Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

    Gabriella O’Hara was twelve when she was bitten by a spider.

    Her father, a kind man named Miguel, brought her into to his place of work in Alchemax one day. Since Gabriella’s school had shut down for the day due to a water pipe bursting, Miguel insisted that he bring her in and show the ropes- even just for a day. The young girl was simply reading a book in her dad’s chair while he was off doing whatever a geneticist does when she felt something crawling on her wrist. She gazed her eyes upon the underside of her left wrist and saw the ugliest fucking spider to ever exist practically align its fangs along her barely visible veins. Before Gabriella could even react, the arachnid bared down onto her wrist and gave a painful bite. She screamed as she slapped the spider away, effectively killing it. Soon her father rushed in and comforted her, assuring her that the bite wasn’t deadly and promising ice cream after work.

    You know the rest, of course. It took some time to get used to her new powers, but Gabriella prevailed, though shooting literal webs out of her wrist was a weird feeling she could never really get used to. The tween didn’t tell her father anything, wanting to keep this one thing to herself. Gabriella told her father everything, but for some reason, she never really got around to telling Miguel. As many similarities she unknowingly shared with the many other spider-people across the universes, there was one thing that set her apart from a majority of them. She didn’t become the famous hero until a few years after getting her powers.

    Gabriella O’Hara was thirteen when Miguel O’Hara died in a car accident.

    She had just finished up soccer practice and was more than ready to go home. Coach had them doing suicides the majority of practice with a few water breaks in between, all because they had lost the game from yesterday. An embarrassing 0-6. Yeah, rough. Gabriella noticed the two police officers talking to her coach at the end of practice, but she quickly went back to chugging the last of her water. When Coach called her over to where he and the officers were standing, her fellow teammates teased her with ‘oooh’s. The poor teenager was still extremely fatigued from the hellish training and it was written on her face, but seeing the grim looks on all of the adults’ faces sobered her up fast. Gabriella felt her Coach’s hand on her shoulder when the officers told her the news.

    She couldn’t remember much after that. Fragments of sobbing and yelling to the officers that they’re lying, that Dad is at home, he’s not dead! They weren’t lying, unfortunately. The funeral was a blur, the only things she could remember was watching her father be lowered into the ground and the fact it was a closed-casket funeral.

    Tío Gabriel became her guardian, but he was never around. Always taking business trips around the globe, leaving her all alone in the spacious apartment she inherited from Dad. Gabriella liked to look back to when her tío was fun and would visit with gifts from his travels. The only things he brought back now were the occasional groceries and drunk apologies for not being a better figure to look up to. She often cried herself to sleep, clinging onto Dad’s shirts and hugging her pillow, hoping and praying it would turn into her father.

    Gabriella O’Hara was fourteen when she became Spider-Woman.

    Once more, you know what happens. Obviously, it took some getting used to. But since she was already pretty athletically inclined from years of soccer and a heightened pain tolerance from her powers, Gabriella made it work. Unfortunately, to also make it work, she had leave public school and continue her schooling via online to help out schedule wise. While one might think that all of this would damage Gabriella’s social life and mental health, it did the opposite. Well- her social life did take a big hit, but her emotional well-being was better than ever. Being Spider-Woman gave her the kind of independence she had craved for years now. Not the lonely, barely taking care of herself kind, but the freeing, capable of doing anything independence. While the pressure of being the only super-hero in Nueva York was heavy, Gabriella prevailed through it. Her father loved this city, so she was going to cherish and love the city how he would want her to. He always told her that Nueva York and the people who lived here deserved better. Corruption had taken root within the city decades ago, and if only there was someone out there who could stop it. It was his voice saying those words that would push her through her toughest battles with her foes. 

    Gabriella O’Hara was fifteen when Tío Gabriel died.

    In a fight with Doc Ock, the villain managed to cause a parking deck in Manhattan to collapse. Luckily many already evacuated, but a few people were almost smashed from the rubble had it not been for Spider-Woman swinging in and saving them. When asking if they were okay, a young women pointed to a little boy a good distance away and frozen with fear. More of the parking deck continued to give in, causing even more large pieces of concrete and cars to fall, all going in the direction of that boy. When rushing towards him, she noticed him- her uncle also running to save the boy. Too many thoughts were going through Gabriella’s head at once. What was he doing here? Shouldn’t he come home tomorrow? Can she save him? Can she save both? Does she have to choose? Will she die trying to save them?

The girl shot a web towards the two with even realizing it. When Gabriel finally saw Spider-Woman as he ran towards the boy, he quickly figured out what he needed to do. Reaching the boy first, Gabriel shoved him towards the web which stuck to the boy and was quickly pulled back by Spider-Woman, effectively getting the boy out of danger. Tío Gabriel wasn’t so lucky. Officers and volunteers were never able to recover his body, just puddles of blood and some pieces of meat. Sometimes Gabriella really wishes they had spoken one last time in his final moments of life. Kind of like the shit you see in origin stories where the close relative gives some powerful last words to the hero which motivates them throughout their career, or something cheesy like that. When his boss and some other colleagues from work came by the apartment to express their sorries, they explained he had managed to get his work trip to end a day early and had only went into office right after getting back from the airport to finish some paperwork. In Manhattan. Right across from the parking deck. Regardless, Gabriel didn’t have any casket, just a gravestone next to Miguel’s.

Gabriella O’Hara is now sixteen years old.

Spider-Woman is her escape, she barely leaves the lonely apartment without her suit. She was Spider-Woman and Spider-Woman was her. It was the only thing she had left. It was her only responsibility, with the government paying for her needs as an orphan and her inheritance paying for other things. The alter-ego brought meaning to Gabriella. She didn’t have any friends to confide to or anyone to relate to her as Gabriella. But that was fine because as Spider-Woman, everyone was in her corner. Total strangers willing to sell their soul for an autograph. Anyone would become her friend if she asked. Those comforts made the teenager grow confidence in herself and reminded her why she did all of this. The city loved Spider-Woman and Spider-Woman loved them right back.

Chapter Text

    Spider-Woman sighed as she sat on the edge of a random building on the roof. It was sunset, giving the city a beautiful, orange glow. Floating cars flew through the air, the people in them trying to get home to end the day.

