This story takes place in the universe of the Assassin Spider-Man of Earth 8351, who, after a string of tragedies, was trained by and man named Nebo as well as Wolverine, and became a mercenary and assassin. Among his greatly augmented abilities through training, the shining example of this is his spider-sense, which allows him to see into the future at will.
In Spider-Verse, like every other Spider-man, sans Kaine, who went out in a cheap shot, he went down like a bitch. Screw that.
Peter Parker had come from humble beginnings and traversed a life that would have left most broken or dead with relative ease. Now, after all of this, expectedly, he was not a simple man, as a simple man wouldn't have lived this long.
Frequently he would stare into space and just blink, and get an annoyed look on his face, and if one of his close friends asked, or did something stupid, he would relay the events yet to happen for the next five minutes up until their accident. If they didn't ask, he'd do it anyway, and watch with a trickster's smile as they tried to avoid it, only to bring it to fruition. But this was only if he were especially bored. Normally this would be fairly entertaining to him, but not today. Today, he was a bit annoyed, something that didn't happen often.
Because today, Peter Parker, the former Amazing Spider-Man of Earth 8351, knew he was going to die. That wasn't what annoyed him, as he had long ago, when he was sixteen in fact, faced the fact that he would likely die due to his alter ego, or worse. What annoyed him was that, using his rigorously trained ability that to this day sometimes befuddled him, his spider-sense, to look into the future with crystal clear precognition, he saw one of the best friends he ever had, die.
Of course, he was concerned, as he watched Logan, the Wolverine of the X-Men, shout "Shi-AARGH!" as he was being skewered by, and Peter rolled his eyes, a man in a diver's helmet of all things, with a spicy looking, red hot pitchfork.
Peter was annoyed because he didn't think anything could kill Logan. Even being one of the people who the mutant trusted enough to put him down, Peter doubted he could do so easily. All the same, he shared the same pact with Logan. Were either of them to ever go dark-side, they'd take the other down.
This scene of Logan's death would keep playing for as long as Peter paid attention. If he looked to long he would begin to get a headache, and then his nose would bleed. However, the further into the future he looked, the spottier his visions would get until they were only glimpses, glitchy looking snippets.
He had gained this new plateau of his ability only a year and a half ago, in its current capacity, and by training and exercising this ability, not only were his limits much further, but his range was larger as well. At present his record was two and a half weeks.
Interestingly enough the effects caused by this attracted a startling amount of arachnids to him, but Peter found their presence oddly comforting.
Another boon of training his spider-sense was the ability to see in a type of third-person, enabling him to see all persons in the room as well as threats, potential or otherwise, and not limited to him. Normally it would have been too much to handle, but like exercising one's body enabled one to work more and lift more, such was the same with his spider-sense. It was at such a point that it didn't even bother him.
So, as he looked into the future he was able to get a front row seat to the entire debacle, and walk around to get a certain angle, if he so pleased. As his friend and mentor's smoking skeleton, looking out of place without a cigar in its metallic clutches, tumbled to the ground, he saw Alex, his lover, friend, and woman who looked almost exactly like Gwen Stacy, opening fire on the man who had just murdered their friend. She expertly aimed at his head, but the bullets were intercepted by his helmet, leaving with pitiful results, and Peter saw that his future self, who had been drawing attention away from Alex by shooting high caliber bullets out of his web-shooters, was forced to take her out of the fight himself, lest she be caught in the crossfire.
Then the fight moved outside. Peter, or rather the mental representation of himself, phased through the wall and followed after asserting with finality that Alex was unconscious... and Logan wasn't getting back up.
The mansion that had been furnished with the money he earned from becoming a mercenary and an assassin was in tatters, the floorboards splintered and shattered and the stonework reduced to rubble, and Logan's indestructible adamantium skeleton clanged to the ground, super-heated and smoking viciously without a single speck of flesh left for the mutant to regenerate from. In a final act of defiance, his skeleton was left with one finger up, giving a farewell salute.
