Maya Stark

Chapter 133: The mirror dimension

It was a very long night. We worked into the morning trying to fix the power lines as best as we could. It wasn't pretty, but there was clear effort, which we were hoping would be enough to get the news off our back. We finally finished and were "admiring" our work when Peter's phone started to ring. It was May and he put it on speaker.

'Hey, May,' he said.

'Hi, May,' I say after him.

'Hey you two,' she said. She sounded like she was whispering. 'I'm at work, and, um... One of the guys you're looking for just walked in.'

Peter and I look at each other. That couldn't be good. I don't think I've ever seen Peter swing as fast as he did. He even beat me to the FEAST facility where May worked. When I finally walked in, he was running towards the back, and I took off after him.

I come to an abrupt stop before I can run into Peter, and see May talking with some strange guy in the kitchen area.

'Hey, here he is,' May said. 'Norman, this is my nephew.'

'Norman Osborn?' Peter said. 'I thought that you were...'

'I saw Spider-Man in an ad for this place,' Osborn said. 'And I thought he could help me. But you're not him.'

'Wait, so you want Spider-Man's help?' I ask, narrowing my eyes. 'That's new.'

'He just wandered in,' May said.

'I didn't know where else to go. Someone's living in my house. Oscorp doesn't exist. My son... Sometimes, I'm not myself. I'm...someone else. And every time he's in control, I can't remember. And now, I'm here, in this place, in this city, and I don't know... I don't know what's going on with me. I don't... it doesn't make sense.'

May walks over to us. 'He's lost. And I don't mean just in the cosmos. I mean in his mind. Are they all like this?'

'Yeah,' I say. 'Well, I mean, they all have their own... mental or physical issues.'

'Well, he needs help, but maybe they all do,' May says.

'What, you don't mean...' Peter shakes his head and I chew on my lip. 'No, May this... This isn't our problem.'

'Peter, not your problem? Mmm?'

'May... Their chance of getting help is way better back where they came from. Sending them home, that's the best thing that we can do for them.'

'For them? Or for yourself? Look around you. This is what we do. We help people. This is what's best for them. Trust me.'

'May,' I sigh. 'Look, I know this is what you do, this is your thing. And it's amazing but... this isn't like that. We are talking about the foundation of our entire universe. Things that have only been dreamed of, never actually touched upon. Two high schoolers should not be messing with the multiverse, it's the most dangerous thing you can screw up. We have to send them back to keep every universe in the galaxy aligned. We can't take risks with this, not this one. We just... there's too many unknowns.'

'Maya's right, May,' Peter said. 'I messed this up. I need to put it right. I just do. There's too much riding on this one.'

May examines us for a couple second. 'Is that a new suit?'

Peter's face lights up. 'Maya made it for me. Wanna see something cool?'

May nods and Peter hits the spider on his chest. The next second the suit retracts, and it turns back into a necklace with his old clothes on.

'You made that?' May asks, shocked. 'That's impressive Maya.'

'It took forever,' I say. 'But it was worth it. The gem on the spider is your birthstone. Well... it's yours and my dad's, so it matches my ring.'