E. 6 1 6
queens, new york

    Gema glanced up from the table as she sat at with a smile. "Hey Jess." She greeted.

"It's good to see you out of the infirmary," Jess said as she held her lunch bowl —rice and teriyaki with seasoned broccoli.

Gema looked down, stabbing a piece of lettuce from her chicken salad with a fork. "It wasn't too bad. Miguel's dimension has advanced tools that were  entertaining during the healing process."

"Right!?" Jess's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her sockets at the last sentence from her colleague. "Tell me about it! The 928 universe does take some time to get used to, I still don't understand most of it and I've been in this strikeforce long enough." She huffed with exhaustion, placing her elbow on the table as her hand rubbed her forehead.

A laugh came out from Gema at the exaggeration of the older Spiderwoman. "I'd rather tackle advanced technology than ever set foot in the Daily Bugle ever again." She admitted.

"Oh, I don't blame you." Jess agreed. "Especially when you're also Spiderwoman having to hear nasty comments about your superhero job."

Gema shook her head with a long sigh. "I can't believe that Lameson exists in all of the dimensions I've been to so far."

"Lameson?"

"Nai came up with the nickname." Gema clarified. "He hates that man more than me and he wasn't even the one working for him."

Jess rolled her eyes with a cackle. "I don't understand how you two are twins, let alone being siblings."

"I guess the universe wanted to keep things interesting having us together." Gema pointed out from her dynamic with Nai, taking a sip of Dr. Pepper from the fountain drink machine.

As Gema set her cup down, she felt a tight knot pinch her muscles near her injury, making Gema place her hand and ease the pain with a hiss.

Jess grimaced with a hint of concern in remembering the aftermath of the previous mission. "I'm just glad the Doctor Spider variant was able to get here on short notice." She said while raising her eyebrows and exaggerating a sigh. "Aside from them being dragged here by Miguel. You missed all the yelling."

Gema huffed. "Miguel O'Hara yelling? I mean I've only known him for a few weeks, but it doesn't suprise me."

Without another word, Jess shrugged as she took another bite of her lunch. "So, how's the shoulder?" She asked.

Swallowing a sliced carrot from her salad, Gema said. "It's fine. Except when Nai won't stop stressing about it as if I'm going to die."

"That's fair." Jess stated. The corners of her lips moved into an upside-down smile with the tilt of her head. "But at least you don't have to hide half of yourself here. Could you imagine having to explain this to a regular doctor in your dimension?"

"True." Gema agreed, remembering all the time she did go to the doctors after a fight sometimes. 

"On another note," Jess sighed picking up a piece of her teriyaki. "You and your brother going to 616 MJ's baby shower tomorrow?"

Gema grinned. "Is that already tomorrow?"

"Mmmhm." She hummed through a mouthful with a nod.

"Then we will be there," Gema said taking another bite and huffed out a laugh while eyeing the bump on Jess's stomach. "And someone else is not too far behind!"

"Eek!" Jess squealed, crinkles on her nose as she thought about her potential future. "I'm getting impatient! Especially when my husband begged me for us to not do a gender reveal."

Gema frowned at the untraditional idea. "Maybe just sneak in an appointment anyways when it gets closer and not tell him."

Jess gasped. "Lie to my husband!?" Her exaggerated response lasted for a second. Her open jaw soothed into an evil smirk, placing a hand on top of Gema's. "I knew I liked you."

An alert blinked on Jess's multiverse watch, followed by a 3-D holographic pop-up notification. "Well, that's my queue." She sighed, grabbing her empty dish. "I wish you could join me on this mission."

Gema grinned as she replied. "Save me as your partner for another time then."

Jess pointed a finger at Gema. "I'm going to take you up on that. I could use some more woman power." She said before leaving her with her lunch.

After taking her last couple of bites, Gema headed to the elevator, pressing the button going up. When the doors parted, her eyes widened.

"Oh! Uh, hey."

"Going up?" Miguel asked.

Gema nodded as she walked past the threshold, pressing the floor she was going to and planted herself next to him. Brushing the loose strands of hair from her fishtail braid out of her face

The two now standing side by side.

No background music could save herself in the limited space. Just the sound of the compartment moving upwards with a futuristic hum.

"How's your dimension?"

Huh?

She looked over, seeing his face focused on the closed doors and her face grew in confusion.

"What?"

"How's everything going in Neuphrates?" Miguel asked again, peering down and she caught a glimpse of his maroon eyes.