    “Might as well call it a day, too.” The masked hero said to no one in particular.

    Standing up on the ledge, she shot a web from her wrist and swung through the city. Feeling the winds blow past her always made her heart pound, filling her body to the brim with excitement. She’s done this thousands of times, but it would never get old. Flipping through the air, she let out a little giggle, adrenaline rushing through her body. Spider-Woman let herself get closer to the ground and have a better look at all the pedestrians that quickly took notice of her. Swinging upside down, she gave a wink and quick peace sign to those taking photos before continuing to fly through the streets.

    Eventually, she landed by her apartment and entered through the window to her room. Gabriella took off her mask and threw it on her bed. She ran her hands through her hair, massaging her scalp. She took off the rest of the suit, carelessly throwing it on the ground somewhere as she went to go take a shower.

    Finishing up and wrapping a towel around herself, Gabriella looked at herself in the mirror. The girl was slightly appalled from how tired she looked. While she didn’t have eye bags, you could just see the exhaustion in her eyes. Her wet, brown hair fell a little past her shoulders, lightly touching her tanned skin. Looking away, she left the bathroom to change into some pajamas.

    Wearing a random shirt and shorts, Gabriella lounged on the couch, careful not to move too much lest the towel holding up her hair fall out. Scrolling on her phone, she felt herself grow more tired. Too lazy to get up to go to bed, she simply shut off her phone and knocked out for the night.

    She proceeded to wake up to a familiar ring-tone go off not even ten minutes later.

    Gabriella was really starting to regret setting up that damn alarm system on her phone that alerted her of threats like Doc Ock or some other bad guy of the week.

    Groaning as she sat up, she trudged her way to her room to put on the suit and save the city once more, or some shit like that. Gabriella grumbled complaints in both English and Spanish as she shoved on the suit and uncomfortably putting her damp hair in the mask.

    Arriving at the destination, Spider-Woman could hear many people screaming, as one does during an attack. Hanging off the side of a building, she looked to see what everyone was running from. When she finally found her target, the woman could hardly believe her eyes.

    “What the fuck?”

     Is that- Is that a rhino in Nueva York- did it just glitch?? “Am I asleep still? What the…” She muttered to herself

    As much as Spider-Woman wants to just hang there and gawk, she has work to do.

    The woman simply sighed, muttering how she “doesn’t get paid enough for this, they don’t even pay me,” and swinging towards the incredibly violent rhino threatening potential mass destruction and injuries.

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    Miguel smiled softly, watching his daughter show off a new trick she learned with her soccer ball. He felt his heart twist as he heard himself compliment the little girl, then the footage ended and the hologram disappeared.

    He simply stared ahead, not bothering to move as he let himself drift off into space.

    “Guess what.” Miguel heard in his ear.

    Breaking out of his trance, he turned his head and looked at Lyla. “Just tell me,” He told her with an unamused expression.

    “Where’s the fun in that?” The AI grinned at him as she pulled up some video footage. “Alright, get this. This universe is one we haven’t seen before. Completely flew under the radar.” At her words, Miguel furrowed his eyebrows as Lyla continued. “My best guess as to why is ‘cause the Spider-Man, or Spider-Women if you wanna be technical, has had all of their canon events so far, and there has been no anomalies to pop up there- until now, at least.”

    Miguel looked closer at the footage. Is that Spider-Woman being… dragged around by an actual rhino…? And haven’t they caught that exact rhino before?

    Anomalies weren’t as common as they used to be, but there was the occasional one every time and again. But the same one reappearing was definitely new. The man huffed and placed his hands on his hips. “What’s it called?” He asked as he watched the new Spider-Woman get tossed around by the rhino.

    “Earth 6045- Oh, it’s Nueva York, but there’s no sign of any variants of you.” Lyla answered, glitching to move to different places around Miguel.

    He winced as he watched the animal bite onto a web the woman shot out and pulled on it, slamming her harshly into the ground. Miguel wanted to ask more questions, he desperately wanted to know if there was any Gabi's on this Earth, but he knew if he started then he wouldn’t stop. Plus, this girl was getting dragged around like a damn doll, so he needed to leave right now.

    “Wanna take me there?” He questioned, raising an eyebrow at his holographic companion.

    Lyla simply hummed, a phone appearing in her hand and started scrolling on it. “Can I get a please?”

    Miguel rolled his eyes. “I’ll give you a cookie.” He said, sarcasm lacing his tone. A portal appeared in front of him, his gizmo beeping and showing him which Earth he was going to.

   “Oooh, get me macadamia.” Lyla popped up next to him, facing towards him with a smirk on her face before going away as Miguel walked through the portal.

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    “FUCK!” Spider-Woman cursed as she was slammed into the ground by that stupid beast.

    “Where the hell is animal control when you need them?!” She yelled out, getting up to try and tangle up the rhino once more.

    This was harder than she thought it was going to be. When she wrapped her webs around the animal’s legs, it simply stretched them out and ripped apart the webs, so that kind of left her out of options.

    Trying to figure out what to do, Spider-Woman got an idea. It was a stupid one, but an idea nonetheless.

    Maneuvering her body and webs just right, she was able to get lines of her webs in through the rhino’s mouth and she landed on top the rhino. She held tightly onto the webs- now makeshift reins- and sat down on the animal, using her stickiness to her advantage. The damned thing was bucking around like an angered bull, which was giving the hero a headache.

    Having it right where she wanted, Spider-Woman grinned. But that grin soon fell due to the fact she realized that she didn’t know what to do now. The only thing keeping her on this rhino was her determination, stickiness, and a few years of practice from riding those mechanical bulls at birthday parties when she was younger.

    “Ay, vamos, you dumb rhino!” The hero shouted down to the animal.

    Racking her brain for ideas on what to do now, the Spider-Woman didn’t noticed a portal open up behind her until the last second. Glowing red webs shot out of it and clung onto the rhino, causing it to go even more insane.

    “What-!” Turning her head, she saw somebody emerge from the portal headed straight for the animal.

    At least they would be headed for the rhino if that damn animal didn’t jerk to the side, but no, instead of his intended target, the new guy was immediately slammed into Spider-Woman.

