peter rocked back on his heels, standing inside doctor strange's sanctum. "well," he said, "i, umm... really appreciate you doing this for me, sir.

stephen strange shook his head. "don't mention it. and don't call me 'sir'." he smiled.

peter let out a nervous laugh. "right. sorry."

"you ready?"

he nodded. "i'm ready."

strange folded his hands. "nice knowing you, spider-man." he unfolded his hands, drawing mystical shaped in the air.

peter's brows furrowed as he registered strange's words. "wait, excuse me?"

he didn't look up from the spell. "the entire world is about to forget that peter parker is spider-man. including me."

"everyone?" peter repeated. "can't some people still know?"

strange shook his head. "that's not how the spell works and it's very difficult and dangerous to change it mid-casting."

peter's eyes widened as he thought about it. "so my girlfriend is just gonna forget about everything we've been through? i mean, is she even gonna be my girlfriend?"

strange remained focused on the spell. "that depends. was she your girlfriend just because you're spider-man, or..."

"i mean, i don't know." peter said. "i really hope not. but the only reason we met was because she and mr stark were recruiting me, so if she never knew, then we may not have met, and.."

strange sighed. "alright. fine." he swung his hand, causing his circular spell to lower as he began casting a new one. "everyone in the world is gonna forget you're spider-man, except your girlfriend."

peter smiled. "thank you so much...." his eyes then widened. "oh, my god. ned. ned!"

"what is a ned?"

"he's my best friend, so it's really important to me that ned knows..."

strange reluctantly began to draw third spell. "okay. let's not change the parameters of the spell anymore while i'm casting it."

peter nodded. "okay, i'm done. i swear i'm done." he thought for a moment. "but my aunt may should really know."

strange drew another circle. "peter, stop tampering with the spell."

"once she found out that i was spider-man, it was really messy, and i don't think that i can go through with that again. so, my aunt may?" peter rambled.

"yes!"

he sighed. "oh, thank you." he thought for another moment. "happy?"

"no." strange shook his head. "i am annoyed."

peter shook his own head. "no, it's a nickname. harold 'happy' hogan. he used to work for tony stark...."

the runes that strange are holding begin to shake. "could you.... you just stop talking?!"

suddenly, the runes break and spread through the room. the blue gleam, first only merely coating the vault's walls, now seems to be consuming its entirety.

"basically, everyone... who knew that i was spider-man before... should still know!" peter shouts over the noise.

the spinning room circles obliterate the whole thing, leaving only strange and peter spinning in the middle. now all that is surrounding them is a blue-purple void. strange starts pulling the circles together with great effort. as they start to come together, the room starts to return as well. with a blood-curdling scream, strange finally puts the spell together and closes it. it's now locked in an orange, pentagon cube.

peter looks around the room. "did it work?"

"no." strange says, angry, "you changed my spell six times."

"five times." peter corrects.

"you changed my spell!" strange shouted. "you don't do that!" he pointed to the orange box. "i told you, and that is why! that spell was completely out of control. if i hadn't shut it down, something catastrophic could've happened."

peter shook his head, apologetic. "stephen, listen, i am so sorry..."

strange interrupted him. "call me 'sir'!"

peter looked down. "sorry, sir."

strange shook his head. "you know, after everything we've been through together, somehow i always forget... you're just a kid. look, parker, the problem, it's not mysterio. it's you. trying to live two different lives. and the longer you do that, the more dangerous it becomes, believe me. i'm so sorry about you and your friends not getting into college, but if they rejected you, and... you tried to convince them to reconsider, there is nothing else you can do."

peter looked back up, his brows furrowed. "when you say 'convince them', you mean like.. i could've called them?"

strange blinked. "yeah."

"i can do that?" peter gasped.

"you haven't called?"

he shook his head. "well, i mean, i got their letter, and i assumed that..."

"i'm sorry, but are you telling me, that you didn't even think to plead your case with them first, before you asked me to brainwash the entire world?"

peter cleared his throat. "i mean, when you put it like that, then..."

⎊‎⎊‎⎊

"i can't believe i'm in the sanctum sanctorum!" ned said as he, dakota, and mj walked through the doors.

"neither can i." strange replied, clearly unamused.

dakota didn't know much about the current situation, except that peter had convinced strange to cast a spell that somehow made everyone, in any universe, who knew that peter parker was spider-man become a part of this universe.

"so, how did the bad guys get here?" ned asked.

strange gestured to peter. "he screwed up a spell trying to get you into college."

ned and mj, who hadn't gotten the full story, turned to peter. "wait, what?"

"let's just focus on the good news, okay?" peter deflected.

strange shook his head. "no, let's just focus on the bad news. as of now, you have detected zero multiversal trespassers, so get on your phones, scour the internet, and... scooby-doo this shit!"

dakota turned to look at strange, crossing her arms over her chest. "hey, i get that you're ready to boss around a group of kids." she said. "but last i checked, it was your spell that malfunctioned, not ours. and now we're doing you a huge favor, so i'd appreciate a little respect."

mj nodded, standing next to kodie. "you know, i know a couple of magic words myself," she said, "starting with the word 'please'."

strange sighed, looking between the two. "please scooby-doo this shit." he replied. "you can work in the undercroft."

ned gasped. "the undercroft?"

the undercroft was a damp basement. dakota looked around, her brows furrowed in disgust. "this is the worst secret lair ever."

ned, however, was still impressed. "badass." he looked around the room. "a torture rack." he gasped, touching the springs of the device.

dakota looked over at him. "that is a pilates machine." she looked back to where peter was standing. "and that is..?"

"the crypt." peter said, walking towards the dungeon.

mj nodded. "okay, so we get the rest of the guys. you zap them, doctor magic will send them back and, when we get into mit... round of stale donuts, my treat."

dakota turned to peter. "hey, i hate to rain on this... multiverse peter bad guy parade." she said. "but i kind of have some stuff going on right now."

peter's brows furrowed in concern. "what? you didn't say anything when i called, i just assumed-"

she shook her head. "no, you didn't do anything wrong, i just.. this woman.. ophelia sark... kissian?" she still couldn't remember the name. "she showed up to stark tower, and-"

"sarkissian?" the man in the cells said.

dakota turned, looking at octavius. "how do you know that name?"

he seemed to be thinking for a moment. "she was.. she was a scientist." he said. "in my universe."

she crossed her arms, taking a step closer to his cell. "do you know anything else about her? in your universe?"

he was hesitant to answer. "she turned out to be.. she broke into the lab, stole everything we had on the human strength testing projects. the last time i heard of her, she was working with some secret german company."

dakota's eyes narrowed. "do you remember the name of the german company?"

octavius looked to the ceiling of his cell, clearly trying to remember. "it was an odd name, but i... it's on the tip of my tongue." he shook his head. "it started with an h, i think. hera? hy.."

dakota's mouth felt dry as realization dawned on her. "hydra?"

he nodded, and dakota's heart fell to her chest. "yes, it was called hydra. she was working for them, last i heard. how do you know her?"

dakota shook her head, running a hand through her hair. she turned to look at peter. "pete, i'm so sorry. i.. i have to go."