Sorry this took a while. Felt a serious lack of motivation recently and deadlines for various things came up. Playing Guardians of the Galaxy got me back in a Marvel groove, though, so there's that.

Anyway, please read the authors notes at the end of this chapter since it concerns possible future arcs we may have.

Peter took a deep breath and clenched both hands into shaky fists. They were close to Rykers now. The jail wasn't actually in the city so no chance just swinging over there. They had to go by boat and he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel weird being on one again. Last time he went to a ferry it ended with the whole thing being split in half and him almost following. If it wasn't for Mr. Stark he would've...

No, he shouldn't think about it - him - now.

"Hope you're hungry." Gwen handed him a burger then plopped down to his left. He was planning on going alone but Gwen saw how nervous he was the day before and decided then and there that she was coming with no matter how much he argued. Not that he did. As much as he wanted to do this, both to get the info they needed and prove he could handle it on his own, he couldn't deny having Gwen here was helping a lot.

"Starving." He took a big bite of the hot meat and crossed his legs. It took a couple of days for Mrs. Stark to get him an in to talk with Mr. Toomes. Apparently he was one of the lucky ones who didn't get dusted five years ago so he spent the past half a decade serving out his sentence. Not that it mattered much, he guessed. His sentence was fifty years and a chance for parole after twenty five. Selling Chitauri tech and trying to steal Avengers gear was pretty heavy.

"So about this Vulture guy, you said he was an old nemesis?" Gwen said. She'd been talking a lot ever since they left that morning, probably trying to make up for how quiet he'd been. It wasn't his fault. Wasn't every day you met up with a guy who knew your secret identity and also didn't like you all that much. Back when he sent him to prison all those years ago he braced himself for his face showing up in the evening news. But then there was nothing. Nothing about Peter Parker being Spider-Man, not even rumors. It meant Mr. Toomes kept his secret, though he didn't know why.

Whatever his reason, talking about the crime that made him put Mr. Toomes to prison in the first place was a pretty big ask. 'Hey, I know I put you in prison and all, but would you mind telling me about any of your criminal friends that might have got away?' Yeah, that'd go over real well. This was a really dumb idea, but what other choice did he have? Mr. Toomes was the only one he knew that had anything to do with selling Chitauri tech. No one else would have a lead on someone selling.

"Hello? Earth to Peter?" She clapped his shoulder gently and he jumped up in his seat, "Woah, you okay there?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, just..." He shook his head, "What were you asking again?"

"This Vulture guy. He an old supervill of yours?"

"Uh...kinda." Technically right but it felt...wrong calling him that. Even after everything he did - dropping a warehouse over his head came to mind - he still didn't like to think that Mr. Toomes was a completely bad guy. If he thought that he wouldn't even consider going to ask for his help, "He was a criminal and he did have this vulture costume. Still, I guess I understood why he did it, if that makes sense?"

"Hm." Her hand went down his arm and settled at his hand. He squeezed it on instinct, "Depends on what you mean by you understood it."

"Like I know why he did it but I still couldn't agree with him risking innocent people. Putting those weapons out on the street was dangerous."

"Then yeah." She smiled softly, "My dad had a lot of criminals like that. At least some people who steal don't do it because they wanted to but because they thought they didn't have any other choice." Her smile twitched, "Of course I was always 'lucky' enough to get assholes like Murderdock, Rhino and my own Vulture. Least it made sure I never felt guilty knocking their lights out."

"But what about-" He was about to ask about that Harry friend of hers before he cut himself off. It wasn't right for him to bring it up, "What about that that Bodega Bandit guy?" he finished quickly.

Gwen snorted, "That guy? I mean yeah he's harmless but I wouldn't say I 'get' why he does what he does. Seriously, I caught him stealing a freaking arcade machine once. Dude lives in a dumpster! Where the hell was he gonna plug it?"

"Who knows?" Peter shrugged. Woof, saved it.

"Man, I'm gonna have a lot of superheroing to get back to when I go back home." She sagged in her seat, which looked even weirder considering how she was dressed. They couldn't exactly dress up in casuals considering they were going to visit someone in prison so Mrs. Stark told them to dress up. His normal shirts and jeans were replaced with a red dress shirt, slacks and leather shoes that made him look like he was planning to visit church.

Gwen stuck out more than he did. The black sweater, purple skirt and knee-length brown boots looked odd but weirdly fitting on her. She stuck her hands into the pocket of her green coat and tapped her feet on the ground. Apparently it was an outfit she wore when she had to go undercover as an allternate dimension clone. Long story that she didn't want to tell him. All she told him was that the heels were murder but apparently that wasn't an issue now since the symbiote made her clothes for her.

