Cowboy voice: Hawld onto your butts, folks. 'Cause the truth train is coming inta the station.

Miles wakes up in a dimly lit room with no windows. It smells clean and safe though, so he doesn't feel on edge anymore. Sleep is still strong in his dazed brain and he just feels around the firm mattress and clean sheets. Curling under the covers, he tucks his head under his arm, only stopping when there's an odd tugging sensation from his lower arm.

There's a thin clear tube running into a sharp point below his knuckles, right into his skin. Miles blinks slowly, staring at the IV line, drowsiness slowly disappearing.

He's in a hospital room.

Miles's mom has been a nurse for long enough that he's spent several hours in hospital waiting rooms as a child, familiarized with the general noise and ambiance of the institution.

This building is terribly quiet.

Miles sits up, looking up at the clear bag with the saline drip. It's nearly empty, which means he's been in here long enough.

What was the last thing he remembers? Fighting with the drones… the police handcuffing him… no, tying him with zip-ties…

Uncle Aaron had driven the blue van!

Miles swallows, looking around the room. He isn't cuffed to the bed, but the door to the side is firmly shut. A metal cabinet stood beside it, and another bed was placed nearby, though empty. It looks like a temporary med-bay.

There are voices on the other side of the door, slowly growing louder.

"... sure you've never seen him before?" a lady asks, voice quite stern.

"Definite!" Uncle Aaron responds, sounding a little frustrated. "I don't have nephews, I barely know any tweens! Whoever this kid is—"

"Called you uncle," a second lady's voice comes. Miles recognizes her. She's the one who saved him.

"And he knew your name," the first lady adds.

"I really don't know what to tell you. I've never met the kid and I don't know why he was trying to bust into my apartment."

"He's got some serious skill. He crossed more than half the borough without being detected. I don't know what Parker wants with him, but it can't be anything good," the first lady says.

"Did Stark get back to you?"

"Yes, he said he's on his way here."

"Here? But—"

The door opens suddenly and Miles jumps. He tries to make it look like he's just woken up, but it is a pitiful attempt.

Uncle Aaron, the mystery lady, and the red-headed lady stop at the door amused at his shocked face.

"You look better," the mystery lady says. Miles looks at Uncle Aaron but sees no sign of recognition there. He nods.

"Thanks…" he mumbles.

"How's the ankle?"

Miles pulls on the sheet to look at the mildly smarting foot. His left ankle is wrapped in tight bandages, but it doesn't hurt as much as expected. He figures it's mostly healed.

"Good," he answers. "Umm… who are you guys?"

"We're SHIELD," the red-haired lady announces. Miles suddenly recognizes her very familiar face.

"Holy shit, you're the Black Widow!" Miles crows, jaw-dropping. How hadn't he recognized her before?

The super spy smirks lightly. "Yes. These are Agents Aaron Davis and Michelle Jones. You've already met them."

The mystery lady, Jones, nods with a light smile. "Hey, kid."

Uncle Aaron doesn't say a word, still scrutinizing him.

"Thanks," Miles says, swallowing. His throat's gone dry. "For saving me, I mean. Not for introducing yourselves… that'd be weird."

"Why were you at my apartment?" his uncle asks, with no preamble.

On one hand, Miles is immensely relieved and ecstatic that Aaron is alive and well, and working with SHIELD no less! He's a good guy here!

On the other hand… how is he supposed to explain this?

"I was… honestly just looking for a place to hide for the night," Miles says, hurriedly thinking of something. "Your place was empty, so I thought…"

Uncle Aaron didn't look convinced and neither did the others.

"You don't sound like you're from LA," Jones says slowly.

Miles blinks. "Um… no. Born and raised in Brooklyn, ma'am."

Jones shares a look with Natasha Romanoff. "He might be expanding."

Uncle Aaron is still frowning. "You ready to tell us everything, kid?"

"Yeah. But, you got something to eat, first?" Miles asks, feeling his stomach grumble.

A pizza is hastily reheated and some of its parts were stiff, the crust having gone stale. Miles picks out pieces of pineapple, cheeks growing hot as everyone stares at him pushing the fruit aside to devour the slice piled with pepperoni.

Miles's spidey sense isn't pinging in this windowless building, surrounded by several well-trained agents, but he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. He spilled most of the story to Uncle Aaron, Jones, and Romanoff, who sent the news off to the rest of their team immediately. His head is swimming, not from any injury, but because he is in a brightly lit conference room, at one end of a long table. Every seat is occupied by an Avenger or SHIELD agent. To say that the situation is nerve-wracking is an understatement.

