Chapter Forty-Two

Dr. Strange walked around the dome inspecting what appeared to be a battle ground. There was a pungent smell that wafted through a gaping hole in the dome base. It had taken longer than he had expected to locate the breach in realities than had been detected, but by the time he arrived it seemed like the crisis had already resolved itself. At least that is how it seemed at the time. When he left he had a nagging feeling as if he had missed something very important. After about a week he came back to look over the area once more.

There had been many people come and go since he had left prior and a lot of the chemicals that had been present a week prior had been moved away. He walked around the area for hours looking for anything that might clue him into what he was missing, he was just about to leave once again due to not finding anything for the second time in a row. When he managed to find what appeared to be another battlefield outside of the dome.

The sand had started to crystalize possibly from extremely intense heat, but what was most interesting wasn't the glass in the sand but the pattern it had created. With a mental command to his cloak he arose into the air to get a better vantage point.

"A Planck scale ceal." Strange noted.

In string theory, the term "Planck scale" refers to the magnitudes of space, time, energy and other units, below which (or beyond which) the predictions of the Standard Model, quantum field theory and general relativity are no longer reconcilable, and quantum effects of gravity are expected to dominate.

He was a man of science and he could appreciate how straight forward that kind of thinking could be. But the magical world had similar yet different ideas behind what the Planck scale was. It has been theorized that if a sorcerer is able to create a seal using the theory of the "Planck scale" someone could possibly manipulate the multiverse in a somewhat smaller scale.

No one in this reality has managed to do anything like this, and the mere idea has even been banned from research at Kamar-Taj due to its dangerous nature. Strange himself, had dabbled into the theory a little just to be familiar with its concept, if he was correct it would need a minimum of seven ceal in different worlds to have any effect on the multiverse in general.

If he was correct the method that the intruder came here was not by the ceal but by a man made method which is why the dimensional vortex was unstable. Which means, this is probably the first seal.

Strange decided he needed to bring this back to the council and discuss what actions needed to be taken to resolve this mess. Rising up into the air he created a portal back to Kamar-Taj. This is something that even he might not be able to handle… hopefully he could find some help.

---

Ben awoke on a glossy wooden floor completely confused. From what he remembered he had just managed to save MJ from a vat of some of Dr. Warren's chemicals, submerging himself in the process. Now he was somehow at a… School dance?

Looking around, Ben recognized Midtown high school from Peter's memories.

"Damn" His head was pounding and the stage lights were not really helping either.

Still trying to find some familiar faces he scanned the surroundings for Peter, MJ and Jean but they were nowhere to be seen and he was definitely not in the African desert anymore. That's when he noticed everyone was running frantically. Everyone was running except one…

"Gwen?" He asked in bewilderment.

She had the same blonde hair albeit a little shorter, and same beautiful crystal blue eyes that haunted his dreams and sometimes his nightmares.

Unsure what was happening, he could only make a few guesses. They ranged from 'Some twisted experiment from Warren's lab' to an 'auditory and visual hallucination.' He couldn't be sure.

Turning on his heels he ran for the exit sign. The minute he hit the night air he jumped and shot a web-line to a nearby lamp post.

Gwen stood there in shock. She thought she was done with the dimension hopping fun. But there stood a spider man like guy. She ducked out of the show and quickly changed. Then she decidedly headed off on her own web-line knowing he'll end up there eventually, and she wanted to beat him. That suit though was odd, but she seen many things during the "event" as she called it, and 'odd' had an all-new definition since that day.

She got this weird thought, 'we'll you did ask for Peter back.' She shook her head; she knew the girls would be pissed about her bailing… but there are just some things more important than a high school performance. Besides they would be fooling themselves if they thought it wasn't already over at this point. Parents would be coming from miles around protesting against the 'Dangerous Spider…person' at the dance.

Catching his eye and he swung down and webbed a newspaper, he wanted to check the date and year. After a quick scan everything seemed to be correct. Ben didn't understand what exactly happened, but Gwen was here. Was she a clone? Something seemed off, really off. The thought pushed him faster towards Queens he had to make sure May was ok, before anything else.

As he arrived at Aunt May's house, he spotted a familiar older man setting outside on the porch in an old rocker.

Damn near falling out of the sky mid-swing he managed to right himself without much trouble (thank you spider powers). Landing behind a neighboring house he stole a jacket and a pair of pants, then he walked out casually pretending to be just a normal person.

Approaching the white picket fence he called out, "Sir, sorry to trouble you." He noted the fence looked a lot better maintained than when he had last seen it.

"What is it, young fella?" The old man asked looking up from the paper he had been reading, his glasses hanging off the bridge of his nose in a familiar manner to the man he remembered.

"I'm looking for a friend, he used to live around here his name was Peter Parker." Ben said trying to hold back tears while speaking with the one person he thought he'd never speak with again. He knew full well this was Uncle Ben in front of him.

He couldn't help telling himself 'if this is an illusion it is the best one he had ever seen.' With both Gwen and Uncle Ben still alive. He felt like he was about to have a complete mental breakdown.

