Chapter 110: Hectors |
Hector (Spider-Man) P.O.V.
Now I'm on a parallel dimension with my face full of ass… A nice ass, I admit. Can't complain that much about this one aspect.
But here I am, far from home(pun intended), highly unpowered, wearing a Spider-Man suit and without Cortana…
So you must be wondering…
How did I get myself into this situation?
To explain that we will need to go back some days….
*Flashback sparkling sounds while the screen wobbles*
...….
"I don't even need to tell you how this is dangerously dumb, right?" Raven speaks from her place a little behind me, watching me work.
I stop connecting the cables in my hands and stand up "So I'm gonna open a portal to Hell, what bad can happen?" I ask sarcastically. You can't jinx when you're being sarcastic.
"Well, a lot of things actually…" Raven answers in her customary dry tone.
"It was a rhetorical question dear, don't worry, I'm a very careful guy." I say while going around the lab to do the finishing touches "As you can see, different from a certain guy, I'm doing this a light year away from Earth."
We are indeed in an asteroid close to the edge of the Solar System. Well, "close" relatively… I'm closer to the edge than I am to Earth.
"What do you want from Hell anyway?" Raven asks "Normal people want to stay out of it, you know?"
"..." Well, she still doesn't know that I want to resurrect my parents, I'm just made some preparations in case things go in a very bad direction "I know that Hell will be a problem eventually, I just want to be a step ahead by knowing what I'm gonna face." I say. Not a lie, by the way.
I continue "This will also allow me to test the limits of my Multi-Body Project."
After saying that, a huge wheelchair is pushed close to us, sitting on it is a 3-meter-tall clone of mine, completely bald and super muscular, and covered in bulky armor up to its neck. I'm talking about a Space Marine template here.
"You're too weird." Raven comments while watching my clone sitting in his wheelchair
"Just because I have a modified clone of myself that I will possess and use to scout Hell? Pretty standard stuff…" I chuckle while checking the armor of my clone.
Different from my usual style, this armor is bulky as heck, carrying everything that I will need. Weapons, in this case, I'm carrying a lot of weapons. Because this clone doesn't have powers I need to fill the gaps with technology and Weapons… Did I tell you that this body has a lot of weapons? I will say again…This body is carrying very heavy weapons and in its backpack an atomic bomb.
"Making clones and possessing bodies are very villainous activities." Raven comments
"Well, I'm no Superman. But you need to agree that I'm not hurting anyone." I say while checking the back of the head of my clone, some cybernetics chips are installed there, they connect with his spine so that he can control the armor and everything else.
I did not put Technopathy in this clone, and I'm not taking Cortana with me.
"So many heroes attribute certain actions as villainous and I think this holds them back a little… Like using their powers to have a little advantage in the day-to-day life." I continue "Imagine that you just cheat a little so that you can live more comfortably and consequently be able to save more people. Or you can keep some things that you loot from villains and improve yourself…" I still can't get over the fact that heroes like Stark do not go for the Super Soldier Serum.
"When you say it like that…" Raven agrees "But I guess it's more about being slowly corrupted."
She knows about corruption, so I guess that is why she is a little skittish about doing bad deeds, even if they are harmless or are supported by good intentions.
After connecting everything on the armor to the neural chip, I turn to her "Then, if I start going down a bad path, I hope you can pull me off it, Raven. I'm counting on you." I give her my best smile
"..." After looking at me for some seconds, her eyes widening a little, she looks away "I'm not the best for the job."
"Then we can fall into depravity together." I approach and whisper into her ear.
After a shudder, she recoils fast and keeps her distance, her hand covering her ear protectively.
"Don't do that."
"What? I just talked." I play innocent even though I know what I just did. After a last smirk, I sit down on another chair and prepare to start.
Time to possess this clone… There are two ways I can do this, by the way. The two with their advantages and disadvantages.
The first is the simpler one, similar to how Danny Phantom would do, I would turn my body into a ghost and possess another body fully. The "Fully" refers to my body fully going inside another person.