"What's your proof?" Nick Fury (COMMANDER NICK FURY WAS TALKING TO HIM!) asked, the only man standing. He looks exactly the way Miles remembers from some press photo years ago back in his world. Like Uncle Aaron, Fury is one of those people who look the same in both dimensions. Peter is the only exception, Miles thinks.

"You saw the video, Fury," Natasha Romanoff (SUPER-SPY BLACK WIDOW ASKED HIM TO CALL HER BY NAME!) says. "We've run the scans. Things aren't computing, not even with the tech we have."

"Ned and I ran basic electron orbital and quantum filter programs," Shuri (THE PRINCESS OF FREAKIN' WAKANDA!) says, her left arm raised, wrist turned up. She has a black beaded bracelet with neon letters glowing like magic. "His state is in flux; stable, but very different from ours. It's similar to the reading we got from the video."

Bucky Barnes (THE WINTER SOLDIER, HOLY MACKEREL!) has both arms folded on the table. There is a permanent scowl on his forehead as he gauges Miles without blinking. "Are you talking about his cellular state? Or is this affecting him right down to the atomic level?"

"Think quarks," Shuri says. "The spin is completely off. His clothes are of our world, but skin, DNA, the boy himself is from another."

Miles looks up. "My DNA? You took my DNA?"

"Your ankle had a compound fracture," Jones (AN ACTUAL SHIELD AGENT, WOWZA!) explains. She sits closest to him on his left. Her expression is serene, almost bored, but Miles can sense nothing but comfort from her. "The bone was exposed and you were tracking blood everywhere. We only took a sample to check your story. Nothing nefarious."

Miles nods slowly, looking to Uncle Aaron who is seated to his right, engrossed in his phone. He didn't even look interested in the conversation, but his shoulders are tense. Miles is yet to spill the real deets of why he'd tried to break into the man's home. All he'd mentioned is that Parker would be looking into Rio Morales and did Aaron know her?

Uncle Aaron's eyes had widened then and he'd immediately whipped his cell out, tapping across the screen with furious intensity. So, at least Miles could be sure that his parents are in hiding. But how is he supposed to reveal the rest?

Yeah, I'm your nephew, your brother and sister-in-law's kid. You were killed by your evil boss, Kingpin, after you chose to not kill me. Up until then, you were trying to kill me because I'm the new Spider-Man on the block. Sooo… you're a SHIELD agent here? Dope.

He imagines Aaron's head imploding from the information.

Miles swallows the half-cold pizza down with difficulty. It is a far cry from the homemade juicy pie Parker had made for him. But things were cold, dull, and grey now: a more jaded but truthful side of this adventure.

"If what you're saying is true…" Sam Wilson (WHO IS CAPTAIN AMERICA, PRAISE BE OPRAH, I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!) asks slowly, "Then Parker's actually bringing people from different dimensions into this one… the hell does that do to our world? Shouldn't there be some kind of fabric-of-the-universe problems that we ought to be facing now? This can't happen without consequences."

"And not just that," Ned Leeds (HE'S THE ONE WHO DEACTIVATED ALL THE DRONES, HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE HIM?) adds. "Peter's really killing them, draining them of their powers. What did you say, Miles? The PRIME machine?"

Miles nods frantically. "That's what he calls it. But I blasted it when I first got sucked into this world. So he waited a few hours till Parker Senior got it back up and running."

"And then you destroyed it," Natasha says, leaning against her chair. She shares a look with Jones, communicating silently.

"I think so," Miles hedges. "It definitely went bada-booey. Not sure if it went kaboom."

"There most certainly was a kaboom," Uncle Aaron mutters. "Warehouse 97 is sealed out completely now. If it was impossible to break into yesterday, it's unthinkable now. Parker's been closing sections of the city to conduct the man-hunt."

He looks at Miles, very somber. "He's dead set on getting you back, kid."

Miles loses his appetite. His eyes start to burn again. Jones glares at Aaron. "I think he knows, Davis. Don't make him feel any worse."

Barnes drops his metal knuckles onto the table. "How did you get away from Petey in the first place?"

Miles plays with the pineapple pieces on the plate. The room has layered walls intended to soundproof it. It's a good job because he can't hear personnel moving anywhere around them.

"I smashed my way out. Gave him the ol' one-n-two."

