Chapter Text
Well, shit.
Yeah, not a great way to start, but what else was Peter supposed to say? ‘Oh, yay, my whole world ended, I literally died, everyone that I've ever loved is probably dead along with me, I have no idea where I am, but I have definitely never heard of Gotham, oh yeah, and all of this awful, awful stuff? It’s all my fault, oh and I’m also either hallucinating or haunted by Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Doctor Strange, and maybe more, woo’ cause yeah, definitely he’s not saying that.
…
Let’s start over, Peter was having a normal day, going on a field trip, hanging out with Ned, watching out the window of the bus, seeing a.. Giant.. flying donut? Huh, well, that’s weird. He went to go check it out, long story short, alien invasion again, woo, planet’s at risk, super power rocks or something? There’s a wizard now? It’s… Confusing.. To say the least.
Anyways, after catching a ride to another planet, which is called Titan (not to be confused with the evil purple alien thingy that wants to destroy half the universe, which is also ‘the Titan’ though it is his home planet, he’s actually called Thanos?) They met some others called the Guardians of The Galaxy (super cool name, they also have someone named Peter.. He tried to shoot Avengers Peter.) Anyways, Thanos got a giant glove with fancy shiny gems which are apparently like.. Super duper important and powerful? They tried to get it off of him. After a long struggle, They failed.. Peter failed.. They had lost.. Earth lost…
Nothing happened for a while, the wizard -Doctor Strange- came up to Peter after the adults had a meeting that was proclaimed ‘no children aloud’ and then made him sit alone on a rock for like 20 minutes. Rude. He said that they had an idea.. That they could save one of them… stop them from suffering the same fate as countless others, and they decided on Peter.
Peter obviously said no, why should he be spared? He messed up.. He failed.. If only he’d been stronger… if he stayed focused.. If he was faster… maybe they would have won. Peter had lost. Peter had failed. Why did Peter deserve to be saved? He protested, Dr. Strange should be saved, he can fix this, he’s a wizard. Mr. Stark should be saved, he’s a hero, a genius, he could find a way to fix this. One of the guardians maybe? Peter was a hero to New York, they protected the whole galaxy, they were way more important than him. Why should he be saved?
The others said that it was because he was a kid. He deserved to live out his life, grow up, be happy, go to college, do anything he wanted. Anything except die on a mission in outer space, anything to save him, anything to keep him away from the dangers of being a hero.
Despite his protests, their attention was shifted to one of the guardians, the cheerful one with antennae. Peter didn’t get her name, but it looked like he wouldn’t get the chance to because she turned to ash… She was gone. Next was Drax, he was the one mr. Stark had threatened to shoot if other Peter didn’t let Peter go… He was gone. Then, even other Peter… He was gone. Doctor Strange started to turn to ash, but before he was gone, he said some words and green dots of light absorbed into Peter… then, the wizard was gone.
Peter started to turn to dust, much slower than the others, and it hurt. It hurt so bad. Peter wondered if it was this painful for the others, why it was slower for him, why did it hurt so badly. Was he dying? Is this how dying feels? His mind was racing, mr. Stark had leaned him against a rock, they were both speaking though neither his nor mr. Stark's words were registering in his mind at the moment. It hurt too much to think.
Then it was dark… Peter was gone
And then
Peter’s eyes flew open.
He tried to breathe, his lungs were hot. Too hot. They were filled with liquid, neon green liquid. He was in a tube of some sort. He was drowning, the liquid burned his skin, it felt like acid. It filled his lungs, his mouth, his nose, his eyes. It hurt. It almost hurt worse than dying…. Dying… that’s right Peter had died, so how was he here? Where even was here?
Peter didn’t have time to think, he couldn’t breath, it hurt. He punched the tube as hard as he could and it shattered, spilling him and the liquid all over the floor. He hunched over on his hands and knees, he was coughing and choking on the green liquid. Even after it was all out, he didn’t stand. He sat for a moment, catching his breath, trying his best, albeit failing, to clear his mind. He could hear a slur of voices asking if he’d be ok or talking about how awful that must have felt, though the voices weren't really there.
After… Well, Peter doesn’t know, it could have been hours, it could have been minutes, maybe even seconds, he managed to get up. He was in an empty lab, though he could hear heartbeats on the lower levels of the building. Good, his enhanced senses were working. His clothes were soaking wet, he was wearing a white crew neck with some matching shorts. Definitely not his Spider-Suit. Not good.
