10 years ago...

A fifteen year old Peter Parker is swinging away from a crime he just stopped, and ended up taking a bullet for a pedestrian. It just went through him, didn't hit anything vital so that was a plus.

The pain on the other hand, that's a different story.

He drops down into a alleyway and pulls off his mask as he gasps as he tries to fight through the pain.

His suit isn't exactly doing anything to help him stay alive out there. It's just a blue jacket with some pants and boots he found in his closet with a spider painted on it.

(Basically, the Scarlet Spider-Man outfit)

As he's fighting through the pain, his senses warn him someone is approaching the alley and he tries placing his mask back on.

"Don't bother, I come in peace." A muscular voice calls out and Peter looks to see tall, muscular black man approach him. "And I know everything about you, Peter Parker."

Peter doesn't respond, as his side is in exclusive pain.

"Look, I'm not here to hurt you, I'm not gonna out you out as Spider-Man. But it looks to me as if you could use some help." The man explains and Peter just nods his head, wanting to be free of the pain.

The man then helps Peter up, unknowingly he places his hand to Peter's head and knocks him out to help fight the pain.

-

Peter later wakes up to see he's not in the alley anymore. In fact, he's not even in the city as he sees he's in an infirmary and turns to see the man from the ally is next to him.

"You passed out when I was bringing you here." He explains and walks over to Peter. "My name is Hank Henshaw, I'm the director of the DEO. And I want to help you."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Peter asks him.

"Before I tell you that, I need you to answer a question for me. Why are you doing this?" Hank asks Peter.

Peter thinks about what he's going to say, and does his best to explain. "Because I've been me my whole life, and I've had these powers for about half of it. I..I lost my uncle, and I...something inside me clicked, snapped. When you can do the things that I can, and I see that the city needs help. I feel like its my responsibility to help them. I want to help people any way I can." He explains to Hank.

Hank then smiles at how innocent the mission is and that all he needs is the right guidance. "Well then, welcome to the DEO, Spider-Man. Let's show you to your new suit." Hank says and walks out of the room waiting for Peter to follow.

"Wait, did you say new suit?" Peter asks as he stands up and begins to follow him out of excitement.

-

Present day...

Peter is back in his home thinking back to that day. The day his life changed.

He wonders how his mission went from saving people, to that and protecting the world from other worldly threats.

Is this mission even still worth it?

Peter questions that when he looks over to a picture of him and Gwen. The woman who gave her life believing in the mission.

Then there's one question Peter never thought about.

What would Gwen say?

What would Gwen want him to do?

Knowing exactly what she would want, Peter gets up and gets ready to head back to the DEO.

-

Back at the said DEO, they have a new White Martian to deal with that M'gann warned them since its here for her.

The White Martians want her to pay for saving the Green Martian's on Mars and sent her husband/mate Armek to hunt her down.

"We could really use Spider-Man right about now." Winn states since he knows they're gonna need all the help they can get to stop a White Martian.

"Parker needs time. He will come back when we need him." J'onn promises, knowing that talk he had with him might've helped Peter, but he still needs time. "We just have to focus on keeping M'gann safe."

"I'm just saying, we could really use the help." Winn says.

"Then it's a good thing I'm back." Peter's voice calls and they turn to see he's returned as he walks down the stairs towards them.

"Peter?" Kara asks, happy to see he's not only okay but seems better.

"What you said, I need to protect the place I call home. Because it is my home. It's what Gwen would've wanted." Peter tells J'onn.

"Great to have you back, Spider-Man." Kara says and pulls her friend into a hug.

"Hey, you're my super friend, right?" Peter reminds her.

Kara laughs and playfully punches her friend.

"So, White Martian's now?" Peter asks. "I saw them on the news on the way here. I take a few days off and all goes to hell."

"Well, we're all clear as of now. We were about to game plan some new tracking techniques." Winn tells him.

"I'll help any way I can." M'gann promises. "I hate them more than anyone here does."

Peter was about to say something when his senses go off and he turns to see M'gann is walking down the stairway.

