timeflysbye

by Lazydaily

marvel peter gotham

12. Chapter 12

Before clicking on the video, Johnny had a few tentative guesses about what might have happened. Perhaps Spidey had been in the process of building his transporter-thingy and been attacked! Or maybe a person broke in and sabotaged the machine, or… or the damn thing had been untested, after all, so maybe it malfunctioned, or when Spidey was trying to dismantle the thing something went wrong.

But no.

None of the above.

The answer is, very resoundingly, none of the above.

The first thing Johnny notices, upon opening up the video file Little Spidey sent over, is that Spidey's camera set up is in incredibly high definition, and considering that Spidey often went hungry for reasons beyond his high metabolism, Johnny couldn't imagine Spidey paying real money for high definition security cameras. He couldn't imagine Spidey buying anything , actually, to make the transporter, so every individual piece must have been scavenged. He must have built his own high definition security cameras, and then went along and built the program for the security system alongside it.

Because of course he did.

The cameras had some sort of motion detection technology, too. Spidey had a setup of four cameras, each located in a corner of the storage unit. One had a wide angle view, capturing the entire entrance and almost all of the room. That one remained stable. The other three also maintained a wide angle, until there was motion. Then, they would zero in on it with laser accuracy, providing a (not-quite-crystal, but almost) clear view of whatever thing was moving. Little Spidey started recording the screen when all three motion detecting cameras were zoomed out. Seconds later, one of the cameras zooms in.

It's a fucking rat.

Hell, it might be a mouse, but Johnny isn't a rodent expert and he's too pissed off to attempt any proper rodent classification. As far as he's aware: that's a fucking rat, and the cameras are tracing its (actually pretty cute, but if this goes how he thinks it's about to go, then he will become the number-one rat hater to ever exist) hideous and gross form as it runs across the floor.

And goes to the control panel.

And climbs up the control panel.

And starts sniffing around the buttons.

And steps on one.

Nothing happens, and Johnny lets out a sigh of relief. Okay, so perhaps he can take his unjustified rat hatred back. Of course Spidey wouldn't make the stupid portal thingy so easily activated. That would be a hazard , after all, and Spidey seems like the type to lecture people on lab safety and workplace hazards .

Still, the rat's presence is quite alarming, and Johnny can picture it now:

Spidey, throwing himself on his bed after a long day, ready for a break. He throws his wallet out of his pocket, thinking himself done, and, perhaps, everything was purely by chance, and he pulled out his laptop to check the camera footage, or perhaps there was some sort of notification, or perhaps his gut-tingly-senses thingy was going off and that's why he decided to check the camera footage before nodding off. But then he checks the footage, and there's a dumb fucking rat stepping on his multidimensional transporter with the power to transport multidimensionally , and - rightfully so - panics. So he throws himself out of bed, doesn't grab his wallet or turn off his laptop, and hurries right out of his window, not grabbing the suit because he doesn't want to draw attention to the storage unit.

Perhaps he swings, or perhaps he runs, but either way, Johnny watches the camera footage as a second fucking rat appears. Big Joe's has a rat problem and Johnny is willing to provide his (highly flammable) extermination services for free in order to get revenge. But the second rat just starts nosing around the walls - no biggie, no biggie, right? - and Little Spidey speeds up the footage, showing the rat by the wall still just nosing around and the other rat stepping on buttons and giving Johnny a series of five-times-speed heart attacks.

But the portal doesn't spark once , and maybe the rats are just a red herring? But Johnny doesn't know why else Little Spidey would be showing this footage of them unless they were important. Eventually, the footage stops speeding up, and seconds later Johnny understands why as Spidey bursts onto the scene. Instinctively, Johnny wants to look away cause Spidey doesn't have his fucking mask on but the angle hides his face and Johnny just tells himself to not look that closely. Spidey doesn't trust Johnny with his secret identity, after all, and Johnny isn't about to sneakily go behind his best buddy's back to finally (finally!) see what Spidey looks like. That seems like the… the anti- trustworthy thing to do.

(Untrustworthy, Johnny later remembers, The opposite of trustworthy is untrustworthy . But he was under a lot of stress, so that momentary lapse in… thinking(?) really shouldn't be held over his head…

…By himself.

He shouldn't hold his… own lapse in thinking… over his own head.

(If Spidey were here, Johnny would have said "anti-trustworthy" out loud once and Spidey would have raised his eyebrow (Look! Maybe Johnny can't see Spidey's face, but he just knows the guy is an eyebrow raiser) and looked exasperated even through his mask, but he still would have been fond. He would have been fondly exasperated, and Johnny would have been playfully defensive, and Spidey would say, "Un trustworthy, Storm. Un trustworthy."

And Johnny would have said, "Fuck you, I can be anti-trustworthy. Just watch me."

" Oh ? Are you saying I can't trust you?" Spidey would be sarcastic, but his words would still sting a little bit, and Johnny would try to play it off like they don't .

"Fuck off, Webs. You know my gorgeous ass could never actually be anti-trustworthy," And it's supposed to be a playful retort. It's not supposed to strip Johnny bare, and leave him feeling raw at the reminder that Spidey doesn't really trust him.

But Spidey would know, somehow, and softer than Johnny deserves and under his breath, like maybe Johnny wasn't supposed to hear, he'd go, "I know." )

Or whatever.)

Spidey looks like he shouts something, and Johnny belatedly wonders if there is audio to this video, so he increases the volume on his phone and winces as he hears Little Spidey breathing loudly. It sounds like he's either crying or trying not to laugh. Johnny's gonna go with crying.

But there is audio, and Spidey is saying something.

His tinny voice is slightly staticky after traveling through two different sets of speakers, but it's Spidey and some of the tightness in Johnny's heart eases even as his anxiety simultaneously ramps up to about one-hundred and twenty percent. This is it.

"Shoo! Get your tiny ass out of here. Do you wanna go to another world or something? One where cats rule? I bet your smug little ass is extinct over there…" Spidey continues on, but whatever he said next wasn't picked up by the audio recorder in the unit as he kept grumbling under his breath. The motion camera recording Spidey is suddenly recording an empty frame, before it haltingly adjusts to capture Spidey again. But the wide-angle camera captured it all: how Spidey moved faster than a normal human, how he was at the door one second and by the control panel the next, how he moved so fast that the high definition motion capturing cameras couldn't keep up, how he'd managed to snatch up the rat in his bare fucking hands.

Johnny is going to puke. Why the fuck is he attracted to someone who picks up rats with their bare fucking hands?

He's still holding the thing gently, though, and momentarily leaves the scene in order to free the stupid bastard.

This absolute softie.

(And there's Johnny's answer.)

But the wall-sniffing rat, in the few seconds that it takes for Spidey to free the first rat, starts moving. It scatters in the direction of an outlet and Johnny is going to commit violence. There is no way that Spidey built a whole fucking multidimensional transporter and still needs to plug the damn thing in, because the wall-sniffing rat has now become a cord-chewing rat .

This has to be it. This is it. This is what happened to Spidey.

