The Forgotten Boy
Peter jumped to his feet, prepared to sprint from his apartment and find MJ and Ned. But suddenly there was a crinkling of the air. That was the only way he could really describe it. It was like the very air around them crunched together and then an orange-golden light was forming, crackling and then circling.
It was a portal. The other Peter’s were on their feet, prepared for a fight. Strange was here, he was going to step through that portal any second and then they would be forced to fight him. Peter’s stomach lurched as he stared at the forming portal with baited breath. He beat Strange once, but he didn’t know if he would be able to do it again. Tony and Gwen were in the other room. Any fight would lead to the leveling of this whole apartment, this whole building.
The portal was opening so slowly, too slowly. Was it his enhanced reaction time slowing time down or was the portal actually opening slowly? He couldn’t tell- no, yes he could tell- it was opening slowly. Too slowly to be Strange opening it. He was far too experienced for that.
But someone else knew how to open portals- someone who was much less experienced.
“Ned!” He shouted as the portal opened fully, revealing his best friend standing there. He left his defensive position behind and flung himself at his friend. “You remember me?”
Ned nodded furiously. “Yes, I remember you! I remember you! Whatever you did, it worked. I’m sorry I didn’t remember you on my own.”
“Ned, you couldn’t have, the spell was too strong, there was no breaking through it on your own.” Peter reassured his best friend. Then he saw MJ, standing slightly back from the portal that remained opened.
He reached out for her and she took his hand, allowing him to pull her through the portal and into the apartment. There were tears already leaking down her cheeks. “You came to the cafe. You bought a coffee. And told me your name and I still didn’t remember you.”
“It was the magic.” Peter murmured. “All that I care about is that you remember now.”
“I missed you.” She cried. “I- I couldn’t remember what I was missing but I could feel that there was something- someone- who was supposed to be in my life and just wasn’t.”
“I felt that too.” Ned said. “It was like this hole.”
“Oh god, Peter.” MJ sobbed and he folded her into his chest, tucking her head under his chin and hugging her tightly.
Peter 3 passed Peter a glass of cool water and Peter mouthed a thank you back. Peter 3 nodded before he and Peter 2 headed to the bedrooms to give them more privacy. Peter guided MJ down to sit on the couch and pressed the glass of water into her hands. He drank slowly and soon her tears dried.
“Peter…” Ned said softly, “Have you been living here, on your own?”
Peter shook his head. “Well sort of. I mean, after May… I had no where to go. So I got this place. But uh, someone showed up here to help me.”
“Was it the other Peter Parkers?” Ned asked, looking around the room. “They were just here, weren’t they?”
“Yeah, they were. But no, not them. It was actually a different Spider-Man. Or Spider-Woman. Her name is Gwen. She’s my friend. She’d from another reality too. And she’s been living here with me for a while now.”
MJ sniffled loudly and said, “What happened? I mean what have you been doing all this time? I’ve seen you around school a few times and in the news as Spider-Man, but other than that- radio silence.”
Peter spent the next few hours explaining to them both everything that had happened. Midway through it the other Peters, Gwen and Tony came out to the sitting area and joined them. Ned was in complete awe of Tony, having never met him before. MJ was a little bit better at playing it cool but not by much.
MJ and Ned called their parents and convinced them to let them stay over at Peter’s for the night despite the fact that it was a Tuesday and they had school in the morning. In lieu of the circumstances they reluctantly agreed. Peter’s face was all over the news again, not as Spider-Man this time, but as the boy who everyone had mysteriously forgotten and then remembered two months later. Somehow taken off of citizenship records and schooling records, removed from everyone’s memories, excluded from his own aunt and legal guardian’s will and gravestone.
He was completely forgotten. Then suddenly people all over the city started remembering him. Shop owners, teachers, classmates. Peter didn’t know who the first person had been to report it to the Daily Bugle, but he suspected Betty. She worked for the Daily Bugle and had a foot in the door as to what was published and aired. She’d complained a lot to him and Ned about how understaffed the Daily Bugle was, which allowed her more work than she was qualified for.
The Daily Bugle had found Peter’s phone number- again probably Betty- and they’d called him for an interview and to make a statement. He hadn’t answered so they’d left a message.
Peter played the message again for Gwen and MJ. The three of them were huddled together in the back corner of their school’s library for a free period they shared.
“Hey, uh, Peter Parker. This is J. Jonah Jameson calling you here from the Daily Bugle. Listen, the city is turning itself upside-down trying to figure out how this could have happened to you. I would be willing to offer you five thousand dollars for an exclusive interview with someone here at the Daily Bugle. One of my employees, Betty Brant is in the same year at your school, and she would be happy to get a statement from you. Give me a call back at this same number if you’re interested. And remember it’s better to get ahead of the rumors before they get the best of you. Bye now.”
“I think you should do it.” Gwen said. “I mean think, he’s right, the rumors will be hell. You need to control the story.”
MJ nodded. “They’ll attack your character, say you did it as some plot.”
Peter nodded slowly, he knew they were right, but being in the spotlight was not a place he wanted to be. He sighed. “I know. I’m just thinking about all of the ways this could go wrong.”
“I think you should get Parker to help you. Be patrolling out as Spider-Man with me- in your suit- just incase they try to accuse you of being Spider-Man.” Gwen added.
So they workshopped a story and Peter called Jameson back agreed to a live televised interview.
And the next day Peter sat down in a studio with Jameson while a few blocks away Gwen and Peter 3 were swinging through the streets looking for criminals to stop.
“Welcome everyone to the Daily Bugle where I am joined by Peter Parker, the overnight sensation, as he has been named the Forgotten Boy. Peter, I know you’re a high school senior down at Midtown High. Top of your class too, tell us, a little more about yourself.”
