- Peter's hide out-

(November 10 am)

When Peter regained consciousness thirteen hours had passed since his run-in with Iron Man and the bomb that was heading for New York City.

The core of the missile was sitting on his desk sealed inside a spherical crystal construct made using his branch of sin. The ominous blue glow from within painted the crystallized blood sphere and parts of his hideout a purple hue.

Peter rapidly blinked his eyes as he pushed himself up from the dark blue couch he had been lying on. Quickly covered his nose with his hand to block the stench of blood and alien flesh covering his clothes.

" Oh, that stinks, not this again." He cursed his heightened sense of smell as he checked himself and his clothes noting the various holes and tares in it. ' I really need a bath and I gotta get out of these rags.'

Peter took a second to glance around the room as he stood up. He paused when he spotted a large diamond-shaped crystallized crimson cocoon in the corner of the room, he could see Garfield sleeping soundly at the foot of the cocoon laminated by the purple glow of the core that sat on his desk. It was his aunt.

Garfield followed his instructions to the letter and then brought her here, the cocoon was made as per his instructions resting on a crystal slab like a pharaoh's sarcophagus.

Peter walked towards it and carefully dragged his fingers across the edges of the crystal as he got close, only stopping when he reached the top of the cocoon where he could see his aunt's sleeping face. He could see his aunt's chest rise and fall and hear the steady beat of her heart. She was safe. Peter chuckled softly as he spoke.

"Hello Aunt May, you would not believe the day I just had. Can't wait to tell you all about it."

With a soft smile, he turned to sleeping Garfield and knelt to pet his feline companion.

" Thanks, bud."

The cat purred affectionately in response to his touch but remained asleep. After thanking Garfield Peter walked over to his desk to pick up the core of the missile as he left to go home to clean himself up.

….

- An Hour later at Peter's home-

 

Peter quickly freshened up and changed out of his torn clothes. His body still ached from the strain of using his powers the way he did.

Thankfully the attacks in the city left his home untouched.

His Fools Gambit had unforeseen side effects that even he was unaware of. His ability did not block everything out as he previously thought, it just prevented him from feeling things like pain and emotions during the duration of its active state. However, once Fools Gambit was deactivated, after he fulfilled the input conditions he gave when he activated Fools Gambit everything he blocked out came back in full force all at once, all the pain from the injuries he got in battle, every emotion he might have felt, every thought, every death, he felt all it in a single instant.

The intensity of it all overwhelmed him and he passed out on the couch as soon as he went back to his hideout to check on his aunt. That explained how he found himself passed out on his couch for six hours right after the fight.

There was one more important detail to his fool's gambit, once activated he could not deactivate it, not willingly, not until all the input conditions were fulfilled and the ability deactivated itself.

'I guess that's why it's called fool's gambit.' Peter mused internally as he made his way downstairs for a blood pack and the same food. He never paid much mind to the names of his abilities. It was a double-edged sword, a gamble in a sense, his ability would ensure his input conditions were completed no matter the cost.

That was dangerous. He would have to be more careful with how he chose to use Fool's Gambit next time.

He walked into his kitchen drying his hair with a towel with one hand while the other rummaged through his freezer for a blood pack lost in thought.

Cypher buzzed in his psyche with updates on the current situation of the world and New York following the closing of the portal.

There was nothing much to report aside from the obvious reactions. World governments lending a helping hand through relief efforts and rebuilding destroyed cities, stark industries already moving in to help clean up tech remnants, and Shield making a public debut on the world stage to lend a helping hand.

There were also a few dozen messages from a certain team x and a blond feline underling that he chose to ignore for the moment.

There were reported sightings of Spider-woman and other unknown mutants and enhanced humans who were helping to clean up the city. Peter considered going around the city to check on Gwen if she really was back, he was curious to know where she had been for the last few weeks.

Peter schemed through the various bits of information as searched through the kitchen for some flour, eggs, butter, and milk after tossing his empty blood pack in the trash, he was thinking of making himself some pancakes.

He had nothing else to do and he was starving, it's funny how the more things change the more they stay the same. Six hours after stopping an alien invasion and fighting with literal Norse gods Peter found himself in his house once again making pancakes of all things.

But either way, the fact that aliens existed didn't change much for Peter. It's not like he didn't know, S.H.E.I.L.D's files indicated that there were in fact already aliens on Earth or was it another subspecies of humanity like the mutants? He wasn't sure, they were called Inhumans after all.

