Spider-Gwen.

P - What kind of music I like.

“Country is my fave, but rock is fab. I’m a sucker for pop too. The band I was in was kind of pop/rock.”

S - 2 habits.

“Well dear, if you can order a Captain America snowglobe from the internet then I believe you can do anything. What’s the trouble?”

“You can-... Director Carter?” Gwen had seen so many people in this world already, but she didn’t quite expect to run into Peggy Carter. Especially not a Peggy Carter with two eyes. “Um... Are you... Director?”

The heat was gone, any ounce of sickness that he still might have felt disappeared, he saw brightness that wasn’t a glaring orange hue projected into the sky. It was as if he closed his eyes and the second he had opened them up he was brought into New York, the real New York this time around. There was no ominous feeling lurking in the air, no immediate sense of dread and there was sunlight - something he hadn’t seen for quite a few months. He couldn’t believe it, almost seeming too good to be true. 

And maybe it was too good to be true. Maybe what they thought to be the soul stone was actually a weird state of purgatory like most had first assumed after everything happened. There was nothing about this situation that made sense, they knew that from their very first time being in fake New York and the one thing he wanted the most in the world had come true, but he wasn’t really there. It was some cruel trick his mind had been playing on him, because how could they have ended back up here? What changed?

However, the conspiracy theories he started building in his mind were quickly deterred as he turned his head and saw the people next to him, the ones who had been in the stone and were looking just about as lost as he was. His eyes scanned a bit more around them until they landed on other familiar faces and he couldn’t help but feel tears begin to prick the corner of eyes involuntarily. “I can’t believe it.” he said softly in disbelief.

They were home. 

This was so messed up. Gwen had always thought that her Earth was crazy, but this was intense. Some power-mad Titan had literally halved the universe’s population and until recently, everyone had thought all of these people to be dead. May had thought them to be dead, and along with them, Peter. Gwen hadn’t meant to find herself living in Peter’s bedroom, wearing his clothes, finding comfort in the familiarity of his Aunt May, but when she had arrived there with nothing but her Spider-Woman costume and no way to get back home, she simply couldn’t find the strength to refuse May’s offer.

Of course, May had taken her shopping and bought her her own clothes, but that didn’t stop her from wearing Peter’s hoodies and mourning a boy she had never even known- not really. She had mourned her own Peter years ago and he had been her best friend, but this Peter? Knowing he was dead too? It damn near broke her heart.

Word had gotten out though. About how the dusted were still alive, trapped in a world with no means of escape, and how the Avengers were going to find a way to get to them. Gwen had wanted to help, obviously, but in a weird way she felt responsible for May. Like she couldn’t put her suit back on and jump into the action for fear that it could be too much for the woman. May had done so much for her, the last thing she needed was to lose someone else to this mad Titan’s war.

So now? Now, she stood there in awe as she watched the presumed deceased being returned to this world, pulling on Peter’s hoody as she wrapped it tighter around herself. Maybe, just maybe... That was when she saw him.

Gwen’s feet were moving through the crowd towards him before her brain even knew what she was doing. This was all too weird. She needed to see him up close, to know he was really there, but would he even know who she was? May had told her that this Earth’s Gwen had moved away when they were kids, but perhaps he would know... perhaps it wouldn’t be all that weird that some random girl in his hoody was crying over a boy she didn’t know. Because she was. She was crying silently as she reached him, her hands reaching towards him for the briefest moment before she quickly lowered them again.

“Peter.”

He found comfort in her eyes. He could see her searching for something. Being told he could yell made him relax for some reason. He nodded, rubbing the back of his head and taking a deep breath. “Gwen Stacy.” He said for some reason the name seem to be something he understood, but didn’t at the same time. It was a lovely name if anything. He had a pet rabbit named stacy once. “Sorry for shouting. Can . why are you here?” He asked. “Did we have an appointment?” He couldn’t remember if he came here or she did.

Gwen’s brow furrowed as he said her name. This Harry knew her? God, it would be so messed up if this word’s Gwen Stacy just showed up all of a sudden, but it was a small comfort that May had told her that she had moved away when she was really young. “I-... Wait can we just jump back to how you know me?” Ridiculous question, she knew that. She had, after all, been the one to say his name first.

