Night spread quickly, and the streets were now illuminated from the many skyscrapers in the city. Andrew was walking aimlessly through the streets, taking in the place that he had once called home.
It had been refreshing being able to spend time with Aunt May again; she was just such a compassionate person that you couldn't help but love being around her. It wasn't fair what would happen to her later in life.
The streets were getting more crowded and Andrew found himself on an entire strip full of small walk-in diners and restaurants.
"Free sample?"
Andrew looked up and saw an older woman wearing a white apron, holding a tray of meatballs. She was holding a meatball skewered by a toothpick out to him.
"Definitely." He took the meatball from her. "Damn, that was good," he told her as he tossed the toothpick in the trash next to them. "Thanks."
"Go on in! Go buy some!" she gestured to the Korean BBQ & Grill.
Andrew paused for a moment, double checking if his sister had texted him again, before going inside.
The restaurant only had four tables. Only one of the tables was taken, the occupants being two girls who looked around his age. Andrew bought a small bowl of the meatballs, grumbling at the price, and took a seat at the table in the corner.
The two girls at the table diagonal from him talked to each other quietly enough that normal people wouldn't wouldn't be able to hear them. But Andrew wasn't normal. He wasn't trying to listen in, but the subject matter caught his attention.
"Yeah, I was there that night! It was insane," the girl with the orange jacket said, "Spider-man got there just in time."
"If the police hadn't shot at that Electro guy in the first place, he wouldn't have tried to hurt anyone," the platinum blonde replied as she played on her phone.
"You weren't there, Courtney," the girl said in a shrill voice.
The blonde put her phone down. "I saw the videos, Bree. They didn't have to shoot at him."
"Whatever." The other practically stuck her nose up and crossed her arms.
Andrew didn't like her.
"Let's change the subject. You know she doesn't like to talk about Spider-man," the blonde told her passively, "and she'll be here any minute." She glanced over her shoulder towards the door.
Bree lit up at this. "Did you hear that the police caught that crazy redhead?"
"No, who?" Courtney asked curiously.
"Hold on, I can look up his name," Bree picked her phone up, "but he's totally mad. He killed his own grandmother when he was just a kid! The parents should have taken him to get help when he tortured the family dog."
Andrew's phone vibrated. Violet had texted him, "Hey, taking care of something. Text me when you want to meet up at the guest house."
"Wow." Courtney raised her eyebrows. "I didn't hear anything about that."
"Well, he's in jail now. Oh, here's his name, Cletus Kasady. It says here he set his orphanage on fire!"
The door opened up and another blonde entered.
"Gwen! Hey, Gwen!" Bree called out to her.
Andrew did a double take when he heard her name, and sure enough, the girl that had walked through the front door was Gwen Stacy.
"Hey guys," Gwen smiled at them as she sat down at their table.
"Are you okay?" Courtney began, "you seem-"
"I'm fine, just work stuff," Gwen comically rolled her eyes.
"I bet it's that boy again," Bree smiled mischievously, "Peter Parker."
"Bree," Courtney indicated towards Gwen.
"Right," Bree exhaled loudly, "we can't talk about Peter. We can't talk about Spider-man. What else can't we talk about?"
Andrew definitely did not like this 'Bree' girl.
Gwen looked at both of the girls in confusion, slightly agape.
"Sorry, she doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut," Courtney tried to laugh it off.
"Right, blame me." Bree stood up from the table and tossed out her empty drink into the garbage. "Let me know when you're back to your old fun self, Gwen." She walked out the door.
"I don't even-"
"No, Gwen." Courtney stood up. "It's not your fault, my sister, she's-"
"What just happened? What did I do?"
"I'll call you later, okay? I need to go find her." Courtney rushed out the door.
Gwen clicked her tongue. "Okay," she said to herself. She scrunched her face up, still trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
Andrew snorted at her bewildered expression, but then instantly regretted it.
Gwen looked towards him, glaring daggers. "What's so funny?"
Andrew lowered his head, focusing on his bowl of Korean meatballs, which he just now realized was empty.
"Nothing," he mumbled.
"Wait a minute," Gwen tilted her head as Andrew looked back at her, "I know you."
