Chapter 111: Into the Spider-Verse: Part 01 |
Gwen Stacy
Despite webslinging being an activity that requires a huge amount of focus because something unexpected can happen at any given moment, Gwen can't help but steal some glances at her web-slinging partner.
Coincidence or not, Hector's Spider-Man costume has the same colors as hers. Although he doesn't have the pink details, and the blue here and there is deeper.
And that is where the similarities end… He doesn't have a hoodie, despite having a belt. The design is different too, and he doesn't have a spider as the motif.
But is Hector… Another Hector. She knows that! It's not her Hector. It's not her friend who is smart enough to keep up with her words and fast-talking, who is very supportive, patient, makes dark jokes, has a sharp tongue that is brutally honest…
Well, the problem starts here… This Hector is also like that. He talks and acts too similarly. It is almost like she is seeing him again after some time apart, after a very nice growth spurt…
Yes, she knows that he is not the same… The rational part of her mind says that he never shared those experiences in her mind and heart with her, but the other not-so-rational part can't help but use him to fill the void.
He just fits so perfectly that it is unfair.
She can't help but think that in a perfect world, Hector and she would have gained powers… That this! Exactly this! It's what should have happened! The two webslinging together, fighting crime… She would be able to talk about hero things with him, complain a little… He would have understood her even more…
Maybe is a cruel joke of Destiny. Showing her the things she missed out on and didn't even know, and now making her painfully aware of that.
"We are leaving the city." His voice takes Gwen out of her thoughts.
Paying more attention now, she can see that they are entering a forest. Apparently, a particular part of the Alchemax labs. Seeing a Billboard talking about sustainability, she can imagine that it is a PR tactic to look eco-friendly and at the same time hide themselves.
"This place is veeeeeery isolated…" She commented. They swung a lot till they reached here. It's almost another city.
"That means we are in the right place." He says before stepping onto a branch of a big tree and started going full parkour.
Gwen thinks is a good idea to save web fluid, so she copies him. She also noticed how good he is with this, Gwen can obviously keep with him, but her own expertise makes her able to notice his subtle superiority.
He jumps, spins on the branches, and dashes through the trunks without missing a beat. Gwen needs to brute force to keep up with his technique, and she suspects he slowed down after some time because of her...
Suddenly something strange happens to them…
*BUzzt* "Argh!" Gwen exclaims in pain when she feels like her body is being torn apart. She notices her hands blurring and… glitching? They are trembling so much that it seems she has multiple hands, and they're changing color and texture too. From the corner of her eye, she saw Hector suffering from the same thing…
Because of the pain, she lost her footing and started falling, but she only braced herself a little because she knew a fall from this height would not hurt her that much.
*Thump*
But the fall was not so bad, while her body was still glitching she noticed that Hector was able to move beneath her and soften the fall. They stop suffering a second later.
"Two times on the day, we need to stop doing that…" She jokes in the usual spider-people fashion while sitting on his lap.
"That was… strange." He ignores her jokes and comments, his voice distant.
"Tell me about that… Is our bodies incompatible with the laws of this universe or something?" Gwen is smart enough to make some conjectures like this.
She stands up and offers a hand to help him.
"It's what looks like…" He takes the offered hand "But I saw many examples of Dimensional Travellers and they didn't have this problem. Why us?"
"I don't have any prior experience to compare so I can't say much, but who knows? Maybe we should observe what we have in common instead of the differences with other Dimensional Travellers." She suggests
"True… The similarities are: This specific Universe can be special in some way… I doubt it though… Maybe is the method of arrival. And the Spider-Totems…" Hector agrees with her easily and quickly makes some deductions.
"Spider-Totem?" Gwen doesn't know about that either
"Its a-" When he was about to explain, the two sensed something.
It's their Spider-Sense but it's not about danger… More or less. It's similar to what happened when they first met.
""More Spider-people."" They say at the same time and instantly start moving in the direction that they are receiving the "signal"
It didn't take long for them to see the other two Spider-Mans being pursued by a… female Dr. Octopus? Gwen discovers that even things like gender can change from one dimension to the other…
Her gaze falls on the two other Spiders and… She can't say that she is impressed.