On the other way, instead of turning even my physical body into a ghost form, I would separate my body from my soul, and possess only with my astral form, leaving my physical vessel behind.
The advantage and disadvantage of the first way are the same… My full power would go into the possessed body. That means that I would have all my abilities and powers there, and even if the possessed body is destroyed, I would simply emerge fully ready to continue doing whatever I was doing. But at the same time, it's not anybody that can hold my full power…
I could make a super strong vessel, but what would be the point then? As disguise? Then I could do it myself…
For what I'm about to do, going with the second mode is better. I would leave my body safe, and I don't plan to use my full power… I am just going to scout a little.
There's also the Soul Anchoring technique that I developed. A fusion of Yone's abilities with many other spells that will allow my soul to come back to my real body instantly after the clone's body does its purpose.
So I can jump ship at any time, and go back to the checkpoint.
It only needs one last test… The test between dimensions.
Cyttorak was not able to catch my astral form that one time, but what if I go into Hell?
That's what I'm about to test. If it works, it will be huge!
After I close my eyes, I separate myself from my body, and that weightless sensation reaches me, making me open my eyes to see that my viewpoint changed to one a little higher.
I can see my body beneath me, through my transparent astral form, and Raven eyes following me.
Ah yes, she can see me… Hm, I lost an opportunity to tease her by making my soul fully nude… Too bad.
Without wasting more time I immediately go to possess my Space Marine-like clone.
Yep, very easy… It's like it was made for me. Because it was made for me, by me.
I open my eyes once again, physical ones this time.
"Limbs… working. Five senses… okay. Neural link… operational." I start reporting, with a voice deeper than usual, "Link with my real body… I can feel it."
Then I stand up, slow and heavy… But powerful. The armor moved together with my mental commands and muscle contractions.
"Is everything ready, Cortana?" I ask.
"Yes, Master. I triple-checked." She answers "All equipment is fully operational, and don't forget to activate the Ionic shield to protect them from any… magical pulse." She says the last words with a little distaste. Magic and technology do not go well together.
"Yes, but I don't think it will be a problem… I built this portal with some technological back-ups just in case… It's not fully magical, hence techno-friendly." I answer in my rumbling voice while my helmet starts slowly falling on my head.
"Can I go?" Nemesis pops her head off my unconscious real body
"No." I answer immediately
"Stingy."
"...even if things go well, there's a high chance of me leaving this body behind." I say to her "You stay here." The helmet is linked to the rest of my armor with a tss sound.
Huhu, that's cool~
"Activate the portal." I command, and the machines start working.
The platform in front of me lights up, the steps ascending in a gravity-defying stair. Two arcs appear from underneath the ground and connect, forming a circle. In the moment of connection, red demonic letters start appearing on the circle, vibrating and buzzing in the air like angry wasps.
*Bzzz*
A second later, the portal is open. It started like some sparks of red electricity in the middle of the circle and immediately expanded completely.
For a second,d I was worried the contention arcs would not hold on, but the portal stopped expanding on them, creating a chaotic, but still controlled storm of blood red.
"Well, here I go…" I say and start walking to the portal. Aah~, that's a man romance~
"Try not to die. I bet in case it happens, you will stay in Hell." Raven shows her concern by saying that I'm a demon.
"How can that be? I'm the most pure human that ever lived… I'm immediately ascending in a pillar of golden light if I die." I say sarcastically, making her roll her eyes. Just when I'm stepping through the portal, I say one last thing "You can molest my sexy body if you want, I will allow it."
"I WILL NO-" Her words are cut short when I cross the blood-red portal and reappear in a not-that-pleasant place.
Hell…
Well, let's say that is very cliche…
But I guess it's just right… Most modern representation of Hell comes from Dante's Inferno, so obviously there will be rocky plains, sharp mountains, waterfalls of lava, red sky… The whole package.
"Grrrr"
Oh. a Hellhound~
"Here boy, here~" I try to call him by snapping my fingers in his direction…
"GRaah!" But the thing jumps and tries to take a bite of my armored fingers
*Wham* So I punch his jaw with my spiked gauntlet "Bad boy."
