"No," Chris said as he plucked the sword out of Miles Y.'s chubby hands.
"My love, what are you doing?" Proxima asked, Miles looking at his fingers in befuddlement; he clearly realized that SOMEHTING had happened but he wasn't for sure what.
Chris sighed and looked over at his wife. It still was strange to think about, as technically it had only been two years since they'd met. But thanks to time dilation, time travel, and time travel again they had ended up spending about 50 years together and that was just going to Peter L and Ben R's choir performance. They had gotten married officially a few months back in a lovely little ceremony that had only been postponed briefly when Thanos had shown up and demanded to be allowed to walk his 'little girl' down the aisle.
"Miles is too young for swords," he said as he handed the boy a loaf of bread, Miles giggling in delight.
"Oh, he'll be fine!" Proxima declared.
"Hey!" Nathaniel Asgard complained as Miles began to hit him with the bread loaf.
Chris looked at Proxima… who was smiling with utter pride. "Look at him go! He knows just where the major arteries are! And you think that he isn't ready, my love?"
The Spider just rubbed his forehead. "And the fact he'd have killed Nathenial?"
"If the Asgardian can not avoid a toddler he deserves to die."
"…I hate that you are making sense."
"She's making sense!?" Nathaniel asked even as the 3 year old continued to swing the bread at him. He sighed and picked Miles up, the boy giggling happily and squealing "Up! Up!" as his uncle held him up in the air. "Alright, let's go put that bread to good use."
Chris watched the two go before looking at Proxima. "The Z-Men are already scared of Gwen."
"Good. They will defer to her as they should! Our children are leaders amongst men and the only way that they can properly command is if all know that they can back up their words with deeds." She paused. "Were you not proud to see her take down the Mysterio Family?"
"…okay, admittedly that was pretty badass," Chris stated. Gwen didn't have Spider Powers, unlike the rest of his kids. She was just human… which made what she was able to do so much more impressive. Thanks to Proxima she was going to be the most badass normal person that ever lived. Of course he would have been proud of her no matter what she did. If she was normal, if she was a hero, if she opened a bagel shop. As long as she was a good person he would support and love her. "Alright… but can we wait until Miles can tie his own shoes before we give his swords?"
"Very well. Clubs it is."
Chris decided just to take that as a win.
"Okay, so I need to head to Nueva York and welcome the new arrivals. You going to be good seeing to Peter and Ben?"
"It is a cultural festival, my love," Proxima said with a laugh, waving her hand. "I will be able to handle it very well."
"Right," Chris said, pressing a button on his wrist and causing his suit to form over his clothes. Giving her a kiss he then moved to activate the portal to Nueva York… only to pause. "You know its about sharing different cultures and not about taking them over, right?"
"…yes," Proxima said with a smile and Chris just shook his head; his wife trying to stage a coup on a school was something Future Chris could deal with. Maybe he'd luck out and a Time Traveler would erase it?
Waving goodbye to her he stepped through the portal and found himself in what had once been Miguel's lair.
"Hey Otto," he said as he waved to the Superior Spider-Man.
"Christopher," he said with a nod, barely looking up from the computer he was working at. "You are late."
Miguel's lair had been stripped of everything the man had used in his mad quest to make the theory of 'Canon Events' work. The windows were still shut but better lighting had been installed and Otto and Chris had seen to getting better equipment. They'd also put up several walls to create new rooms for the different projects they and the rest of their group were working on. There was now a Clean Room, a sound proof testing lab, a place where they could safely mix chemicals, and of course normal labs. All to create a place for those that wished to help the multiverse, rather than control it.
"By how much."
"20 seconds," Otto said.
"Really?" Chris said in annoyance.
"It is important to keep to a schedule. And before you say a word I already budgeted for this conversation, so you can't claim I have fallen into the same pattern of mistakes as you have."
"Otto, never change," Chris said, patting the man on the shoulder. "How goes the research? We closer to a cure?"
"We have a cure," Otto reminded him. "The issue is being able to neutralize the Goblin Formula before it can activate. Preventing Norman, any Norman, from ever going through the trauma of that transformation, is the most important and noble thing we are working towards at the moment."
