Arc 1 - Chapter V: Meet the Family

"This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was totally a bad idea…"

"Little Wolf, stop being so rude and introduce me to your friend," Kairi's grandmother admonished him as the three of them stood in the entry hallway of the home, unheeding the fact that he seemed to be having a moment as he massaged his temples and was muttering to himself. "Honestly, your mother raised you better."

"Ghnn," Kairi groaned, unheeding his grandmother. "This really is a bad idea…"

Gwen bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing at Kairi's predicament before she decided to take pity on him and help him out a bit. Shaking her head, she smiled at Kairi's grandmother and offered her hand for a handshake. "Hi, it's nice to meet you, I'm Gwen."

"Hello, Gwen," the elderly woman shook the blonde's hand, a smile on her face, though she kept giving her grandson disapproving frowns. "I'm Mamakiaeh, but please, call me Mamy. And I do apologize for my grandson's behavior, I honestly don't know what's wrong with him."

Kairi gave his grandmother a withering glare. His problem was that since his mother couldn't easily tell embarrassing stories about him when he was younger, his grandmother would undoubtedly take that role, quite happily in fact. She certainly did so when she had met Elsa.

"Okay, Mamy," Gwen easily agreed. "I think Kairi didn't expect you to be here, probably why he's freaking out a bit."

"I was already visiting his mother," Mamy waved off before looking at Kairi. "Little Wolf, why don't you take Gwen upstairs to the parlor room? Your mother and I are still cooking dinner and I'm sure you two would rather avoid the fish smell until we're done."

"Fine," he sighed before he beckoned Gwen to follow him, "let's go, it's better to stay out of my mother and grandmother's hair until they're done cooking anyway."

"Okay," Gwen easily agreed before she followed him to the staircase down the hall.

Once they reached the parlor room, Kairi threw himself into one of the chairs with an annoyed, frustrated groan as he rubbed the sides of his head to alleviate his headache.

"You okay, dude?" Taking a seat on the loveseat across from him, Gwen raised a brow at him, a hint of a grin on her lips.

"Oh, I'm fine," he muttered sarcastically.

"Cool," she smirked. "So what's with the 'Little Wolf' thing?"

He sighed, "My middle name is Honiahaka, which translates from Cheyenne to 'little wolf.' Why my grandmother doesn't refer to my actual middle name and say it in English instead, I have no idea, but honestly, I would prefer it."

Her smirk persisted, "Is that so?"

"Seriously, of all days, why did Grandma choose now to visit?" he wondered aloud as he leaned back in his seat.

"Why, is your grandmother that bad?"

"Bad? No, she's not bad," he grumbled as he crossed his arms, glaring at a spot on the wall. "She's certainly delightful. And absolutely has no problem telling every single story of my childhood."

She grinned, "Aw, so I'm going to be regaled tonight about stories about Kid-Kai?"

He glared at her, "Are you proud of yourself for that one?"

"A little," her grin became shameless. "But c'mon, Kai, how bad could it be?"

As it turned out, it was bad. It was really, really bad. So bad that Kai had was slouching down in his seat in an attempt to not be seen anymore and coax the floor open a hole beneath his chair and swallow him whole. When dinner was ready and the two teens were called down, his grandmother immediately began telling stories starting when he was a baby.

When after he learned to walk, it was the time he had begun refusing to wear a diaper and would run around the house naked save for a pair of pants that he wore instead on his head like a headdress. Or when had experienced his first childhood crush on an older teenage cashier girl at the toy store and had been so shy about it that he hid behind his mother or grandmother every time they went to the shop. And even the story of when he took apart all the appliances in the house so that he could make his very first sculpture using those parts he… requisitioned, which was around the time his mother had come home from work and found her son trying to glue a motor to the freezer's ice maker with Elmer's glue.

His mother, a traitor in Kairi's eyes, just busied herself by eating, poking her food with her fork as she listened to her mother beguile Gwen with stories of Kairi's childhood. He sent his mother a glare of protest, but Maya simply tilted her head in amusement at the betrayed expression her son had sent her.

