"Hey, thanks you guys for coming."
Two individuals stood in the lab outside Peter's personal "black box". The brunette exits and makes sure the box closes before turning to address his company. He asked the commissioner for someone he could bounce some theories off of and Steve did not disappoint.
A tall, broad man stood in a simple black shirt and jeans. It was a bit jarring not seeing tons of weapons strapped all over him, but the glinting metal arm was present.
The towering redhead glaring at everyone with disdain would have been his type once upon a time, but with shifting feelings for the mother-to-be at home any possible interest in the female warrior was snuffed out.
"Cable and Thundra, right?" Peter remembered to question. Despite many higher ups knowing his dual identity, he needed to be on the ball. He hasn't been Spider-Man in months, and people might question why he seems to be so friendly with heroes he's never met as Peter Parker.
One of Cable's eyes seemed to flash once and the future fighter extended a hand and nodded.
Turning to grant the woman the same curtesy, Peter was met with crossed arms and a scowl.
He sheepishly retracted his hand. Hopping up and sitting on a nearby desk, (all within the limits of a normal human), he rubbed his hands together. "Alright, let's get to work."
"And what", Thundra questioned, "is this "work" we are supposed to get to?"
'Um", Peter rubbed the back of his head. "I guess, um, has there been any weird time stuff going on?"
Cable and Thundra looked askance at each other and directed their attention back to the increasingly nervous looking scientist.
"Time "stuff"?" Thundra emphasized her lack of humor with the question.
"Yeah, time stuff", Peter tried to get the ball rolling. "Like, any discrepancies in the timeline, or can you guys track time travel? If I brought you guys to an alleyway can you tell me if timey wimey hijinks are afoot?"
His guests paused in uncertainty before Thundra turned to leave. "When Steve Rogers asked me to come speak with his specialist as soon as possible, I wasn't expecting this farce."
Peter winced a little as the elevator door shut leading the annoyed amazon out of his lab. He let himself down from the table and turned to the other occupant.
"Sorry for the waste of time. I guess I should have worked on my pitch before you two showed up", the brunette apologized.
The white haired freedom fighter watched the shorter man for a moment. He nodded once, "are we free to speak?"
Peter let surprise show on his face a bit before he nodded and motioned to Miguel's unoccupied seat. Cable sat and watched the arachnid-based hero facing sideways plant a hand on the desk. A little hop, and Peter spun halfway in the air, still facing sideways, but standing on the wall. He turned a bit and placed his back against the wall to face Cable, showing him the preferred seating anyone even remotely familiar with Spider-Man would recognize.
"So you knew?"
Cable eyed some of the equipment on the desk. "Yeah, I knew. Didn't want to say anything in front of Thundra on the off chance she wasn't aware."
Peter let out a puff of air. "Much appreciated man. It's getting hard to tell who's in the know and who isn't. I probably should have been a little more discreet after the Doc Ock thing, but at that point I wasn't really caring much." He ended his sentence with an introspective frown, analyzing his behavior between living on the streets and the psychic parasite he expelled.
A cough from Cable pulled him back to reality. "So without Thundra here, tell me what it is you really need."
Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, and his hands grasping under his chin, Peter reviewed the case in his mind before speaking with his guest openly.
"A few days ago we had a homicide with an unknown tech user. This person used freezing technology to freeze and shatter a seemingly inconsequential, normal civilian. Reviewing what data we could find, we've determined that the chemical agents used in the cryo-tech point to a method of producing ice that has been obsolete for almost a decade. Furthermore, it seems as if the tech itself matches what few scraps we can find of an old "Blizzard" ice dispenser. I say "scraps" because around that time that that particular model was in circulation, Tony Stark went on the attack and wiped out most of the armor and weapon schematics and hardware that existed. So Cable", Peter focused on the man in front of him. "How would tech that was supposedly wiped out about 10 years ago randomly pop up and disappear without a trace?"
Cable leaned back and crossed his arms and stared unfocused at the ceiling. "You suppose its "time travel"?"
"There IS a few more leads we could track down", Peter admitted, "but it's sad when "time travel" makes the most sense."
