Peter's eyes slowly opened, a now daylit room slowly coming into focus. His ears also picked up a rather annoying sound, and it took him a second before he finally registered that the alarm on his phone was going off. Drowsily, Peter threw his arm over to the nightstand next to his bed, grabbing his phone and switching off the alarm. He then squinted at it to find out what time it was: 8:43 A.M.

The realization hitting him that he was due in at the Bugle in less than 20 minutes, Peter's senses suddenly and sharply kicked into gear as his brain snapped itself out of the fog it had been in moments before. Throwing off the sheet from his bed, he quickly stood out of bed, running over to find something at least halfway decent to change into. He rummaged through his closet and dresser, settling for a nice-looking long-sleeved shirt and some jeans that were still new. Normally he liked to wear something a little more business casual, since he was the Staff photographer, but he was willing to cut himself a little slack today, given his recent...adventure.

Of course, he did make sure to grab his other suit as well, just in case. It still reeked since he'd not had much of an opportunity to wash it since his return, but it was going to have to do. If nothing else, he'd just apply some extra deodorant, though hopefully not enough to be obvious that he was covering something up. Even after all these years, he still tended to cross that line sometimes.

Peter quickly combed his hair so that it looked presentable, tidied himself up the best he could otherwise, before finally grabbing his camera. Despite his metabolism reminding him of his hunger, he opted against grabbing something to eat, since there were usually donuts and some fruit in the Bugle's lounge area. He grabbed his keys and quickly was out the door. After locking it, he was about to take off down the hallway, but his spider-sense alerted him just in time for him to stop himself right in front of a redheaded woman who was now right in front of him.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry ma'am," Peter apologized profusely, though he was already making his way around her, his legs itching to take off as he remembered his work predicament.

"It's okay," the woman replied, smiling at him like she was holding in a laugh. He then waved politely at her, chastising himself inwardly for being so careless as he turned around and jogged over to the elevator, which was barely still open but closing fast. Accelerating to more of a sprint, he barely made it in time to slide in just before the doors closed.

As he began his steady descent, Peter allowed himself to breathe for a moment, trying to settle his mind after the rush to start the morning. Really, he should still be good on time if all went according to plan. Granted, that was a ridiculous statement to try and apply to his crazy existence, but one could only hope after all.

Nothing could be crazier than the insane adventure he had just been through anyway: being transported through spacetime, ending up in a parallel universe, meeting two other Peter Parkers (neither of which looked like him), facing off against villains from each of their respective earths, etc. Even now, less than a full 24 hours since his little multiversal excursion, it was still a lot to wrap his head around. Peter's mind frequently returned to all the ways that its very existence changed everything he knew about quantum physics, the initial singularity, and so much more that had been established for so long it almost seemed certain.

Plus, again, there was the element of meeting other versions of himself; all three Peter Parkers who were also Spider-Man. Despite them not sharing the same look, Peter had been surprised to learn that similar events had all occurred in their lives: they'd all been bitten by an enhanced or genetically engineered spider, they'd all been irresponsible with their powers in a way that cost them their uncles and had lost other people they cared about as well.

It seemed that no matter what universe, tragedy followed Peter Parker wherever he went.

However, all those ponderings would have to come while he was going for a casual swing around the city or something. As he neared the first level, Peter thought back to what his aunt had said she'd told Robbie regarding the reason for his recent absences: he'd fallen and hit the back of his head and he'd suffered a bout of short-term memory loss. It wasn't a completely airtight alibi, but it was much better than anything he would've likely come up with. Its credibility was helped by the fact that May was a medical professional, having worked her way up to one of the head nurse positions at the hospital.

After all this time, Peter thought he would've been better at the excuse game by now, and he technically was...but that wasn't really much of a standard.

The bus ended up making good time, and soon Peter was stepping off onto the street just a couple blocks over from the Bugle. Peter strolled down the street, the fall air and sun feeling particularly good after his brief time away. While New York looked very much the same even on another earth, there was something that just felt right about HIS New York. Everything from the buildings to the subway and everything in between just felt like home to him, and, at least for right now, he never wanted to leave again.

Peter rounded the block, the Daily Bugle building coming into focus. Maybe, just maybe, he was going to make it to work on time after all.

That notion went out of his head as soon as his Spider-Sense went off. His sixth sense directing him down the street, Peter saw none other than Herman Schultz, the Shocker, in the flesh, blasting down the street in his general direction. The man was carrying what appeared to be a large sack of money across one arm. Peter could only roll his eyes and shake his head at his ridiculous luck as he ran into a nearby alley, quickly removing his street clothes to reveal his Spider-Man outfit underneath.

After slipping on his mask, he made his way up to the rooftop, taking his camera with him. Deducing the general direction that his target was headed, he found what he hoped was a good position for the camera, webbing it into place after setting it to the appropriate time. Years of experience at this job had taught him some good rough estimations of such things. Honestly, if Shocker wasn't one of his more mellow villains when it came to endangering civilians, he wouldn't have even bothered with the camera.