"... the place was a complete and total mess," Mamy continued. "Parts of the TV were in one pile, parts of the blender were in another, and in the middle of all the chaos, our Little Wolf was sitting on the rug getting glue everywhere. It was so cute, can you believe it?"

Gwen's gaze trailed over Kairi, a grin in place, "Well, it's certainly changing my mental picture of you, Kai."

And mine too!

Great, just what he really needed, both Gwen and Sleeper being an audience to his grandmother's stories of him. At least Miles wasn't here, he was sure that the spray paint artist would never let him live it down if he heard the stories Gwen was hearing. He needed at least one friend who didn't know his deep, dark secrets that should never see the light of day if he could help it. Which, unfortunately, he couldn't.

Deciding to finally take pity on her son, Maya tapped her fork on her plate, gaining her mother's attention before placing down her fork to sign. [All right, Mom. I think Kairi's had enough for one night.]

"But I didn't get to the story of when he tried to impress a girl at the science fair," Mamy frowned in disappointment.

That got Kairi to sit ramrod straight in his seat, paling as he looked at his grandmother in absolute horror. Oh, god, he had completely forgotten that time! No, there was no way he would allow his grandmother to tell that story, consequences be damned!

Gwen raised a brow in intrigue, "Oh?"

Maya shook her head in amusement before giving her mother a look.

"All right, fine," Mamy sighed before Gwen a contrite smile. "Sorry, Gwen, next time."

Kairi just sighed in relief as he leaned back against the backrest of his chair. Even his ex didn't know that story and he was going to make sure no one besides his family knew. His actions had gotten to have Gwen chuckling at him as she finished the rest of her smoked salmon. She had to hand it to Maya, she was one hell of a cook if she could make fish and vegetables taste as if they had come from a gourmet chef.

"So, Gwen, tell us about yourself," Mamy turned her attention back to the blonde.

Gwen did a double-take at the change in subject that was now focused on herself. She looked over in Kairi's direction for help, but he avoided her gaze and kept his focus on his empty plate, pushing the last of his crumbs with his fork. The little bastard, was he really being petty right now? She turned her attention back to Mamy and her expectant look and sighed.

"Well, I'm in a band, a drummer," she confessed. "Some friends and I got together and formed our band the Mary Janes."

That got Kairi's attention a bit, with all the craziness that's happened the past two days, that little tidbit was probably the most interesting that wasn't Spider or interdimensional related that she has said. Though the fact that she was a drummer was interesting. He remembered her nodding rhythmically to her music this morning, but hadn't thought anything of it.

"A musician, huh?" Mamy gave the blonde an appraising look before grinning teasingly at Kairi, "Certainly a lot more interesting than the last girl you brought home, Little Wolf."

Kairi's face soured at the reminder of his ex-girlfriend, glaring down at the table. While Maya tapped her fork against her plate, giving her mother another look.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Mamy apologized, her hands raised placatingly. "Didn't mean to bring up the bitch-" When her daughter gave her a baffled look, the elderly woman rolled her eyes. "I mean, bad memories. I did not mean to bring up bad memories." She then gave Gwen a wink and whispered conspiratorially, "That girl was still a bitch though."

Gwen breathed a chuckle, though noting that piece of info for later as she regarded the still sullen Kairi.

"Please, continue about yourself," Mamy motioned for the blond to do so. However, before Gwen could continue, Maya tapped her fork on her plate and signed to her mother. Which got the old woman to sigh and say to the teens, "Why don't the two of you go hang out upstairs and don't worry about the dishes, we'll get them."

"Are you sure? I don't mind helping out," Gwen offered. Which got both Maya and Mamy to give her a look that the Spider-hero couldn't really decipher, but she felt like she was being judged… but in a good way.

"Maya and I will be fine," Mamy assured her as she waved them off. "The two of you go off and be teenagers."

"Yeah, yeah," Kairi grumbled as he passed by his grandmother before looking back at Gwen. "Well, come on, it's better for your health if you don't resist when Grandma decides on something."

