permavid; only registered name on the comm is "spider-man"

[remake]

[ The video is up-side down. It's hard to tell, because the guy in the video is also up-side down, sticking to the shiny, windowed side of an office building by his hand and feet. He looks distinctly spider-man themed, but the design is different and so is the voice. He sounds awful young. ]

Okay. Okay. I'm not freaking out but- [ A pause for some quick, audibly shallow breaths. ] -uh. I might be freaking out? Uh. There's- there's someone else living where my house is supposed to be which is really not cool, and I can't figure out what happened to the Triskelion. I'd like to help y'all out but.

If I had- uh, I don't know, directions maybe I could... knock on the door and get you some r-real- some better heroes. I kind of know Nick Fury? Sort of.

And it sounds like you need that. I-I mean, I can stop muggers and stuff, and I guess like The Ringer and Kangaroo (I'm so not making that up, there's a dude that calls himself "Kangaroo"), but this whole-- this whole alternate dimension thing is way over my head and-

[ Hitched breathing. ] And I'm still... working on it.

Comments

[incywincyhero]

I'm afraid you've lost me already, kid -- or maybe I should say you lost me more.

[Beat.] Okay, let's take this from the top. You've been kidnapped to an alternate dimension by an AI -- artificial intelligence, basically a super-smart computer -- whose exact goals we haven't figured out yet. The bad news is that we haven't figured out how to send people home, either, not unless the Porter -- that's the AI --decides for herself it's time for someone to leave. The good news is that when you do get sent home you go back to the exact same moment you left, so you don't need to worry about your friends and family freaking out about where you are right now -- they don't even know you're gone.

The weird news is that once you get back you won't remember you were gone, either.

It's a little abstract, I know. With me so far?

[remake]

[ Miles is awkwardly silent for a second, before nodding a little bit. He's only half paying attention, and half trying to figure out who, exactly, he's talking to. ]

That's- yeah, I guess. That's creepy, though.

[incywincyhero]

And here I was just getting started -- wait. That's it? I just told you you've just been hijacked into another universe, and that's all you have to say? I'm not sure if I should be impressed or worried.

-- Not that you should be worried. I mean, it's hard not to be, I know, but you're not alone here. All us imports have to stick together, and anyway, you've got a spider... thing going on. We'll look out for you.

[Why is it that Spidey has no trouble talking to preteens or high schoolers, but someone smack in the middle leaves him floundering? Not that the whole "mysterious successor to alternate dead self" thing is helping any. Ay yi yi.]

[remake]

S-sorry? I- I'm freaking out, dude. [ HE SERIOUSLY IS

LIKE A LOT even though he keeps trying to do all the breathing to calm down like everyone is telling him ] I- I don't know where my house went and I don't know who you're supposed to be and- and I'm talking to Bruce Banner-- how am I talking to Bruce Banner?! That's not okay! A-alternate dimensions are things that happen in movies and to the Ultiamtes, I'm just some guy. I don't know what I'm doing here.

[incywincyhero]

[Wow, great job you did there, Peter.] It's okay! It's going to be okay. Just sit tight, tell me where you are and I'll find you. And then we'll have a little chat, all right? I'll tell you everything you need to know.

[remake]

[ Okay puts a lid on the babbling for a minute and just. Awkwardly breathes. ] Uh, the-- I'm on the Brooklyn Bridge.

[incywincyhero]

I'll be right there, okay? Give me -- uh, let's say twenty minutes. Just ... take deep breaths and admire the view.

action?? c:

[remake]

Okay.

[ lmfao sittin on the top of the brooklyn bridge and kicking his feet off the edge, staring out over where the Triskelion should be and trying not to spend literally the entire night freaking out ]

ACTION asdkhfkashdfsdf

[incywincyhero]

[A couple minutes later than scheduled -- he had a mugging to stop -- Peter pokes his head up over the edge, and announces himself.] Uh, hey.

[He hops the last few feet onto the top of the pylon, landing in an easy crouch that not incidentally makes him look smaller than he really is.] Good place to think, isn't it? I come here sometimes. [To brood about Gwen, usually. But the general principle still applies.]

[remake]

[ Miles glances up, half-startled, even though he was expecting this.

So, other people had been telling him that there was more than one Spider-Man (more than two, even), but the video hadn't really prepared him for how close to the real thing this one's costume looked. Or how similar they seemed to move, if YouTube videos of everything he'd ever done close enough to a cellphone camera were anything to go by. It was kinda eerie. ] U-um, yeah, I guess.

[ Miles stands up after a second, turning to face the other Spider-Man and wrapping both his arms defensively around his own torso, probably without realizing it. He feels like he knows what's coming. ] So...

[incywincyhero]

So. [Peter rolls upright in one graceful movement, then ruins the effect when he starts scuffing a foot on the masonry. He crosses his arms, uncrosses them, puts them akimbo, decides that's too intimidating, rubs the back of his neck.] You said you didn't know who I was supposed to be, but I think you do. At least, that's what Gwen and Spider-Woman tell me.

[remake]

[ It takes Miles a second to figure out what Peter means, but eventually he does: mostly because already spent most of the night talking to dead people on the Network. ] Y-you're-- no way.

[incywincyhero]

Way.

[Beat.] No, forget I said that -- I want to slap myself just for saying that. But yeah, I am that masked man.

[remake]

[ All that time spent wondering what the real Spider-Man was like, and now Miles is actually staring him right in the-- mask. ] You're- uh, taller than I expected.

