MESSAGE RECEIVED
MESSAGE RECEIVED: THURSDAY, 10:57 PM.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> You OK, Peter…? You’ve been quieter than usual… [RAISED EYEBROW FACE EMOJI]
<Bold>PETER:</> Sorry, MJ. Been laying low since I got back to New York. Hitting the books more than I’m hitting the streets.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Because of Mayor Fisk?
<Bold>PETER:</> Bingo! That walking, talking tub of cottage cheese put the entire city on lockdown and made our friendly neighborhood a lot less friendly. Especially for the super-powered set.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Heard he’s been locking up all sorts of heroes in that prison downtown. True he arrested that K-Pop girl?
<Bold>PETER:</> Luna Snow? Yeah, he got her. Which set off a huge international incident. Ever hear of Tiger Division?
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> UR the only “Tiger” on my mind right now… [TIGER EMOJI & HEART EMOJI]
<Bold>PETER:</> Cute. But seriously, there’s this South Korean intelligence agency run by a lady named White Fox. And I guess she and Luna are close, so she launched a covert operation here to monitor the situation. She set up a secret base on the Empire State University campus and gave a bunch of heroes false identities so we could hang out there and plan our next moves without getting caught.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Umm… You sure that’s something you should be texting about? [WIDE-EYED FACE EMOJI]
<Bold>PETER:</> Oof. Yeah. Good point. She’s probably gonna make me destroy this phone now. [SAD FACE EMOJI]
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Must be nice to be back at ESU tho.
<Bold>PETER:</> [100 EMOJI]. I even found a secret stash of stuff from my college days! One of my first costumes, some vintage web shooters…
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Just promise me you’ll stay as far away from Fisk’s prison as possible, Pete.
<Bold>PETER:</> …
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Peter…?
<Bold>PETER:</> …
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Peter Benjamin Parker!
<Bold>PETER:</> I can’t make that promise, MJ.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> No. Some foxy Korean spy does not get to put your freedom — or your life — at risk because her favorite singer is in jail.
<Bold>PETER:</> Actually, Director Han is totally against the idea of a jailbreak.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Then who on Earth could convince you to do something so reckless? Is it Johnny? It’s gotta be Johnny, right? [FLAME EMOJI]
<Bold>PETER:</> …
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> OMG. It’s Felicia, isn’t it?
<Bold>PETER:</> She has a plan to get our friends to safety!
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Felicia always has a plan. And it usually involves getting her filthy paws back in your spandex.
<Bold>PETER:</> Whoa! Hey! It’s not like that. Not this time, at least…
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Then what does she get out of it? The Black Cat isn’t a hero, Peter. She’s a master thief. She isn’t doing this for the good of mankind. She’s only in it for herself… and she doesn’t care who she hurts along the way. Even you.
<Bold>PETER:</> I know. And I’ll admit, I’ve done stupid things for her in the past.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> So stupid.
<Bold>PETER:</> Thanks. But this time, it’s different. Sure, she has her own scheme to outsmart the Kingpin. Something about the Thieves Guild and the Tablet of Life and Time…. but I made it clear that she’s on her own there. I’ll get her where she needs to be, but once we’re there, my focus is on someone else entirely.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Who? And DON’T tell me it’s another ex-girlfriend… [ANGRY FACE EMOJI]
<Bold>PETER:</> It’s Cap, MJ. Fisk got Captain America.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Gotta be a trick. Cap is… gone. You know that. You were there.
<Bold>PETER:</> But what if I told you he’s not? What if I told you that I had a second chance to save him?
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> I’d worry that Mysterio was messing with your head again… [DIZZY FACE EMOJI]
<Bold>PETER:</> He’s not. I swear.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> How do you know?
<Bold>PETER:</> This is gonna be a chunky text. You got the time?
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> It’s 11 PM and the city is under martial law. Where else do I have to be? [WOMAN SHRUGGING EMOJI]
<Bold>PETER:</> Okay, so right after the Timestream Entanglement swept through our reality, things got crazy in NYC. This was before Dracula and his vampires took over the city. Before Fisk rose to power as the worst mayor ever. Back then, every dollar store criminal in my rogue’s gallery decided it was time to make their play to seize power. And the Green Goblin rallied them together to attack Manhattan. Things got real ugly real fast. Since they were mostly my villains, I figured I could handle the situation alone. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Osborn had used his Goblin formula to boost their powers, and I ended up getting my web-covered butt handed to me. They were ready to kill me, MJ. Like, for real this time. I thought I wasn’t gonna survive that one. Until Cap showed up. He leapt between me and them at the last second and saved my life… but it cost him his own.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> I remember.
<Bold>PETER:</> Before Cap… you know… he told me to keep fighting. Everything just went numb. The only thing keeping me going was the promise I made to him. I mustered up all the strength left in me and I sent those jerks running back home to their mommies. I took down my archnemesis and saved New York that day, MJ. But I couldn’t save Cap. And it’s haunted me every day since. I could barely live with the guilt. I just threw myself into the whole Spidey thing from that point forward, doing whatever I could to live up to his example. But then he came back… from the future!
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Have you been watching too many ‘80s movies again?
<Bold>PETER:</> No, for real. There was a Captain America from another timeline, one who didn’t get thawed out from his ice block until the year 2099. And when I started teaming up with heroes from across realities to try to save the Chronoverse, this Cap was there with them. He wasn’t the same Cap we’d lost on our world, but just having him there gave me — gave all of us — the courage we needed to keep fighting against impossible odds. Because that’s what Captain America does.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> So you’re saying that this Future Cap is now in the Kingpin’s present day prison?
<Bold>PETER:</> Uh huh. And I can’t just sit here and do nothing while he rots in the Vault. He’s our only hope.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Our only hope? Or yours…?
<Bold>PETER:</> You know me that well, huh? Fine. Maybe I see this as a chance for me to make up for my past mistakes. To redeem myself for failing him.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> You didn’t fail him. He made a choice to save you. More than anyone else, he knew the price that comes with being a hero.
<Bold>PETER:</> Well, now it’s time for me to pay him back.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Not with your life, Peter. This city still needs you. I need you. And I’m not willing to settle for a version of you from another timeline.
<Bold>PETER:</> You sure? Because there’s one Spidey who’s a little cartoon pig guy, and he is absolutely hilarious! [PIG EMOJI]
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> I’m serious. I can’t stop you from doing what you need to do. I learned that a long time ago. But I can ask you to be careful. If things go wrong, get out of there. Please. For me.
<Bold>PETER:</> I wish I could. But I have to see this one through to the end.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Remember how you used to say, “no one dies”? That’s supposed to include you, too.
<Bold>PETER:</> But people already died, MJ. Cap died. I won’t let history repeat itself. Not ever again!
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> …
<Bold>PETER:</> I’m sorry, MJ. The S.H.I.E.L.D. transport is here. I’ve gotta go.
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> Go. Be safe.
<Bold>PETER:</> I’ll try. And I’ll be sure to give Felicia your love. [BLACK CAT EMOJI]
<Bold>MARY JANE:</> There’s only one person who gets that, Tiger… [HEART EMOJI]
<Bold>PETER:</> I know. I love you, too, MJ. In every reality.
PETER’S PHONE HAS BEEN SET TO *DO NOT DISTURB*.