He looked around and while the place didn’t have any food, water, or anything like that, he found a bathroom. He decided to wash the green liquid off his face since some stuck after he coughed it up, he went to the sink and washed his face. He finished and dried his face on the hand towel, then he looked in the mirror. He froze, he didn’t look like himself. Well he did, except his soft brown eyes were now an unnatural green (It was a natural green to anyone without enhanced sight, but still) not only that, but down the front of his dark brown curls, there was now a bone white streak.
“What the hell?” He spoke for the first time since dying. He looked for a bit longer and could have sworn he saw Sam Wilson standing next to him in the mirror, nothing was there when he turned around. “What the hell?” he repeated, now sounding a bit more distant than before
Peter took a moment and had a small panic attack, but then he composed himself, Spider-Man had faced worse, he’s had a building dropped on him.. A literal building, he was fine. He was.. Fine.
He thought he heard a distant “excuse me, WHAT?” in the voice of other Peter as he recalled the warehouse falling.
Ok, step one, get out of this creepy lab, maybe find Aunt May, Ned, or MJ. Maybe even the Avengers, anyone that can help him figure this out. He saw a window and opened it, he crawled onto the wall and looked out at the city. The city that was most definitely not New York
He sighed “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore”
He had walked around for a bit, almost got mugged like twice, but he managed to shake them. The third time he was not so lucky. A man cornered him in an alleyway, He didn’t want to use any super powers, he was out of costume after all. Two blocked the alley's entrance while another was behind Peter, the three had knives while the one in front of Peter had a gun.
“Hey kiddo, give us your money and we might just let you run home to mommy and daddy unharmed, okay?” The man with the gun said with a smirk
Of course, Peter could be smart, beg for his life, insist he has no money, start crying to guilt trip them. There are options, Peter being Peter, he takes none of those options, he instead, slips into his Spidey persona, because who doesn’t love making jokes at gunpoint?
“Yeah, see, your logic has flaws, the only way I can see my parents is if you do shoot me” Peter ginned, the other men froze for a moment and stared at him
Not only the four men stare, Peter can feel the eyes of Sam and Bucky on him along with a chorus of voices saying things along the lines of “seriously kid?” and “why- just- why would you even.. ugh”
“Did- did he just make an orphan joke?” on of the men at the entrance asked
“I think so?” the other replied, they seemed confused
“Ok, kid, you’ve clearly never been mugged before, you hand over your shit and you get to live” The man with the gun said as he got closer, when Peter didn’t hand anything over, the man hit him in the head with the handle or the gun, causing Peter’s forehead to bleed a bit.
“Well, I don’t have anything, so uh, sorry?” he sounded genuinely apologetic
“Why are you apologizing? No- how are you so calm right now?” The man behind him asked
One of the men from the entrance speaks, “No yeah, I agree with Ky-” the other man elbows him “ow! Hey”
“Codenames idiot!” he whisper shouted
“Oh right, sorry K- er uh.. What was his codename again?” two of the men groan, then the one with the gun sighed
“Guys! Focus please! Kid, give us your money”
“Yeah, so shocker, just like the last time you asked, I don’t have any money” Peter shrugged
“Really? Like.. none?” the man asked
“Nah, sorry dude, wish I did”
The man behind Peter chimed in “so uh- do we have to shoot him now?”
“Wha- no! We are not going to shoot a child dude, it was a bluff but he’s broke” the man with the gun yelled
“Wait, we were bluffing?” one of the men at the entrance asked
“Oh my god, this is why you listen in the meetings people, we ARE NOT going to shoot a fucking child” he groaned
“To be fair, meetings are really boring” Peter added
“But I made a PowerPoint and everything!” the gunman sounded defeated
“Awe, dude, I’m sure the PowerPoint was great, right guys?” Peter looked around to the others who all responded in some form of of agreement
“Yeah, it was awesome, but we had the meeting right after lunch and the lights were turned off” one of the men at the entrance said
Then the one at Peter’s back chimed in “Honestly, it was great PowerPoint man, I really liked it”
“Really? Thanks guys, that means a lot” the gunman seemed happy
They talked for a bit longer then they parted ways, Peter walked out of the alley wondering how that even worked in the slightest. He heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Nick Fury scolding him on how stupid that was. He elected to ignore it.
“Now then, onto step two: Where the hell am I?” he mumbled to himself as he walked the dark streets.