One is wearing sweatpants and the other looks like is wearing a costume that you can buy anywhere, like in a comic book shop.
Like with them, just 30 seconds ago, she watched the older one glitch, his body convulses and spasms, changing colors and stance quickly like is being electrocuted.
He let go of something that he was carrying, a PC… The younger one grabs him and goes to quickly grabs the PC, which should be important.
Hector seems to think the same "Help them, I will deal with the female Octavius." So it's a male in his universe too…
While she goes to help the other two Spider-Men, she notices Hector throwing his arms forward and that dark web shoots out from his wrists and grabs two trees before he uses it to propel himself like a slingshot.
*Whoosh*
"More?" The female Octavius was able to see him coming, two of her robotic arms moved to intercept him. But Hector was able to move away from her attack…
That shouldn't be possible, but he was able to sharply change direction in the air, moving a little above… And then he does it again, he kicks the air moves behind her… And then again! But this time he kicks to move down.
*Boom*
It was incredibly quick, but it all ended with him landing on the female Octavius back with his two feet, and the root of her arms, forcing her to the ground and breaking her mechanical torso in the process while he stepped on them.
"..." She needs to admit that he is super cool.
He stands straight above her back, her tentacles broken at the side. It's almost brutal, but the female Octavius is still groaning in pain, so she is alive.
"D-Don't you take easy on old ladies?" The female Octavius says with a pained voice
"I'm an advocate of true gender equality. You can catch these hands like any man…" Hector jokes. See? It's so similar to the way he talked that Gwen can't help but overlap her Hector to this one and react by fondly rolling her eyes "And don't sell yourself short, girlie." He gives a look at her backside "I like mature women… Now I'm mad that my Octavius is a short fat man with a bowl cut."
Now this surprisingly annoyed Gwen so much that she almost crushed the PC that she just caught.
"Let's GO!" She shouts to him, and to the two Spider-Mans at her side.
Hector obediently shoots a dark web at a tree and follows them.
"Who are you guys?" The youngest of the Spider-Mans asks
"Can't you tell?" Gwen asks sarcastically, her voice ends up being harsher than she wanted, but she does not care.
The four web-slings together for a little before the oldest one points in one direction "This way."
Having no reason to oppose it, they follow.
That's where they found a teenage girl, but she doesn't look like a spider-woman.
The brown-skinned girl with curly wavy hair is wearing a blue shirt with a single white star, and also jeans pants, and a jacket.
Hector looks deep in thought, looking at the girl strangely… Gwen doesn't like it either.
"So… You guys went ahead and did what we planned to do. What did you guys discover? Is it here?" Gwen asks, shaking the PC in her hands.
"Be careful with that, we are gonna get their control program of the super collider and make a goober for it." The older Spider-Man, who is another Peter exclaims, his hands reaching for the PC.
Now this is a situation completely different from Hector's, even though it is the same. This Peter is much older and different, and has a prominent gut…
How much does he need to eat to surpass the Spider-physiology metabolism? One of the things Gwen loves about her powers is that she can eat whatever she wants and keep her fit body.
Maybe is a thing with age… She will start watching out for what she eats when she enters her mid-twenties.
"It sounds like a plan." Hector eventually shrugged "I can do that with what I have in my hands." He shows the wrist device "But seeing that we are suffering from some kind of Dimensional Displacement, I guess we need to do it faster… Find a better computer to crack the code and make the… goober."
"There's… a place…" Peter says slowly, his voice and face hesitantly.
.........
Some minutes later Gwen, Hector, Miles, Peter, and América are on a very empty bus heading back to the Queens.
América and Miles are talking about something in the front of the bus, Peter lying more in the middle, and Hector and Gwen are in the spacious backseat.
They only briefly greeted each other before hitting the road. In the end, they don't have a lot in common… The only thing they have in common is the fact that they are Spider-People - with the exception of América Chavez - but that is the type of relation that would be more relevant in the middle of a battle, not in a bus ride.
And the teenagers are in their "romantic" worlds while Peter wisely keeps himself away like the cool uncle.
While Miles is trying to rizz América, the "romantic" atmosphere of the two is kind of affecting Gwen a little.