Mamy gave her grandson an affronted look, "You make it sound as if I'm some sort of comic book villain, Little Wolf."

He gave her a dry look before deadpanning to Gwen, "Yeah, like I said, it's better to do what she says." And with that, he left, leaving Gwen to follow after him.

That got Maya to grin and shake her head as she gathered her own empty plate as well as her son's, chuckling quietly to herself as she brought the dishes over to the kitchen sink to be washed.

"The nerve of the child," Mamy huffed as she brought her own plate and Gwen's. She then grinned, "At least he got something from me."

Maya rolled her eyes, the gesture being enough to convey what she felt.

Upstairs, Kairi took Gwen to his old room. It was clean, just as he left it before he left for Vision this semester, and luckily, had nothing embarrassing left out on display. Just his bed, a dresser and a closet for his clothes, a desk, and a few kendo trophies he had won when he used to be competitive on the shelves on the wall.

"So, a girlfriend?" Gwen asked, crossing her arms as she regarded him curiously.

"Ex-girlfriend, yes," sighed Kairi as he collapsed onto his back on the floor. "Her name was Elsa."

"Is there a story to this Elsa?" she asked as she took a seat on the edge of the bed. She cradled the bottom of her jaw in her palms as she placed her elbows on her knees, leaning over them to peer at him from above.

He grimaced, "None I really want to tell. We met, we dated, we broke up, that's really all there was to it."

She blinked, regarding him from where she sat. "Hmm, okay," she shrugged easily.

"Not gonna needle for more info?" he asked, shifting his head to look at her.

Gwen shook her head, "No."

He stared at her, looking for any sign of deceit as she stared back at him. When he saw none, he turned his head to look back at the ceiling. "Well okay. So, wanna talk about what our next move is going to be?" he asked as he stuffed his hand into his pocket to fish out the flash drive Spider-man gave him. "I still have this drive Spider-man gave me, we can use it to destroy Fisk's device once I've sent you and Sleeper back to your home dimensions."

Yeah, it's a good thing we've kept that thing safe and had not broken it during training. That would've been really stupid of us if we actually did.

"Good," she replied as her gaze strayed to Kairi's belongings that littered his room; a few wooden swords tucked into the corner, a desktop computer and monitor, and a few framed pictures. "But we still need to know what we're walking into, I did some internet searching last night and Alchemax has a facility outside the city in Hudson Valley. We can head there first thing in the morning and download a copy of their data on this interdimensional machine."

Ooh, symbiotes can take control of computers, I can find out what Kingpin's planning without anyone knowing I'm in their system. Or leave an electronic trail.

"Sounds good," Kairi nodded. "And Sleeper says he can easily get into computer systems with leaving evidence."

Gwen shrugged, "Sounds a lot better than trying to guess the password."

Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, she stood up and went over to the shelf where the pictures were laid, carefully minding Kairi's presence on the floor and stepping around him. All but one of the pictures were of Kairi with another person or two. One had one of him and his mother, another of him with his grandmother at some sort of tournament given the trophy Kairi was holding, and another photo was of him and another guy. The last photo, however, had only one person, a dated picture of Maya and a man.

Kairi's father…?

"Is this your dad?" she asked, angling the picture so that he could see.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Mom says that he was a bit camera shy, so that's one of the few pictures of him that were taken."

"You look like him," she offered, giving him a small smile. "It's obvious who you got your eyes from."

A hint of a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, "Yeah. Mom likes to keep telling that to me, that I got my father's eyes, it's what made me special." He gave an annoyed grunt as he glared at the ceiling.

Easily understanding what he meant, Gwen paused. Yeah, his amber, almost practically yellow, eyes probably would've been a target for anyone trying to bully someone else. Placing the photo back where it had been, she went over to where he was lying on the floor and bent down to join him, lying next to him.

"You know, this is kinda uncomfortable," she said as she shifted around, trying to find a sweet spot to get comfortable in. Lying on hardwood? The only worse things she could think to lie on were concrete and metal.

"I'm aware."

She frowned, "So… why are you doing it?"