The thing about looking into the future was that he could not feel his emotions or hear his own thoughts, which made sense. Cause and effect. As he had not yet experienced the cause of the emotions, he would not be able to feel them. It startled Peter how sloppy he looked while fighting this man however, it was as if he were a teenage vigilante again... and his eyes widened in realization. He was baiting the figure, putting on a show and putting him into a false sense of security.
On the ground outside of the building, he gazed up as his future-self dove out the window with the man close on his heels. The man was fast. But Peter was faster. He was supposed to be; he had trained for this. He was stronger, more skilled, and ready.
Peter frowned as his future-self laid a trap and triggered it, getting the man to impale his trident into the Shi'Ar generator that Logan had hooked them up with. The results were not encouraging. The man grunted, a pained sounding "Hrn," coming from his helmet, and after a stiff legged moment, kept moving.
That wasn't just super-human durability then... even the Rhino would have been fried inside and out from that. Logan would be reduced to a charred husk, though he would regenerate, Peter thought. It was as if this man had barely by injured from it!
What this man had managed to do was to not only take out the most stubborn mutant and hero Peter had ever meant, overpower the best healing factor (which trumped his own by a few kilometers) he had ever seen like it was nothing, and then tank hundreds of thousands of kilo-watts like it was nothing. He wasn't human, he couldn't be. Hell, it was likely he wasn't any species of alien Peter had encountered or researched about. It was even more likely that he was 90% rubber instead of water, but then he would be melting by now.
Sighing, Peter brought his face to his hand. Briefly, he had thought that by ridding himself of the woes of Peter Parker, and the grandiose but all the same, foolish notions of responsibilities of the unappreciated New York vigilante Spider-Man, his luck would improve. For quite a while it had, but evidently it was going to come back with a vengeance. If he was still the type to joke, he'd demand that the man this guy be nerfed immediately.
The man looked around, but his future self was gone. Peter knew where he was by principle, and knew that he was ever in his place, which, apparently, he would be, he'd either go to ground or... up high.
He looked up and saw himself sticking to an immense redwood, hastily scribbling something on a sticky-note, before whistling.
The man looked up just as the red and black blur of Peter's future-self slammed into him elbow first with enough force to cause fissures in a street. Such as it was, before the man slammed into the ground, creating a crater, Peter was sure he heard something break, which he found to be more than a little satisfying.
He just watched the man kill his friend. There was not one iota of pity for him.
There was a brief exchange where his future-self attacked as if he had never been trained, lamely, as though he were still an amateur vigilante, and tagged the man with the note before flipping away. The man's movements were expected. He pressed on fiercely, just missing his target, but unbeknownst to him, it was by design of his target.
His movements were sloppier and stiffer too, Peter noticed. It appeared he had a weakness to electricity, at least enough to stun him. Extremely large amounts of it... enough of it to power an entire city for a year amounts. Peter filed this away for future use and began to plan.
One part of him considered how soon would they be able to get Max Dillon on a leash, but he crossed that idea off. After apprehending Electro and delivering him to SHIELD, and collecting a hefty paycheck, Fury would be loath to release him again. Also, it was unwise.
More prudently, he would get Logan to convince Storm to help out.
The man backhanded Peter into an outcropping of stone. In his younger days the former vigilante would have flinched, but he had been through worse. However, even though he was putting on a show, it was obvious to Peter that the blow had stunned his future self, meaning that the man was very strong.
The man spoke, his voice muffled by the helmet, and his Victorian era garb burnt and singed and smoking Peter's trap. A small fire crackled on his shoulder which he, after a moment of looking at it, put out.
He chuckled. "I am entertained. For this your death will be quicker than most," he said, sounding amused and... Excited. "If you have any last words, say them."
Peter's future-self snorted. "Timber."