“Judging by how much I did not get what you were just saying, probably. I can text Tony Stark for you or something, if you want. He basically wears a ‘genius’ tank top underneath everything he owns. But hey… You’re not never going home, promise.” A pause before she tried for a smile which turned quickly to a grin as she held up the credit card. “In the meantime though, you probably want something that doesn’t have uh, periodic table…puns, on it?”

“Tony Stark? Name sounds familiar...” Not that it really mattered much. It seemed like most people from her earth were completely unlike their counterparts on this one; everyone except May. Back home, Peter’s aunt had been so amazing to her and this one had welcomed her with the same open arms that she would always run to. “Maybe I’m supposed to be here.” Gwen shrugged, releasing a sigh as she looked down at the shirt she was wearing. A laugh escaped her, “I mean, I know I make this look work better than Peter ever could, but that would be-... Are you sure?”

“Are you really having this conversation with me?” He asked with a roll of his eyes. “If anyone knows it would be Tony. I have been calling mister Tony ass-hat for weeks now!” Harry would just LOVE to be able to talk to his dad and figure out how the hell he was going to run Oscorp alone. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you. It’s just been.. well.. hell on earth so to speak.”

“Yeah, I-...” Gwen wasn’t sure what she had planned to retort with- something witty, no doubt- but her words dropped dead when she realised who was speaking to her. “Harry...?” His name fell from her lips as a whisper, almost a sigh of joy at seeing her old friend. Only... this wasn’t her Harry. “Yeah... I can see that.” She doubted that she would ever get used to seeing the faces of people she cared about here, knowing that they didn’t even know who she was. It almost made her more nostalgic for home, but really... should she ever try to go back? “I don’t mind the yelling. Yell all you want.” Honestly, his yelling was almost comforting in that she hadn’t heard it for almost two years.

@itsybitsystacy ++ starter call

Rocket did not like not knowing what was going on. But he was good at faking it. That was something at least.

And he hated getting answers from other people and looking like the fool, so if someone else was clueless too, he could always just fake it.

And in this particular case, he saw a Terran girl who probably didn’t have a damn clue what was happening, so. That was a good starting place.

“Okay, so don’t freak out, and don’t say anything insulting, but uh– hi.”

Gwen’s heart had practically stopped when she saw the rift close. Not only had some lame-ass aliens broken her dimensional travel watch, but now what had seemed to be her only way off this weird earth had closed and she honestly wasn’t sure how she was ever supposed to get home now. Not that there was much to go home to.

Running a hand through her hair, Gwen almost released a frustrated sigh, but stopped when she heard a voice close to the ground. “Oh, wow.” Her hand rested on her mouth for a moment before the corners of her lips turned up into a grin. “You’re-...” Would calling him ‘cute’ be classed as insulting? “Hi.” She fought against the urge to say the words, but she struggled. “Are you... alright?”

May’s heart stopped when she caught a glimpse of crouched spandex back-flipping away from danger. As she watched the web gunk hit one of the aliens, she almost let out a strangled sob at the familiarity. Her hopes had been crushed every morning and every night when she thought she heard a door shut or his voice so she wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity to have her heart broken all over again. Running through whatever gunk was on the streets at this point, she almost crashed headlong into them. May’d never forget when she saw Peter in that suit for the first time and she’d never forget what it looked like again. She’d even sat and Youtubed Spider-Man after she’d found out. The colour scheme was off but who didn’t love a pink and white combo? Maybe being thrust through whatever wind or void or rift had washed the colour out of his original suit. Maybe- Maybe…

“Peter?”

Hearing his name was like a dagger to the heart. These alien creatures could have clawed at her one by one and it still wouldn’t be as painful as hearing Peter’s name. And what added to the crushing weight on her chest was the voice; Gwen knew that voice. She turned slowly to face May, then froze where she stood. This world had a May Parker- did it have a Peter? It must have if she was saying his name. But... why did she think that she was Peter? Did this earth’s Peter wear spandex? Her head shook a little and before she could even think about what she was doing, Gwen had dropped her hood and removed her mask. “You’re looking for Peter?” It felt natural speaking with May. On her earth, May had been one of the only people to believe that Spider-Woman wasn’t responsible for the death of her nephew; there were days where Gwen was sure she couldn’t have gotten through without the things she had said to her. If she was going to be stuck here, she could only hope that this May was half as wonderful as her May. “My name is Gwen, I-... What happened here?”

