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chapter thirteen
it's what we do
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"WELCOME LENA, PETER, and Graham," FRIDAY'S voice greets after their full-body scans are completed. The blue light that had run over each of them blinks red once it registers the other people in the room. "Unauthorized individuals detected."

"Override," Lena commands.

"Security overridden."

The doors unlock with a loud click. Graham heaves it open for the rest of them, ushering everyone inside the lab.

Since Peter has refused to release her this entire time, holding her upright and helping her walk, she has to direct him toward the series of light switches on the wall. She flips them on and watches as the room becomes illuminated with bright fluorescents that make her sensitive eyes squint for a few seconds while they adjust.

"Whoa," Abe says as he takes in the sight of the intricate machines placed around the main room. "Cool."

"Max, Owen, come here," Lena instructs them.

The twins share a wary glance before hesitantly walking toward her. As soon as they're within reach, Lena seizes them each by their collars and demands through gritted teeth, her eyes ablaze with warning, "Don't. Touch. Anything."

Both boys nod with widened stares. She levels them with a threatening look before releasing them and putting her arm back around Peter's shoulders for balance.

"First aid supplies," Cindy notes, catching sight of the small area designated for emergency supplies. She grabs MJ's elbow and tugs her toward it. "Come on, let's patch them up."

"Espresso machine," Graham mumbles wistfully. He gravitates toward it like the coffee bar exerts a magnetic pull on him.

"This is your lab?" Older Peter questions. His eyes flicker around, assessing each contraption and trailing over the miscellaneous notes Lena had scrawled onto a glass panel in dry-erase marker last month. It creates a concoction of inked nonsense, her handwriting messy due to how fast she'd been writing in order to keep up with her brain. Some of her equations blend into her copy of notes that Shuri had texted her, written in a different color to differentiate them from her own work. It looks like the work of a maniac.

"Yeah." Lena shrugs her lab coat on with Peter's help, Tony's warning to always wear it ringing in her ears. "It was left to me by someone who meant a lot to me— a lot to us."

The Peter dressed in the dark Spider-Man suit locks his gaze on the larger lab coat hanging on the wall and the initials T.S. embroidered on its front pocket. Now that she can see him in proper lighting, Lena realizes that he's younger than she originally thought— somewhere between the ages of the other two versions of himself. His brunet hair isn't curly like her Peter's or neatly trimmed like the oldest one's. Rather, it sticks up like he's been electrocuted, which somehow fits with his tall and weedy stature.

He seems to recognize that the embroidered lab coat is off-limits and asks, "Got any extras?"

Lena nods. "In the closet over there."

It's strange seeing this many people in the lab. Before now, the most there had been inside at once was three: her, Pepper, and Morgan. Having all of her friends and two additional versions of her boyfriend here, wandering among the machinery and looking in awe at everything (except Max and Owen, who stand stone-still off to the side, afraid to even look at anything), is strange.

This is Graham and Peter's first time coming to the lab. She hadn't invited them before because part of her had wanted to keep it to herself. After sharing everything with them for several months — an air mattress, a bathroom, a living space, and so on — she'd selfishly clutched this remaining piece of her bond with Tony tightly to her chest. Maybe someday she'll show them how the holograms of Tony work and give them a proper tour. But for now, they have work to do.

"Alright," Cindy says, "come over here, you three. Doctor Cindy is in the house."

MJ noisily unrolls a section of medical tape, an action that should not be threatening, but somehow is when she's the one doing it. It has Graham abandoning the coffee bar and Peter helping Lena over to them in an instant.

She gets a strange sense of deja-vu as the girls begin cleaning off their wounds and patching up what minor abrasions they can fix. Cindy and MJ had been the ones to help her after the battle with Mysterio on London Bridge. They'd used whatever they could find to make her presentable. A surge of love for her friends swelling up within her like a tidal wave. Even when her well-being isn't at the forefront of her mind, they are quick to take care of her.

"Peter!" Cindy admonishes. "Stop moving! You're going to make it worse."

"Huuuurrrrtttssss," the boy whines defensively.

