ANNIE / SPIDERLING.

“Yeah, I know. I know. I wasn’t born yesterday. People obviously live other places and my dad has a ton of clones. I didn’t mean to make it seem like I thought you were a Peter. Sorry.”

“You lie about as well as my dad does.” Annie comments from where she’s posted up. She pops a cracker into her mouth. “Which is to say, not very well at all. Mom’s definitely the actress.”

“I hate it when any variant of my dad dies. It always hits a little too close to home, even though home is very far away.”

“The Web of Life and Destiny, yes.” Annie nods. “It represents the Multiverse. It’s like a model that exists in a five dimensional place. I get that it’s confusing. The nexus is in Earth-001, and the Master Weaver watches it. I’m the Patternmaker. It’s my job to repair the web. It’s how I accidentally released Shathra and got Spider-man and Spider-woman erased from reality recently.” Whoops. 

“Spider-Zero. She’s the Master Weaver.” Annie explains. “Her reality was destroyed by an Incursion, and she stays at the Web now. You know about the Web, right? If not, I’m a great person to ask. I’m the Patternmaker.” She’s pretty proud of that.

“Peter Parker? His name is Peter Parker. He’s, um, a family friend.”

“Oh, okay.” Annie may have deflated just a tiny bit from that. “The weather is nice? It’s been rainy back home.” Back home in a different reality, that is.

“There’s a guy called Devil-Spider. Is that close enough?”

“Yeah, yeah. Of course. What in particular do you want to know?”

“Duh, it’s you. Sorry, Miles.” Annie pauses. “That bad? I mean, I should probably know so I can report back to mom and dad. They’re not traveling right now.”

“Spiderling! I’m Spiderling. You probably know my dad: Spider-man.” She’s not bragging. “I’m not really from here.”

“I’m sorry, but I kinda don’t know what that is.” She’s clearly missed something big. If there’s ever been a time to traverse the multiverse it seems that this isn’t it. “My mind? I’m looking for someone. That’s what’s on my mind.”

Annie can’t see into the future. She can see into the Web and charts its patterns, but that’s different. If there’s one thing she gets though, it’s effort. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume anything. I didn’t even know you could see the future. That sounds intense. How do you stop from going, y’know, off your rocker?”

“Ouch. That actually kinda hurts? I didn’t expect it to. You’re not very nice.”

“Can I ask what she did? Sorry, you’re talking like it’s obvious but I’m way late to the game.”

“I was hoping it would be better here.” One hand rises to adjust the red mask that conceals Annie’s eyes. “The Web’s been super messy recently and Spider-Zero said that — well, I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?”