Spider-Woman: A New Home

Chapter 4 - The Peter Below

All of us were swinging over to where MJ said Peter would be. I was carrying my brother, the Peter in the spider suit was carrying Ned, and the casually dressed Peter was carrying MJ, since they didn't have webs. The oldest Spider-Man was in the lead since he had MJ, who was giving us directions.

Peter held on to me tightly. He was smiling while looking at everything we swung past. So I don't know if he was scared or happy. Maybe a bit of both I guess. But it was funny how excited he gets when we swing.

It was weird to have Ned and MJ alive again but in someone else's bodies. It's really weird how my MJ was male in my universe, but in this one, he is a female. Having 4 Peter's was weird too. I don't know what was more confusing, to be honest.

Once we got to where MJ led us, we all swung to the ground, gently. The older Peters put MJ and Ned down. While I kept Peter in my arms. The two from this Peter's universe climbed down a ladder, over to their Peter. MJ went over to him and held his head in her arms, comforting him. Ned wrapped his arms around both Peter and MJ. Peter started to cry in their arms. "I'm sorry." Ned whispered.

A few seconds later, Peter lifted his head, and MJ started to speak. "Peter, there's... there are some people here." Peter looked at her. "What?" They all stood up. Peter jumped up, in front, ready to protect them. He looked up at the top of the building and saw the three Peters and I, staring down at him. The three of us jumped down closer to the mourning boy, coming into view. The Peter in the suit was to my right, and the other was to my left. We were crouching, looking at the boy, waiting to see what his reaction would be.

"Hey, wait, wait! Whoa! What?" The Peter below us shouted. I placed Peter beside me. He grabbed my hand, disliking the height. The Peter's and I slowly brought ourselves standing straight up, with our arms raised, letting him know that we weren't here to hurt him. "Sorry...about May." The Peter to my left sympathized. "I'm sorry, man." I softly whispered, agreeing with what they were saying. "Yeah. Sorry." The Peter to my right spoke. "I got some understanding of what it is you're-" Before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by the Peter in front of us.

"No, please don't tell me that you know what I'm going through" The Peter to my right gave him a sad look. "Ok." The Peter down low looked at all of us "She's gone. And it's all my fault." He looked to the ground. "She died for nothing. So I'm gonna do what I should have done in the first place." He reached for the box in MJ's hands, but the Peter to my left started talking. "Peter, please don't."

The youngest Peter shook his head. "You don't belong here. None of you. So I'm sending you home." I looked at the Peter, holding my hand, dreading to go back to my home since there was nothing there for him. If anyone would ever find out that I was Spider-Woman, his future would be ruined. "Those other guys are from your worlds, right? So you deal with it. If they die, if you kill them...that's on you. It's not my problem. I don't care anymore. I'm done." The Peter below us told us. "I'm sorry that I dragged you into this. But you have to go home now. Good luck." Peter apologized. He reached for the box in MJ's hands again, but she pulled it away.

"My uncle Ben was killed. It was my fault." The oldest Peter spoke. "I lost...I lost Gwen, my, um. She was my MJ. I couldn't save her. I'm never gonna be able to forgive myself for that." I looked at the other Peter with a look of sorrow, and understanding. I knew what he felt. I knew what they all felt. Because I felt that too.

"But I carried on, tried to, um. Tried to keep going, tried to keep being the, uh...The friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man cause I know that's what she would've wanted. But at some point, I just...I stopped pulling my punches. I got rageful. I got bitter." He continued. "I just don't want you to end up like...like me." I felt my brother hold my hand tighter. I knew what he was thinking of. He didn't deserve what happened. It's not fair that a 7 year old doesn't have most of his family alive to watch him grow up. He deserves so much better. I pull Peter closer to my leg. He hugs my thigh like he usually does for comfort.

"The night Ben died...I hunted down the man who I thought did it. I wanted him dead. I got what I wanted. It didn't make it better. It took me a long time...to learn to get through that darkness." The old Peter admits.

My brother started to speak. "We lost...well everyone. What you're looking at...is all that we have left." A tear slipped from his eyes. I could feel the tears start in mine too. "I couldn't save them. Any of them. I was too slow. Tombstone, one of our universe's villains, blipped away half the population. I tried to stop him. But I failed. It's been a few years now. We still haven't figured out a way to bring them back. Mathew-Jones, my love, was killed by Tombstone too." I looked over to the Peter, who lost his Gwen. We both knew what the other was feeling. We both lost our partners. We both lost half of ourselves.

"I wanna kill him. I wanna tear him apart. I can still hear her voice in my head." The Peter below started. "Even after she was hurt, she said to me that we did the right thing." He paused. "She told me that with great power..." "Comes great responsibility." The older Peter finished his sentence.

I recognized that sentence. My uncle Ben said it before he died. I can hear it as if it was said to me just yesterday. "Wait, what? How do you know that?" The Peter below us, questioned. "Uncle Ben said it." The Peter in a suit said. "The day he died." The other Peter finished.

The Peter below looked up at all of us with a sad look. "Maybe she didn't die for nothing, Peter." The casually dressed Peter said. I gave the Peter below, a sympathetic smile.

************************************************
AN: I had a bit of writer's block again, sorry. But now we're getting closer to the fight scene. I'll probably finish soon-ish. I hope you liked this chapter!

Word count: 1169