Above the seats, she watches the two talking and laughing together, and then she looks at her side and there's Hector simply staring out the window with a vacant expression, his chin being supported by his hand. He is thinking about something, she knows that… She knows him well.
"What are you thinking about?" She asks
He removes his eyes from the scenery and looks at her with an impassive side glance.
"Just calculating our chances, reviewing what I have in hand if it will be enough to deal with all this trouble…" He says
"Oh, and what do you think?"
"I got this." he says relaxedly, a confident smirk on his face "You don't know… But I'm very strong… Very strong, but I'm kinda nerfed right now. But even so, I can deal with any Spider-problem. We are going home, Gwen. I'm sure of it."
"Oh…" She doesn't know what to think about that.
Obviously, going home is the goal, but she can't help but get a certain feeling in her stomach… An anxiety is bubbling inside her because she doesn't know what make of this situation yet.
She hasn't even sorted her feelings and if everything goes well, they will be going home before she even has time to think about it!
Hector gives her a look, maybe seeing the conflict on her face.
"Seriously Gwendolyn, stop that." He says
"Stop what?" She acts confused, even though she knows exactly what he is talking about.
"This. Trying to maybe live an extra time with your deceased friend… It doesn't matter how similar I am to him, Gwendolyn. I'm not him." He says while looking deeply into her eyes "You will end up getting hurt… again. Two times you will be separated from him."
"..." He is right, she had to admit… And despite that, it's not that easy, his words only make her remember how this is so much like her Hector. The guy keeps to herself most of the time till he goes on and tackles the issue head-on with some harsh honesty.
Others would at least find it a little awkward to talk openly about that, but he puts the cards on the table shamelessly. The guy is 0 or 100 in those things.
"And did you ever thought about how I feel, huh?" He suddenly says again.
"..." This makes Gwen turn to him.
"Let's think a little ahead and say that our friendship blossoms, maybe in a greater friendship, maybe in something more… You, acting like that, would make me question down the line if you are with me because of me or because of him." He says slowly
"!!" Her eyes widen "I… I… It's not like that." She didn't think that deeply.
"If you continue like that, you are not only hurt yourself but me too." He finishes, his voice and eyes serious.
"..." Gwen can only look down ashamed. She even puts more space between herself and Hector.,
She was so caught up in this strange opportunity and her own feelings that she neglected him completely. She sucks…
While she is feeling horrible she hears a heavy sigh coming from him.
"Lucky for you, my feelings are not that easily hurt." She hears him saying, making her look up at him again.
To her surprise, he turned around and dropped on her…? He lay down on the huge seat, with his head on her lap.
Gween pauses, not knowing what to do.
"It's okay, this situation is strange as heck and you don't know what to do… Do what you want, but try to not get yourself hurt, Gwen." He says, looking up at her from her lap "Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna take a power nap because this body requires it and we don't know if we'll be able to do it in the future… Wake me up when we arrive." And with that, he closes his eyes and sleeps.
Yes, he really slept that easily.
Gwen didn't believe it at first, but the rhythm of his breathing and everything else couldn't be faked. She even grabbed his arm and dropped it on his face and he didn't react.
"..." She looks down at his face on her lap "This is really weird…" She mutters in a low voice, trying to keep her cool and ignoring her kind-of-crush-but-not-like-it laying his head on her lap.
But his sleeping face is too cute to ignore! She was almost going to pinch his cheek before she stopped herself, her hand hovering mid-air for an awkward minute before she redirected it to his hair.
Deciding to settle on running her fingers through his smooth curly hair
'I knew he looked better with his hair slicked backward…' She thinks after more or less combing it on her preferred style, no lock partially hiding his forehead and eyes like he always does. It gives a certain attractive sharpness to his young face.
'His hairline is godly, I don't know why he doesn't flaunt it.' She fondly rolls her eyes.
Gwen didn't even notice that her other hand was caressing his chest, only when she felt his heartbeat did her eyes widen in realization.
'Damn… That is some pecs… And it's almost like this costume is painted on him.' She admires, seeing how his suit is so tight that it is possible to see every line that his muscles make.
Her eyes go lower, to his abs, to his V-cut, to his…
"!!!" When she caught herself, she shook her head to clear herself from the evil thoughts and to disperse the teenage hormones.