Spidey reenters the scene, and starts fussing with the control panel, causing it to flicker to life. Johnny is on the edge of his seat. Squatting down, Spidey's fingers fly over the keyboard (even though he can't even see the thing) and a panel opens. He reaches in his front pocket for something, and freezes.

"Fuck. Left my goddamn wallet…"

The wallet, Johnny thinks wildly, the wallet must have something vitally necessary in it that Spidey needs in order to-!

Oh, nope, he's now just ripping something out of the panel with a shrug, then crushes the goddamn thing in his fist, "Whatever, that's faster anyway," He mumbles to himself, then freezes a second time.

Squeak!

The cord-chewing rat somehow manages to squeak loud enough that the audio input picks up the sound, and Spidey's head slowly turns to face the blasted cord-chewer.

"You," Spidey sounds way too relaxed, "Are going to get electrocuted if you keep doing that."

Of-fucking-course, the rat goes back to chewing.

Sighing, Spidey stands and heads over to the second rat, crossing the unit, but stops as he is half-way there. In an absolutely terrifying way that is highlighted by the high angle camera, Spidey spins around so incredibly slowly in a very horror-movie-esque way.

Rat-number-fucking-one is back.

And standing on the control panel.

Again.

"Stop," Spidey orders the rat, and starts to move but then the rat shifts closer to a set of buttons, and he halts in his tracks.

And, because of course he is, in order to cross the room to stop the stupid cord-chewing rat, Spidey was right smack-dab in the middle of the platform that Johnny would assume is the part that does the actual transporting.

And, because Johnny has seen Spidey's shit luck in action, he's wholly unsurprised when the rat steps backward anyway, and presses a button. Spidey stays perfectly still, except for turning only slightly to look directly at the motion detecting camera currently trained on his front. The camera that has, so far, only really captured the top of Spidey's head and little glimpses of a face that Johnny can fool himself into thinking he isn't memorizing.

He looks straight into the camera and is absolutely exasperated as he says, "Well. Here we are, I guess. Trial-fucking-one: let's see if I can stay still enough to not get my molecules shredded in the process." He looks down, and Johnny can't see what he's looking at, so he glances at the wide-angle and can't stop his jaw from dropping. Spidey's feet are gone. Or, they're not entire gone, but they're relatively transparent, and Spidey looks reluctantly intrigued when Johnny goes back to the close-up, "Audio entry log seventy-three: my feet are fucking gone. In actual application, the molecule transportation would occur so quickly that even if a person moves, there would be no adverse side effects. However, I wasn't planning on moving a person at this very moment, so the machine is currently set for the 'practice transporting solid non-living objects' stage, which means the particle transfer is slow so I can better observe what is going on. And…" Spidey sighs, "I just destroyed the navigation system. Which means that - while I didn't even know how to navigate the multiverse to begin with - now my body is about to be flung willy-nilly through what I imagine to be the space inbetween, instead of fixating on a set world target. Yippie. Audio reminder for future me number four-hundred thirty-seven: get rid of the fucking transportation system - or maybe turn the goddamn thing fully off once you get the panels open - before destroying the navigation system when dismantling a multidimensional transporter. Also: don't build in a place with mice."

Spidey's legs are gone, and belatedly he goes, "I definitely could have called Reed. And now my pants are gone. And my legs. And my phone."

He's silent for a while - oddly relaxed - and probably would have shrugged if shrugging wouldn't result in his body's particles potentially scattering in some infinite void, "Luckily," Spidey appears to be attempting to stay calm by logically thinking his way through this big ol' problem, "Even though my heart beats, my lungs move, and my blood is flowing, they should hypothetically be in similar enough places, unlike if I moved my arm and then my arm just. Straight up not attached anymore."

Spidey sighs again, "I am the biggest idiot ever. And now I'm talking to myself - well, I always talk to myself, so that's not really strange - as my body fucking… transports , I guess. Because otherwise I'm going to have a panic attack and that might cause my heart to beat too fast. Which would be. Really not good."

He's just a floating head, and Spidey goes silent.

And then he's gone.

…

Human Torch: no fucking way

Human Torch: it wasnt the cord chewing rat, or a baddy, or a tech mistake. It was SPIDEY TRYING TO KEEP A RAT FROM CHEWING THE WIRES AND THEN RAT NUMBER ONE COMING BACK FOR VENGEANCE?

Spider-Man Jr.: yep

Deadpool: imma kill em.

Deadpool: the fucking mice. and then spidey. for being an idiot

Human Torch: rats*

Deadpool: u can say fuck. using rats as a curse makes u sound like ur in a cartoon and snapping ur fingers in dismay

Human Torch: no those were rats.

Deadpool: those r. mice? 2 mice.

Human Torch: rats

Deadpool: r u stupid? mice. rats r massive those 2 were smaller than lil spidey's hand.

Spider-Man Jr.: y r we using my hands as measurement?

Deadpool: baby. ur a baby. tiny hands for tiny baby

Daredevil: You are all children. Is no one else concerned that the transporter apparently hasn't been tested on humans? And that the machine was also on the entirely wrong setting for transporting humans?

Human Torch: spidey wasnt concerned tho

Daredevil: Spider-Man wouldn't be concerned if he got shot through the gut.

Deadpool: thats happened tho

Daredevil: And was he concerned?

Deapool: shit

Human Torch: shit

Spider-Man Jr.: shit.

Deadpool: babies dont curse spidey will kill us shhhhhhhhhhh

Spider-Man Jr.: i am literally a teenager. i know curse words. i cuss

Deadpool: no

Spider-Man Jr.: ?

Spider-Man Jr.: fuck

Deadpool: NO

Human Torch: ur explaining this one to spidey dp

Deadpool: NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Of course, the next logical step after discovering one's idiot friend managed to accidentally send themselves to another universe after trying to save a stupid rat (because Johnny refuses to call those bastards mice) from getting electrocuted is to (try not to cry in relief that he didn't actually want to leave and that it was instead a horrible freak accident, and then immediately afterwards try not to cry in terror because the idiot friend managed to send themself to another universe ) go to the scene of the crime.

Everyone meets outside of Spidey's storage unit and despite the lighthearted humor in the group chat, each person wears a solemn expression. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Deadpool - in his most serious voice - says, "Three vigilantes and/or heroes… plus a mercenary… walk into a storage unit and order-"

Daredevil smacks the back of his head, "No one wants to hear your five-hundredth three men walk into a bar joke."

"Hey!" Deadpool exclaims, mock offended, "It would have been the eighty- third , thank-you-very-much, if you hadn't been a party pooper." This isn't the time for bickering, but bickering is Deadpool and Daredevil's default state and the normalcy of it sets them all at ease as they roll their eyes (Johnny) or watch in amusement (Lil Spidey. Or Spider-Man Jr.. Or Spidey Jr. Or… Johnny doesn't know yet. He hasn't really settled on a nickname yet. Big (because the "Original" sounds wrong when Spidey has made it very clear that Lil Spidey has just as much of a claim to the name as he does) Spider-Man is Spidey . So Lil Spidey has to be something else, because they can't keep calling him "kid" forever. He has a whole ass hero name, after all. Personally, Johnny thinks he might stick with Lil Spidey. It just sorta flows in his (not at all) humble opinion.).

