I did some research into future Marvel characters when writing this story, and I decided the future villain in this chapter was the best one to include in this case. To any who are fans of the Spider-Girl comics, I hope I did these characters justice in presenting them in my own way despite having next to no knowledge of the series.
Chapter 3: Future Shock
"For men must never feel a cause is hopeless, men must never feel an enemy cannot be beaten!"
x-x-x-x-x
Outside a Brooklyn bank was a scene of pandemonium as thick smoke billowed out from the building through the open wall blown in it. A blue glow emitted from within the smoke as a strange HUMM echoed from it. The time-displaced Spider Duo soon arrived and landed on a rooftop right across from the bank entrance. They observed the scene and watched as the blue glow grew brighter from within the smokescreen, until the figure it emitted from stepped out of the clouds.
It appeared to be a man, wearing a brown rider's jacket over a black shirt and shorts. However his normal features ended there, because his face wasn't a regular skin tone, but a glowing electric white. His wild hair and pointed goatee made him look like he grabbed ahold of a Van de Graff generator and never let go. A pair of thick dark and pointed shades covered his glowing eyes as he wickedly smirked at the bags of money he had pilfered in his gloved hands.
"Hahaha, now that's a withdrawal, and I didn't have to waste one second waiting in line!" he said wickedly with a tone that sounded like he had too much caffeine. Even from a distance, Spiderman and Ghost Spider couldn't help but see the similarity.
"Is that…Electro?!" Ghost Spider gasped.
"It can't be, he's been cured for years by now," Spiderman answered before he thought again, "unless…someone in the future has gone and created a new one."
"You think so?" Ghosty asked.
"Wouldn't be the first time a villain was remade, right?" Spiderman said before continuing, "Regardless, we better stop him like we've stopped all the others."
"Fine by me, I never got a chance to beat the old Electro, so I'll consider this as close as I'll get," Ghost Spider said adamantly.
The new electric supervillain took to the skies in a zap, floating in midair as he prepared to take off, "that was almost as thrilling as it was rewarding, hmm, if only we could turn up the excitement a bit!"
"You mean like this?!" a new voice forced him to turn around, only to be met with feet first!
"HEY!...Ooomph!" was all he said as the two spiders hit him at the same time with a double kick, sending him flying and dropping his stolen money at the same time which landed in between them. The spiders landed in a stance, glad that the insulation in their boots did their job in protecting them from any high voltage shocks while the villain halted his tumble and righted himself before glaring at them.
"Sorry lightning butt, but transactions' canceled!" Spidey declared before chuckling, "hehe, you know, I missed using that nickname."
The glare turned to rage as he shouted, "You Two?! You're always in my way?!"
The Spider Duo were confused, and Ghosty asked for their sake, "uh I'm sorry, have we met? Because we certainly haven't met you."
"Although your flashy style does remind us of someone we used to know, does the name Electro ring a bell?" Spidey asked.
"Electro?" The villain asked in a confused manner, before turning angry again, "...how can you two not know who I am?! You and your progeny have caused me nothing but TROUBLE!"
"Progeny?" Spidey and Ghosty whispered to each other in confusion. They didn't have long to contemplate though, the electric villain fired his first bolts at them, forcing them to jump and dodge.
He gloated furiously, "I'll toast you two first, and then I'll finish her, and Killerwatt will be remembered as the one who destroyed the spiders once and for all!" He fired again at them, each Spider dodging the single bolt the newly identified villain was throwing at them. Spiderman backflipped away while Ghost Spider jumped and stuck herself to a building wall.
Ghosty quipped, "Killerwatt?...as in kilowatt? the unit of electrical power? Haha, and here I was thinking Sparky, or was that already taken?"
Her joke unhinged Killerwatt who furiously shouted, "no one mocks me like that! NO ONE!" He fired a double blast at her, which she jumped and dodged again. Her distraction allowed Spidey to swing in and kick Killerwatt away while following up her quip…
"We mock, we're mockers, what do you expect?" He said sticking to a wall before firing a double web at the electric villain, hitting his jacket. "Not to mention, we're pullers and yankers!"
He yanked him back in the opposite direction, right toward an awaiting Ghost Spider with a tightened fist, "...and just recently, sluggers!"
POW!...The insulation of her gloved hands protected her from being shocked as she sent Killerwatt flying back in the direction Spiderman yanked him from. The two Spiders rejoined together on the wall as the futuristic villain halted his flight before glaring in rage at both of them.
"I'll toast you bugs for that! COUNT ON IT!" Killerwatt roared as he built up his power, white electricity arcing all over him like a field.
