It had been the cruelest blow that Chris could have pulled on Miguel.

But… it was also the only way he could get the man to hopefully stop and actually fucking THINK.

To be confronted with the one person in the multiverse that he cared for, truly loved… and force him to tell her all about 'canon events'. It was easy to look at the same face, a thousand Peter Parkers, and tell them 'because most of your uncles have died that means the rest have to die as well'. It was another to look into the eyes of someone you loved and tell them 'here is why I think you have to suffer'.

It was cruel. But it was the only way to get Miguel to think about all he had done. Because if he didn't then there was no saving him.

'Maybe, if you tell yourself that enough… you'll believe it,' he thought bitterly, hating what he had forced upon the both of them.

"Papi… what… what is going on?" Gabriella O'Hara, Spider-Girl in her world, asked softly. "What are you doing?"

"What did he tell you?" Miguel finally managed to get out. He turned and Chris saw the rage flash through his eyes. "What… did you tell her?"

"Why does it matter?" he shot back. "Just tell her what you are doing here. Your grand mission. I'm sure you can get her to understand."

"Not if you already poisoned her mind," he snarled.

"Then you just explain the lies. I'm sure she'll be completely on board with you plan once you explain it to her." He took a step forward, eyes narrowed even as he reactivated his mask. "Unless she isn't. I heard there is a hospital bed next to Miles'-"

Miguel roared and leapt at him, fingers out stretched as he tried to claw his throat to ribbons. Chris though dodged before kicking him back, firing a webline to try and swing away. But Miguel was too quick, already bouncing back and lashing out with one of the blades on his arms, cutting the webbing and sending Chris back to the ground.

"You invade my home and think you get to lecture me!" Miguel roared as he stormed over… only for another webline to catch him. He whipped around…

…and panted as he saw Gabriella holding onto the webline, pulling on it.

"That is enough!" she roared, lip curling back to reveal her own fangs. "I want answers from both of you!" She glared at Chris who got up, dusting himself off. "You told me he needed our help!"

"And he does… except the help is more saving himself. Its kind of an Obi Wan sort of thing… from a certain point of view and all-"

Gabriella shot him a dark look and Chris held up his hands, shutting up.

"Gabriella," Miguel said softly, reaching out to her only to drop his hand. "I'm… I'm not…"

"I know you're… not my dad," she got out and Chris winced, once more cursing himself for having to go this low. It was cruel not just to Miguel but the young woman as well. She had lost her father only a year ago, the wounds just beginning to heal before he had reached out and torn them open once again. "But… you are a version of him. And I've heard… so many things."

"He-"

"Not from Mr. Chase," Gabriella said. "From others. My Earth… we've had a few other travelers. Some people that have ended up there. I wanted to help but when they saw me…" She looked down, squeezing her eyes shut. "They were terrified of me. They didn't even scream. They were just… so scared. And I didn't understand why, papi. I just wanted to try and help them. To make sure they were safe and we could figure out maybe how to get them home but they didn't want me anywhere near them. They were so scared…

"I finally got one to talk and he told me that… that you were capturing people. Holding them in cells if they didn't obey you. That you were demanding blood sacrifices…"

Miguel winced at that, his anger bleeding out even more as he heard a version of his daughter say such things. "I… I would never-"

"You made yourself the guardian of the Multiverse," Chris told him. "And you have not exactly been kind when it comes to how you deal with people. Are you truly shocked that the rumors began floating around the multiverse about Miguel O'Hara, the Monster-Spider who eats babies and tells people they should be glad he does it?"

"I don't do that-"

"And Galactus doesn't seek out worlds out of malicious intent," Chris countered. "It is his duty. His task. He hungers because worlds sometimes must die so that others may live. A bad random chance." He risked taking a step forward. "You've created your legacy, Miguel… you are the Galactus of the Spider-People. The bringer of doom who tells them that they must suffer. And just like with Galactus when people try and rebel against what is about to happen you wonder… why? Why are you fighting this? It is supposed to happen. There is nothing cruel. Nothing callous. Its just… supposed to be. Because you've forgotten what it is like to be on the other side. You don't understand anymore their concerns."

"…no," Miguel whispered. "I… I don't do that. I don't create canon events. I just… they are fated to happen."

That made Gabriella though shake her head. "You… or the version of you that raised me… told me that there is no fate. No great book that has our destinies written. That we decide what must be done."

"You don't understand-"

"Then explain it to me!" Gabriella exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Explain why you are doing this? Why you are attacking people? Demanding they watch the people they love die!"

"Because its better than entire worlds dying!" Miguel snapped only to wince at his harsh tone. "Because… if you try and take what you don't deserve… everyone suffers."

"Except that's a lie."