"It's going to hurt even more if you don't keep still."

He stubbornly refuses to get his midsection wrapped in bandages to hold his broken ribs in place, arguing that it'll impede his movements if they have to fight again. The two teenagers squabble back and forth before he finally agrees to wear them until they're ready to leave. Did Cindy's argument involve some fear-mongering that his ribs would fall out? Maybe. But she had been so adamant that Peter eventually couldn't keep up anymore.

Lena receives small bandages on her face, ointment to combat any infections from the soot and dirt, and several rounds of being scrubbed with wet towels that become soaked with blood and grime. Even after MJ carefully cleans the blood caked in her ear, it doesn't become any easier for her to hear out of it. She has to rely mostly on reading lips when people aren't nearby.

"So, uh," Lena begins as MJ carefully removes bits of rock from the cuts on her forehead with tweezers, gesturing to the other two Peters, "am I supposed to have a crush on you guys, too?"

Suit Peter frowns as he adjusts the lab coat he'd managed to find, trying to make it fit his lanky frame. "I think I'm a little old for you."

The oldest version raises his eyebrows. "Tell me about it."

Lena flushes. It's not her fault that these two other Peters are both attractive in different ways. Is every version of him hot? That's just... unfair. If there are any other depictions of herself out there that are still alive, she hopes they are good-looking.

Once the girls are satisfied with their amateur doctor work, the trio is free to resume their work on the tools they'd started on in Happy's apartment. Peter opens the drawstring bag that May had stuffed the machinery into and dumps them on a workbench unceremoniously. Bits of broken glass fly out with them, some of the shards falling onto the floor, making Lena wince.

"Okay, so..." he sets each tool apart from the rest as he names its recipient, "Connors, Marko, Dillon, Farah, and, uh..." The syringe meant to alter Osborn's DNA lingers in his hand for a moment, his name refusing to leave Peter's mouth. He pinches his lips together before setting it on the table. "Look, I think that I can repair the devices for Dillon and Marko, but the others..."

"Well, I got Connors," Suit Peter says, grabbing the humongous syringe and flipping it around mid-air. "I've already cured him once, so no big deal." Once he notices the others staring at him, he shrugs nonchalantly. "What? It's no big deal."

"Great," Older Peter says.

"Yeah," her Peter confirms. "That's great."

As Suit Peter (or, Lena supposes, Lab Coat Peter?) turns and locates a pair of gloves and opens the chemical closet, their oldest counterpart regards the device meant for Osborn.

"I think I can make an antiserum for Doctor Osborn," he says. "Been thinking about it a long time."

Lena recalls how Octavius had mentioned the Green Goblin getting impaled by his own glider. If that had happened before his and Marko's deaths, it must have occurred a long time ago. But the thoughtful way this Peter inspects the syringe along with his words proves that he's never stopped thinking about Osborn's death. How he may have been able to save him.

Her Peter side-eyes him with a barely-concealed vengeance. Noticing this, the other version of him says, "Gotta cure all of 'em, right?"

"Right," her Peter agrees softly.

"Yeah, it's what we do."

It's what we do. Lena thinks about all of the other Peters out there who, in their own ways, are diving head-on into flames to rescue the Vulture. Some attributes of Spider-Man are the same in the grand calculus of the Multiverse. She finds that the fact warms her heart.

As Older Peter heads off to his own corner of the lab, leaving the other one to contemplate his words, Graham sidles up next to Lena and wraps an arm around her so she doesn't have to keep relying on leaning her weight onto the table to remain standing. She rests her head on his shoulder.

"Weird, right?" he asks. She can feel his chest rumbling with his words, but can't hear them out of her right ear. It's a strange sensation that she wonders if she'll ever fully adjust to. "All these Peters."

As if on cue, Max points at Suit Peter and questions, "Peter, why is this version of you so much cooler?"

Abe crumples a sheet of paper towel into a ball and tosses it at him. It hits Max in the temple, forcing him back into his former, quiet, stance with his head aimed at the floor. Lena's Peter gives Abe a weak thumbs-up in appreciation.

