doubted Peni could even help. You wanna know how she can help, Jones? Cause she's from the year 3145 and she can analyze this thing a hell of a lot better than any copper can. Happy?"

"You know he does have a point. I don't even know why we were hiding it." Scarlet shrugged.

"Wait, hold on, so you're telling us you're really not from here?" Cage asked. They all (sans Spider-Man) nodded with varying degrees of hesitation, "Damn...and here I thought the purple bastard killing half the planet was the weirded thing we'd ever see."

"I'm not sure if this is much weirder than that, Luke." Daredevil said with a slight smile, "It does explain a few things, but it doesn't really change anything. Hopefully this little bit of honesty allows us to work together a bit better." He titled his head just slightly in Stacy's direction. She either didn't notice or didn't care.

"At least it means we're not gonna be dancing around it anymore," Drew sighed and brought a hand through her hair, "Let's just share our intel and get out of here. I've got a headache."

They exchanged whatever information they could. It wasn't a complete waste of time, at least. It got them a few names - Shocker and Scorpion at the top of the list. Damn it, what was with everyone in these dimensions choosing the stupidest names? Back in his time it actually made at least some sense. If they didn't run into an electro man or a giant talking scropion he was going to be disappointed.

Noir was checking through their compiled notes when he caught Stacy and Spider-Man at the edge of his vision. The two were whispering about something that he couldn't make out but judging by the way Stacy was wringing her hands and looking at Daredevil he had a clue on what it was about.

He didn't pay it any mind. Wasn't any of his business.

They whispered for another couple of minutes before they trudged back to the couch without talking to the guy, "Any new leads on where you two will go?" Noir asked.

"Yeah, me and Spider-Woman are gonna keep working with Mayday. That Turk Barret guy gave us a list of names and addresses, figured we'll shake that tree and see what comes up," Stacy said.

"As for me..." Spider-Man looked down, "I was actually going to see if the Triad lead could get us something but...if these guys who are supplying things like those bombs are involved with selling Chitauri weapons then that narrows things down by a lot. There's only one person I know who could've supplied these things."

"And how do you know that?" Noir asked.

"Cause I was the one who stopped him." Noir hummed. That'd do it, "He's in prison right now, but I kinda did always wonder if maybe there were still members of his crew out there. If there is then he'd know better than anyone else."

"So you're gonna visit him as Spider-Man? Try to comp a plea deal for good behavior?" Gwen asked.

"No, I don't think that's going to work." Spider-Man shook his head, "I'm gonna go without the mask. He...knows who I am." Great. This was getting more complicated by the day, "I guess it's time for me to see Mr. Toomes again."

Alright, I already know what you're thinking: Gwen's segment is basically a re-tread of Liz or Miles or whatever. Her end segment was one of the most difficult parts to write since I had multiple ideas for it. One was having her be a vigilante/hero on her own, Spider-based or not. This one felt kinda redundant with the comics Spider-Gwen being here so it was thrown in favor of the next plan.

This one being her involved with Beck. This one also had multiple options. Option 1 was her being completely unaware of his activities, Option 2 was her thinking he was a hero, and Option 3 was her knowing he was a villain and not caring. Option 1 was a complete retread of Liz and Miles while Option 3 just made her a sociopath so I went with Option 2.

I know people might have their issues with this so please tell me in the comments if this is seen as jumping the shark. If enough readers dislike it I might re-write the scene for something else. Right now I'm hoping this can tie MCU Gwen better to the Mysterio plot and make him more equal to having to contend with more Spiders.

Question:

1. Aside from the Gwen segment above, another thing I'm curious about: do you guys want any arcs besides just New York and then Europe? My original plan was for the Europe trip to happen after they deal with Scorpion but I wonder if you guys want more stuff in-between since once we reach Mysterio the fic ends once that arc finishes.

I ask because when I requested ideas for what readers want I generally expected specific interactions or segments I could squeeze into the main plot but I got requests for full blown arcs.

Review Answers:

NamelessPassionate - Scarlet is actually way toned down from Looking Glass. If this was her home fic she would've been chopping limbs. As for MCU Gwen, she clearly didn't blab about it so at least Peter is safe there :P

Dragon Rider 66 - Gwen didn't blab but clearly Peter was worried enough to get eyebags over it. And of course MCU Gwen was worried for him :)

MagatsuIza - Green Goblin? Not sure if we need another baddie like that since 65-Stark kinda filled the same role.

Ultimatrix Bearer - Depends on what you mean by advice? Need to know what specifically you have difficulty in.

WiseSilver - Next chapter is Peter and Gwen again so hopefully you like it better.