The door is closed, but the whole problem was that the rat (because fuck Deadpool that was a rat ) had been able to come back inside through the door, so someone else must have closed it, which means someone might have seen Spidey's crazy contraption. He says as much, and Lil Spidey (Tiny Spidey? No, that's diminutive and weird. Lil Spidey is a littler Spidey , but "tiny" feels gross. Johnny immediately rejects that one.) is quick to have an answer, "I saw some sort of sensor and mechanical system on the door, then I watched for a while after Spidey was… poofed , I guess. Or transported. Whatever ," He huffs, exasperated, as if annoyed with his own wording, "And the door closed on its own. There's also a bunch of locks."

Deadpool cracks his knuckles, "Watch this."

Spidey 2.0 (The new and improved? Spidey would like that for purely self deprecating reasons. Plus, Spidey 2.0 feels like there's some sort of replacement going on or an emphasis in singularity, like they both just aren't Spider-Man, like it's not just that easy , but it is. It is that easy.) watches. They all do, but Lil Spidey looks amused, almost, like he knows something they don't.

They watch, alright. They watch Deadpool ram himself into door, jiggle the knob, and it's only when he starts reaching for a gun the Spider-Man ( Ick , that feels weird too, like this is just a business relation, like Johnny hadn't decided that he would die for this kid a solid five minutes after meeting him.) steps in.

"Spidey reinforced the door."

Quietly resigned, Deadpool repeats, "Spidey reinforced the door. Of course he did ."

But Spider-Man (Screw it, this is the least weird one and Johnny's going to temporarily stick with it) just grabs the handle as he walks past Deadpool and crushes it in his hand, shouldering through the door, metal crunching under him.

"But. But Spidey reinforced the door?" Deadpool sounds so lost , and Johnny is too, but it's funnier to think that only Deadpool is confused.

Patiently, Spider-Man explains, "I am Spider-Man."

Deadpool is not patient, "What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

"Spidey wouldn't reinforce something so much that he couldn't break through it in case of an emergency."

"Oh."

Daredevil is already inside, Johnny realizes, because he'd walked in as soon as Spider-Man shoved the door open with his brute strength. The rest of their group follows, and yeah , Johnny saw the transporter over a video, but it doesn't compare to seeing the thing in real life. Johnny simultaneously wants to smash it into pieces and also examine every inch because… well, the thing is incredibly impressive. Spider-Man is even more awe-struck, his jaw quite literally dropping as he takes in the machine.

Deadpool walks over to the console, looking at it for about three seconds before smacking the side of it with his fist a couple times. Instantly, there are three voices shouting at him for being reckless, "Hey!" he attempts to defend himself, hands held up in surrender, "Everyone knows you gotta smack things to get 'em working again!"

" No , you unplug and then plug it back in!" Daredevil is the one to says it, and Johnny remembers watching the stupid fucking rat chewing on the cables, and figures why not? He carefully avoids stepping on the platform and unplugs the cord. Instantly, the room is cast into darkness. Deadpool screams ten octaves higher than his normal voice, which scares Spider-Man enough that he… super charges? There is a flash of light and the smell of something burning starts to permeate the room: the smell of lightning and electricity. Johnny plugs the cord back in - because of course the cord is for a high powered overhead light, because of course Spidey wouldn't build a whole freaking multidimensional teleporter or whatever the fuck the name is (Johnny knows its a Multideminsenional Transporter, because he remembers the name of all of Spidey's silly gadgets, but he's spiteful , alright?) and then have to keep it plugged into a wall outlet .

The light turns back on, chasing away the darkness and replacing it with a clinical white light, because of course Spidey is also the type to use the lightbulbs that hurt a person's eyes after being in a room with them for too long, because they were the best for precision or whatnot. "Are you sure you weren't bit by an eel?" Daredevil asks, as he's rubbing his slightly singed arm.

"Uhm. No? It was definitely a spider. But I can. Do that. Produce electricity."

"What the fuck? That's not spidery at all ," Deadpool complains, "I barely understand Spidey's obsession with his spider brand to begin with: I can't handle a not-spidery spider. That's just. Wrong. Like, the Black Widow's hero name being Adorable Puppy sorta wrong."

"You should respect the dead," Spider-Man chides, in an obvious attempt to change the conversation away from him.

"I should be dead, kiddo. Respect me."

"Hard pass," Daredevil sniffs, before refocusing on the task at hand, "So the cords aren't attached to the machine. And none of us, as far as I'm aware, have any idea about how this thing works?"

There is a chorus of yep, yeah, and 'bout right, and Daredevil sighs, "What do we do?"

"I could hit it again?" Deadpool offers, and to the surprise of no one except for Deadpool, they all tell him he is absolutely not allowed to hit anything in this room .

As Daredevil rubs his arm absently once more, Johnny is hit with a brilliant idea. To restart a car that has broken down, they often need a jumpstart. Fortunately for them, apparently Spider-Man (This is not working, Johnny can't just call him Spider-Man - it feels so weird ) can produce electricity.

(For some reason.)

"Manny, you can jumpstart the transporter."

Three blank faces turn to stare at him, which is pretty amazing considering two out of three faces are completely covered by masks. Eventually, Manny tentatively goes, "Manny?"

"Yeah."

"Explain?" Daredevil looks exasperated, and really! Shouldn't they be focused on something else right now?

But Johnny is a kind soul and is willing to share his genius idea, "Y'know. Spider-Man. We got Spidey, and then we got Manny. All's fair then."

"No," Manny refuses, "Actually, hell no , why did- you just- ugh!" Manny rips off his mask, and instantly Deadpool and Johnny are turning away.

"Put the mask on!"

"It's fine," Not-Manny insists, and Johnny doesn't like this , but he looks over, and fuck. The kid looks so young . He looks happy, too. There aren't any bags under his eyes, and his forehead is smooth and not wrinkled from stress, "The name is Miles. Not Manny."

"Why?" Daredevil asks, softly, and Miles shrugs, "Spidey trusts you guys. I do too. If I can't trust literal heroes - and Deadpool - then who can I trust? And Spidey knows my face anyway, even if he doesn't know my name."

They are quiet for a while, and then Miles rests his hand on the console, pretending like he didn't just do the most dangerous and risky (and sometimes impossible) thing a hero could do: which is be vulnerable, "I guess I'll just shock it."

Miles does so, and, as Spidey would say, Thor must be smiling down on them, because for some fucking reason, the console blinks to life.

"Now what?"

"Wait, go back to the phone thing," Cass eventually says, nose scrunched up, "Alf was this nice reliable guy for your world, and fake-Alfred," Who she definitely knew the identity of, but Bruce didn't seem to want to own up to it, so Peter wouldn't say anything, "Was some jerk. Your awesome ex girlfriend was Steph, boss and boss, landlord and landlord… Tim ended up being a close friend of yours, and Jason's number was obviously tied to someone you trust, if they were the first person you reached out to" She smirks ridiculously, and Peter knows she is about to try to lift the mood, "Who am I?"

Peter shrugged, "I dunno. I have a guess, maybe, but some of the connections still confuse me. Sorta. I mean, Jason's two people."