"Maybe some of the new arrivals can help."
"I doubt it… but I heard Dr. Parker is returning in a few days so perhaps you can ask him."
Chris nodded and headed out, waving to Prof. Watson-Parker who smiled and nodded but otherwise continued on with her experiments into how to proper stabilize the Hulk's gamma blood; while most Hulks didn't have problems they did run into some cases where Spiders ended up getting gamma-infused and that could cause problems with their spider powers. Prof. Watson-Parker was sure she could create a cure and he was more than willing to let her.
There were others scientists at work, all helping to try and find solutions to some of the trickier issues in the Multiverse.
"Dr. Rohrmnik," he said to one of the Spots who had decided to stick around and help them out; his 'Spots' took the form of glowing golden portals, based on the golden rings of his home world that he had experimented on. The more egg-shaped human smiled and ran his fingers along his rather large mustache before returning to his work, Chris grabbing a briefcase near him.
Walking out of the lab Chris took a breath before he simply leaped over the railing, plummeting about 18 stories before he fired a webline and lowered himself a bit slower until his feet touched the ground level of the tower. He landed to find several Spiders waiting for him, Peter B. Parker being up front and center with Mary Jane and Mayday beside him. If the man had thought that Chris was trying to trick him by suggesting he bring his family with him, a kind of embarrassing prank to make him act like this was a family holiday when it was actually work, then he must have been quickly reassured when he saw several other Spiders there with their loved ones.
Patrick O'Hara (absolutely no connection and relationship to Miguel O'Hara as he had first joked, Chris had been told, and now said with a tired sigh) was there with his wife, the famed lawwoman Betty Bryant. Widow was also there but without mate or child, though Chris knew the horse had both. Peritos Parklo, the famed Monster Hunter of his world from the School of the Spider, was there with Felecio, Monster Hunter of the School of the Cat and she was holding the hand of a spirited little boy, Benjo. Looking rather sheepish and embarrassed was Ben Reilly, who Chris had gotten multiple apologizes from when it came to his own actions during the Spot Incident; this world, has the Council of Mary Janes had originally said, had determined that he had indeed suffered brain damage along with an attack by Mephisto to make him forget his marriage to his world's Madelyne Pryor, the Goblin Queen though on that earth it had nothing to do with Norman and rather referred to an order of psychics. They had a set of twins, a boy and a girl, who kept telling their father to stop apologizing to everyone for everything.
There were others that didn't have kids but had brought their spouses. A Peter Parker who had ended up with a Mary Jane… and a Flash Thompson. A Peter who was just with Mary Jane but were early on in the courtship and both were looking rather overwhelmed by seeing so many other versions of themselves married. A Peter… who had apparently fallen for a counterpart to himself and they had managed, despite the time out, to have a long distance relationship and were now gleefully holding hands. Chris really hoped that genetically they were different as he didn't want to open that can of worms and see what came wiggling out.
"Had to make an entrance, huh Chris?" Peter B. said.
"I was running late thanks to my wife thinking it was okay for toddlers to have swords."
Mayday's eyes instantly lit up at that and Peter B. swallowed. "No Mayday."
"Absolurely not," MJ echoed.
"No fair," Mayday pouted.
"Alright," Chris said, clapping his hands together. "Welcome to Nueva York. As you can see the Chaos Avengers, Superior Six, Council of Mary Janes, and our assorted allies have made many changes to Web Tower-"
"You know, your group needs a collective nickname," Peter B. said.
"Right," Chris said before he set the briefcase down on the ground and popped it open. "So, when you all were brought here you were given a shot. In case you weren't paying attention, and I know some of you weren't-" he caught from the corner of his eye some Spiders shifting, "-that was a new vaccine we created that prevents glitching, based upon my own Temporal Paradox Immunity. After the tour we will be taking you down to medical so you can select what other vaccines you wish to have."
"What exactly do you mean?" Madelyne asked.