Acting as if the interruption had never happened, Graham continues, "All these Peters, and no versions of us."

Older Peter swallows thickly at those words, seeming to focus a bit more intently on his work. Lena lifts her head from her friend's shoulder and worms out of his grip. She hobbles stiffly over to Peter, using each workbench she passes to maintain her balance. She grabs a stool and drags it closer, plopping down on it once she reaches him.

"Octavius told me..." she begins, choosing her words carefully and keeping her voice soft lest she prods something still grieving inside of him, "...about what happened to the version of me from your universe."

Peter sighs, applying several droplets of a clear chemical to a granulated cylinder. He sets the dropper down and continues working even as his thin lips press into a troubled line. She can see his brows creasing through his safety goggles.

"First thing's first, if you're gonna be over here, put these on." He passes her a pair of goggles. His tone reminds her of Tony's reminder to always wear them, and she quickly snaps the elastic in place, pushing the circlet up on her forehead to make room for the goggles.

Once they're firmly protecting her eyes, he turns on a bunsen burner and continues working as he speaks. "Lena and I didn't interact much at school before we both started helping Doc Ock. Then we all became close... you know, like a little family. She found out I was Spider-Man, I realized she was Havoc, and we worked together for a while. But then one of the buildings we were in was rigged with explosives, and we didn't know..."

He pauses, his cerulean eyes going distant. He swallows again and sets the beaker he'd been lightly swirling onto the workbench. "She put a force field around me instead of herself. Let herself be crushed to save me. As the police showed up, she told me to run, and so... I did."

Lena's heart aches at the despair and regret in his voice— over what had happened or the fact he'd fled, she doesn't know. The situation sounds scarily similar to what she'd experienced a few hours ago. She had put a force field around Graham when she saw the Goblin's pumpkin bomb, not thinking of herself first, but of him. Maybe that's what the versions of her across the multiverse all have in common: saving the people they care about before themselves. Worrying about other people first.

She hesitates before resting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "If she was anything like me, I'm sure she'd be glad that you listened. That you survived."

Peter nods, blinking away his negative thoughts in order to compose himself. He manages a small quirk of his mouth when he says, "Thanks. And I think she was— a lot like you, I mean."

They share bittersweet grins.

"We fixed Dr. Octavius," Lena tells him. "The chip in his neck was fried, so his A.I. was essentially in control of him, corrupting his mind. He's better now."

Peter blinks, seemingly shocked at the way his eyes become glassy so quickly. He sniffles and looks back at his work. "That's... that's good. Really good. Thank you."

Lena pats his shoulder, sliding her hand off just as the sound of a chair rolling against the tile meets her ears. She turns to see Ned wheeling up behind them with a pair of safety goggles already on his face.

"Sorry to interrupt this wonderful healing moment," he says. "Um... So. Do you have a best friend, too?"

"I did," Peter confirms. His voice is so quiet that Lena almost doesn't catch it, only managing to hear his words because her good ear is facing him.

Lena knows that verb usage all too well. She's been hearing it too much lately.

Also noticing it, Ned's face pinches uncomfortably. "You did?"

"He died in my arms... after he tried to kill me. It was heartbreaking."

Lena and Ned share a wide-eyed glance, stewing in the unfortunate news that he had delivered so casually.

Suit Peter, clearly having been eavesdropping, mumbles from the bench adjacent to them, "Dude..."

Ned sits with that information for a few moments before standing and walking away. Lena rotates back and forth in her chair, not quite sure what to do now that their heartfelt moment has been ruined. The chair squeaks with her movements. Then she rolls away from Older Peter, stopping beside Suit Peter to ask him something that's been bothering her all this time.

"Hey, am I... dead in your universe?"

Peter shoots her an alarmed expression that melts to concern, slowly setting Connors's syringe down. His brows form a crease in his forehead before he answers, "Um, no?" He clears his throat to rid his voice of its questioning tone. "No. She, uh — she doesn't really do the whole superhero thing anymore."

That piques Lena's interest. "Why not?"