"I am?"

"Yeah. You're also my aunt."

Quietly, Steph asks, "...The one who exploded?"

"Steph!" Duke immediately hisses, "You can't ask people if their aunt has exploded!"

"But-!"

"Yeah, that's the aunt," Peter confirms, and his smile - although faint - isn't fake at all, "She's great. After going on my fun little fear toxin trip, I really wanted to see her again. And I called her number and it hooked up to Jason's helmet, so," Peter shrugged, "It feels right, but it also really screws up my hypothesis-"

Peter can feel a small vibration. It's his phone. His phone. His phone is buzzing , and no one ever calls Peter in this world except for Jason, and Jason is most definitely not currently calling. For some reason, Peter's heart is in his throat as he ignores Cass's concerned look and Jason's worried question, instead grabbing his phone hurriedly. Everyone falls silent as Peter looks confusedly at the caller ID, "Tim? Any chance you're calling me right now?"

Tim shakes his head, eyes widening in realization, and Peter is scrambling to open and accept the call. He accidentally declines. Peter is going to throw up and curl into a ball and die and his phone is buzzing again! This time, Peter accepts. Peter accepts , and he doesn't even think before putting the phone on speaker because he's going to need confirmation that he isn't still hallucinating.

The voice over the phone is breathless, terrified, hopeful, and achingly familiar, "Spidey?"

And Peter sobs. The sound breaks out of his chest before he even consciously recognizes what is going on, and he's sobbing, he can't do this. How? How? "How?" He asks, voice breaking in the middle, and the person's - Johnny's - breath catches.

"Spidey? Spidey ? That's you, right? Fuck. Fuck! Oh my god, please , say-"

"It's me," Peter is dreaming. He has to be, but Cass has tears in her eyes and she's beaming at him, and Jason's hand is on his shoulder - grounding but not restraining, because Jason knows him, even as they are strangers - and Peter repeats himself, "It's me. Johnny. It's me. God. It's me."

"Spidey!" Another voice comes over the line, higher pitched and youthful and Peter's smile stretches impossibly wider.

"Kid. Kid," Even when Peter can't feel anything aside from Jason's ground hand and the smooth case of the flip phone, so far out of his body that he feels like he's ascending, he still remembers not to use Miles's real name, as to not expose his identity in front of Johnny (even though Johnny can most definitely be trusted), "You're with Johnny? You're safe? Tell me you're safe."

"Mhm!" Miles agrees, and his voice sounds watery too, "I'm safe! And I'm with Deadpool and Daredevil and Imsosorrybutwesortabrokeintoyourappartment," He hastily word vomits the last part, and Peter forgives him because there isn't anything to forgive, "It's alright," Peter reassures, "You did the right thing."

Then, hesitant, Peter goes, "DP? Double D? You there-?"

"SPIDEY!" Wade's overdramatic wailing is ear piercing and Peter laughs despite himself - despite the situation - and even though its watery Wade latches onto the laugh and continues on in a far too cheerful voice, "I'm going to shove so many fucking burritos down your throat!"

Miles disgruntled, "Ew," and Damian's, "How unpleasant," are nearly simultaneous, and both sides go quiet.

Eventually, Matt's voice carries over the tinny speaker and at last, Peter's soul starts to settle, "Where are you? Who are you with?"

Those are both great questions that Peter doesn't really know how to answer, but he still tries his best, "Obviously I'm in another universe," If they've been to his apartment, then they most likely found his journals and notebooks, so this shouldn't be news, "But I'm not sure which one. It's not the same as ours - no Avengers, no Thanos, no snap - but there are still heroes and stuff. And I'm with…" Peter hesitates for a moment, looking to Bruce briefly, who inclines his head slightly in permission, "With some of the vigilantes of this world. Now: how are you calling?"

Miles chirps up, spilling out a long ramble of words, "I hacked into your laptop and reviewed your camera footage and we found the storage unit you built the transporter in, then Torchy told me to electrocute the thing and we didn't really have any ideas afterward other than calling your phone number, since we didn't wanna risk getting our molecules ripped apart or ending up somewhere different than you!"

Silently, Tim mouths around the words "Their molecules ripped apart," and the others appear equally disturbed - under his breath Jason mutters, "They even tell stories the same way…" - but Peter only nods, "Yeah, good choice. Transporting definitely screwed me over in some way, because I only recently," As in… literally just today, but they don't need to know that, "Remembered building the transporter. I still don't know how I got transported."

"You were a fucking idiot," Wade explains bluntly, "That's how."

"Over the security footage you mentioned something about the particle transfer being slower? Plus you destroyed the navigation system," Matt adds, and Peter retraces the blueprints in his mind that he remembers with perfect clarity.

"Ohhhh. Best I can figure, I probably got slung around like a ball in a pinball machine between a crap ton of universes before I 'found' an opening. And if my particles transferred slowly, then all my organs were probably partially misplaced, which would explain the missing memories and concussion. And then also the ribs," Things are slowly clicking together, and Peter is honestly relieved to finally know the origin of his injuries upon arriving to this world. If his body had been disassembled, pinballed around in the space between each universe before eventually finding a gap in one, then reassembling in a slightly off way, then… yeah. Peter probably got off lightly, if he was being honest, "Definitely don't go through the transporter. It was pure luck I managed to slip into a universe instead of being stuck in an infinite void and never reassembling."

"Huh." Peter's friends back in his home universe are taking this information bomb pretty well, as they are used to Peter brushing off life or death instances, but the Bats? They are - to put in mildly - flipping their shit.

"You could have been stuck in an infinite void and your reaction-! You don't-! What the hell-" Tim continues rambling, his words sliding together into an almost indecipherable mess of sounds. Jason is holding his face in his hands, radiating exhaustion, and Cass - always straight to the point - says, "You are an absolute moron, and you are so lucky I love you enough to not strangle you right now."

"Aww! " Deadpool coos, "Spidey made friends!"

"Shut it, DP," Peter rolls his eyes, "I have friends."

There is silence on both sides, but now it feels a bit more quietly judgemental.

"I have friends!" Peter defends, "DP, you are literally one of my best friends. And Daredevil. And Johnny. And then I made friends here , too! So. Suck it."

"Spidey," Johnny's voice is incredibly serious, "Did it take going to an entirely different universe for you to admit that we are friends? If so, I'm going to join that other person in saying you are so lucky that you're my best friend, or I would definitely strangle you."

"A loving strangle," Cass offers and Johnny echoes her agreeingly.

(Peter is not stupidly happy that they are getting along. He's not. )

Miles's quiet voice picks up, "Are we friends?"

The corner of Peter's mouth twitches, even though Miles can't see it, and he's soft like he is with no one else as he affirms, "Yeah, kiddo. Don't worry about anything, okay? I'll fix this. Now that you've activated the transporter on your side, all I have to do is build a power source and a navigation console, then I can link the two. As long as the transporter stays active, the two will be able to connect. Think of it like a homing signal."

Miles hums, "You'll need something big to power it. An arc reactor? How advanced is the tech in that world, anyway?"