None of them look convinced. Wilson frowns. "Parker's got some of the most advanced tech on the planet. He's got resources in cash, arms, and manpower. He runs the western world. Nothing happens without his eye on it, and now you say that he's absorbed the powers of seventeen enhanced beings from different dimensions in the multiverse."

"Which makes a lot of sense in retrospect," Fury says. "His strength has been growing, the points jumping at every monitoring op. Remember the Deadpool fight?"

There is a collective shiver around the table. Miles is reminded of the fan wave a stadium would do at a soccer match, except the mood here is very much the opposite.

"He brought out a lot of big guns during the Quebec battle," Jones tells him. "It was way too much. We had to evacuate the area. Buildings leveled, forests disintegrated, lakes boiled away. They'd left damage equivalent to a nuke, without even using a missile."

Miles's jaw drops. "He killed Deadpool?!"

Captain Wilson snorts. "Oh jeez, nothing can kill DP. Not even Petey, but he came real close. Took out a chunk of the country. Fury's right, this explains so much."

The Winter Soldier suddenly sits ramrod straight. His Vibranium arm slides across the tabletop at the movement.

The captain frowns. "Bucky, what—"

"Leipzig," Barnes hisses.

This time, Miles feels the frigid silence of the table. Everyone is deadly quiet, some kind of realization dawning upon them.

Natasha inhales sharply. Barnes pushes back, chair scraping the floor as he gets up and marches away. Wilson closes his fists, eyes trained at the table to not react. Miles doesn't want to be the one to break the silence. They stay there, even Fury is quiet as though in memoriam.

Uncle Aaron's cellphone pings, and everyone's reverie is broken.

"Jeff and Rio are in the facility," Aaron says, making Miles nearly jump. "I need to check on them."

He pushes his chair as well, leaving the group. Jones narrows her eyes and then looks back at Miles.

"You know… Rio Morales is eight months pregnant now…"

Miles swallows his last piece of pizza. There's no taste to it.

It's late in the evening and Miles's body is still feeling the exhaustion of the last few hours.

Not to mention, hearing that his parents are in the same building as him, makes him breathe a sigh of relief. It means Parker hasn't gotten close to them. It means they still have time to figure things out.

Agent Jones leads him down a maze of corridors, right into a small room with a bed and a shelf. She turns on the light and Miles walks in smelling the locked and musty odor of the dust. The sheets on the bed are clean thankfully.

"You'll be safe here," Jones says, patting the shelf. "There's a change of clothes for tomorrow. When the others get here, we'll see what to do. Until then… night-night."

"Thanks! But…" Miles wrings his hands. "How's my parents?"

Jones has a hand on the door handle. She quirks an eyebrow. "So they are your parents?"

He groans silently. "Yeahhh… um…"

"And you're sure you're not from the future?"

"Nope! Just from another dimension."

Jones chuckles. "Oh, man. It's gonna be one of those weeks, huh? Aaron'll keep an eye on them, don't worry."

"Yeah, but…"

"I know you're young, kid. But Morales is pregnant with you right now. We don't know what it would do to you or the baby if you got close. Like… what if it cancels out? I minored in Physics, but it doesn't mean I'm confident about this."

Miles stares at her in horror. What?! Cancel out? But then, Peter B., Spider Noir, Peni, and even Peter Porker would have just canceled each other out at contact.

"That's not how it works!"

Her eyebrows come together, "How d'you know that? We just discovered that Peter's been bringing Spider-heroes from other dimensions to drain them of their power. What if just a touch would do it? What if the PRIME machine ensures the power transfer happens in only one direction?"

Miles shakes his head through her questions. "No, trust me! That's not gonna happen."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because—" he cuts himself off. How much can he really tell them? He made the mistake of telling Parker everything and now Peni's world might be a target. He's fairly certain he told Parker the wrong Earth number for her, but he can't be sure how long that good luck would last.

Jones is unblinking. "We can't help you if you keep things from us, kid."

Miles sighs, fiddling with the ties of an old SHIELD hoodie he now has on. "It's not that I don't want you to know… I already spilled so much to the villain. The Peter Parker from my world was a good guy. He was a real hero, sticking up for regular people, keeping New York from blowing up every other month. The one in this dimension sucks. Like… he knew exactly what he was doing. He got me talking about all things I knew. Had he given me more time, I would have told him freakin' state secrets if I knew them."

He sits on the bed, staring at his unlaced shoes. His heart is heavy, many things weighing it down.

