[Home Plot | Dream A Little Dream | Pt. II]

[daretodo]

It's been a strange couple of hours. Which, when you're me -- Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man -- is really saying something, because it takes a whole lot of whacky before strange so much as registers on my radar. So let's take a second to recap: me, Mary Jane, Tony, and Jessica were all unceremoniously voted off the Island by parties

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[notawastedlife]

Tony narrowed his eyes at Peter, then turned as the butler cliche approached, standing up to lean in and peer at him, completely disregarding notions of personal space. Or immediately addressing the person whose personal space was being disregarded.

"Not a robot? Not a robot," he said, sitting down. "He just hired a guy? Well, that's an option, I guess. To each their own. Espresso shot, or do you just do tea, is that part of the rules?"

[stanleepresents]

Jarvis does nothing save arch an eyebrow at the new Mr. Stark's little display; when dealing with the various egos that have comprised the Avengers over the years, he's found it to be the best option.

"Though I'm but a human, I believe myself capable of preparing an espresso shot, sir," he replies, with a slight, sarcastic smile. Turning to the young women, one more familiar than the other, he adds, "And for you?"

[notaparker]

"I'm, uh, I'm fine, Mr Jarvis," I say.

I'm jazzed enough already, with one thing and another. The one thing being in a different universe, the another being the same thing that has Peter hanging out -- literally -- on the wall. Where I'd like to be, but apparently I'm the only one with a secret identity, at least as far as this building is concerned.

"So... nice place you got here," I say. "And by place I mean mansion."

This is both to our friendly butler, and to Peter, who apparently has a room. In the mansion.

[daretodo]

"It's, uh, a tower, technically," I say, nose wrinkling. "Stark Tower. Avengers Mansion sort of got destroyed. Kinda like my apartment, which is why I'm living here. Or was living here. And... am living here, I guess, again. This is just a temporary thing. Aunt May's here, too -- her place in Forest Hills got hit -- but I thought it'd be better to let her sleep. For... obvious reasons."

As much I'm looking forward to seeing her after so long, it's easier if I wait 'til morning to say my hellos and I love yous, considering how confusing this is for me, let alone anyone else.

Jarvis looks expectantly at Mary Jane.

[getemtiger]

"I will take that tea, actually, thanks," Mary Jane said, smiling slightly even as her brows furrowed. Truthfully, despite the hour, it wasn't as if she needed the caffeine, having shown up here disorienting enough to keep her plenty awake, but she wasn't going to turn it down, either. All of this, both needing to process the fact that she was now in a different universe and all the commotion from earlier, had left her head spinning; it couldn't hurt. "So..."

[daretodo]

"Of course," says Jarvis with a nod, and sets about doing his butler-y thing of getting everyone's drinks, but not fast enough for my liking. Then again, maybe I'm just not feeling particularly patient, considering that one of the explanations for our being here comes with a pretty strict time-line. Even so, he comes back in short order, tea and a shot of espresso in hand, and I bite my tongue until he's out of ear shot again, having disappeared to presumably finish whatever it is that still needs finishing.

"I think we're dreaming," I blurt out once I'm sure no one's listening; my spider-sense isn't giving off nary a tingle. "Or at least, I think we have to consider the possibility that we're dreaming. It wouldn't be the first time the Island's played this trick. I mean, remember when we woke up in Jersey? Different people from different universes all thrown together..." I trail off, frowning. "Not that that's unusual for here, either, granted."

[getemtiger]

"The difference being that we were asleep then," Mary Jane pointed out, what she was sure was stating the obvious, as she lifted her cup to her mouth, carefully sipping the tea. "I mean, I can't speak for everyone -" She gestured briefly to Jessica and Tony. "But for the two of us, at least, it wasn't like this before. Which I guess means there's no way to tell."

It was easiest to think of it in those terms, anyway. Any long-term implications, she didn't dare touch yet; this was enough as it was. The calm, she was sure, had something to do with the lack of sleep, but this was hardly the worst possible outcome, even if they weren't just dreaming, however complicated it may have been.

[notawastedlife]

"'And you were there, and you, and you?'" said the girl -- Jessica -- before Tony cut her off.

"I was awake, but I'm not going to rule out that whatever does this can't just knock someone out," he said. "It can shuffle bodies, I think it can work up some REM cycles."

"...it can shuffle-"

"So, what do we figure, two days and then we wake up again? Enough time to see the sights, not enough to get bothered by that Fury guy giving me the stink-patch."