"I need… perspective."

"Oh, okay." She was silent for a moment as she didn't really understand. And when he didn't elaborate further, she spoke again, "Why do you need perspective?"

Kairi sighed, "Just been a crazy few days, you know? A lot has happened, I get bonded to an alien life form who's from a different dimension, meet a girl who's from another, another dimension, Spider-man dies, and now the three of us intend to break into a scientific facility to figure out the machine that Wilson Fisk, a notable member of society mind you, has built for interdimensional gate opening." He gave a weary scoff, "A few days ago I was stressing over what kind of scrap metal I wanted to use for my next project."

Speaking of which, Kairi, you kinda didn't react much when I revealed myself to you yesterday, why is that?

Dude, do you know how relieved I was to find out that I wasn't going insane? I was legitimately going to check myself into a mental hospital.

Oh… my bad.

Don't worry about it, Sleeper, like I said, I was relieved when you popped out of my shoulder and revealed that you were the source of the voice in my head. Thank you, for existing and proving I wasn't going insane.

Heh, you're welcome.

Gwen chuckled, "Yeah, I kinda know how you feel. I felt the same when I first got my powers from that radioactive spider, before that, my bandmates and I were trying to figure out the perfect place to practice in. And I know how hard it is trying to figure it all out on your own, so I'm glad that you're along for the ride. You and Sleeper."

Aww, thank you, Gwen.

"Sleeper says thank you, by the way," he said, shifting his head to look at her.

Gwen chuckled, grinning a bit as she turned her head to look back at him, "You're welcome, Sleeper."

For a moment, their gazes held in silence, the two of them not knowing what to do next, but content in just staying like that as they were.

…

And the moment was entirely ruined when the door to Kairi's room slammed open, causing the two teens to scramble away from each other before sitting up to see who was at the door.

"Hey, kids, you two having fun?" Mamy grinned.

"Grandma, what the heck?!"

"Well, you two were so quiet up here that I thought you two were doing something else than hanging out," the elderly woman shrugged. "Just making sure you two weren't up to anything mischievous if you know what I mean."

Both teens knew exactly what she meant given the red blushes on their faces.

"Grandma!"

"Anyway, Gwen," Mamy turned to look at the blonde, ignoring her grandson's outburst, "It's getting late and Maya and I were thinking you can stay here for the night. My daughter has graciously offered some of her clothes for you to sleep in and obviously you can take Little Wolf's bed here."

Kairi balked, "My bed? Why? We have a perfectly good guest bedroom."

"That I will be taking, dear," Mamy smiled at him. "It's too dark for me to drive safely back to my home. And obviously, like the perfect gentleman and a good grandson, you'll take the couch downstairs."

Kairi looked at his grandmother dryly, disbelief etched over his face. He gave a sigh, "Yeah, yeah, why not."

"Whoa, it's okay, I can get back to Visions Academy on my own," Gwen protested.

"At this time of night? I don't think so," Mamy scoffed.

I like your grandma, she's fun.

Dude… why?

Gwen looked over at Kairi for help, he only offered a helpless shrug. It was then she remembered his words earlier at the end of dinner. "It's better for my health if I just comply, right?" she asked unsurely.

"Oh, you don't have to, dear," Mamy waved off. "You always have a choice."

Looking over the woman's shoulder at Kairi, Gwen saw him shaking his head in the negative and that she didn't have a choice here. So she did the only thing she could do, give a helpless shrug as she smiled at the elderly woman. "Yeah, sure," she agreed with an unsure smile. "Sounds like a plan, thanks for having me."

"Oh, it's our pleasure, Gwen," Mamy patted her shoulder before she left the room.

"Your grandmother is kind of a whirlwind, isn't she?" Gwen said to Kairi, crossing her arms as she aimed an amused smirk at him.

He sighed, palming his face, "You have no idea."

Before another word could be said by either of them, Gwen had another one of her glitch-out moments. One of her hands was on her forehead while her other arm held her stomach as she yelped in pain, almost collapsing to the floor. That is until Kairi reacted and caught her before she could and held her as her glitch-out continued for a long moment.