"I don't think so," Andrew got up and tossed his trash in the garbage.
"Yeah, yeah I do." She followed him." You were in my class for a couple weeks."
He paused and turned back to her.
"Yeah..." She smiled slyly at him. "I remember you. Alex- no, Andrew."
He remained silent, unsure if he should interact any further with her. His own family was one thing, but he had never really known her.
"We all heard you and your sister just dropped out one day," Gwen said, although it sounded more like a question.
"It wasn't like that," Andrew said irritably. She frowned at his tone. He sighed and ran a hand back through his hair, "Sorry. Can I help you with something... or?"
"Hey, you were the one who laughed at me," Gwen pursed her lips, although the smile on her face showed she wasn't angry at him.
"I wasn't laughing at you," Andrew chuckled, "well maybe I was, but-"
Gwen crossed her arms. "Oh! Mhm, yeah," she nodded at him.
"-but it was your expression. You just looked so puzzled by what happened. It was..." Andrew tried thinking of a word. Cute ran through his mind. "It just made me laugh. In a good way," he clarified.
Why the hell did cute run through his mind?
"I'm glad the impending demise of my friendships amuses you."
"I'm sorry, but you could do without that friend in your life." Andrew shook his head. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but the tables are pretty close."
"It's fine, really," Gwen sighed. "It was nice to see you again, Andrew. Anyway, I'm off to the bus stop."
"I'll walk you there. It's getting pretty late," he opened the front door for her.
Gwen considered him for a moment, "Okay." She thanked him as she walked through the open door.
For the next ten minutes or so, they slowly walked to the nearest bus stop.
"So, you're back in the city. Did you get a job out here or were you planning on getting your GED?" Gwen asked.
"Not too sure," Andrew paused, "just kind of going day by day right now."
"Sometimes I wish I could be like that," Gwen sighed, but then smiled, "I've pretty much got the next decade planned out."
"Oh yeah? What's that then?"
"I'm currently the Senior Research Officer at Oscorp, although they're already training my replacement. I might be going to Oxford University and well. It's between me and another person, but my work is confident I'll be getting the scholarship. If everything goes well, I'll be living there the next four years."
"You'll get it," Andrew smiled. He briefly wondered if she planned on going to England in the original timeline. It made him sad that either way, she would never get to go. It wasn't fair.
"Maybe," Gwen laughed and tossed back some of her hair, "I really hope I do."
"My- Peter told me about you. He said that you were- are the smartest person that he knows," Andrew stumbled over his words.
"Peter said that?"
Andrew nodded. Well, it was true Peter had told him that, even though it wasn't the Peter from this time.
"Well, here we are." Gwen stopped at the bus stop sign. "Thanks for walking me."
"Yeah, anytime," Andrew said.
Gwen checked the time on her phone, "the bus will be here in about five minutes. I can wait here."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, but." She took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. "Maybe we can get together again before I go to England. If I get the scholarship, that is."
Andrew took the piece of paper. Her phone number was on it. He pocketed it.
"Thanks again," Gwen touched his arm, "it was nice to see you again. I hope you figure out what it is you're doing." She smiled and their eyes locked for several seconds before he looked away.
Andrew left the bus stop, knowing that Gwen would be okay. The paper in his pocket felt like a ton of bricks. He had barely said anything, and Gwen had given him her number. Maybe he was over-thinking it, maybe she really did just want to hang out. She was a level-headed person. Not to mention that, in just the short time he had spent with her, he had found her fascinating.
Andrew passed up the long strip of restaurants, and found himself walking towards the less populated areas of the city again. If he got too far, he could always just swing back to the guest house.
"HEL-"
Andrew stopped. Someone was in trouble.
He listened very carefully as he moved in the direction of the call for help.
"Just give us your password," a man said gruffly, "Yell again, and I'll put a bullet in your head."
Andrew turned the corner, and three men were standing next to an ATM. One of them was clutching his briefcase, one was angriliy punching in the numbers on the ATM screen, and the last had a gun up to the first man's head.
"Give him the password, now!" the man with the gun yelled. He had a black ski mask on, while the man at the ATM had no face cover.
"I- I don't know- I never use that card-" the man stammered.
