Welcome back to the Web of Time everyone. I've gotten more of reviews than normal since last chapter, and my motivation is at an all time high thanks to all of you. So thank you all very much, and enjoy the chapter!
To guest, yes, Spidey's gonna run into plenty of members of the family hehe
To Mad King C, thank you for the continued support on this story, I really appreciate it. Yeah, it'd be a bit cut and dry to make the Conductor a total selfish bloke, so I decided to play with the character a bit. And yes, here comes everyone's favorite evil noodle haha
To Konan720, I'm really glad that you like the story so far! You're one of the main inspirations behind this, so I hope I didn't disappoint. Thank you again for checking this out, I'm grateful for the input (:
To dinogeoff022, yeah you can already see the direction I'm taking as far as those two go. But trust me when I say there's more to come with them, especially when I get back to the award ceremony fight.
"Well Hattie, we've got another week until the award ceremony. Any ideas where the next time pieces went?" Spider-Man inquired from the comfort of his web hammock while reading a book. As soon as he woke up, he made enough web fluid to fill the whole ship after the last web failure.
"Yeah actually, I saw the time signature in this purple forest the other day, but I wanted to finish the movies first."
Peter got off his web hammock and put the book down, stretching as he said, "Well now that that's out of the way, wanna swing by and check it out? No pun intended."
Hat Kid grew a concerned look. "Yeah, but it looks kind of spooky," she admitted. Something about the place just didn't sit right with her.
"Come onnn, don't tell me the 'brave space explorer' is afraid of a few trees," chuckled Spidey.
"No!" retorted Hat Kid as she stuck out her tongue. "It just gives me the creeps."
"Well it's a good thing you're not going alone then, isn't it?" Peter smiled, lifting the little alien's spirits.
"Yeahhh," she digressed. "I'll get a telescope ready in my room. We have enough time pieces to power it in again."
"Finally, I swear I'm never sleeping without a night light ever again," joked the web slinger, following her to the bedroom.
Peter watched as she pulled another telescope from within the confines of her closet and aiming it out the window.
"Aaaaaaand there! We're locked on," announced Hat Kid after adjusting the lens and position of the scope.
"Great. Now you know what's next," smiled Peter as he reformed his mask. Hat Kid smiled back as she pushed the teleport button, and within seconds, they were whisked away to their next adventure.
A few moments later, the two time piece gatherers arrived at their destination. Looking around, Spider-Man could see why the little girl was so hesitant to come here. This place gives me the willies, and I've been to the Dark Dimension he inwardly cringed. As he looked to his companion, he could see that she wasn't faring too well either.
"Hey, so where does the tracker say the next time piece is?" he asked, cutting her out of her stupor.
"Oh, uhhh, this way!" she responded as she pointed down a cobblestone path.
"Well then, it would seem our paths cross again young ones," said a voice they knew all too well.
The duo turned around before Spider-Man greeted, "Hi there Badgey boy, seems like you're right at home in this place."
The strange merchant didn't notice the hint of sarcasm, and so nodded. "Yes, it would seem my physical appearance matches the atmosphere of this place."
Hat Kid smiled up at the Badge Seller, asking him, "Do you have any new badges to sell to me today?"
The merchant reached into his backpack, pulling out two new badges. "This one is the One-Hit-Hero badge. Attaching it makes you die in one hit. I recommend it only for the brave." After receiving a hard pass from both Spidey and Hat Kid, the merchant moved to the next badge. "And this, is the scooter badge. When attached to your sprint hat, it allows you to spawn a scooter in a puff of smoke, for when you need to get somewhere in a hurry. Or if you are feeling lethargic."
"Ooooo, how much for the scooter?" fawned Hat Kid. She had always wanted to ride one of those, but she needed a license back on her home planet.
"It will be 500 pons," negotiated the Badge Seller.
Hat Kid grew a sad face as she patted her pockets, only to find that she only had 210 pons. "Will it be there next time I come back?" she asked him.
"I will do my best to keep it reserved for you young one," the Badge Seller kindly told her, earning a smile from Hat Kid. "Now for you my arachnid based acquaintance, I only have the Hive badge for you still. Though in a place like this, you may need as many allies as you can get, even of the eight legged variety.
"Hmmmmm," contemplated Spidey as he looked at the badge. It was still kind of creepy to think that he could control spiders' minds or start up casual conversation, but he'd been thinking more and more about the uses of it, especially since Shathra was hunting the spider side of him. Plus, if those gigantic spiders from the time rift were any indication, the arachnids here were pretty potent compared to some of the ones back home.
"Alright, but this is the last time you sweeten the deal to sucker me into buying. How much does it cost?" asked the web warrior.
"300 pons," the vendor responded. Using the last of his pons, he bought the badge and slipped it into the suit's pockets for later use.
"Thank you for your business young ones. I see many trials ahead of you in this place, but I am sure you will overcome them together," the Badge Seller foreshadowed. On that note, he took his leave as he opened a portal.
"Well, guess we can't say he never gave us anything. Come on, lets go find that time piece," said Spider-Man.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Hat Kid as they went onto the cobblestone path. They didn't even take 10 steps however, when they saw a small and purple person staring at them down the path.