Spiderman commented, "no doubt about it, this guy is definitely the Electro of the future, powers, temperament and all."
Ghost Spider added dryly, "...talk about history repeating itself."
Killerwatt finished storing up his energy before unleashing it, "lights out bed bugs!"...SHOOOMMM!
A huge sphere of white electricity was dispersed through the area, blowing lampposts, windows, and parked cars. Spidey and Ghosty jumped away, but couldn't avoid this one as it was too fast, and felt the full voltage shock coarse through their bodies.
"AAAGGHH!...AAAAAHH!" Spidey and Ghosty cried at the same time as they fell out of the sky and collapsed to the ground unconscious. The electricity dispersed as Killerwatt eyed his two victims in glee.
"HeheheheHahahahahaha! Yes! That's two bugs zapped, and one to go! Funny, I remember them being a lot taller, but no matter, that's two Spiders toasted, and one to go."
Before Killerwatt could continue gloating, he felt something hit his back. It beeped for five seconds before detonating, covering him a blanket of webs, making him collapse to the ground. He struggled and growled as he attempted to break free, before the one responsible landed in front of him.
"There's no reward for an unfinished race Killerwatt, and you're disqualified!" A young female voice quipped toward the trapped villain, coming from the new costumed hero, or rather heroine, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. Her costume was a mirror match to Spiderman's, both in color and design, except the black Spider emblem on her chest was more elegant, covering her upper body from shoulder to stomach. The outfit also included a pair of silver gauntlets on her wrists.
"YOU!" Killerwatt seethed at the interloper.
"Expecting someone else Volt Head?" the costumed heroine joked again.
The villain growled like an enraged animal before he said with a seething tone, "it's both convenient and foolish for you to have come here Spidergirl, I've already taken care of the other two, and you're next!"
"What?!" Spidergirl exclaimed before turning around to see the other two fallen spider heroes behind her.
She thought to herself while not believing what she was seeing, 'It can't be…'
SHOOOMMM!...Spidergirl redirected her attention back to Killerwatt who finally burst out of his web trap and fired another lightning blast at her. She quickly jumped out of its way before landing and flipping away to a safe distance. Killerwatt kept up his attacks as he continued firing at her and missing as she dodged in the same manner as the other two spider heroes.
"You'll slip up eventually bug girl, and when you do, you're toasted!" Killerwatt shouted.
Spidergirl threw back as she perched herself on a wall, "as it's been said countless times before, spiders are arachnids, not bugs!"
Killerwatt fired another blast making Spidergirl jump from the wall before it was blasted open. She flipped in the air before she pointed her right arm at the villain and fired a small projectile capsule from the wrist gauntlet.
It hit him right in the chest and exploded, releasing a cloud of gas that enveloped the electric villain, "Aagggh! What?! What…is…thiiisss…"
Spiderman and Ghost Spider slowly regained consciousness as their regenerative factors helped them recover from the high voltage shock. They pulled themselves up just in time to see Killerwatt fall unconscious as the electricity faded from his body. If that didn't surprise them enough, Spidergirl then landed in front of her defeated foe before speaking…
"A little insulating aerosol compound I mixed up, and it dual functions as a sleeping aid for someone like you Watty, so enjoy your nap."
She looked up to see the other two Spiders awake again, and were staring at her with wide masked eyes. Spidergirl went from witty to nervous in a second, "uhh… hi?"
"Umm…Hi yourself," Spiderman dryly replied.
Albeit astonished by the sight of another costumed hero dressed like them, Ghost Spider asked, "who are you?"
Before she could be answered, the sound of approaching sirens caused them to turn and see the approaching emergency squad of vehicles coming toward them.
Spidergirl said quickly, "we'll ask questions later, for now, just follow me!" She fired a web at a nearby roof and swung away. The two spider heroes looked at each other before Spiderman gave an encouraging nod and followed suit, with Ghosty right behind him. Unbeknownst to the trio, their every move had been watched by a small eight limbed bug perched on a nearby wall.
It was sending a video feed to a secret location where a mysterious figure observed in solace, "very interesting. It appears I've been given an extremely rare opportunity, to change the course of history itself…"
Retreating to a vacant rooftop blocks away, the Spider Duo plus one came to land atop it away from prying eyes. The two heroes from the past observed the new one from the future with utmost curiosity. A dozen questions were rolling through their heads all at once, like who was this girl? How did she get her powers? How was her suit an exact match to Peter's? Was this the progeny Killerwatt was talking about?
Despite all the questions they had, the new heroine was the first to ask hers, "Ok, who are you guys?"
Spidey and Ghosty were stunned, of all the questions to ask, she had to ask the obvious one?
