Chapter Text
It really didn’t make any sense. One minute, he was on an alien planet, crumbling to dust in Mr. Stark’s arms, and the next -- well, he was alone in Central Park, of all places. He was still in his Spidey outfit, too, except his hood was down. Yikes! He activated his suit to cover up his face before anyone noticed him.
“H-hey, Karen. You there?” Peter glanced around the empty park nervously, worried despite the lack of any prickle in his spidey sense. He could hear the muted cacophony of his city that never slept, drifting in above the trees, under the few stars visible in New York’s night sky.
Karen’s voice rang out dispassionately, “I’m here.”
“Oh, thank God,” he made a gesture of relief and began to pace. “Where’s Mr. Stark? How did we get back to Earth? What happened to Thanos? Why are we in Central Park --”
Karen interrupted his string of questions. “I don’t have enough data to answer your questions, and I am unable to reach the Stark mainframe.”
Peter froze midstep. “What? Why?”
“I don’t have enough data to answer your questions -- “
“Right, right, right,” he said and began jogging through the park. “Let’s just go to the tower and see for ourselves then.”
“I can call Tony Stark, if you’d like.”
“Yeah, good idea!” he aimed for the top of the nearest building at the edge of Central Park and shot out some webbing. The city looked surprisingly normal, no signs of destruction by Thanos’ goons. That wasn’t the only thing that was off though. As he swung past them, Peter noticed the buildings seemed a little different, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was off.
“Hello? Who is calling so late?”
“Oh!” Peter startled, and landed on the side of a building, clinging by his hands and feet. It was the voice of some old lady, not Mr. Stark. Oops.
“Sorry, wrong number!” he paused. He could still hear the woman on the line. “Uh, I mean, if this is your phone, I mean. Is Mr. Stark there? Because I’m calling for him.”
“No Mr. Stark,” said the lady, clearly irritated, “Don’t you know it’s rude to call so late? I am sleeping. Do not call me again!”
Peter winced, getting off the call after a few contrite apologies. He resumed swinging to the tower, “Geez, can’t catch a break. What happened, Karen?”
“That was Tony Stark’s phone number. I do not have an explanation as to why someone else answered.”
“This is so
weird,
” he complained, taking stock of the city again. The buildings still seemed off. “I don’t get it. What --” he cut himself off.
Oh no.
“Hey, Karen?”
“Yes?”
“Where is Stark Tower?”
“Stark Tower is located approximately a quarter kilometer South of your current location.”
“Oh, that’s not good,” he said, his voice pitched high and tight. Karen didn’t answer. “I don’t see Stark Tower at all.” When he arrived, he found a completely different building where the tower was supposed to be. “Am I lost?” he asked with a new waver in his voice, “Did I go to the wrong place?”
Karen paused, considering, then answered, “Your coordinates indicate that you are in the location of Stark Tower.”
The main floor of the building
that wasn’t at all Stark Tower
was a strip of business, including a pizza parlor that was still open, a few customers dining inside. The rest of the floors seemed to be apartment units. Peter perched on a streetlight and bit his lip. “Karen, call Ned, please?”
“Calling.”
“We’re sorry, the number you have reached is disconnected or unavailable at this time.”
He swallowed against the uneasy feeling rising in his chest. “Call my Aunt May?”
He watched strangers walking down the sidewalk, hushing each other from laughing too loudly in the dead of night, as the phone rang and rang, and then, “Hello, you’ve reached the Offices of John Davis, attorney at law. We’re not in right now, so --” Peter ended the call and leaped off the streetlight, headed East for Queens, for home.
Now, he could see it. The buildings felt off because they were off. They were different buildings entirely. It was New York City, but not his New York City. He was home before he knew it, single-minded in his panic. But it wasn’t home at all. He stood on the fire escape and stared in disbelief through the darkened windows. The furniture was different. There was a family sleeping inside, but not his family, not his Aunt May.
He fell back against the railing noisily.“Okay, cool. I’m not panicking. I’m not panicking. Everything is weird, and I don’t know where anyone is, and none of this makes any sense, but I’m not dead. I’m not dead. Right? Oh God, what if I’m dead?”
“You’re not dead. Your vitals are in good order, but your heart rate is elevated.”
Peter slid down until he was sitting and wrapped his arms around his knees. “This doesn’t make any sense. I was dead, Karen. I could feel it. I could sense it. And everyone else, they -- they turned to ash. And Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark, he --” Peter could remember his face, the way it had been creased with desperation, the expression seared in his memory. Was Mr. Stark still on the alien planet? Was Thanos? Had Thanos won? Was this his new reality?
Peter tilted his head up and looked at the night sky. It never got too dark with all the light pollution in the city, especially with the moon so bright. There weren’t many stars, but the few that could be seen twinkled down at him. Same stars. Same galaxy. Same city, for the most part. Karen spoke up, “I’m sorry. I don’t know how we got here or why it’s different.”
Peter didn’t fall asleep, but he stayed there on the fire escape of what should have been his home until the sun peaked over the horizon.