[ Yes that was clearly the best thing to say. ]

[incywincyhero]

[He snorts.] Well, that's what happens when you finish puberty. [Of course that makes him grimance under the mask -- it's not actually that funny, that his other self died so young he hadn't even finished growing yet.

Which only underlines the problem at hand. This kid, whoever he is, is obviously even younger, and there's no way that's going to end well.]

So, are you going to give me any hints here, or should I start guessing names randomly?

[remake]

[ Miles winces a bit. He doesn't even have anything to say about that.

He does about the second thing, though. He takes a step back as far as the bridge supports will allow, which isn't very far mind. ] I-I-- what? I can't, uh- I can't just tell you! [ Right? Right?? Look Miles is just really bad at this. ]

[incywincyhero]

Kid, I get it. You're all alone in this new place, away from your friends and family, and the only people you kinda-sorta recognize are guys running around in masks, one of whom is supposed to be dead. [He holds out his hands entreatingly.] I want to help you. I want to watch your back, and make sure you know everything you need to know to keep yourself safe. If there was any way I felt I could do that without horning in on your privacy, I would. Believe me, I would. But I really don't think I can.

[He sighs, and folds up into a sitting position. Deliberately making himself smaller.]

Look, you already know, but maybe seeing this in person will help.

[And he pulls off his mask, revealing the face of 29-year-old Peter Parker.]

[remake]

[ Miles stays quiet, but he does react when Peter's mask comes off. There's a difference between saying it, and seeing it; it's older, and more filled out, and - frankly - not beat up and dying, but it's definitely the same face. Definitely Peter Parker's.

And he realized it was probably a bit unfair, to know Peter's name and then not share his. He had wondered about this for so long, after all; what the real- what the first Spider-Man had been like, and how he did all the things he did without getting caught or messing things up and-

After a few seconds, he reaches up, tugging at the fabric of his own mask and nervously balling it up in his fists once it's off. They're so far up, he's not all that worried about being seen. ]

Um. Miles. [ A beat- ] I mean, my name's Miles.

[incywincyhero]

[He smiles.] I figured.

[And then he leans forward and up to offer his hand.] Nice to meet you, Miles. I'm Peter.

[remake]

[ The last of Miles' nervousness wanes as his hand shoots out to shake Peter's, and he accidentally lets out: ] Oh my god. [ Because this is cool. ] I- I always wanted to, uh.

[ Meet a dead guy.... ]

[incywincyhero]

Well, I can't say I'm used to getting that kind of reaction, but I can't say I'm complaining.

[He motions for Miles to sit if he wants, and then gestures at their costumes, first his own and then Miles'.]

So tell me, Miles, how'd you end up with this gig, anyway? I mean, did we know each other at all, or --? [He's pretty sure not, but the pieces he has are so fragmentary...]

[remake]

I was, uh, bitten by a radioactive spider.

[ Miles laughs awkwardly and then follows suit, folding in on himself so he can wrap his arms around his legs and put his chin on his knees. ]

No. I--I never met you. I was-- [ Too busy being afraid to be a hero. ] --uh. And then you died...

[incywincyhero]

Bitten by a -- [He snorts.] That doesn't sound familiar at all.

[But his brief surge of amusement fades when Miles continues. Peter hasn't let himself think too much about this younger, unluckier counterpart of his. He's all too aware of how close he comes to death on a regular basis -- every month, every week, sometimes every day -- and his mind skitters away from the thought that of the two of them he's the Peter Benjamin Parker who's a statistical outlier (or would be, if such a concept existed in the infinitudes of the multiverse). It's easier to comfort Gwen, Jess and Johnny in their mourning as though he's one step removed, like the other Spider-Man was a friend of a friend.

He's not sure whether seeing Miles in this uniform makes it easier or harder to come to grips with that other reality.]

I died, and you had spider-powers ... still a pretty big leap from there to being the new Spider-Man, though. Even by our standards.

[remake]

[ Miles ducks his head. There are some things you just don't tell a guy - or the alternate reality version of him, anyway. Hi, you've never met me before, but I blame myself for your death! That's weird. And more than a little awkward. But no matter how irrational he knows the feeling is, he hasn't been able to shake it since seeing Peter Parker die. That sinking sense that he should have done something - anything - before it, to help.

He smoothes the mask out between his fingers, staring at it for half a second too long, before he glances up at Peter again. ]

Why did you become Spider-Man?

[incywincyhero]

Back at me, huh? Can't say it's not a fair question... [His voice trails away as he looks off into the middle distance. His secret identity is an open book compared to what he is, much to his own surprise, contemplating telling Miles now. Even many of his closest friends among the other superheroes don't know how he got into crimefighting, and origin stories being what they are, none of them have asked. He's not even sure if he would tell them if they did -- not the whole story, anyway. But with Miles it just seems right to come clean. Necessary, even.]

I got my powers when I was a few years older than you -- a little younger than Spider-Woman and Gwen, maybe. Bit by a radioactive spider, same as you. But I didn't even consider using them to help people, not at first. More like the exact opposite. I'd been having a rough time fitting in the past few years, which -- [sighing] -- isn't any kind of excuse. But back then it felt like there were all these rules about how you were supposed to reach out to other people, how you were supposed to care about them -- and yet most days it seemed like only two people on Earth really cared if I lived or died. Total bullhockey, but that's what I thought at the time.

So when I got my spider-powers, I thought, you know, screw being the nice kid everyone walks all over. I'm gonna take what's mine, I'm gonna pay back my aunt and uncle for everything they've done for me -- everybody else can go to hell.