    The two masked heroes fell onto the ground and both let out a string of curses at the pain and towards each other. Seeing the rhino ram into the nearest building and run over a streetlight, Spider-Woman rushed to stand up and started to shoot webs at the rhino once more. “I already have enough going on right now, try again next week! Also look where you’re falling next time, asshole!!” The woman snarled at the newcomer before shooting webs at him so he couldn’t move from the ground. After doing so, she ran off in the direction of that stupid rhino.

    “I’m here to help you, pendeja!” The stranger shouted at the Spider-Woman, all tied up and pinned down to the ground, but she couldn’t hear him now.

     Alright, Spider-Woman was starting to get pissed. Normally, saving the city is pretty tame. Beat up a couple bad guys, call it a day. Some fights are more difficult than others, but such is life. But right now? Gabriella was ready to forget all of her morals and put this rabid animal down. Not only that, some total stranger crashed into her! Just another dude possibly trying to fight her as well.

    Who the hell even was he anyway? Did he have some kind of skull on his suit? Because it sure looked like one. Definitely not a good guy.

    Throwing away her thoughts, she tried to shoot out more webs. As she shot one out, a something red blurred past her as if it in slow-motion.

    The random guy practically flew past her and punched the shit out of the rhino, effectively knocking it out.

    Spider-Woman immediately stopped what she was doing and put a hand over her mouth in shock. She watched as the man stood over the animal and tossed something in front of it, causing the rhino to be enveloped by a shield.

    “Who are you?” Gabriella asked cautiously, carefully watching his movements so she wouldn't get any rhino treatment.

    “I can’t tell you that. What I want to know is who the hell you think you are!” The man furiously turned and glared at the woman a few feet away from him through his mask. “I try to help you while you think you’re some vaquera and you web me to the ground!”

    “I thought you were a bad guy!” The young woman raised her hands in defense. “Wait- are you?” She hesitantly asked with a raised eyebrow, not that the man could see anyway.

    “Jesus Christ- No!!” He answered, throwing up his hands in anger and exasperation.

    “Ok, jeez, just making sure!!” Spider-Woman crossed her arms and turned her head away. “Uh, thanks for helping.” She spoke up.

    “Yeah, whatever.” The masked man grunted. He turn back to the rhino and touched some buttons on some gizmo, causing the animal to start floating with the shield still around it. “Lyla, scan it.”

    Spider-Woman gaped as a really small holographic woman appeared out of nowhere and glitched around the scene, popping up around different spots. “All good here, canon is still intact.” The hologram- Lyla- answered, looking Gabriella briefly before disappearing. Once she was gone, a portal appeared in front of the tall man.

    “W-Wait, what’s going on? What the hell is that?” Gabriella stammered out.

    The man clad in black in red simply turned his head, not fully looking at the girl. “You’ll know soon enough. I’m not staying here any longer.” He answered before stepping through the portal with the rhino in tow.

    Gabriella was left confused and dumbstruck. Blinking out of her stupor, she looked around at all the damage. Rolling her eyes, she took a few steps forwards and used a web to suspend herself into the air.

    The police can deal with the aftermath.

========================================================================

    Miguel laid in bed, thinking about his recent encounter. He’d need to get Lyla to tell Jessica or someone else to recruit the girl, but he’s just going to save that for tomorrow.

    He didn’t like how he felt on that Earth. He literally lives in his Nueva York, so why did he feel so uncomfortable on that one? He felt suffocated the whole time, and it messed with his emotions. He did feel bad for knocking the shit out of that rhino now that he wasn’t feeling all over the place.

    It’s whatever.

    He can deal with the aftermath later.

Chapter Text

    Gabriella was really at a loss here.

     Thinking back to last night, she really couldn’t understand what happened. First, some rabid-ass, glitching animal caused multiple people to end up in the hospital and damaged multiple buildings along with other city property. Next, some guy with a bad attitude came out of a portal and Falcon Punch-ed the rhino, then left with it through another portal. Gabriella didn’t even get his name, telling her it was classified. Also, what did he mean by ‘you’ll know soon enough’ when she simply asked what just happened?! Is she on some sort of hit list now? Yeah, right. Probably just some middle aged man who thinks he’s hot shit and can go around parading through his portals.

     Looking back on it now, his voice did sound familiar, but Gabriella couldn’t place where. It kind of reminded her of her father’s voice, but her dad had a kind and soft one. The stranger’s voice was rough and sounded… tired? The teenager shrugged at the thought. “Probably had been a long day for him or something..” She mumbled to herself.

    Walking into the kitchen, she poured herself some cereal for breakfast. Cookie Crisp was her favorite, but also really unhealthy. One of the perks of not having any parents or adults living with her was that she could have all the bad or sugary food she wants. Who’s going to tell her no? Her dead dad?

    Gabriella grimaced at her own tasteless joke.

    Carrying on throughout the day, the teenager tried to fill her day up with different things. Such as getting ahead on some school work, deep cleaning the apartment, going on patrol, etc. But Gabriella just found herself bored mostly. Finishing up said patrol, she sat on the ledge of a roof from some skyscraper as she looked down at the bustling city below her. It was nearing sunset, and as always, the city looked gorgeous.

    Dad would always talk about- No.

    “Not right now.” Gabriella mumbled to herself, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs.

    There was never really a good time to think about her late father, obviously. It wasn’t something the movies or TV shows made it look like, where the main character thinks back to their dead parents fondly and are all like “I know mom and dad are proud of me, so I’ll always think about them in long and overdone flashbacks!”

    Gabriella tried to think about her father less and less. How is she ever going to get over his death if she keeps crying every time she thinks about him? Sometimes, very rarely, the memory of her dad will seep into her mind whenever she's fighting a significantly tough battle with some bad guy. Not any specific memory, just him laughing or simply talking about Nueva York, anything really. But other than those small moments, she ignores her father.

    To help cope, she still hasn’t touched his room since he passed. Hell, she hasn’t even visited his grave in the three years he’d been dead. Nor Tío Gabriel’s. Out of sight, out of mind. Probably not the healthiest thing to do, but who cares?