[daretodo]

"Ugh, Fury, don't even get me started on that guy," I say with an exaggerated roll of my eyes. Better him than that Hill woman, I guess, but I have to wonder why my subconscious would cook him up; he's not exactly a looker. Maybe it's better to assume this is the real deal for that reason alone.

"My thinking is, we should play it by ear, at least until days number three and four roll around, and we're all still New York bound," I continue, jumping from my perch on the wall with a well-executed flip. Okay, yeah, at this point, I am just showing off, but can you blame me? "Wear the image inducers if you wander from the Tower just in case, but I'm telling you now, I have absolutely zero intention of holing myself up in a lab if this is all going to disappear in 48 hours. I have family to spend time with, friends to see, bad guys to punch..."

[notaparker]

"Bully for you," I mutter, under my breath. I'm torn. In a lot of ways. I have my powers back, although the presence of an Iron Man who isn't in on my secret means I can't go showing off like some people. Whether or not I'm sticking to a wall right now, though, the fact is I can, and that's a good thing.

But I can stick to a wall in a universe that isn't mine. I'm holding a dossier on the new life of Jessica Drew. I get to keep my own name. Because it's common, and no one is likely to get confused between me and, oh, their very own home-grown-but-not-in-a-lab-kind-of-way Spider-Woman.

Why would they? I'm just some teenage girl refugee from another dimension.

"Suiting up, huh," I say, trying to sound casual. "You keep spare costumes here?"

I don't want to borrow a costume. I absolutely do not want to put on that suit, I do not want to dress up like Spider-Man

[daretodo]

"Dreamscape, dream reunions, dream girl," I say, pausing long enough to lean over Mary Jane, and press a kiss to the corner of her mouth. Regardless of whatever mess of a love life awaits me here -- and trust me, the thought of it alone is enough to make my stomach twist in knots and rip my still-beating heart out of my chest -- I refuse to let things with this Mary Jane go south, too, especially if this is just some weird group hallucination.

Tony's probably right that there's still data to be found regardless, but I nip that kind of thinking in the bud. I'm home; I'm allowed to be happy about that, allowed to feel truly comfortable in my own skin again for the first time in nearly two years. I can still be a scientist without my powers, but it's a lot harder to be Spider-Man. Which brings me around to

[notaparker]

I am borrowing that mask -- at least -- and I am punching the hell out of some bad guys. I need it more than ever, after that display. For Peter, this might be the good kind of dream, but so far for me this is working out to be the kind you wake up from in a cold sweat.

Dennis Starkman fiddles with the inducer, and apparently finds a setting within a few facial features of Christian Bale. "You never met that guy?" he says. "I forget when he was around. This isn't my first time around the duplicate faces block... don't you have a Robert Downey, Jr., anyway? If there's already two similar-looking guys walking around, I don't see why I have to be a hologram."

Did he just reference RDJ? The guy he looks like. Does he have an unsanctioned and completely terrible movie about him, too?

No, wait, he probably paid for it and had script approval.

Lucky jerk.

[daretodo]

"Because you're Tony Stark, not some drugged up actor who was last seen on that show with the dancing baby. Also, that Downey guy doesn't exactly hang around with the New Avengers," I point out, eyebrows arching.

"...neither does Batman."

[notawastedlife]

"Well, you guys should look into that, you have everyone else in the clubhouse," Tony said, cycling through a series of different settings. Fun to play with, but he really wasn't in favor of the disguise angle. Fancy tech or no, he was having trouble finding a face he felt worked as well as his.

That probably had been a lost cause from the beginning.

"Anything else? Wait two days, see where we are, is that the plan? No objections?"

[getemtiger]

"None here," Mary Jane offered, a hand lifting in front of her as she shook her head. It was all that seemed logical, really. There was no sense in jumping to conclusions either way, when they were just as likely to get blindsided if they counted on either option being the case. In two days, they could reassess, figure out the likelihood of everything, but for now, it was best to just keep things simple, where simple included Tony being able to make himself look remarkably similar to Dennis Rodman. "We'll... see where we stand after that."

[daretodo]

"Great," I chirp, clapping my hands together. With that little bit of business dealt with, getting the heck out of this building is back to being my number one priority. All this extra energy is making me anxious, and if it turns out I'm home for good, well, this whole situation is complicated enough to warrant a few hours' of alone time.

"Then I'm going out for a bit. See the sights, jump off some buildings, maybe save a life or two... I'll be back for breakfast." A beat. "Which is in a couple hours, so I better get moving. But this place is literally crawling with superheroes -- you'll be safe here."