"Your hot coco, sir."
Chris smiled, accepting the drink. "Thanks Wong."
"I'm Wong, sir."
"…right," the man known as Spider-Chaos muttered, giving up on trying to fight that battle. Across from him Cassie Strange, the Sorceress Supreme, smiled into her drink (which Chris was about 98% sure was just booze).
Cassie appeared human, save for her pointed ears, but was anything but. She had arrived on Earth as a baby… a baby Skrull Queen, to be precise. Meant to infiltrate, learn about the world, and then set up her own Skrull domain on the planet. Unfortunately for the Skrull Homeworld she'd landed in Tír na nÓg, the Land of the Fae. The Fae King and Queen had found her and believed her to be just another magical being with some nasty curse put upon her. They'd ripped out all the Skrull conditioning, leaving a super powerful baby that could mimic any superpower she saw.
And when your entire life was spent around magical people and you could shoot fire from your hands… you ended up believing YOU were magical as well.
It didn't matter that Cassie didn't have a drop of magic in her body; her raw belief that she was a powerful sorcerer caused the world of magic to see her as the Sorceress Supreme. Just as her raw belief that the Skrulls were just Faire folk caused the Skrull battalion that had come to retrieve her 5 years ago to believe it themselves. All of them had pledged themselves to their mistress and become her servants, to learn 'magic' from her.
And… they'd ALL chosen the name Wong.
"You really should learn their names," Cassie teased.
Chris flipped her off.
"Oooh, scathing," she taunted before setting her cup down. They were in her Sanctum, which was far different from the other ones Chris had seen bouncing about the multiverse. Those were large buildings with mystical items and relics. Cassie's was a forest glen with cherry blossoms. And unlike most Stranges she was dressed in black jeans, a 'Black Back' concert T-shirt, and combat boots. Chris himself had retracted his own costume, leaving him in the blue jeans and plaid shirt that caused so many of their friends to joke he should be called Spider-Lumberjack. "So, what exactly has you upset? And don't deny it… Gwen sent me a text telling me you were being pissy."
"Little rat fink," Chris muttered before shutting his eyes. "No, no… she's a good kid… I'm angry at another Gwen."
"The Society?" Cassie asked just as there was a crack and the two friends turned to see another Wong had broken a tea cup clasped in his hands.
"Sorry, Mistress," he said with a bow. "I was imagining it was Miguel O'Hara's head."
The Wongs LOVED Chris' kids. In fact he'd caught them trying to kidnap them several times.
"Well, it is empty like his head," Cassie commented before gesturing for Chris to speak. "Come now, what has your knickers in a twist? They harass you again?"
"Maybe… I don't know."
"You don't know?" Cassie asked, bemused. "You either know or your don't, Chris."
"I thought they were but now I'm not so sure."
"What happened?"
And so Chris laid it all out. Hobie calling him to talk things out, the appearance of the Gwen who had been Jessica Drew's pet project and been there when Drew threatened one of Chris' kids (something that had the woman HIGH on Cassie's own shit list, as she had told him many times; Miles was her godson, after all), his threats to her, and finally his fight with Hobie that saw him storming out.
"I was so angry with him taking her side," Chris admitted. "She stood there while Drew threatened Miles with death."
Cassie winced at that; the older of Chris' two Mileses was a clone of his Earth's Miles and had been left homeless due to that Miles refusing to see him as a person. Chris had not merely given him a home but worked to stabilize his genetics, as the Jackal of that Earth was as shitty as most Jackals when it came to making clones and Chris' Miles had been at risk of being turned into a pile of goo if he didn't get proper treatment.
"But," Chris continued, wincing as he continued on, "I keep thinking about that Gwen. She… she had a shit life. I know that from what Hobie told me after I encountered her. I was ready to hunt her down on her world and make her pay." When Cassie shot him a look he growled in his throat. "I wouldn't hurt her. I just planned to reveal her secret identity to her family and give them the basics on Miles' condition. Let them know what kind of monster she was."
"And if I remember correctly we all told you that was a bad idea."
"Corrosion might have more screamed it in my face," Chris admitted. "And now… now I'm glad you did. Because I've been thinking about that Gwen and… yeah, she never had a chance. O'Hara and Drew? They sunk their claws into her and twisted her like a pretzel." He let out an annoyed huff. "I keep thinking about my kids and what could have happened to them if the Society had found them first and not, well, decided they must die due to 'canon events'."
Cassie let out a grunt at that, holding out her cup for a Wong to refill it. "I hate that idea."
"I know you do."
"NOTHING is written," she reminded him, as if he didn't have that knowledge already. "We've all seen that."
"Time travel does make you realize that fate is just an excuse for weak people," Chris said. He knew that their world was different from everyone else's… hell, it was different from his original Earth, wherever that was.
As if sensing his thoughts Cassie said, "They don't have the experience you have. For them the Society is their first trip into the multiverse. You were ripped from your Earth and ended up here-"
He held up his hand, hearing the sorrow in her voice. "Cas, I'm good. I promise you. Yes, I miss my family and its freaky that I'm a Spider-Man because I used to watch the cartoon as a kid but… I wouldn't trade this for anything."
"I'm just saying that you need to remember that the society will never see things the way you do," Cassie stated. "For them time is a straight line. This happens, that's it. For us time is a… timey wimey, wibbly wobbly ball."
"…you stole that from Doctor Who."
"Ugh, I don't watch that American Sci Fi stuff."
Chris frowned; of all the things that were different on the Earth he now called home the fact that Doctor Who was an AMERICAN show with only a single British attempt (the 8th Doctor) would never stop being odd.