    Before Tío Gabriel died, she was happy as both Gabriella and Spider-Woman. She still would hang out with her friends even though doing online school made it more difficult to keep in touch with them. Even though the loss of her father destroyed her, she managed to pick herself up, slowly but surely. Gabriella could never figure out why it was the death of her uncle that completely ruined her, they were never actually close. Maybe it was because she couldn’t save him in time and watched him die. Just a wild guess.

    Gabriella didn’t think about her late family often. Not out of malice, but for her own good. Was it selfish? Yes. Did Miguel O’Hara and Gabriel O’Hara deserve better from their deaths? Definitely.

    Gabriella tried to justify her actions through giving her all to Nueva York. She’s giving her life to protect the city she loved, because her father would want her to. That was how she remembered her father.

    Not through memories, but through every punch and web directed to her enemies.

    The girl knew it was a pathetic excuse to not confront her emotions and deal with her trauma, but she didn’t care.

    Now she was only happy as Spider-Woman.

    Softly exhaling, Gabriella stood up on the ledge. Giving one last look at the city, she moved to turn around before her senses went hay-wire.

    She immediately spun around and shot a web at the potential threat, just for them to dodge it with ease. Standing in front of Gabriella was a woman wearing a black and white spandex suit with teal ballet shoes. She was wearing a mask that has similar eyes as Gabriella’s own mask. Over it, the woman had a hood on, and she had her hands on her hips in a lax, confident manner.

    “Hey there.” The stranger greeted in a cool tone.

    “Who are you?” Spider-Women said apprehensively.

    The woman removed a hand from her hip and removed her mask. Blonde hair with blue tips fell and landed just above her shoulders. Her blue eyes shined in the light, and at the curve of her right eyebrow was a piercing. She had a casual smirk on her face. “Gwen Stacy, and I’m Spider-Woman too.”

    Before Gabriella could react, Gwen Stacy continued. “But, I come from a different universe than you. There are others like us, a lot others. All bitten by a spider and given powers to help protect our cities. I’m here to invite you to Spider Society…?” She stuck out her hand and raised an expectant eyebrow.

    “You’re inviting me to some cult and you don’t even know my name?” Gabriella crossed her arms and tried to get a good read on the girl in front of her.

    Gwen just chuckled at her words and retracted her hand. “That’s fair. You remember that guy from yesterday? Came out of some portal and punched a rhino?” Gabriella slowly nodded her head, allowing Gwen to continue. “Well, that’s the head-honcho, Miguel. He told my mentor, Jessica, who’s also Spider-Woman, and she sent me out to go grab you and try to get you to join.”

    Gabriella cringed at the mention of the boss’ name. ‘That’s gonna suck working for a guy with the same name as your dead dad.’ She regarded in her mind.

    “Wait, so there’s like… a multiverse of spider… people… and you all have some group for it?” Gabriella asked with confusion.

    The blonde nodded, “Yep, just about summarizes it.”

    “What’s the point of that?”

    Gwen exhaled at the question, a little tired of all the questions, but she understood where the woman was coming from. “A few years ago, the multiverse almost collapsed, but me and some other spider-people helped stop that from happening. Even though we stopped it, there were still some people or things from across the universes were accidentally being taken from their own Earth to another one. So Miguel created a way to safely travel across the ‘Spider-Verse’ to help others and send what we call ‘anomalies’ back to where the need to be before it disrupts any timelines. That rhino from yesterday was an anomaly because it wasn’t from your world, so Boss came in and took it back where it belonged. ”

    Gabriella couldn’t really understand much that, but got the main gist of it. “So that ‘Spider Society’ just kinda keeps the.. multiverse in check?”

    Gwen nodded her head and smiled. “Exactly!” With a tilt of her head, she asked once more. “So, whatcha say? Wanna join?”

    Letting out a sigh and looking away, Gabriella grabbed at the spandex of her suit in slight nervousness. This was all very sudden. “How can I trust you?”

    Fishing a wrist band out of her pocket, Gwen grinned. “Only one way to find out. Lyla!” She called out, resulting in the same holograph woman from yesterday to pop up. “Authorize this for a day-pass, please?”

    “No problem, Gwen.” The mini projection answered in a preppy tone, glitching to different places around Gwen. Lyla glanced at Gabriella before glitching away.

    “What’s your name?” Gwen questioned one last time as she tossed the bracelet to Gabriella, who caught it with ease.

    “Just call me Gabi.”

Chapter Text

    Gabriella tried not to let her jaw hit the floor as her and Gwen walked into, what the blonde said, was only the lobby. There were hundreds- no, thousands of spider-people walking around all over the place. Literally all over the place. On the walls, ceilings, you name it. But what was more amazing was that every person had their own unique suit, no single outfit repeated. Hell, some of them weren’t even people! Gabi was one hundred percent positive she saw a cartoon pig in the distance.

     “I’m gonna take you to see the lady I mentioned earlier, Jessica, in a bit. Miguel’s out doing some business in someother universe, so she’s next in charge basically. She can answer questions and explain things better than I can. But I’ll show you around the place and introduce you to a few Spider-Men before doing all that, get you comfortable and whatever.” Gwen informed her as the walked through the lobby, walking past people and animals of all shapes and sizes donning the spider mask.

    Gabi nodded her head, taking in her surroundings. “Where are we going first?” She asked, turning to Gwen.

    “Uh, the cafeteria, I’m starving.” The blonde answered in an obvious manner, but the grin on her face showed she was just messing with Gabriella. 

    The teen chuckled a bit at the tease before nodding, “Yea, I haven’t eaten since like, ten this morning or something.” 

    Arriving at the cafeteria, Gwen instructed Gabi to find the two a table while she went to go grab some food. 

    “Is there anything specific you want?” Gwen questioned before heading off. 

    Gabi shrugged with a simple “Surprise me”.

    Ten minutes later and holding a tray of food, Gwen sat across from Gabi. Thanking her and taking off her mask, Gabi sighed, ready to tear up the meal. It was a hamburger with blue bun with red markings on it, reminiscent of the man she met yesterday. It kind of freaked her out, but she didn’t really care and picked up the burger to take a bite. 

    Holy shit.

    This burger was probably one of the best things she's ever tasted. It honestly did not look at all that appealing but this burger? If Gabi died right now she would die a very happy camper.

