Chapter 55: The Homeless Spider-Kid
"Sir — how do you know me?"
Miles was so startled at hearing his own name that he immediately yanked his mask off.
He'd been absolutely certain no one in this universe could possibly know him. But the mysterious man in front of him had called him by name without hesitation — and already knew he wasn't from this universe. It was deeply unsettling.
Miles was eighteen. Barely an adult. Green around the edges, still figuring out how to be a person. He didn't carry much actual suspicion of Ethan — just confusion. He was genuinely curious how this stranger had identified him so fast.
Ethan looked at Miles with a faint smile and didn't answer the question.
Instead, he countered with one of his own: "You don't need to know how I know. You came here chasing Kingpin, right? And in your world, you also have a Spider-Man named Peter Parker — correct?"
Miles blinked at the precision of the question. Then he nodded.
"Yes, sir. The original plan was — I was supposed to send every Spider-Person back to their home universe, then destroy the collider." He scratched the back of his neck. "But something went wrong at the end. Kingpin and I both got pulled through. Neither of us knew why. And I just... followed him here, all the way to this universe."
His brow furrowed. Clearly he still hadn't worked out exactly how he'd ended up in a completely unfamiliar reality.
"As for the Peter Parker from my world..." Miles's voice tightened. "He was our Spider-Man. Kingpin killed him."
His eyes flicked toward the lifeless body of Fisk-Prime still sitting in its iron restraints. Pure hatred flashed across his young face.
"A Spider-Team?" Ethan asked, wanting to confirm the version. "Were there a lot of Spider-People that ended up in your universe?"
Miles perked up immediately. This was clearly his favorite topic.
"Actually, not that many. Just five of us." He started counting off on his fingers. "First one I met was Peter B. Parker — he was from an older universe. He became my mentor. Taught me so much."
"Second was Spider-Gwen. Super cool. Incredible moves."
"Third was Peni Parker — she was from, like, 2033 or something, in a whole different timeline."
"Fourth was Spider-Man Noir. Black-and-white art style, totally his own vibe — really mysterious."
"And... the last one wasn't actually human. Spider-Ham. Talking pig. Honestly, he made the whole thing bearable."
Miles turned to Ethan hopefully. "Sir — may I ask your name?"
Ethan had everything he needed to confirm it. This was exactly the Into the Spider-Verse scenario — with one critical deviation.
In the original, Miles successfully completed his mission and stayed safely in his own universe. But here, due to some unknown glitch, the collider had ripped a space-time fracture that carried both Miles and Fisk-Prime into Ethan's universe instead.
Which meant the ending for Miles's original universe might have gone very differently than the version Ethan remembered.
Ethan looked at Miles and felt a quiet ache. That universe's Peter Parker had genuinely been the most successful Spider-Man across the multiverse — wealth, loving wife, adorable daughter. Life had given him everything. And then fate had been incredibly cruel to him. Kingpin had killed him. He'd had a chance to escape, but he'd chosen to die protecting the kid standing in front of Ethan now.
"My name is Ethan Cross. The Kingpin in this universe is my godfather."
Miles's entire body tensed. He went rigid, every muscle shifting into defensive posture, his wide eyes locked on Ethan with sudden wariness.
From Miles's point of view, Ethan was connected to a Kingpin — and that was enough to mean potential danger.
Ethan watched the reaction and had to suppress a laugh.
"Relax, Little Black Spi—"
He caught himself mid-sentence and immediately course-corrected.
"— Little Spider. Sorry, slip of the tongue. Relax, Spider-Kid."
"Did you not just see me kill the Kingpin from your universe? If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead. Right?"
"What's your plan? Can you get back to your own universe on your own?"
The honest truth was, as far as Ethan knew, this universe didn't have a particle collider or anything resembling multiverse travel tech.
Miles scratched his head, eyes filling with cautious hope as he looked at Ethan. "Mr. Ethan — if you already know I'm from another universe, then... you must know a way to send me back, right?"
To Miles, this mysterious, knowledgeable stranger seemed like the kind of person who would obviously have the answers.
"I know ways," Ethan said honestly. "I just don't have the ability myself — or access to the people who do."
Characters like the Ancient One, Doctor Strange, or America Chavez could move between universes. But America Chavez might not even exist in this timeline yet. The Ancient One was someone Ethan genuinely didn't want to seek out. And Stephen Strange was still just a neurosurgeon working at a hospital somewhere in Manhattan.
"What about your Spider-Team? Can't they come get you?" Ethan asked, noticing that Miles's body was occasionally flickering into visual glitches — a pixelated distortion that rippled across his form before settling again.
Ethan knew what that meant. If he remembered correctly, Miles couldn't stay in a foreign universe indefinitely without some kind of stabilization device — some kind of watch or band that let Spider-People survive in worlds they didn't belong to. But that device came later in the Spider-Verse story. Miles might not have one yet.
And privately, Ethan was already thinking about how amazing it would be to get access to the Spider-Verse's central headquarters. That place supposedly housed a thousand different Spider-People from a thousand different universes. The friendship-farming potential alone was ridiculous. But the problem was — only actual Spider-People could enter. He'd need a workaround for that.
Miles's face fell. "They all went back to their own universes through the collider. Unless this world has a collider of its own... I don't know how to get back."
Ethan patted his shoulder gently. "Don't get discouraged. There's always a way."
Miles looked up, hope flickering in his eyes. "Really? You have an idea?"
"How about this — stay with me for now. I've got plenty of empty apartments back at my place. You don't have anywhere else to go, do you?"
Ethan extended the offer naturally. As long as Miles was in this universe, eventually one of his Spider-People friends would figure out how to come find him. And when that happened, Ethan would have his ticket to the Spider-Verse.
Miles nodded gratefully. He could tell Ethan was genuinely looking out for him. He was, after all, homeless in an unfamiliar reality, with no one he knew. Ethan was, at this moment, the only lifeline he had.
"Come on. Let's head back."
Ethan turned and started walking. Miles fell in beside him.
The System notifications bloomed in his vision.
「DING!」
「Congratulations, Host! Miles Morales has been added as a friend!」
「Attribute Gained: Invisibility!」
「10 Friend Points awarded.」
「Integrate immediately?」
"Integrate."
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