He tried not to think about the fact that it meant she was technically always naked.

"You sure this guy'll talk to us? You did say you were the one who put him in prison."

"We should at least try. Worst case scenario he doesn't say anything and we have to look for other leads."

"Alright, I'll follow your lead."

It took a few more minutes for them to get to Rykers proper. His nerves shot up the closer they got and he could practially feel his heart bouncing against his chest by the time the boat landed. Bright side was there weren't too many people. Visitation rights were still pretty difficult to get for anyone who came back from the blip. The only 'lucky' ones were prisoners and visitors who both survived the snap.

They followed the directions Mrs. Stark gave them till they ran into the suited man at the entrance, "Mr. Matthias, right?" He handed him a card. The sign of the strings she pulled to get them here.

The older man looked at the card through his dark shades and nodded, "Full names?" he asked in a gravelly tone.

"Peter Benjamin Parker."

"Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy."

"Hm." He nodded again then handed back the card, "Follow me." They were led past the waiting area to a private visitation room - standard procedure for high security prisons like this. Peter eyed the camera on the wall warily and Mr. Matthias spoke up again, "Don't worry about the cameras. They won't be recording anything."

"Thanks."

"You'll have thirty minutes to talk. I'll be leaving now."

He and Gwen nodded to one another and took their seats. It took a couple of minutes for the door on the other side of the reinforced glass to open. Peter held his breath as Mr. Toomes stepped through and took his own seat. He didn't look much different from when he saw him last. A few more wrinkles on his face and he'd shaved his head completely but apart from that he was still the same man he remembered.

Mr. Toomes looked at the two of them with a wry smile and picked up the phone with Peter fumbling for his, "This is a surprise." He sounded the same too, Peter thought numbly. Then again why wouldn't he? "Wasn't expecting you of all people to come visit." His eyes flickered to Gwen again before turning back to him.

"Hey, Mr. Toomes." He did his best to smile. It came off looking more like an awkward grimace.

"Hey yourself, Peter. Judging by the look of you, you weren't as luck as I was, huh?"

"Guess not." His grip on the phone tightened.

"Peter..." Gwen squeezed his free wrist and nodded, "You can do this."

"Now you? I don't know." He turned to Gwen again.

"Just a friend who cares." She smiled back at him, the gesture all teeth. Gwen was overprotective sometimes when she thought the people she cared about were in danger. Even with Mr. Toomes stuck here it was clear she thought he was a threat.

"Ha. I don't think your 'friend' likes me, Peter."

"Mr. Toomes, we need your help," Peter said. The faster they got through this the less chance he'd change his mind.

"My help? I'll admit that's not what I expected you'd say."

"Seriously? Did you think he just came here for a visit?" Gwen raised a brow.

"Seems more likely than asking for my help. I assume you know who he really is." Gwen's hard look was enough of an answer, "Then you should know why I'm surprised. You don't normally go ask someone you hate for help."

"I don't hate you," Peter said before he could stop himself.

Mr. Toomes looked honestly surprised at that before his expression turned to an incredulous look, "Peter...I dropped a building on you."

"You what?!" Gwen shouted.

"Gwen!" He let go of the phone and held her right hand with both of his. He thanked Mrs. Stark that the cameras were off cause half of Gwen's face shifting into a black, pulsating mask was not something he wanted anywhere on record, "Gwen, it's fine!"

"It is not fine! Maybe you coulda told me about that first so I could've told you this was a really stupid idea!"

"Gwen, enough!" He stood up and grabbed both her shoulders, "I know you're angry, but it happened to me and I'm over it. Okay?" He had bad dreams those first couple of months. Still, he moved on and he wasn't lying when he said he didn't hate Mr. Toomes. After everything he'd been through he kept the H word for someone more like Thanos or that bastard who wore Mr. Stark's face.

She looked away and, after a deep breath, her face went back to normal, "...I still don't like this."

"I know, but we have try." They stared into each other's eyes for a few more seconds before they took their seats again. Peter picked up the phone again and looked Mr. Toomes dead-on. Somehow he felt less nervewracked than before, "Sorry about that."

"I deserve it." There was that wry smile again. Odd, he thought Mr. Toomes would hate him, not the other way around, "So you came here for...help? I dunno what you're expecting from me, though. Not much I can do while I'm here."