Not knowing what to really do, Kairi just held her in his arms as her body squeezed into the fetal position as a whimper of pain escaped her. Her body turned towards him as it was wracked with pain from not just the glitching but from her muscles tensing tightly. After the moment passed and the glitching began to fade, Gwen hissed at the lingering pain.

"I'd ask if you were okay," he said gently. "But I kinda don't really want to ask a stupid question."

That got a reluctant laugh from her before she winced again, "Urgh, don't make me laugh, Kai. Just makes it worse."

"Well, people say that laughter is the best kind of medicine," he shrugged.

She shook her head in reluctant amusement, "Well, I don't think those people were talking about interdimensional traveling and its negative side effects when they said that. So I don't think their advice really applies."

He rolled his eyes, chuckling, "Oh, right, of course. My mistake."

She smiled at him before realizing the position they were in, her cheeks turning pink. "Um, you can let me go now…" her voice above a whisper. She feared that if it had been any higher, she would've lost her nerve and become a blubbering mess.

He balked, a blush of his own staining his face as he lifted his arms that had been wrapped around her. "Uh, right," he coughed awkwardly, allowing her to get to her feet and take a step back.

An awkward silence permeated the room as the two avoided looking at one another. However, the two were saved from any more awkwardness by a knock on the door that had been left open by Kairi's grandmother. The two looked over to see Maya standing there, a curious look on her face as she held a bundle of clothes in her hands.

"Mom!" Kairi's eyes widened. "Um, how long have you been there?"

Maya lifted one hand. [Just now, why?]

"No reason," Kairi replied, perhaps a little too quickly.

Maya cocked a brow at her son before looking over at Gwen, who was gripping her arm as she stood there, chancing looks at her nervous-looking son. Putting two and two together, a smirk pulled at the corner of the mother's mouth before she shook her head.

Ah, young love.

"I'm… I'm gonna go get some extra blankets and pillow from the linen closet," Kairi mumbled as he left the room.

Watching as her son made a hasty retreat, she glanced over at Gwen before holding out the clothes to the blonde. After Gwen had taken the bundle, Maya took out a notepad and pen from her back pocket, something for her to communicate with the guests who didn't understand American sign language. Quickly writing a few sentences, she angled the notepad for the blonde to read.

So how long have you worked as a hero?

Gwen balked, looking up at Maya in surprise. "What? How… how did you?"

Maya titled the notepad to write again before revealing what she had written.

Several factors. For one, your posture. You know how to fight and you feel comfortable doing it. Second, the skin shows signs of wear and tear, meaning that you've put whatever fighting skills you've learned into practical use.

Gwen frowned, "You still can't have possibly…"

Maya wrote once more.

Also, your reaction was evidence enough.

Gwen palmed her face, she couldn't believe that she fell for that. Her dad had used it on her enough times that she should've seen it coming. Must be the glitching thing that's been plaguing her since she came to this dimension. However, it was then she realized that the only way Maya would figure it out is if…

"Wait," she frowned at the older woman, "are you a hero?"

Maya stared at her for a moment before nodding and writing again.

I was a vigilante, yes. Used to by the name of Ronin for some time before my son was born. Were you training under Spider-man?

Gwen's face scrunched a little, "No… but my situation's kinda complicated."

Maya shook her head in amusement before writing.

You don't have to tell me. I've been there before.

Gwen frowned, "Does Kai know? Of what you did?"

Maya appraised her for a moment, an indecipherable expression on her face before writing to answer.

He does. But my tenure as Ronin is the reason why I figure you and my son have gotten into a spot of trouble that you two have to figure out.

Gwen winced. "Kinda," she admitted reluctantly.

Just make sure to watch his back.

Gwen looked at Maya in surprise, "You aren't going to tell me to keep your son out of this? Keep him safe and out of business that might not involve him?"

My son is too stubborn to listen to me whenever he has an idea stuck in his head. Even if I did tell him not to help you, he'd do it regardless behind my back. It's better for my peace of mind if he had someone to keep an eye on him.