"I'm gonna give you 'til the count of three, then I'm gonna shoot."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Andrew crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "There's no need to get violent, fellas."
The man with the ski mask pointed the gun towards Andrew and then back at the man with the briefcase.
"Beat it kid, or you'll be the one with a bullet in ya."
"Nah, I don't think so." Andrew straightened up. "Is that even loaded?" he smirked.
"Wanna see for yourself?"
Andrew took a few steps forward. The man with the gun fired at his feet, which he easily dodged by stepping to the side.
"Hey!" The ATM man seemed annoyed that the ski mask man had fired. He turned to Andrew. "Leave now."
Andrew quickly snatched the gun from the man with his webbing.
"Didn't you ever learn about basic gun safety?" Andrew asked as he bent the barrel of the gun upwards and tossed it to the side.
"It's Spider-man!" the man with the ski mask yelled and took off running. Andrew raised his eyebrow at the other man, who growled and took off towards his partner.
"Thanks, thank you so much!" the man with the briefcase yelled as Andrew followed the criminals.
"Where do you think you two are going?" Andrew called out as they ran down the closest alleyway. The man who had run first seemed to be slower than his partner. Andrew shot a web out and the man was quickly stuck to the ground.
Two shots were fired and he lazily dodged them. The other man had a hidden gun. With another lazy movement, Andrew snatched the gun and webbed up the man at the same time.
"You thugs are all the same," Andrew bent the second gun and tossed it, "you know Spider-man is protecting the city, and yet you think you're the one who's going to get away with it," he shook his head. Both of the men were webbed to the ground by their feet, and weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Andrew sensed someone behind him and, thinking there was a third man in their party, spun around and got ready to disarm them.
When he saw who it was, he straightened up and tugged down his beanie nervously, although it was already as far down as it would go. Even without being able to see the face of the newcomer, Andrew already knew he'd been discovered.
"Crap."
"He seems nice," Aunt May said conversationally after Andrew had left their house.
"Yeah, he's alright." Peter shrugged. It was true that he seemed like one of the friendlier people at his school, even though he had only been there a couple weeks. There was just something off about him. Peter hadn't told anyone else, because of how crazy it sounded, but he still remembered the day Andrew and his sister just disappeared in an alley after school one day.
"You really should be spending time with other people your age, you know." Aunt May began to clean up the kitchen table. "It's not healthy, keeping everyone at a distance, you know."
She had a point. Ever since Gwen had officially broken up with him, Peter found himself spending more and more time as Spider-man. The only person he actually spent time with was his aunt, and that probably wasn't normal for someone his age. Then again, he wasn't normal.
"Harry's back in town," Peter said.
Aunt May stopped cleaning. "Harry Osborn?" she asked.
"Yeah," he nodded, "we hung out a little. He's busy a lot of the time though, and with his father dying, a lot of his time is going to the company."
"You need to bring that boy over, Peter Parker," Aunt May frowned, "he's far too young to be dealing with this, let alone by himself."
"I'll see what I can do. I'll tell him you miss him," Peter grinned.
"I do! He spent more time here than at his own house." Her forehead creased. Peter knew that Aunt May had considered Harry somewhat of a second son.
"Alright Aunt May, I'll let him know," Peter said. He finished helping her with any small tasks she was doing in the kitchen. "I'm going to head to bed. Thanks again for dinner," he said and headed towards his room.
Thanks to Andrew, he didn't have to continue his battery experiments tonight. Tomorrow, he would pick up some heavy duty magnets to magnetize his web shooters. The outside of the shooters were nickel-plated, so he figured it should work out how he planned.
He decided to spend the next couple hours keeping watch over the city. It was nice and breezy outside and Peter was hoping now that with Electro being caught, it would be an easy night.
Within the first ten minutes, Peter had to save a girl leaving a night club from getting mugged. He left the mugger webbed to the side of the club as the girl shouted a 'thanks' and called the police.
Only fifteen minutes after that, he heard gunshots. He had to suppress a laugh when he got to the scene. The owner of a Mobil gas station was firing warning shots at one very terrified thief. The owner yelled a mouthful of profanities as he walked back into his gas station. Peter hung around for awhile to ensure the thief did not return before he heard another gunshot.
