PSL: A New Home

[hashtagparkerluck]

All things considered, a portal in new york wasn't the weirdest thing. It wasn't even the first time it happened. It was, however, usually a bad sign so of course Peter had to swing in and look into it. Tony had yet to tell him not to so he had precious little time before he was disobeying.

He landed nearby in his signature spider-crouch and squinted at the form that was dropped by the portal It looked like... a girl?

"What the Hell?" The portal closed before he had time to look at it too closely and he rolled his eyes because of course it did. "...Uh-Ma'am?" His voice squeaked a little and cleared his throat.

"Ma'am?" He tried again, this time a little louder.

Comments

[fightagain]

That was not the softest landing Gwen has ever experienced. That portal had been wrong. Off. Shaky.

Gwen has experience with that. So when she does land, it's with a thump and a roll and something black quickly covers a hand, forming claws that dig into the ground to stop her from sliding too far.

And, just as quick, it vanishes and Gwen (firmly encased in her Venom suit from the neck down) let's out a sigh.

"Thanks, V," she says in a tired mutter. Whatever V is, the answer is in her head and Gwen is quick to get to her feet to look around.

Before she can really get her bearings, the voice catches her attention and she looks up, the hood of her suit doing it's best to cover most of her face.

And then...that soft buzz. That same-hat sense that has her raising an eyebrow and tilting her head a bit.

"I'm sixteen. Unless that's just how it is in this universe, I think I might be too young for Ma'am."

[hashtagparkerluck]

"Oh. Uh.. sorry." He voices, mentally stopping himself from saying 'ma'am' again. The soft buzz catches him off guard and for a second he misinterprets it before he realizes what it means. Something quietly assuring him 'same..'

"That-that uh.. looked like a pretty nasty fall. Do you need some help?" Should he come out and say that he knew she was like him or leave that alone? What was the polite thing to do here? Also, should he call Happy? This feels like one of those things he should tell Happy about.

"I'm uh, Spider-Man. What was that, anyway?"

[fightagain]

“Oh, I’ve experienced worse. I experience worse every day.”

That was rude.

Venom speaks up in Gwens head and she smiles just a bit, shrugging before looking down at the scratches in the pavement.


“Uh…nothing exciting?” She doesn’t want to talk about it. Instead, she focuses on the guy and the name he gave. It was obvious who he was, but not so much which who.

“Which Spider-Man? I’ve met several across the multiverse.”

[hashtagparkerluck]

"Nice try mysterious stranger, but I'm not just gonna tell you my-" He freezes and then his draw drops beneath the mask. "There's a multiverse? Seriously?"

Wait a second.

"There's more of me?" More than one Peter Parker? He thinks back to all the mistakes he's made in just past week alone. "That sounds incredibly cursed, actually."

"Uh... you wouldn't happen to need a tour guide for this universe would you? 'Cause I got someone you should probably meet-he'd want to meet you, anyway. At least I think."

[fightagain]

There’s something about that rambling and the obvious derailing of a train of thought that has Gwen thinking through the possibilities. It could be Miles. Another version of him wouldn’t surprise her. But it lacked something she couldn’t put a finger on.

What’s your guess? Who do you think he wants us to see?

“Pym, Van Dyne, or Stark.” Which sounded more like a statement than a question. “Or possibly Strange.”

Again. In a way that isn’t a query. Which is probably weird.

“I’ve met enough Spider-people to know there are billions of us. There’s even a cartoon one from a universe where cartoons are living and breathing and pulling anvils out of their pockets.”

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter was about to say something about her guesses but pauses as what she just said registers in his head. Cartoon.

"Um." He's really not sure how to respond to that. As a child he dreamed of a cartoon universe but now was not the time to relive childhood fantasies. People popping in from alternate universes kinda spelled trouble. At least it did every single science-fiction novel and movie he was aware of.

"Mr Stark, actually. I guess you've heard of him then? He didn't give me a direct line to him-but Happy-my point guy-" (read: babysitter) "-can get in touch with him. It'll take just a sec."

[fightagain]

We will not. Say no.

Which immediately has the opposite effect. Gwen listens to the symbiote whispering in her head and she tilts her head a bit, considering her options before answering with a shrug.

“If you think it’s that important, sure. Call your point guy.”

