Heading to Genosha Island once more didn't feel particularly special to Peter. He sent messages to Gwen, Cindy, and Felicia, telling them not to worry about Spider-Man disappearing from New York for a few days; he was just going on a business trip.
Thinking about how he had to go on business trips every day at such a young age, Peter couldn't help but let out a chuckle—not one of joy, of course, but of sheer speechlessness.
Soon after, he and Kitty boarded a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet bound for Genosha. Because of the gravity of the situation, Fury chose to bypass the United States government's diplomatic bans—which were little more than scrap paper to him—to get the two of them there quickly. If it weren't for the fact that, for unknown reasons, the Sling Ring couldn't open a portal, Peter would have just walked there himself.
However, sitting on the plane, Peter was currently obsessed with one question he couldn't quite solve: according to the description provided by Charles Xavier from 2029, one of the possible reasons for the extreme future where Sentinels ruled the world was that Tony Stark had been killed by A.I.M.
This was almost the most unbelievable and unacceptable part of the entire ordeal for Peter. After all, in the Iron Man 3 movie, Tony had nearly soloed all of A.I.M. while wearing the "Anti-Tony" MK42 armor. There was even a long stretch in the film where he didn't wear armor at all, relying on gear cobbled together from hardware store sundries to beat the pulp out of the Ten Rings thugs.
Of course, A.I.M. was certainly much stronger here than in the movie; even setting aside the American Avengers, A.I.M. possessed combat capabilities far beyond their cinematic counterparts. But by the same token, the Avengers of Universe 616 didn't have MCU actor scheduling conflicts or filming cycle issues. If they needed to deal with A.I.M., Tony could absolutely call upon the entire team.
So how did Tony lose? It couldn't have been because he was being reckless, right? Or were the Avengers distracted by something else?
Peter frowned. He intended to ask Kitty for some details regarding Tony Stark's death, but he saw Kitty staring absentmindedly out the window, her chin resting in her hand.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked with concern. "You seem a bit out of it."
"Ah, haha, I'm fine." Kitty nervously tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath. Of course she was out of it. It wasn't so much that she was receiving memories as it was that she was synchronizing with her future self's memories. The Professor's brain and the future Kitty's brain were in a constant state of connection, allowing for bidirectional influence.
It seemed that only Kitty Pryde's ability could achieve this.
Therefore, the reason she was out of it was entirely the Professor's fault! Why transmit all of her future self's memories? Wouldn't just the important bits suffice?
"If possible," Peter said, "could you ask how Tony Stark actually died and why the Avengers didn't intervene? I really can't imagine a scenario where Tony Stark gets killed by A.I.M."
"Uh, oh, okay."
Kitty sighed and looked out the window, speechless. It seemed Peter Parker only ever talked about business...
Helplessly, Kitty connected to the information, then looked at Peter with a confused expression before asking back: "The Professor—oh, the future you—says the Avengers were fighting Kang the Conqueror at the time, so they didn't intervene in the A.I.M. matter and left everything to Tony Stark."
Kang?
Meanwhile, in Genosha, Quicksilver was tidying up the gardens of Magneto's palace. Magneto had, of course, received the message from Nick Fury. However, the message Fury sent was far too brief, basically consisting of a single sentence: The X-Men need Magneto to step up and save mutantkind.
Fine, the X-Men needing Magneto was something Magneto himself had never doubted. However, when he discovered that the people arriving were only a young mutant and Spider-Man—who wasn't a mutant at all—Magneto was a bit displeased.
So, he told his son to clean up and wait for the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane. He'd let his son and daughter receive these youngsters, and if there was anything important, they could bring them to see him.
He preferred to spend his time with his youngest daughter, Lorna.
"Do you think we should throw a celebration or something, sis?"
Pietro asked while arranging things. Wanda shook her head helplessly. It was obvious they were coming for serious business; who had the time to chatter with him about nonsense?
"You'd better hurry up and clear the open space. Don't let the S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet ruin Father's garden, or you'll be the one cleaning it up."
"That's not fair at all," Pietro grumbled. "You guys shouldn't treat me like manual labor just because I'm fast at everything. Oh, they're here."
A S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet appeared in the sky above the palace. After deactivating its optical camouflage, it slowly descended vertically. As the rear hatch opened, Spider-Man and Shadowcat, both in uniform, stepped out. Quicksilver glanced at Shadowcat's yellow-and-black New Mutants uniform and muttered a few words, clearly critiquing the X-Men's terrible fashion sense.
After Peter stepped down, before he even had a chance to say hello, Quicksilver rushed in front of him and gave him a bear hug. "Hey, Spidey! My good pal! You saw me just now, didn't you? I saw you move to dodge; your eyes were tracking me."
"It just means you weren't running at full speed, Pietro. This is Kitty, Shadowcat of the New Mutants. Kitty, these two are Wanda and Pietro, Magneto's children. We collaborated once before when dealing with Electro."
"Yeah, we beat that guy until he was crying for his mama."
Pietro laughed heartily and looked at Peter, but Peter wasn't much in the mood for reminiscing—at least not right now. "Where is your father? We have something extremely important to discuss with him."
"Father is waiting for you in the study. I'll go tell him you're here right now."
In a flash, Quicksilver turned into a silver blur and vanished from the spot, proving that Magneto hadn't actually been waiting for them in the study at all. Peter and Kitty exchanged a glance, then followed Wanda to the palace study. There, Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr, was waiting for them.
"Welcome back to Genosha, Spider-Man, and Shadowcat. I wonder what kind of help you've come to Genosha seeking?"
In truth, Magneto had no recollection of Kitty at all, but that didn't stop him from speaking. As soon as he finished, a familiar voice echoed in his mind.
"We need your help, Erik."
"Charles?"