But she didn't remove her hand from his chest though.
............
Hector (Spider-Man) P.O.V.
"He-"
"I'm awake." I sit up after instinctively feeling the wheels of the bus stopping.
"-ctor…" Gwen stops mid-sentence after noticing that I don't need help to wake up.
I have a very light sleep, even though this is not my Main Body. If it was, I would not need to sleep, but this body is pretty high-end all things considered. One of the reasons I'm pretty calm even though I'm seemingly in a very bad situation.
Nerfed to only a minimal fraction of my power, stranded on the Multiverse, suffering from Dimensional Molecular Displacement and all that…
First… No use in panicking. What good would it do?
Second… I can still feel my link with my Main Body, so even if I die, my soul would be pulled back, exactly like what happened in Hell.
Not that I think I can die here… This body was enhanced with the Burstein Process, yes the same that gave Luke Cage his powers. So I'm very durable, not something that any Spider-Man villain can kill.
I also have my techniques, like Haki…
And Third… In the worst-case scenario.
[Do you want to transfer your assimilations to this body?]
[Yes] [No]
Once again, I clicked "No"... It asked me four times already.
I'm worlds apart from my things, but I can, at any time, cut the connection with my other body and make this body my Main one.
The Menu of the Essence is mostly greyed out, with the exception of the unused cards, even the Assimilations are paused too…
[Currently Assimilation:
Thor - 21%
Lord Drakkon - 33%
Rex Salazar - 56% ]
My stand Mr. Blue Sky is with me, but he quickly lost his/my powers too, because of the lack of connection with my Main Body. Even D4C is strangely linked to my Main Body, or maybe the Main part of my soul that is serving as an Anchor there… That was a surprise. It's probably because I possessed this body partially…
But I only need to transfer the Assimilations here and everything can be solved. Heck, I can make a portal back if I want, I left certain beacons that only I can track exactly in this type of situation.
It's good that this happened now, I will be even more prepared next time.
We all get off the bus and walk in front of a small suburban house. It's 95% similar to the one in my world.
"Go on, ring the bell." I urge Peter.
"Maybe this is a bad idea… let's find somewhere else."
"Grow a spine." Gwen pulls him with a web when he starts walking away.
"Where are we?" Miles asks
"Peter Parker's home." I answer, throwing a black tendril into the bell and then pushing Peter forward.
I think everyone has super senses strong enough to hear the slow steps approaching the door, well maybe América Chavez doesn't… I still need to ask about her story.
But she and Miles are having a moment kind of all the time. I don't want to interrupt the guy…
We didn't wait much before the door opened and the light of the house shone on us in this dark street. I once again push Peter, now to the light…
I can see the recognition in this Aunt May's eyes while she looks over us, almost all wearing Spider-Man outfits, and her eyes widen a tad bigger when they land on Peter.
She slowly approaches him, focused, in disbelief… When she gets close enough, she hesitates to put a hand on his face, maybe afraid that he will pop and disappear like a soap bubble.
It's an emotional moment.
"You are not my Peter…" She eventually says, calm but still with a hint of emotion.
"Yes…" He nods slowly
"You don't look so well…" She then breaks out of the sad mood and starts treating him like a distant relative that she hasn't seen in years "Is that sweatpants?" She raises an eyebrow
"Yes, shockingly." Gwen seems to agree with her, América too.
"What is the problem with sweatpants? They are comfy…" I don't understand women, Shego loves it when I wear grey sweatpants.
"Right?" Peter agrees with me, while we are glared by the women.
After a fond shaking of her head, Aunt May turns around and starts walking back to the house.
"Follow me, we can talk with the others."
"The others?" Peter asks confused
.........…..
"Pretty nice place… to a bat. I would expect that a spider would make his base in the attic or something." I make a light joke while we go down the elevator to the Spider Cave.
"I think myself from this universe is trying to compensate for something." Peter also jokes, acting dismissive yet envious of this Peter's life. "My small shed, with a table and a locker is much more cozy and friendly… It is close to my roots of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man."
"I do not want to brag, but… I have a Space Station." I brag, making them look at me.
