Whatever relief Peter had felt when the Vulture missed him was replaced tenfold by a wave of anxiety that he could feel from his toes clear to his throat.

"Ju–what are you doing here?" he cried from his place on the ground, catching himself before he said her name.

She quirked her left brow at him from beneath her hood, smirking all the while. "I would think it should be fairly obvious when one has had their ass rescued."

"Pfft, I wouldn't say that you rescued me," he said in an attempt to lighten the severity of his situation, getting to his feet unsteadily before wobbling and leaning against the wall.

"Really? Because it kind of looked like you needed saving just now," she motioned between him, the wall, and the Vulture.

"No, no, not what it looked like. Not at all," he said shaking his head.

"Eh it's kind of what it looked like," the Vulture snarked from where he hovered.

"You," Peter said before aiming a web at his mouth, "don't get an opinion."

The Vulture scrambled with his fingers to tear the web while June crossed her arms and cocked her head. Peter's frustration was practically wafting off of him. June had to dial her powers back to keep from delving into thoughts he was almost freely giving. She caught phrases like get her home…can't let it again…not again…not June.

Setting his thoughts aside, June squared her shoulders and focused instead on their flying adversary. She wouldn't let Peter's anxieties be hers. She wouldn't let him cast her into doubt.

"You shouldn't be here," he pleaded, "You can't be here." June did her best to ignore the agony she heard in his voice.

"I hear we have a problem here. Don't you know he's kind of the neighborhood's mascot? Kind of messed up to be pounding on him like that. Almost like going after Ronald McDonald," both men gazed back at her with blank stares, "Really? No Ronald McDonald in this universe either. Geez, I really think there's no debate over which universe is better."

"What are you his sidekick or something?" the Vulture asked.

"Come and find out, bird brain," she taunted cracking her fingers. The Vulture dove at her suddenly. Before she could strike him, Peter shot webs from both wrists onto the Vulture's back in an attempt to pull him back, digging his heels into the concrete roof to hold him. She saw the Vulture pivot, his instinct to whip around like a tornado once more and sweep Peter into his momentum. Thinking quickly, she summoned a glowing gold whip and severed the webs in time, Peter falling forward. With both hands she wound the whip around the Vulture, forging it instead into glowing chains before jumping in the air and bringing her arms back down with all her might. The Vulture slammed into the concrete, cratering the roof as he did, before slumping unconscious.

Adrenaline piqued; June gave a shaky grin. She looked down at her hands before realizing she was still hovering about three feet off the ground. Peter, who had been leaning on the wall for support, stood in stunned silence. Rather shakily, she lowered herself back to the ground.

"That's why I don't skateboard," she joked as she took a couple steps in his direction. Peter still observed her quietly. "What?"

"I–" he started before his eyes suddenly grew wide, "NO!" he cried jumping at her, but too late. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked in time to feel the cool metal brush her left shoulder and throw her from the roof.

"NO!" Peter dove as fast as he could, desperate to reach her, but watched as June was thrown off the roof. The Vulture hit him like a freight train, pinning him by the throat and shoulders. "NO! ERGH! JUN–" Peter thrashed and struggled, crying beneath his mask as he fought off the Vulture with frantic force, arm outstretched to the building's edge.

"Aww, was that your girlfriend?" the Vulture taunted at his desperation, "I'm sure if you find a big enough spatula you can scrape her pancaked carcass off the sidewalk, Spider-Man."

Peter threw him off, scrambling through his limp to get to the ledge.

"We're not done here," the Vulture screeched grabbing for his foot. Peter pivoted trying to kick him off before he felt his enemy freeze.

"No, we're not," Peter heard from behind him.

The momentum pushed the hood back from her head and tossed her hair as she fell. She felt as if her stomach had flown to her heart, eyes watering as she sped toward the ground. June scrunched up her eyes and formed fists, reaching out across reality, desperate to feel her teacher's presence, knowing she wouldn't. What had the Ancient One told her? What had she bidden June do mere weeks ago in the courtyard of Kamar Taj?

"Get out of your own way and trust with more than your own eyes."

The wind halted and her body jolted to a stop. Heart beating wildly, June was barely cognizant of the fact that she was not in fact dead. Tempting fate, she dared to open one eye. There were still at least five stories behind her—thank God for skyscrapers! She could make out the number of police and onlookers on the ground below. Suddenly realizing the number of eyes on her, she became hyper aware of how not-cool she must have looked in an upright fetal position.