Jones steps away from the door. "Why didn't he give you more time?"

Miles drags the tip of the shoe across the floor to make scuff marks. "I guess he couldn't risk it. He drugged me pretty early on. The lemonade, I'm betting. It was the best lemonade I'd ever had too. But the whole while… my spider-sense was on the fringe like it wasn't sure to even raise an alarm or just stay quiet."

"Your what?"

"My… (sigh)... spider-sense. It's my sixth sense," Miles explains, waving a hand to gesture to the back of his neck. "It lets me know if there's danger around. That's how I avoided the drones. But Parker barely set it off at first—"

"The tingle?" Jones asks, completely out of the blue. Dropping her professional demeanor, she looks wildly curious.

"I guess it's like a tingling sensation… but for bigger baddies, it's like static electricity, right at the spine."

"Peter has that too. His neck tingled every time…" she trails off, a frown back on her face. Miles watches her closely. Her tone is tender and she looks lost in thought.

The familiarity in her voice, the way she called him 'Peter' twice…

"You know him!" Miles says in surprise. His spider-sense isn't pinging, blaring, or even tingling. But this woman knows super-villain Peter Parker; Miles should be getting the hell out of dodge.

"I… did," Jones admits. "Ned was closer to him. We went to school together. And Uni."

Miles's jaw is on the floor. Plot twist; didn't see that one coming!

"But you're with SHIELD! You're working against him? You're an Agent, Jones! You…"

Miles squints. "Did you say your name is Michelle Jones?"

"Yes."

Miles wracks his brain for a Michelle Jones from his world. He can't recall if May or MJ ever mentioned the name. Ned Leeds is also not very familiar to him.

"I guess there's not a version of me in your home?"

"Maybe I just don't know you," Miles shrugs. "I don't know any SHIELD agent from my home. So meeting all of you is like a dream come true… in this whole thing which is a nightmare."

Jones cranes her neck to relieve a few cricks. "You should get some sleep—"

"What was he like?" Miles interjects. "Like, before he became… all this. Before he ruled the world or whatever?"

"That's a story for later."

"But it's just gonna keep me awake all night. And I'm… like, he's scary, right?" Miles asks, suddenly hunching his shoulders. "Was he always scary? Or was he a good friend?"

Jones frowns. "You tryna guilt me?"

"Is it working?"

"No."

"I promise," Miles says solemnly. "To go beddy-bye."

Jones scoffs. "Jeez, kid… yeah, he wasn't always so scary. He used to be a puppy. Graduated to a Cocker Spaniel by the time I met him in high school. Ned actually grew up with him. You want the full story, you can ask him."

"What can you tell me about him, though? He was a good person before?"

Jones's joking manner falls. Her lips turn down and there is an unavoidable sadness around her. She looks like she needs a good hug and if Miles hadn't just met her a few hours ago, he might have offered one.

"He was a good person. Good friend. Ned's best friend, in fact."

Miles raises his eyebrows. "And yours."

Jones smiles. There is no humor in the expression. "And mine."

Miles sleeps uneasily. But he manages to get some shut-eye and feels mostly rested late the next morning.

At 10, he's wandering through the maze of corridors, trying to follow his nose to the cafeteria. It leads him to the kitchen instead, possibly the most important place ever. His stomach is crying and he can smell sweet porridge and sugar.

One of the cooks is kind enough to offer him oats and porridge for brunch. He devours two full bowls of it, relishing in hot and delicious food. It was far better than the pizza Parker had given him; the pizza laced with evil intentions. Miles shudders and reaches for another serving of oats when someone sits beside him.

It's Rio Morales. Miles stares. His mother looks very young. Her middle is distended and she leans against the chair beside him, exhaling in relief.

"Do you mind?" Rio asks gently, her forehead coated with sweat. "I need to sit. And eat. Dios mío!"

She massages her back and looks at a box of cornflakes longingly. Miles is out of his chair, rushing for the box and a clean bowl, before his brain catches up to the shock.

His mom, this young version of his mom, is staring at him, completely stunned. Miles places the bowl in front of her and pours the cornflakes and milk. Then he pushes the small jar of sugar to her.

"Um… do you want sugar? Ma'am?"

"Oh my… " Rio says, picking up her spoon. "You're really fast, you know?"

"Yeah…"

Miles looks to the door, listening for his dad's footsteps, but there isn't anyone approaching the kitchen.

"Where are your parents, dear?" Rio asks, pouring an ungodly amount of sugar.

