Meanwhile, Aurora made quick work of getting back into Hell's Kitchen, closing in on the apartment. Her wounds were mostly healed by now, so it was only a tad bit uncomfortable with all of the movement.

As she got closer her spider senses started to buzz, getting louder the closer she got.

The growing buzzing in her head was almost becoming disorienting. She wondered just what was so dangerous that it was setting her senses off like that? "Almost there." She told herself, the apartment in sight.

—-

Kasey narrowed her eyes at Matt and when he gripped her hand, instead of acknowledging his demand more, she sank her teeth deep into his shoulder, furthest from his neck, right where the burn was, with a sickening and excruciating crunch.

"Matt!" Claire called out in alarm, stepping forward to try to do... something! "Tony do something!"

"I'm working on it!" He kept digging through his bag. "Come on, come on! Where is it?!"

Matt shouted in shock, pain glaring up from his shoulder. Out of all the people he fought, he'd never encountered someone who could bite like Kasey did. He moved his hand from her hand to her forehead, pressing against her to try and push her off.

Instead he felt her bite harder, her grip on his wrist and arm tighten as well.

Claire saw Tony still trying to find something but things were rapidly getting worse. She gritted her teeth before getting an idea and sprinted to the door, snagged Matt's cane, and came back over, past Tony who glanced up from his bag in confusion and watched in surprise as she expertly wielded it and whacked Kasey behind the head and in a spot known to knock people clean out.

And sure enough Kasey could not defend herself and she unlocked her jaw, releasing Matt's shoulder and dropped him back down to the floor, Tony catching him to keep him from landing too hard on his leg.

Kasey herself dropped from the ceiling as well, Claire catching her and quickly putting her on the couch.

Matt cried out as he felt her double down. How he got into this situation, he didn't know. What he did know, was that Claire had taken off, only to come running back, before he all of the sudden started.. falling? He felt who he could only assume to be Tony catch him, and hissed in pain. Of course it'd be the burned should that she'd bite. He took a moment before pushing himself up and gripping one of the chairs to steady himself.

"What the hell was that?"

—-

Aurora's spider senses suddenly dulled dramatically but still lingered.

Aurora flung herself on the side of the building, sticking rather easily. She navigates her way around, perching near one of the windows allowing her to see into the apartment. Trying to keep out of sight, she peeked in, taking notice of Kasey being unconscious, and Matt looking pretty beat up.

Tony glanced at Kasey, hesitant. "I-... I don't know." He replied. "Her... her spider senses maybe?" He suggested. "But it was not her..." He stopped thinking back to the footage he saw of her fighting and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't think it ever was really her-" He muttered.

Claire kept the cane aimed at Kasey as she glanced at them. "Tony, can you... do something?"

"Oh! Yeah! Hang on-" He moved to his bag and finally made an "aha!" Noise as he pulled out the cuff that had been on Peter and Aura and clipped it around her ankle.

Matt heard her heartbeat start slowing until it was the same speed as theirs a bit slower due to being unconscious.

"There... that should hopefully help..." He told them.

Matt tilted his head to the side, listening to her heart. It was interesting to hear her sound so... normal. Of course, he couldn't clue Tony in that he knew what the device was doing. After all, he had a role to play during all of this.

"What's that doing? Whatever you just did." Matt asked, sitting down in one of the chairs with a huff. He could feel his own heartbeat in his shoulder.

Claire had moved to get stuff to clean the injury while Tony explained.

"It's a power suppression cuff. Specifically designed for spiders. It basically "turns off" all her spider related abilities. Or at least weakens them considerably. If that was her spider sense that attacked? Then this should hopefully prompt Kasey to come out instead."

Matt nodded, turning his face upward as he leaned back against the chair. "Hopefully. Whatever that was, it wasn't Kasey. It was cold and empty, and I honestly never want to encounter it again." Matt grumbled, the bite area thumping with aches and pains.

Claire got a washcloth and came over to Matt. "I need to clean the bite before it gets bad." She told him.

Tony winced seeing how bad it was. "Yeah, hopefully if we can get her stable, she won't close off like that again."

Kasey slowly started to stir awake, not completely but she was stirring.