"Not sure." He shrugs. "There were a lot of factors, I think. The strain of doing it for so long, so many people dying when we tried to help them. It was like him" — he jerks his head toward Older Peter — "for me in the sense that we weren't really friends in school. She was an intern at Oscorp with... with Gwen. We didn't work together until after graduation, when Max Dillon showed up. I think what happened with Gwen took a toll on her, too."

Peter fidgets as he blows out a slow exhale, puffing his cheeks out. It's obvious that any mention of Gwen sends a fresh wave of pain to his heart. But before he can get teary-eyed, he chuckles as a thought strikes him.

"It's weird, though." He nudges Lena with an elbow. "Your powers are blue, right? I saw a little of your force field earlier."

Lena nods. She holds out her palm, and this time, a small swirl of azure energy pools into her hand. It's a sign that her abilities are restoring themselves.

"Hers are purple."

Her eyes go wide, almost bugging out of her head. "What? That is so cool. Oh, I want to meet her so badly." She rises to her feet and reaches up to put the lab goggles that are resting on his forehead over his eyes. "Also, if you're gonna wear these, put them on correctly."

Peter chuckles. "Aye-aye."

"I think you should talk to her. It might do some good for both of you, you know? You don't have to be alone."

The man looks down at the workbench and nods thoughtfully at her recommendation. Even if she doesn't know that he'll actually listen to her advice, she hopes that he'll at least consider it.

Ned catches the attention of everyone in the room by calling out, "Peter?"

"Yeah?" all three of them respond at once. Then they point to each other in realization, mumbling again in synchronization, "Oh, sorry, did you mean...?"

"Peter-Peter," Ned clarifies unhelpfully.

"We're all called Peter, Ned," Lena's version reminds him.

"Peter Parker?"

"Same."

"We're all Peter Parker."

Ned gives up and sighs, motioning to the laptop on one of the benches. "The computer!"

As Lena's Peter walks over to the monitor, FRIDAY's voice fills the room. "Lena, someone is knocking on the door."

"Whoa," Suit Peter says, jumping a bit at the abrupt sound. "Is that the same robot as before?"

"She's an A.I.," Lena tells him. "Don't call her a robot— she gets sensitive about it." To FRIDAY, she says, "Bring up the security footage."

A holographic image from the front door's security camera appears to her left. Lena uses two fingers to zoom in and notices a dark-haired person wearing a familiar white suit banging their fist on the outermost door of the building.

She sucks in a breath that makes her bruised ribs ache. Keanu.

Her mouth opens to tell FRIDAY to unlock the doors and allow him inside, but she falters after considering the fact he might be possessed. Though, if that were the case, wouldn't he have tried to blast down the doors with his electricity abilities? But maybe appearing normal is part of the act...

"Graham, come here." When he does, she removes the silver circlet from her head and puts it onto his. "Can you shadow travel outside and see if that's really Keanu?"

Her friend nods and ducks into one of the shadows provided by the workbenches, melting into it. Lena watches through the hologram as the darkness around Keanu's figure appears to ripple and shift. Then Graham appears back in the room a moment later and places the circlet back onto her head.

"He's good," he reports. "No black veins under his eyes. I was able to read his fears— he's really worried about you."

Lena sags with relief that her brother is actually her brother and isn't under Farah's influence. She tells FRIDAY to let him in, and soon the sound of the doors unlocking greets her ears, followed by a loud squeak as he walks into the lab and surveys the inside.

He looks terrible. A first-degree burn covers the right side of his face from his cheekbone to his hairline, the ripped material of his suit near his abdomen revealing a similar abrasion on his stomach. He sports a black eye and several cuts on his face. His eyes trail around each person he sees until they finally land on Lena, a relieved sigh falling from his split lips.

Keanu mumbles something that's probably, "Oh, thank God," before limping closer to her. He wraps her in his arms, embracing her firmly, resting his chin on top of her head. "Sorry I wasn't here sooner— I was passed out by a dumpster."

"How did you find us?" Lena questions.

"I put a tracker on the circlet in case I ever lost it," he replies, flicking the piece of metal as he pulls back. "It's come in handy more times than you know."