"You are another show-off, what does a Space Station have to do with Spider-Man anyway? There's no spiders in space." Peter huffs
"There's everything in Space." I retort "And I'm not a Spider-Man…" I reveal after we finally reach the floor of this hideout.
"Not a Spider-Man?" Gwen turns to me confused, looking at me up and down to see my suit.
"Didn't I tell you? I'm another type of hero, it's just that I can have a lot of powers, including that of Spider-Man… This is not even my real body, just a clone of mine with Spider powers, another hero persona on the street level so that I could keep close to the little people." And to me to have fun.
"A clone?"
"Yep, an extra body that I can switch consciousness with. Appearance-wise is pretty much the same though…" I say, then I figure out something "Hm, now that I'm talking about it… This body is pretty new… Grown in a chamber, it does not go through all stages of development… Oh, that is why I'm a little more emotional, it's hormones! This body is not used to them!"
This explains why I was having so much fun invading Hell too. To those bodies, even a little serotonin is like cocaine. That also happened in my fight with Kaido…
"You are being emotional?" Gwen and the rest deadpan while looking at me.
"... what? I'm very good at controlling my emotions and don't show them on my face. You guys have no idea what is going through my mind." Maybe that is why I'm getting the hots for Gwen, too.
Hormones! Never underestimate them!
I should have simulated this on my clones' bodies artificially, with small dosages through the development… Why didn't the media talk about it? Well, Rick and Morty addressed this issue with the Tiny Rick episode.
Well, living and learning.
"If this is you being emotional, you must be a robot…" Gwen scoffs.
"I'm a cold faced mysterious sexy man. My smiles are rare and only reserved for the special ladies~" I tease while giving her the said smile.
She blushes a little and rolls her eyes to avoid my gaze.
See?! That's what I'm talking about! I'm flirting! And I can't help but do it! Men are so easy…
"Anyway, there's a supercomputer here. We can make the goober…" I say while approaching this universe Peter's working station.
While I go to plug the PC case, the rest are doing a little tour around the place.
For some reason, this Spider-Man has a car, don't ask me why.
"Look Peter, a cape!" Miles points to one of the many suits of this Spider-Man.
Peter rolls his eyes in amusement while I shout "No capes!"
While the rest are having fun going through this universe Peter's things, I ask myself when they will show up… Oh, finally…
Dramatically in a way that you can only expect from colorful superheroes, the three hidden Spider-Detective/girl-with-a-spider-in-a-mecha-suit/pig? - Ah no, he is a spider bitten by a radioactive pig - emerges from the shadows and jumps down close to us.
"That was completely unnecessary…" I comment while feeling, and blocking, the usual spider-sense signal that happens when Spider-people first meet.
They point at each other, so I also do it… This is part not unnecessary.
"By the way, I was going to ask you… Why didn't my spider-sense warn me of your presence like them? It was much briefer and quieter…" Gwen looks at me and asks
"There's a monochromatic spider-detective and a cartoon talking pig, and you are curious about that?" I deadpan.
"Hey! I'm not a pig, I'm a spider bitten by a radioactive pig!" Spider-Ham raises a finger in protest.
"Sorry, that makes a lot more sense…" I say sarcastically
"Good that you understand." He crosses his arms and nods to himself, the sarcasm flying over his head.
"And because there's a Peter, Spider-Man, in my universe, in my class even, I learned how to control those involuntary powers." I shrug.
I could do that with Power Manipulation since the beginning but since that encounter with Mirage and Prodigy from the X-Men, I learned how to control it better.
Everyone "leaks" information in some way… Thoughts, emotions, energy… And there are a lot of ways to notice or even track that. Obviously, I can't allow myself to have a weakness like that.
It's not perfect, no power is, but I can hide myself pretty well. Even the Ancient One was praised for progress.
"More importantly… Everyone here is spider-related, but what about you Ms. Chavez?" I ask the million-dollar question "How did you fall into this trouble?" And why can't you just go away?
"Me? I was probably caught in the explosion of the Collider because of my powers…" She points at herself before starting to explain, "You see, I can travel through dimensions… But I can't do it now…" She first says it with pride, then becomes downcast while looking at her fists "I think the explosion messed with my powers."