Closer than you think.

"Yeah, they're not here," he says, his voice high. "I'm hoping to go home soon… are you okay? Do you need something else?"

"¡Ñam! This is great, thank you. I was afraid there'd be no food since it's so late past breakfast," Rio smiles.

Miles nods, looking at her stomach again. She is very pregnant, the top of her belly touching the underside of the table. He can't imagine it being so comfortable for her.

But more to the point… that's him. That baby in her is him.

Miles feels the partially digested food in his stomach shift a bit. He looks at his own bowl, the last remaining dregs of soggy flakes soaking up some milk.

She must be in her late twenties. Miles's mom was 27 when he was born. This version of her looks about that age. But the year isn't 2004 now, it's 2019, same as Miles's home. How could some things be exactly the same and some others be so, so different?

Miles swallows heavily, hands shaking. He wants to get away from here. He wants to see his Mami, not the woman sitting beside him.

His face is wet and she looks at him, startled.

"Dear," Rio's face crumples in sympathy. "¿Qué pasa?"

She sounds just like Mom, Miles thinks, shoulders shaking and dropping his head onto the table. Rio touches his back and her kindness hurts him. "What's your name, dear?"

The irony of it all. He raises his head and mumbles, "Miles."

"Okay, Miles," she says and her voice is beautiful. Miles hiccups feeling his nose start running now. His ugly crying has never failed to draw his mom's full attention.

"I m-messed up," he stammers.

"Huh?"

Miles sobs, burying his face in his hands. "I messed up so bad!"

"Oh, that's…" she trails off, unsure of what to say. "You're here, Miles. This is the right place. These people, they'll fix the problem!"

Footsteps squeak on the shiny floors and Miles stiffens, listening to the familiar heart pace of the man who enters the kitchen.

"Rio!" his dad calls in relief. "I ran all the way from the cafeteria, why're you here?"

"They stopped serving flakes there. I wanted something sweet," she shrugs, still rubbing Miles's back.

"Please text me before you go. I didn't know where you were." Miles hears them kiss and then feels his dad's eyes stare into the side of his head.

Their voices are softer now, talking about the weird kid who burst into tears at the sight of a pregnant stranger. Miles can't bear to see his dad's face, to see his dad look at him with no recognition.

"Son?" Jefferson says. "Do you have anyone we can call?"

Not in this universe.

Miles hiccups, trying to get his breathing under control. He's starting to panic. He doesn't know what to do.

"Where are your parents?"

They're next to me.
They're a world away.
They don't know where I am.
They don't know who I am. After all, I didn't tell them, because I'm scared they'll hate me for it.

"Jeff," Rio murmurs. "He's probably lost. Be nice."

"Right, right," Jeff whispers. "Is there an agent looking out for you? Do you want to talk to somebody?'

Miles rubs his face, trying to get some bearing back. "Uh… Her name is Jones. Agent… uh… Michelle Jones, I think. Yeah."

"Aaron might know her," Rio suggests. Miles hears Jeff slip out his cellphone.

"I'll try to reach him again," Jeff says, sitting beside Rio.

Michelle Jones takes ten minutes to reach the kitchen. Miles has stopped crying now, just sniffling occasionally. He's just glad he had some food in him, or he might have collapsed.

"Kid, everything okay?" Jones asks, walking to the trio. Her eyes flit over Rio and Jeff, very briefly lingering over Rio's belly before looking at Miles for an answer.

"Yeah…" he nods quickly. "I just got overwhelmed."

Rio smiles. "I think they have bacon in the cafeteria. You'll feel better if you eat something heavier."

"Sounds good," Jones nods, smiling quickly. Miles sees the dismissal and gets up.

"Thanks," he tells his parents who nod back at him.

He and Jones leave the kitchen and, instead of taking a right to the cafeteria, she gestures to him to walk up to the elevator.

"Didn't get canceled out," Jones noted. Miles coughs, trying to chuckle, but it's half-hearted.

"Sorry," Jones added. "That was rude."

"No, it's okay."

"I didn't think you'd see them so soon. Aaron got them here a few hours ago. Peter's not gonna find them. They'll be safe here."

Miles nods, feeling better now. They're moving down to sub-level 10, and when the elevator doors hiss open, they walk into an enormous laboratory. Glass walls protect the sides allowing them to see in. A group of people huddle around a table that's projecting a hologram of the very warehouse Miles had escaped from the day before.