Peter took off towards the sound, getting there within a minute. There was a man in a khaki colored jacket tightly holding a briefcase. Another figure in dark clothing was running away from the man. Peter dropped down next to the man with the briefcase.
"Did he steal anything or hurt anyone?" Peter nodded his head towards the running figure.
The man's eyes widened and mouth hung open as he took in Peter's appearance. "No he- you- Spider-man..." The guy shook his head, "but he helped me, he's going after the bad guys."
The guy quickly looked back and forth between Peter and the other person who had just now turned the corner. He seemed very confused.
Without another word, Peter swung himself up onto the wall that was next to the alley where the possible criminal had ran into. He took just a second to see how many people he may have to deal with, but what he saw caused him to freeze in awe.
One of the men was already webbed to the ground. The figure he saw running just moments later easily dodged bullets that the second man shot at him. Any other person wouldn't have been able to move fast enough in such close proximity. Who the hell was this guy?
"You thugs are all the same," the figure said as he broke the gun and tossed it, "you know Spider-man is protecting the city, and yet you think you're the one who's going to get away with it."
Peter dropped down to the ground. He knew that voice. In fact, it was only an hour ago that he was with that person. He needed to be sure though.
The figure spun around quickly, looking like he was ready to strike. It was exactly the person he thought it was. The change was almost instantaneous when Andrew saw who exactly was behind him. To Peter, he almost seemed like a child who had just got caught doing something they shouldn't do.
"Crap," Andrew said.
Peter was at a loss for words. So many thoughts clouded his mind that all he could do was stand and stare.
Before Peter could get a coherent word out, Andrew had leapt onto the wall and began climbing upwards towards the roof.
"Wait," Peter called to him.
Andrew didn't slow down, and Peter quickly chased after him.
"Hey!" Peter yelled again, just as Andrew took a running start and jumped to the roof of another building. Peter shot out a few times at him, but every time the webbing was dodged, even with him jumping to more rooftops.
"Andrew!" he tried. This caused the other to pause before jumping to the next building. "Just hold on, I'm not going to hurt you or anything," Peter said in what he hoped was a reassuring way. Andrew was a few feet from the edge of the building that they were currently both on.
"I didn't mean for you to find out," Andrew said to him.
"Did you- uh did you take the webbing from the garage earlier?" Peter asked him. It was the only logical explanation he could think of.
Andrew crossed his arms over his chest as his eyebrows pulled together. "No," he said, clearly offended.
"So you, what, just decided to create the same webbing I use?"
"It's not the same," Andrew rubbed at his wrist.
Peter took a few steps forward. He didn't want him to take off again, but he needed answers. "Look, it's not safe to play vigilante."
Andrew scoffed, "That's rich coming from you."
"I'm not your average human."
"Maybe I'm not either," he said slowly. A sudden mischievous smile made it's way onto Andrew's face, "I didn't have to make my own webbing."
Peter was about to ask what he meant, but Andrew held both wrists up, showing there was no device on either of them. He aimed towards a metal vent with both wrists and shot a strand of webbing out of each.
"How did- you can- what?" Peter exclaimed.
"I think maybe we should talk," Andrew said it in a question form, letting Peter decide whether or not he wanted to.
There were so many questions racing through his mind at the moment, but here was not the place to be talking about these things.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go back to the garage." Peter walked to the edge of the building near Andrew. "Can you keep up?"
"You'll just have to see," he smirked. Peter rolled his eyes, although Andrew wouldn't be able to tell, and leapt off the side.
Neither of them said anything to each other the whole way there. It was almost like the were playing a game; Andrew would quickly zip to the other side of a building and suddenly be in front of Peter, and then Peter would do the same.
"Stop here." Peter landed on the ground, just a few blocks from his house. Andrew landed silently next to him. "I'm going to sneak back into my room to change. I'll meet you in the garage. It should be unlocked."
Andrew nodded and took the sidewalk back to the house.
Peter tried to remember to be quiet as he changed into his normal clothes. Aunt May was sleeping in her bedroom right now. He checked his phone and noticed he had a missed call from Gwen and decided he would call her back in the morning. There was just too much going on right now.