The man spoke again, but was drowned out by the startling din of a falling tree, and Peter stepped back a few inches just as a mighty redwood smashed into the man via a webline. He seemed to be down for the count for now, and Peter wondered if the extreme amounts of electricity had dulled whatever healing factor that kept the man moving. As of yet, Peter's mental figment saw, he was unmoving, and unconscious, and broken in several places. If Peter had been in a better mood, or if the man deserved it, he would have winced at the way his legs bent and the way his helmet caved in, likely crushing his face, at which point he remembered Logan and scowled at the figure.
The dots had already begun connecting in his mind: a webline, and extraordinary display of strength... Peter's assumptions were fulfilled as he heard his voice behind him, but a bit lighter and haughty compared to his deeper, more calm tone, and he briefly looked over his shoulder to see his future self and his... other self, another Spider-Man, garbed in a costume similar to his own, but with larger, shinier black eyes and a web pattern, and what Peter assumed to be a mechanical holster for legs on his back.
There was a small exchange between his future self and his doppelganger. "Don't know if you replaced me stateside, o if you're from another dimension, and I don't care," his future-self said, getting up.
"You should care you dolt, and you should slow down!" His doppelganger said, not denying either claim. Peter raised an eyebrow at him. Under very few circumstances would he ever speak like that, and to himself was not one of them.
Peter watched as his future-self whipped around and held his forearm out in what he knew was preparation to shoot, but it was an empty threat - he wouldn't kill himself, at least not in these circumstances. His doppelganger didn't realize that and recoiled in surprise.
"Newsflash, 'Spidey', I'm not the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man anymore. Some folks need putting down, and this monster, who just killed my friend might I add, is a prime example."
His future-self pressed a button on his web-shooters and a faint orange pattern appeared in the air. This soon grew to a mechanical looking portal. "Oh I agree completely," he said. "I'm not questioning the deed, just that we can't get it done. Not alone, at any rate.
"There are... many Spider-Men in the multiverse, few as pragmatic as you or I. Some however have specialized skills that can prove useful. I propose we gather an army of them do deal with this creature. I need someone like myself who will not hesitate to do what is required, however."
His future-self looked blatantly at him, and nodded minutely, and then looked past him at the mansion. Peter followed his gaze. "Alex..." He said, more to his past self than the other Spider-Man, and Peter's eyes widened in realization.
As a rule of thumb, he would frequently leave himself clues when looking into the future. Little things like nods to assure that the timeline, in the window that he had looked through at least, had not been changed or altered, that everything was 'going according to plan'. So far, such things hadn't happened yet, sparing Peter that particular headache.
As his future-self had once been in his shoes, he would acknowledge the fact that he was, in fact, observing from the past, and in special occasions, particularly important ones like this, there would be a note left in some inconspicuous place, thus the sticky note of the owned man's back. For instance, to save someone in particular, to zig instead of zag, to remember to kiss Alex that morning, or do something ahead of time to achieve a more favorable outcome, etc.
They were always signed, "Your friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man," as a little in-joke to himself, quite literally.
"Your woman?" His doppelganger scoffed haughtily. "If you care for her, coming with me is the best way to protect her, and your world. This monster's interest lies nowhere but with us.
"I've said my piece. I am no coward, but neither am I suicidal. Are you with me or not?"
One last time, Peter and his future-self locked gazes. Then, turning back, the latter said, "You sure we can kill him?"
"That horror will die, or we all will."
"Then sign me up."
Jumping through the portal, they disappeared in a flash. Peter went to gaze at the clue left behind by his self, as, being a mental figment at the moment and not in the actual future, he couldn't interact with it.
On it was hastily scribbled, KICK ME. Below this, in more calm writing, was written:
His name is Karn. Trying to kill alternate versions of me for... some reason. Torch to carry maybe. I'm going to die. Big guy with gorilla face chomps on my neck. SAVE LOGAN.
Peter hummed in thought. His future-self had obviously gazed into the future as well, and saw his own death. That was... new. Not once had Peter foreseen his death. The mere use of it negated any event that would cause his demise because he would avoid it, or do something to prevent it from coming to fruition.
Unless he expressly went along with it.