"Hmm, too bad I do not have all my powers… I would be able to check what is your problem…" I comment, my fingers holding my chin while I look at her up and down. I miss the All Seeing Eyes of God… *Thwack* "What the hell?" I raise my brows while turning to Gwen.
"Don't stare, weirdo." She huffs
"What?" Ahh "I was not staring at her body." I say aggravated. "You have to know that I'm the greatest specialist in powers in the World, and I have an ocular power that would help me look into her… We would be able to know if her power is exhausted, blocked, or even completely lost… And then find a way to help her."
"Hmm, good excuses pervert." She doesn't look convinced, but by her tone, she is joking.
"Hmpf, girl… I have X-ray vision, if I want to look, I will look…" I roll my eyes. My words made everyone look at me strangely "I don't have now!" I almost shouted while watching Gwen and América covering her parts "And even if I had, I would not use like that! Geez~" I will not comment that using their hands is useless or that I have multiple girls who love me, I don't need to be sneaky.
"Ignoring the pervert here, we need to know if we can help América in the same way… If we can reactivate the Super Collider, we can go back to our universes and fix her powers." Gwen speaks
"A very brutish way to solve the issue but it can work." I comment "We will need to improvise a little… We can't make tests beforehand, so we will only discover in time if her powers will react to the Super Collider energy. We should make some plans B and C."
"Like seeing if we can reverse the polarity of the experiment?" Peni suggests.
"That can be dangerous, instead of a singularity, we can end up making a White Hole… Instead of a controlled Black Hole, a mini Big Bang." I start, explaining when I see América and Spider-Ham looking confused.
"Yes, I don't think anyone wants a Big Bang in New York…" Miles comments sarcastically
*BZZzzT* Suddenl,y all Spider-People, with the exception of Miles, start glitching. Everyone doubles down in pain, but I only grit my teeth and go through it, keeping my clarity to analyze the phenomenon.
"Argh… We don't have much time, it's becoming more frequent." Peni says after recovering.
"But we lack information too…" Noir says
"Tell me, América… Are you confident in using your powers to bring us to our respective universes?" Gwen asks the Latina woman.
"Er… sorry, but no… It's not easy. I would be going blind. I only discover new universes when I go there…" The woman answers apologetically
"It's okay." I wave my hand "But our priority now should return before the glitching kills us, instead of recovering your powers, sorry…"
"It's okay! You are absolutely right in the order of priorities!" She raises her hands in understanding. "But why are you guys glitching again? Something like that never happened to me, or with anyone I brought with me in my portals…"
"Right? I'm also familiar with Dimensional Travel and this is new!" I point "There are only two answers… Or is something to do with our spider-powers, or it was the process that we arrive here. I would bet on the latter…"
Looking at my hands, I continue "I think the Super Collider tried and failed to make our bodies adapt to this reality."
"Really? Did they try to do it? It's not that necessary… You can feel some weirdness but you can go in universes even with different laws." América says
"I know that, look at those three… It's obvious that their universe is different." I point with my thumb to the Spider-People with obviously strange design themes… Anime, cartoon, noir… "Completely unnecessary, and it seems that they try to add the molecules of this world to our bodies, and now there's a reaction… A rejection. It's like our molecules are vibrating in a strange frequency that sometimes… scraps against the time and space continuum. That is from where the glitch comes from…" I give my theory "And that is why it is random…"
"Wow! Even I don't know that much! I mean, I can travel between dimensions, but it's kinda natural and instinctive… I don't understand the whole principle, but I feel that you are mostly right." América exclaims, giving me some praise…
That I nonchalantly dismiss while moving a step away from her… Gwen and Miles are looking at us interacting with that gaze, you know?
No drama, please.
"Knowing why it happens will not help us now, let's focus on how to solve it." Gwen huffs unhappily at my side.
"Well, knowing why it happens is a way to solve it… I think I can make something to stabilize our molecules, but it would take time. The best way is still to invade and hack the Super Collider." I agree with her
"First, we need to make the goober and then infiltrate the place." Peter says gravely "Then another problem will remain… Someone will need to stay behind to destroy the Super Collider for good. I will volunteer to do this…"
"Stop running from your world, Peter." I interrupt him "We can simply brute force through the place and do this more calmly."