    Gwen had to bite back a laugh, seeing how wide Gabi’s eyes practically got after biting into the burger. She watched her with an amused expression as Gabi scarfed down her meal, not taking long at all to finish it off.

    Realizing what she had just done, Gabriella’s face burned with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry you just saw that. I guess I'm just uh- really hungry.” She told Gwen as she laughed into her hands. 

    Gwen simply snorted, “You’re good, but I have to say, I’ve never seen someone eat a cheeseburger with so much emotion before.” 

    “Anywho,” Gwen started as she took a bite of her own food before swallowing. “I’ve been wondering… what’s your story? If you feel sharing, that is.” Gwen stated. 

    Gabi formed a serious expression on her face as she debated for a moment. “Well, it started back when I… I was bitten by a spider-”

    “Whaaaaaat, no wayyyy.” Gwen interrupted, sarcasm practically dripping from her words. 

    The brunette blinked. “...what?” Gwen leaned her head back and laughed at Gabi’s face.

    “Sorry to tell you this, but almost all of us got bitten by a spider.”

    “...oh.” Now that Gwen was saying that, Gabi remembered the blonde mentioning a spider-bite when telling her about the multi-verse.

    “Alright, sorry for interrupting, continue!”

    Gabi gave a quick ‘ahem’ before finishing what she started to say. “Got my spider powers like a day after. And about a year after getting my powers… my dad died. Became Spider-Woman not long after that, then watched my uncle die.” Gabi finished.

    Raising an eyebrow at Gwen, she sarcastically asked, “Does that happen to almost all of you, too?”

    Gwen winced, “Yea, kinda.. Sometimes it’s a dad, sometime’s it’s a police captain, sometimes it’s both- a two-in-one kinda deal.” 

    Gabriella huffed. “Oh.”

    “Wait- how old are you? Fifteen, sixteen?” Gwen asked, stuffing some fries in her mouth. 

    “Sixteen, twelve when I was bit.” Gabi answered then took a sip of her soda, “What about you?”

     “I’m nineteen. I got bit when I was fourteen, so not too far from your age.” The blonde shrugged, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms in a relaxed manner. 

    Looking past Gabi, Gwen’s face erupted into a wide smile. “Miles! Over here!” Gwen called out, waving her arm in the air. 

    Gwen webbed an empty chair near them and dragged it to where they were sitting. Turning, Gabriella saw a young man walk up to them with a large grin. He had dark skin and thick, curly hair. He had kind, brown eyes that seemed to light up when he noticed Gwen. As he got closer, Gabi noticed he had a thick scar across his left cheek. 

     Arriving to where they were sitting, Miles bent over to hug Gwen, who was still sitting. Giving a quick hug back then pulling away, she motioned to the chair, “Sit down, I wanna introduce you to the new girl!”

    Turning to her with a smile, he stuck his hand out to shake as he sat down. “Hey, Miles Morales!” He introduced himself.

    Taking his hand and giving a small shake with a smile back, she told him her name. “Hi, I'm Gabriella, just call me Gabi.”

    “Oh, nice name. What Earth are you from?” Miles asked, trying to make conversation as he snuck a fry from Gwen’s plate.

    Gabi felt her face twist in confusion, she still barely knew anything from the talk Gwen gave earlier. “She’s doesn’t- stop taking my fries- know a lot about the multiverse and her Earth so far, but she’s from Earth 6045. I haven’t taken her to see Jess yet. Figured I’d get her used to the place before doing all of that.” Gwen answered for Gabi.

    “Ahh, okay. So, Gabi, how’re you liking the place so far?” Miles grinned as he crossed his arms and leaned his elbows on the table. 

    The young woman in question gave a half-shrug, sipping the last of her drink. “I mean, it’s a lot. It’s a really, really big place obviously, but I’ll get used to it, I think. If I join, that is.”

    Miles nodded his head, agreeing with her words. “Oh, yeah, definitely. It took me a while before I stopped getting lost-”

    “He still gets lost,” Gwen quickly interrupted while scrolling away on her phone.

    “Okay, you know what? I don’t need your negative feedback right now.”

    “It’s not negative- it’s true.”

    “Well, I mean I’m trying to talk right now and you’re interrupting me.”

    “Nuh-uh.”

    “Hell do you mean ‘nuh-uh’?”

    Seeing them playfully go back and forth had Gabi biting back a small smile. Not that she enjoyed watching them fight, though she had to admit it was a little funny. The sixteen year old just felt so… relaxed. Like she was hanging out with old friends again, back to the girl she was a little over year ago. 

    Jeez, she really needs to fix her social life if being around two people arguing is making her feel happy.

    “When are we going to meet Jess..ica.” Gabi interjected in their back-and-forth banter.

    Gwen shut off her phone and pocketed it, standing up, “We should probably head out right about now, thanks for reminding me.”

    Getting up and throwing away their trash, Gwen and Gabi walked out of the cafeteria with Miles in tow. “I’ll be a gentleman and walk with you guys,” He had said, falling in line with the blonde and wearing a grin.

    The three conversed more as they made their way to their destination. As Gabi told them a little more about her life and alter-ego, she had a small (big) boost to her pride when Gwen and Miles were incredibly impressed by the fact she had organic webs and didn’t have to make them in a lab. Not just that, but Miles told her about the time the entire Spider-Verse was after him-

    “Okay, not the entire multiverse.” Gwen interjected. “Just most of it.”

    “Get chased by the multiverse and see how you feel.” The young man rolled his eyes. 

    Gwen gave a glare. “I think you forget who helped you out.”

    “Weelllll, I wouldn’t say helped - stop looking at me like that! You know I’m playing!” Miles whined. 

     It was obvious Gabi was extremely confused and Gwen gave a small laugh. “Long story short, three years ago, Miguel sent the Spider-Verse after him and went like, crazy on him, but everything’s fine now.”

    Gabi felt herself grimace. “So, this ‘Miguel’ guy almost killed Miles but everything is okay and he’s still in charge…?”