"... from Warehouse 97," the Princess of Wakanda tells her audience. "The movers shifted them all out in the night. There's nothing there tying Parker Technologies to what happened in the past week."

"Bastard's fast," Bucky Barnes growls.

Jones stands beside Agent Romanoff, nodding professionally. Miles stands there, awkwardly gauging at the adults.

"Morales," Fury says, eyeing him keenly. "Did you happen to see any other prisoners at the warehouse?"

"Any other…" he gapes. "No. There was no one else, just me."

"Nobody?" A newcomer asks. Miles looks over to the other side of Romanoff and stares in shock.

Tony Stark, Iron Man himself, is standing here, arms folded. Grey peppered hair, he looks older, weathered, and exhausted. Miles hates to say it, but he looks defeated.

He's not the Stark that had visited Miles in his world, asking him to participate in an Avenger civil war. This Tony Stark has suffered loss and not recuperated at all.

"No, no," Miles whispers. "I was the only one… "

"The others would have been a few years ago, Stark," Sam Wilson says quietly.

Stark's grins without humor. "We now know what Petey's been upto all these years. Scooped up all their powers and killed them, one by one. Now we know why we didn't find Rogers for so many months after Leipzig."

Captain America and the Winter Soldier are statues. Miles eyes the Vibranium arm, feeling his spider-sense ping very lightly.

"Same with Pepper," Bucky says with a growl. "She and Steve must have been some of the first if he's been doing this for years."

Shuri senses the dangerous tone of the conversation and tries to steer it away towards the case. "If Parker's been refining the technique all these years, we can't assume that Miles managed to destroy the machine in one go."

Miles's heart sinks. He hasn't thought that Parker could have a back-up.

"But our first order of business is to send Miles back to his world," Jones says, annoyed. "Parker managed that with a different machine. Any idea on reverse engineering for a solution?"

Shuri made a face. "I have no specs on any kind of machinery he could have used. Ned thinks we can use Miles's DNA to work out how to build stable quantum tunnels to his world, but even that can take weeks, if not months, to theorize and build."

Miles almost slumps into a chair beside him, terrified that he might be stuck here for so long. But then he remembers his gizmo—the multiverse transporter watch he and Peni had been trying to formulate their own transporter for ages. Can that work?

Miles swears.

Everyone turns to him. Miles squints at Shuri's sand-table before admitting defeat and saying, "Okay, so… I had my device when I got pulled into this dimension. It's an untested multiverse transporter."

They stare at him. Jones finally drops her too-cool-for-you look and is rightly stunned. Natasha raises an eyebrow. "Very convenient."

"I left it behind with Parker in his lab," Miles mutters.

Ned groans. "Inconvenient!"

But Aaron looks curious. "Which lab?"

"Huh?"

"Which lab did you leave your transporter in?"

Miles thinks hard. The last time he'd been wearing it was up in Peter's office in his main Queens mansion. When Miles succumbed to the drug in the lemonade and woke up in Parker's cold, dim lab, his web-shooters and gizmo were missing. That's where he'd seen Ben Parker for the first time and when Peter revealed that Miles had destroyed his teleporter.

"I was in his office when I had it on. But then I passed out and woke up somewhere else. It was a small room, no windows, just one door," Miles recalls. "There was a plastic chair with… with restraints and stuff."

Ned looks a little sick. "Like a cramped dentist's office?"

"Yes!"

Jones frowns, sharing a knowing glance with the others. "Was there a cage?"

"Cage? In the lab? No."

Sam nods. "Parker Mansion in Queens. All his other labs have reinforced cages."

Fury glowers. "That place is a fortress. We need to have solid evidence that the gizmo is there before we can even plan a break-in."

There's some frantic keyboard smash from Ned. He checks a lot of tabs on his laptop before shooting Miles a crucial question, "You've never tested it? It's unfinished or ready to be used?"

Miles grimaces in thought. "I did line it with my DNA to equip it with homeworld data. Which means if I can get to it, I can try getting myself home instantaneously, but I've never tried it before."

Shuri perks up. "Your gizmo has your DNA?"

"Yeah, as part of its coding—"

"We can build a tracer," Stark said, the spark of ingenuity making him look alive. "Kid, we can use your blood now to build a tracking device and confirm where the gizmo is."

"And once we know its location, we can split up. One group causes a distraction, another sneaks in to get it back—" Sam continues.

"While also setting off a few bombs," Bucky adds murderously.

"We can execute the Turncoat plan," Natasha says, nodding towards Jones.