*Bam* *Puchi* And then step on his head with my big foot, making it explode like a watermelon
"There's no PETA here, bitch…" I said that but then I stop "Wait, maybe PETA really came from Hell… Whatever."
Jokes aside, I need to be careful.
This body is not invincible… I didn't even make this armor of any super metal like Adamantium. This is a disposable body.
"Let's put the first marker here." Reaching for my backpack, I remove a rod and stab it into the ground. The tip of the rod beeps with a blinking light.
I also take a little RC car. It's black with some red detail, on the side it's written "Hell's Rover", a homage to the Mars Rover.
"Go, little one. Investigate." I command and there he goes. It has a little V.I., so it will be good on its own.
I look around once more… There's nothing notable in sight. It's a good and a bad starting point. Good because I'm alone to do my thing, I didn't fall into lava or into the castle of a high-class demon.
But bad because I have no reference to where to go…
"Next time I'm bringing a bike, hehehe~" Yes, some things that fly would be better, but what would be the fun in that, huh??
A man's romance is feeling the rough and hostile terrain beneath the tires of your vehicle!
.....
*Blam* *Blam* *Blam* Blam* *Blam* *Blam*
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Maybe I shouldn't enjoy this much, but sue me! It did not get boring after hours and hours.
I just put my shotgun inside the mouth of a Hell creature and blasted it insides! Poor giant lizard, it is your blessing and curse that you have tough scales.
I hope you reincarnate as a dragon or something. As if, you are going to return to nothingness!
A swarm of hell vultures attacks me, annoying as fuck, but an Omnidirectional electrical pulse makes them pause.
*Puchi*
Aah~, nothing better than taking those NPCs that annoy you and bashing their heads together till they explode.
I feel like I'm playing God of War VR and there are circles above every enemy. The finishings are cathartic!
For now, only beasts appeared. So I should be in a very desolate part of hell. I still haven't encountered a sentient creature.
And I'm even giving them the chance…
*Blam* *Blam* *Blam* *Boom* *Pow* *Wham*
Well, a little…
"This is useless…" I say in the middle of a field of corpses, my armor smeared with blood, I'm already out of ammo. I kinda didn't save it, using as much as I could. I will see if I can make some Hammerspace technology later.
I planned to at least reach a demonic territory, see how things are, and in the worst case explode… But nothing till now. One of my objectives is to at least interrogate a demon.
"I should go back."
But going back normally is counter-productive with my experiments.
I could abandon this body somewhere safe and return with Soul Anchoring, but then I would not have tested the "Death-Respawn" method.
While I was thinking about simply activating the self-destruct button and being done with it, the ground rumbles.
"Oh…" I stay in place despite the ground cracking around me.
Despite this not being my main body, I can still use Haki to feel my surroundings. Hell's creatures are weird though. Their lifeforce… But I can still feel the malicious intent that permeates them.
"From underneath…" I look down.
And immediately, something breaks down the surface. My first thought is that is a Hell variation of an Earthworm, but it is much more horrific than that.
Its scales are agonizing faces that are bleeding from all orifices, and its mouth is big enough to swallow a bus and filled with rows of sharp teeth and tentacles between the gums, probably to hold off their prey or suck their blood... It's an unholy abomination that seems to be made by a flesh crafter that hates humanity and himself…
And my reaction is…
"It's glorious…" I open my arm while it approaches me, ready to swallow me whole. "Now I miss Cortana to put a nice soundtrack to this moment…"
Instead of running away, I ran in the direction of this monster, jumping at the same time it struck!
I dodge the mouth and grab the side of this necrotic worm, wrestling it with my strength and the propulsors of my armor. I'm taking us directly to the edge…
To fall into the river of magma below!!!
"Thank you, foul beast, for giving me the opportunity of a great EXIT!!!" I sway while we fall to our deaths.
*BOOOOOOOOOM*
.....
"Why is he smiling?"