Spiderman answered, "what do you mean who are we? We're Spiderman and Ghost Spider, New York's friendly neighborhood Spider Duo, I thought that was obvious."
"Wrong!" Spidergirl said sternly, cutting him off, "I know Spiderman and Ghost Spider, personally. They're grownups, you're not, so can the lies and tell me who you are, for real."
Knowing they were in the future, Ghost Spider clarified, "we're not the Spiderman and Ghost Spider you know, at least, not yet."
"Not yet?" Spidergirl asked with confusion.
Spidey stuttered while rubbing the back of his head, "We're uhh…for the lack of a better word, misplaced right now."
Spidergirl's confusion escalated, though Ghost Spider decided to interject and whispered to Spidey, "Should we tell her?"
Spiderman nodded, "might as well, since she's a spider like us."
Ghost Spider nodded back before turning back to Spidergirl, "sigh…to make a long story short, we got involved in a fight against someone who wielded some form of time magic. We got caught in it, and it ended up sending us into the future, and now we're looking for a way back."
Spidergirl set her hands on her hips before replying harshly, "what kind of fool do you take me for?! Everyone knows time travel isn't real, it's been scientifically disproven!"
"That's what I said!" Spidey exclaimed with a shrug.
"Ugh, not this again…" Ghosty grasped her head relieving the coming migraine before saying, "...look, as impossible as it sounds, it's the truth!"
"Prove it!" Spidergirl demanded, "Tell me something about Spiderman only Ghost Spider would know about."
"Alright," Ghost Spider started, "Spiderman takes photos of himself to sell to the Daily Bugle to help his aunt pay the bills, how's that?"
Ghosty's statement appeared to surprise Spidergirl, who then asked her white cladded counterpart something astonishing, "your…your mom's name, it was Diana, wasn't it?"
Ghost Spider went wide-eyed hearing her late mother's name from this stranger, "how…how do you know that?"
Spidergirl turned to Spiderman, "and…your uncle's name was Ben, right?"
Spiderman matched Ghost's surprise as he said, "Ok, now I'm officially freaked out."
To finish up, Spidergirl asked them both, "You're Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, aren't you?"
Hearing their real names from this new spider heroine did it for the duo. Realizing their identities were known to her, the two of them unmasked themselves before Gwen asked her in a whisper, "how did you know our real names?"
Spidergirl stood still before unmasking herself, and the face underneath surprised both of them. She looked just like Gwen! Face, blue eyes, and everything! Her hair was even the same length, except it was brown like Peter's. Seeing their wide-eyed expressions, the young teenage girl of fifteen identified herself, "my name is Rosemary Diana Parker, Spiderman and Ghost Spider are my parents. I'm…I'm your daughter."
Peter and Gwen gasped aloud as shock enveloped them both. Gwen placed her hand to her chest to regulate her breathing, whereas Peter fainted and fell flat on his back.
After a few moments of blackness, Peter regained consciousness and slowly opened his eyes to see Gwen and the new girl staring at him concerned.
Gwen helped him to his feet, "Peter, are you alright?"
"Ugh, yeah I think so. Except, I had this crazy dream that we were in the future, and we met someone claiming to be our daughter?" Peter said to her.
"Peter, that wasn't a dream," Gwen said, gesturing to Rose. Peter's surprised look returned upon seeing the future spider heroine again, who was now feeling uncomfortable from the severe awkwardness of the situation. Getting his wits about him, Peter finally found his words.
"So…it's true? You're really my daughter?!" Peter gasped.
Rose nodded, "...and Gwen's. Yeah, I know, it's a lot to take in."
Gwen walked up to her and observed her up and down before saying, "if I were to put it in one word, it would be unbelievable. Though the resemblance is unmistakable, you look just like me."
"Dad always said I got all my looks from you," Rose shrugged toward her.
Gwen's expression softened and she smiled before chuckling, "Hehe, and you've clearly inherited your father's wit, given your performance earlier."
"Among other things," Rose shrugged again, self gesturing to her costume.
"I'm guessing the brains are another one of those things," Peter commented with a calmer voice, "that was some clever trick you pulled back there, extinguishing the guy's power and all."
Rose pulled up her right wrist gauntlet to show, "just a little chemistry concoction of mine, projected courtesy of my multipurpose wrist shooter. They were gifts from my parents when I first developed my powers. An upgrade from the old web shooters they once used."
"Nice to see the spider gadgets have kept up to date," commented Gwen.
Peter then asked, "so, your name's Rosemary?"
"Yeah, though everyone just calls me Rose," Rose answered.
"Aw, that's pretty," Gwen complimented which Rose smiled at.