"Uh, good? I guess." Gema responded with uncertainty.

"You guess?" He added, though there was a small scoff as if she didn't say the right thing. "How about any updates on your Goblin? Your city? Is it running smoothly?"

"Oh!" Gema piped, looking away in embarrassment, realizing it was a status report. Not a casual chat with her multiverse boss. "Nothing too exciting since my brother got sucked up by a multi-dimensional vacuum."

Miguel nodded with a twitch at the corner of his lips. "And no random villains popping in from other universes?"

Scrunching her nose with a shake of her head, Gema replied. "Not that I'm aware of."

"Good to hear." He stated. "But keep on guard. With the multiverse? You never know what might happen."

"You're not wrong." Gema replied, though she didn't understand a complicated concept of the multiverse like he did.

The conversation died off and the elevator was still climbing up the side of the tall corporate building. Gema looked out the window, overseeing Nueva York, keeping her mind off of what to say to a man who was like a brick wall.

"How's your other job?" Miguel asked another question after another long silence.

Gema couldn't wrap her head around it.  Two questions in an elevator seemed to surpass Miguel's usual limit of conversation with her.

"Well," She sighed, glancing up at him at the corner of her eye. "I'm not working there anymore. Jameson let me go."

Guano! Why did I say that? He didn't need to know about that.

Miguel looked down at her with a frown, while her eyes retreated to the window of the elevator. Getting a glimpse of the stunning view of Nueva York. Listening to the humming of the lift rising above.

"Their loss," Miguel said, clearing his throat.

Gema slowly moved her head, barely catching his stare. "Thanks." She said.

The elevator finally came to a stop, and now she could escape the silence. She stepped off, walking towards the workspace provided for her.

A shiver went down her spine from her spider sense.

Her head whipped around to see Miguel behind her. "I hope you don't mind if I come and see your progress so far."

Taking a brief gulp, Gema's heart beated faster. It reminded her of the drop ins from J. Jonah Jameson. The man with a mustache would come at the worst timing or see a finished article and tell her to scratch it.

"Not at all." She responded to his request with caution, taking him to the mini-lab provided for her. "Lyla, pull up my saved files." Gema called out to the AI and not a second later, two screens popped up in front of her. She then tapped on the icon to open up several visual images.

Miguel stood, looking at different, yet similar figures that resembled Spiderman or Spiderwoman. His eyes widening at the multiple databases floating around.

"It's not much but-"

"How many did you find?" Miguel cut her off while glancing at her with a strong stare.

Gema bit her lip, not sure how to reply. She turned to face the main screen in front of her.

"I think it was almost 90 variants but let me check." She stated as she scrolled through her notes with her finger. Not expecting to felt a presence behind her.

She held her breath, incase Miguel would find it as an inconvenience while his eyes scanned her messy handwriting. She didn't want to falter with his taller height, but compared herself to a sparrow perched next to a hawk. In which reality, Gema was only shorter by a couple inches, but that didn't keep from feeling small.

Miguel gasped as he read the total. "205 variants?"

It was hard to tell if that was a good reaction or not. Miguel shifted back with a gaze on her. "How did you manage to pick up the technology?" He asked.

"It wasn't that easy at first," Gema shrugged while looking up at the various screens surrounding them. Casting a faint hue on both of them like sunlight at dusk. "I kind of played around with the different tools until it made sense.Like this button." She said as she pressed a familiar icon of a light bulb on the holographic keyboard.

It opened up to show a road map of the ideas she had brainstormed without having to write them down. Miguel's eyes Gema's scattered notes that connected with yellow glowing lines.

"Or...oh!" She exclaimed as she rushed over to a floating sphere that was a symbol of one of the many universes in the database. "This is mindblowing! I can zoom in and out of 3D models is super cool! It's like maps on my computer but much more informative and convenient. I don't have to wait for the internet to load either!"

Running a hand through her hair, she laughed in disbelief. Her response turning into a ramble as Miguel folded his arms.

"I never thought this kind of technology was possible!" She said with excitement, throwing her hand out of her scalp.  "If only the Daily Bugle had their hands on this kind of technology! No one would have to work at that awful place again!"

She then shook her head in regret. Knowing she was talking too much in front of someone who already knew the information she was sharing.

"I mean, I guess I'm a fast learner." Gema said with embarrassment humiliating her. Noticing the change in Miguel's stance, her enthusiasm toned down a notch.

"You guess?" Miguel said, letting out a chuckle. The closest to a smile she had seen from him. "And I thought you're brother was the loud nerdy twin."