"Problem!" Peter shouts and they all see her.

"J'onn, I thought about what you..." M'gann was saying when she sees herself.

"If she's here, and she..." Winn was saying and he understands and moves out of the way of the imposter M'gann.

"You Greens never learn, do you?" Imposter M'gann asks and charges when Peter shoots her back with a repulser blast and J'onn tries holding her down and she fights back.

J'onn grabs her and throws her into the computer monitors, making the lights flicker on and off.

"Peter, can you see anything?" Kara asks her friend.

"No, the flickering lights don't do anything to help my sensors." Peter says as all of the lights go off and Winn activates the auxiliary power.

They all look and see that the White Martian's gone.

J'onn goes to the computers and locks down the DEO.

"Why are you putting us in lockdown?" Kara asks.

"Only way to catch that thing is by trapping it in here." J'onn tells her.

"With us?" Winn asks.

"We don't know where it went." Alex tells him.

"Or where it didn't go. It could still be here." Winn reminds them.

"It could be anyone in this room." Peter says and now they all start looking at each other.

They brigh everyone around the center table to learn who the Martian is.

"This is everyone who was inside when the doors shut." Peter tells J'onn.

"If one of us is a White Martian, how do we tell who's really themselves?" Alex asks.

"That's easy, we just have to ask personal questions." Winn suggests. "Like, things we only would know the answers to. Like what's the scented candle that I hate?"

"Teak wood and tobacco." Kara answers.

"My senses can't stand scented candles." Peter tells them.

"No. They can read minds, too." J'onn tells them. "They know all your preferences, everything that makes you who you are."

"Can you scan our minds, see who's who?" Kara asks.

Hank tries to do exactly that, and it doesn't work.

"There's some kind of a psychic interference." J'onn tells her.

"That's convenient." One of the agent's say.

"Hey, he's trying something. Okay?" Peter defends and looks to J'onn. "All that time on Mars, don't you guys have any way of learning who's who?" He wonders.

"There is one way to determine who is the White Martian and who isn't." J'onn says.

They all head to the labs where Hank lights a Bunsen burner.

"There was a time when we were in hiding on Mars. Trying to build a resistance to the White Martian's. We worked out of a network of caves, but they would infiltrate us, send in spies to wreak havoc. Anyone who came through the mouth of the cave had to put their hand to the fire." J'onn explains to the group.

"What does the fire do to help?" Peter wonders.

"This." M'gann says and raises her hand to the flame and it shows her White Martian skin.

"Okay, that's not creepy at all." Winn comments.

The agents all start raising their hands to the flame one at a time and they all come clean.

J'onn takes a minute, as the flame reminds him of when Mars was burned to the ground. Raising his hand, his skin turns green, showing his true colors.

"Who's left?" Peter asks and Kara looks to Winn.

"Wait, seriously? Come on, it's me." Winn says.

"Everyone has to do it." Kara says and Winn walks up to the flame and his hand turns into a White Martian claw.

"You got me." The Winn imposter says before grabbing the torch and spins it around.

Peter shoots foam at it, stopping the flame as Winn punches Peter, sending him flying through the building.

Winn the picks up M'gann, ready to kill her.

Kara interrupts by using her freeze breath and that gave Hank the upper hand for a second until the Winn imposter escaped into the halls.

"I can't believe it was Winn and I didn't know." Kara says.

Peter just walks back in while limping from that toss. "Don't beat yourself up, none of us knew." He reminds her.

"Your leg okay?" Kara asks Peter.

"Yeah, I've been through worse. I'll live, Skirt." Peter assures her and Kara looks back to him with a small smile on her face. "What?" He asks.

"That was the first time you called me Skirt ever since..." Kara explains and she never imagined she would miss that nickname.

"The motion sensor is offline." Alex tells them. "Thank god the containment cells are still locked. As Winn, he had access to the whole system."

That's when the alert system decided to go off and tells them the reactor temperature is going critical.

"Oh, not the reactor." Peter complains. "I should've just stayed home today." This was the worst first day back to work ever.

