After speaking with the local Limbo resistance, Peter learned a horrifying truth. Earth-616's Illyana wasn't the first Magik dragged into this hellscape. Belasco had been harvesting her variants for years. But unlike the 616 version—who was snatched before her mutant powers even activated—the other Magiks were taken after they manifested. A stray teleportation or a loss of control would accidentally punch a hole into Limbo. Belasco used those breaches as open doors to invade their respective universes.
The outcomes varied. Some universes fought back, sacrificing their greatest heroes to sever the dimensional tether. Other realities simply fell. Belasco consumed them, polluting entire Earths with Limbo's demonic energy.
Even the survivors didn't last. The ambient dark magic eventually corrupted their souls. Some fully broke, transforming into loyal demonic shock troops—like the horde of twisted Nightcrawlers Peter had just carved through. Others lost their minds but retained their autonomy, roaming the wastelands as feral monsters.
Then there was the final group. The stubborn ones. The rebels who hadn't completely turned. They huddled in the shadows, constantly plotting ways to stop Belasco. Peter thought it felt a lot like a twisted version of a post-apocalyptic movie, except Belasco was a far worse villain than anything Hollywood could dream up.
The resistance roster was bleak. There was the demonic Ororo, the feline-mutated Kitty Pryde, the skeletal Wolverine, and the older, battle-hardened Magik. To round out the squad, there were two unfamiliar variants of Blade and Doctor Strange.
They were exhausted and grief-stricken. But Spider-Man's arrival sparked something dangerous: hope. He brought news of a powerful Sorcerer Supreme back on Earth-616, and an entire squad of uncorrupted X-Men currently frozen in time, just waiting to be thawed out and aimed at Belasco.
"You don't look exactly thrilled to see me," Peter noted.
He found the fifteen-year-old Illyana practicing her forms on the edge of the camp. She was aggressively taking out her frustration on a pack of wandering lesser demons. Just minutes ago, from Peter's perspective, she had been a terrified twelve-year-old girl. Now, she hoisted a massive broadsword and cleaved a screeching demon straight down the middle without even glancing over her shoulder.
"Because you gave them a reason to die," Illyana said, her voice entirely flat. She planted her boot on the bisected demon's chest and wrenched her blade free. She hadn't awakened her mutant powers yet. She had simply spent three grueling years learning magic from a demonic Storm and swordsmanship to survive.
"Everyone here knows they're doomed," Illyana continued, turning to face him. "But as long as we don't say it out loud, no one actively throws their life away. You just gave them a mission. You're burying them."
"Or I'm saving them," Peter countered, keeping his posture relaxed. "But you clearly don't trust me."
Illyana snapped. "I have been rotting in this wasteland for three years! I fight these monsters every single day! My brother—the X-Men who raised me—got frozen into statues the second they stepped foot in here! And now you waltz in, claim it's only been three minutes back home, and want to lead the only people who kept me alive straight into a suicide charge!"
She pointed her blood-stained sword directly at his chest. "You expect me to just trust you?!"
"Whoa, hey, easy with the giant sword," Peter said, taking two deliberate steps backward. He needed a fast way to de-escalate. He let the symbiote open his spider mask, exposing his face.
"My name is Peter Benjamin Parker. I'm a freshman at Midtown High School. I should be the exact same age as you are right now. Think about the math. If I was lying about the time dilation, that means I was eleven or twelve when I started doing this."
Illyana stared at him. Her eyes darted across his face. He watched her process the information.
Then, standing over the twitching corpse of a demon, she drove her broadsword point-first into the dirt. She doubled over and started to laugh.
Peter blinked. He just stood there as Illyana laughed so hard she had to clutch her stomach. Tears streamed down her dirt-smudged cheeks. He fundamentally did not understand the joke.
"Could you..."
"Sorry, sorry," Illyana gasped, wiping her eyes with the back of her wrist. She forced her breathing to steady. "You're telling me you used to be three years older than me, but now we're the exact same age."
"Yeah."
"But you're Spider-Man."
"I just said that."
"No, you don't get it," she said, shaking her head. "You're Spider-Man. You're an Avenger. You saved the world. You have a giant alien partner that ate an invading space dragon!"
Yeah, Venom did do that, Peter thought. Out loud, he said, "We have a very collaborative working relationship."
"You're a high school student!" she yelled, throwing her hands up. "This is absurd! I have spent three years in this godforsaken pit. I learned survival magic from Ororo. I learned how to use a sword from Logan. I've killed hundreds of demons. And I still couldn't survive half the things you fight on a Tuesday! How are you doing this?"
Peter shrugged. "My Uncle Ben is a retired Marine who did two combat tours. He gave me months of tactical training in our garage."
Illyana stared at him blankly. "That is outrageous."
"I also have this precognitive danger detection called a Spider-Sense," Peter added. "It screams in the back of my skull when things are about to go wrong."
"And what is it doing right now?"
"Absolutely nothing. It's totally quiet," Peter said, his tone shifting to pure business. "Which means we can win. I have a plan, Illyana. I'm not the kind of guy who blindly throws himself at a dimensional lord's feet."
Peter stepped closer. "As long as we can actually launch a coordinated strike, we have a shot."
Illyana looked down at her hands. "If I could just awaken my mutant abilities... maybe I could actually help."
Peter paused. He shook his head. Belasco absolutely wanted her powers to activate so he could piggyback off them and invade Earth-616.
"No," Peter said firmly. "I've got a better idea."