Cable agreed. And there HAVE been some strange goings on that was time related. He wouldn't expect Thundra to be able to track anything like this. Just because she could travel backwards in time from her own time and place didn't make her an expert in HOW it was done.
"This time, this space", the cyborg began, "seems to me to be some sort of temporal and dimensional "sink hole"."
The hero on the wall raised an eyebrow in question.
Cable continued, "It appears that our position right here and now seems to "catch" time and space "jumpers". Almost like something draws random flotsam from the time stream and spits it out here."
"So you're saying", Peter tried to wrap his head around it, "that someone that can freeze things AND can time travel, was spat out right next to this random guy, got the urge to get rid of him, and popped back out of our time zone?"
A cold cyborg hand pinched the bridge of its owner's nose. "No. What I am saying is that there does seem to be some kind of time traffic happening and that maybe someone was sucked into this time and place."
Peter narrowed his eyes at the time traveler. "You know what's going on."
It wasn't a question.
Cable's own eyes narrowed and the fraction of friendliness that he was exuding dried up.
"Vaguely."
The two veterans, one of wars that had not yet come to pass and the other of the war for peace he fought since a spider bit him, stared at each other.
Peter gave him a little credit, he had better mental manners than his "sister". He could feel no trace of a telepath's prodding on his brain.
"Let me guess", Peter broke the silence, "letting me know might change the future for the worst?" He spoke with the tired voice that has heard the exact same excuse too many times.
For his part, Cable sighed and sounded as annoyed as he did. "Possibly. Time travel is much too troublesome sometimes."
Peter watched the man rise from his seat.
"I can tell you, you're on the right track. In more ways than one." Cable stood at ease, hands behind his back in a military manner to address the hero eye to eye. "Time HAS been manipulated. Minutely, subtly, almost to the point of invisibly. For an open move against this civilian of yours, seems out of place-"
"Or extremely personal", Peter finished for him. "But we can't connect him to anything or anyone."
"Yet", Cable supplied with definite meaning.
"Yet", Peter echoed the word. "Someone from supposedly the future, or A future, has been manipulating things on an almost Micronaut-ish scale. But this guy here was flash frozen, because our perp COULD. This guy does something, or is involved in something that our perp takes offensive to and takes the time to lash out at him. Because he COULD."
The older man nods once.
"Ok", Peter continues, jumping onto the ceiling and pacing around randomly. "But why the tech from years ago? I'm guessing a guy that can time travel from the future probably has access to some fancy toys. Why an outdated ice dispenser?"
Cable continued to look straight ahead, refusing to crane his neck to follow the Spider. "It apparently can't be traced to your suspect."
"Which the list has expanded again", Peter dropped onto his feet on the floor and cupped his chin in thought. "Thanks to time travel. It could be anyone from the future. Or alternate futures! You have to give me more to go on."
Cable turned to once again watch the younger hero. "That's all I can say safely. This man dangerous. And the things he's doing are personal to him. You're closer than you think Peter. And you have more resources than you're utilizing at the moment."
The retired hero took a moment to kick himself mentally. AGAIN he's reminded of the network of friends, family, and acquaintances that he's built up over the years. Being a lone wolf spider all those years has conditioned him to work solo, but Peter felt he was working passed that.
"Alright Cable. Thanks for coming. You gave me a lot more than I expected, to be honest."
Cable shook his hand as the younger man passed him, obviously energized and ready to get back on the case. The tall mutant watched him for a moment before beginning his alternate agenda.
"If you want to thank me, I could use a favor…"
-Outside the Lab-
Jessica Parker rode the elevator hand in hand with the tall young woman she had been spending some time with. "He's ok when you get to know him. Pretty much like in the mask, maybe a bit subdued."
Her friend gave a shy smile, "if you take after him, I'm sure he's wonderful."
Jessica fought hard to keep an awkward blush off her face. "Only vaguely. I'm a Rule 34 copy from an alternate dimension. I don't know how much we might have in common."
Her hand being squeezed slightly brought the same shy smile to her own face, and may have led somewhere had the doors not open and a hurried Peter Parker nearly barreled into them.
