Prologue
Peter B. Parker wasn’t used to ‘normal.’
When you were bitten by a radioactive spider at the age of 16 and have since been a superhero fighting villains almost every day, normal got thrown out of your dictionary.
But now he was getting used to a version of normal.
After his whole dimension jumping debacle, he’d gotten his act together and made up with his ex-wife- no, just wife now- MJ. They had worked out all their conflicts and were happy again.
Peter hadn’t felt this happy in a long time.
He should have been expecting something to happen.
The incident happened on a regular day.
Peter was on top of a building, on the phone with MJ. It was the middle of patrol, but today was a slow day.
“So how’s about you and I go try out that Italian place downtown,” he was saying.
He could hear MJ’s grin through the phone. “Hmm I don’t know, will you order something other than pizza for once?”
He laughed and was about to reply when his Spidey-Sense went off. He quickly told MJ he’d meet her there at 8 and then hung up.
He spun around, bracing himself for a hit, and was surprised when nothing happened.
Then, lights of all colors exploded into the air. Peter recognized the wormhole from a few months ago.
He braced himself to be pulled in, only for nothing to happen.
Instead, a shape started to form.
The shape was glitchy and fluid, until it solidified into a sadly familiar person.
“Miles!” Peter called.
Miles’ body kept glitching and the glimpses Peter caught of his face showed that the kid was in pain.
Why isn’t it stopping? He wondered.
He wanted to help the kid, but he wasn’t sure of it was safe, or if that was even the same Miles he’d met. There were infinite possibilities.
The pain on the kid’s face was making Peter really guilty.
Just as he was about to get in there, the glitching stopped and the wormhole closed, leaving Peter staring out to the New York skyline.
“What the hell was that?” He asked out loud.
Gwen had figured out some cross-dimensional cell service that allowed them to contact each other. Peter only had Gwen in his contacts so far because he hadn’t had any time to get anyone else’s.
He pulled up her contact and called.
Cross dimensional communication took a few minutes because, you know, it had to cross dimensions.
Finally Gwen picked up.
“What’s up, Pete?” She greeted.
Peter launches straight into the story, describing the wormhole and seeing Miles. He kept the details brief but enough that Gwen would be able to understand what he’d seen.
“Do you think Kingpin somehow rebuilt the Collider?” She asked once he was done.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Miles wasn’t wearing his suit, so he couldn’t have been on duty.”
“Hold on,” Gwen said. “I’m getting a call from Noir.”
She added Noir to the call.
“Another wormhole opened,” he said in his dramatic narrator voice.
“Did you see anything?” Peter asked.
Noir didn’t even hesitate a second. “Yes, I saw Miles. It looked like he was in pain.”
“I saw that too!” Peter exclaimed.
“Okay, once is a coincidence, twice is a problem.” Gwen said. “I’m calling Miles, hold on.”
They all waited, hearing the phone ring for a few minutes. Then,
“Hey, this is Miles Morales. Probably got my headphones in, so I can’t hear you calling. Leave a message.”
“Why isn’t he answering?” Noir asked.
Peter frowned. “It could just mean he’s asleep. But it could also mean something worse.”
Gwen sighed. “I’ll investigate. I’ll keep you updated.”
Peter hung up without a goodbye. He doubted Noir would have said anything either, and Gwen had probably already started to research or something.
He took a running start and leapt off the building. The wind rushed into his face and elation rose in his chest. Wormhole problems were forgotten as he began to swing between the buildings, high above the people and cars on the streets.
———
Miles shot straight up, gasping and struggling for breath.
His chest hurt like it had when he’d eaten too many of his mom’s tamales and gotten heartburn, only a hundred times worse. His throat felt tight and he couldn’t get in any oxygen. His head pounded as if someone was stabbing his brain.
The pain slowly faded and even after it was gone, Miles lay awake, almost afraid to go back asleep.
He could have sworn he’d seen Peter and Noir in his dream. When he couldn’t understand was why he had hurt so much after that dream.
The details of the dream were blurry too, like ripples in water. He remembered Peter, but couldn’t remember anything about him. He remembered black and white and Noir but nothing else.
Miles grabbed his phone and checked the time.
3:27.
There was a missed call from Gwen too. She had only called once, so it couldn’t be all that important.
All of a sudden he was really tired. He decided to call Gwen back tomorrow and fell backwards, asleep before his head hit the pillow.