24

In Oregon City, things are back to normal. Liz Allan is out of witness protection, and back at home with her black mother.

She and Lowell sit on a back porch, caressing each other. They seem happy. She still doesn't know he's a berserker. She still doesn't know he can turn into a blond-furred horse-tall lobo when he loses his temper.

From a Daily Bugle, they read the story (as the public knows it) of how the Sacrilegious Six fell trying to transform Mormon-populated Deseret into a Jannah on Earth in the names of their ex-husbands, whose blood they needed to do so. (The Bugle version of the story, of course, is without the Reality Stone. The less life on Earth knows about the six most powerful objects in the universe, the better.) Liz seems to find the story amusing.

This edition of the Daily Bugle was edited by some broad named Betty Brant. Jonah Jameson, it seems, has moved on to other things-or died, just as likely...

(What are the odds, though, that he won't be reincarnated as Buffalo Bill Cody, in a fictional biography about Frank Hopkins's epic race in the Ocean of Fire across the Arabian Desert? Just speculating...

(But he won't get reincarnated as that in THIS story, of course. Buffalo Bill is only twenty-three years old now...)

Alas, as much as Liz loves the story, she sighs, and looks off in the sky opposite the sunset. She could swear while she was in witness protection, she had at least a few-maybe more-sex fantasies of Peter.

Lowell caresses her bare skin, and encourages her to forget about it. People have a lot of scary dreams while in witness protection.

Alas, she doesn't embrace Lowell's advances much more. She just keeps staring into the shadowy opposite of the sunset, towards Queens, where she left her heart...

Technically of course, her mother left her heart in Queens for her. But in 1869 Oregon City society, who can blame her?

Across the continent, Queens is back to normal. May Reilly is out of witness protection, and back in her Queens flat, living the cheap-yet-comfy life of a white peasant.

After a long and hopeless search, Lt. Stacy's men have found Peter, and returned him to his ex-aunt. Peter's missing person's case is over...and yet, Lt. Stacy sure is coming over to the Reilly flat a lot more often that Peter, at least, would have him. Peter can see he's not the only human male in Queens who's got a thing for Ms. Reilly's rack...

O, how Peter would love to defend his ex-aunt. But then, it's not like she'd ever prefer him over the relatively experienced, and uniformed, and badged, police lieutenant...

In Spider-Man's void, a new youth has risen from oblivion, and is now protecting the streets of the Big Apple in a costume alarmingly reminiscent of Parker's. No one knows that's not Peter in the suit; they're just glad their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is alive, and still on the neighborhood streets, keeping peace in the Big Apple wherever Lt. Stacy and his coworkers cannot.

In a black Latino neighborhood, a youth named Miles is always shirking commitments every time a local disaster unravels. And the local Morales family both enjoys and is plagued by a strained relationship with one of their youngest male relatives...

As much as Peter knows he shouldn't, he pays the old Stark estate a visit. It's still just as well-accommodated for as Peter remembers it. And yet, everything looks smaller, for some reason. The security is as intimidating as hell. And yet, for some reason, Peter's less scared of it than he was. He happily rushes up the front steps, and knocks on the front door.

He meets Morgan, for the first time since before his own missing person's report. They embrace. She tells him she's missed him. Peter doesn't verbally respond, but tries to keep up the illusion of love by embracing her better.

They lie on a float in her mother's pool. Peter keeps forgetting how happy he always is with Morgan.

Ms. Potts sneaks out onto the patio, with a pair of iced drinks. She's still in her work clothes. Peter cracks his eyes, and "eye-stalks" Morgan's mom. As much as he loves Morgan, her mom has STILL got it going on. She's all he wants, and he's waited for so long...

"Peter? Are you thirsty?"

They abandon the float, and sit on the top step of the pool steps. They drink their fruit drinks, and take turns suckling one another with them.

Every now and then, Peter steals a sneaky glance at Morgan's mom/Mr. Stark's widow, when she's changing, or otherwise closer to her will-be son-in-law that she probably should be. But even if Ms. Potts is elegant, Morgan is practically an exact clone of her mother. She's less physically mature, of course...but still basically the same exact person as Ms. Potts.

Seriously, it's as if she's not even Mr. Stark's daughter at all...