Chris turned and smiled as he saw his team gathered before him, several of the higher ranking members of the Spider Society captured. Ben Reilly was tied up, special restraints built for the Hulk keeping him from breaking free. Peter B. Parker looked worse for wear, with cuts all over his body and his bathrobe currently in the possession of several of Corrosion's baby Rockets. Cassie held up the Soul Gem and nodded softly to him, letting him know that Jessica Drew had been dealt with. And he was sure that while they weren't there the rest of the heroes of his world were dealing with any stragglers.

Miguel glared at Chris' team, pushing Gabrielle behind him. "You have no idea what you are talking about!"

"We know better than you can ever imagine, little man," Nathaniel Asgard said with a smirk, playing with a deck of cards as was his want. "You think we came bursting in here without doing our research? We aren't simpletons that just bumble our way about. We actually try and figure out how things are."

The 'unlike you' was left unsaid but not unmissed.

"I did my research," Miguel growled low in his throat.

"Did you?" Chris asked. With his team behind him and thirst for blood for the one that had caused his kids trauma (he might have a Papa Wolf issue but the Avengers were all Uncle Wolves and Aunt Bears) he suddenly found himself as the one that was preaching for calm. To try and work this out. Get Miguel to see reason. "Did you really? Or… in your attempt to find a reason behind the tragedy that befell you… you found the first explanation that gave you comfort?"

"You… you think canon events give me COMFORT?!" Miguel snarled. "You think I enjoy knowing that I can't be happy? That I am the reason an entire universe is gone?"

Cassie spoke up, shaking her head. "I think you, like so many other spiders-" And Chris did NOT miss the look she gave him, little meddling minx, "-feel the need to put the entire world on your shoulders. You can't stand the idea that a bad thing happened… and it wasn't your fault."

"…what?"

"Its quite simple," Sir Martin stated with a casual shrug. "You had something horrid happen to you. And you couldn't accept that it was just a bad turn. It had to be something YOU did. Because if you did it… then you can understand what you did and not let it happen again. Rather than accepting that… there was nothing you could do. That it was a horrible moment where the stars aligned in the wrong way."

"That's… that's not it."

"Gabriella… how did your father die?"

Miguel turned towards Chris and the man sighed, hating that once more he was having to be the bad guy. But thanks to all the therapy sessions he'd attended for his kids (and honestly for himself… being ripped from your home dimension with little chance of finding your way back and forced to fight against time travellin villains did a number on one's psyche) he knew that sometimes it took the harsh truth to get to the root of the matter. You couldn't hide away from the pain, as much as you wanted to. Sometimes you had to expose the wound. Dig into it. Pull out the foreign material that had become buried in there so that it could finally heal properly.

"She doesn't need to answer that," Miguel snapped.

"She doesn't… but she should," Chris said. He already knew the answer and didn't feel like exposing it himself.

"She doesn't need to relieve how I died in a villain fight," he growled. "Don't you dare-"

"It wasn't a villain fight."

Miguel stopped and slowly turned towards the alternate reality version of his daughter.

"It… it was my fault," she whispered. "I had a dance recital. I was trying to get a spot in the Nueva York Commission For The Arts dance program and I had my performance. You were just… crossing the street." She shut her eyes and Chris felt like such an utter heel. He hated he was forcing the poor girl to speak of what had happened. "It… it was my fault…"

Miguel shook his head. "No… no, it wasn't. I… he… any Miguel would want to support you. And he was the one crossing the street-"

"But I was using my powers for… for dancing!" she exclaimed, balling her hands into fists. "I know you… he… gah!" She let out a scream of frustration. "I know my papi said I never had to be a hero… that he was glad that I didn't feel the urge to swing around Nueva York fighting bad guys. Mama said that too… but if I had done that then you wouldn't have come and crossed that street-"

At once Miguel had the poor girl wrapped up in a hug, his parental instincts shining held out his hand to his team, motioning for them to step back and give the two some space.

"Gabriella… it was an accident. Not a villain fight. Not someone seeking revenge." And it hadn't been… Chris had traveled back to the very moment that Miguel had died. It was just someone who had suffered a blown tire. Literally no one was to blame. And yet so many lives had been altered.

'For want of a nail,' he thought to himself bitterly. On his Earth he could have changed it… had done so many times. Spider-Chaos, the Guardian of Time… or the Breaker of Time if one listened to some of his enemies. Going back again and again to figure out the right way to save the day, to make sure that every person made it out alive… or close to it. But there were limited to what even he could do. Sometimes things just… didn't work out. Sometimes he couldn't save someone. Time travel worked differently in other universes, meaning he couldn't go back and save Miles from Miguel. He couldn't save worlds that were ravaged by war. Where in his world the biggest issues he had to deal with was that many people simply used tech to shield themselves from time travel changes, meaning he couldn't stop a villain before they became a villain, in the multiverse time wasn't putty but rather marble. Unyielding even to him.

And he hated it.

'But I don't make up some stupid theory that forces everyone to accept that ALL they love must die,' he thought.