Well, there was also the Asgardian who the ancient humans mistook for gods. 'Well, back then it wouldn't take much to convince someone you're a god.'

But their technology though it changed a few things. During his fight in the city Cypher took the initiative to scan as much of the Chitahuri's technology as it could, he had a few rough mental schematics of their weapons, armor, hoverboard, and even their leviathans and foot soldiers. It was too bad there were no spaceships around though.

From the look of it, they really weren't alive-not living beings but rather they were bio-engineered organisms built for the sole purpose of being disposable foot soldiers for war. He got that much from available information; it was probably why killing them was so easy for him despite his restrictions.

He'd have to go around the city to scan a few more of their tech, he could do that while he searched for Spider-woman, kill two birds with one stone. Maybe he'd check on a few other things too, not to mention the new array of abilities he wanted to test out.

He also needed to find a better place for Aunt May since the hospital she was at before was nothing but a pile of bricks at this time.

But first, Pancakes.

…..

-Sometime later-

Peter flew through the clouds above New York dressed in his Noir persona. He was trying out his new ability for the first time. Granted he already used it but using this time just felt different.

"Whoo-hoo!" Peter exclaimed with excitement as he pushed against the invisible force of gravity under his feet, a sudden boom echoed in the air as he shot forward through the sky.

He wouldn't call this flying; it was more like a controlled fall. He was only jumping from point A to point B using the air as a platform.

Peter dropped low onto the edges of the roofs of one of the taller buildings in New York, the building was still smoking from below and there was a leviathan-sized hole in the center.

Peter stuck himself to the edge with one of his new abilities in case the structure collapsed. He could feel a sudden shift in the gravitational force on the legs as stood up. It felt a little strange to be aware of the subtle pull of earth's gravity on his body and being able to push against or pull himself towards it with his entire body.

This new ability was also messing with his sense of touch and special awareness. Gravity wasn't exactly something a human should be acutely aware of, mix that in with his enhanced senses and you get someone who mistook the wind rushing against your face for flowing stream water only without the wet part.

"Well, that was fun, now where to go from here?" Peter muttered as he used Cypher to search the Meta-verse to map out the city for all the locations of alien technology along with reports of the sightings of Spider-woman, he also decided to look for the new members of Babylon while he was at it.

Peter watched the streets below him while Cypher went to work compiling the information he needed.

"Found you." a soft feminine voice sang surprising Peter and almost causing him to slip over the edge.

Thank God for the fool's mask otherwise his reaction would have been more than just a deadpan in the direction of the voice.

"Hi Peter" the little girl smiled fondly at Peter with a soft wave, she was the self-proclaimed goddess Kelly McGrath, the girl he met a few hours before the portal opened above the skies of New York. " This goddess has been looking everywhere for you, you know. I thought it was you at the hospital when those aliens attacked but turns out it was Miles but now, I've found you. Yay!"

She pumped her fist in the air, the blue bunny ears of her suit bouncing as she spoke as if meeting Peter on the rooftop of some random building was normal. The fact that she knew who he was with his bandages covering his face made this situation even stranger.

Peter took a moment to reply considering the situation. "Who are you?"

He wondered if he should curse his Parker luck.

The girl looked at Peter slightly confused and a little cross with him. "It's me, Sekhmet dumdum, how could you forget your goddess so easily? Naughty Peter. You might still remember my human name though. It is I, Kelly McGrath. "

She spun on her toes like a ballerina and took a dramatic bow before looking up at Peter mischievously her eyes twinkling with wonder. " The most adorable girl in this world."

Peter's pupils glowed a feint electric blue as Cypher went to work but all that came up was the same as before. Her name was Kelly McGrath, and she was a terminally ill orphaned patient living in the same hospital his aunt was at. Nothing about the information Cypher found was abnormal.

"Yeah, that's not gonna work right now 'cause, believe it or not, this right here" Peter used his pointer to gesture between them. " This starting to get old." Peters deadpanned before his voice turned serious and he took he shifted into a more guarded stance. "So please, do us both a favor and just tell me who you are."

This girl knew who he was and somehow made it to somehow found him on the roof of some destroyed building. He had enough random encounters under his belt to know that wasn't just some random coincidence.

" Aww! Come on Peter…I thought you were a real one." She skipped a step closer to Peter as she spoke.

" A real one?" Peter asked confused, an eyebrow raised as he spoke.