Gwen stared at the former vigilante as she realized that Maya was basically putting her son's life in the Spider-themed heroine's hands. Internally, she was glad that Sleeper was the one who would really be the one watching over Kai. Otherwise, she would've done this on her own, she didn't need another friend's blood on her hands.

"I'll do my best," was all she said

Maya merely nodded in response before she turned to leave the room. Before she did, however, she wrote something else on her notepad before she ripped the piece of paper out and tossed it over to Gwen over her shoulder as she left.

Frowning, Gwen grabbed the piece of paper out of the air to read it. Only for a heavy blush to redden her face before she crumpled the piece of paper and tossed it into the trash can sitting near the computer desk in the room. It seems Kairi's grandmother wasn't the only whirlwind in the Lopez family.

…Some time later…

Kairi was sitting on the couch in the family room, his feet propped on the wooden table in front of him as he watched a movie on the flatscreen TV mounted on the wall. He had managed to get changed into a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt from his room when Gwen had gone into the bathroom earlier. He was the only one on the main floor as both his mother and grandmother had long since retired to their respective rooms for the night. And with a pillow and a blanket from the linen closet sitting next to him on the couch, he was passing time until he got tired enough to go to sleep.

"Can't sleep?"

Looking over his shoulder, he found Gwen standing at the doorway to the family room, wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants that he recognized as belonging to his mother, with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her pants as she regarded him curiously. "Nah," he shook his head. "You'd think I'd be exhausted after the day we had; training, the funeral, my grandma being her usual self around company. What about you?"

Gwen walked over, sitting on the other side of the couch, "Nope, I'm kinda used to staying up, long nights as Ghost-Spider will do that to a person."

Nodding in understanding, he turned his attention back to the TV.

Bringing her own attention to the TV, noting that he was watching some cyberpunk dystopia show about people living with the ability to change bodies via some sort of technology called stacks. Huh, she'd have to see if this show was in her home dimension when she got back. Biting her lip as her gaze sometimes drifted over to Kai a few times as she deliberated asking aloud the question burning within her, she took then took in a deep breath.

"So… when were you going to tell me your mom was a vigilante once upon a time?"

Kairi's head jerked a little before his gaze snapped to hers. "She told you?" he looked at her in disbelief, a brow cocked. As far as he knew, the only ones who knew about his mother's identity as the Ronin were himself, Grandma, and mom's cousin from Grandma's side.

"Mmhmm," she nodded, "she also pegged that I was Ghost-Spider. Well, not my identity specifically, but she knows that I'm a superhero at the very least."

"Hmm, yeah, Mom's really observant," he mused, grabbing the remote to pause the show. "Could never get away with a lie with her. You know, in hindsight, I probably should've guessed this would've happened. Hm, my bad."

"It's fine," she chuckled, waving off his apology. "It's just… weird that someone was able to work out my identity." Even if that person did trick her into admitting she was superheroine. "I always feared that some enemy of mine would find out and use it to their advantage or blackmail me. It's nice that the person who figured out my identity doesn't really mind it."

Kairi tilted his head to the side, "Is that what my mom said?"

Gwen frowned as she thought back to that conversation. "Hmm, more or less," she shrugged, "I felt that it was kinda implied." She then gave him a heavy look, "Is that why you agreed so easily to help me, Kai? Since your mom's a former vigilante?"

He looked at her, perplexed, "No, I did it because you needed help."

Gwen stared at him for a long moment before she burst out laughing. She couldn't help it, for so long, she had to do the whole superhero thing all by herself with no help from anyone. All Janet had done was just give her the web-shooters and her suit, and while she was glad for the retired heroine's support in giving her as much, Gwen still would've appreciated a little more help; some tips, maybe training in how to fight. So, having Kai legitimately offer his time and his help so earnestly, she could see it in his eyes and she couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"Did… I say something weird?" he raised a brow at her, confused by her reaction.

She shook her head as she took in deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. "No, Kai, it's just…" she gave him an honest smile. "Thank you, really. Thank you."

