Issue 59: Secret Wars Part IX

Seeing his parents standing before him, Peter started to cry. Tears of happiness overtook his eyes and made him smile under his mask as he hugged his parents, confusing the hell out of them. 

Seeing the looks of bafflement on their faces, he backed off and cleared his voice before saying, "Well, since Hydra has ousted our identities, I guess there's no point in letting them use it as a weapon against us."

Peter's mask retreated and shocked his parents as he said, "Mom, Dad, I..." 

Marie and Richard jumped over and grabbed Peter and gripped him tightly. 

"My baby!" Marie shouted while Richard just cried tears of joy. 

Peter's face froze before it turned into a soft expression as he held his parents. He just smiled as the tears ran down his face.

MJ smiled and then said, "Peter, what did you mean by our Identities had been ousted?"

Peter sent her the memories of what happened. MJ frowned and stomped her foot before saying, "Him again!"

She then removed her mask and said, "Hello Mr. and Misses Parker. It's been a while!"

Marie was stunned as she placed her hand on MJ's face, "Mary! My little firecracker! You're the spitting image of your mother!"

Some tears formed when MJ thought of their past, she was rather young, but she still remembered Marie as a kind and loving mother to just about everyone in the neighborhood. 

MJ's mother Madeline and Peter's mother Marie were best friends, so she really got to know her when she was young.

Richard was wide-eyed at the strange revelation as he questioned them, "Could someone tell me what's going on? Peter where did you get that suit? It looks like our Symbiote, but I thought we burned all the samples!"

Marie felt the surface of the suit and said, "It's similar but so much more advanced, there is a metallic component to its biological structure."

Peter scratched his head and said, "I think it's better if we relocate."

Tony, Clint and Natalia stared at Peter and MJ with both a surprise and happy expression on his face, "Your identity was blown, huh? What are you going to do now, kid?"

Peter created a portal causing his parents mouth to drop, "I don't know, why don't you set a press conference for me, Happy's good with dealing with that stuff, right?"

"You want to use my guy! Get your own! Oh, yeah, Fury had the agents dropped your family off at Avengers tower, safer there right now." Tony shouted.

"Thanks, Tony," Peter said as he changed the portal's destination. On the other side of the portal showed the lounge inside Avengers Tower before he stepped through it. He then looked back at his amazed parents and said, "I'm not going to hold this thing open forever."

Peter laughed as MJ led them through the portal and closed it behind them. 

"Peter, what was that?" Weren't we just in Washington DC? How did we get to New York?" Marie questioned as she looked out of the tower's 21st floor.

MJ walked up behind her and said, "Magic!"

Richard and Marie looked at MJ with a skeptical look, as they were both people of science. Peter rubbed his nose as he said, "It's true, I know it's a little hard to believe, but just think of it as science that you don't understand yet, or like programs uses the body's brainwaves to operate."

Peter started to use his magic and create constructs out of light, "This is..."

Peter chuckled at them as he took a seat on the couch next to them, "A lot has happened since you've been gone."

Richard and Marie sat next to him looking depressed as he said this, Peter sighed and gave them a hug before saying, "I will never blame you for missing my childhood, never! You're my parents and one of my biggest inspirations, I would never blame you for something that was out of your control, and I will never stop loving you."

The two started crying again as they squeezed Peter as hard as they could, he then began to explain his life history. When he spoke about the day of his Spider bit him and gave him his powers, he grabbed MJ's hand and said, "Since then we've been doing our best to help people. We went and got training, and eventually joined the ranks of the world's greatest heroes."

MJ smiled as she saw Marie's and Richard's faces and blushed a little.

"You two are?" Marie smiled as put her hands over her mouth. She then grabbed Richard's arms before saying, "I told you, these kids were destined to be together! Do you remember how cute she was clinging to him all the time as a kid?" 

MJ blushed harder and buried her face into Peter's shoulder in response to hearing the mother's approval.

"I remember, dear," Richard said patting her hand.

"Richard! Marie!" Uncle Ben and Aunt May voice echoed throughout the room, "Mary!" MJ's parents ran over to her and hugged her. 

"We were so worried." MJ felt a surge of warmth wash over her as she hugged her parents back. 

Ben hugged his brother while Aunt May's shaky hands touched Marie before they all started to cry. 

"I'm not hallucinating right now, am I?" Ben questioned, refusing to let go of his brother.

I'm here Ben. The kids saved us," Richard said as drawing attention to the suits they were wearing. 

"MJ, what is that?" MJ's Parents were shocked, Ben and May too, "Um...Mom, Dad, I'm Spider-Woman." 

"Mary Jane, my daughter, is a hero?" Philip fell to the ground and thought back to when MJ slapped him, "It all makes sense now."

"And I'm Spider-Man." Peter followed up. May and Ben were still shaking when May shouted, "But how? I saw you together with Spider-Man and Spider-Woman."

Peter scratched his head, "That was us, from another dimension, there is an infinite number of universes where we went down different paths, that version of me was from a universe where MJ and I are Married and have a kid, there a lot older than us too."

Everyone was shocked to say the least. 

"I know it's hard to believe, but that little girl was there...she was our daughter from an alternate reality." MJ said with an embarrassed expression.

Peter pulled out his phone and showed them the pictures of their trip to another universe, "It looks just like New York, but there are definitely some differences." 