Cassie continued. "We see how our actions radiate out. If you wanted to you could find out how all of your kids will end up." She paused, raising her cup to her lips. "They are all heroes…"
"I told you, I don't want to know."
"You will never guess who Gwen ends up married too."
"Cassie!" Chris let out a huff. "Didn't we JUST talk about how fate is unwritten?"
"Exactly," she replied with a smirk. "So what does it matter if you learn that Gwen marries Polka Dot Galactus."
"It's just- wait, Polka Dot Galactrus?" he raised an eyebrow at that. "When did THAT become a thing?"
"Two days ago, while you were dealing with that delegation from Cybertron. Don't worry, we already dealt with him… was a misunderstanding, honestly. But he does want to talk with you about finding planets he can nibble on."
Chris' shoulders slouched. "Delegations… alien giants… WHY do you people keep making me the ambassador to Earth!? I'm terrible at it."
"No you aren't," Cassie countered with a chuckle. "And even if you are what does it say about the rest of us then that we all go, "Oh, Chris is better than all of us"?"
"That you are cunning little bitches?" Chris muttered. He let out a sigh as his thoughts turned to Gwen and Hobie. "The point, to get back to that, is that I keep thinking about her and wondering if I made the right choices. I just… I hate her so much for how she scared Miles. And according to Hobie she fucked things up real bad with the Society and another Miles there. But it isn't her fault… not completely. She is just so twisted into knots thanks to Drew and the rest of them that she can't even see straight. She thinks up is down and right is left and is left scrambling. I let my anger get the best of me."
To her credit Cassie didn't mock him for that understatement. "You're a dad, Chris. You were a dad before you adopted your first kid. Corrosion, Timepool, Ser Nova… hell, even me. You've always been protecting us. That's why we voted you leader." She reached out and patted his hand. "Sometimes you just need to take a breath and shove the papa wolf back into the cave."
"Yeah," he said, only feeling a tiny bit better.
"Wong, tell him I'm 100% percent right."
One of her skrull attendants stepped forward. "Mistress Cassie is 100% percent right."
Chris frowned. "Why did you say the percent twice?"
The Sorceress Supreme shrugged. "To show how correct I am." She paused to take a sip of her tea. "Wait… what do you mean they did something to a Miles?"
Chris' mood instantly grew darker. He could literally feel his rage begin to wisp off him like smoke from a fire.
"Apparently that Gwen ended up traveling the multiverse by accident, before she joined the Society. Probably what put her on O'Hara's radar. She met with a Miles… he helped her get back home. And she stood by and watched as Miguel nearly beat him to death."
"…nearly," Cassie asked, setting her cup down, clearly shaken.
"Nearly," Chris confirmed. "They still have him though." He paused, jaw working. "Cassie… I think I might need to-"
His phone buzzed.
"I thought you put that on silent," Cassie said as three of the Wongs shot Chris dark looks for daring to disturb the peace of her glen with his technology. The fourth was too busy playing Among Us on his phone to notice.
"I did, save for emergency alerts," he said, fumbling around to pull out his phone.
At once Cassie went stiff. "The kids?" Around her the Wongs all tensed, ready to leap into action. Yes, his kids had constant guards on them thanks to Chris hiring the Fantastic Five to be their nannies, and yes the kids also had all the baby Rocket Racoons who, despite being infants, were still geniuses and several had symbiotes thanks to Corrosion but-
"…no," he said, relieved. "Not the kids." He frowned as he looked at his phone. "It's a video. From the Society."
"What?"
He shook his head. "When I fought Miguel I hacked his system… I left myself on his mass group email and text chains. Keeps me alerted if they are pulling shit." He frowned as he stood up and moved around the table to Cassie could see the phone with him. "Someone sent this priority one…"
Chris clicked on the video… and felt his rage go from a nearly boiling pot to an icy glacier. It was there, even more intense than before, but now he had utter clarity and focus. He wasn't blinded. Wasn't left flailing about. There was just the utterly cold knowledge of what had happened and what NEEDED to happen.
A glance at Cassie showed she felt the same thing.
"Wong," she said as she stood up, body rippling as she shapeshifted into her Sorceress Supreme outfit. Admittedly it wasn't much of a change. A blending of Elven design and punk rock. The Leather Jacket of Levitation settled around her as she allowed several mystical bangles to float onto her wrists. "Please contact everyone."
"Miss Corrosion and-"
"No, we'll call the team. I mean your brothers and sisters."
THAT caused the Wongs to all grin.
"All of us?"
"All of you," Cassie said darkly. The Wongs hurried off even as Chris rolled his shoulders, his costume forming over his body. "Well… looks like we're ending this today."
"Oh yeah," Chris said before tapping the side of his head. "Avengers, this is Spider-Chaos. Please be advise that I am also putting out an alert to all reserve members as well as requests to the Lightning Bolts, The Fantastic Five, The Z-Men, and the Star Jammers to be on this call." He paused, making sure that there were no objects. "The Spider Society has attacked a Miles and their leader, Miguel O'Hara, just threatened to kill his family, innocent civilians. I won't ask you to come if you don't want, but-"
He wasn't surprised that he didn't even get to finish before his entire team sent off confirmations that they were in. That was followed by the reserves as well as the Star Jammers approving the request and several Z-Men teams asking for permission to join while the Lightning Bolts stated they would begin work on protecting their earth and the Fantastic Five assured him they would get his kids to the Museum for protection.
And then… the forwarding of his message started.
Chris smirked as more and more heroes answered the call.
"Go ahead… you know you want to," Cassie told him.
"Alright then… Avengers? Assemble."