Matt was cautious, making sure to pull at his collar to rip the fabric just enough to show the bite wound. If he were to lift his shirt to expose it, there's no doubt be questions as to how the blind man in the room had so many scars.

Matt turned his head slightly, picking up on Kasey starting to stir. He decided not to comment on it, waiting instead.

She didn't fully wake, instead drifting back into unconsciousness.

Tony sighed slightly. "I won't be surprised if she stays out for awhile. That was a pretty solid hit." He turned to Claire who chuckled faintly as she carefully cleaned the bite, making sure to try to only move what got in the way of it.

"I, uh, know a lot about where those kinda spots are. Being a nurse and all..." she explained as she started to stitch the injury shut.

Matt gritted his teeth as she worked, finding the stitches uncomfortable. Even if he'd stitched himself up a thousand times, that didn't mean he liked it anymore than a normal person. "Leave it to Claire to knock someone out with a cane." He chuckled tiredly.

"Hey, I'm just glad it worked. That could've gotten much worse." She replied as she finished up and carefully started wrapping it back up for him.

Tony nodded. "Yeah... hopefully when she wakes up she'll actually be responsive..."

"Do you think the dampener will have any effect on the destabilization?" Matt asked Tony, bringing the subject at hand forward. He thought it's be better to talk about it now, while Kasey was still out, than to risk talking about it in front of her and setting off another glitch attack.

Tony stopped and glanced at him. "Honestly? I don't know. I doubt it but I could be wrong." He answered. "Honestly? I'm surprised she's been fine for this long..."

Claire sat next to Matt in the other chair. "So... why now?"

"That's what I'm hoping to find out." Tony replied. "But likely all the stress she's been under for the past two or so weeks, and/or something they did to her during either time she was there..."

Matt sighed again, keeping one ear open for any sign of waking from Kasey. "It would make sense if it was from the recent stress. It seems like everything bad that could've happened, happened. And all in the span of what? A week?"

Aurora frowned, eavesdropping on anything they said. She heard the destabilization being mentioned and leaned closer. Whatever they were talking about was happening with Kasey, and it didn't sound good. She sent a quick update to Peter.

"Two if you count her getting snatched by them and proceeding to find out she's not supposed to exist here and that everything and everyone she thought she was here that very well could be, isn't the version she knows?" He sighed as he leaned against the wall, nearby. "Now she's destabilizing due to it all?" He shook his head. "Not to mention her stress for the other two..."

"Yeah, I'd say that'd do it. That much stress wouldn't be good for any normal person, both mentally and physically. Not only did it upset her, it somehow upset her whole makeup." Matt theorized. "That could be causing the glitching to worsen.."

Aurora's fingers hovered over her phone's keyboard, having been in the middle of another update. She wasn't quite sure if she had heard that right, or even processed it correctly. So that's it.

Suddenly a lot of things were starting to make sense, and she couldn't help but feel horrified with every revelation.

Tony sighed again. "From what I know they were trying to force her "frequency" to match ours but never quite managed to get it to stay... Then they tortured her more or less, further messing up her entire genetics..." He looked at Kasey, his eyes tired and concerned for her. "I honestly don't even know if sending her back will fix it... Or if it's just as bad as keeping her here... I don't know if it's even repairable at this point."

"So it is what we were reading about?" Peter's text came back. "Has he said anything more?"

"Not only are we dealing with some sort of... what do they call it? The multiverse?" Matt questioned, before continuing on. "Not only are we dealing with that, but the fact that she was forcibly brought here, only to suffer."

He groaned, hating even saying it. He had assumed the corporation had brought her there. "You don't think the corporation would have a stabilizer, would they?"

All of this new information caused her to visibly shake. She would've dropped her phone, had she not been holding it with her usual spider stickiness. Her eyes flitted to Peter's new text, and she froze. How am I supposed to tell him all of this? She stared at her screen, her heart pumping impossibly fast in her chest.

Tony turned to him, kinda surprised by the question before thinking it over, starting to nod. "Or at least something they were able to use to do it. She- She wouldn't be here if they didn't... I'm going to have to go back if they haven't cleaned the house and moved yet..."