She sighed through her teeth, tipping her head to the side. "I express it differently than him and at different times."

After checking the research again, Miguel looked back at her. A hint of awe on the surface of his eyes.

"Um. Well-" He stuttered before clearing his throat before narrowing his eyebrows like they were before. "Good work."

"Thanks." She accepted the compliment with pride in her chest.

Never, in all her years of working at the Daily Bugle, did Jamseon give her such encouraging comments.

Miguel let out a sigh, turning to the side. "Lyla?"

Immediately his AI popped up. "Yes Miguel?"

"Can you do a scan of all of these variants?" He requested, his eyes returning to the screens with a finger pointing.

"Sure can and- Woah!" Lyla said in shock, fixing her glasses as she looked at Gema's research. "She found all of those that quick!?"

"Yeah, she did." Miguel affirmed, still not looking at Gema.

"Wow! She's almost as smart as you Mig." Lyla teased, leaning her head to the side, letting the weight of her shoulder sag.

"¡Cállate, Lyla!" Miguel shouted while trying to smack her holographic figure that glitched out of the way instead.

"Chill. I'm on it." Lyla smirked, doing what Miguel asked as she disappeared into thin air.

Miguel stood there for a moment with Gema waiting for any further comment or instruction. A little laugh snuck out her mouth and she bit her lip to contain the rest.

"Don't let what she said get to your head." He said with a scolding finger, referring to Lyla's comment, while turning his back to look through the data once more.

"It won't." She confirmed with a smirk, closing the screen, allowed the room's natural lighting to fill the space.

Miguel looked at Gema from over his shoulder. "Good. I'll look through these profiles in my office first before we start recruiting again."

Gema nodded. That little pride in her chest growing, knowing that she was able to further the progress of the multiverse research. 

"See you tomorrow then?" She asked.

"Tomorrow?"

Confusion covered his face.

Gema bit her lip as she replied. "For 616 MJ's baby shower? I assumed you were going."

Miguel huffed as if it were blasphemy to think about the small party. "I'm far too busy to go. Especially after the research we just got."

"Fair." She nodded, almost returning back to work as he head for the exit.
But then a thought passed her mind.

"It could be a nice break from your busy tasks."

The off only got her to earn a brief glare over his shoulder. It wasn't harsh, rather it was inspecting her suggestion.

"I'll keep that in mind." 

ꕀꕀꕀ

"Thank you so much Jess!" MJ piped before giving the other pregnant woman a side hug, holding the small little book about the nursery rhyme 'itsy bitsy spider.'

Jess grinned while accepting the friendly embrace. "If you're girl is anything like Peter, I thought the book would be a perfect touch."

"Oh if she's anything like Peter, I'm going to have my hands full." MJ said with a grin.

"Hey!" Peter exclaimed in offense.

The two woman shared a little laugh from that reaction. Along with Gema who sat next to Jess. Next to her, Nai sat there smirking at the jokes.

"If she's anything like her Mother," Peter began, getting everyone to anticipate the poor comeback, which he dragged on the silence for effect. "I'll be the luckiest husband and father in the entire multiverse."

Nai shook his head as a chorus of swooning came from the others, but he forced a smile. He couldn't let them see through him.

Peter leaned over in his seat to plant a kiss on MJs forehead. "Just like I was lucky enough to be with my high school sweetheart!"

The hallmark movie energy was already enough for Nai, but Peter's declaration of his love for MJ was the last straw.

"I'm going to use the bathroom." Nai said, getting up without waiting for anyone to acknowledge him.

Once he closed the door behind him, feeling tears in his eyes, Nai placed both of his hands on the sink for support.

It wasn't too long before a knock on the door was brought to his attention.

"Yep, almost done!" He piped to hide the shaky breath he let out. Wiping his eyes and checking the mirror for evidence of him crying.

"Hey Peter." He greeted as he opened the door.

Peter frowned with concern. "You okay?"

Nai nodded. "Oh yeah! I'm fine! Totally fine!" He played it off, hoping this would be the end of the conversation.

That didn't happen when Peter placed a hand in Nai's shoulder.

"Hey, I know something about MJ and I bothered you." Peter said, recalling their small intimate moment. "And if I were you, I wouldn't deny it and talk it out. You have another Spiderman to tell it to."

Nai let out a sigh, knowing there was no way around this, especially with this Peter Parker. "Seeing you and MJ reminded me of someone."