"Don't look down," she chided herself, "Fuuuuuck don't look down." She felt her eyes begin to glow the ethereal gold she'd felt only a handful of times before as she propelled herself back up the side of the building, truly flying for the first time in her life. The sensation of it told her this was no sorcerer's conjuring—this was pure witchcraft. She wobbled on her axis momentarily as she continued to elevate. It would get more graceful, she was sure, but right now what mattered was getting to Peter.

She came to an unpracticed halt just as she cleared the building's height, floating ten feet above the top.

"We're not done here," the Vulture said as he stalked forward, his grip on Peter.

"No, we're not," she said gruffly, "Lesson number one: never throw a spell caster off a building. Chances are you'll just have one pissed off witch."

Peter's breath shuddered, heavy with emotional relief. Taking advantage of the Vulture's shock, she brought her hands together toward the center of her belly, generated a golden burst of energy before blowing him back making him lose his grip on Peter.

"You don't touch him," she growled. The Vulture caught himself and dove for her with surprising speed for someone with metallic wings. She darted further into the air, drawing him away from Peter. Portaling herself behind him, she used his shock to create mandalas in each hand, swipe upward, and sever the mechanism from the body of her assailant. The Vulture cried loudly as he was detached from his wings, falling fifteen feet to the roof below, stilling where he landed as his wings landed a few feet away.

June was breathing heavily as she lowered herself, skidding slightly when her boots touched the ground. She walked forward where her enemy lay nudging him slightly for signs of consciousness. When he stirred, she hit him with a brief golden punch to ensure he stay down. "You know, I never did think The Birds lived up to the hype," she huffed.

Turning she saw Peter struggle to his feet, coughing while he still held his left side. June ran to him stopping just short of where he stood.

Still struggling to catch his breath, Peter took off his mask with his right hand, fixing her with an emotional stare. She followed suit as her own eyes faded from gold to their usual coal-brown, some of the gold lingering around the irises. Looking closely at him, she could see he was visibly shaking, eyes red from tears he had shed beneath his mask.

"Are you okay?" she asked surveying him, hands uneasily itching to piece him back together.

"Am I okay? Wha–" he sputtered, "What the hell were you thinking, June? I didn't want this–"

"Peter–"

"You shouldn't have come. You shouldn't have come to help me," he lamented loudly.

"If I hadn't you would've died!" she defended.

"You don't know that," he shook his head, "You don't know–"

"He had you, Peter–"

"June–"

"He was going to kill you–"

"He was going to kill you!" he cried at her, wincing at the jolt to his ribs, "You–he…" Peter gave a sob looking down at his feet, "I thought you were dead. I thought you fell."

Like Gwen, she heard before seeing a flash of the same green eyes from the pictures dull and lifeless at the bottom of a tower—his mind opened to her without her intention.

"Peter…" she reached out her hand tentatively. He didn't move, but remained standing and shaking slightly with emotion as he held his left ribs. It had nothing to do with her being insufficient or any doubt he had in her abilities.

"I couldn't save you," he wept, "I'm so so so sorry, June. I should've–"

"Peter," she cut across, "I didn't need you to save me. That's not what this was. I'm so sorry for what you've suffered. It's not fair that someone as wholly good as you should lose what you've lost. But…I'm done with people telling me what I can and can't be. Your fights are my fights and I think I proved that I can be at least some ounce the hero you are."

His breath shuddered as he smiled despite himself, "'Some ounce'? June…you were incredible…You were my hero…"

She blushed instantly, feeling a tightness in her chest as her heart began to thunder wildly. Peter heard the manic beating of her heart and looked up worriedly. His warm brown eyes seemed to have swelled into even wider pools that enveloped her whole until she was brought back to a vision she'd had years ago. She'd been a motherless girl held prisoner in a lab, the Mind Stone rooting into her being.

A red spider swung toward her. There was someone in her periphery. She turned to see a pair of soft brown eyes before everything went black.

The Ancient One impressed on her the preordination of the universe, that some things were meant to be, fixed points in time scattered across reality like stars in the cosmos. She was meant to come here. She was meant to find this universe. And she was meant to find Peter.

Before either of them could spare a moment to form doubt, they were each drawn to the certainty they had found in the other, reflected now in their eyes. He didn't hesitate, not when he'd just seen her die. Peter took the one step forward into June's space, lifted his right hand to her cheek, dipping his head down as his fingers wove into her hair, and he kissed her.