The mention of Logan, aside from him being a close friend, as well as his own death, implied that the mutant's role was somehow integral to the events to come and, if in the future where he would die, Peter also perished later on, meaning their lives were tied together. Just as likely was the fact that he just didn't want his friend to die, especially because of him.
It also explained his future self's... future self, apparently deciding to pull an Obi-Wan and go belly up. With Logan gone, Peter's life, insofar as that 'experimental' direction of his life, was cut. Whatever occurred after that point was deemed by him to be not favorable, and required, for lack of a better word, a restart, which was caused by his dying, and Peter looking into the future ... from the past... in order to negate the events to come, starting with Logan's death.
Peter rubbed his temples. He was beginning to get a headache.
Fortunately, he considered, since time travel wasn't actually involved, this left out the possibility of creating an alternate timeline. It was more akin to erasing something, and putting something else in its place.
Unable to interact with anything such as he was, Peter looked on bemusedly as the man, Karn, stumbled to his feet, and was pleased at the amount of pain he looked to be in. He looked around for the two Spider-Man, but found them gone. He roared and, in a spectacular entanglement of golden webbing, disappeared.
Linebreak
The vision of the future ended without fanfare, and suddenly Peter found himself back in the present.
"Oh, you're awake then? Good." A voice said. His spider-sense rang quietly and Peter deftly slipped a couple of inches to the side to avoid a knife that embedded itself into the back of his seat.
He yanked the knife out easily, though a good portion of its length was embedded into the wood. "Sorry about that Alex," he said easily, not really meaning it. The woman huffed.
Nearby a frightened looking waiter stared with his out of place aviator glasses covering up his bugged out eyes, his white mustache almost completely covering his gaping mouth. Peter politely shooed him away.
Alex leaned into him and looked into his eyes. She was beautiful. Her cold blue eyes and short blonde hair made her a far cry from Gwen Stacy in personality alone, but the similarities were there. With longer hair and a warmer demeanor, she'd be a dead ringer for her. "What did you see this time?" She asked quietly.
"Hm?"
"See, I'm supposing you were spacing out as I was telling you about what happened to our latest donation to one of the mutant charities," she said slowly, and rolled her eyes at the blank, almost careless look on his face. "Right?"
Peter sighed. Briefly, he saw the look on her face as she took aim and fired, and heard her voice. "Get the rocket launcher, go!" She would yell, just before a ball of calcified webbing struck her in the head with enough force to knock her unconscious.
Peter thought, after a moment of deliberation, and peering into the future with his spider-sense, that it would be better, that is, quicker, to inform the blonde and Logan of these events, and said quite bluntly, "In a few days a guy looking like he just walked out of a steampunk convention is going to break in to the safe house. He'll kill Logan, try to kill me, and then an alternate universe version of me will come and take me away to wonderland."
Alex took the explanation in stride. She looked down at her plate and brought up a succulent piece of ham and chewed it, looking at him all the while. "What." She said, still chewing.
Peter continued, "Then, because Logan is dead, I get killed by, what I assume, is a relative of this other guy. Same type of clothes, stupid little bow tie."
"He'll kill Logan. Huh." She took another bite, chewed, put down her fork, and drank from her glass of water. After, she wiped her mouth and straightened her utensils. "Is this a joke?" She asked. He shook his head.
Alex rubbed her temples. "Of course it's not, it's happening to you. I believe you (because since you came into my life it's become one whacky thing after another), but... why exactly did they try, and then succeed to kill you?" Alex said the word like it was ludicrous, and gave him one of the most confused looks he had ever seen.
When Peter was younger he would have bashfully rubbed his neck, such consecutive acts eventually giving him Indian burns. Now, however, he smiled, minding not to puff up with pride at her faith in him, which he found encouraging.