    “Well, I mean- you had to be there, y’know?” Miles awkwardly laughed. “Plus, he actually tried to resign, but nobody wanted the job so he stayed. But he’s calmed down a lot since then. He thought he was doing the right thing at the time, as messed up as it was. It’s all about perspective, honestly. There’s more that happened in between, but like I said, you had to be there.”

    The brunette felt a little glad she wasn’t there, actually. Personally, she wouldn’t forgive a guy who tried to kill her and send, like, a thousand spider-people after her, but to each their own she guessed. 

    “Hey, Jess! Peter!” Gwen greeted with a wide smile.

    Gabi didn’t even realize they entered a large room with a red ambiance. On the far side of the room was a small stage with control area and yellow TVs above them. Near the stage were two people, a man and woman, turning to the trio. The woman had dark skin and her coarse hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Instead of a skin-tight spandex suit like the many others, she had on black, leather pants and red boots, wearing a jacket that had both colors in its design. She adorned yellow tinted glasses, that were reminiscent of eyes of other Spider-People’s masks, and a red headband. The man next to her was pretty tall with pale skin and brown hair. He had a blue and red spandex suit with black webs designs across it, and had a spider symbol on his chest. 

    “Gwen! Miles! Person I don’t know!” The man waved with an eager grin.

    Walking up to the two, Gwen made introductions for Gabi. “That is Jessica Drew, my mentor I was telling you about. And that’s Peter Parker, but we put a B in the middle so we don’t get him confused with the others.”

    “It’s so nice to meet you,” Gabi introduced politely but felt a little nervous. “My name’s Gabi.”

    “Pretty formal,” Peter laughed, but placed a comforting pat on her shoulder. “You don’t have to be all freaked-out or whatever. We’re not as cool as you think.”

    Miles spoke up with excitement to Peter. “I didn’t think you were gonna be in here!”

    “Me and Jessica were comparing how cute our kids were, I win, obviously, but no biggie. 

    Turning to Gabi, Jessica raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Got a last name, or is it just ‘Gabi’?”

    “Oh, sorry! O’Hara- Gabriella O’Hara.” She rushed out, already feeling like she made a bad impression from only using her nickname.

    It also wasn’t helping her nerves that Jessica and Peter were looking at her in total shock. 

    “Excuse me?” Jessica asked in disbelief.

    “Gabreilla… O’Hara..” Gabi repeated, each syllable getting more quiet. 

    Gwen and Miles shared a wide-eyed look, which did not make Gabi feel any better.

    Jessica’s voice rang out. “Gwen, Miles. Can you leave Gabriella with us for a few minutes?”

    The poor girl turned to look at them with a face that begged the two not to. They both wanted to stay, but knew it wasn’t up for debate. Giving Gabriella a comforting squeeze on the shoulder, Gwen walked out of the room and with Miles behind her. 

    “Did I do something wrong?” Gabi asked cautiously.

    The two adults glanced at each other. 

    “Not at all, kid. We're just... trying to figure something out." Peter reassured, putting a hand on Gabi's shoulder as Jessica called out for Lyla.

    The holographic assistant popped out of nowhere. “Jessica! Long time no see, girl.” Lyla grinned.

    “Did you know about her?” The woman pointed a thumb at Gabi, glaring at the AI assistant.

    Lyla glitched in front of Gabi and placed a hand on her hip, leaning forward with a finger tapping her chin. “Oh, yea, Earth 6045,” She gave a sly smile, standing up straight and appeared next to Gabi’s head. “Bears a resemblance to a certian someone you know, huh?”

    “Yes or no, Lyla.” Jessica crossed her arms.

    “Ok, fine.” The holographic woman sighed. “Yea, but you know I got strict orders not to mention anything about her all that time ago. Apparently I’m annoying about it or something.”

    Glitching near Jessica and Peter, she looked at the two with a smirk. “Want me to call him up?” 

    All Gabi could do was watch as the two adults practically communicated with their eyes. “Yea, but just tell him to come back as soon as he can.” Peter told Lyla after a moment.

    “And we’re not done this conversation. We’ll come back to it later,” Jessica fussed at Lyla, who just gave a shrug.

    “Can’t wait,” She grinned before glitching away.

    Gabi wanted to pull her hair watching everyone go back and forth. What the hell was going on?? Who does she bear a resemblance to here? Does someone here know her?

    Peter turned to Gabi and noticed her baffled expression. “I understand you’re probably a little confused-”

    “That’s an understatement. Who were you guys talking about?” Gabi interrupted.

    “I understand you’re very confused, but me and Jess need to talk to you about a few things first.” He continued, his hands slightly raised to calm her down. 

    “First, what all did Gwen tell you about the multiverse and Spider-Society?” Jessica asked.

    Gabi stayed quiet for a few moments, trying to gather her thoughts. “Well, I mean, you guys all help keep the canon intact or something.”

    The woman nodded. “Normally, I would call Lyla to do the information explanation presentation, but I’m upset at her right now. So we’ll manage without her for now.” She took a breath in, trying to remember how Miguel does his explanations. “First off, every universe has its canon events. It’s what… binds our lives together. Example, we all lose someone before or during our time as the Spider. Now, if those events are interrupted or something that doesn’t belong in that universes arrives, it becomes an anomaly. Anomalies are a difficult subject nowadays so I won’t go into much detail about that. But in most cases, they are threatening to a universe and could cause the collapse of one or more.”

    “Who… who did you lose?” Jessica questioned in a soft tone, knowing first-hand how difficult of a subject it could be.

    “My father and uncle.” Gabi answered after a moment.

    Peter took a cautious step forward. “Was your father’s name… Miguel O’Hara, Gabi?” 

    “Yea, how do you.. know…” Gabriella’s voiced trailed off in realization. 

    It all made sense but didn’t at the same time. The leader’s name was Miguel, they said she looked like someone, why he needed to get here, so many shared looks between everyone she didn’t understand. 

    But her father was dead.

    Is this man even her dad? 

    “You think my dead father is your guys’ boss, don’t you?” Gabriella asked incredulously.

    “I-I.. Gwen only said his first name, so I just thought it was a coincidence, but there’s no way… right?” She spoke with a broken voice. 