Matt nodded. That place was dangerous, but he believed Tony would be able to handle it. Even if he didn't fully trust the man yet, he'd need to believe in his care for Kasey to pull through. He was about to say something when a new sound piqued his interest. No- new wasn't the word. It was as if the sound had been turned up, or faded in. He lowered his voice, down to barely a whisper. "Someone's listening-"

Tony's head snapped up. "Friday-"

"Scan's indicate Interweb is outside, sir."

"Damn it!" He went over to the window and opened it, leaning out to look at her disapprovingly. "Seriously, Webs?!"

While Matt was relieved to hear that it wasn't an unfriendly eavesdropper, hearing that it was one of Kasey's friends was hardly any better. After what they had just been talking about? No, this wouldn't be good.

Aurora turned her head towards Tony, her lenses exceptionally wide. She looked, and felt, like a deer caught in a car's headlights. "This is what you weren't telling us..?"

He groaned, rubbing a hand down his face and stepped aside, gesturing for her to come in. "At least come in here to talk about it." He reluctantly told her.

Aurora hesitated, not even sure if she wanted to go inside. She felt like the air had grown thick and unwelcoming. Cautiously, she slipped inside, but kept close to the window.

She saw Kasey unconscious on the couch, Matt looking a bit worse for wear and Claire sitting nearby him.

Tony crossed his arms. "How much did you hear?" He asked her, cutting straight to the point.

Matt waited and listened. It was disheartening to know one of her friends had been there listening in, but he would let Tony handle her for now.

"Enough." Aurora replied at first, reading the room. "Enough to know that Kasey isn't even from this universe."

Tony sighed softly but nodded. "She's not..." He confirmed. "Look, I-" He hesitated, glancing at Kasey. "She asked me not to say anything..." He tried to explain to her.

Claire looked nervously between the two of them.

Wow. That actually hurt a little bit. Why hadn't Kasey wanted him to say anything to them? "You sure like to pick your battles, huh? Were we ever going to know? Or would we find out when Kasey started glitching out, or whatever it is that's happening?"

"It wasn't for me to tell you. I assume she would've in time but she needed to process it herself first," He replied, trying to keep his voice calm. He did not have the energy to argue with her. "We only just found out. The day after she got back with the files and what not..." He didn't mention she had been there too...

"You let me believe you were crazy. You let me hate you." Aurora hissed out. She had been so angry at him for going off and trying to keep Kasey at the tower. And then she got even angrier knowing he had gone so far as to track her down in Hell's Kitchen.

"What did you want me to do?! If I told you and she found out that would've pushed her away but I guess that was just unavoidable, huh?!" He stopped and took a deep breath. "I think she didn't want you to know because she was scared you'd act differently around her... treat her differently." He told her, his voice soft.

"...She didn't have anyone here and I wasn't going to risk damaging the relationship the two of you have with her... I just... I couldn't do that to any of you..." He glanced at Kasey. "...Have you told him yet?"

Aurora scowled at him, but deep down she knew he was doing this all for them. In his own, frustrating way. "...No. I was supposed to be updating him, but I don't know how I'm supposed to tell him any of this."

All of this was stressful and frustrating, and she didn't know if she wanted to unload all of it onto him. He needed to rest, and to heal. Stressing him out wouldn't help.

"Well... when Kasey wakes up we can ask her if I can fill him in." He told her.

And speaking of- Kasey started to stir, shifting around a bit before opening her eyes slowly with a small groan of pain.

Aurora watched Kasey, finding herself rigid. What Tony had said was true, Aurora found herself looking at Kasey with a new perspective.

Matt turned towards Kasey, leaning forward in his chair. His full focus was now on her. "Kase... how you feeling?" He asked gently. He half wondered if she even remembered what had happened. If she didn't, he wondered if he'd even tell her.

Kasey slightly tilted her head, hissing in pain a bit. "M-Matt?" She asked, sounding confused. She put a hand to the back of her head with another groan of pain. "W-What happened???" She still felt incredibly out of it and like something was wrong but put it off for now.

Tony sighed in relief upon hearing her talking but let Matt answer her for now as not to spook her.

Matt continued to speak softly, with as much calmness as he could muster. "You were kind of out of it there for a while, kid." He debated telling her everything, deciding for now to stick to the important parts.