"The Society was… sloppy," Chris said, trying to be as polite as he could be. He knew that even after all that had happened there were plenty who were proud of what they had done within the Society and he didn't want to get off on the bad foot. "You ever hear how you aren't supposed to drink the water in certain countries?"
"Yeah," Peritos said with a gravelly rumble. "I've seen more people die to the sh… well, on the toilet than they have to monsters because they began drinking out of wells they shouldn't." The Monster Hunter suddenly started. "We went to other worlds…"
"Ever notice how you felt run down?" Chris said. "Maybe got the flu more often? Or a cold?" The Spiders who had been part of the Society began to shift uneasily. "Different Spiders, different Goblins… different bacteria and viruses." At once Peritos was going for a bottle of… something… on his belt while Ben told his kids to cover their mouths. "Its fine here. You obviously stayed here a while and didn't get sick… Nuevea York has scrubbers and the like that make sure everything is safe." That got them all to relax a bit.
"So," one of the Peters who was dating… another Peter… said slowly, "the vaccines are for…"
"Well, in terms of traveling the multiverse we have basic cocktails. That helps with your general stuff." He looked at Mayday. "We finally can stop the common cold so I imagine all of you will be jumping at that." Mayday frowned, clearly weighing the idea of no more runny noses and if it was better than a shot. "We also have more specific ones as well… depending on the world and all that."
Peter B. chuckled. "What next, the cure for cancer?"
Chris shot him a DARK look. "We're working on it." Peter B. quickly realized he'd touched a VERY sensitive nerve and wisely went silent, though Mary Jane did elbow him hard. "We also have doctors that look over your genetic makeup and can fix any problems… no more extra sets of arms." He looked at Madalyne. "We also studied Mister Sinister's cloning process and applied that to the clones made by the Jackal and FINALLY have a way to stabilize them."
The clone of Jean Gray blinked in surprise at that. "Forever?"
"My son Miles hasn't needed a booster in a year and shows no signs of falling part or being turned into goo so… yeah. Forever."
Ben at once raised his hand. "This stabilizer-"
"You will be given the recipe, for lack of a better term, to take back to your worlds." Ben and Madalyne practically sagged in relief. "Now then…" Finally getting up he held out what he had been retrieving from the briefcase.
"Uh, listen Word Guy," Peter B. said as he looked at the watch Chris handed him, "I think you might be confused. You told us Glitching was cured."
"These aren't for glitching," Chris stated. "A lot of worlds are very thankful that we are able to help them with their problems. They wish to reward us-"
"Hold up," Peter B said, cutting Chris off yet again. "You aren't pulling a Heroes for Hire thing, are you? Because I'm… I'm really not comfortable with that."
Ben frowned. "You sell pictures of yourself."
"That's different!" Peter B. declared. "Its Jameson… he deserves it." He then tilted his head. "Wait… does that make me basically the first Instagram Model? Am I an influencer?"
"We aren't charging anyone," Chris said firmly. "But do accept gifts. And we also work to take things that won't be missed. For example, there are plenty of worlds where Gold is a meaningless rock. So we take that and trade it to worlds where they need gold. Paperclip Trade, basically." He shook his head and finished handing out the watches. "So, in addition to being trackers and communicators, in case you end up in either a strange new world OR run into trouble, these serve as your digital Credit Cards in Nueva York and any affiliated world."
"Affiliated world?" the trouple Flash said.
"Correct. There are worlds where Spider-Man never came into being but his villains are there. We help them out… send heroes who need a fresh start there."
"What do you mean?" Flash pressed.
"I won't go into details but sometimes bad things happen." Chris' mind went to one Peter who had been accused of sexual assault by his Kitty Pryde… except it hadn't been the real Kitty but the Chameleon. He was cleared but the trauma had been far too great. The hateful things those that were supposed to care for him said? Well, it was too much to come back from. So the Chaos Avengers, upon finding him and learning of the situation, had set him up in a new world. He was thriving there, though he still went to therapy. It was sadly true of many worlds they'd found in the last 2 years…
Patrick pushed up the brim of his hat. "Understandable."
"Aw, come on!" Peter B. said with a grin. "Can't dish any dirt?"