“Well, as I’m sure you’ve found out already, I had an internship with Stark Industries and prior to the blip I worked closely with Tony Stark.”
Jameson failed to hide his surprise. “Surprisingly, I was not aware of this. What work did you do with Stark?”
“I mainly helped with the development and design of some of his final suits. Aside from that he was like a mentor to me, and really like a father.”
“And how did you meet Stark?”
“My aunt May was dating his head of security, Happy Hogan. He was around our apartment a lot, so he introduced me.”
“So you are very good with technology then?”
“Mechanics wise, yes.”
“Ah, mechanics. Ever delve into hacking?”
“No, aside from some basic programming.”
“Well programming is all coding, is it not? And coding is hacking.”
“I guess so, yeah.”
“So then, is that how you were able to hack into government databases and remove yourself from them?”
“No, I didn’t do that.”
“Then how was it that all records of you were removed?”
“It was a spell.”
“A spell?”
“Yes, one preformed by Doctor Strange.”
“And why would he do that?”
“Well since I was close with Tony Stark, I was obviously distraught when I learned he had died. I did some digging and discovered that Strange had played a key role in his death.”
“How so?”
“Strange had convinced him that the only way to defeat Thanos was to sacrifice himself.”
“And this was not true?”
“No. Tony did not need to die.”
“Why would Strange lie?”
“He needed Tony out of the way. Tony was always weary of Strange and Strange knew he was on to him, so he had him killed.”
“What was Stark onto him about?”
“I don’t know, he died before he could tell me. But Strange is planning something, he has been studying dark magic. I found documents in the Stark database and I tried to take my findings to the media, that’s why Strange had me erased. So those files would never get out.”
“Your aunt died in November, in an attack on Happy Hogan’s apartment by the Green Goblin, the Lizard, Electro, Doctor Octopus and Sandman. All of whom are criminals we know nothing about and disappeared soon after, just before you were erased. Do they have anything to do with this?”
“Yes. Doctor Strange created them and sent them after me when he realized I was close to finding him out. They were supposed to kill me, but Spider-Man stepped in and saved me… not before they killed my aunt. Once Strange realized that I was under Spider-Man’s protection, he switched tactics, hence the spell.”
“Do you believe that Spider-Man can beat Doctor Strange in a fight?” Jameson asked skeptically, as though the answer was a clear n.
“He already has.” Peter said, looking directly into the camera, as though he could see through it, into Strange’s eyes as he was watching from wherever the hell he was. “I saw him do it. After Strange came after me himself.”
“Are you close with Spider-Man then?”
Peter nodded. “Some of the work I did with Tony was on Spider-Man’s iron spider suit. And my aunt worked closely with him, so we became friends.”
“Do you know Spider-Man’s identity?”
“Yes. But he wants it to remain a secret.”
Jameson nodded, a little disappointedly. “Recently it has begun to seem like Spider-Man has a new partner with similar, if not identical, powers, do you know him? And is he here to stay?”
“Yes, I know her. And for the time being, I do believe she is here to stay.”
“Doctor Strange is widely revered as a savior and a key member of the team that defeated Thanos, what do you think has made him go dark?”
“He hasn’t ‘gone dark,’ he has always been dark, so to speak. He is practicing the mystic arts the same way he practiced in the hospital. He only took the cases he knew would be successes, so that his record became higher than any of the other surgeons in his practice. He only sought the mystic arts when it was for his own personal gain, to fix his hands after they were deemed unfixable from a car accident. He wants power no matter how he gets it, he wants fame and more than anything he wants to be the best.”
“Hang on, so you’re saying that Strange has only done these heroic things for his own personal gain.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Do you think Strange will come after you for this?”
“Yes, I know he will. And when he does, I want him to know that Spider-Man will be waiting for him with all of Stark Industries’ technology and security behind him. If he wants to take on SHIELD and the avengers singlehandedly, then I say let him. They’ll be ready when he tries.”
“Thank you, Peter.” Jameson, turning from Peter to look directly in the camera. “You’ve heard it here first folks, young sensation, Peter Parker, backed by vigilante Spider-Man and all of his contacts, is locked in a battle with the sorcerer Doctor Stephen Strange. Now over to reporter Barlet who is live on the scene where Spider-Man and Spider-Woman have just thwarted an attempted kidnapping.”
The red light on the camera flickered and dimmed, signifying that it was no longer recording. Jameson stood and clapped Peter on the back. “That was amazing, kid. If you ever do uncover more, give me a call and I’ll get you back on. Thanks for joining us today.”
“Thanks for having me.” Peter shook Jameson’s hand and then hurried from the studio where Ned and MJ were waiting for him.
“That was great!” MJ exclaimed as they strode down the hall together and pressed the down arrow on the elevator.
“Thanks.” Peter muttered. He felt sick. What if it turned out that Strange was innocent in all of this and he had just publicly defamed his character without due cause? He tried not to think about it as they stepped into the elevator and the doors slid closed. They begun the slow descent in silence.
Sensing his shift in mood, Ned was quick to reassure him. “Hey, Peter, you did the right thing. Fury is suspicious of him, and Fury is never wrong. And it all fits, even Wanda agreed.
“Ned, Wanda held an entire town hostile so she could play house with her dead robot boyfriend, I wouldn’t call her an exactly reliable source. And Fury was blipped for five years and he’s been in space ever since. No one has seen him, he has a skrull parading around, pretending to be him, and SHIELD is in shambles. Who knows if he’s still sound of mind?” Peter retorted, feeling even worse about the whole situation. “What if Strange really was just trying to help me?”
The elevator stopped moving and dinged, signaling that they had made it down to ground level. But the doors didn’t open. Instead a sling-ring portal began to open before them.
“Ned!” MJ snapped.
“That isn’t me.” Ned replied nervously.