[ New York ]

MJ and May approached without any fear. They were sure that whoever they were talking to was not the Peter of their universe. It was still surprising to see them with such determination.

"We're here to talk about Peter (Tom)." May began. "I'm sure you two know about him already."

"Who are you? How do you know who we are?" Peter (Tobey) said anxiously, not believing the person in front of him was May.

"Dude," Peter (Andrew) leaned in and whispered. "Trust me, she's May."

"I'm not buying it." He whispered back and returned to a normal voice. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you got wrong pe—"

"Peter!" May scolded the man who was significantly older than her nephew. "Cut the bullshit!"

"S—sorry, ma'am." Peter (Tobey) responded in a low voice.

"Jeez." May sighed, getting them to listen. "You two in now?"

"I—I'm sorry, but how did you find us? We're practically on the move all the time." Peter (Andrew) butted in.

"This." MJ showed the Peter's glasses from before. "E.D.I.T.H. knows everything."

"Ho—" Peter (Andrew) reached for his ear and felt the mic still attached. "W—were you listening to me the whole time."

"Don't worry." MJ said with a smug on her face. "I heard nothing."

"Ah, god..." Peter (Andrew) groaned. "I even said a lot of things."

"Alright, kids!" May called everyone out.

They all listened to the older woman, who was technically their aunt too—except for MJ. She seemed stress but calm even if her nephew was arrested somewhere in New York. In some way, the two Peter's felt guilty.

"You've met my Peter (Tom), right?" May asked, as they both nodded. "He's given up, hasn't he?"

"How'd you know?" Peter (Tobey) asked.

"C'mon, I'm your aunt. I know everything about you. Hell, I even found out you're Spider-Man."

"For the record, it was your Peter who got caught, not us." Peter (Andrew) reminded.

"Oh, honey... she'll find out soon." May joyfully threatened, making him unsure of what to say next. "I... you need to get him out of wherever he is."

"Ma'am..." Peter (Tobey) glanced at Peter (Andrew) then back to her. "We're not doing that. We'll deal with whatever's happening. People who he cares about could be killed. We've experienced it before, and we don't want him to go through what we did."

"Nope." She shook her head in a unexpected turn of events. "It's his problem, he has to solve it."

"But ma'am," Peter (Tobey) laughed at the thought she was trying to push. "People he love could die. How is that okay?"

"First off, it's May, Peter." She said. "Second, that's why you're Spider-Man, right? You don't take the job of Spider-Man without expecting people to get hurt. The jobs that you two are undergoing are far more dangerous. Peter, you can't save everyone. No one can."

"Then why? Why do you want him to go with us, May? You want him to see someone he loves go?"

"No..." She got near to Peter (Tobey), and just enough to Peter (Andrew). "Because he chose to be Spider-Man. He wants to do this. I'm not going to hear him say that he wants to give up, that's bullshit. Trust me, you know yourselves. He's not giving up, he's using it as an excuse."

"What for?" Peter (Andrew) curiously inquired.

"Because he saw the both of you." She easily showed the solution, bouncing her glance at their confused faces. "How long have you two been Spider-Man?"

"Well..." Peter (Tobey) was catching on only now. "12 years."

"And you?" She directed at Peter (Andrew).

"Technically... in-between the 8th and 9th."

"Peter (Tom) hasn't even been one for five. You think he would fit in easily with you two? Of course he's using the whole 'give up' gimmick as an excuse. He wants to help you two. He wants to be Spider-Man with you, but you have to show him why he doesn't have to be a carbon copy to be the Spider-Man you two are."

"Ho—how would we tell him that? Why would he tell him that? We can deal with this and he can continue being Spider-Man after this."

"Ugh, Jesus." May looked at MJ. "These two don't get it, huh?"

"New universe."

"Look," She gestured in front of the Spider-Men, "You do this without him, he'll give up Spider-Man for good. You need to show him that he's capable. Give him that push. You don't do that, the world will lose Spider-Man and Peter (Tom) will regret not helping. You want that on his conscious."

"But, what about yo—" Peter (Tobey) was in the middle of arguing again but May had enough.

"No! I don't want to hear that." She completely ignored him. "He made it this far with all of us alive, he'll find a damn way. So get going!"

Peter (Tobey) looked at his counterpart, and they needed to give in. They could help all they want, but this is what May of this universe wanted—for Peter (Tom) to be Spider-Man. This was her wish, so they had to make her proud.

—But first, they actually needed to find Peter (Tom) first.

"And besides, three is better than two." MJ quietly added.

"Alright, alright." Peter (Tobey) had gave all in. "Where can we find him?"

"E.D.I.T.H. told me they'll be bringing him along Park Avenue. Truck leaves in thirty minutes; you two might want to move." MJ informed and politely instructed. "Also, don't be hard on him, please?"

"We'll make sure of that," Peter (Tobey) got on the ledge along with Peter (Andrew) and put on his mask.

"You might need this too!" MJ threw a small device which Peter (Tobey) instinctively caught. He looked at it fascinatingly, to which she responded: "It's an earpiece. You'll be directly connected with your... um... our other Peter (Andrew)."

"Thanks..." Peter (Tobey) said before turning to May. "We won't let you down."

"I know you won't. You've never let me down."

With that, Peter (Tobey) jumped off the ledge and began swinging into the middle of the busy city streets.