Chris merely smirked. "So these watches are your credit cards here. You have all been given a small allowance but if you want more you'll need to transfer funds."
"This is… generous," the youngest of the Mary Jane's said.
"Very generous!" her Peter said.
"Hey!" Peter B. complained. "Why is mine lower than MJ's?!"
"Smart Mouth Tax," Chris said. "Your credits are donated to children in need every time you decide to cut me off for a dumb joke. So-"
"My jokes are highly intelligent," Peter B. said only for his watch to chime. "oh come on!"
Chris rolled his eyes at that. "Now then, the tour."
~MC~MC~MC~
"There are a lot of Aunt Mays that have grown lonely after their Peters went into outer space or traveled to the Savage Lands or the like," Chris said with a wave of his hand. "So we give them jobs, if they are interested. Rest assure, not all of them work at the daycare… we have some that are working in the science lab or helping manage the finances. But oddly enough… all of them end up here at least once a week."
The group stared at the massive daycare. It was the size of a gym with multiple levels and was filled with kids of different ages. There was a room that was a nursery where they could see several Spiders checking in on their babies, breast feeding them or just playing with them. A play area for the toddlers; Mayday and Ben Reilly's kids tried to make a go for that area right away. For the older ones there was gym equipment and a basketball court and an arcade.
"The teens are currently in Hero Studies," Chris said.
"Please tell me there isn't a Spider-Snape," Peter B. said… only to glance at his watch.
"That was a legit question," Chris told him. "And no, there is not. But we do have a Steve Rogers who has gotten too old to fight crime who moved here with his wife to mentor the kids. We also have a few Spiders, of course, and weirdly enough a Mysterio." Chris shrugged. "I don't judge. The point is… we are giving these kids what none of us got: the tools to be better."
~MC~MC~MC~
"This is some fancy work out room," Patrick said with a long whistle as he looked at the massive gym that was deep under the tower.
"We got it from the X-Men on a few different realities," Chris said. "Like I told you, we barter and trade. You wouldn't believe how thankful the teams get when we let Scott Summers control his optic blasts, Rogue to be able to touch things, and Beast can shift in and out of his mutant form."
"So Danger Rooms?" Peter B. stated.
"Yes, though there are regular gyms too," Chris said. "Proxima prefers those… says that if she isn't actually killing someone it isn't 'sporting'." He rolled his eyes; he still wasn't for sure half the time if his wife was joking or not.
~MC~MC~MC~
"Financial planning?" the youngest Peter said.
"You wouldn't believe how horrible some of the older Peters are with their money," Chris informed him as he walked them through several of the different offices that were in the tower. He was showing them the free services that would be available to them; things that the Avengers or Shield or the like never thought about when it came to heroes. "They hide their money in their house or they waste it on expensive dates."
"Told you," Young MJ said, elbowing her boyfriend. "I am fine with just a burger and fries, Tiger!"
"They help with investments and the like. We also have lawyers that will help out with any issues in your world, copyright claims so your face isn't on so-so popsicles, and figuring out how to deal with Aunt May's mortgage." Chris squeezed his eyes shut. "Why is there always a mortgage?"
"A wha now?" Betty Bryant asked, confused.
"See, I like you," Chris said. "If it weren't for the stealing of Native American land I'd say you had the right idea about things!"
That made Betty frown and Patrick quickly hissed he'd talk to her later.
~MC~MC~MC~
Chris smiled as he watched the group break off, allowed to go explore the tower. They had been warned that they couldn't leave and go out into Nueva York without an escort and he had already contacted the Wongs to warn them that at least a few wouldn't listen; they'd get a warning this time and then another month long Time Out after that.
There was still so much work to do to fix things. So much more work to repair what Miguel and his Society had done. The Multiverse still whispered about the Spider Society and all that they had done. So many wanted them dead… or worse. So many worlds broken because they had broken their heroes, convincing them that grief wasn't merely a part of life but the sole focus of it.
But… they were getting there. They were working to make things right.
Upon Chris' face, had anyone looked, the word CONTENT would have been seen.