When Jefferson first took the call, he thought it was a prank. After the insistence that it was real call, he even considered that maybe it was a kidnapping. And then the man on the other end of the line said something that made Jefferson's blood ran cold.

"Miles... He's hurt bad, Mister. We're doing the best we can, but we can't promise anything."

And here he was, sitting in some older woman's shed while his son slept soundly just 5 feet away. Rio was at his side, leaning her hip against his bed.

And then there was the team of, frankly, bizarre superheroes to the other side - the rugged Peter, the genius Penni, the 1920's gangster Noir, the dancer Gwen, and the cartoon character, Porky. Jeff was still trying to figure out what his son had been doing with this crazy crew when he got there, but Miles... Miles had been in that stupid suit. The stupid black and red suit that everyone recognized now.

"So," Jeff finally said, breaking the silence. "Miles is the new Spiderman?"

Peter glanced at the others, but it was no secret Miles was more of Peter's mentee than anyone else. "Yeah, he is. Has been for a while, too."

Jefferson pursed his lips and watched as another piece of Miles' shoulder stitched itself back to the main part of Miles' chest. It was almost enough to make him sick. "And you've been... teaching him. Like his teammates?"

"Yeah, basically. He's a good kid. Does good work. The shocker webs he's got going is kind of insane, and the invisibility is a huge boost for stealth."

Jeff nodded hard. "Then stop. I don't want him mixed up in this."

Peter and Gwen were both about to argue with the man when May poked her head around the corner of the medical room. "We've got hits on the computer. You guys are going to have to get back out there if you don't want him taking down the city's trauma center."

The others ran into the main room, but Peter paused. "I promise, Miles is safe. And he's careful. We can talk about this when he gets up, please, don't- don't take this away from him. He needs this."

And then Peter was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jefferson and Rio stayed put. Miles kept twitching in his sleep, almost as if the teen was concentrating on healing his body. It was almost fascinating, actually, with how fast the shredded skin and muscle was melting together.

Jeff couldn't quite look at his son. Not until the shoulder was done fixing itself.

An alarm rang out in the shed, and May hastily turned it off. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I'll put it on mute. It's just the metrics on the Spidergang."

Miles stirred a little, flexing his hands as he did so.

"Miles?"

"Mijo! Let's get you up, mijo, oh-" Rio was already mothering him bad, but as Miles became more and more aware of what was going on, he pushed her worried hands away.

"Nnn, ma, sthap..." he slurred. After a second of two, he was a little more awake, and he sat up hastily. "What- what- whaaatttt are you two doing here?"

Miles was trying, and failing, to sound nonchalant. Jeff and Rio knew it was an act.

"We got a call from a good friend of yours," Jeff said, his voice tight. "He seemed to think you were in trouble."

"And when we saw the state of your arm and leg, we agreed." Rio was quick to add.

Miles started, as if just remembering his body had been mangled. He quickly rolled his shoulder and ran his fingers along the edge of the suit. "Well, May's going to kill me. I'll have to take another suit. Or have her fix this one."

The teen shook out his leg, kicking it from the blankets and wiggling it around. When he was satisfied it was healed and stable, he swung the other one around and stood up. Miles jogged in place, shifting his shoulders as he swung his arms.

"Feels good. Peter said regenerations like this can kinda make you feel younger. Newer."

"You're 14, Miles. You don't feel younger, you're just young!" Rio was getting worked up, her hands flying around her head. "You can't keep doing this, its dangerous and bloody, and you're not going out there ever again."

Miles shook his head. "I can't do that, mama. I'm Spiderman. I'm the guy looking out for our city."

"Well, someone else can do it!" Rio yelled in exasperation. "Por el amor de Dios, pondré mis manos sobre este chico si no lo hace-" (Translation: For the love of God, I will put my hands on this boy if he doesn't-)

Jeff cut her off. "Miles, our job is to keep you safe. From everything, even yourself. You can't really expect us to go along with this, man, come on. You're smarter than this."