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter nods and then hesitates a moment before taking a small step back to ask Karen to make a call to Happy who missed the call. What is he doing? Peter suppressed a sigh and then had Karen try again. Voice mail again.

"Uh... just a second." He assured the new spider-person. Who was he supposed to call now? "Happy! Call me back please! This is important. Like actually important and not and not about how many dogs I pet today.

"... which was ten btw but call me back!" Message left he sucked in a breath and started to calculate if he could get upstate and take her to see Tony himself. But Probably not. That's a little far.

"Sorry about that." He turns back to Gwen. "Um, do you like Churros?"

[fightagain]

Gwen and V watch Peter curiously, the Symbiote taking control (not visibly) just long enough to tilt Gwens head, showing the shared curiosity at this phone call. Neither of them were expecting it to go exactly like that and Gwen raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Your contact might be busy." Or just being a dick. She's nto sure which to go with.

"Do these churros come with chocolate and if not, can they?" There's a serious tone in her voice, and an expression of mild worry. She sort of wants to explain why, but she just met this guy. Why would she let the gooey stow-away make an appearance just yet?

[hashtagparkerluck]

"He's... I mean he's also Mr Stark's head of security. He's probably busy." Happy wouldn't ignore him would he? What if it was an emergency? Did people coming through rifts in the space time continuum count as an Emergency? It feels like that should fall under emergency.

"Yeah, of course. Camilla has all sorts of churro dipping sauces-hers are the best in Midtown. I wouldn't treat you to mediocre churros."

[fightagain]

"Fire off a text? Can you get ahold of anyone else Mr Stark knows?" It's not like it's not a valid question. Even V wants to know, grumbling in Gwens head just a little bit as they listen to Spider-Man.

"I hope so. It'd be pretty messed up, getting a newcomer bad churros."

We can trust him, right? V asks, before letting the black and white mask sort of...bubble away. Retreat in some weird fashion, leaving Gwen's face visible and mildly horrified.

"Whoa..." She has zero explanation for this, and will have to tell V off later.

[hashtagparkerluck]

"Uh.. unfortunately, no." Peter admits, really wishing he'd been able to contact someone else but his contact list for Spider-Man related things was Ned, Happy, and May and he really didn't like talking to May about that stuff since she had a tendency to get a little over protective.

"But we can munch on Churros until Happy calls me-"

"You have an incoming call from Tony Stark." Karen's voice interrupted him. Well... That was fast.

"Uh. One Sec?" He holds a finger up.

"That better not be me you're talking to." Tony's face appeared on his HUD.

"What? No! Of course not. I was talking to uh..."

[fightagain]

"I'm - " Saddled with an impatient and downright rude symbiote. This is about when V decides to make their appearance. The black mask from before slides it's way onto Gwen's face, all long, pointy teeth and creepy eyes and unusually deep voice. From somewhere within that, Gwen can be heard.

"Don't you dare. V, don't you dare," she says, sounding irritated.

But V, as stated, is rude. And bored. So they speak.

"We are Venom." Another toothy grin before V vanishes, leaving Gwen looking defeated, tired, irritated. And in street clothes. V vanished entirely.

"We are not Venom. My friend there is Venom. They're a pain in the ass. I'm called Ghost-Spider or Phantom-Spider in my universe. My universes friendly neighborhood Spider-person.. Tell your Mr Stark the truth: that someone from another universe has fallen into yours, that they brought along a symbiote that's helping them survive this universal displacement and...whatever else you think he might need to know."

A sigh, Gwen letting her head drop into her hand for a moment, and then an apology. "Sorry about Venom. They like to show off when it's least convenient."

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter sucked in a breath as he tried to make sense of that and then just repeated it word for word to Tony who let out an exasperated sigh because of course that's what happened.

"I'm sending happy. You and your new friends need to meet me at the compound." Tony disconnected the call.

"Okay, good talk." he turned back to the girl and Venom. "Happy's gonna be here soon but Camilla's churro cart isn't too far from here so we can still get those if you're still up to it?"

feel free to ignore 2000 years later

[fightagain]

"Churros sound good," Gwen states, listening as Venom whispers agreement. Churros do indeed sound good. Delightful.

"And..I'm sorry for any trouble we're causing. I really...we really don't mean to."

"Speak for yourself."

"..." She's sick of this Symbiote and their shit, Peter. So sick.