"OK." Gwen sat down on a bench by the road, crossing her legs to get comfortable, "So, how far have you gotten with your investigation?"
Peter: I spent all night doing odd jobs.
Johnson: Shut up.
"There's a massive particle accelerator under Kingpin's Fisk Tower. It caused the Brooklyn earthquake and our... dimensional crossing."
Johnson paused, figuring that with MCU's Peter Parker already here, one more person joining wouldn't hurt.
"So you've already investigated further than I have." Gwen said, resting her chin on one hand and listening intently, "What's our plan then?"
"Restart the machine, reverse its programming." Johnson said with a fist-bumping gesture, "Restore the space-time order, then destroy it."
"Wow! Sounds like it's going to be epic!"
"Wait a minute!" Peter crossed his arms, making a stop gesture, "I get the logic, but I'm completely lost! Who's Kingpin? Why is he doing this? And has this world's technology really advanced enough to mess with space-time?"
"None of that matters,." Johnson cut in before this guy could continue, "What matters is, can any of you operate that particle accelerator?"
The three of them stared at each other blankly.
Gwen raised her hand, "This kind of large-scale equipment usually runs on a physically isolated network. To hack into its program, we'll need a key that can be plugged into the mainframe."
She made a key-turning gesture to demonstrate.
"So here's the question." Peter said, spreading his hands, "Where's the key?"
Gwen crossed her arms and shared her findings, "I know a place, another one of Kingpin's properties. I think it can at least help us understand how that big machine works."
"Hold on, this Kingpin again? We don't have someone like that in my universe — or at least I've never heard of him. Just how rich is this guy?" Seeing their lack of interest, Peter scratched his cheek, "So what are we waiting for? Are we expecting someone to deliver the key to us?"
Hmm?
Reminded by his words, Johnson thought about how Alchemax must be in chaos right now and snapped his fingers, "You know what, you might be onto something."
Peter gave a quizzical look.
Riddler, get out of New York!
"You don't think..."
Gwen and Peter's eyes turned to him.
"We're not the only Spider-People in this world, are we?"
✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
Hudson Valley, outskirts of New York.
Amidst a barrage of laser beams, Miles — wearing a cosplay Spider-Man suit — dodged with apparent nimbleness, though he'd actually collected quite a few bumps from falling.
As exciting as infiltrating Alchemax had been, being chased and shot at by researchers with laser weapons was decidedly less pleasant.
"Hey Peter! What do we do now?"
"What do we do?" 616 Peter punched away the pursuing Doc Ock, snagged the computer mainframe from her tentacles with a web shot, and tossed it to Miles behind him, "Split up, kid. I'll keep them busy!"
"Are you sure? But there are so many of them..."
"Just go, dammit!"
"Hehehe..." Doctor Octopus, Olivia, climbed with her synthetic tentacles piercing into trees, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes behind the goggles blazed with obsession and madness, "You're the perfect research subjects — none of you will escape!"
"Shit! Sorry, I think I just cursed, but she's enhanced! Don't just stand there, kid — run!"
✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
Queens, New York.
The three walked through a quiet residential neighborhood during work hours.
Two-story houses lined the street densely, without yards — opening the curtains meant seeing directly into your neighbor's room. This close-knit environment had shaped countless children's childhoods.
"Hey, this is it! I lived here almost my whole life before Aunt May moved!" Peter exclaimed.
The three stopped at a single-family house with a mailbox that read "20 Ingram Street".
Johnson pointed at the text, "Even the house number is the same?"
"Uh, let me think — at least the neighborhood name is different."
"Then we're at the right place." Johnson gave him a push, "Go knock."
"Why me!" Peter complained as he habitually shot a web to ring the doorbell.
Ding Dong~
"Sorry, we're not seeing fans today..." The door opened slightly, and an elderly woman with graying hair spoke apologetically.
Then, she saw a young face. The elderly woman opened the door fully and walked out in disbelief.
"Peter..."
"Uh... I'm not quite prepared." MCU Peter looked uncertainly at the elderly woman walking straight toward him, momentarily remembering that figure lying in the rubble, "Aunt May?"
"It's me." May gently caressed his face, her reminiscent gaze turning to gentle contentment, "You've gotten younger, and shorter too."
Peter, like a child who'd done something wrong, gave her a gentle hug, "Um, yes... I mean, I'm sorry, this might sound incredible, but I'm actually from..."
"Another parallel universe?"
"Yes... huh?"
Gwen and Peter exchanged surprised looks, "You know?"
"Of course." May smiled, turning and motioning them to follow, "Come with me, children. You didn't think you were the only ones who thought to come here, did you?"
"Hey!" Gwen elbowed Johnson discreetly and whispered, "Did you know about this already?"
Johnson maintained a neutral expression, tapping his temple with his index finger, "Just logical deduction."
"Yeah right!"
The three followed May to what appeared to be a storage shed in the backyard.
"Hey, I know this — the secret base!"
May chuckled, placing her hand on the wooden door.
Identity verification passed, and the mechanical door — disguised as wood — opened to reveal an empty storage room that was actually an elevator shaft leading underground.
"Maybe this secret base is a billion times more advanced than I imagined..."
Peter couldn't help but marvel as the image of it being similar to his own spider workshop vanished from his mind.
Johnson and Gwen followed close behind as the elevator began to descend.
As they went down, this world's Peter Parker's meticulously crafted Spider-Cave gradually revealed itself before them.