Peter could gag at the reminder of how delayed the technology of this world is, "Pre-Stark sorta stuff," and Miles makes an affronted noise, "I know, right? The computers are like bricks and there isn't even any clean… energy…" No way , "...Initiatives…" Peter turns to Bruce as a memory hits him like a truck, "Hey, hey, that scientist. The one killed in the explosion, whose tech was stolen: did you recover it?"

Bruce nods, "Yeah, we did. We recovered the blueprints, but deemed the energy source to be too dangerous and powerful, so we stored them away."

"Lemme see," Peter demands, "I have an idea."

There is absolutely no fucking way.

While Peter could definitely figure out how to build an arc reactor, given enough time, it would have still taken time. However, as he's looking over the recovered blueprints, Peter knows that he is looking at the origins of a miniaturized arc reactor. The scientist who had been working on this never even bothered with conceptualizing a massive arc reactor, instead jumping straight to the smaller scale version.

"I can't believe this world's Tony Stark was killed before even…" Peter murmurs, trailing off, and Tim is the one who asks, "Tony Stark?"

Miles - bless him, Peter is still reeling at the idea that a genius had been murdered before her ideas could ever come to fruition, before she could revolutionize the world - explains, "He was basically a super genius. He built this arc reactor - which, from what I understand, was about to be created in your world, too - that was a clean energy source which absolutely revolutionized the energy industry. He also built a lot of high tech innovations - holo-screens, super suit fabrication systems, nanotechnology - that genuinely changed the world. He alone advanced our world's technology astronomically just within his lifetime. Oh. And he invented time travel, I think."

"He invented time travel?" Tim is absolutely flabbergasted (not that the others aren't) and buries his face in his hands, "I can't…"

"My thoughts exactly," Peter sympathizes, "You… you can't just keep this hidden away. Yeah, it's a powerful energy source, but this is… you can't just hide this scientist's inventions away," Her name had never been released to the media, and Peter needs that changed as soon as possible, "I know change and advancement is scary, but this… this is revolutionary. She died inventing and working on her creation. You can't just ignore that."

Bruce mutters something about the dangers of releasing such information to the public, and all Peter can think about - as he takes another look at the Batcave, which they had moved to in order for Peter to look at the blueprints - is the advanced technology that is almost hoarded here, and feels a rush of anger, "Get your head out of your ass. This," Peter jabs a finger at the blueprints, "This is a feat of incredible ingenuity, and can save so many lives, not to mention the positive environmental impact. Change is scary, blah blah blah, whatever . Villains and bad people are always creating more advanced ways to try to end the world. Why can't good people create things too? Just 'cause an arc reactor is a powerful energy source doesn't automatically make it evil. If you are so freaking worried , don't release the damn blueprints. Just give credit to the scientist who built the damn thing, clear her name and reputation, make the goddamn arc reactor, and watch what happens. She…" Peter hates that he doesn't know her name, the name of a genius who had been so damn close, "She deserves that much. The world can't stay the same forever."

Bruce doesn't say anything, but Tim has a spark in his eyes that Peter likes, and he has a feeling that even if Bruce doesn't do anything, Tim won't just let these blueprints collect dust.

Johnny's call was eventually transferred to the Batcave's speaker system, although they remained largely muted on their end as Peter began to request materials (most of which were easily accessible within the Batcave, and Peter was overjoyed to find that they had a neatly stocked laboratory set up) and work on the navigation system. Enlisting the help of Tim to build the arc reactor - the blueprints were incredibly clear and clever, and Peter only had to help clarify a few points, or briefly pause on his own work a few times to add his own input of what could be improved, based on his memory of Tony's more advanced arc reactor design (and Peter mourns the loss of such a genius mind (not Tony's, although there is still grief there too)) - Peter is able to be quite productive. Eventually, though, he needs a break, and takes the time to contemplate what else he needs to do.

"I can probably finish the navigation system in twelve hours, and at the pace Tim is going, the arc reactor should be done in ten," Peter explains, "I'm going to take a quick breather."

Stepping away, the weight of his phone heavy in his pocket, Peter turns the corner to call up Granny. He can hear his friends from his universe unmuting as Tim takes a break as well to ask questions about their world, drawing the attention of a few others. Despite Peter's friends - family, really - largely remaining muted, they all have a fear of hanging up in case they, for some reason, aren't able to call back. Most of the Bats have stayed in the cave as well, as they are hesitant to leave Peter up to his own machinations. Not because they don't trust him - although that is part of it - but because this entire situation is weird , and they're incredibly curious and concerned about what Peter is doing.

(Dick, Jason, and Steph (with a heavy emphasis on Jason) all look incredibly amused at the way Bruce and Tim - their resident technology geniuses - have been repeatedly caught off guard by Peter's casual knowledge about a wide variety of scientific topics. Peter thinks that they are enjoying this accidental humbling, or at the very least, think that Bruce's blank face as Peter rambles about particle disassembly and his multiversal travel theories - many of which he has managed to prove to be true - is highly amusing.)

Granny picks up after a few rings, her grouchy voice a comfort, "What?"

"Heyyyy… Is there any chance you could grab my stuff and meet me somewhere?""

Peter explains the location, and Granny huffs at the absurd meeting place.

"Heading out?"

"You can say that."

"...When?"

"Thirteen hours."

"I'll be there."

Five hours and forty-five minutes later, Peter quietly pulls Alfred to the side as he comes down to bring water and snacks (A few of the Bats, still reluctant to leave, have made themselves comfortable elsewhere in the Batcave, but still within hearing distance. Only Tim, Duke, Jason, and Bruce remain in the laboratory. Duke has been watching everything with interest, asking the occasional question about what Peter is building, which Peter answers to the best of his ability. Mostly, though, he talks to the people from Peter's universe, comparing the differences between their worlds. Jason quietly observes, seeming to just soak up Peter's presence while it is still here, while Bruce and Tim work on the arc reactor.

"What do you require, Master Peter?"

"Nothing," Peter explains, then hesitates, "Or. I guess I just wanted to say thank you. You remind me of… better times. It hurts, a bit, but it's nice, too. So… thank you."

Alfred pats Peter's shoulder, and he looks both sad and proud, "It is my pleasure, lad. Footprints, remember? I'm always happy to see… to see life. And those friends of yours," Alfred nods over to where Duke and Steph (who had come in when Peter wasn't looking) were chatting with Miles over the speaker (and they are around the same age, huh?), "They seem to bring you back to life. I am glad. I'll admit that I was concerned about you… but now I know you will be alright."

Peter thinks about a lot of things, right then, and smiles in a way that he knows proves Alfred to be right, "Yeah," he agrees, "I will be."

Peter works through the night, into the morning, and then past noon with no rest, despite pleas from people across two universes. But he ignores them, and finishes the navigator an hour and a half earlier than he expected (really, it is so much easier to work when properly motivated, in a well-stocked lab, and having already built the navigator before) and makes the final touches to the arc reactor in order to properly connect the two pieces together. It looks ugly, but Peter isn't trying to make something pretty.