"Tony's here too. We've agreed to try and stabilize you instead of sending you back." Matt explained, unsure if this Kasey had been the one to hear him the first time around.

She listened closely to him before becoming aware of Tony nearby and- Aurora?? She looked confused but nodded. She didn't seem panicked with the idea. "I... I vaguely recall that??? But I don't recall being told Interweb was coming??"

Tony sighed. "She wasn't supposed to."

Kasey tilted her head in confusion. "So... you followed him?" She asked her.

Aurora looked between Tony and Kasey, before responding. "Yeah, I wanted to know what he was up to this time." She put it vaguely.

Matt chuckled lightly. "Didn't know until recently. She was hanging around outside the window."

Kasey chuckled faintly at that. "Sounds about right... Where's Spidey then?"

Tony tensed up at that, hesitating on answering. "He is, uh, back at the tower..."

Kasey raised an eyebrow. "Okay... but why didn't he come?"

Matt wouldn't admit it, but he, too, was worried for the other two spiders. After hearing everything they had gone through, it was surprising that even one of them was up and moving around. Enhanced healing was no joke.

Aurora rubbed the back of her neck nervously, biting the inside of her cheek. "He's still healing right now. I thought it'd be better for him to rest than to come with me."

Kasey frowned a bit. "I-...Is he okay?" She remembered hearing him scream... "Are you okay?" She asked her, looking towards her, concern in her eyes.

She didn't like to be reminded of the alleyway fight. "I'm-" She paused briefly. "I'm alright. Still a bit sore, and working on healing up the worse parts, but alright. Spidey had a pretty bad wound, and that's the one that needs a little more healing."

"B-But he'll be okay?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, he'll be fine, Kase. As long as he does as he's told and rest, he'll be fine."

She sighed in relief. "G-Good..." She took a slightly shaky breath as she tried to let herself relax.

"Kase, I need to draw some blood to run some tests to find a way to stabilize you, is that alright?" He asked her.

She hesitated before nodding. "Just... be careful."

"Of course." He prepared her arm again and carefully got a couple of vials to work with and Claire handed her the glass of water to sip on.

"You were pretty out of it earlier though..." Claire told her.

Kasey frowned. "I... I remember really vague stuff but not a lot-" She took a sip of the water but gagged a bit when she tasted the iron in her mouth. She set the cup down, blood tainting the glass and the water inside it as she coughed a bit. "W-What?"

Aurora inhaled sharply, her eyes flickering from the tainted glass, to Kasey, and back to the glass. She hadn't seen the situation from earlier, so seeing the blood put her on edge.

Matt frowned, trying to guess what might've happened. Hearing the glass and the gagging, either his water had gone bad, or the consequences of her subconscious actions had come back to, well, bite her. "You okay there Kasey?"

"W-why is th-there blood i-in my m-mouth?" She asked, her voice starting to distort again as she trembled.

Tony's eyes widened. "Kasey- you need to take a deep breath-" He tried to calm her down.

Matt heard her heartbeat start picking up but it sounded like a normal anxious heartbeat as she started to panic.

Matt leaned forward, keeping his calm tone. "Just breathe Kasey, and I can tell you what you want to know, alright? But I need you to calm down first. Deep breaths."

Aurora had pressed herself against the wall, watching in a growing horror. Kasey's voice sounded awful. It was as if she was speaking through some sort of voice distortion filter, and it was scary.

Kasey gave a small nod, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath and released it. Again and again but every breath sounded more and more normal as her heartbeat calmed back down.

Tony sighed in relief. "There you go, kid."

Kasey opened her eyes again. "S-So, w-why?" She asked after a moment, her voice sounding clearer but still shaken. "I-is it mine o-or-... someone else's?"

Matt relaxed, glad to know she wouldn't glitch out again. "I'm going to tell you, just try not to freak out." He winced lightly, trying to readjust his shoulder somewhat. "It's not yours."

Kasey's heart skipped a beat. "I-I... I did it again?" She was upset but wasn't freaking out.

Tony frowned at that but was relieved to see her keeping somewhat calm.

Matt made a thoughtful expression, tilting his head side to side. "Yes, and no. You were really out of it, so I don't believe it was really you doing it."