"Rosemary…like Aunt May's favorite herb," Peter realized.
"Yup, my parents wanted to name me after both of their mother figures, but Great Aunt May persuaded them to be a little more…creative with it," Rose clarified.
"Ah, gotcha," Gwen nodded.
"Moving along, could you two tell me again how you ended up here?" Rose asked her teenage parents from the past.
Peter and Gwen gave a more in-depth explanation to what happened. Starting with the encounter with Mordo in the museum, to the arrival of Dr. Strange, and the opening of the vortex by the rogue sorcerer which sent them here. Rose contemplated their whole explanation before saying…
"...so you arrived here because of some magic spell cast by this wizard…Mordu?"
"Mordo, and yeah that's pretty much it," Peter said.
"Dr. Strange said he used to be a member of his order, before he went power-hungry and turned rogue," Gwen added.
"Dr. Strange," Rose said to herself, "I remember my parents mentioning him before, saying they've had a few encounters with him in which he helped them out."
"Well, we could certainly use some of it right now, because given how we arrived here, he's our best shot of making it back to our own time," Peter said.
"Unfortunately, I have no idea where he lives. I've never met him so I've never learned where he resides," Rose explained.
Peter face-palmed and groaned at the bad news, before Gwen interjected, "would someone else know then? What about…our future selves? Your parents?"
Rose was slightly surprised by the suggestion before setting her hands on her hips and explained, "my parents are away on a second honeymoon right now and can't be reached. Even if they weren't, I wouldn't recommend taking you to them, ever heard of a paradox?"
Peter and Gwen cringed at the truth before he said, "point taken, but there's gotta be somebody though?"
Rose crossed her arms as she thought to herself, "there might be, but I'll need to call him first. Right now, we best get you two somewhere away from any prying eyes. The last thing we need is for you to risk any more exposure."
Gwen nodded and asked, "Definitely, any suggestions?"
"We'll go back to my house," Rose answered as she relaxed, "like I said my parents are away so it's mostly vacant and the best place I can think of right now. Not to mention it's private."
"Alright then, lead the way, it's your time period," Peter said before returning his mask. Gwen did the same and Rose did as well. She then went and fired a web before swinging off the roof with her parents-to-be right behind her.
...5 min later…
On the way to her house, Spidergirl led the way with the other two right behind her. Right now she was taking a longer route home, but it was more concealed to help reduce the possibility of being spotted. Eventually, they reached a series of buildings which Spidergirl stuck herself to, followed by the two time-displaced heroes. Ghost Spider crawled up to join her future daughter side by side as they followed her along the alley wall.
"Not sure if I should ask this, but how is everyone in the future?"
Spidergirl asked Ghosty with a concerned tone, "what do you mean exactly?"
"I mean, how are our old friends?"
Spidergirl was hesitant to answer, "I'm not sure I should say, remember what I said about a paradox? I'm already risking enough by interacting with you two."
"Well it's not like you need to go into the details," Spiderman interjected after joining them on Spidergirl's opposite side, "you can just answer yes or no if everyone is good, like Mary Jane, Mark, Liz, the Doctor Connors?"
He finished giving the list of Spidey and Ghosty's inner circle before Spidergirl gave a quick reply, "yeah, yeah they're all good."
Spiderman nodded before asking one final question, "Cool, what about Captain Stacy and Aunt May?"
Spidergirl appeared to cringe as she halted, hesitating to answer. Her quick stop forced the other two to stop as well, until the future heroine said, "uhhhh...enough questions! No one can know too much about their own future, and we're almost there anyway. Right now let's just focus on getting you two help!"
She jumped away to swing up toward the following roof. While feeling dejected from her retort, Spiderman and Ghost Spider still followed her in suit. The future spider heroine led the way to a tenant building located near the boundary of Brooklyn and Queens. She jumped her way up to the top of its roof and landed in a spider stance, with the other two following suit. Spidergirl unmasked herself before the two time-displaced heroes did the same.
Recognizing the area, Peter asked, "So, we live in Brooklyn in the future?"
"Close enough, but yeah you do," Rose quickly replied before saying with a stern tone, "but like I said, it's best for you to not know too much about your future, so cease with the questions, got it?" Rose finished giving Peter an all too familiar gesture which he cringed at. Gwen found herself resisting to laugh from seeing Peter getting her patented LOOK from the future spider heroine.
She thought with a smirk, 'Like mother, like daughter.'
"Only one person you could have learned that from," Peter said dryly while pointing.
"Yup, mom taught me well," Rose said, wearing the same smirk.
"Clearly," Gwen commented, making both girls giggle.