    Gabi ran a hand through her hair, swallowing even though her mouth felt dry. Her heart was beating rapidly. Jessica rested her hand on Gabi’s shoulder, pulling her out of her panic. “It’s not our place to tell you a lot.” She spoke in a soft, comforting manner. “But what I can tell you is that no matter what universe you’re in or from, your father loves you so much . He’s-”

    “Here. What did you guys want that I had to leave early?” A voice rang out.

    All three looked behind them, seeing a man in a dark blue and red spandex suit walk into huge room. 

    Gabriella felt like all the breath in her lungs were stolen. The man she met last night, Gwen told her that was Miguel, but only now did all the pieces fully come together. 

    She’s already met her dead father. 

    The teenager stood still as Jessica and Peter walked towards Miguel. The two looked at him, glanced back at Gabi, and exited the room. 

    Now it was just Gabriella O’Hara and Miguel O’Hara. 

========================================================================

    Miguel turned to look at Peter and Jess walking away in tandem with confusion. What were the looks for? Facing forward again, he noticed a teenage girl stomping towards him. Wait- wasn’t that the Spider-Woman from the night before? He didn’t recognize her without the mask for a second, her suit doing the job instead. 

    As she grew closer, he couldn’t help but analyze her features. She looked… familiar.

    “Ask me who I am.” She spoke, a look in her eye Miguel couldn’t figure out.

    “Excuse me?” He growled, not taking kind to the demand.

    Miguel let his mask dissolve, towering over her. The girl’s eyes widened and she froze for a moment. Her gloved fists balled up and she pressed her lips together, looking as though she was about to cry.

    “Ask me who I am.” The girl repeated, her voice breaking. 

    Fine, he’ll bite. “Who the hell do you think you are telling me what to do?”

    She took in a shaky breath, tears forming in her eyes. 

    “My name is Gabriella O’Hara, and I am the daughter of Miguel O’Hara. I’m from Nueva York on Earth 6045.”

Chapter Text

    It was like the air had been sucked out of Miguel’s lungs from her words. He froze, taking in her appearance. 

    This girl in front of him wasn’t the nine-year old who had faded away in his arms. Her hair was down instead of his Gabi’s signature ponytail- the one where she would always complain he was pulling at her hair too tight to put it up. Instead of innocence and happiness in her eyes, there was grief and hurt from having seen a world that left her broken. 

    A look he knew all too well.

    As different as the girl looked, she was just as similar. The same nose he would playfully pinch whenever she bugged him. Her deep, thick curls that he had the worst time trying to figure out how to take care of. The emotion in her dark eyes that seemed just as terrified as the day he lost her. 

    A look that haunted Miguel.

    He could practically hear the nine-year old call out for him as she glitched in his embrace, not knowing it was her own father who killed her. 

    “ Dad? ”

    Miguel snapped out of his shock, blinking back to reality. 

    “Gabi… Gabriella? ” He whispered breathlessly.

    The teenager took in a shaky breath, nodding as tears finally began to fall down her face. She didn’t know what to do, if she should reach to hug him or not. Instead, she opted to wipe away her tears. “You’re- You’re dead ,” She hiccuped. “Are you- Are you even my dad?”

    It was like a scene from her nightmares. Gabriella’s father would show up and comfort her- just for her to wake up alone with a tear-soaked pillow. Her heart felt like it was genuinely tearing apart just looking at the man in front of her. She felt like a little kid again from how hard she was crying. 

    “No, no, mija,” Miguel tried to soothe, kneeling down in front of her.

    He raised his hands but let them hover in the air for a bit, unsure if he should hug Gabriella, place his hands on her shoulders, or what. Instead, he opted to grab her hands, letting the gloves of his suit dissipate. Miguel took in a deep breath, looking into Gabi’s tear-soaked eyes. 

    “I’m your father, I always will be. No matter what universe we’re from.” He whispered softly. 

    “Then why didn’t you try and help me? You could’ve, but you left me all alone.” Gabriella sobbed once more. “They said you’re in charge, why didn’t you come and protect me.” Her words grew bitter as she pushed his hands away, taking a step back.

    So much hurt. So much anguish. All of that spent on a man who could’ve come back at any time. Walked through the front door at any moment. And what about Tío Gabriel? Was he alive and well too? Watching on with her father as Gabriella gave up everything to protect the city they loved?

    In her own daze of anguish quickly turned to fury, Gabriella lashed out onto Miguel as if he was the same one from her own universe.

    “I had to watch your casket be lowered into your grave and then watch my uncle die right in front of me not even two years later!” The girl seethed. “I dropped out of high school, left behind all of my friends, gave my heart and soul just to protect a city you loved more than anything. I did it in your memory, for you .”

     Before Miguel could say anything, Gabriella continued with heavy tears. “And for what?! Just- Just for you to be alive and ignoring your own daughter? Going around, leading a whole- what is this- company? Team?”

    “A-And, y’know, it’s so fucking ridiculous-”

    “Baby...” Miguel softly interjected.

    “-I wasted so many nights crying because I would never see you again-”

    “Gabi.” 

    “-but no! It turns out my very-much-alive dad was just running across every other dimension but mine-

    “ Gabriella, basta ya! ” His voice echoed throughout the room.

    The girl shut her mouth, but continued to glare daggers into his eyes as tears fell. Miguel closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before looking back down at his daughter. 

    “That’s enough.” He softly repeated in english. Kneeling down and now eye-to-eye, Miguel grabbed onto Gabriella’s shoulders. 

    “You have to understand, it’s not as easy as you think it is.” He started. “The universe I’m from, where we’re at right now, I never had a Gabi- I never had you. But when I started this whole thing, traveling across dimensions, I-I found a world that had you. Its own Gabriella. That world’s version of myself had… died, so I came in and took his place so she- you- wouldn’t have to live without her dad.” As he spoke, Miguel grew a soft smile at the memories. “She was such a breath of fresh air. She was exactly what I didn’t know I needed. Her smile and laugh could give me the energy and hope to do anything. She was something worth fighting for other than just the sake of being a hero.” His smile fell as he took a pause. “But that couldn’t last forever. I was so selfish that I didn’t care about the repercussions of messing with something I shouldn’t have. And my little girl with her entire universe had to pay the price.”