"I know this smile… It's the 'I did something silly but cool' smile. Probably a reference too…"
"Weirdo…"
I finally opened my eyes after hearing their voices around me. "Hey! You know me too well, Cortana." I sit up "By the way, my senses come first but it took some seconds to move my body… Like I was suffering from sleep paralysis, note that down. Did you molest me?" I notify Cortana before turning to Raven while checking my clothes.
"No…" She answers, but she is looking away suspiciously… And is that a blush in her pale cheeks?
"..." I pause… Looking at her suspiciously… Wait a damn minute, my clothes are not how I left them… "Nemesis…" I start, my voice dripping with warning.
"What? I thought you let us molest you!!" She shouts
"I let Raven, not you… You brat. I'm gonna punish you again!"
"NOooo!"
Hm? Is she looking forward to it? This is destroying the whole point… How do you punish a pervert? I will need to check the ancient scriptures(Brat correction doujins) again.
....
After the success of my experiment, it was a free real state… in Hell. Literally, I started claiming land there.
I constantly traveled there, checking myself every time to see if I am not seeing corrupted or anything, to scout. I even started creating a base there.
The portal I made always teleports me to that same region, but I can change the coordinates… But I don't have any other coordinates beyond the ones that I discovered by scouting, so I'm stuck there for now.
I can hit "Randomize" but everyone agrees that is a bad idea, except Nemesis. She thinks it would be fun and that I should trust my luck. Saying that, I would probably fall into a succubus pit or something.
And a part of me can't disagree that it is very possible…
My travels there become constant enough, and I become experienced enough to be able to return with samples of the soil, fauna, and flora. Taking the necessary precautions, of course.
I don't discover much, except that Hell apparently is very big. Like… very big! Big as Hell. Pun intended.
I mapped an area as big as the USA and still only rocky plains. It's Hell really as big as an entire Universe? But maybe in a plane… Hm, maybe I ended up in a desolate pocket dimension. Maybe I should take the Sword of Actuation there and see if I can cut the space.
Well, this can be after I use a spaceship. I'm still kinda holding back from using "Fast Travel", like the beginning of a game, you always want to check everything nearby with attention, right?
But as much as I enjoy ripping and tearing, I decided to take a break from my visits to Hell and take another clone body to spin.
Using another body is kinda exciting, you know? My real body is too strong, it can be dull sometimes.
So now, using the SCPider-Man body, I went web-slinging through Manhattan… And damn, this is fun! Variety is fun! Gamers will understand why I did this. I changed from playing Doom to playing Spider-Man! The two are fun in different ways.
And that when it happened, I was in the middle of a transition from one web(black whip) to another, letting gravity stop me from going higher, that second where I stop, floating, in the air…
When I was sucked by portals.
Yes, plural.
Four portals appeared around me and sucked me in before I could react. I was almost afraid that I would be torn apart, a quartering or something, each limb going into a portal.
But they fused and sucked me, I just had time to command the activation of the protocol Far From Home to Cortana.
....
"And here I am," I say to Spider-Gwen. No, I did not tell her my whole story, only the last paragraphs. And yes, I said this way to break the fourth wall in case it exists. Sometimes, I throw these jokes to see if they stick.
"Hm, so our stories check." Spider-Gwen says while narrowing the eyes of her mask, how did she do that? It doesn't look high-tech like mine.
My Spider-Costume of choice today was the perfect mix between Future Foundation and 2099, with a little of Iron Spider. After all, beyond the UMF fabric, I still had the nanobots to activate the armor. It's black, white and with some blue highlights, courtesy of Edna, who redesigned it to make it unique instead of a mish-mash copy of others.
Instead of a spider, the logo in the center is the symbol of the SCP, which extends the three lines to my shoulders and waist. I'm also wearing a utility belt.
"It seems that we are in another universe where… Peter is the Spider-Man." She looks at the billboard showing the "R.I.P. Spider-Man". That pause in "Peter" tells me that she is not used to the concept of the Multiverse yet.
"That much is obvious. Did you never travel to another universe?" I ask just to make sure.
"Well sorry, but no." She says sarcastically "I don't have enough miles in my flight plan to go to another dimension!"
"Chill, lady. I know that our lives are weird, I was just gauging the level of weirdness of yours…"
"And you are aware of the existence of the Multiverse?"