When he got to the garage, Andrew was seated in the chair that he had previously been in earlier that day. Or yesterday, technically, when Peter considered the time it was.
"I don't even know where to start," Peter began, "I mean, how is this possible? Who are you? How did you know about me?"
Andrew smiled in what Peter thought was amusement. "Well, my name is Andrew," he said. He drew his lower lip between his teeth. "It happened sometime after I was at Oscorp."
"Oscorp?" Peter repeated.
Andrew nodded, "Yeah. There was a room full of-"
"-spiders."
He nodded again, "I volunteered to test out the effects of the spider venom."
"That's where you got the name Osborn," Peter rested his chin on his hand as he leaned against the work bench.
"Right." Andrew scratched the back of his neck. "The only thing that happened at the time though was the color change to my eyes. My powers didn't show up until later."
"Mine showed up the next morning," Peter said, "what powers do you have?"
Andrew paused for a moment. "Far as I can tell, same as you. Except for the webbing." He shook his wrist and shrugged.
Peter suddenly flung a wrench towards Andrew, who caught it without hesitation. Andrew raised an eyebrow at him as he nodded in satisfaction.
"Just checking."
"What if I didn't have quick reflexes?" Andrew tossed the wrench on the floor.
"It wouldn't have hit you, I aimed an inch to the right," Peter grinned.
"Wow, thanks," he replied sarcastically. "So, how did you get your powers?"
Peter exhaled loudly. "In theory, same as you. Except I snuck into the room while trying to get some information about my father. I was bit by one of the spiders and I decided to use my powers to help others."
"Who all knows about you?"
"Just you and..." Peter paused, unsure if he should tell Andrew about Gwen. It didn't seem like he was hiding anything from him though. "...my uh kind-of-ex-girlfriend Gwen."
Andrew raised both of his eyebrows. "That's it? What about your aunt and uncle?"
"My aunt doesn't know," Peter shook his head. That was a conversation he definitely did not want to have with her. "How'd you know about my uncle?" he asked suspiciously.
"I just assumed. I saw a picture when we were in your house."
"Oh." That made sense. "Well, my uncle actually passed away. Not too long after I got my powers."
Andrew frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that."
There was silence after that. Andrew was picking at the sleeve of his hoodie.
"Who knows about you?" Peter asked.
"Other than you, just my sister."
"That's it?" Peter repeated his words.
Andrew shrugged. "She's all I have left. Our parents died and we don't have any other family," he said.
They were starting to have a lot more in common with each other than Peter thought.
"Sorry," Peter said as he stared at the floor. "I know how it is, though. I lost both of my parents at a really young age. My aunt is all I have left."
"We're some kind of pair aren't we?" Andrew laughed sarcastically.
Peter nodded thoughtfully.
"The day you left school, that day I asked if you wanted to hang out," Peter began, "I uh- I didn't exactly mean to, but I kind of followed you and your sister."
Andrew looked at him expectantly, and began rubbing at his wrist again.
"You two went into an alleyway and..." Peter coughed. He knew this was going to sound crazy. "You both disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
"Uh, yeah," Peter said slowly.
"I don't know what you think you saw, but that definitely did not happen. We didn't just disappear," Andrew laughed. "I was showing my sister my powers and I jumped over the fence with her on my back."
Peter pondered this for a moment. He swears he saw the both of them go into the alleyway, hold something, and then disappear… Peter moved some tools on the work bench to the side and sat up on it, letting his legs hang off the front.
"Anyway... so you just fight crime? Save the city? That sort of thing?" Andrew leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms behind his head.
"There are three paths you can choose with powers like this," he said seriously, "you can either become the hero, become a villain, or do nothing. As far as I'm concerned, doing nothing is nearly as bad as becoming the bad guy."
Andrew tilted his head forward and opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but let his head fall back into his hands.
"You helped those people today," Peter commented.
"If I see someone who needs help, I help them. I don't really go looking for it, though. People tend to get the wrong impression of me," he said, "I don't like being different from everyone else."
"Well," Peter began, "you're not, not anymore anyways. You and I are pretty similar I'd say." He knew exactly what it felt like to be different.