Miles watches the Avengers plan and work together in awe. This is what they should be about. Not whatever the Tony Stark of his world had meant by recruiting him to fight in a superhero civil war.

Jones looks subdued but her body language plainly says she's ready. Miles has no idea what a turncoat is, but it's probably got nothing to do with fashion. He asks, "But how can we fight Parker? If he can level a whole battlefield—"

"We're definitely not gonna fight him," Aaron says wide-eyed. "That would be suicide. Also, highly illegal."

"It won't be easy to get his guard down," Ned says, worryingly. "He knows that we don't like him, even if a lot of SHIELD teams support him…"

Jones shrugs. "Easy. I'm not gonna talk to him as a SHIELD agent."

Stark chuckles, folding his arms. "Pissed off ex may be even worse, Jones."

She glares at him and Miles's brain flickers off and on.

Ex?

Agent Jones and Parker used to date?

Miles's jaw drops. He points at her and shouts, "You're MJ!"

Everyone stares at him yet again. Jones sighs. "So… I guess there is an MJ in your dimension?"

Miles is shunted off to the cafeteria while the grown-ups mastermind a plan to trick the world's powerhouse-of-a-hero who's absorbed the powers of seventeen previous Spider-people from various dimensions.

And had apparently killed Steve Rogers and Pepper Potts.

His ankle is better now. Miles sits at one of the tables to undo the wrapping around it, testing its soreness. He stands and twirls, nearly smacking right into Uncle Aaron who magicked right beside him.

"Eep!" Miles stumbles back onto his seat.

Aaron is surprised as well, but reacts with much more poise. Taking a step back he says, "Easy kid. Just checking in on you."

Heart racing, Miles tries to take deep and long breaths.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool!"

Aaron grins. "Q99 fan, huh?"

Miles gawks. "Q?"

"Yeah. Queens Nine-Nine, the cop comedy show," Aaron explains. "You don't have that?"

The boy opens and closes his mouth like a fish. "No. Nope. We have Brooklyn Nine-Nine!"

Aaron tucks his chin in before chuckling. "Doesn't really roll off the tongue, does it?"

"It does," Miles mutters, petulant. "And it's a firehouse comedy show, actually."

His uncle guffaws. Miles watches, his heart aching at the beautiful sound. Not even in his imagination, did he think Aaron Davis's throaty laugh could ring out in the world again.

Aaron sits beside him, leaving a comfortable space between them. He looks Miles in the eye and says, "I see the way you watch me, kid. There's something about it. If you're really my brother's child… we're family."

Miles winces. "Is it that obvious?"

He shrugs. "I didn't connect the dots at first. But some stuff made sense in retrospect. Also, Rio and Jeff just told me this morning about a sad lost boy who looked squirrely and reminded them of the time I had tried to drive my dad's car when I was twelve. Things clicked."

Miles blinks up at him, hardly believing this tale. "You tried to drive Papa's car?"

Aaron smirks. "Yes. And you just proved it now."

The worst part about being a new Spider-Man isn't just the side and main comments from hostile people online and on the streets. It's also desperately searching for the safe place for Miles to know how to hide the secret from family while also not pushing them away.

He isn't doing such a good job of it in this dimension. His secret keeping skills are at an all time low.

"I guess I'm not very close with you and your folks?" Aaron said carefully. "In your world, that is."

Miles's eyes widened. "Actually…"

He stops. Should he say it?

"Um… you and Dad don't get along so well," Miles says slowly. "But you always come over for the holidays. And Mom loves you."

Aaron nods. "Okay. Could be worse, I suppose? Can I ask, why the distance between Jeff and I?"

Miles gulps. Aaron is being overly polite. That means he can tell that Miles is fibbing. Thinking quickly, he answers, "You don't work for SHIELD. In my world, you take odd jobs in the city and Dad wasn't entirely convinced that it was…"

"Legal?" Aaron finishes. "Huh. I can see myself down that path. Me joining SHIELD was pretty far out. I never thought they'd recruit me, but I ran into them a couple of times during some of my freelance jobs. And they hooked me up."

"That's good." Miles's spirits rise. "You're an agent like MJ and Miss Romanoff?"

Aaron smiles. "Passed my physicals and tactical last year. Nearly failed at stealth, but I'm pretty handy with gadgets. So, I'm mission-assist for the next nine months before I can graduate to field jobs. Picking you up was an outlier, because we needed all hands on deck. Specifically, hands that could fly under Parker's radar."