Still, anything could happen, so as soon as it was set, Peter made his way in his opponent's direction. Circling around quickly in a way where he could turn him back in the direction of the camera, he timed his swing, so he ended up in front of the yellow clad villain.

"Hey there, Herman," Peter said, landing on the building his enemy had, causing him to stop. "Look, aren't you getting too old for this? I'm not trying to be mean; I'm just concerned about your well-being."

"Ha, actually, I'm feeling better than ever, wall crawler," the man said, exuding both confidence as well as a strange amount of joy, even for him. "After all, I've got enough here to finally retire good and properly. Finally taking you out after all these years will just be icing on the cake!"

Shocker then charged up a blast in his right-hand gauntlet, Peter dodging it just before it was released. The man charged up another blast, but Peter only continued to dodge them one by one, eventually getting a chance to web the gauntlets up.

"Still haven't learned, have you?" Peter said, leaping forward and delivering a kick to Shocker's chest, sending him flying and tumbling onto the next rooftop over. He jumped over as well, strolling over to the man to finish the job so he could leave him and the money for the police. He'd thought Shocker might try to make a brake the other way, so he was likely about to come away empty handed, but oh well. The bad guy was apprehended and no one had gotten hurt, so the important things were handled.

However, his spider-sense went off again, and he noticed why: Shocker's gauntlets started vibrating again like crazy, and soon unleashed a blast that not only freed him from the webs, but knocked Peter off his feet, sending him back to the edge of the building. Quickly he sprang up to his feet in time to see Shocker back up as well.

"Guess I've learned a little thing or two after all!" he shouted. "Like sometimes you should just stick to your main goal. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got that retirement to get to!"

Shocker then blasted his way off, flying off the building.

"Now that's just rude," Peter said to himself, launching a web to a nearby building and giving chase. The good news was that Shocker was heading in the direction of his camera, so hopefully he would come away with some good shots after all. On the other hand, he also hoped his enemy didn't get TOO close, should his camera get caught in the crossfire of it all and be damaged or destroyed.

That thing had been expensive!

Peter pursued his opponent, who fired the occasional blast his way. Fortunately, his spider-sense combined with several years of experience helped him not only dodge each blast, but not lose much of any momentum along the way. However, one of Shocker's blasts struck a nearby building, causing some debris to collapse in the direction of a nearby child, who was too busy playing with a small toy to notice. Forgetting Shocker for a moment, Peter quickly changed direction, swooping in and snatching the little girl out of harm's way just in time.

"Hey, you okay?" Peter asked, kneeling so that he could be face to face with the young girl. She just nodded her head quickly, her nerves likely still unsettled from the whole thing. A woman then called over and the girl ran to her, leaping into the woman's arms. The woman made eye contact with Peter as she clung to her little girl; she said nothing, but the look in her eyes conveyed what she wanted. Peter gave her a quick nod before turning and leaping back into the air, swinging back in pursuit of his opponent.

Peter had lost some ground on Shocker, so now it was time to turn it up a notch. Focusing on each swing, he maxed out his efficiency and rapidly made up the ground towards his enemy, who clearly thought he had lost him since he was no longer blasting Peter's direction. Launching himself as they were both descending towards the ground, he caught Shocker by surprise, wrapping him up in his arms as they both tumbled onto the street.

Releasing his grip on his opponent, Peter sprung off the ground into a crouched position as his enemy struggled to collect himself. With lightning speed, he shot both his wrists forward, releasing a significant amount of webbing at his opponent. Soon, the Shocker was covered nearly from neckline to toe in tightly wrapped webbing. He tried charging up his gauntlets, multiple times, to no avail.

"You're not the only one whose sporting some upgraded equipment," Peter said as he strolled over to his enemy, never more grateful for his recently improved web formula than right now. He grabbed Shocker by his feet, tying him to a nearby lamppost and the bag with the money along with it. The webbing would hold long enough for the police to get the Shocker to proper containment, so his job was done.

"Now Herman, maybe you'll actually consider retirement the right way this time," he said. "Seriously, prison CANNOT be good for you in your old age."

With that, Peter fired a web and swung off, leaving his opponent in his webbed-up condition. He quickly made his way back to where he had set up his camera, pulling it from its web to retrieve it. He sifted through any pictures. There wasn't much at first; only a few of them had caught Shocker, but only from a distance. However, his saving grace was that it got a couple good shots of him when he rescued the little girl earlier, so at least he had some good action shots to turn in.

"Ah, there's no place like home," Peter said.

Well, here it goes! Please feel free to let me know what you all think! Constructive criticism is always welcome, as long as it is respectful.

Praying for you all; stay safe and healthy!

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters." Psalm 24: 1-2