Ben stood in a daze for a few moments, hoping his uncle didn't notice anything odd about his face. But it seemed like he was still just as caught up in his own grief.

After a few moments, Uncle Ben replied with a tear in his eyes, "I'm sorry to tell you this son, but my Peter's been dead for about a year now. Please keep your voice down, we don't need to bother my wife. She still has her moments about Peter's death."

Those words nearly brought Ben to his knees… Had something happened to the timeline? Or was this a different reality? One where, if Peter had never become Spider-Man the two of them would have actually lived?

The older man approached the white gate and leaned over placing a hand on Ben's shoulder, "How long has it been since you last seen him?"

Ben snapped out of his reprieve, "School, I met Pete in School he was like a brother. He was like a little brother." Ben croaked out, attempting to keep his face from Ben's full view.

"Well son, here is how you get to Peter's grave." Uncle Ben said handing him a slip of paper.

"Probably be best if you go there and say your peace." His words were said softly as if he was talking to a fragile person.

Ben Reilly nodded and then stood to his full height. He couldn't help drawing comparisons to the Mr. Brown he met in Bayville to the man that stood in front of him. He wanted to hug the old man but held himself back from making the situation awkward.

Waving to the old man still standing at the white gate Ben walked off, when he was clear from elder man's view, he ditched his 'borrowed clothes' and began to Web sling towards the cemetery. He knew the way. He went straight to what was supposed to be Uncle Ben's grave marker and found Peters.

He dropped and sat against it. "Pete you are not going to believe it. A whole world we didn't screw up. Uncle Ben's alive… and Gwen. God bro did you hear me Gwen's alive." Ben's head sunk, he pulled his mask off and just sat there.

"Hungry?" Gwen asked lowering herself down from an overhanging tree with a bag of food from 'dollar-dogs' in one hand, picture of a smiling corndog on the bag. She was wearing her black and white costume with thin red webbing patterns.

Most people she approaches like this usually either run away screaming or freeze and scream, but regardless there is usually screaming involved.

But Ben just looked at her, "who-" he managed to get out.

Gwen dropped down to the ground beside Ben and took off her mask, "Just visiting?" She asked.

At his blank stare she continued, "Now, we need to talk and you probably need to eat something. Preferably not on top of my dead friend's grave."

Ben nodded, and he slipped back on his mask, "Lead the way."

A short time later he was sitting on a roof top while Gwen broke down the multiverse to Ben. He chows down on the corn dogs.

When she finishes, he sighs, "I thought I was having a mental breakdown. First you were alive then Uncle Ben."

Gwen laughed, "Well it's not really a picnic for me either, seeing you…"

"Thank you for everything." Ben said not paying much attention to her tone.

"Don't mention it, plus I was missing…" She paused but after a moment she finished, "…having another spider around."

Ben smiled at her, and without much hesitation Ben explained how he came into existence where he was from.

Afterwards she shook her head, "Okay I really don't want to meet this Warren guy."

Ben nodded, "You really don't." The exhaustion in his voice seeping through.

"So, any way you know how to get me back?" He asked changing the subject.

"Maybe, but I've recently run into a problem with that…" She replied.

"Oh yeah, anything I can help with?" Ben asked.

"Maybe, see I would normally have a watch that can help me open a gateway between worlds. But… it was stolen."

"Any idea by who?"

"Yeah…" she didn't get to finish her sentence due to spotted a large amount of smoke rising from a building across town. Slipping on their masks, without another word, they both leapt off the side of the building and web-slung across town.

---

"I'm done. I refuse to work with our enemy because you've lost faith in us…" Scott said glaring at Professor Xavier. Then walking past the new 'team members' in frustration he got into the elevator.

"Scott! Wait!" Kitty yelled out attempting to stop him but before she could reach him the double elevator doors closed between them.

"We do not have time for this." Xavier said rubbing his forehead with frustration.

"We have just gotten news on a possible location where Magneto is keeping Logan, and I want everyone suited up and in the hanger bay in twenty minutes. If Scott isn't there by the time we leave… Then we are leaving without him." Xavier said coldly.

Jean looked at Xavier strangely. He was acting odd, she couldn't put her finger on it. With the constant headache she's had for the past few days she couldn't even focus enough to figure it out.

Going through the motions of preparing the team and making sure everyone was ready to go she loaded the entire group minus Kitty Pride and Scott into the X-Copter. It was a regret that they only got to use the 'Phoenix' for the emergency trip to the Sahara Desert, but without Ben on the team the gold and blue team were decommissioned and it was just the old X-men team now.

There seemed to be something missing and she didn't understand what that might be, It had been almost two weeks since she had her regular 'treatments' with the Professor and she has started to feel like she couldn't fully regulate her emotions.

With a sigh she felt the rumble of the X-copter as it lifted off of the ground. Suddenly dread enveloped her as the air craft followed the Black Bird to the last known location of Logan.

Jean didn't know what to expect from this mission but she could guess it was probably more than they could handle.