"We would be outnumbered!" Gwen exclaims
"I'm pretty strong, we can do it. We will also be able to deal with Ms. Chavez's issue more calmly if everyone who would interrupt us were unconscious." I shrug "It's like playing those stealth assassination games… There will be no one to see us completing the objective if we kill all witnesses."
"Okay, nerd." Gwen rolls her eyes "This is too risky and can generate more trouble than is worth… We should try being stealthy, and if it doesn't work, we use brute strength."
"She is right… We should exhaust our options first." Noir agrees with her.
"Whatever… Just be ready to kickass anyway." I shrug "When anything went easily to us?" It will end up being a brawl anyway.
"..." Now they go silent. Spider-people's lives are never that easy…
Miles raises his hand. "If it's about staying, then I should be the one who does it."
"Well, that makes the most sense…" I say, already knowing where this is going.
Ugh, even I can't help but cringe a little seeing Peter hype up Miles and watching his fail…
"The guy has his powers for a day, give him a break. Who here didn't struggle in the beginning?" I say to help the guy. I received a grateful look from him.
"But this doesn't change the issue… If he can't do it, one of us must stay." Noir speaks. Damn, dude… The guy was recovering his confidence.
"I must stay then." Peter! It's your pupil!
"No, I should stay…" Gwen?
"No, me…" Guys, read the room!
"It should be me, I'm not suffering from the glitching." América???
*Thunk* They only stop arguing about who will make the sacrificial move when the sound of the elevator going back attracts their attention. Miles is taking it to go away…
"You guys kinda suck…" I comment, without any heat or accusation in my tone, while taking a step "We will be here, Miles! Try practicing! Create a trigger to activate your powers, like a flex or a word… Like holding your breath to become invisible! Eventually, you will become good enough to do it without those extra steps… But first you start, then you get good!" I shout while he disappears on the surface.
"I should go after him." América speaks with some anxiety
"Leave him be… Sometimes a man needs space." I stop her. "He will figure out if he wants to be a part of it… As much as I didn't like your guys' lack of… tact. I can't disagree that this is too dangerous to let a newbie participate. If he does not come, it will be fine. It's his choice."
"His heart is in the right place, but it is too soon…" Peter sighs "Too big of a problem for a recently bitten Spider-Man."
"You can say that to him later, now let's focus on making that goober." I reply while moving to the computers, Peni following me.
"I can help." She says
I nod "Let's start by making half a dozen." What kind of idiots create a plan that relies only on one small and fragile object?
............
Third Person P.O.V.
The group spends the night working on the goober.
Well, mostly Hector and Peni. Everyone here is incredibly smart - even the Pig, he is relatively smart to a Spider-Pig - but the two are the ones with the equipment and tools for the job.
Peni has her mecha suit that can do more than fight and Hector still has the nanobots of his Iron Spider suit, he is not wearing it so he can spare a small portion to create the goober.
His design is of a simple one-inch black cube that will adapt to any entrance and instantly overwrite the system with the program created by the two. Not only that, the nanites will fully enter the entrance, not allowing anyone to remove them without damaging the whole port.
And obviously, he is making more than one.
The rest don't have much to do, but at least they are researching this world and the building they plan to invade.
"There will be a charity event tonight…" Peter says, his mouth is full of the food that Aunt May brought to them. While Hector and Peni are in the lab, the rest are accepting the hospitality of the cozy home.
"Do you think it's a cover-up?" Noir suspects
"Why would he attract more people to the place of his secret experiment?" Gwen asks in confusion.
"Maybe to use them as hostages… Maybe so that he doesn't die alone if it fails, maybe he wants more people to go with him, dragging them down with his foolish behavior." Hector says, after suddenly appearing without anyone noticing, his face expressionless, reaching out for a sandwich. Peni also did the same.
"Damn, that is horrible…" América says horrified.
"That's how he is, that balloon of human waste." Hector spat
"You really don't like him, huh?" Gwen comments on the obvious with an ironic tone.