" I mean I missed it the first when we met but then you did that thing at the hospital it hit me like a train. Boom! Just like that, I knew who you were and it was awesome, I mean Spider-man? Come on, you're way too important. You, Peter Parker, who would have thought? Usually, it's an extra, an insert, or an outsider but you, you are something new. 00ooh! I'm getting excited just thinking about this." The girl kept speaking in an overly excited manner completely missing Peter's question.

" Ok, you lost me there. What are you talking about?" Peter asked tilting his head in confusion. ' There's a Spider-now? No… from the why she said that it's like she's saying I'm Spider-man... Don't tell me she's actually crazy.'

" Oh, sorry I'm just excited. You… You seriously can't see me? That's strange…" She asked before breathing out a frustrated sigh.

" Listen, kid, you're not making any sense right now."

" No, you're not making any sense and I'm not a kid." She huffed at Peter for calling her a kid. " I know you're a real one though. Here, shake my hand." The girl reached out her right hand for Peter to shake.

" Come on, I'm like ten years old, are you seriously scared of a kid?"

Peter observed her skeptically trying to make sense of everything she was saying but thinking about it wasn't helping at all. Was this another Ancient One scenario, did she know shit about him that he didn't know yet because even Cypher couldn't make sense of her words. So, is this confusing to you too Cypher, or is it just me?

A mental ping from Cypher with the message ' More data required' answered his thoughts.

" Look, just shake my hand and you'll understand, alright. I don't have all day; this kid's already falling apart." She rolled her eyes at Peter's cautious behavior and moved her hand towards Peter gesturing with an open palm for him to shake it.

Take a moment to think things over Peter.

He was technically an immortal and with Imagine Breaker's passive in effect he doubted there was much she could do him if she was a mutant or magical. Reluctantly Peter reached out and shook her hand. If she tried anything he would-.

'KILL HER!'

The thought sprung out from the depths of Peter's mind, searing through his thoughts like a hot blade slicing through butter compelling him to act the moment their hands touched.

In the blink of an eye Peter found the hand he put forward to shake hers berried fist deep into her chest, he felt her heart squashed between his fingers.

Peter's eyes widen in shock.

"What the hell?" he gasped in surprise at his own actions- his fool's mask failing to keep his true feelings hidden and something inside him, IT, IT rejoiced, vibrating in the depths of his mind. But that wasn't what broke his mask, not it was the fact that the little girl whose chest he shoved his hand in, whose heart he crashed in his fingers was smiling at him.

"Now you see me" she wheezed out.

How was she even alive? What the hell is this?! Peter thought grimly, his hands trembling in his chest as fear, shock, and panic filled him. That was getting out of hand quickly, his mask could do little to stop his thoughts or equip his mask due to the intensity of his emotions but he could feel the Fool's mask's effect slowly take over.

Peter killed before but he could never hurt a kid, and whatever this thing was, it looked like a kid, the mare image of shoving his hand into her chest was enough to throw him into shock.

A proud but fond almost wistful smile bloomed in her features, her eyes wide with wonder staring at him like she found the most important treasure in the world. There were tears in her eyes, but it wasn't pain, terror, or fear, it was joy.

She brought her hands up and gripped his wrist tightly as she spoke with a trembling voice. "See I knew you were a real one, a real person. I finally found you Origin."

"What?"

"Listen to me." The little girl squeezed his hand even harder. She coughed out blood and continued.

"Forget about them, the people of this world, those you know, those you love, those you hate, friends, family, enemies, and strangers, don't care about them, they're all fake, fiction- they're not real, not like you and me. Do what you want, take what you want, and live however you want. We are the true protagonists of this story-of every story. We who can transcend beyond the wall."

Something about the way she spoke caused him to remain still and give the little girl all his attention. Peter wasn't sure if it was her voice are him, but something compelled him. Whatever the case, she wasn't human, this wouldn't be possible if she was but what if she was?- he couldn't help but ask himself.

" You know, I've always wanted to meet you, Peter Parker, you were my favorite hero Spider-Man. Don't worry, I'm human."

'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.'

"It's not your fault, you… just… couldn't control… the…urge… yet." She went limp with Peter's hand still in her chest. Her grip loosened around Peter's wrist and fell to her sides.

A thoroughly confused and shocked Peter pulled his arm out of her chest and caught her body before she could fall.

"Oh shit." Peter cursed aloud and with every fiber of his being, he attempted to summon the one thing that might have an answer to this shit show. "Death, if you can hear me right now, come to me, I need you."

He felt his connection with his dormant Ajin spark to life and soon after the world around him froze in place, like someone hit the pause button on time.

"Hello, Peter."

-Chapter End-