"Of course. At some point, the map expands and the problems start coming from beyond." I say with a shrug "It happens with all of us. Like… now."
"Map, huh? Nerd…" After giving me a side glance, she murmurs that and turns around.
"Oy." But she is not wrong, so I can't really argue.
"What do you think we should do now? Oh, Great Wise Spider-Sage~"
"Your mocking words don't help in making a good first impression, Spider-Girl."
"Spider-WOMAN." She corrects me
I scoff "With those breasts? I almost thought you were a boy, but then I remembered that you sat on my face and- Whoa!" My spider-sense warns me of the kick, so I do an unnecessarily cool backflip to dodge and land on the guard rail in a crouched position.
"I'm gonna kick your ass, then we are going find a way to return to our worlds." She says
"Fights between two heroes because of a misunderstanding are so common now that it becomes a cliche. Can we not?" I try
"There's no misunderstanding here… You're an ass!"
"So it is PMS?" And she goes to kick me again. I jump over her head, landing behind her, but she is already following with another attack.
She attacked me from diverse angles by using her great acrobatic skills, but unfortunately for her, I still have my skills and I made this body pretty strong too.
I can easily block her attacks with my forearms, taking no damage at all.
"Okay, okay… Sorry. Maybe I took it too far, but humor is a Spider-Man coping mechanism, you should know that."
"You are coping with what? Your tiny dick??" She answers back while kicking me.
"Pfft. See? You are funny too." I laugh while finally grabbing her foot "Can we take a step back now and start again?"
"..." We stay in a stalemate, her legs stretched, her foot close to my face, but being held by me while we look at each other. She finally rolls her eyes, I think she did at least, and pulls her foot back with more strength than necessary "Ugh…Fine."
"Thank you." I say and walk closer till we are side by side and looking down on the city "And by the way, my dick is pretty massive…" I can't help but add.
"..." Did she laugh a little? I just heard a small, muffled sound that could be a snort or her holding back a laugh. "Again… What do you think we should do? I'm new at this, but I have good instincts and they are telling me to stick with you for now…."
"...that's some good instincts. Did your woman intuition fuse with your Spider-Sense? Scary~ You are invincible now." I joke.
And this time she only lightly punched my shoulder "Be serious." And I think she laughed a little, but strangely she paused unnaturally and started looking at me weirdly… Well, I think, after all, she is wearing a mask.
Focusing on the problem at hand, I remember the plot of the first Spider-verse, luckily I watched it. I didn't watch the second one, though…
But things look pretty easy, reactivate the supercollider that brought us here and go home. I will use my meta-knowledge to enter the plot and make things easier.
"Well, we need to find the reason why we are brought here and how. The answer to go back is always there… Seeing that this is a parallel dimension, maybe some years ahead, we can ask for the help of the local heroes, if this is not a world where the moral is inverted." I say
"Hm, makes sense… But then we arrived at a bad time, Spider-Man from here just died."
"Yeah, coincidentally when we arrive…" I comment with a strange voice.
"Do you think it's related?" She catches on that.
"In some way, yes." I nod "He probably tried to stop a villain plan, failed partially, and ended up bringing us here… So the answer is with him or the said villain."
"But he is dead, so we should investigate the villain." She concludes. Saying exactly what I wanted to hear, and what I guided her to say.
I love smart people, they are easy to talk to.
"First, let's do some small research…" I pull a small thing from my utility belt, a small black square, that when I hold the edges and pull it, expands into a rectangular frame. The next second the empty space shines up and a hole-screen appears.
"What is that?" Spider-Gwen exclaims in surprise
"A holo-phone. Neat, huh?" I brag before going serious again "Now let's steal someone's wi-fi… Done. Now the easiest investigation of the world… 'Who killed Spider-Man?' " I type, making her scoff again
The research results appear very fast.
"Hm, it is saying here that it was a mutual death with the Green Goblin of this world… Oh, Norman was monsterfied here." Like when I inject him with drugs "They found the body of the two under a lot of rubble and debris."