"He killed my parents." Hector's words froze whatever joking mood was reigning at the place "I mean, the one from my universe… It's pissing me off seeing him try to bring his wife and child when he is a bastard that kills other people's parents. Hypocrite…" Hector pauses, thinking about something "Well, he is a bastard because he is putting so many people in danger because of his selfish wishes…"
They don't know, but Hector's words about hypocrisy also apply to Hector himself, that's why he paused. But different from the Kingpin, Hector is more responsible and patient in the way that he wants his parents back… And he is also not going for the low-hanging fruit that is simply kidnapping a variant from another universe.
He then turns to Gwen "I guess I can't blame you for mixing feelings, huh?" He says and without waiting for her to answer, he extends his hand and opens his palm "Here, each of you gets one." He offers the goobers to them.
"We can go scout the area now." Noir recommends after taking his piece. "Maybe invade while no one is prepared.
"Kinda pointless, we need the Supper Collider working to go back to our universe." Gwen says
"And turning it up will attract attention anyway." Peni speaks "We need to be fast. Not letting the singularity created gain traction."
While they are discussing the last details of the plan, Miles suddenly enters the house, his face terrified and with a labored breath.
"The Prowler-The-The-The Prowler… he… He… My uncle. The Prowler is my uncle!" After struggling to put those words out, Miles speaks incredibly fast while grabbing Peter "I was going to visit his home but there's no one there, then suddenly a tingle warned me and then the Prowler was there. I Hid. Thinking that he was pursuing me, but then he removed his mask! It's my uncle! He was going back home! I go invisible! But I guess he has some way of seeing me with his mask! He pursued me through the city, it was hard to escape-"
"Calm down, Kid. Breathe, breathe!" Peter puts his hands on Miles's shoulder
While Miles is panicking, and some others are already suspecting that Miles was not so careful when he came here, Hector is calm.
"Guys, prepare to battle…" He says while putting on his mask and moving in front of Aunt May.
A second later, everyone's Spider-sense alerts them.
"Sorry!" Miles manages to squeeze in that split of second between the warning of the spider-sense and the enemy attack.
"No problem." More impressively, Hector manages to answer just a little before the wall explodes and a figure appears floating in the living room.
"Hum???" Shielding Aunt May from the debris, Hector shows some confusion… This villain was not in the movie, but that is kind of expected. He was already prepared for some extra villain when he saw América Chavez.
What surprised them was who it was…
"Oh, sorry~ Where are my manners?" A grating, mocking voice echoes through the dust. while the figure becomes visible, the sound of turbines of floating machinery reaching their ears "I loved the house, by the way… I have one that is almost the same~"
"For real?" Hector asks.
"..." But no one answers because they are equally shocked.
It's a Goblin, floating on his hoverboard… But there's more, it has the Carnage symbiote… And there's more! The host is… Aunt May.
"A Red Goblin Aunt May… The multiverse is weird." Hector scoffs.
Everyone doesn't have time to comment on that because more villains, possible variants from other universes, pour inside the house. A Scorpion, a Rhino, the Prowler, Kraven, a Vulture, a Lizard, a Hobgoblin, Delilah, Shathra, Dr. Octopus, Electro, Morbius, and even… A Spider-Man.
"Guys… That's a lot of them…" América states the obvious.
"Hey, buddy! I think you are on the wrong side." Peter quips to the other Spider-Man, but is ignored.
"There's even a Spider-Man there. Evil version?"
"Just some street-level weaklings…" Hector comments, still unbothered. His taunt is enough to make all the villains turn to him.
While he says that, finally he activates his Iron Spider suit, and the nanobots start appearing from his belt and cover his whole body in an instant. It doesn't change much, design-wise, but it gives him a metallic sheen and the previous blue highlights are now LEDs, especially his eyes.
"Let's take it outside. It's not your guys that pay the mortgage." Hector says but his words are obviously ignored.
Olivia, aka Dr. Octopus, attacks him with two tentacles, but Hector doesn't even move… From his back four robotic spider legs appear and stab the two tentacles.
"Oh, interesting~" Olivia looks interested "Are you a fan?"
"Not particularly. You are at the bottom of my list of Spider-Man's rogue gallery…" Hector then backflips and kicks her in the chin "But I like your versions of the movie and game."
After that altercation, hell broke loose.
.....
A.N.:Hello there.
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