Peter (Andrew) turned around saying, "Thanks, May!" before free-falling and following Peter (Tobey) as they manoeuvred around Manhattan.

May let out a sigh of relief, having dealt with that problem now. She was glad that she got the chance to actually speak with them in person. As she expected, they were completely similar and different to the Peter that she knew.

At least in her mind, she knew that Peter had the same heart in any universe.

She began moving to the exit as MJ followed. They knew that this was just the beginning of the end, and hell was only about to come rolling over.

"I'll reach out to Happy. Peter's (Tom) going to need a new suit for whatever's going to happen." May told.

"Aunt May," She paused silently until she had gotten her attention. "I need you to tell Peter (Tom) whatever he needs to hear. I just need to do something before we meet."

May puzzled over what she could possibly mean, until she had gotten it. "Ned gets discharged today, right?"

MJ kindly nodded.

"You take care of that, and then we meet, alright?"

"Agreed." MJ responded. "Where will we meet?"

"Do you remember that guy's address? The one who Happy refers to as the magician?"

"That Doctor Strange guy?"

"Yeah! The one Tony knew."

"He lives at Bleecker's with the huge eye on top of the building."

"Tell those three to meet-up there. We'll be there to plan the next move." She opened the door of the rooftop. "I know you two want to help Peter (Tom), but don't do anything stupid, Michelle?"

"..." All MJ could do was smile. "Of course, Aunt May. We'll be there for Peter (Tom)."

If only she could tell the truth.

—If only she could tell that she wanted to help with more than just words. Because it killed her seeing him getting beat up. She had to do something.

And that something was going to happen that day.

...

The hospital was crowded. It was unusual, but she's seen weirder. The entire week so far had been hell. Everything from Peter's trial to the six villains showing up to other versions of her boyfriend appearing to save the day. She thought Thanos was the most unbelievable thing she would have witness (albeit on television), but this was just maddening.

And now, she was going to do something risky. She knew that Peter (Tom) was going to need all the help he could get, so finding out what the villains were exactly planning was her goal to find. If she could locate the source, then the job would get much easier.

She hated to include Ned, but it was worth a shot. In her eyes, it would be much safer if he was in sight of her rather than hearing that he was snatched up by one of the villains.

Speaking of Ned, she spotted him immediately talking to his mother. It seemed like a rather uneventful discharge—something that most would appreciate. She approached them, moving through the sea of people to get there.

"Are you sure that you can walk properly?" His mother acted even more cautiously. "You're not feeling anything weird?"

"I'm good, mom." Ned chuckled at the ends of which his mom tries to reach. "I'm feeling better than ever."

"Hm." His mom smiled brightly. "That's my boy." By the time she had finished talking to her son, she noticed one of his friends coming. "Ah! You're Michelle, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." MJ appeared friendlier than usual. "You can call me MJ. Hey, Ned."

Ned returned a rather melancholy smile. It didn't seem like it was going to work. "Hey, MJ. What are you doing here?"

"C'mon, you're getting discharged today! How would I forget?!"

"Now that," Ned's mom pointed at MJ, "that's a good friend, Ned! Would like to come over later? For some dinner? We're going to have a grand one."

"Oh, I'm fine. It's family business after all. I'd like everyone in the family to celebrate this for Ned." MJ answered.

"Ah, I see..." She gestured, "Well, actually, I was going to go shopping for ingredients for dinner later. But I know Ned hates doing that so why won't you two go out and enjoy New York for a bit? Enjoy it!"

"I would..." It was now or never, MJ thought. "love that! Ned, it's fine, right?!"

"Alright then, I'll be heading off!" She looked at MJ for a moment, "Also, MJ, I'm really sorry about Peter (Tom). I know he was a good friend to the both of you, and it hurts me to see him being accused for nothing. I hope that you get to see him one day again... I think both of you deserve it." Ned's mom began leaving, "Also, Ned, be sure to come home around 8:00, honey! Enjoy your day!"

"Sure, mom! Love 'ya!" He waved goodbye, until whispering to MJ. "What are you doing here? I'm just getting discharged today and I'm betting you want to do something crazy!"

"Bingo." MJ hid no fear. This was the only logical way of doing it. "But you forgot to add the word dangerous."

"MJ, what do you want us to do, hm?! You want us to go to where the danger is?!" He said rather sarcastically.

"..."

"Yo—you're kidding me, right? You want us to go near the people who stabbed me?"

"Ned, we need to do this for Peter (Tom)."

"MJ, we have helped Peter (Tom) a bunch of times. I've seen the news; there are three of them!" He exclaimed. "Have you thought that this is the time to step back? He has help. What are we going to do? Stand there and watch?"

"Are you really going to do this to Peter (Tom)?"

"I'm just saying. Wherever there's danger, Peter's (Tom) there too. Listen, but I'm also going to college. I need to make my family proud! I need to get into schools like Harvard or... hell MIT!" He argued, "I can't keep on playing second fiddle to battles where I'm not mentally or physically capable of fighting in! I would love to help, but I can't!"

"I understand... I totally understand. I know Peter's (Tom) world is too big for us to fit in, but we have to be here for him now. It has to be now." MJ pleaded. "If he gives up being Spider-Man, then everything we've done for him means nothing..."

—She needed to do this.

"Please, let it mean something."

"..." Ned scoffed and rustled. "Alright, let's do this. One last time?"

Hearing that, MJ chuckled. "For sure."

—Today was the end. It would all end today.