"Where?" She asks
"Underground, close to abandoned metro tunnels… Follow me." I say and without waiting for an answer, I jump from the building after putting the holo-phone in a small space on my wrist device. Props to her, she instantly follows me.
I extend my arm and a modified Black Whip is shot from my wrist and clings to a building. As if I were gonna use a web-shooter, I have so many powers exactly to cheat.
And yes, I can create organic webs, but Black Whip is better because it's cooler.
This New York is slightly different, but it is not hard to navigate through it, I could even say that it is pretty cool to go web-slinging with someone. If this was a movie, a nice soundtrack would play now and the action scenes while crossing the cities in a high-level spider-powered parkour would be pretty cool too.
"Can you go faster? I will fall asleep at this rate!!" She shouts at me while we swing around.
"I was holding back because I thought you couldn't keep up!" I shout back
"Try again!"
"Okay then…" Throwing a black whip at the top of a high building, I increase the tensile strength to make it pull me super fast, like I was being catapulted… Well, the accurate description would be with a trebuchet, but you get what I mean.
After crossing the threshold of the roof, I still have time to do a backflip and look back at Spider-Gwen's shocked mask. Still upside down, I made a provocative gesture of "Come and get me." Before throwing another black whip and allowing myself to be pulled again.
The last thing I saw was her serious mask accepting the challenge.
.....
Later, I land close to an entrance to the metro, crouching down and observing the people entering and exiting.
Sometime later, Gwen lands beside me.
"Took you long enough…" I can't help but tease.
"Shut up." She hisses "Let's go."
"Wait, it's impossible for you to not be noticed this way." I say
"True, but I don't have other clothes."
"We can try our luck making people think we are cosplayers or that we are paying homage to the fallen Spider-Man." I shrug
"Do you think it would work?" She asks in disbelief
"You would be surprised how much people rationalize the strangeness around them. And our colors differ from their Spider-Man." I say "Or you can go steal some clothes."
"I will not steal clothes. And what about you? Go steal the clothes then!"
I give her a deadpan stare, then I slowly disappear in front of her eyes…"
"You can turn invisible???"
"Can't you?" I ask calmly, still invisible. Should I play a prank on her? Nah, she has Spider-Sense.
"Obviously not!"
"Then it was a different spider…" I reappear. "A pity I can't share my invisibility… Well, wait here while I investigate." I say and disappear again "Bye."
"Wait!"
But I don't wait, already landing on the ground and walking through the people to the entrance of the subway, then I start crawling on the wall and ceiling.
Without any problem, I find and enter the abandoned tunnel, and start making my way to the hidden place underneath Manhattan.
"It seems there are no Morlocks in this world…" I say
"What are Morlocks?"
"..." I slowly turn to Spider-Gwen. "If this were a movie, I would be scared and shout comically… Don't sneak up on people."
"Part of the job is sneaking on people." She rolls her eyes
"How did you reach here, anyway?"
"You are right. People just ignored me as I walked through them… The most that happened was some people taking pictures." She shrugs
"This can be problematic in its own right, but okay… It's not like we are gonna stay here for long." I go back to walking
"You didn't answer my question…" She is making small talk while we walk through this dark tunnel
"The Morlocks? Just some metas… Well, mutants that live under New York." Maybe I'm the only one in the Multiverse who started this Meta thing.
"I know about mutants, many thoughts that I was one, but I never heard of Morlocks." She says
"It's bound to have some differences…" I comment "Oh, I think it's here."
We finally arrive at an open space, the signs of battle and explosions are obvious, and the place is more than 50% destroyed.
"Weird, I thought more people would be guarding this place. Some cops at least." I comment while crossing the yellow line typical of a crime scene. "So sloppy…" I shake my head sarcastically.
I can feel Spider-Gwen's gaze on me for some reason. What is the problem with this girl?
We jump into the open space without a problem, I can see that the place was made in a way to hold off dangerous experiments… But it was not well made. Like I said before… Sloppy.
Gwen and I separate to look for clues, I already know everything, so instead, I'm looking at the machine… It was destroyed and removed, but I can still figure out some things from the little that stayed behind.