"Um, you're welcome?"

Honestly, he had no idea what was up with Gwen, but if she wasn't upset, then he would take it. Especially since she was still smiling at him like that. No need to look into a gift horse's mouth, right?

Oh, you've got to be kidding me…

Sleeper? Do you know what's up with her?

I… no. No, no. This will be a WHOLE lot more entertaining for me if I don't say anything. Figure it out for yourself, dude. Trust me, you'll appreciate what I've done for you, or what I didn't do for you later.

What? No, dude, Sleeper, come on, help me out here!

If you've already had a girlfriend already and you don't know what's going on, then take this as a learning experience, Kairi.

What? What would Elsa have anything to do with this?

Ugh, fine, you know what? I'll throw you a bone. It's not exactly about Else, but it's about what Elsa doesn't know.

What? What does Elsa not know? Wait a minute, how exactly would you know what she doesn't know?

I'm in your head, remember?

So wait, I know something that Elsa doesn't know? Okay, then what does that have to do with Gwen? Does she know something? Do I know that something?

…

Oh, watching you two is going to be so much fun…

What? Sleeper? Sleeper! Where'd you go?! Sleeper!

When the silence persisted, Kairi gave a mental sigh before he shyly averted his gaze from Gwen's smile and he reached over for the remote. "Ahem," he cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, have you watched this show, yet? Or rather, is it even your dimension?"

"Can't say," she shrugged as she got comfortable. "What's it about?"

"Okay, so the main character's name is Takeshi Kovacs, right? He's something called an Envoy, a group of people trying to get rid of stacks, which basically allows people to live forever and…"

…Earth 252…

"Strange, you've been at this for four hours…"

Dr. Strange gave the host of a symbiote a dry glare, "Yes, Brock, I'm fully aware of how much time has elapsed since I've begun. Am I boring you?"

"A little…"

"Venom!"

The Sorceror Supreme rolled his eyes as he gave a large sigh, really lamenting the fact that he couldn't rub his aching temples right now since his headache was intensifying. "Well, if either of you would like to go read up on months' worth of the theory and application of portals via magic so you can help me search the multiverse for Sleeper, then please. I would certainly appreciate the help." Keeping one arm held up while the other made a circle for over four hours was really tiring.

Eddie's face scrunched, "Um, why don't you ask your sorcerer buddies for help? You know, make it a whole ritual kind of thing. Don't sorcerors love doing that when they get together?"

Dr. Strange shook his head, sighing again, "I thought you wanted to keep Sleeper's existence a secret from as many people as possible."

Eddie grumbled, "Well, yeah, but…"

"This is taking too long!"

"I'm aware," Dr. Strange sighed as he lowered his arms.

"Whoa, whoa, are you giving up?" the journalist looked incredulously at the magic user.

Dr. Strange shook his head as he started walking over to the staircase, "No, I'm going to get some help."

Eddie grinned as he followed, "Oh, so you are going to get your sorcerer buddies."

"Nope," Dr. Strange shook his head.

"Then…?" When the sorcerer remained silent, Eddie raised his arms helplessly. "Strange? Strange! Where are you going to get help?"

"I don't think he's going to tell us."

"Yeah, me neither…"

AN:

More fluff, but given that Kairi is an original character, I thought it best that this was the perfect time to get another look at him and his family. And Mamy is basically the crazy cat lady without the cats who loves her family. Also, I know culturally that Native American names are purposeful and unique to an individual, which is why I shortened Mamakiaeh to Mamy.

There is also a typo in the last chapter when we head to the other Earth with Doctor Strange, Eddie, and Venom, which had read as Earth 165. That Earth should be Earth 252, which is the issue where we first see Venom in the Amazing Spider-Man comic as just a costume and should be corrected by the time you all read this I know it doesn't mean much now, but I'd like to point out that Sleeper and Gwen come from different dimensions too as this Gwen is from Earth 165, which will be important when we this story arrives at the events of the sequel film.

As always stay safe, stay healthy, and you all have a good day.