He notices the Spider-Man suit on the young man behind her — he hadn't buttoned his lab coat, which is another violation of lab protocol (apparently Peter lacks common sense in multiple universes) — and does a double take. Then he looks at Older Peter and creases his brows. "What—?"

"Keanu, this is Peter," Lena says with a motion to Suit Peter. She then nods to Older Peter. "And, uh, Peter. Peter and Peter, this is my brother, Keanu."

"Hi," Older Peter says while Suit Peter greets him with a wave and a, "Sup?"

"We're trying to finish the tools to fix the others," Lena explains, using her feet to roll her chair over to the workbench with Farah's half-completed device on it, gritting her teeth at the pain the motion brings to her back. Keanu follows her. "Though, um... I guess I should ask if you want her fixed."

Keanu examines the unfinished piece of machinery, his injuries appearing even worse up close. His split lips leak fresh blood down his chin every time he moves his mouth. "It's true that it was easier when she was dead. I didn't have to worry about her hurting anyone anymore. But earlier, I was thinking, if I can make more of these" — he pokes the circlet on Lena's head — "I could distribute them to guards in a high-security prison. Maybe even make one strong enough to keep Farah from using her powers at all."

"You still want her around?" Graham asks. "After all she's done to you?"

Her brother shrugs. "I didn't feel any better when I was trying to kill her for possessing you. It wouldn't have brought anyone back. I know she isn't going to change like Octavius did when you guys fixed his chip, but if she could be forced to live with what she's done... I think that would be best."

It's what we do.

Here's a chance for them to do better. To save people that others may think don't deserve to be saved.

Jameson had said that chaos and calamity follow Spider-Man, Havoc, and Specter wherever they go. But the truth is, things would be worse without them around. In the file Tony had given her, one of the articles noted that the crime rates had dropped in the first year since their debuts. Without them, Vulture may have succeeded in selling more dangerous Chitauri weaponry. Thanos may have won again.

Yes, they have made mistakes and trusted the wrong people a few times. But hasn't everyone? Just because they're heroes, it doesn't mean they're invincible. They can't execute every plan flawlessly. And someday, Lena will find it easier to accept these facts.

For now, she leans over the workbench with her brother, helping him design the tool that will render Farah immobile, even for a little while, and prevent her demise when she returns to her universe. They work together like two peas in a pod. Ideas bounce between them, helping one another expand their thoughts, working twice as quickly as they would be able to on their own.

Lena feels eyes on her and looks up. She finds her Peter watching them with a small grin on his face, so minuscule the average person wouldn't be able to detect it, but she can because she knows him so well. She gives him a supportive smile of her own before focusing back on her work.

"Lena, can I use the bathroom?" Owen asks, breaking the peaceful moment. "Pleaaasseee?"

"No," she replies shortly without looking at him. "Don't move."

"But I feel like I'm gonna pee my pants."

"That's not my problem."

Owen groans and does an impatient dance on his tip-toes like a toddler. Cindy laughs at him and turns one of the faucets on in a taunting manner, causing the boy to shoot her one of the iconic deadly Seager glares.

Lena's Peter scans the computer monitor when the laptop beeps. "Oh, I'm ready."

"Yeah, me too," Suit Peter says, bringing the cure for the lizard over. "Okay, so... Now, all we gotta do is lure these guys someplace, right? Try to cure them, while they try to kill us, and then send them home."

"Using a magic box," Older Peter adds, also carrying his finished cure.

"Well, that's the plan," her Peter affirms.

"Hopefully Octavius won't try to kill us," Lena says, "so we might have one of them on our side."

"'Might'," Max repeats. "That's reassuring."

Lena sends him to stand in the corner.

Suit Peter turns to the oldest one, gesturing to his civilian clothing of dark jeans, a light blue t-shirt, and a brown jacket. "So are you gonna go into battle dressed as a cool youth pastor, or do you got your suit?"

The other Peter pulls down the collar of his shirt to reveal the Spider-Man suit beneath it.

"Good."

Ned approaches, sliding familiar tubes across the table toward his friend. "Here's your web cartridges."