"It's about what happened between us." Mr. Toomes' face darkened. Not angry, more like being reminded of a bad memory, "Those Chitauri weapons you were selling...you couldn't have been the only one who was selling them. There were two guys doing a demo and that there was that guy with the gloves. Shocker, I think?"

"He seriously kept that stupid nickname?" Mr. Toomes sighed, "It was a small gang. Didn't exactly want to spread the word around about what I was doing. There were five of us. Vale and Schultz are in here with me, Brice is gone - and I don't mean that he skipped town." Gwen narrowed her eyes at the double meaning but said nothing, "As for the last guy..."

"Mr. Toomes?"

"You're asking a lot of questions. Answer one thing for me first: why? Why come here asking about what happened? You wouldn't do that if you didn't have to. Means something made you come here."

"Peter, you don't have to tell him anything," Gwen said.

"We don't have a choice." He didn't know how to feel about Mr. Toomes. Did he hate him? No, he wasn't lying about that. Did he trust him? He didn't know. Mr. Toomes didn't give up his identity even though he had every chance to but it didn't change everything he did to him and other people.

He found himself talking anyway.

"There's someone out there selling Chitauri weaponry. Not just Chitauri weapons, they're modified...and they look like the ones you used before." Mr. Toomes didn't say anything. Peter continued, "You and your crew were the only ones who sold those kinds of weapons. I thought you might know something."

"It's flaterring that you think that but what makes you think that no one else could do what we did?"

"Because I don't think it's a coincidence that these modifications just happened to look like the ones you made. When we asked about your crew there was one last guy that you didn't wanna talk about. Does he have something to do with this?" Mr. Toomes went quiet again. Peter took a deep breath and leaned forward, "Whoever this guy is he's putting a lot of innocent people in danger. He's not just selling weapons. If a couple of my friends didn't stop on of his goons he would've blown up an entire street. Please, Mr. Toomes."

"What do want from me, Peter? I've been in prison for the past seven years. I can't magic up a lead. I don't even know what the city looks like now."

"If you really thought that you wouldn't have changed the subject when you were talking about the last guy." Gwen frowned.

"We just need a name, somewhere to start, cause right now we're running around blind and if we don't stop this guy who knows what else he'll do. What if next time we're not so lucky and he blows up another street or does something even worse? You know these weapons, Mr. Toomes, you know what they can do. Please help us."

The silence that came after lasted for almost a minute. Peter figured that was it; they couldn't make him talk and there was nothing else he could do. He was just about to stand when he heard it, "Phineas Mason." Peter's eyes widened and pressed the phone harder against his ear, "His name is Phineas Mason. Only member of my crew that made it out of that mess. Figured he'd keep his head down after what happened, but if you're telling me the truth then he might be starting back up again."

"This Phineas guy, does he seem like the type to start bombing buildings? Maybe call himself Scorpion?" Gwen asked.

"Not him. He's more a tinkerer, prefers to keep a low profile and stick to his own corner. If it really is him - and I still have my doubts - then he must've been hired by someone. Mason's not the one you're after."

"Maybe..." Peter looked down at the gray desk and nodded. It was a start, and at the very least it was better than nothing, "Thanks, Mr. Toomes. I really appreciate it." He wanted to say more but the weight of the phone in his hands suddenly felt heavy. Mr. Toomes nodded and was about to put the phone down when Peter forced himself to talk, "Why didn't you tell anyone who I was."

Another heavy quiet settled over the room. Mr. Toomes looked at him with an unreadable expression while Gwen's brows furrowed worredly and she gently tugged at his sleeve to pull him back. Peter held his ground and kept looking at the older man. It was...he needed to know. Back then he'd just considered it a lucky break and never questioned it. After what happened with that sad excuse for an Iron Man he wasn't going to be so gullible again.

"Is any answer going to satisfy you?" Mr. Toomes said eventually.

"I want the truth." The hand holding to the phone shook, "You thought I hated you. Honestly? I thought the same thing. I thought you'd hate me. I'm the reason you're here and you could-"

"What? Get payback?" Mr. Toomes sighed, "And what does that get me? I'll still be in prison, no amount of revenge can magically undo that. You wanna ask me that question, here's one. Why did you save me? My suit was malfunctioning. You could've just let me burn after what I did, so why didn't you?"

"Because I didn't want you to die."