“I wish I could say Peter, but… god, he was perfect as he was. I wouldn’t want-… If he could’ve just seen himself the way I saw him, maybe-…”

GWEN STACY:

“Uh… Yeah? Maybe. I don’t- It’s not something I’ve ever tested, you know? I’ve always been terrible at sports.”

SPIDER-WOMAN:

“You have no idea.”

When Thor had finally made his way to the actual split in the world that was the portal, he had lifted his axe high, sure that he would be forced to cut whatever came through it in half with it.  It stood to reason that was the case, since it had been spewing out aliens thus far.  So he found himself letting his axe down in an arc when someone came through the rift, only seeing at the last moment that it wasn’t one of the snarling aliens at all, but a being in a spandex suit.  Much like some of his companions sometimes wore.  Well, more like Lady Romanoff wore since there were…well.

Thor shook his head and regarded her warily, if indeed it was a woman in a spandex costume and not some different alien being with very strange skin.  The aliens were on her heels anyway and Thor shook away his momentary confusion and sliced one in half before he noticed that the woman had handily pinned the others with some strange webbing.  He lopped the head off one handily and bent down to offer her his hand.  "I assume we are on the same side, my lady, though I do not know you.  Whence did you come?  This is Midgard, and it is under my protection, lest you get any strange ideas of conquering it.“

Gwen hadn’t even seen the man before her until he was standing there in front of her, offering her his hand. As she looked up at him, she failed to find the logic for how this was possible as he was so... beautiful? Her breath caught in the back of her throat for the shortest moment and, after noticing that his ridiculously large axe was covered in alien blood, she concluded that he probably wasn’t a threat to her.

Trying not to appear too flustered behind her mask, Gwen reached for his hand and allowed him to pull her from her crouched position, but even standing upright this man was still towering over her and she was sure she might actually die right there where she stood if she didn’t back up a few paces. “Well, you keep taking out aliens and not me and I’d say that’s pretty same side-y” Gwen released a small laugh, “I’m not here to conquer anything. I was pulled from my Earth by this big gaping reality hole.” She indicated to void behind her. “You said ‘Midgard’... Is this not an Earth?” How far had that thing taken her?

Leaving the compound had clearly been a terrible idea on Nebula’s part, because the beings on this planet either didn’t notice a difference, or didn’t care about the fact that she wasn’t one of the bad alien who had just attacked. They either screamed and ran, or threw things at her and then screamed and ran. It made her–admittedly already very low–tolerance for this planet wear thin. As she was avoiding the loud yells of some terran in a funny looking hat, she found herself face-to-face with a being that was unlike any she’d ever seen before.

Blinking slowly at the creature, she tilted her head to survey it. “So this is your fault, then.” She motioned to the destruction around them as she completely misunderstood what the girl had been saying. “You broke the time-space continuum. I should kill you where you stand for that crime, creature!” She yelled as she drew her blade.

When she first approached her, Gwen honestly thought she was also wearing a costume. She had never seen anyone with blue skin before and all the metal enhancements surely couldn’t be a part of her, but as Nebula moved closer, she could see that her assumption had been wrong. There was the briefest glance between the alien on the ground and this being before her, but Gwen quickly assessed that they weren’t of the same species. Either way though, this had been some choice of planet to end up crashing on.

“My fault? I just got here, bro.” Gwen held her hands up dramatically, then held them there upon the release of the knife. “Oh... Oh, we’re doing this, are we?” She faked some sobbed sounds, “Can’t believe you found my one weakness- small knives.” A hand dropped at lightening speed, shooting a web at her hand and sending the blade to the ground. “Listen Smurfette, I got stuck here because I dimension hopped; I didn’t bring these slimeballs with me, but if you like I can take a step back and stop defending your people for you.”

Even through her mask, it was clear that she was releasing a frustrated sigh. “That’s what I get for messing with the space-time continuum.”