"Oh, thanks, man," Lena's Peter says as he starts to attach them to his wrists.

"What's that for?" Older Peter questions.

"Uh, it's my web fluid. It's for my web shooters. Why?"

The other Peter holds out his bare wrist and shoots a web at one of the unused stools still stacked on an idle workbench. Lena jumps back, a gasp leaving her throat, the sound mingling in with the noises of surprise from each person.

"What happened?" Max asks, trying to crane his neck over his shoulder without moving away from the wall.

"That came out of you," Ned says, amazed.

"Yeah." Older Peter looks between the other two Spider-Men incredulously. "You can't do that, huh?"

"No!" Lena's Peter exclaims.

Suit Peter bends over to inspect the other's wrists, equally impressed. "How on Earth does that even...?"

Lena's nose crinkles in disgust. "Ew."

"Anyway, we're getting sidetracked," Lena's Peter says, shaking his head as he begins typing on the laptop. "Look, this is where we're gonna do this, okay? It's isolated, so no one should get hurt. We draw them there with the box— it's the one thing they all want. All we have to do is figure out how we're gonna get there."

He glances at Graham, who shakes his head after peering at the screen. "Nope. Never been."

"Oh, we can portal there," Ned casually says.

Peter blinks. "What?"

"I'm magic now."

"Yeah, no, no," MJ rambles her agreement. "He's right. He can. He can."

"He is telling the truth," Abe supplies, tossing more crumpled-up balls of paper towel in his hands in the event he has to throw them at a twin again.

Even the other Peters voice their confirmations with, "Yeah, we saw him," and "Yeah, he is."

Lena removes her lab goggles and presses her fingers to her temples, feeling like she's missed a vital plot twist.

Her Peter glances at his friend with newfound awe. "Wait, really?"

"Dude, I got Doctor Strange magic."

"What?"

"Yeah!" Ned moves his goggles onto his forehead, his expression becoming abruptly solemn. "And I promise you, I won't turn into a supervillain and try to kill you."

Suit Peter gives Ned a firm pat on the back and nods. Lena's Peter, who had missed the conversation, appears confused.

"O — kay. Thank... you?" He gives Ned a lingering, perplexed look before moving on. "Um... Alright. Here goes nothing." To MJ, he asks, "What's that thing you always say? Expect disappointment..."

MJ fervently shakes her head. "No, no, no... We're gonna kick some ass."

"Okay." Peter seems satisfied with that vote of confidence in comparison to her usual pessimism.

"Cure," Older Peter corrects them, ever the voice of reason. "Cure some ass."

"Cure that ass," Ned says with a nod.

"Okay, but can I please go to the bathroom before we cure some ass?" Owen speaks up.   "I'm not kidding. I really gotta pee."

"Pee on the villains," Lena tells him.

"But public urination is a crime, and I really don't want to go to jail."

From the corner, Max says, "I would bail you out."

Older Peter looks at Lena. "You should really just let him go."

"Fine," Lena sighs. Owen erupts into a cheer and sprints toward the door labeled 'Bathroom'. "But if you break the toilet, that's coming out of your bank account."

_________

a/n:

tobey!peter: he died in my arms... after he tried to kill me. it was heartbreaking.

lena and ned:

this chapter was more lighthearted than the last one and i definitely enjoyed that break from the angst and sadness! i was relieved to be able to add some happier/joking moments between the characters💓💓 i feel like that's why i was able to update so fast — the words were just FLYING out of me and i wrote most of this chapter in one day.

the big battle is coming and i can't believe it's already here! prepare yourselves... it's gonna be a doozy.

also !! i've gotten some questions about what lena would've looked like in tobey and andrew's movies. the answer is: nicole scherzinger and nicole gale anderson! (kinda ironic that both of my choices are named nicole lmao). nicole scherzinger is also native hawaiian, so she doesn't match 100% with lena's ethnicity, but it was SO difficult to find a faceclaim with filipina descent in that age range.

rip nicole scherzinger!lena. u were hot.

thank you all for reading this chapter and all the love on the last one! i hope you enjoyed these important and goofy moments between lena and the others <333

—kristyn