"Hey! It's rude to stare! Just come on over!" shouted Spidey at the strange being. Unfortunately, this just caused the being to run further down the path, prompting Hat Kid to give chase and Spider-Man with her.
"Hey, come back! We were just looking for something!" called Hat Kid. As if heeding her command, the creature just stopped in its tracks.
"Nobody ever listens to me whenever I try that!" huffed Spider-Man as they trudged over to the little thing.
"Sorry," it said before running off again.
"Huh?" both explorers went, before they were suddenly being yanked from the ground by a large net.
"Gah! Of all the powers to go missing, why did it have to be spider sense?" complained Spidey as he tried to shimmy out.
"Spidey, your elbow is in my stomach," notified Hat Kid as she tried to wiggle their way out of their predicament.
"Sorry kid, but hey, this isn't too bad, right? It's just a net, we can get out of here in no time," he reassured, trying to calm both the little girl and himself down.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake, as if something massive was nearby. The two thought nothing of the first thud. But then it came again. And again. Soon, the birds were even flying away, and both of them were starting to lose their cool.
"Come on, what is this tarp made of?!" screamed Spider-Man in frustration.
As Spidey gave another kick, the tarp went slack, pulling the two of them from their suspension. Plopping down, they found this was not the same forest they had just been in. It was much more purple, the trees looked more like ghosts, and in general looked like Mephisto's summer getaway.
"That can't be good," Spidey nervously stated.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" rang an ethereal voice behind them. Turning around, they were shocked to greeted with the towering figure of a giant purple ghost. Its face was shaped in the form of a yellow, menacing grin that sent shivers down Hat Kid's spine. Its slender body was long enough to coil around Spider-Man 3 times and squeeze the life out of him, if it wanted to. Everything bout this being put the the hero and the hatter on edge.
"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! You blew it! You totally screwed yourselves! Nobody enters my home and leaves in one piece!" the spectre laughed manically. Instinctively, Spider-Man got in front of Hat Kid, attempting to shield her from whatever this shadow had in store for them.
The ghost's grin grew even wider as he tapped his chin. "Tell you what though, hang on a minute. You get to live! That's right! Aren't you lucky?" it said to them.
"Uh huh, and I actually have eight eyes and a set of fangs under my mask. What's the catch?" Spidey snarked back. He didn't like this one bit.
"Right to the chase then? I like your spirit, maybe I'll just TAKE it from you!" the ghoul threatened before he lunged at the two, making them flinch as he laughed like a maniac. "Well normally I'd eat your souls and toss your bodies, but you two won the lottery! Because I just happen to be missing a braindead servant!" it chuckled with a little too much enthusiasm.
"Servant?" inquired Hat Kid.
"Yup! That's right kiddo! The old one got himself killed, his head popped off, and now I need some new towel boys," responded the shadow. Then with a snap of his fingers, two parchment sheets appeared out of thin air.
"So tell you what? I've got some pieces of paper here. Don't worry about the details, I just need you to sign right here at the bottom!" it half said, half ordered as it tapped the signature lines.
Spider-Man and Hat Kid both read the contract top to bottom. Both of them were extremely uncomfortable with the obligations that it entailed. "Murder the spirits" certainly wasn't sitting well for either of them, and clean the Subcon Well brought back memories of fighting the lizard in the sewers of NYC for a certain wall crawler. Not to mention, a small rider consisting of their souls.
"Oh no. I've hung out enough times with Ghost Rider to know where this is going. That's a hard pass from me. Go find someone else's soul to rob," refused Spider-Man. Following his example, Hat Kid pouted and shook her head at the ghost.
It didn't receive that very well, as it tried to persuade them, "Come on now. Don't make this difficult. You really don't have a say in the matter." When it was once again met with resistance, it growled, "I don't think I made this clear enough. Your OPINION. DOESN'T. MATTER to me! Put your names on the contracts, or I'll make your dead, hollow bodies sign them for you!" Now, Spider-Man was having second doubts. Sure, he could refuse him again, but this thing sounded serious. Not to mention, he wasn't the only one at risk here. He would never voluntarily let something bad happen to Hat Kid, or anybody, in good conscience.
"Kid, I dont think we have any other options," Spidey sighed in defeat. Regretfully, he signed the contract, though as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man rather than his real identity as Peter Parker.
Hat Kid nervously followed his example, signing in her native language in the hopes that this thing never learned her REAL name. They each put their respective emblems on their signatures, with one putting a peace sign, and the other the spider signal.
"HAHAHAHHAHAHA! That seals the deal! We're in business!" laughed the creature as he took back the contracts. "Also, for future reference, the name's Snatcher, kiddos. That way you can properly address your superior, me!" it chuckled once again. It then wiggled its talons as it muttered, "Now let me just grab this real quick."
Instantly, purple lightning coming from the ghost's hands began striking Hat Kid, causing her to fall to the ground gasping.
"Hat Kid!" shouted Spider-Man as he tried to help her up, only to retract his hand from the sting of a lightning bolt.