"-shouldn't have been so selfish!" Gabriella practically screamed, so lost in her grief that she didn't remember any more that the man she was speaking to wasn't actually her father. "With… with great power… comes great responsibility. That's what you told me. And I didn't listen!" She took a shaky breath. "But I'm making it right, papi. I'm being Spider-Girl… I'm fighting the villains you can't!" She looked at him with utter hope, desiring the absolution that he and he alone could give her.

And Miguel… saw the same thing Chris had when he had first sought her out.

"Gabriella… do you even want to be Spider-Girl?"

"I… of course…"

Miguel narrowed his eyes. "Gabriella…"

It was a commanding tone.

A fatherly one.

"…I hate it," she whispered. "I'm always so scared. And I don't think I'm that good at it. I have nightmares all time now and-" She stopped, realizing what she had said, and a look of utter PANIC crossed her face. "but…"

"Then why do it?" Miguel demanded, he too so lost in the conversation he'd forgotten who he was talking to.

"Because I have to." The words came out so softly and with such misery that it made everyone's hearts ache.

"No you don't," he pressed. "You don't have to be Spider-Girl! There are other heroes, aren't there?"

She nodded. Chris knew there were. Nueva York was full of them and from the quiet conversation he'd had with them… they saw how she was cracking. That's why they had been okay with Chris taking her: they hoped he might help her.

"Then don't be Spider-Girl! Don't do something that just makes you miserable because you think you have to!"

"But-"

"No!" Miguel said, grabbing onto her shoulders and giving her a shake. "It wasn't your fault! And you deserve to be happy!"

"…and don't you?" Chris asked softly.

Miguel turned and glared at him… but was silent.

"Doesn't everyone in the Society?" he pressed. "You've all allowed your grief and sorrow over what happened to you… consume you. Seeking out reasons not just for why it happened… but reasons why you should remain unhappy. You refuse to free yourself from it." He took a step forward. "You. Gabriella. The Society. All of you have become trapped in your grief. You cling to it and wrap it around your bodies and say "I don't deserve to be happy" and think that is that." He waved at Gabriella. "Look at her, Miguel. How long before she takes her pain and turns it into a weapon she uses against others? Finds young people with power and tell THEM they have to do something they hate because "with great power comes great responsibility"? Can't… can't you see? You two are on the same path! You're just further ahead! But you can BOTH get off of it!"

Miguel shut his eyes. "But… canon events-"

"There are no fucking canon events!" Corrosion roared and Chris turned, startled to see her symbiote had pealed away to reveal her face. "There is no invisible hand that is writing out our stories and demanding we do this and only this and that is all! You can't predict the good. You can't predict the bad! You can't control it!"

"Well, there might be one invisible hand that looks a lot like Chris and created an entire Chaosverse…" Timepool muttered but everyone just ignored him.

"Life isn't a series of quick time events," Cassie argued. "It isn't a dialogue tree and if you make one wrong choice you lock yourself out of the golden ending. And it isn't on rails and we are just traveling along like it's a ride." She waved to her left. "And if you look here folks you'll see a Spider losing their uncle. And on your right is the Haunted Mansion…"

"But… I've seen worlds-" Miguel said only for Chris to cut him off.

"You have seen ONE world fall. One. And then you've worked to help a lot of other ones. And don't get me wrong… you've done a lot of good." And how he HATED giving the man any compliments. It felt like acid on his tongue to admit that Miguel O'Hara had done anything right. It was far easier to just hate him. "But you're so consumed by your theory that you have become blind to reality. And I think a part of you realizes-"

There was a crackle on the comms.

"Uh… pardon me… can anyone hear me?"

Chris frowned and touched the earpiece he was wearing. "I can read you… who is this?"

"I'm… I'm Peni Parker," the young woman on the other end said. "Who is this?"

"Chris Chase." He paused. "Spider-Chaos."

The girl let out a yelp at that and there was the sound of fumbling and bumping.

"Uh," another voice said, male this time, "not sure what you said but this is Spider-Noir. And we have a problem and could use some help."

"What's going on?" Chris asked.

"Well, seems like in all the confusion a bunch of Spider People have decided to attack the Society's main tower. The gooners are really laying into it. And there are people trapped inside so if you, whoever you are, would be nice enough to send help?"

Chris turned to look at him team who looked just as befuddled. And from the way Miguel was looking… this wasn't a distraction.

"Come on," Chris said, forming up his mask.

"Just like that?" Nathaniel asked, gesturing at Miguel.

"I'm not vengeance," Chris replied. Innocents had to take priority.

He prepared to fire off a webline… only for Miguel to step forward.

"You'll need help."

Chris and him stared at each other for a LONG moment.

"Nothing is settled," Chris reminded him. "We have a lot more business to finish."

"Yeah," Miguel said, it clear that despite everything he still wasn't happy about the invasion.

But the two Spiders nodded before firing off weblines, the rest of Chris' group and Gabriella close behind.