"What reactor?" Kara asks.

"The nuclear one that powers the building." Peter informs her while he gets onto the computers. "It's going to overload."

"What's that mean?" Kara asks.

"It means he sabotaged it." J'onn explains to her. "This whole building is going to explode. Along with ten city blocks with it."

"Why would he wanna blow the building up?" Kara asks. "He's inside, too he'll die."

"It doesn't matter to Armek." M'gann tells her. "He'd proudly give his life to complete his mission."

"Can we shut it down manually?" Alex asks.

"No. The White Martian who took Winn's form also took his intelligence and re-encoded everything." J'onn says.

"I can stop it from the reactor." Peter tells them. "I can get down there, and stop it. I mean, Gwen was always the brains but I'm not exactly brainless. I graduated with a PhD in physics, mathematics, and a few others."

"Really?" Kara asked him, never hearing it before.

"How do you think I built my first web fluid and web shooters?" Peter asks.

"You two go get it done, me and Alex will go look for Winn." J'onn tells them the plan.

"How do you know he's still in the building?" Kara asks him.

"In order for Armek to shapeshift into Winn so exactly, he'd have to be close by, to keep the telepathic link." M'gann informs them.

"Which means he's in the DEO." J'onn finishes.

"Can you X-ray Vision the building?" M'gann asks Kara.

"Actually, the building walls are lined with lead." Peter says while scratching his neck since that was once his idea. Hey, it was years ago and it was a good idea at the time with Astra around.

"We need to search the building for him." J'onn says.

"How long will it take you to stop the reactor?" Alex asks Peter.

"Warning, critical mass in 15 minutes." the computer tells them.

"Less than fifteen minutes." Peter promises.

"Then you two better get going." J'onn tells them and the heroes leave for the reactor.

-

The two are walking down the halls while keeping an eye out for anyone else, especially Winn.

"Hey, I just wanted to say I'm happy you're back." Kara tells Peter.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for how I've been acting lately. Gwen...she was my everything and when I lost her, it felt like I just lost myself with her." Peter explains to Kara.

"You don't have to go though it alone though, Peter. I've been where you are." Kara reminds him. "You were little so you don't have the same memory of Krypton as I do, but I lost my parents that day, and everything I knew and loved." She tells him and looks down to his hand and takes it in hers. "Just because she was human and they were Kryptonian doesn't mean that the pain we feel when we loose someone is any different."

"I just don't know what I'm going to do without her there all the time. Hearing her jokes, her movie references...her laugh." Peter explains and removes his mask seeing there's no point of it with it being only her down here with him.

"I know it can be scary, not knowing what's coming next." Kara tells him. "When my parents put me in that pod in Krypton, I...don't think I realized what was actually happening. Like I didn't know that I was saying goodbye to them forever. I might have been abandoned and felt alone, but Peter, you are not alone and I will never abandon you." She promises him.

Peter turns to his friend and smiles as that helped him. "Thanks, Skirt. Now, we have a reaction to stop, right?" He reminds her and they continue to make their way to the reactor.

-

Across the building, M'gann and J'onn are searching for Winn when they find him encased inside some White Martian trap.

But the shock comes when they realize there was a second one.

-

Peter and Kara are walking down the halls with Peter leading as he has the map up to where the reactor is.

"Supergirl?" J'onn calls in. "We were wrong! There are two white Martian's in the building." He tells her.

"What? Who?" Kara asks him.

"It's Peter! The other White Martian has shapeshifted into Peter!" J'onn says and Kara looks to see Peter has stoped moving.

"Peter?" Kara asks.

"You humans are so dumb." Peter says before turning around to reveal his White Martian mouth and uses Peter's repulsers to blast Kara backwards. "What's wrong, Supergirl? Too afraid to put up a fight?"

"Never." Kara says as she stands up and flies into imposter Peter, and the both crash into the reactor room.

"Nice shot, bestie." Peter mocks as he gets back up.

"You're not my friend." Kara informs him and gets ready to use her powers.