(Under the guise of taking a quick nap, Peter grabs his backpack and heads to another room. He's gone for thirty minutes, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief when he comes back looking lighter (or, in the case of Wade, Matt, Johnny, and Miles, they sigh in relief when Steph informs them that Peter looks less like death).

Of course, Peter didn't actually sleep.)

Carefully putting the machine in a secure backpack Cass found, Peter checks the time. He has half an hour to reach the meeting place with Granny. Transferring the call from the Batcave speakers to his phone, Peter awkwardly waves goodbye, "Well, I guess this is it?"

"Fuck off," Jason tells him, "I'm coming with."

"Me too!" Cass agrees, and Peter can tell that some of the others want to come as well, but they exchange looks with each other behind Jason and Cass's backs, and don't say anything.

"Oh," Peter's voice is soft and warm, "I wasn't going to ask you to do that but… I'm glad."

"We'll take B's car," Jason offers, and Bruce doesn't even protest.

"You might want to mask up. We're gonna meet up with someone I wanna say goodbye to."

The car ride is quiet. No one on the other side of the call speaks aside from occasionally saying something to reassure Peter that the call hadn't dropped, but they seem to realize - even with the distance - that this (the leaving) is hard for Peter, and let him take the time to soak up the presence of two of the three people he has become close to during his time in this world.

They're doing the same with him, after all. Jason is driving, with Cass and Peter in the back. Cass rests her head on Peter's shoulder and it feels right .

Peter is going to miss them. He's going to miss this world.

He thought that he would be fine with leaving.

For the most part they were strangers, sure, but Peter supposes, as a new sort of grief settles under his skin, even though he hasn't even left them yet, that doesn't mean Peter hasn't managed to start caring .

Peter thinks about rule number six of Peter Parker's Preventative Ways to Keep from Being Surprised (Name patent pending, considering that Peter just came up with the name on the spot (Tony would have preferred the acronym to be a name instead of PPPWKBS , but he'd like the alliteration… and it's nice. It's nice that thinking about him hurts , but not like it used to. Peter couldn't think about Tony just a few months ago without spiraling… and here he is. Existing. Content with the memories, even as they ache)):

When working with other superheroes frequently, accept that you'll get attached. You'll try not to - say that it is just a professional relationship - but then you're having family game night, getting takeout, asking about legal drama just to hear them speak… And one day you'll realize you have a family again and it'll be the scariest moment of your life.

And mentally adds on:

Even when you don't mean to get attached, you will. Even if you barely know them, even if you know you shouldn't, even if you know it'll hurt: you will get attached, and you'll hate it even as you love them. But you love them, so you can't really hate it. And it - the realization - will also be the scariest moment of your life. And when you have to leave - because everything comes to an end, sooner or later - you'll grieve, but you won't regret knowing them to begin with.

He feels the same way about MJ and Ned. He got attached, and Peter won't regret knowing and loving them. He won't regret caring; it is because of Peter's inability to not care that he can even be Spider-Man (or Mister Green, or, hell, that he can be Peter Parker ) to begin with.

Peter wouldn't be Peter unless he gave his heart to anyone and everyone.

As they get out of the car, Peter spots Granny waiting for them. She, of course, has one of her guns strapped across her back with another resting in a holster at her hip, and Peter realizes that he's somehow managed to befriend two people with a strong affinity for guns despite not being a huge fan of them himself.

Plus there is Deadpool, too, so Peter supposes that makes three.

Peter waves her over, and notices Jason falter momentarily. He mutters to Cass (Peter can most definitely hear him, but pretends he can't, because he hasn't exactly shared with anyone from this world exactly how keen his senses are), "Do we know that woman?"

Cass shakes her head, "I don't think so? But she could be from before I joined."

Loudly, to set them at ease, Peter greets her, "Heyyy Granny! Thanks for meeting us."

Huffing with amusement, Granny (who really should not be able to carry a bag that large at her age, but Peter should have learned weeks ago to stop trying to assume anything about this bizarre old lady) gestures to the duffle bag in her other hand, "Brat. What else was I supposed to do when you are being stupid?" It's the easy acceptance in her voice that has Peter relaxing, in spite of her words, taking the bag from her as she gets close.

"Y'know, I'm not…"

"...You aren't coming back," Granny finishes, like it's a forgone conclusion, "I know, dear. You don't know anything about Gotham, the Justice League, and were running around in a neon green hoodie taking down criminals that make most people piss their fucking pants at the mere mention of their name. You nearly threw the couch at the television when we were watching Jeopardy when you found out that Batman's handcuffs are called Bat-cuffs when everyone else has long settled into a sort of resigned acceptance about that big buffoon's nonsensical names."

Peter's jaw drops, just a little, at this absolutely absurd callout. Granny closes it with a kind hand, then pats his cheek, "You stick out like a sore thumb. But a good one, nonetheless. I'll be sad to see you go, luv, but I am happy to know that you are finally going home."

"It's that easy?" Even Peter can hear the desperation in his own voice.

"It's that easy," Granny confirms, "I have grown to care for you, and now that you are leaving, I can say goodbye with a light heart, since I have experienced the joy of knowing you."

"But-"

" No , Peter. You know this as well as I do."

And Peter does . He does know.

So he hugs Granny close, whispers thank you , whispers thank you again, and sobs it one last time, but he doesn't cry any more than that, even though leaving still hurts - will always hurt - even when it's by his own agenda. Pulling away, he tells her where he hid his money and, "You should rent out your basement to someone else."

"Oh?"

"You're a good landlord. If a bit of a crazy old bitch."

Granny laughs and it doesn't catch in her throat. It doesn't cause her to choke and wheeze, and when Peter laughs alongside her, breathing is easy.

Turning to Cass and Jason, Peter smiles with tears in the corner of his eyes and oh .

They're crying, too.

Peter doesn't hesitate to pull them close, to hug them tightly, his strength causing the leather of Jason's jacket to creak and Cass's breath to catch, but together they - impossibly - hug him back just as tightly. Or perhaps it isn't impossible, because as much as Peter wants to be surprised at the raw care in their face, he isn't. He isn't surprised, because it is mirrored on his own.

"Thank you," Peter says, with a voice that, for once, isn't stronger than how he feels. His voice is steady, but soft, and so is he. He's steady, "You… You both…" Peter doesn't know how to articulate all that he wants to say.

He doesn't know how to articulate the feeling of safety Jason gave him. The feeling of having a brother, of having someone who he can relate to and can understand , even though they have not talked about all (or anything , really) that grieves them.

He doesn't know how to tell Cass that she makes him unafraid to be known again. That her innate viewing of him , at his core, and the way she unshakably doesn't look away - that she sees him and doesn't father at the sight - makes Peter feel like maybe… maybe he's worth knowing.

He knows he doesn't have to say anything at all, because Jason understands and Cass sees.

They know .

And Peter knows that Jason fears being soft, because to be soft is so often viewed as to be weak, but Jason was built for soft hugs and gentle words, even though he acts like he isn't. He has built a wall around his heart, and with all the grace that Peter has ever possessed, he has managed to wrecking ball his way through it from multiple different angles - the caller, Mister Green, Peter - and left Jason open in a way that he hasn't been for a long time.

