A Different World

Spider-Man is missing?

The day had come and gone for the residents of 616 and for the order of the web it came with not much help from the other heroes.

After Julia and the rest of them left the Baxter Building they returned to De Strange to tell him that Reed Richards was busy and would help when he was finished. Although they doubted he would even remember their request.

The mystical doctor wasn't the least bit pleased by his response as he couldn't find anything within his ancient texts that could be useful. Travel to different worlds like Spider-Man had were forbidden as it could cause serious unknown problems for everyone.

So with a deep seated sigh he dismissed the group of spiders from the sanctum and hoped that tomorrow would provide some better help.

The team dispersed back to where they came from, Jessica returned home to be with Gerry the loss of Spider-Man really brought out some maternal instincts when being with her son.

Cindy swung off somewhere within the city, she didn't tell them where she was going and they didn't know where she lived. She swung all the to Chinatown and set herself up in a very familiar but vacant apartment small tears formed as she fell on the bed.

Anya and Miles returned to their homes. They were still young and even though they kept their hero-ing a secret they still had a curfew and needed to return before the night fell completely.

Gwen decided that she should continue patrolling for a while. Without Peter going out on his patrols the city didn't have its faithful wall crawling defender, she wasn't going to let Peter down and would continue to protect and save people when she could.

Finally, Julia disappeared in a red mist. Her preoccupation into Peters whereabouts made her examine the web ever so carefully, hoping to find any trace of their Peter in the vast multiverse.

As the next day came the spiders awoke to the reality of their previous days failure, Peter was missing and they were no closer to finding him. The other heroes of the world had all but left him to fend for himself, the Avengers didn't care, Reed was 'too busy' to help, Dr Strange was at a loss and Thor was off world.

Surprisingly however Spider-Man's presence or lack there of was noticed by someone, although it was someone who they'd wished didn't. J Jonah Jameson.

His incessant ramblings had made it to the newspapers front page. 'Spider-Man is missing?' Was the headline title. And with the announcement of the city's steadfast protector missing their was only chaos to follow.

Petty criminals who would be caught in the act of their crimes became more ambitious and confident that they wouldn't be stopped. Hardened criminals increased their activities as the fear of being apprehended by the wall crawler was gone with the recent news.

Inside the Raft some of Spider-Man's most notorious and dangerous criminals were elated to see that their foe was missing and they began to formulate plans to escape.

All the while the 'heroes' remained ignorant of his disappearance and failed to see what problems could as a result.

X-Mansion

Jean Grey was no worse for ware as her co-inhabitant, the Phoenix, was still rampaging inside her mind. Since Emma failed to breach Jeans mind they immediately sought out Charles Xavier, the strongest telepath they knew, and hoped he would be able to see the turmoil inside her mind.

Unfortunately it didn't work and Charles too, like Emma, was met with an unrelenting force that knocked him away. Jean apologised profusely for it but he assured her that she was not to blame, the Phoenix was enraged and they could only hope for it's anger to pass.

As the next day had came Jean tried to communicate with the cosmic force residing inside her but it was uncooperative.

Things only escalated when she too heard the news of Spider-Man's disappearance. The Phoenix, who she'd hoped would calm down after her previous days rampage, was blazing with fury as Jean read the headline.

Jean fell to her knees as she had done the day before when the Phoenix first started acting up, calling out the her 'Anansi' whoever that was. Now with the news that Spider-Man was gone it was time for round two.

"Where is my Anansi?" Cried the Phoenix.

"Who is Anansi?" Jean tried to talk to the cosmic bird again.

"My love. My only love. Where is he?" The Phoenix cries out, flames bursting as she asked her question again.

"Yea getting that, but I don't know who he is." Jean tried to reason with the Phoenix.

"Lies. You do know." The Phoenix argued.

"Seriously I don't know anyone named Anansi. I've never met him." Jean protested only for the Phoenix to point to the newspaper.

"That's my Anansi. Where is he?" Phoenix screeched.

"Spider-Man? Spider-Man is Anansi?" Jean asked for clearance.

"Yes. I felt it. When he kissed you long ago. And I know you felt something too." The Phoenix confirmed.

It was true, Peter had helped them with some business a long time ago and before he left he gave Jean a big kiss in the lips. She was stunned to be sure, it was the first time someone was so daring to kiss her like that, but she felt something inside.

She had been with Scott for a while and he never made her feel anything like that with just a single kiss. Logan was no different, although he and Scott did have different ways of showing her affection, neither approached what Peter had accomplished with a kiss.

"S-so what if I did?" Jean brushed off the comment.

"Don't you see. You want him too. He is my Anansi, we are meant to be, maybe you two can be aswell." The Phoenix offered.

Jean was taken by surprise, was the Phoenix force really implying that the two of them could have a relationship with Spider-Man. Yea they would be two beings inside one body but the way Phoenix made it sound, made it sound like her, Phoenix, Peter and Anansi were all different people who would be in a group relationship.

"I-I don't know?" She said unsure.

"Well... I don't care if you are undecided. I need my Anansi. Find him. Now." The Phoenix demanded and Jean knew what the potential consequences would be if she disobeyed.

"Fine. I'll look for him." Jean agreed to Phoenix's request.