"Uh, Heat Vision might not be the best idea with a nuclear reactor in the room. I also have your friends intelligence." Imposter Peter informs her.

"Then I guess we're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way." Kara realizes and runs at him as Peter does the same.

-

J'onn just got Peter and Winn free of their cocoons and they start waking up.

"J'onn, I wanna long, long vacation. Like Tahiti, I hear it's magical this time of year." Peter tells him when he remembers what happened. "Oh my god, the White Martian's!"

"Yes, and the buildings about to explode." J'onn informs him. "The White Martian's infiltrated the reactor in the basement. Can you shut it down before it overloads?"

"Only if I'm there in time." Peter tells him.

"You two go, he's still a little out of it." M'gann says referring to Winn.

"Okay, let's go." Peter says before his leg gives way and J'onn ends up help him get down there. "I'm getting the sudden case of déjà vu, Johnny." He says and J'onn sees he's also a little out of it.

-

Back in the reactor room, the imposter Peter and Kara are still fighting.

"To tell you the truth, I'm glad they found your friend. It was so exhausting pretending to care about his stupid feelings." Imposter Peter states and pulls out a blaster, but it doesn't harm Kara at all.

"If you hurt him..." Kara was saying as she grabs his hand and punches him.

"You'll what?" Imposter Peter asks before retaliating and punching her across the room. "Cry to me?" He questions and starts transforming into his true form.

Kara gets back up and starts fighting him off as J'onn and Peter come in.

"It's good to be back." Peter says seeing how much he's missed when the other White Martian, Armek comes in and fights J'onn.

Peter sees he needs to focus on the reactor and knows the aliens can deal with the Martian's.

"Oh, I see your work here, Winn." Peter says seeing they must've used his intelligence to work on it. "Gotta reroute this," he tells himself and gets to work.

Behind him, J'onn gets taken down by Armek when M'gann comes in in her green form and helps him stand.

"This is for every Green you ever killed." M'gann tells Armek.

"In that skin, you look like a monster." Armek tells her and transforms into his White Martian form.

"Were the monsters, Armek. This skin is beautiful." M'gann informs him as the two start to fight him. J'onn went high while M'gann went low.

Peter was still working on the core as Supergirl comes flying in and throws her White Martian into the wall and finally knocks it out.

As for M'gann, she was able to stab Armek, killing him.

Peter looks and sees he has fifteen seconds left and quickly finishes his work and just in time.

"Whoo!" Peter cheers.

"That was a close one." Kara says, exhaling seeing he got the job done and is happy that her friend is back.

Peter's senses alert him and he quickly turns around to send a annihilator missile into Armek as he just gets up ready to kill J'onn while he wasn't looking and gets taken down.

"I really like my new toys." Peter tells them looking at his wrist where the missile left.

-

J'onn then gets the DEO out of lockdown mode and everyone goes on about their business now they're safe.

"I can't believe it's still night. Feels like it was a whole week." Peter states.

"Hey, you did great job with that decoding down there." Kara tells him.

"Yeah, it's like riding a bike. You don't forget your first hack." Peter tells her. "I was a troublemaker once upon a time."

"What?! You?" Kara asks, playfully and could never imagine him as a troublemaker.

"I hacked the pentagon. Twice." Peter whispers to her. "They never caught me. Turns out, Atlantis does exist. But you didn't hear it from me." He warns her.

"It's great to have you back." Kara tells him and pats his back.

Peter then remembers he needs to ask her something before she leaves. "Hey, during the time that roasted marshmallow was pretending to be me...did you two have a conversation? Because, I've been getting these flashes, sorta like memories. We were talking but I don't know if it was real or not."

Kara just looks to him surprised how he could remember that, but knows he deserves to know. There's no reason to keep it a secret.

"No, we had that talk. And I meant every word that I said." Kara tells him and Peter just pulls her into a hug with a "Come here".

"Thanks, Skirt. I could really use more friends like you." Peter says as Kara returns the hug, seeing how they're getting closer wanting to be a good friend to the other after everything.

They're stronger together.