"Yeah," Andrew smiled at him, "I guess you're right." He yawned.
"How come you didn't try to find me earlier? Or say something? How long have you had these powers?" Peter fired more questions at him.
"It feels like forever," he chuckled, "but longer than you've had yours. Way before I met you." Andrew had his eyes closed as he leaned back into the chair.
Peter nodded thoughtfully. He didn't pry on any unanswered questions.
"I wasn't trying to get in your way or anything tonight. This is probably totally weird for you and all," Andrew mumbled.
"Are you kidding me? This is great!" Peter smiled.
"Really?" Andrew raised an eyebrow in disbelief before closing his eyes again. "Why's that?"
Peter carefully stood on the work bench and pulled himself up into skylight, holding himself in place between the two walls. "Well for starters, now we both know that we're not alone. I mean like-" he tried to find the right word, but came up short, "-I thought I was the only one like this, so it's kind of cool that I found you."
"Mhm," Andrew said sleepily.
Peter checked his phone, wishing Gwen would text him. Ever since she told him about England, he had been anxious to see if she would get the grant.. There was a small selfish part of him that hoped she wouldn't, but in the end, what made her happy was more important. tThat's all he wanted for her, even if that meant she had to move to a different country.
"Thanks again for helping earlier with the batteries." Peter pocketed his phone. He waited a few seconds, but Andrew didn't reply. Peter looked down to see Andrew's mouth slightly open and his eyes shut.
"Dude, you awake?" Peter asked quietly and then rolled his eyes at himself. He obviously wasn't.
Peter wondered whether or not he should wake him up. He shifted into a more comfortable position and decided to just hang out in the skylight until Andrew woke up. He probably just needs a short nap, he thought. Peter closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Normie was freezing. Scarlet had him follow her to Northern Canada in order to find Stryker. Her master. They had already been to multiple countries, and the last place they had been in was Argentina. A mutant there had told Scarlet that last she heard, Stryker was in Canada. So there they were: surrounded by mountains in the middle of the night in unseasonably cold weather.
"This was a waste of time," Scarlet growled as she dropped the dead body of a female mutant to the ground. She looked at the body as if it had insulted her. The mutant had had purple skin and long black hair. Normie just kept his eyes on her left hand. It kept making a swirling motion.
"At least the scenery is nice here," Normie grinned cheekily, attempting to get rid of some of the tension. Instead of looking at the snow covered mountains, Scarlet looked up above her head.
"It is, isn't it?" she said in monotone.
Don't look up.
"We- we've been searching for awhile now. Don't you think th- that it would be better if we stuck close to our island?" Normie asked.
"I know when he will get there. Now is not the time," Scarlet searched the body on the ground with her right hand, while the left kept making swirling motions.
Normie nodded, keeping his eyes focused on the ground. "You don't need to kill any more mutants or super humans. You already do that in the future. They're gone already. Once we go back to our time, they'll already be dead."
Normie was no stranger to seeing dead bodies or murder before. It wasn't something he could just get used to, though.
"We're not going back to that time," Scarlet said.
"What?" Normie's head snapped up to look her in the face. She must not have found anything useful on the dead mutant, as she was already standing up.
"Stryker is dead in that time. He is alive here."
Normie frowned but didn't reply. He had a feeling she was going to decide this. A strangled gasp of pain came from the sky. Normie focused on the ground again.
A second later, Scarlet was suddenly in front of him. He flinched as she brought her right hand to his chin.
"You do not need to be afraid of me," she said softly, "as long as you do not get in my way and you stay on my side."
He couldn't help the skeptical look on his face. "You tried to freeze me with a ball of ice."
"You were being difficult," she gently slapped his cheek and let go of him, "just do as you're told and you'll be fine. I'll make sure no harm comes to you."
"I don't want you to kill my brother or sister," Normie snapped.
"The ones who want to get rid of me and erase you from time?" she asked in a tight voice.
"I could talk to them. I could change their minds."
Scarlet smiled in an unfriendly way. "They literally traveled through time to attempt to stop me. I don't believe a little chat with you is going to change anything."
"Let me try," Normie pleaded, "Please. Let me at least try."