He considered her worlds and scowled, slightly. The expression looked slightly off on his stoic face, but Alex was visibly unperturbed. She was one of the only people he showed emotion to, after all. "I honestly don't give a rat's ass," Peter said, and briefly paused to consider the effects of his friendship with Logan, namely his burgeoning habit for cursing. Shrugging to himself, he continued, "They try to kill me. And in doing so they killed Logan." His eyes darkened narrowed, and his voice gained a steely edge.
Alex watched observed him carefully; he was fine with people trying to him. Some, the worst of them, the rapists, slavers, just plain ol' monsters, he killed right back if she or Logan didn't do it first. Monsters needed putting down and they all knew that well. But he didn't kill indiscriminately either. However one way to immediately end up on his shitlist and wind up comatose in a hospice or... not breathing, was to threaten the life of someone innocent, or the lives of those he cared for. Needless to say, it would prove to a bad day for them, but a good day for Mr. Parker, as he got to work on his aggression.
A quiet fell over them and Alex hummed. Peter was staring off into space but she knew he was as alert as ever, and she wondered what to get him for his upcoming birthday. Maybe a pair of adamantium toed boots to stomp the asses of the people who killed, or would kill, or now that she saw he had that look on his face, would merely try and would no way in hell succeed to kill their old, mutant friend.
She pushed those plans to the side after wondering where she would get a 'Happy Birthday' banner. Truthfully, all worried thoughts about the possible death of their friend, and quite frankly the preposterous death of Peter (who she couldn't imagine dying, not like that anyhow) were gone, now that Peter had that look on his face that had brought them out of situations hairier than Logan's chest.
She resumed eating her meal, and seeing that Pete hadn't touched his, attempted to bogart some of his spinach, but he rapped her knuckles with his fork in a blur without even looking at her. Wincing and rubbing her knuckles, she asked, "What's the plan?"
Peter snatched her fork mid-flight from her mouth. She bemoaned the loss of the steak. "Why do you assume I have a plan?" He said, chewing, and then went on to eat his spinach.
There was a brief utensil duel in which Alex attempted to fight him back to get to the greens, but was defeated. Pityingly, Peter carted some off to her plate. Smirking, and taking the fork back to eat, she said, shoveling the food into her mouth uncouthly, "Because you always do. And I know you have one now. You have that look in your eyes."
"Oh? I didn't know had a look." He smiled.
Alex rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Yeah, I get the same one when I try to shoot you." Peter huffed. "Peter, you wouldn't let Logan die, maybe get shot up a bit, or lose his beer, but not die. And you sure as hell wouldn't let someone with balls brass enough to actually pull it off get away with it unscathed, either. And know that if you die, I'll kill you. Somehow."
He choked back a laugh when she muttered, "With an RPG, maybe?" to herself, before continuing. "So, what's the plan?"
Peter closed his eyes. A second later, his entire skull vibrated as the scene began to play out as he saw it. "Logan gets skewered by this spicy looking pitchfork - it's electrical, I'm guessing, and capable of disintegrating every bit of flesh on Logan's body. There's nothing left for him to heal. So, extremely high voltage, extremely hot, and extremely dangerous," he said factually, as if reading from a list.
"Then I, the future me, obviously, knocked you out to keep you from getting to close. You were going for headshots, which didn't do a damn thing," he frowned and Alex scowled. That was unfortunate. Alex had already begun to decide which of her guns she would use to make her very own lead-brained intruder.
"Don't go for headshots. Body shots, hit low and stay away from him." It wasn't a request, it was an order, and she nodded. "The fight moves outside. I try to bait him into supercharging our generator but he keeps coming. I get hit, then the other me comes along and throws a tree at him."
"The Shi'Ar generator?" Alex asked, her mouth slightly agape. Peter nodded. "Jesus flipping- the guy manages to kill Logan and get electrocuted by how many volts of electricity?"
Peter rapped his fingers against the table as he took a drink and started to eat some more. "A lot," he said in between swallows. "Enough to power a small city for a bit over a year."
Rolling her eyes into the back of her head, Peter was sure he heard, "Bastard needs a fucking nerf, so bad," and smiled to himself.