Peter sweatdropped as he thought to himself, 'ok, I'm officially outnumbered here.'
He waved his arms before asking, "Alright alright, enough with the Spiderman gang-up, didn't you say you were gonna have us hideout in your house?"
Rose answered, "Yes, but it would be better for you to do it as civilians. Our residence is on the bottom floor, so the only way to get to it is by the stairwell over there." she pointed to an extrusion on the roof with a door marked STAIRS. "Let me get changed and get you two some clothes, I'll come back and you can change yourselves."
"Ok, but where are your clothes?" Gwen asked. Rose smirked before walking behind the extrusion and pulling out a bag.
"Where I always keep them, one second," she said before heading behind the extrusion, leaving Peter and Gwen to themselves.
"I'm still having a hard time believing this, are you?" Peter whispered to Gwen.
Gwen nodded, "definitely, though after everything we've been through already, it's not like we're strangers to experiencing the incomprehensible."
Peter replied, "I'm pretty sure traveling to the future and meeting our future kid eclipses everything else up to this point! Although, if I can believe at least one thing about all this, it's that Rose is who she says she is, she acts too much like us to not be."
"Heeheehee, she's certainly a chip off the old block, both of them," Gwen added with a smirk.
Peter nodded before adding, "...and you would, or rather WILL, teach our future daughter THE LOOK, wouldn't you?"
"Surprised?" Gwen teasingly asked which Peter sighed at, he could only wonder how his future self handled getting the infamous glare from not one, but two spider women. Finally Rose emerged from behind the extrusion in her civilian attire. She wore a light blue ladies shirt with tan ladies pants and a black belt, along white sneakers and a black headband which held her hair back.
"Nice look, I'm guessing this is your regular attire?" Peter asked.
"Currently, a girl has to change things up every once in a while," Rose commented.
"I hear that, Heehee. Nice to know some things never change," Gwen finished which Rose nodded to before she left down the stairs.
...15 min later…
Rose returned with a pile of clothes in her hand, handing one pile to Peter and the other to Gwen while saying, "it's one of my outfits, you're close to my size so it should hopefully fit you no problem."
"Thanks," said Gwen.
"No way!" Peter gasped as he unfolded his pile, which revealed an all too familiar blue shirt, "is this?..."
"Yup, one thing my dad is known for is never throwing anything of sentimental value away," Rose clarified.
"Heehee, that does sound like Peter," Gwen said grinning at her boyfriend before walking behind the extrusion to change first. Peter unfolded the rest of his pile to find an undershirt, and the same brown pants he always wore with his regular look.
"Guess I have been through too much with these clothes to just let them go, huh?" He asked Rose.
Rose nodded before saying warmly, "yup, everything from the first day you became Spiderman, to your first date with mom and everything following that," Peter matched her warm smile, although what Rose brought up weren't the only things he had gone through with these clothes, but they were no doubt the most significant. Gwen soon emerged dressed in her future daughter's apparel, which surprisingly matched the colors of her current style. Her shirt was red and the pants were dark brown, though they were a mirror match to Rose's outfit, including the black hairband.
"Very nice, the future looks good on you," Peter commented.
"And nostalgia works for you Spider boy," Gwen said before stepping aside, "your turn."
"Thank you my lady," Peter said, giving her a kiss on the cheek making Gwen blush as they traded places.
"Ugh," Rose groaned, covering her eyes, "I see enough of this already from my own parents, I certainly don't need to see it from my parents-to-be."
"Heehee, trust me Rose, it's a universal hazard," Gwen replied, smirking.
Making their way down the stairs, Peter and Gwen followed Rose to her family apartment on the bottom floor. She unlocked, opened and closed the door behind them before relocking. Peter and Gwen got their first glimpse of their future home. It looked none too dissimilar to a New York apartment from their own time, and it was homely and well kept.
They made their way to the living room where Rose turned to face Peter and Gwen, "alright, just wait here on the couch. I'll make my call, and we'll figure out our next move from there, ok?"
"Got it," Peter nodded, as he and Gwen took a seat on the living room couch while Rose went to the kitchen to find a phone. They took a brief look around their future residence, noticing a surprising lack of decor. It looked like some things had been picked up and relocated elsewhere, according to the fresh dust impressions shaped like oblique rectangles.
One thing came to mind as Gwen said to Peter, "I know we have no idea what our future home looks like yet, but it seems like something is missing here."
"Yeah," Peter agreed, "there's no pictures lying around, and what family home is complete without pictures?"
Gwen quickly realized, "Rose must have hidden them before she brought our clothes to us. Remember what she said, we can't know too much about our own future, and house pictures would be a BIG spoiler."