Again… Sloppy.
Trying to connect with another universe by superposition?? Are you crazy? In the best case, it would create a small singularity and in the worst, start a FULL BLOWN INCURSION!
Do you know what this is? When two universes collide!
Wait a minute… An Incursion happened in this universe, right? This is the Ultimate one, right? The 1610… Did it start from here?
Damn, they condemned their universe in such a stupid way… And people say that I am paranoid.
"HEEY!!" Gwen calls me.
"What?" A web swing later, I am at her side.
"Look at this."
There, beyond the rubble, are some crates with a very clear logo… Alchemax.
"It seems we have someplace to be." I say. Things are going exactly in the same way I predicted.
...…
We are walking through another tunnel, in this direction we are sure that we will not meet anyone and leave this place.
For some reason, Gwen ended up walking a little behind me, distracted by something.
Or maybe she is a villain and is about to attack me…
I keep my senses sharp while I notice that she is now at least three steps behind.
"Hey…" She calls me, her voice quiet, but this tunnel is quieter, so I can hear her clearly.
"What?" I answer without stopping
"You are not another Peter Parker, right?" She asks
"And no are you." I shot back, stating the obvious.
"But you studied in the same school, right?"
Now I frown "...yes." I say without stopping.
"..."
"..."
We continue like this for some time, walking in silence, my senses on high alert, waiting for her to do something… And she finally speaks again, her voice weak and unsure…
"He-Hector?"
"....." I stop, noticing that she stopped too.
Now, this is stopping being a rare occurrence… I remember another spider woman who suddenly said my name like that. But Cindy Moon was referring to her ex-boyfriend, I think Gwen here really means me… Or me.
"Not your Hector…" I start slowly turning around "Omf."
But I was suddenly hugged by her, she dashed so fast that I couldn't react and my danger/spider senses didn't warn me.
"..." Okay… I awkwardly keep my arms raised while she presses her face against my chest and hugs my torso tightly. "Ahem…"
"I know, I know…" She says, her voice emotional "I know… Just… For a little…" She doesn't stop hugging me.
"Okay…" Eventually, I lower my hands to her shoulders and give her little taps "I can understand…" Yes, I can.
That one time… That one time on Limbo when I helped the Storm, Kitty, and Kurt from the other universes return… I was able to take a peek at other universes.
They are there… My parents…
That's why I don't think about Multiversal travel for now. Even though I am preparing to use it.
Eventually, too long is too long…
"Are you feeling better, Gwendolyn?" I ask, making her self-conscious and removing herself from me.
"So you know that it was me." She says while removing her mask. Yep, similar but different… Shorter curly hair, a small gap between her teeth… She is much more "Tomboy" than the Gwen from my universe.
"Your voice, but you noticed that it was me too…" I say and also remove my mask.
Because this is my Original Spider-Man clone, it is really my face underneath.
"Whoa…" She says slowly while her eyes widen
"What?" I ask while running a hand through my hair… Revealing myself is something new.
"No… It's just that, you are a little… Hm, less geeky?" She stammers. I have this effect on women~
"Well, powers make you hit your puberty." I smirk
"You're right." She laughs
"..."
"..."
And now it is awkward…
"By your reaction, I guess things are not going well with your Hector…" Whoa, what a great icebreaker, Hector! Let's talk about the thing that made her emotional!
But I need to know… It's heartless, I know. But that was the first time I heard about my variants.
I know that I have them, because I'm really a part of the Marvel Universe now, not an Outsider. This has advantages and disadvantages… But I'm half-expecting the other Hectors to be normal people.
Gwen shows a sad face "It's a way to put that…" She makes a small attempt to smile but fails.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it." I extend my hand "And I know that I can't replace him, but well… I can be your new friend, Gwendolyn."
She gives me a look before bursting out laughing "Pfft Hahaha. Gwendolyn… I hate that, exactly like him…" She wipes a single tear from her eye before shaking my hand "Okay. Spider-Hector. Friends!"
"Ugh, Spider-Hector is horrible."