"Wish I had my Spider-Sense", the long haired brunette cursed. "What's the big hurry Peter?"
"Oh Jess, and Karolina right?" Peter shook the hand of the confused woman before hitting a button for the ground floor. "I got some people to talk to, might finally be making some progress. You guys can check out the lab if you want. I'll try to hurry back for a late lunch or something."
The girls just stepped off the elevator before the doors closed and it rose. They looked at each other and Jessica shrugged, then led Karolina into the lab. "He's normally better than that."
"I'm sure. He always seemed very busy when he was still swinging around."
"I still can't believe I let that slip."
"Don't worry too much sweetie. I would have figured things out eventually."
"I'm just glad you'll still be around for an "eventually"."
Karolina let another shy smile slide onto her face. She looked around the lab and marveled at the advanced equipment. Her eyes eventually settled on a tube that looked like a lava lamp from the future, except the dark sludge was settled at the bottom third of it.
"Jessica, what's that?"
-Alleyway near Headquarters-
Thundra held out her hand expectantly as Cable approached her.
"Here, the cure as I promised", he informed her as he passed a tube of greyish white liquid.
"How much trouble did he give you for this?" Thundra cradled the vial carefully in her palm.
"None, once I told him what it was for", he hurried to cut off her indignant rant. "I told him it was the key to help thousands in the future. I didn't tell him which future or what thousands."
The redhead's glare lessened and she secured the tube in a pouch on her side. "He doesn't realize what he has here."
"Probably not", Cable agreed, "but even if he did, he would still have helped. It's who he is."
Thundra humphed and turned to leave.
"What about your end of the deal?" Cable called out to her.
Thundra casually tossed a flash drive over her shoulder as she walked away. Slowing it's decent with his mind, Cable plucked it out of the air and pulled a phone from his pocket that wouldn't be available to the public for another 20 years. A port opened in its side and Cable plugged the drive in. In seconds the information was downloaded and he went over bits and pieces.
Cable grinned, satisfied with what was shown. He pulled up a contact and dialed the number.
"Nomad", the voice answered.
"Nomad, this is Cable. We got it."
-Baxter Building-
Franklin wiped a bit of sweat off his brow and watched his sister work. It was kind of hard to keep this small pocket dimension doorway up so Valeria could work in secret. Why she wanted to keep it secret, he didn't know. Whenever he asked she just talked over him and he eventually tuned her out and lost interest. There was more to life than Science, he knew. He hoped that he could convince his sister likewise.
"There", she smiled softly at her creation. Pieced together from cannibalized parts from hundreds of different machines, she found ways to store them out of sight until she could assemble them according to the diagram in her imagination. And Franklin was indispensable to her, his abilities reemergence kept secret so she could have use of them. A small pocket dimension, (pocket closet Franklin called it) such as this did nothing to the scanners around the building, and nothing could detect her creation while she built it. And she needed one final touch on it.
"Hand me the device", she asked her brother.
"You mean the cosmic hotspot?" He asked her with a grin.
Valeria rolled her eyes at his need to label everything she made, no matter how accurate. Using the normal Wi-Fi would have surely alerted everyone to their activities. She spent a weekend researching, building, and fine tuning a device to pull the internet through another dimension.
She took the "cosmic hotspot" and plugged it into the head of the humanoid figure in front of them. Taking a small pad out of her pocket that instantly connected to the same hotspot. She typed in "READY" on the touchpad and held her breath.
The two children watched in awe as the inert figure appeared to glow with an inner light, slowly brightening until it was almost a star in the small dimension that they were inhabiting.
The light faded and as soon as they rubbed the spots from their eyes, they could see the figure rise unsteadily to its feet.
"A- amaz – crackle – zing chil- chil- hildren", the metal being spoke, flexing its "fingers" in front of its optical sensors.
"Not that amazing", Valeria scoffed while preening on the inside. "Most geniuses could have constructed a vessel for you to inhabit."
"I- I'm sure", the beings voice began clearing up, and the movements were less stiff. "But I'm sure few could have prepared a defense for me as you have."