"Point taken…again," Peter nodded. Though they didn't even have a minute to relax as an unexpected sound echoed through the room.
KNOCK…KNOCK…KNOCK… "Rose! Are you home? It's me."
The time displaced heroes turned toward the knocking on the apartment door wide-eyed, the voice on the other side sounded WAY too familiar.
"Gwen," Peter gasped, "that…that sounded just like…"
Gwen finished his thought whispering, "...dad?…"
The familiar tone of Captain Stacy's voice echoed again, "Rose honey? It's Grandpa, Benji and I are back!"
"Benji?!" Peter and Gwen whispered to each other in confusion. At that moment, Rose came out of the kitchen with a terrified look at the apartment door, this couldn't be happening at a worse time! Pun not intended…
"Uhh, be right there Grandpa! My hands are full, I'll empty them and let you in!" she said, turning her attention toward Peter and Gwen before whispering, "...Hide!"
"Where?" Peter whispered back.
Rose adamantly pointed to the coat closet in the hallway, much to Peter's dismay. However, there was no time to argue, and he and Gwen quickly leaped over to the door and quietly opened it before sitting inside. Gwen was about to close the door when…
"Come on Rosie, open the door! What's taking so long?" a young boy's voice was heard through the door, shell-shocking Peter and Gwen while Rose closed her eyes and clenched her body in frustration. Even in the future, the old Parker luck was running true to form!
'Darn it Benji!' she thought in irritation. Gwen got her attention while gasping to her, "Rose…was that?...Do you, do we have a?..."
"...not now!" Rose cut her off before shutting the door, leaving her parents-to-be to only blink in silence. Rose finally went and opened the apartment door and let her grandpa and brother inside.
"Hey, welcome back."
"Thank you sweetie," George Stacy said before stepping inside while balancing his left hand on a cane. He was dressed in a casual white shirt and jeans, and his blond hair had turned white with age, and only slightly receded. Behind him, his seven-year-old grandson Benjamin wearing a brown jacket and cargo pants followed him inside.
"Yeah Rose, thanks for making us wait!" the blond-haired, brown-eyed boy whined to his big sister as she closed and locked the door again.
Rose scowled at him before saying, "well SORRY Benji! But I told you I had my hands full, I came as soon as I could."
"Whatever, what would you be doing anyway Rosie?" Benji retorted, "We all know how boring you can be, so what would you be doing on a Saturday?"
Knowing her little brother didn't know about the family's big superhero secret yet, she replied with a little white lie, "There's plenty to do around here that's both fun and enriching, though what I do with my free time is MY business, alright?"
"Whatever Rosie," Benji groaned.
"For the last time it's ROSE! Little Brother! What have I said about calling me Rosie?!" Rose fumed, she had always hated that name and refused to go by it.
"You call me Benji! So it's only fair," Benji threw back.
"Everyone calls you Benji, you little dork!" Rosemary shouted.
"Well, maybe I'm tired of being called that!" Benjamin shouted back.
"ROSE! BEN!" their grandfather's authoritative voice ended their sibling quarrel, "that's enough! I don't want to hear one more argument from either of you. Your parents gave me permission to implicate discipline if necessary and I will if I need to, am I clear?"
The siblings groaned before answering him at the same time, "yes Grandpa."
The old former Police Captain let out a breath as he self-reflected, 'Even in retirement, the job of keeping peace never ends, either on streets or between my own grandchildren.'
Rose restarted the conversation, "sorry…Now, not that I'm not happy to see you Grandpa, you too Benji…" her comment made him huff. "...but what are you doing here now? I thought you were out spending the day together?"
George answered, "...and we did, Benji and I went to all our favorite places in the city, or at least all the ones we could go to in one day."
"Yeah, it was awesome!" Benji cut in, "we went to the arcade, where I beat all my old scores, then Grandpa took us to the Chrysler building for some old history tour which was boring, but then we went to Times Square, where they've added five new holo screens, they were sweet! and then…"
"Ok ok I get it, cool your jets bro," Rose put up a ceasefire gesture, "you had fun, and I'm glad you did."
"Yeah I did!" Benji exclaimed, "and what did you do today? Boooring stuff?"
Rose smirked with her hands on her hips, thinking, 'Boring huh? Heehee, oh Benji you have no idea…but you will someday.'
"I was actually out exploring the city myself, I just came back as soon as you walked in."
"Were we interrupting anything?" George asked.
Rose relaxed and answered, "I was actually about to make a phone call, and there's something that I need to talk to you about Grandpa."
