The girls of the Spider-Alliance were in disbelief. Gwen double-checked with her, but to her surprise, it was true.
"So can you look up New York’s history?" Gwen asked curiously.
"Can you find records up to 2015? What happened to Arica afterward? Could you look up Lorien Su, , Wanda, or any of us superheroes?"
The future was irresistibly fascinating to those living in the present. Cindy and Mayday were thinking the sa thing. If Peni could find them... wouldn’t that an they could see their own futures?
But Peni’s next words crushed that thought.
"But we’re not from the sa universe. My universe doesn’t have you."
She licked her lollipop and went on.
"By 3145, New York had gone through countless splits and reunifications."
"Starting from 2015—Arica first fractured into dozens of state-nations. Each state fought until their brains were practically splattered out."
"Eventually, they unified again, but not even a hundred years later, they split apart once more."
"This ti, the fragntation went so far that entire cities beca independent. New York, Los Angeles, Washington—all turned into separate city-states."
"New York’s economy ranked third in the world back then, so it led the secession."
"After that, chaos reigned. Corporations grew so massive they surpassed nations. When conglorates clashed, it was like world wars breaking out."
"It was utter turmoil. My father was killed in one of those corporate wars... and he left the SP//dr to ."
Her voice softened. Peni touched the ch’s console, and in response, the Spider-ch displayed a comforting expression.
"(’ᴗ’)/"
Her real hand overlapped with the little digital one.
Gwen pressed her lips together.
"So the future isn’t necessarily better. It could be worse."
"Yes." Peni nodded.
After a mont of silence, Cindy and Mayday lost their own illusions about the future. The world’s developnt wasn’t always positive. Rising GDP didn’t guarantee happiness for the people. Progress didn’t an ordinary lives would be better.
The present mattered most. The future depended on the choices made now.
After a pause, Gwen looked at Peni.
"Let’s talk inside the shipwreck. We’re all Spider-Won—we should sit down, share everything, and make things clear."
"Agreed." Peni nodded, guiding her ch forward.
The four of them, along with their two chs, moved toward the abandoned ship. The three Spider-Alliance girls turned back inside, Jetfire following close behind. Peni quickened her pace in the Spider-ch, drawing alongside Jetfire.
She waved at him.
"Hey~"
Jetfire turned his head slightly, gave her a silent nod, then faced forward again, following Gwen.
"So cold~"
Peni didn’t mind. chs had their own personalities, after all. Her little Spider-ch was proof of that. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder why Jetfire operated so differently from hers.
Gwen glanced back as well, comparing the two. Peni’s Spider-ch had arms attached directly to its spherical body, while its legs seed to move with magnetically driven joints. It was a high-tech construct through and through.
Jetfire, though, was a Transforr—a complete chanical lifeform. That was the fundantal difference.
...
Before long, the group entered the abandoned ship’s hold. Gwen scanned the space and recalled,
"When I first beca Spider-Woman, I trained here for a while."
Cindy and Mayday hadn’t known that.
"You trained here for long?"
"No." Gwen shook her head. "As my abilities grew, this place quickly beca useless."
"..."
So it wasn’t a training ground for leveling up after all—just a beginner’s tutorial.
Once everyone had gathered, the three turned back. Peni opened her ch’s hatch, climbed out, and stood on its head.
"Shouldn’t we exchange information?"
"Of course." Gwen gestured. "You go first. We’ll answer."
"Alright~!"
Peni plopped down on the ch, lollipop in hand.
"Earlier, Cindy and Mayday said they crossed over too. How did you two end up here?"
Cindy replied, "I hurriedly pushed open a door—and when I stepped through, I was in this world."
Mayday answered, "I woke up one morning, and my ho was still my ho—but not the one from my universe. My parents were gone too."
"Then we’re all the sa."
Peni nodded. "That’s pretty much how I ca here too."
"How exactly?" Gwen asked.
"I was in class when the company tried to seize the SP//dr my dad left —Little Spider."
She rested a hand on her ch.
"It was my father’s legacy. Of course I wouldn’t hand it over. So I piloted Little Spider to escape. And before I knew it, I ended up here."
"Oh, and about school—yeah, my identity’s forged."
Everyone had already assud that. For Peni to be attending school here, she must have faked her records. Otherwise, there was no way she could’ve walked straight into New York University upon arrival.
Now that their backgrounds were clear, Gwen turned to Peni with another question.
"So what do you plan to do now? Go it alone, or team up with us?
Crises in the city are piling up. This afternoon we even dealt with an octopus monster. If more threats appear, this city will need us. We have to stabilize things here before we can search for clues about the Multiverse."