"They would have tried their best I'm sure", Valeria haughtily replied.
Since discovering an errant signal months ago, Valeria tracked it down to an alien consciousness in the internet. Speaking with it secretly she found out it was in hiding, given the world's general view of Artificial Intelligences. The digital being felt that it could be in danger if it made contact with someone who could build a vessel for it. Valeria spoke with it often, taking a secret thrill from hiding her activities from one of the smartest men on the planet. Soon, it took her into its confidence and asked for her to construct a body for it.
She relished the challenge.
Eventually, she brought her brother in on her scheme. He seemed reluctant at first until he spoke with her acquaintance. He still didn't like hiding everything, but he would go along for the ride for her.
Constructing the body, was only half the battle though. It wanted to defend itself from those it was sure would attempt to deconstruct it. While the children had no idea how to fight, (aside from Valeria reading 'The Art of War' when she was bored one weekend) they had a treasure trove of ideas in which to protect one's self.
The children had borrowed an old trunk of Spider-Man's awhile back, and while Valeria couldn't read through all of them in time, her and Franklin could scan and keep records for them to go over later. Uploading the data to the vessel would give the being plenty of ideas to defend itself with, and all of it non-lethal thanks to the man who thought of it in the first place.
"If you have acclimated yourself to your new vessel, I would like to introduce you to my father", Valeria informed it, seeing herself as a liaison for the new being.
"I do not think that is wise, Val", the being used a common nickname for her. When others used it, it seemed to annoy her to no end. But when this being called her that, she liked to think it thought of her as a friend.
"Your father is surely as wise as you are", it hurried to explain itself, "but I do not think a warrior who has faced the likes of Ultron and others like him to be as excepting of me as you have been."
"Dad's cool", Franklin didn't like feeling like the third wheel. "He'd probably see you as an alien diplonaut."
"Diplomat, Franklin", Valeria said between clenched teeth. Why did her brother have to speak when she was conversing with her, colleague? Associate? …friend?
"As sure as you are, young Franklin, I would still prefer to take caution", the being remarked.
"Of course", Valeria reassured the being. "Take as much time as you need. We can close the portal, and leave you with my device so you can observe the world safely."
"That would be most kind of you Val", she thought she could almost hear a smile in the being's voice.
They exchanged goodbyes and worked out another time to meet back in this pocket dimension. Valeria turned to leave the room, passing by a visibly shaking and sweating Franklin.
Before they shut the door to the dimension, Valeria called to her new "friend". "What should your designation be?"
The being focused its optics on the children, "I suppose if any name would suffice, I would be content with Mark."
-Outside Miguel's Apartment-
"You didn't have to come with me", Carlie informed her entourage.
"Please", Nancy spoke up from beside Miles. "If there's one thing I've learned being involved with this crew, if it seems minor, odds are it's going to blow up in everyone's face."
Doreen reached over and patted Pete's cheek, "that's Spiders for you."
Carlie hummed noncommittedly, but was secretly glad for running into the little double date. Miguel had not messaged back in days, and while she was ok with giving him space from time to time, this bordered on the ridiculous.
They approached his door and Carlie took out a key.
"He gave you a key to his place?" Pete asked with a surprised tone.
Carlie ignored the chatter and opened up the door expecting the worse. What greeted them was a slightly dusty, but non-threatening, empty apartment.
The woman walked through, obvious that she had visited before. The four behind her slowly walked in and looked around.
Carlie searched the bedroom first and, not finding a body, entered the kitchen to find the younger adults huddled around a laptop.
She squeezed between them and read the flashing screen.
TIMESTORM UNSTABLE
Miles piped in from the back, "what does that mean?"
A light flashed and the five vanished.
-Elsewhere-
He picked up his glass of whiskey and puffed on his cigar.
Everything was coming into place.
The Time Variance Authority did him a favor, keeping him locked outside of time. When his home timeline somehow ended up erased, he was spared from the effects. And eventually breaking free, he ended up in this time, at the right moment ironically.
Now nothing could stop him from taking vengeance.
And just in case, he had his trump card handy.
He pressed a button on his phone, "how's our "Red Queen" doing?"