When Peter slid the image on his phone to a family picture they took, everyone saw what they would look like as adults, and their kid whom they thought was the most adorable thing on the planet. 

Peter then continued, "I was told to give my greetings from another Aunt May, I promised her that when I told you my identity, I would say hello to Uncle Ben for her."

Everyone was staring at them in silence. 

"So, can you guys say something? You're started to freak me out!" MJ said placing her hands behind her head.

Peter, seeing the look of disapproval on most of their faces decided to show them something before they could say anything. He turned around and then opened a portal back towards Hydra Island. 

Looking through it they could see the view at the top of the God Machine. Peter then turned back to his family and said, "Speaking of other universes, if you guys want you can come and see some visitors, and watch us save the whole world again, then you can come along. Besides, I think it's best you see what we're capable of, so we don't run into the 'you're too young argument' because we're not. We're almost adults. 17 and ticking down to 18."

Everyone was still shocked as Peter led them through the portal. Seeing the titanic construct, everyone looked out over the ocean in surprise before they then noticed Peter talking with Doctor Strange. 

As they began walking over to them, Peter held out his hands and said, "Everyone this is Doctor Stephen Strange, and he is our Mentor in magic, and he will be protecting you while MJ and I save the world."

"What's going on Peter?" MJ asked staring at the Exemplars. She then noticed an almost transparent image of their gods radiating out of their relics, and the form of the Spider-Goddess hovering across from them. 

Peter then explained his situation, and what was going on here, "If we lose, the gods of the Octessence will take control of the world's population and force us into a war that could spell the extinction of humanity."

Everyone's faces paled, they wanted to shout, 'There are no such things as Magic, and multiple Gods!' but seeing them with their own eyes they had no other choice to believe. 

Peter shook his head before saying, "I know you guys think we're too young, but are we really? In less than year from now, MJ and I will be 18, that's not a very long time. We were giving an amazing power, and we trained hard to be worthy of that power." 

Spider-Man paused as he looked to his father, "With great power, comes great responsibility, remember that saying?"

Ben and Richard sighed when MJ said, "We're not really looking for your approval, just your acceptance. We can't shy away from these responsibilities. When we have the power to help people, then we have a moral obligation to take action."

MJ's parents looked both proud and extremely worried. Seeing this, Strange pulled out a carpet and stood on it, after chanting some spell phrases the carpet expanded to fit everyone here, "If everyone steps on this, they will be allowed to view the platform outside the God Machine barrier. They will be safe from your battle."

Peter then looked to the sky and spoke to the Spider-Goddess, "Summon my selection."

A beam of light surged as a group of Spider Heroes appeared in the center of it. 

"My word, it appears I have been summoned to another reality!" Richie Parker Sorcerer Supreme was the first to speak.

"What? Who are you guys?!" Mayday Parker said in her Nova uniform.

"Oh, hell. Not again!" Kaine shouted.

"Well, what do you know, another universe, been a while since I did this, so who's in charge here?" Warlock Peter said looking around.

"I sense a great wickedness nearby!" Spider-Ghost said looking at the Exemplars like a meal, flaming skull and all.

"I see, so we've been summoned to save the day. I guess we'll be doing combat with the Exemplars, I could just force away from the Exemplars, but this isn't my call is it, Kokyangwuti?" Beyonder Peter said looking up at the Spider-Goddess.

"If you intervened so, you would only hinder my Champion and Guardian's progress. I know you're my strongest Spider right now, but my Champion has more potential than you. So, if you could abide by the rules, I would appreciate it." Kokyangwuti acknowledged the Beyonder Spiders power. After all, with the power of the Beyonder, he was even stronger than her right now.

The elder gods looked at Kokyangwuti in fear as they felt the Beyonder's power radiating from her totem, "Well, I don't know about the rest of them, but that one is definitely going to win." One of the Elder gods scoffed, 

"If only he would become my Herald!" Another elder god spouted.

Peter walked up to them and said, "I'm sorry about bringing you here, but I need your help."

He then sent them all telepathic memories to catch them up on the situation, "I promise that after this, you will all be returned, but my planet is at stake, so I hope you can forgive me for pulling you here without any warning."

Mayday and Richie walked up to Peter and touched his face, "Dad! Oh wow, you're so young!" MJ walked up beside him and said, "Other kids of ours?"

Peter nodded his head and said, "May is our daughter, Richie is my son with another woman named Gwen, and yes it's the same Gwen you're thinking of, " MJ looked shocked as she stared at Richie and then back to Peter with a grumpy expression. 

"Hey don't look at me like that! It's an entirely different universe!" Peter said waving his hands. 

"Aunty MJ!" Richie said looking at the two. 

"Just so you know Mary Jane is my woman in this reality, but it's still good to see my kids all grown up to become powerful heroes," Peter explained.

The rest of the Spiders came over and started to chat for a bit, "If you guys want, you can say hello to our family before we get this started, I know how much it would mean to you all," Peter said pointing to their family.

May and Richie ran over shouting "Grandma, Grandpa, Aunty, Uncle." The Parker and Watson family were blown away by their other world relatives. 

The group started talking to them, and after a while, they began to accept them as their own. The remaining Spider-Men that were Peter Parker all except for the Scarlet-Spider and Ghost-Spider talked to their relatives with tears in their eyes.

The Elder Gods stared at them before saying, "Time is up, let the challenge begin."