She looked confused by that. "What... what do you mean it wasn't me?"

Tony stepped forward. "I think it might have been your spider senses..." He explained. "You seemed to have closed yourself off leaving the ability to take over wide open for them."

Kasey's eyes widened at that and she "looked" down at her lap. "I-I-... I didn't know that would happen... I was just trying to make it stop..." tears dripped down her face.

"It's alright Kasey. You had no idea it would happen, it's not your fault." Matt assured her. He didn't want her to beat herself up over something she wasn't even in control of. "What matters is that you're back now."

Kasey still started to break down again. "I-I can't stop i-it- I-I j-just keep making t-things worse!" She cried, tears running down her face as her voice started distorting again. "S-See?! E-even now- I-I can't even s-show any s-strong emotions o-or this h-happens!"

She was trembling as visual glitches started to ripple from her again. "B-but suppressing t-them seemed t-to work only i-it apparently c-causes me to h-hurt people!" She sobbed.

"Kasey- you need to breathe-" Claire tried but was ignored.

"W-WHY C-CAN'T I J-JUST EXIST?!" She cried before a static like scream of pain came from her as a glitch tore through her system and she vanished right before their eyes.

Matt heard her panic develop further, and moved to speak again. "Kasey you really need to-" He was cut short by Kasey's heartbeat disappearing from where she had been. He didn't even hear the distortions like he had been. "Kasey-?!"

Aurora shrieked and clasped a hand over her masked mouth. She had literally seen her friend glitch out, as if she was straight from a video game or a film. Her heart raced, and she realized that whatever was happening, was a huge fricken deal.

"Kasey?!" Tony looked around for her but the four of them heard a loud thud from the staircase and Kasey gasping for breath, still sounding distorted.

Tony spun and stared at her as she trembled, breathing painfully on the stairs. "Kasey!" He hurried over to her, watching her continue to glitch more.

She was shaking as she cried, not moving from her place on the stairs as her whole body ached.

Matt pushed himself up, stumbling over to the staircase. He stood besides Tony and in front of Kasey, reaching a hand out to rest on the back of her head. "Tony, we need to figure something out now. We can't keep letting her glitch and distort like this."

Aurora was frozen in place. Sure, she had encountered many disturbing things throughout her short time as a hero, but never had she experienced anything like this.

Tony nodded in agreement. "You think you can handle this while I go raid the place? It's not far from here. And can Webs stay if she wants to?"

Kasey was still crying but leaned into Matt's touch.

Matt nodded, continuing to comfort Kasey. "Just make it quick, and keep us updated. If anything happens I need to know." He told Tony, before turning to Kasey. "Do you want to lay down or anything?"

Aurora turned her attention to Tony. "You're going back? Again?" She glanced between him and Kasey, then back at him. "You shouldn't go alone.."

Tony turned to her. "No. You are not coming." He told her firmly. "I am not putting you in danger again."

Kasey gave a small nod and whimper, shifting carefully to be closer to Matt.

"Tony at this point I'm in danger every time I step foot outside." Aurora said flatly. "But if they have the ability to pierce your armor, you're in danger too. Not to mention, Kasey will be royally screwed if you can't make it back."

Matt knelt down, as much as he could, looping one of his arms under her. "Want to use my bed until Tony comes back?" He asked quietly, trying to tune out the other two.

"Yeah, well you're still recovering and they are more geared to take you out then they are me so for once in your damn life, do what I tell you to do and stay here." He ordered.

Kasey carefully sat up with his help and nodded again, a small "Mhmm..." coming from her. She was still trembling a bit.

"What happens if you get hurt?" Aura let out a sound of frustration. "I hate that you're so willing to put yourself out there, but at the end of the day who has your back?"

"Alright, let's get you to bed." He lifted her up, making sure she didn't have to put in much effort to walk. As he passed Tony, let out a harsh whisper. "We don't have time for this. Go."

He sighed. "Look, if you're coming, you're going to follow my lead and stick with me, got it?" He asked her as he headed up the stairs.

Kasey stumbled alongside him, Claire coming over to help her so Matt didn't have to risk hurting himself as much.

"Fine." She seethed, but followed after him. Taking one last look back at Kasey, she bounded up the stairs after Tony.