Peni thought it over.
She’d seen the octopus monster on the news earlier. That was part of why she had co out at night to prep her ch and wander the city.
But the truth was, she was completely on her own.
She had the skills, but no equipnt to build.
She had the technology, but no place to put it to use.
She had ideas, but no way to realize them.
If she tried to fight alone with just the Spider-ch Warrior, it wouldn’t amount to much. All she could do was scrape by.
Peni understood that. And those were only the rational reasons.
The emotional reason was even harsher—loneliness.
That was the worst of all.
She was in a strange environnt, with no one she knew. She didn’t even have a single friend. And she was only fourteen! How could she not feel lonely?
That was why Gwen used the phrase "huddle together for warmth." And it hit Peni right in the heart.
After thinking it through, Peni asked,
"Does your alliance restrict freedom? Like, would I be forced to do things I don’t want to?"
Before Gwen could even answer as captain, Cindy spread her hands.
"Other than missions where you follow the leader’s orders, the rest of the ti is yours."
Mayday grinned and added,
"Take the past few days, for example. We’ve trained and played gas late into the night, gone to school or studied during the day, and after classes we head out to fight cri. Do you think that feels restrictive?"
"You play gas!?"
The mont Peni heard that, she lit up.
"I thought you were stuck doing missions all the ti!"
Hearing this, Gwen suddenly realized sothing.
"In your New York of 3145... people in those corporations don’t really only work ten hours a day like corporate drones, do they?"
"Ten hours? You’re thinking way too small."
Peni smacked the side of her ch angrily.
"Employees work at least twelve hours a day! And almost every day there’s two more hours of mandatory overti!"
"They only get one day off every two weeks!"
"Annual leave is just three days!"
"The companies even provide free inhalable stimulant sprays. No major side effects, but after too much stimulation, they make you vomit from nervous overload!"
From her tone alone, it was clear—the world of 3145 didn’t treat people like humans. It treated them like livestock.
If Lorien were here, he’d probably say it was no surprise. A prosperous society might grow a large middle class, but once big corporations took control, the world beca their playground. People could earn good money, yet still never truly live well.
They’d keep you working and consuming, without a mont’s rest.
"...Whoa."
Gwen, Cindy, and Mayday all sucked in a sharp breath.
That was terrifying.
"Do people there even have hope to live?"
"Of course."
Peni waved her hand in a sarcastic gesture.
"When the environnt is like that, people have no choice but to work. If you don’t, you don’t survive."
"Sure, so people commit suicide. But compared to the total population, it doesn’t matter much."
"Besides, companies put a wristband on you. If your mood dips too low, they’ll assign you a company psychologist to ’treat’ you—or just inject you with hormones."
The three girls shuddered even more.
This wasn’t life. This was hell.
No wonder Peni felt the way she did.
"Peni, let us show you the Spider-Alliance base."
"I’ll do it! Let !" Mayday volunteered excitedly.
"Alright," Gwen agreed.
Mayday imdiately pulled out her phone, opened her gallery, and walked over to Peni with a smile.
"This is our living floor. Everyone has their own 100-square-ter apartnt, plus plenty of public areas for entertainnt and daily life."
"This is our training floor—swimming pool, gravity chamber, strength facilities, rest areas, and more."
"These are our study rooms and eting rooms. We’ve still got a lot of space unused, and even more levels where we haven’t decided what to build yet."
"How’s that? Nice, right?"
Among the three Spider-Won, Mayday was the one who loved taking pictures the most. And she was good at it.
She had captured every corner of the Spider-Alliance’s three floors, along with monts from their daily lives.
"Wow~!"
Peni was stunned at the sight.
"You guys look like you’re running a charity!"
Mayday chuckled.
"That’s because we’ve got a big generous sponsor behind us—ah!"
Before she could finish, Gwen smacked her hand, making Mayday jump back in alarm.
Gwen explained,
"Peni, you’ll understand in ti. Compared to the entire Multiverse, we’re just grains of sand. To the real gods out there, this kind of thing is nothing."
"Whatever you dream of, they can create in limitless amounts—enough to fill an entire universe."
Peni nodded.
She’d already done her research online, even hacking into SHIELD’s database. She knew about the superheroes here.
Compared to her own more ’normal’ and grounded universe, this one was overflowing with powerful beings.
So she didn’t dwell on it.
Instead, she asked,
"Then can I go visit your base now?"
"Of course."
Gwen glanced at Peni’s ch.
"You can even bring it along. Our tower has secret passages."
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