Mr. Toomes laughed under his breath, "You're a good kid. Maybe I am a piece of shit who should've quit while he was ahead but I'm not a complete bastard. You saved Liz and then you saved me even after everything. Keeping my mouth shut was the least I could do, far as I saw it. And if the rumors are true then you're part of the reason the other half of the world didn't turn to dust a few months ago. Guess I was wrong about Stark too."

"Yeah..." Peter blinked quickly to hold back his tears then closed his eyes, "Alright, thanks."

"One last thing, Peter. Back when I first got taken here there was a guy, Mac Gargan, who really had it in for you. He was part of that deal in the ferry that you busted." The ferry...more bad memories, "He heard a rumor that I knew who you were. I never told him, but he still held a grudge."

"You think this guy'll come after him?" Gwen asked.

"He's dead...or at least he's supposed to be. Heard he got shivved by his cellmate, but...something about it always felt off. Not saying it might be connected but you should still watch your back. Gargan sounded like he was out for blood and if he really isn't dead then I don't think he's happy about Spider-Man coming back from the dead to help save the world."

"Yeah, I hear you. Don't worry, we can handle it." Peter's next smile was confident and he felt lighter than he had all day. They had a lead. Sure it was just a name but she he was sure they could get something from it. Ms. Jones and Noir were investigators and Daredevil was apparently a lawyer. They could dig up old cases or find his old address or...or something. Either way he definitely did good coming here.

All those happy feelings went out the window when they got back to the waiting area.

"...Peter?"

Peter froze and stood stock still. Gwen stopped walking and looked at him with worry but he couldn't even look at her. All his attention was drawn to the figure who suddenly stood up from the table. He suddenly felt faint and it took everything he had to force himself to breath and not collapse in a heap. Even after everything he did to prepare himself to for today the idea of running into her never crossed his mind.

"Liz...?"

Liz walked towards him with wide eyes and stopped when there was just a few feet of distance. She looked...different. He knew for a while now that she didn't get snapped away like he was but seeing her in front of him now was...hard. A reminder of just how much time passed for the people he used to spend class with. Liz was older now, more mature and adult but still unmistakably the same Liz he fell for all those years ago.

And him? He looked the same as he always did.

Neither of them said anything. Gwen looked between the two of them and looked like she was debating between saying something or dragging him out of there. He was about to beg her to do the latter when he heard Liz talk again.

"It really is you." Liz tried to smile. Tried being the word. It looked as forced and unnatural as how they both felt right now. There was a reason they didn't keep in contact with the classmates who survived. Jason always joked about how his younger brother was older than him now but he couldn't hide how hard it was to miss all those years. Parents who lost their kids, kids who lost parents, people who lost friends, the friends who lost them...seeing each other again was just a reminder.

He remembered how Michelle mentioned meeting Cindy a few weeks ago, how odd it was to see the girl they went to decathlon with almost graduating college with a serious boyfriend, career prospects and things they could only imagine in high school.

"Y-Yeah..." He had to force himself to reply, "Wh...What are you doing here?"

"Just...visiting dad. Weekly visits, you know. What about you?"

"Same..."

"What?"

"Uh, I mean-"

"We were visiting a friend." Gwen cut in. She stood in front of him slightly like a shield.

"A...friend? Wait, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Liz Toomes, I'm a friend of Peter." She offered her a hand.

Gwen shook her hand, "Maxine Carmichael." Carmichael, her mom's last name. Was she worried Liz knew the Gwen from this universe too? "I'm an old friend of Peter too. We...reconnected after the dusting." Dusting? That was new.

"A lot of people reconnecting nowadays." Liz hummed, "So you said you were visiting a friend?"

"Um, yeah!" Peter nodded quickly, "He's a friend from out of school. He survived the Blip and things went bad. Apparently he got into some real deep stuff and now he's here. I found out that he broke bad a week ago and I figured I should visit and see how he's doing. I mean I know it's been five years for him but he's still my friend. Thought it was the least I could do."

"...You haven't changed at all, Peter." Liz's soft smile felt like a punch in the gut. She looked at the clock on the wall and let out a soft breath, "My time's coming up. It was...nice to see you again."

"You too, Liz."

Peter lingered on the same spot till Gwen held his hand and gently tugged him back to the entrance. He followed along without a word and breathed a sigh of relief when the fresh air finally hit him once they got outside. A part of him just wanted to put his mask on and get to swinging before he reminded himself just where they were. Unless he wanted to take a dunk in the ocean he needed to calm down.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by Gwen's hand on his shoulder, "Peter?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"...We need to talk." Peter winced. Yeah, that figured, "Let's go find somewhere to sit while we're waiting for the next boat."