"Um, ok?" George was confused, although Ben figured this was a good chance at payback by teasing her.
"Phone call huh? Let me guess, calling Andy? Your boyfriiii…"
"BENJI!" Rose silenced him before he finished his sentence, her face turning slightly red.
Benji laughed and kept teasing, "Haha! I knew it, Rose and Andy sitting in a tree! K…I…"
George stopped him, "Ben! Stop teasing your sister, remember what I just said?"
Ben kept quiet and nodded his head. Rose gave her thanks to her grandfather before turning to her brother, "thank you Grandpa…Now as for you, go to your room and play your game buddy or something, Grandpa and I need to have a grownup talk."
"Whatever," Benji shrugged before walking upstairs out of sight, leaving Rose with George who walked up to her.
"So what's the issue? If it's really about you and Andy, then I think you're better suited talking to your mom when…"
"Grandpa stop!" an embarrassed Rose said while putting up a ceasefire, "it's nothing like that, not even close, and for the record everyone knows Andy and I are just friends, nothing more nothing less."
George smirked at the deja-vu, he had heard this story before from the last teenager living under his roof, but the nostalgia ended as Rose got right to the point, "something urgent has come up and I need to take care of it immediately, but I need help."
Sensing the clear urgency, George's face and tone turned serious, "what is it?"
"It'sss…hard to explain," Rose stammered looking down at the ground.
"Rose," George said calmly while putting a hand on her shoulder, "I've been around the block a few times, I've raised your mother by myself since she was a little girl. I've watched her grow into the same responsibilities as your father when she first acquired her abilities at your age. I've long given up on being surprised, so I'm sure whatever is going on, I can handle it."
Rose said, "ok, it's just hard for me to explain, because I'm not sure I understand it myself."
"I see, would it have to do with why all the house photos are missing?" he asked, catching Rose's attention. Given her grandfather's attention to detail, she figured he would have noticed that.
"Uhh, maybe?" Rose stuttered.
"Alright then," George said as he looked toward a certain door before wryly asking his granddaughter, "why don't you open up the hall closet and show me instead?"
Rose stood wide eyed and mouth open in utter shock at the context of his statement. HE KNEW?! But…but how? How in the…what in the world was going on?!
Before she could stop him, George walked over to the closet himself and opened it. Inside, he found precisely what his daughter and son-in-law informed him about before departing on their second honeymoon. He found sitting on the floor with utter surprise etched onto their faces, the teenage versions of Peter and Gwen, whom the former could only say one thing, "uhhh…hello sir?"
"Hey Pete, good to see you again. You too Gwenie," he said as Gwen could only stare in disbelief at the old man who was her father, George Stacy of the future.
"So our future selves warned you about this ahead of time? Does that mean we'll return and remember all this?" Peter asked Future George. He and Gwen were sitting down on the living couch while Future George sat in a lone chair next to them. After the shock and awe was over, the retired captain explained to the time-displaced teenagers how he was informed about all this ahead of time by his adult daughter and son-in-law before they left for their trip, and what he had to know to handle it.
"Simply put, yes, I can't give you all the details because I don't know all of them myself. Even if I did, I can't give them regardless. From what I understand about these things, knowing too much about your future would be catastrophic," Future George informed.
"Definitely, though we probably know too much already," Peter said while looking at Gwen, who kept her gaze toward the stairs.
Knowing what was going through her mind, Future George asked, "I guess you heard all that earlier, didn't you Gwenie?"
Gwen turned back to him saying, "you haven't called me that since I was five."
"Well I haven't seen you like this since you were sixteen, so I figured it was appropriate given the circumstances," Future George explained.
Gwen smiled before collecting herself to ask, "so it's true then? In the future, I not only have a daughter…I have a son?"
Future George smiled and nodded, "Benjamin Richard Parker, named after Peter's uncle and dad, and that's all I'm at liberty to say."
"Unbelievable," Peter gasped as the full weight of future shock hit him, "we end up having both a daughter, and a son Gwen."
Gwen let joyful tears fall before saying, "it's more beautiful than I could have ever imagined." She gave him a loving squeeze which he returned wholeheartedly and Future George smiled at a sight he had not seen in 25 years, his teenage daughter and her boyfriend in love. Rose hid herself a distance away inside the kitchen, but couldn't help but smile warmly at the scene herself. It wasn't every day a teenager sees a younger version of her parents enjoying their romance at its beginning, it was like something out of a movie. Gwen broke the hug and gave Peter a kiss, both feeling like they couldn't be any happier, before she turned to her elderly father.
"Heehee, and clearly you've turned out well yourself dad, being a grandpa suits you," Gwen said grinning along with Peter.