"Remind me we need to ask Storm to do her thing with the generator again."
"Is it low?"
"Of course not," Peter scoffed. "It never hurts to be prepared though. Also, the guy, Karn is his name, exhibited... at least some vulnerability to electricity. It made him stiff and slow, made him weaker, and I believe it had a part in putting him down for the count when the other me smacked him in that liberty bell of a helmet."
"What type of helmet?" Alex asked, imagining a medieval one.
"A diver's helmet."
She made a face. "Tacky." Peter chuckled. "Got it. Vulnerability to electricity, call Storm. Why do you think it's like that though?" She asked, curious.
"I have a few guesses, but the chief one is that he's, clearly, not human, and possesses some type of healing factor that's set off by extreme amounts of voltage. It could be a part of his physical makeup... or maybe he's part machine, in some way, and it's provided by something like nanites." Peter frowned in thought. "It honestly doesn't matter too much. Electricity makes him vulnerable enough that a tree to the face can take him down, so we use that to gimp him." he said, as though he were talking about receiving mail. "I think I'll rodeo Logan into his face instead."
Alex grinned at the thought. "I'll bring the camera."
A companionable silence came about as they continued to eat. They were far enough away that no one was privy to their conversation; Alex's years of honed spy skills as well as Peter's less experienced, but still well versed ones, and his spider-sense made sure of it. Also, no one wanted to come near the couple where the woman threw a knife with deadly accuracy and the man dodged effortlessly and continued eating as if it was fine.
When their meal was just about finished, Alex asked, "So, this other you... is he cute?"
Peter, having seen this question coming since the start of the conversation, rolled his eyes. "Actually, that's the interesting part. Judging from his appearance I can estimate with a good amount of certainty that he and I made… different choices in life."
Alex nodded in understanding. "You said he's from a different universe, right? That makes sense."
"Yes, it does. Going from his appearance, he's not as muscular as I am, I don't think I'd be far off to say he hasn't trained. And he lacked that... thing I do, with my spider-sense."
"You mean looking off into space every few minutes and relaying conversations before they happen?" Alex asked blithely.
"Yeah, that." Peter smiled. "Sounded like a bit of a jackass," he joked.
"So, just like you. That's a shame. "Alex huffed good-naturedly.
"I'm your type of jackass. This guy was like..." He paused, and his expression changed.
"What is it?" Alex said, taking special notice of the sudden change.
Peter shook his head. "It's just... he sounded like Octavius."
Alex made a disgusted look. "That bowl-haircut wearing little troll? That is a shame."
"Tell me about it. Anyway, while they were talking, my future-self left me a note on the guy's back. Karn, the guy, is going around killing different versions of me for some reason and I'm on his list."
"It sounds like he has a grudge. You think one of the other you's made a joke about his mother?"
"For some reason, I don't doubt it. It'd be just my, well the other me's, luck." Peter sighed. "Judging by how I bite it, his family is involved too. For some reason Logan's death leads to mine. I think it's a matter of causality; he could have a crucial part in this, so conversely if he lives, I will too."
He smiled just as Alex began to lightly bang her head against the table. Their glasses clinked loudly and water splashed on to the ground. "Time travel. Ugh, I hate time travel."
"It's technically not." Peter supplied.
"It's close enough," Alex replied, rubbing her forehead. "Now what?"
His intense hazel green eyes locked on to hers. A lesser woman would have felt uneasy staring into his intense hazel eyes and looked away, but Alex was the strongest woman he had ever met and stared right back, fully committed, determined, and he knew she wouldn't back out of this unless he webbed her up and stuffed her in a closet.
Cracking his neck and adjusting his webshooters, which were under a holographic program to look like cufflinks, Peter said, "Inter-dimensional travel? We're going to need help. Like I said, that other version of me pops in with a dimensional portal later on, so that's our ticket out."
Alex perked dup, surprised that he said "Our." She half expected him to tell her to stay out of it. Not that she would, but she expected it. "Why not stay and fight?" She wondered.