They sat at a bench with no other people around. Gwen took up the left corner and Peter sat on the right to try and put some distance between them. Gwen gave him a questioning look then scooted over till their legs were touching, "...Is this uncomfortable?" she asked softly, "Cause I can move away if you really wanna be alone."

"N-No, it's not..." He shook his head, "I'm just...rattled. I didn't expect to see Liz back there."

"That old friend of yours...who happens to be the daughter of the supervillain we just visited." Peter cringed. Yeah, so he told Gwen about how Liz was his old crush. The fact that she was also the daughter of his first ever big criminal? Yeah, kinda hard to bring up. It wasn't like it came up in normal conversation and he figured he'd never see her again even before the Snap so why talk about it?

"I'm guessing it's not just seeing your old crush that's got you rattled." She crossed her arms.

"Yeah, it's..." He paused, trying to find the words, "I knew she wasn't taken away but it's just so...weird seeing her like that. So...grown up and adult while I'm still..."

"It's definitely weird." Gwen smiled sympathetically, "I won't pretend I know what it feels like. When I went to prison I got out in a year. My friends, my dad, Ben and May...they didn't really change much. If you need to scream or do anything then I'm here for you. You were there for me back then so I really need to return the favor." She grinned and bumped her shoulder against his.

"I'll be fine, Gwen. Just need to let it pass."

His phone rang, "Scarlet? What's up?"

"Not good." She sounded strained. Peter gave Gwen a serious nod and moved the phone so they could both hear, "We were looking up on leads and things went sideways. Noir, Daredevil and Jones got banged up."

"Are they alright?" Gwen asked.

"They'll live, we took them to one of Iron Fist's places and we got a doctor friend to help. It was those 'Chitauri' weapons again. Those things pack a real hit." She clicked her tongue, "I'd probably be in pieces if I didn't have Crimson. Did your lead pan out?"

"We got a name." And the people he wanted to investigate it got laid up. Just his luck, "I don't think we should talk about it here. Let's meet up where those three are." He wanted to check in on them too. Hopefully it wouldn't take them long to get better.

"Alright, I'll text you the address. I wanna get this asshole and make them pay for what he did."

"We'll be there soon," Gwen said. Peter cut the call and they both nodded to one another. Time to get to it.

A blast from the past with Adrian and Liz Toomes. Peter's got a real feeling of whiplash right now. Thankfully Gwen and the other Spiders are there to keep him more balanced.

Anyway, like I said above I have ideas for future arcs. It seems like people are interested in more arcs after the Scorpion one besides Mysterio but since I don't want to bloat this story too much I'll try to limit the number of arcs till we get to to the Mysterio finale. I'll suggest some arcs and pick which one appeals to you the most:

1. Spiders of the Galaxy. Crossover with Guardians where Rocket crash lands in New York chasing an alien bounty with the rest of the group following soon after. Mostly focused on inter-group banter and cause I played the Guardians game and showcasing a bit more of the space side of the MCU.

2. Multiversal Sinister Six. An attempt by the Spiders to try and make a dimensional gate to take them back home leads to issues when it causes the dimension they're currently on to glitch out. The biggest issue is that parts of each Spider's rogue gallery has shown up and now they have to deal with it. Mostly focused on cross-Spider fights such as Peni or MCU Peter dealing with Noir Vulture or Gwen or Noir dealing with Peni's Sandman.

3. Stark Legacy. The Spiders spend some time with Pepper Potts, Happy and others while trying to put Stark's affairs in order. Focus is more on Peter's feelings after Tony's death and possible appearances from other heroes such as Ant-Man or Bruce. Also might show other kids like Harley Keener and Morgan Stark cause that's been asked about a bunch.

Some people also suggested doing something with Falcon and Winter Soldier but honestly I have no clue how to get the Spiders involved in that given that it's a set plot already. They can't really do much from what I gathered. If you guys have any arcs you want then feel free to suggest them. I might be able to get some ideas, at least.

Review answers:

Gnool - Not looking to repeat Raimi.

Ultimatrix Bearer - PM me, I guess? Need specifics if you want advice.

Dragon Rider 66 - Either she's an Inhuman, a mutant or just got them from a random accident.

Sword-Of-Dusk - This fic was done purely because someone suggested it on spacebattles and then it exploded into being far more popular than I thought or intended. I ask for audience participation a lot sionce I legit didn't expect this to last so long or for readers to be so invested.