Spider-Man: Homeless

Peter One

"So something held the timeline together," Wanda pointed out.  Her voice shifted sadly as she continued. "That was one of Vis' theories about the multiverse. The most plausible one that either of us could find. And you want to find out what that thing was."

"No, I want to shut this universe off from the rest. I want to protect this branch from being opened. You all saw what happened when the chaos was released."

"-Vis also believed," Wanda continued, her voice taking on a warning tone, "That it was dangerous."

"And he was right," Strange replied. "Which is why we need to stop this before it's too late." 

"Surely, Stephen," Wong interjected, "You've realized that it's impossible to isolate one branch if the multiverse is growing. Every single choice creates a new branch. This branch grew off of another branch, and more will grow off of this one. It's going to split infinitely."

"And I've thought of that. Which is why I've realized that the only way to save this universe is to stop other ones from growing off of it. The rest of the universes will be free to split and grow, but this one will be shielded and protected. It'll only be able to move down a single timeline."

"You want to become the entity in charge of a portion of the multiverse?" Wanda asked, her head tilting skeptically. "I don't think any being should have that power." Her eyes flashed, and Peter again remembered what he'd heard of Westview.

"I don't want to control it. I'm not sure if anyone did. I just want to keep this universe from any threats from outside universes. Which would require us to lock onto a single timeline."

Peter caught on to what he was saying a second before Wong did. "You want to shield this universe, I get it," Peter said. "And I do too. But if the only way to do that is to keep the multiverse from growing, that would mean that no one is allowed to move outside a pre-ordained course."

"Is that not how it was before? How it seemingly always was?" Strange challenged.

"Maybe." Peter replied, somewhat weakly. "I just think that we need to figure out what happened before we figure out what to do. We don't really know why the multiverse emerged at all, or if this single timeline theory is true. All we know is that the multiverse is open now. We should know more than that before we try and lock down this entire universe. "

"Peter is right," Wanda agreed.

"And what if we don't have time for that?" Strange asked. "What if it's almost too late?"

Peter watched Wong open his mouth to challenge Strange's point, but then it closed.

The entire room went silent as the two sorcerers locked eyes.

"What is it?" Peter asked, more than slightly alarmed. The two of them clearly sensed something beyond his own realm of understanding. 

His Spider-Sense wasn't going off, so the danger wasn't present. Something was going on somewhere else in the world that the two of them could feel.

"I'll be right back," Wong promised, and he opened a portal.

Peter didn't have the chance to see where he'd gone before the portal closed and he was left with Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch, two people he didn't want to be in the middle of, even if they were arguing over a small point.

He knew what happened when either of them were set off, and while both of them always had good intentions, they'd both made mistakes. And with the fate of the universe, and the multiverse itself hanging in the balance, he could feel the tension in the room.

But before either of them got a word in, Wong returned, faster than any of them, or at least Peter, had expected.

"Look who I found," he offered grimly, and Peter wondered why until he spun around and caught a glimpse of who Wong was holding by the collar.

The god of mischief himself.