"Because the other me knows more about this than I do. And he's gathering an army. Of me's."
Alex blinked. "I love you, but I don't think I can put up with dozens of other you's all telling bad jokes and talking endlessly."
Peter put his hand on her upper thigh. "I know," he said sincerely.
"Also, I'm glad you grew out of that."
"It was a defense mechanism, most of the time." He continued, "I don't want to be solely reliant on the other me, though; I'd rather be a head of the curve. Contact someone who knows the score and get the lay of the land, head this Karn off before he even knows his next move."
"Richards?" She asked. She had no bad feeling toward the man, as Peter spoke of him fondly and the Fantastic Four as well. It was the implication that set her off. Their city put him in a bad place.
"The Fantastic Four," Peter affirmed fondly, and added heavily, "New York. And Not just them, either, but Stephen Strange."
"Why him?"
"Because of the way Karn gets out of Dodge. He got webbed up by, get this, a cocoon of golden webbing, before disappearing. What's that sound like to you?"
"Mysticism," Alex said, making a face. "Great."
"Honestly, I prefer that to actual time travel," Peter admitted. "Less of a headache. It also might explain his resistant physiology."
Alex nodded in agreement. "How long do we have?"
Peter clicked his tongue. "About four days."
"Four days to round up Logan, Storm, who I presume you plan to use to super charge the generator and turn this... Karn, into an inter-dimensional fish fry," she said, and Peter nodded, smiling boyishly. "Contact the Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange, and find a way to keep Logan out of the fight once he realizes that this guy and his family is coming to kill you."
"That's about it, yes." He rubbed her leg. "So, how would you like to go on an inter-dimensional adventure with little ol' me?"
He got his answer in the form of a kiss. When they pulled away licking their lips, he asked, "Peaches?" tasting the sweet flavor on her lips. She grinned and kissed him again, before rising from the table.
"I'll go get the keys to the jet, tell Logan to meet up with us." Peter nodded, and she waited off to the side, pulling her phone from her purse. Dialing, it was a few seconds later that Peter heard, "Yeah, Patch? We got a deal." Which was code for, "Logan, get your claws ready."
Rising as well, Peter left a generous tip for their service... and some more for the damage to the chair, and they left arm and arm.
Alex looked up at the evening sky in thought for a moment. The clouds were a beautiful mix of blue, purple, orange and pink. "What would you like for your birthday present?" she asked, looking at him as they walked out.
Outside, a sleek, stylish, dark blue car was waiting for them. Peter didn't know the make of it and didn't care; with Alex it would be the same as the others: Fast, driven demonically, and eventually, bullet riddled. Alex got into the driver's seat, and Peter wondered how long this one would last.
He shrugged, taking off his suit jacket. "I don't know. Some titanium for my webshooters would be nice. Or hollow point rounds, I guess. I'd like to start experimenting with paralytic poisons. After coming up with that impact webbing it seems like a good idea."
Alex nodded. "How'd you feel about a new suit? I know a tailor in New York."
"Clothes, really? I'm turning 24, Alex. Not sixty," he joked, and kissed her again. It lasted until she was out of breath." Her expression made him smile. "That sounds spectacular, thank you."
Alex grinned and revved the engine. "Happy Birthday, Parker." She said, and they drove off.
As the scenery sped by, Peter looked a last time into the future, and allowed his spider-sense carry him further than the events he had seen. As he hadn't done much to change them, they remained much the same, with slight differences in that Alex rained down hell in bullets upon Karn's midsection and crotch, and Logan aimed an RPG at him and fired just as Peter dove from the window, and Storm flying overhead and out of sight, waiting for him to spring the trap.
He saw, on his wrist, a holographic communicator where Reed and Sue Richards said goodbye. The image flicked past. Then, he saw his doppelganger, confused at the many allies he had amassed, but accepted them all as they jumped through the portal he had come from, thankful for the extra hands.