"Too mouthful? Spider-Eto then…"
"Nonono, horrible anyway… They don't have the same ringing as Spider-Gwen." I say.
"Spider-Gwen is really not that bad." She agrees, an easy smile on her face.
"Not all of us can have good-sounding names…" I roll my eyes.
But inwardly, I was thinking about what she just said… Eto. It's my nickname that only close people use. Like childhood friends, because my name was hard to pronounce to my childhood friends.
She and I from her universe have a story. A long story…
We resume our walk, in a better mood now and she speaks again.
"Even so, I think I should tell you… How Hector died."
"..."
"It was prom night… I was going with… well, you. But I arrived late because of hero business, you must know…" She starts
"Something that we can't ignore always happens…" I nod
"Exactly! Like, sometimes I think about ignoring… but there always lives in danger when you are late!" She exclaims but then goes back to a solemn look "...and I was late that night. A lizard monster attacked… Hector was there, I heard he fought the thing, can you believe it? Scrawny nerd Hector squaring up against a lizard monster?" She plays with some shadowboxing while talking
"Badass…
"Indeed… Everyone evacuated… except him." She says, her eyes downcast.
"..."
"When I arrived, he was already dead and the lizard escaped…" Her gaze was distant, probably remembering the scene "Not only that, I was seen by my father, blamed for his death… Then I searched for the lizard for vengeance, beat the shit out of him. Only to be revealed that the lizard was my other friend Peter."
"Damn…"
"Yeah, I lost two friends that night… One died and the other is now in a maximum security prison."
"Well, I can only say my condolences…" I sigh. "It's hard doing what is right… It's like in games, you know that you are going in the right direction because you find challenges and enemies."
"...pfft." She laughs
"What?"
"Nerd… That was the first clue, you know? That it was you under the mask…" She sticks out her tongue to mock me "Then there's the dark and offensive humor."
"And probably the sexy voice and handsome features…"
"Pfft, HAHAHA. And this fake exaggerated cockiness!"
"You can't know that… I can be a real narcissistic asshole and you are not aware."
"Ah shut up, I know your tone…" She waves dismissively
"..." Woman, the images are overlapping and you aren't noticing. Stop that.
"And what about your Gwen?" She asks
"My Gwen is not my Gwen. She is Peter's girlfriend…"
"I-I was… We are not together too!" She answers a little too quickly, but I decide not to tease her.
"She is very different from you…" I stole a glance again. Yep, very different.
"Different? Really? How?" She shows her curiosity.
"Well… Long and straight hair, more prim and proper, you know? Demure… Like Teehee. Do you get what I'm saying? More feminine…*Pah* Ouch." She slapped the back of my head
"I'm feminine."
"Yeah, yeah… In your own way, but you know what I meant. You are cool, she is more like the Miss-Perfect-That-Would-Remember-The-Teacher-of-The-Homework."
"Pfft, that I would not do."
"She is also super smart, but I guess you are too."
"Damn right, I am. I always had better grades than you and Peter."
I roll my eyes "Believe in me, Spider-Gwen. You don't want to compare intelligence with me…" And really… Stop overlapping your other Hector with me!
Ugh, whatever… She is Miles's love interest, right? Not my problem…
...
"..." Maybe is my problem...
Because now we arrived at the forest outside the Alchemax lab, just in time to save Miles and the other Peter.
But there's another woman with Miles, worried about his injuries… Talking closely… The two are in a certain mood, you know? I am now watching two teenagers flirting without knowing how to flirt while trying to act cool and nonchalant while obviously interested… Yeah, very specific, but anyone would get what I mean. Teenagers, ugh…
Then I look at Gwen, at my side… No reaction of jealousy for Miles… But she is a little upset after I defeated female Octavius and flirted with her a little.
Oh shit… It's not for nothing that she landed her huge ass on my face.
By the way…Why the fuck is América Chavez here?
And why did I meet her just at the time that I don't have Power Manipulation?? Tsk
Unlucky in cards, Lucky in love… I guess.
...
A.N.:Hello there.
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Bye Bye~
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