Peter hopes that Jason rebuilds his walls - because of course they will go back up again - with a door, this time. If not for his brothers and sisters, because it can be hard to move past the way they have oh-so-obviously traumatized each other, then for himself. Peter hopes that Jason doesn't build an impenetrable fortress around his heart, but rather, that he builds a safety net to catch himself should he fall. Peter hopes that Jason might be brave enough to reach out, to grab ahold of someone, to keep himself afloat in the vastness of the world, and then, should he need to retreat, that he will have built himself a safe place to return to.

People are not obligated to let others into their very hearts and souls, after all, but to keep oneself isolated inside can hurt in a very different sort of way.

Peter would know. He, too, has needed to rebuild his walls.

But they have doors, this time around, and it's just as scary as it is liberating.

And Peter knows that Cass has always wanted someone to know her like she so often knows others. That she wishes not only to understand, but be understood , and he's sorry to leave her, but also…

But also it is scary to be seen at the deepest layer of one's core. It is frightening to be known , and they both fear it deeply. So just as Peter has been grateful to know and be known by Cass, and she has been grateful to know and be known by him , they can both look at one another calmly as they prepare themselves to part.

The slope of Cass's shoulders says Thank you , the tilt of her head says I care for you , and the curve of her mouth says Goodbye .

And Peter's open face - uncovered by a mask, both literal and metaphorical - says I am happy to have known you .

And Cass replies back: "Me too."

(Jason and Granny look at them oddly, but they do not care, for how can they?)

"I'm going to miss you. All of you," Peter turns to encompass Jason and Granny in his gaze.

Jason might be meant for soft hugs and softer words, but he is still rough, because he isn't made of them, "C'mon y'brat. Let's get this transporter bullshit set up."

"M'kay."

The location they met Granny at was the base of the building where Peter first woke up in this world. While the building isn't anything special, it was still the location of the tiny gap in the universe that allowed Peter to slip inside in the first place, so it seems like a good enough location to try going back now. Granny looks up at the building as Peter jabs his thumb up at the roof when Cass asks where they need to go, and rolls her eyes skyward, "My joints are too old for that."

This is goodbye.

Peter sets down the duffle bag and hugs her tightly, even as her hands pat his back awkwardly, and she is as exasperated as she is fond, "Now, now. You are going home."

"You were a good home, too," Peter offers, pulling back and sliding a flash drive wrapped in a piece of paper into her hand smoothly, so that their company doesn't notice, and Granny's face gives nothing away, and what he means is, "I will miss you."

Granny meets his eyes with a teasing sort of seriousness, "Of course I am. I am a fucking spectacular landlord."

What Peter hears, in the waver in her voice is, "I'll miss you, too."

And that's okay. It's okay to miss people. It's okay to leave.

Granny melts back into the shadows in that odd way she has, and Peter can't help but be relieved that she didn't end up shooting her guns "For fun!"

Using his webs to reach the top of the building - while Cass and Jason use their grappling hooks - Peter unpacks the navigator and the arc reactor from his borrowed backpack and tries to hand the bag back to Cass, but she shakes her head.

"Keep it."

And. Okay. Sure .

Opening the duffle bag, Peter smiles as he sees the Mister Green costume neatly folded, alongside Peter's other clothes. He hadn't really gathered any personal items over the course of his stay in this universe, but the suit has a special place in Peter's heart, despite how he hadn't had many opportunities to use it.

It stood for something good, after all.

Inside the duffle bag was also a letter addressed to him, and Peter wouldn't read that just yet, even though he can easily guess what it says. But the letter reminds him of something else - the reason he opened the bag to begin with - and he digs around to find the papers he is looking for and hands them to Cass without looking either of them in the eyes, "Read them later."

Cass nods, and hands them to Jason, who puts them in one of his many large pockets.

Peter pulls out the flip phone from where he'd put it in his pocket, and notices that the thing's battery is almost dead.

Huh.

"Y'there?" Peter asks, and Matt is quick to respond, "Yeah, Spidey. We're here. Ready?"

Peter presses his lips tightly together, goes, "One sec," and then is throwing himself at Jason and Cass for one last hug. They catch him.

(Of course they catch him.)

He isn't crying, but it's a close thing.

Detangling himself from them, he calls back one last thing, "Destroy the navigator once I'm gone, but feel free to use the arc reactor. Just try to convince Batman…" They nod, understanding, and Jason is gruff but that's just to hide the emotion in his voice.

"All offense, Pete, but I'm pretty sure if anyone other than you and your freaky healing tried to use this thing, they'd die."

Peter shrugs, "Probably." Eventually, Peter could iron out that wee little bug. Eventually, Peter could crack all the secrets of multiversal travel and map out the multiverse. Eventually, Peter could find a world where no one forgot Peter Parker existed.

(And then what? Kill the Peter already living there?)

But he won't, even as the scientist inside him itches to try. He won't, even though he could , because Peter won't risk this life: the one he is returning to.

"I'm ready."

He'd already explained what Miles needs to do on his side. Peter couldn't do anything from here, after all. The purpose of the navigator he'd needed to build was for it to act like a homing beacon, to allow the transporter to target Peter's location and find him: a signal which has been kickstarted to maximum energy output levels with the arc reactor.

Technically, it should all work.

Also technically, both the machine and Peter's theory about using the navigator as a homing beacon have yet to be tested, and Peter is heavily relying on his healing factor to keep himself from getting too ripped apart, but no one else needed to know that.

This time, Peter was at least able to tell Miles how to turn up the particle disassembly rate, because apparently that had been off last time. Not that Peter remembered, and honestly, he was content with not remembering, because he imagines it would feel a lot like his molecules ripping apart as he turns to dust, and Peter wasn't exactly keen on revisiting that horrific memory right now.

Peter waves, says, "Thank you," and "Goodbye," and then Miles says, "Commencing transport now."

Then Peter's gut twists and he feels like he's going to hurl as his molecules rapidly disassemble, and he flashes out of existence in between one second and the next.

Gotham Glazer -

"What it Means to be a Hero"

Audio Transcribed by Sherry Rite, Video Submitted by Ben Jones-Watson

The blurry image of a person slowly clarifies as the camera focuses, and the person curses as they adjust something on the camera. As they lean back, the face of Ben Jones-Watson - a civilian who briefly entered the limelight for his takedown of the Joker despite being a civilian - greets the camera. He looks exhausted, but still has a small smile on his face.

"Hello," He starts awkwardly, waving his hand, "I'm Ben. And Mister Green. And the anonymous photographer who has been submitting photos to the Glazer . Something has come up, and I'm leaving Gotham, but I felt… I felt a sort of responsibility to say something before I left. Maybe it's egotistical of me, and I have some… inflated sense of self importance to think that anyone wants to hear what I have to say but…" He trails off, looking off somewhere in the distance. Behind him in a plain wall without any identifiers of his potential location.