"Oh!" Peter gushed a little, nudging his buddy with a wink. "Someone having girl trouble back in their dimension? Whats her name?"

"Thea." Nai said her name for the first time in weeks. "Thea Sawyer. I knew her since high school."

Peter gasped. "Alright! High school sweethearts like me and MJ!" He raised a hand for a high five, where Nai stared at the tiled floor with a sigh.

"We were."

The giant smile on Peter's face disappeared as soon as he registered what Nai was implying. Peter lowered his hand, his face empathetic as he could only imagine the weight in Nai's grief.

Peter sighed. "I'm sorry."

Nai shrugged as if it wasn't important. "You didn't do anything wrong. You weren't the one who wasn't careful enough. You weren't the one who got her killed."

He took a deep breath, doing his best to hold back any vulnerable emotion as he swallowed. Trying to push the painful memory to the back of his mind again.

"I wasn't." Peter said calmly, agreeing with the fact that he wasn't there in that exact situation. "But, I also had moments of shame for loosing people in my life. Their faces still haunt me even if I don't always show how it effects me."

As Nai listened, he noticed pictures on the wall in the hallway. He saw a ton of wedding pictures, high school dances and a few with his Aunt May, who Nai met briefly when she dropped off a cake for the baby shower.

Underneath the picture with Peter and May, both dressed in black with sad smiles, was another with the two of them. Along with a third person. The man stood with one arm around May and his hand on a young Peter's shoulder.

Between the two photos was a date inscripted on a plaque with floral designs on it.

It didn't take long before Nai realized the man missing in the first photo was Peter's Uncle. In which Nai put the pieces together, that one of the people Peter lost was him.

He squinted his eyes in curiosity, thinking about Peter's experience. Then his own story with Gema that they shared and why the multiverse is letting them cross paths.

"Has everyone in the Strikeforce gone through a loss?" Nai asked as he looked back at Peter.

Peter sighed before slowly nodding. "From what I know? Yes."

Nai shook his head as he tried to understand. "Is there an answer to why?"

"Maybe." Peter shrugged before he put his hand on Nai's shoulder again. "But what I do know, is there isn't a coincidence that you and sister are part of the strikeforce. Not just to protect the multiverse, but to realize you aren't alone in this line of work. Of being Spiderman."

Soaking it into his mind, Nai knew Peter was right. It was alot to deal with in being a super hero, but this new chapter could give him purpose. A new meaning. A way to find out why each person in the strikeforce has so many similarities and destined to be here.

"Thanks Peter." Nai said with a grateful smile.

"Anytime you need it Nai." Peter patted his back.

"Hey!"

The two looked to see Gema who found them in the hall and grabbed both of their arms. "You're both are missing the cake!" She held a paper plate with a slice of dessert.

A mischievous smirk grew on Nai's lips. He shot a web at her fork with cake on it, catching it as he pulled it back to his hand and took a bite. "Now I'm not, and it's not too bad."

Gema scoffed. "Good."

She took a step forwards, acting quickly. "Because you can have as much as you want!" With any hesitation, she smash her plate into his face.

Right when plate fell of his face and wiping cake off his eyes and a scolding finger from Nai, a knock came from the door.

"Coming!" MJ shouted from the other room.

"Don't worry!" Gema said back, passing Peter and Nai, now covered in frosting. "I got it!" She opened the door and couldn't believe who it was.

Her jaw partially hanging and eyes blinking a few times to make sure it wasn't her eyesight pranking her.

"Miguel?" The only thing Gema managed to get out of her mouth.

He stood on the other side of the threshold in casual clothes. A white shirt and navy blue jeans. Then of course, the stoic facial expression to contrast the outfit.

"Gema." He stated with a nod.

"Y-You came?" She questioned with confusion, tilting her head.

Miguel let out an annoyed breath. "Yes I did. You going to let me in?"

Her eyes widened as it clicked. "Yeah, sorry." She nodded as she stood off to the side.

"No need to apologize." Miguel said with another one of his judgmental glare.

Peter then came over. "Miguel!! So glad you could make it! The party just got started!" He exclaimed.

As Miguel got dragged by Peter to the kitchen, a small laugh passed Gema's lips as she trailed behind.

__________________________________

Sorry Nai. I had to give him a sad chapter.

And look who came to the baby shower who said he couldn't come!? Miguel you silly goose. Wonder what could have convinced him?

Took me a while to get back to this so I thought I'd keep it long incase u disappear again.

-marie <3