Miles tried to ignore the stinging in his eyes by shaking his head a little, but he couldn't fight it. He wasn't going to let them see him cry, though, so he tilted his chin down.

"This whole thing is insane," Jefferson added, now on a roll. "You disappear 6 months ago, you disappear now, you're running around with a group of spider-freaks, you're going out late - I saw you! I saw you swinging through the city when I was heading to your dorm the other day, Miles! You think that's cool? You stayed out all night!"

"And I was fine!"

"You can't be fine if you don't sleep!"

Miles was suddenly thinking back to that first week of being Spiderman after the Gang want home, when Peter called him through the communicator and ordered him to bed. He'd said Spiderman couldn't be a help to anyone if he was dead on his feet. "That's what Peter said, too."

Jefferson hated being compared to Peter, the man who had dragged Miles into this whole mess, and for whatever reason, that was the tipping point. "Don't you dare do that! Don't you dare act as though that man cares about you like I do, Miles, I am your father!"

"And I am Spiderman!" Miles didn't feel the sting of tears anymore as he lifted his head, his face hard and set, his hands flying up to his chest as he gestured to himself wildly. "I watched when Kingpin killed him, Dad. I saw that. And I didn't know what to do, but I knew I had to do something. I had to be great, I had to fulfil my promises! And I did! I did, I figured it out and I fought him. I fought off Kingpin for you! For you, and mama, and Uncle Aaron, I did it all. I am Spiderman, man. I can't stop that, I can't stop my destiny. I can't stop my life."

Jeff scoffed. "You're a kid."

"I haven't been a kid since I held Uncle Aaron as he died."

The silence in the shed was almost deafening, the only sound being the whirl of the computers in the next room over. Miles shook his head and walked over to the doorway, peering around it for May. "May? Where'd the Gang go?"

May was sitting in the desk chair, knitting, and pretending to not be eavesdropping. "Got a call Venom was at the hospital. They headed that way a little before you woke up."

Miles cursed to himself quietly and began pulling off the suit. "Can you patch this up enough for me to go back them up?" He remembered the face within Venom's body in a flash and spun around. "I need to get- Hey, May? Can I use the computers?"

"Don't have to ask, Miles. I'll have the suit in a couple minutes."

Miles bounced his leg distractedly as he fell into a chair by a computer. His parents watched him carefully, Rio still wrapping her head around the whole thing, Jeff still fuming that Miles had even brought up Aaron's death.

Miles typed away on the program they'd been running, looking for a dimension without anomaly since last week, when they all started blurring. There wasn't much, but there was- There! The first of the anomalies. Miles continued to let it run, watching as more and more information came back.

"May! I need that-" May was at Miles' shoulder, pushing the suit back into his hands. "I got some black fabric the last time you ripped it, so we wouldn't have to spray paint it all the time."

Miles chuckled. "I bet Noir would have had some you could use."

"Any extra fabric he has is going straight into a quilt I'm working on. A memory quilt."

"You two are weird," Miles said with a grimace. "I can't believe you two are actually dating."

May just shrugged and Miles tugged on his suit. There was a a hurried clumsiness to his movements - he nearly knocked himself in the face while trying to shove his arm through the sleeve. He kept leaning over to tap the keyboard or slick around the screen. "I knew it."

"What's going on?" Jeff asked, breaking the silence.

"The alien that's been destroying the city. He jumped through the dimensions this week, making the walls blur. But he came from his own dimension and in that one, Spiderman went missing the same time Venom came on the scene."

"What does that mean?" Rio asked.

"That means Venom is Spiderman." Miles finished tugging on the suit and pulled his mask down. "I have to go stop the gang before they take him down."

The teen moved to swing up to the elevator, but Jeff caught his arm. Miles turned, expecting a lecture, but Jeff just searched the mask for a second with his eyes, finally settling on Miles' whiteouts. "You be safe, okay?"

"I will."

"Go get 'em, Spiderman."