     Gabriella’s tears came to a slow the more Miguel told her. She wasn’t the only Gabi? She wasn’t the only Gabi to lose her dad? For a brief moment, she felt stupid for not realizing that earlier. It was the multiverse they were talking about after all. Gabriella wanted to ask what happened to that Gabi and her world, but she had a strong feeling she knew what the answer was. 

    “Universes can collapse if their timeline doesn’t move along just right, and I caused that for her world.” Miguel explained, cementing Gabi’s guess. “So I vowed that I would never let that happen again. I never actively looked for a world that had you in it.

     “I would’ve helped you, baby, I swear on it. Your universe just somehow fell under our radar. What happened the other day with the rhino, that was the first time we even knew of your world. Your world had always followed its timeline and no anomalies ever showed up, so I never came across it. I promise you, if I knew it was you yesterday, I would’ve explained everything then and never left you behind so quickly. I love you too much to ever knowingly do that to you, no matter the universe you’re from. You’ll always be my sweet little girl, Gabi. ”

    There was a beat of silence as Miguel looked at his daughter, trying to see what was going on in her mind. 

    Tears slowly gathered in Gabi’s eyes once more. As they fell down her face, a sob erupted from her throat as she threw her arms around his neck and nuzzled her nose into his neck. “I’m sorry, Daddy!” She weeped. “I’m so sorry!”

    Wrapping his arms around her, he softly patted her back. “Baby, it’s okay. I’m the one who should be sorry. You had no one to help you or take care of you. You were left with no family at a young age. But you’ve been so brave, mija. I’m so proud of how strong and independent you’ve become. Being Spider-Woman all by yourself.” 

    He may not be her exact Miguel but Gabriella didn’t mind. His hugs felt the exact same as the dad from her own universe. His love for her felt the same. A fraction of her mind felt guilty, as though she was eagerly replacing her father with a variant. 

    Miguel carefully pulled away and delicately placed his hands on Gabi’s cheeks as he looked at her with a proud smile. If she looked closely, she could see tears threatening to build up in his own eyes. He sat down criss-cross on the floor and slowly brought her down with him, moving his hands from her face and onto her hands. “No more crying, mijita. Tell me about your life, tell me what you’ve been up to. How are you doing in school?” He asked with a grin, trying to push away the negative emotions from Gabriella. 

    The girl in question wiped her face and sniffled her nose. “I dropped out so I can focus on being Spider-Woman.” She croaked.

    A moment of silence passed.

    “What?” Miguel asked as though he didn’t hear it the first time.

    Gabriella let out a tearful laugh at his reaction, once more trying to wipe the last of her tears away. “Not really dropped out, but I do online school now. A bit after you passed and I became Spider-Woman, I didn’t have a lot of time on my hands so I transferred to online school. Tío Gabriel was fine with it. Honestly, he probably didn’t know and just thought the consent and acknowledgement stuff was just a field-trip form.” She explained.

    Miguel furrowed his eyebrows. “Mama, who is Gabriel?”

    Blinking in confusion, Gabi cocked her head to the side. “Your brother?”

    “...I don’t have any brother- in this universe at least. Is this Gabriel the one you were talking… about…” Miguel slowly let his words die off as he remembered her words of her uncle passing away. 

    Pursing her lips, Gabi gave a stiff nod. “You died when I was thirteen and Tío died when I was fifteen.”

    “Gabi, you don’t have to-” He started, but the girl shook her head softly.

    “It’s fine.” She stated as she sniffed her nose. “You passed in a really bad car crash when I was at soccer practice one day. Tío Gabriel died trying to save a little kid during a villian attack on the city.” She took a brief pause, glancing away. “He managed to push the kid out of the way in time but he was crushed by the debris.”

    Her father had a look of pity on his face, but also understanding. Sensing he was about to say something, Gabi spoke up. “But I’m okay. I moved on and I’m doing just fine. My grades in school are good and I enjoy being a hero to my city.”

    Miguel grimaced, but grabbed her hands and gave them an affirming squeeze. “You don’t have to hide anything from me. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t talk to me, mija. How old are you right now? Seventeen, eighteen?”

    “Sixteen.”

    Gabi watched Miguel’s face take on a look of heartbreak for her. It’s only been three years since he passed for Gabi. She had lost all of her family in such a short amount of time. 

    There was a beat of silence. Gabi wouldn’t say it was an awkward silence, but she wasn’t really sure what to say. “Yeah…” She settled on. 

    “Uh, how- how have you been? Just tell me what’s been goin’ on for you… and stuff..” Gabi spoke, pulling her hands away from her father’s hold to fiddle with her fingers, picking at the fabric of the suit. 

    She winced once she realized what she said. From what Miles, Gwen, and he had just told her, these past few years haven’t been his best. This reuniting stuff was awkward- well, Gabi wouldn’t say awkward per se… but… yeah, awkward. She spent days and nights thinking about her father not long after he passes but in those thoughts he never died, instead he watched her grow up. So excuse her for not really knowing what to say in this situation. 

    “Well- not how you’ve been doing- but- What all- I- uh…” Gabi just let out a sigh and gave up on her words as her cheeks warmed in embarrassment. “Sorry…” She looked away.

    Miguel simply laughed and placed a hand on the side of her head affectionately. “You’re fine, Gabi. Let’s just start over. Tell me all about your life. Talk to me, mija.”

    And so she did. Told him about how he raised her, the daddy-daughter dances, the soccer games, her spider bite, his and Tio’s death again, and everything else leading up to today. Miguel listened with eagerness as Gabi went on and on about herself and Nueva York. She was nine years old again in his eyes, rambling about her day at school. The smile, talking with the hands, the laugh, all the same. 

    Things would take a while before they would go back to normal- if that even was a possibility. They were from different universes, and as much as Miguel wanted to ask her to move here and stay with him so they could finally be a family, he knew he couldn’t. Just watching her eyes light up as she talked about her Nueva York, he knew he couldn’t take that away from her. Not that she would let him, if this Gabi was as stubborn as his first. 

    So for now they just talked. Talked to each other like nothing ever happened. Because right now neither of them cared about anything else right now. An orphaned girl was solely focused on her father, and a bereaved father was solely focused on his little girl. 

    All was well.