"Anyway. I just. All I know is this: when the people of Gotham saw Mister Green, there was a sense of hope in the air," Ben talks with his hands a lot, emphasizing his words with broad gestures as if trying to emphasize the enormity of the situation, "People were kinder , I think. They helped out their neighbors. They said hello and how are you doing and goodnight to one another as they walked along the street, and I think that… I think that being kind to each other - being neighborly, being good - is the most important thing a person can do. And I don't want that to stop , now that Mister Green - or, now that I'm not there. Y'know?"

He shakes his head and looks down, almost embarrassed, and groans, "What the hell am I even saying?"

But he looks up anyway, and has a desperate sort of expression on his face, "People have called me a hero. I.. I don't know if I'm a hero, but I know people look at me and… well, they look at me like I'm good, and I want you all to know that I think… I think that you are good, too. I wanted Gotham to know that I didn't leave because I think that Gotham is hopeless, or that anything happened to me. I left because I'm going home , to people I care about very much. So, please. Keep being kind. Keep being neighborly. Just… Yeah. Keep it up?"

He shifts and reaches forward to turn off the camera, and the audio catches Ben repeating, "Keep it up? What am I? A Little League Baseball dad?" His voice drops into a fake-deep voice, "Good job, champ. Way to keep up morale. Christ. "

But he pauses right before turning off the camera, and seems to remember something as a sly smirk spreads across his face, "Oh, right. I should also mention that while working at the Iceberg Lounge, I found a bunch of super interesting information. The Bats should already be on it as I speak."

Then the camera goes dark.

Mister Green - the first, but not the last - is gone.

Gotham Glazer -

"Iceberg Lounge Shut Down for Tax Fraud! More Mob Bosses to Follow!"

Article Written by Sherry Rite, Photos by 'Big Ben'

Gotham Glazer -

"Wayne Enterprises' Bruce Wayne Issues an Apology Regarding Handling of the Fire at Wayne Enterprises"

Article Written by Sherry Rite, Photos by The Red Hood

Gotham Glazer -

"Arc Reactor Unveiled: The Story of Scientist Mirabelle Krats"

Article Written by Sherry Rite, Interview from Joan Graham

Gotham Glazer -

"In Fond Memory of Gotham's Mister Green: A Wave of Volunteer Work Sweeps Gotham by Storm"

Article Written by Sherry Rite, Photos submitted from multiple sources….

Peter could have stayed in Gotham: in that other universe. He could have been welcome. He would have been welcome.

But Peter has a home. He has people who miss him, who love him, and who he misses and loves in return.

He will grieve them - Gotham, Granny, Jason, Cass, and what could have been - of course, but to grieve is to love, and he cannot regret loving them. Peter's heart has always been far too open, after all. Just as Peter is growing to accept that even though people might not remember Peter Parker , it doesn't make their love, the memories, and the time they spent together any less important, he is growing to feel the same about leaving Gotham. They loved him - they all loved him, or could have loved him, after all - and Peter won't… he won't let himself regret that any longer.

In a way, the situations mirror themselves: leaving behind the life he knew for seventeen years and leaving behind a life he lived for just a few months. Peter will miss - misses , and won't ever stop missing - both of them. But just because their time together did not last forever, it doesn't make it any less important.

To love it to be changed. Someone said that, somewhere.

Peter also believes that to love is to be free. He is free to love who he wishes: to hold close those he can, but accept that he also loves those he can't. And that doesn't make that connection any less important - it doesn't make that relationship any less real . All it means is that while some of the people who have changed Peter can remain close - Johnny, Miles, Matt, Wade - others are farther away. Others who are so far away that they are dead, and others that are even farther still in another universe. And some are within reach, yet aren't, but that doesn't mean that Peter treasures them any less.

To dismiss MJ and Ned and Cass and Jason… to dismiss the love and care of those who are far, far away and those who have forgotten him would be to dismiss May's love. To dismiss them - those who Peter cannot hold - would be to dismiss those he has lost, even as they died loving him. And he cannot dismiss them. Cannot dismiss May , who raised him as her son and whose kindness shaped Peter on a practically microscopic level. Her impact and memory remains with him even beyond the grave, so why can't everyone else's impact and memory and love and care remain with him as well?

And Peter stumbles on his landing, feels his molecules fit right back into place and is more than slightly grossed out by the feeling, and tries to reorient himself. He hears the machine switching off, and then there are hands on his shoulders. They nearly burn, and Peter laughs in Johnny's face at the familiarity of it but he thinks he is crying too, just a little bit.

"Are you hurt?" Johnny is asking, carefully avoiding looking at his face, and as Peter's vision clarifies he sees Miles hovering nearby with wide eyes, with Wade and Matt barely restraining themselves from running over, trying to give him space. Peter appreciates them trying to be respectful of his identity, but he has long made his decision about this. Johnny is still openly concerned as he asks, "Hey, Spidey, hey, hey. Say something. Are you okay?"

"It's Peter," Peter says, and it's easy, "Peter Parker. It's okay. I promise. I'm okay."

Johnny finally looks him in the eyes, and one would think Peter was the one on fire and not Johnny (his hair had exploded into flames at the sound of Peter's voice) by the way he seems to melt, "Peter," He repeats, gauging Peter's face for any discomfort, but all he can do is smile.

Miles, unable to hold himself back any longer, slams into Peter's side, hugging him tight, "I knew you didn't abandon me!" Peter pats his shoulder lightly.

"That's… I'm glad," Peter says, because how can he even start to articulate how much that means to him? Then he looks over at Matt and Wade (Matt, who Peter technically shouldn't know the name of, and only made the connection because of the whole Mysterio-murder-I'm-a-really-good-lawyer incident, and Wade, who introduced his name and identity openly and without the expectation for Peter to reciprocate) and rolls his eyes, "What am I? A stranger?"

Maybe he was. Peter had never really welcomed physical contact before, yet here he stood, with Miles clinging onto him and Johnny holding his shoulders like Peter means something - like he matters - and it's foreign but not , because Peter had been used to this - this sort of easy contact - once upon a time.

Perhaps all of them are feeling quite uncharacteristic and especially raw today, because Matt and Wade don't call him out on it, and between one blink and the next, they are there , right beside Peter. While Matt doesn't hug him, Wade does , crushing him and Miles together at the same time, and the broken pieces of Peter's heart don't magically seal into one whole, fixed thing or suddenly change into shapes that are easier to piece together, but Peter notices that they aren't as jagged as they used to be. They aren't as grating. Peter doesn't know when that changed.

The memories of what was - Peter's once upon a time - don't hurt, but they ache.

As Matt ruffles Peter's hair, he aches. As Wade tries his best to crush Peter's and Miles's ribs in a bruising hug inbetween cursing him out for making him worry , he aches. As Johnny watches Peter fondly, like he can't bear the idea of looking away, he aches. As Miles clings onto him and cries, and Peter rubs his back soothingly, he aches.

Because how could he have ever been willing to leave them behind?

This family of his: patchwork and wild, a group whose traumas have traumas, but people who love him and who he loves in return nonetheless.

(The hurt for leaving Gotham is still sharp, and he hurts , not aches - not yet, but maybe one day - at the knowledge that these words could have applied to them , too. But Peter wasn't meant for that universe. He was meant for this one, and one day, he'd be okay with that again.)

Peter-

Good luck.

-Granny