That sounds... absolutely incredible.

Miles can barely believe it. In his universe, Aaron had been snapped up by Kingpin. But here? SHIELD had seen him first and found his gifts and talent productive.

Is that the only difference? Being a SHIELD agent is also life threatening but at least here he can rely on multiple people to have his back.

On Miles's world, Uncle Aaron's boss himself had shot him for disobeying an order.

The currently-alive Aaron eyes him carefully. Miles hopes his emotions aren't written all over his face. Trying to think of a way out of the conversation, Miles asks, "What d'you know about Parker?"

Aaron allows the derailment. Leaning an elbow on the table, he says, "Peter Parker is the civilian identity of the Amazing Spider. Not many people know that they're the same person. Most of the world thinks that the hero is just endorsed by Parker Technologies. He does a good job of covering his tracks and leads many governments astray."

He fills Miles in with all the details. Miles knows most of it from what MJ had said before, but Aaron gives a more grounded view of an outsider who's never interacted with Parker.

It's a formidable enemy they need to go up against.

Miles whispers, "The Avengers can get my gizmo back safely, right? And web-shooters?"

Aaron looks around them, scoping out the population in the cafeteria. "Most of them have personal vendettas against the Parkers. After the fight at Leipzig, especially."

Miles sits up. "The Winter Soldier said that. What's Leipzig?"

There's a tense moment of silence when it looks like Aaron won't answer. Miles's knee is bouncing uncontrollably.

"It's a city in Germany," Aaron finally says.

"And what happened there?"

If there's ever a moment Uncle Aaron had to utilize his wondrous story-telling skills, it isn't now. He point-blank says, "It's where we think Parker killed Steve Rogers."

Miles leans against the table for support. Oh.

Oh god.

That's why Sam Wilson is Captain America now. And that's why he and the Winter Soldier were so angered at the mention of Parker.

Anyone who killed Captain America couldn't possibly be seen as a good person. Why would the world let Peter Parker walk away unharmed by that?

"There was a lot of tension regarding mutants back then," Aaron explains in a low voice. "We used to call them enhanced people. Rogers saw the failings in the Accords the UN drew up, and chose to reject it. He was overruled. They sent the Amazing Spider to convince him to reconsider... "

Miles's jaw is open. "And… he just killed him?"

Aaron has an ugly expression. "We don't have evidence. Some say he ran away, which isn't possible. The airport was evacuated that day and the cameras were turned off. Natasha commandeered car cameras from the parking lot to see what was going on. We got some footage of a fight gone ugly. But the cameras fizzled out before it ended. Rogers never came back."

It's a bad day for Miles's heart. He is fourteen and yet these revelations threaten to take him out.

Parker might have actually murdered Steve Rogers.

"And Pepper Potts?" he whispers, afraid to hear it.

Aaron frowns. "I know less about that. But she was CEO of Stark Industries… her flight went missing just a year after Leipzig. Stark is convinced it's Parker, but SHIELD never got proof of it."

Miles squeezes his eyes shut. He'd heard something about that back in the warehouse…

"Potts had fire," he whispers.

Aaron blinks. "What?"

"That's what Parker was saying. He and his uncle were talking about it. I think it was about her. He said Potts had fire."

Aaron frowns deeply. There's a tick in his jaw. Miles wonders if he's been prying at a can of abnormally dangerous worms.

"No one really knows much behind that. Except for Stark, but he's been clammed up about it for years," Aaron explains, stretching out his long legs. "She had a 24/7 security detail for years. Nobody could touch her. Stark spent more to keep her safe than what he paid for damages Iron Man ever racked up in his entire career. And even after all that, she went missing nearly 5 years ago."

Aaron looked around the vast hall.

"We were never sure what the Parkers did with Rogers and Potts or why them in particular. But we always knew he was behind it."

Miles shudders. Whatever Parker had planned back then… it couldn't have been anything good. So, what kind of strategy would work against him?

"How do the Avengers plan on sneaking in his mansion and stealing my stuff?" Miles whispers.

Aaron looks a little regretful at having scared his otherworldly nephew. "If MJ can distract Parker long enough to keep his attention away from the mansion, they'll be able to get in and out without too much trouble."

Is that possible? Miles can't imagine anyone taking away the megalomaniac's attention against his will.

"Parker still likes her?" Miles asks hushed.

Aaron scoffs as he stands. With a wave of his hand he says, "Worse. He's still in love with her."