"Time can't change right now. My old self needs to get sent to that island. I believe they're going to wait until right before I get taken to change anything. That's when I am going to stop them. They will die, Peter Parker will die, and any other person in that warehouse will die."
"If you kill my father, then I won't exist," Normie rebutted.
"Not if you stay in this time," Scarlet explained. "You're already here. The problem would be if you went back to our time after that happened."
"Besides, your father and Peter Parker are already dead where we're from," Scarlet lazily looked above her as another gasp echoed.
Normie didn't respond to this. He knew Peter Parker probably wasn't dead. In fact, he was genuinely surprised Scarlet didn't find out what he did. Within that half second before Scarlet and Normie time jumped to follow the twins, he used his freezing power on Peter. The other half of that second, Normie grabbed onto Peter as they jumped. There was an explosion and he was forced to let go of Peter. When time finally stopped, Normie and Scarlet were off to the destination they had planned. He had no idea what happened to Peter.
"Look," he changed the subject away from his father and friend, "I have done everything you asked of me since we got here. I haven't lied to you. All I'm asking is that you let me try and reason with them. They're my brother and sister, and your children too. If they see that your way is the only way and agree to stop what they're trying to do, can you please spare them?"
Scarlet studied his face. "I have not lied to you either. You understand that my mission is to eradicate all mutants and super humans?"
"Yes," Normie saw red droplets fall next to Scarlet, "and yet you have given me immunity."
"Under my conditions, yes. You are my offspring, and that's the only reason I even considered this," Scarlet said, her eyes starting to narrow dangerously.
"They are too," he said in a small voice. He knew that if he pushed her too much, she could change her mind and end him right here.
"I had those two when I was human. They mean next to nothing to me."
Scarlet watched him silently.
"Okay," she started, "I will allow you to try and reason with those two. If they cease all activity against me, and agree to my conditions, then we can talk about immunity."
Normie controlled his face, not wanting to show too much excitement.
"You are not to make your presence known to them yet. I need to keep some things in order. If I believe something they are tampering too greatly with what needs to be done, I will handle it."
"That sounds fair," he said. "Can I please see them? I just want to check on them, make sure they're safe. I won't show myself to them or talk to any of them."
Scarlet smirked, "believe me, if you let them know we're here before I want it to be known, they will be the next to die."
The sudden sound of breaking bone causes Normie to look up, above Scarlet. He regretted it instantly. She had ceased twirling her left hand, and the body above her stopped moving. With a flick of her wrist, the body flew forward several feet, and began to twist unnaturally as she concentrated on making a ball with her hands.
The feral looking mutant dropped to the ground; limbs broken and crushed against her body.
"Its name was Goblyn. Funny, right? I'm not on the same page of humor as most people," Scarlet said to Normie as she stared at the pool of blood pooling around the second body. "Just one more Goblin to put down now."
Normie's face paled and he remained silent once again.
"Sure, go ahead and see them," she said in a false cheery tone, "meet me in Quebec in twenty-four hours. Do not use transportation, you have your speed. Be quick and be quiet."
"Right. Yes. I will."
It was hard to not look at the two dead mutants on the ground not more than ten feet away from him. He thought instead of seeing his family, although he wouldn't be able to communicate with them. It wouldn't take too long to get there if he didn't take too many rests; nearly 3,000 miles wasn't that bad if you thought about it. Last time they checked his speed, he clocked about 800mph. It would take a lot of energy out of him and he would need to keep snacking the entire time. Maybe a couple boxes of pop tarts would do...
"One more thing, Normie."
"Yes?" he winced.
"When the time comes that you try to persuade Andrew and Violet to our side and they should deny your request, make no mistake that they will die like the rest of them. You will dispose of them yourself if that is the case. That is my condition for you to give them the chance for immunity."
Normie stared at her, unable to hide the dread on his face.
"However, should you choose to do what I suggest, and leave them out of this, I will make their deaths painless. You won't have to get your hands dirty."
"They'll listen to me. They will," he said in a determined voice.
She slowly nodded at him, "Get going then. I'll deal with this mess," Scarlet gestured towards the dead mutants.
In just four and a half seconds, Normie was already a mile away.