"Hmph, just another reminder of how old I'm getting, as if the cane didn't give it away enough," Future George said, nudging said cane.
"Love you anyway grandpa!" Rose said, poking her head out of the kitchen momentarily, making the whole group chuckle.
"I'm guessing my future self has asked you for tips on raising a teenage daughter?" Peter asked his future father-in-law, which Gwen giggled at.
Future George shrugged and said, "A few times, I'm always here for my family Peter, whenever needed."
Peter nodded before he thought of something else important to ask, "what about Aunt May? Is she?..."
Future George's face turned sad, followed by a solace of a few long minutes. The silence said it all, and Gwen held back a gasp while Peter's face broke down in sorrow, before silently weeping to himself as Gwen embraced him in comfort. While they knew it was inevitable, it hurt regardless knowing that Peter's last living parental figure was no longer with them in the distant future.
Future George offered what condolences he could, "She lived a good long life Peter, long enough to meet her granddaughter whom she helped name."
After returning to the kitchen, Rose dialed on the house phone the number of who she wanted to call. It rang three times before someone finally picked up…
"Hello?...Hey Aunt Ashley, it's Rose…No, I'm not calling for Andy, I actually need to speak to Uncle Eddie, is he there?...Out on a round huh, said he would be back in five minutes? Perfect! Could you let him know to meet me at our rendezvous point as soon as he gets back?...Thanks! And also tell Andy I said hi and I'll see him at school next week. Love you too Auntie! Bye!"
She hung up the phone before heading out into the living room, "Ok I've set up a rendezvous, so we'll just have…to…?" She paused upon seeing the sad faces on both her grandpa and her parents-to-be. "Umm, did I interrupt something?"
"No sweetie, just a moment of mourning," Future George informed.
Rose turned from him to Peter and Gwen, who were wiping tears from their faces. She immediately picked up the context, and her face fell as she flashbacked to her childhood when she had to say goodbye to Grandma May, and how she cried for a whole week after the funeral. Rose walked up to Peter, setting a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "I'm so sorry, I really am."
His future daughter's comfort combined with Gwen consoled him as Peter wiped his face, "I'll be alright…sniff…so, you were saying something?"
Getting back on track, Rose answered, "yes, there's someone I've arranged to meet, and I need you both to come with me."
Peter and Gwen nodded to her before standing up. They said their goodbyes and gave warm hugs to Future George as he stayed behind to look after Benjamin. Rose led the way back to the roof where the trio redressed into their costumes before swinging away with Spidergirl leading the way.
The time-displaced Spider heroes followed their future daughter to a construction site a couple blocks away from her apartment. It was a tenant building under reconstruction in the Bronx, surrounded by a multitude of equipment, including some of those construction mechs Spiderman and Ghost Spider had seen earlier. Spidergirl landed on a top floor surrounded by girders, with Spidey and Ghosty landing behind her.
"So, what are we doing here?" Spidey asked.
Spidergirl answered, "Meeting my contact, I arranged a rendezvous around this time, so he should be here any minute."
"So, who is this contact? Someone we know?" asked Ghosty.
Spidergirl hesitated to answer, "you could say that…just promise me when he gets here, you two won't jump the gun?"
"Why would we do that?" Spidey asked.
"Spidergirl?..." he was prevented from being answered by another bodiless voice sounding out from the surroundings around them.
"I'm right here, you can show yourself," Spidergirl answered calmly, though Spidey and Ghosty were still spooked. A shadow casting over them got their attention, turning toward its source as it jumped down from the floor above to their level.
As the figure moved into the light, Spidey and Ghosty gasped back-to-back as they couldn't believe their eyes, "no way…it can't be!"
To recap, this version of Spider-Girl is based off the DeviantArt character illustrations created by Lunamidnight1998 and is owned by HER, not me. This version, Rose, is the daughter of Peter and Gwen, and is NOT the comic book version Mayday who was the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane.
I attempted to contact Luna on DeviantArt for insight into Rosemary's original character, but I was never able to get a response. So, I respectfully made up my own version for Luna's own character in a way that I believe did her justice. She has her mother's looks, her father's wit, her parent's brains, their spider powers, and their sense of justice and responsibility, everything that we all agree befits the offspring of Spiderman. One thing she hasn't inherited is her mother's unique invisibility power, but hey, you can't predict with genetics right? Plus I got exhausted.
The origin for Rose's name was made up by me to fit the story. Her little brother Benjamin aka Benji, is loosely based off another of Luna's character illustrations Ben Reilly, the 'clone' of Peter Parker who became Scarlet Spider in the comic book Clone series.