Then, in a nauseating rush of images, he found himself in a completely different place: Central Park. The images were a bit spotty now, so he assumed that this was further into the future than before. And next to him was Alex, looking annoyed. She whispered to him "If one of these pipsqueak versions of you call me Gwen one more time, I will shoot them."
Peter had the feeling his birthday was going to be a bit hectic. Then, before the vision ended, he saw a man in a Spider-Man suit, but it was very utilitarian. A jacket and pants in red and blue, with a spider on the chest, sans the pattern. Peter liked it.
"Hey Alex, about that suit..." He began.
Back at the restaurant, having gone unnoticed by the former vigilante and now trained assassin, and his super spy companion, a jovially chuckling African man in a blue suit dabbed his mouth with a red and blue handkerchief after finishing his meal. A small black spider crawled from the floor and onto his table.
"Ero, I do believe you owe me dinner," the man said, and laughed as it squeaked. "Yes, he is unique. Certainly a breath of fresh air. You will be keeping an eye on him," he said kindly, though it wasn't a request. The spider squeaked again and crawled into his sleeve. A misty smoke appeared behind him, replete with strands of glowing, silver and gold webbing. It rushed forward and in a flash, the man disappeared and there was no sign he had ever been there at all.
A/N:
So there you have it. Spider-Verse sucked, and this idea was rattling around in my skull for months.
I always liked Assassin, and the way Slott had him go out was pathetic, much the same for the way he wrote, and writes, Peter Parker. Everything he writes is just… so anti-climatic, leaving no sort of impact with the characters, and the 'Amazing' Spider-Man comes off as feckless and ineffectual. Peter Parker, somehow, got his body back after dying, literally dying, in a villain's (who tried to murder the world for the sake of his own ego) body, and who also took Parker's body because he was afraid to die. And he felt sorry for him. His life was taken and stolen from him simultaneously, and he felt remorseful that in order for him to (somehow) come back, Otto Octavius had to die, which he deserved to do.
He lost a year of his life and found many of his hard one relationships as well as his status as a finally respected and, mostly, a beloved hero burned to the ground, all for the sake of Otto's vanity, and he didn't care a bit about any of it. Really?
Moving on, I hope I managed to give Alex distinct personality and establish their relationship, which I think is one of immense trust and closeness, considering their profession. I'd say it's very Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but I haven't watched that movie and I think I need to.
I hope I succeeded. Peter's friendship with Logan, as well, even though his appearance was… limited.
I don't know if I'll continue this. I'm kind of burnt out on it; this story went through SO many revisions it's sad. And I'll never get to use most of them because they don't fit. It would take some doing. If I did, I'd likely drag Inheritors, Spock, as well as Silk, whose origin is just... sad, in terms of originality, through the mud. Maybe. I've seen some good interpretations of Morlun and always enjoyed the whole 'force of nature that you must weather and overcome' as a sort of 'man vs nature' thing, but an entire family of him? No.
I may have written myself into a corner by adding those I did, because my knowledge of the MU is severely limited to Spider-Man, as he's my favorite. Still, the fact that no Spider-Man would bring help stuck me as odd. Even odder: Anansi the Spider-God had no special part to play. Also, if anyone them would have been instrumental to the success of that paltry 'Spider-Army' that got their asses kicked from one issue to the next until, for some reason, they were able to fight back, hundreds against a few, without getting decimated as they had previously, it would have been Assassin, (who, I hope, I characterize to a satisfactory degree. Science and time-travel and… all of that stuff aren't my thing, so I improvised and called upon my knowledge of Back to the Future.).
That's a check in the 'do not continue' box.
Lastly, this Peter is obviously not of 616. He's had many experiences that left him somewhat jaded and cold, but he is still Spider-Man, still Peter Parker, if that wasn't apparent. I hope it was. Also, I know some people will wonder about Mary Jane and, well... how many stories have her, Felicia (who is, admittedly, not my favorite), or Gwen as his LI?
All things considered, I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to leave a critique. This was not especially easy.