After a few agonizing seconds for the poor girl, the onslaught was over. Coming out of her back now was a purple wisp with a top hat.
My soul? thought the hatted explorer helplessly as she watched it float away into the Snatcher's grip.
"Whoops! Guess this soul belongs to me now! Don't worry though, if you finish your chores quickly, you'll have your soul back real soon!" He then glanced evilly at Spider-Man. "And now for you," he smugly said as he prepared the same technique. Spider-Man braced himself for the pain that was to come.
"AAAAHHHHHH!" screamed a voice, but it wasn't Spider-Man. "You failed to mention you were enchanted with a protective ward!" spat the Snatcher as he blew at his fingers. "Whoever this Doctor Strange guy is, he's a serious buzzkill," grumbled the ghoul.
Plus 1 to the amount of times the good doctor's saved my bacon Spidey inwardly thanked. Indeed, swirling around him was a mystical yellow light, accompanied by whispers of a long dead language and the signature of one Sorceror Supreme.
"Sorry, I forgot to mention my soul is on lease to one Mary Jane Watson. You can put in a down payment though of one Hat Kid soul and I'll get back to you in the next century," quipped the web head, some of his old bravado returning.
"On the contrary, bug boy, now I have more reason to keep your friend's soul. You're too much of a goody two-shoes to ditch the little Hat Brat here, so guess what? I still own both of you!" the Snatcher reasoned, laughing as he faded into the ground the same way he came.
"And don't you dare forget our little contract," he added as he pointed at Hat Kid. "I put it in your hat and your pocket so it'll never leave your sight." And with that, the menacing specter vanished as if he were never there in the first place.
"Holy Cow, well that was... unpleasant," Spidey said after a few seconds of awkward silence. "Everything nifty kid? No permanent damage from what that creep did to you?"
"Nothing physical, but I feel exceedingly empty inside," she grimly addressed. Indeed, her happy go lucky nature seemed to have left her as she donned a stoic face, much less welcoming than the near constant smile she always wore. "I don't like this feeling," she told him, hoping somehow her webbed comrade could fix this.
"Well, there's nothing we can do now except go do his busy work. For now though. No matter what, we will get your soul back, pinky promise," Spidey comforted as he tried to put some of the childish joy back into the little adventurer. She raised her pinkie, albeit kind of pathetically, and squeezed, making the promise official.
Worriedly, Spider-Man waved her along down the path, hoping they found this Subcon Village soon. He definitely didn't like seeing the little bundle of joy he'd come to know so downtrodden.
As the two were walking, they stumbled upon the same strange creature that had baited them into the trap in the first place. With it were more of his buddies, all looking identical to each other.
"Hey! You must be the newbies! Welcome to Subcon!" greeted one of the little things.
"Yeah, no thanks to you," grumbled Spider-Man at the little minions.
"Heh, sorry about that, Boss' orders. You'd be surprised how few people come through here," replied the minion who baited them.
Really? Noooo, I couldn't imagine why," Spidey sarcastically responded, rolling his eyes under his mask.
While the super hero and the Subconites talked, Hat Kid was staring at a bone cage the group of minions had been tinkering with before their arrival.
"What's with the cage?" she asked one of the Subconites curiously.
"Oh, that. The boss assigned us to open rid of it, but we can't get the stupid thing to open!" vented the forest resident in frustration as he kicked the bone cage, hurting his leg in the process. "See? Since you two are employed now, mind giving us a hand? The Boss will freak if we don't get this down soon," requested the minion.
"Well, it's not like we've got much else to do. Step aside burlap sack," Spidey sighed as he walked up to the cage. Taking one step back, he took a running start as he leaped onto his hands. Then, with all his force, he thrust himself up and into the bars of the cage. Instead of caving in, the bars held, making Spidey flop to the ground. "Huh?" he wondered aloud as he got up. Winding back a punch filled with spider strength, he threw a haymaker at the cage, once again to no avail. Again and again he walloped, not making so much as a dent in it. Affter several more tries and aching fists, he ave up.
"Whatever this is made of, it's strong enough to take punches with the proportionate strength of a spider," he said as he waved and blew at his hands.
Taking notice of the strange eye thing on top of the cage, Hat Kid traced its gaze to a nearby purple fruit. Curious, the plucky adventurer went over to the fruit and picked it up. As she did, she noticed a strange spirit with a fox mask was staring at her.
"Hi there," Hat Kid awkwardly chuckled, unsure what to do.
Rather than offer a reply, the thing zipped its way into the fruit turning it from gloomy purple to explosive red and orange. What made it worse was the beeping now emanating from it.
"Uhhh, care to explain why it's beeping?!" Spidey anxiously asked one of the minions.
"Cherry bomb! Take cover!" shouted another minion as they all hit the dirt. Hat Kid hastily threw the newly made IED away, hurrying over to Spider-Man who encased the both of them in a web dome.
BOOM!
A few seconds after the bomb had burst, Spidey forcefully burst from the web dome, sending webbing everywhere. "Seriously? Even the flora is deadly?" he asked incredulously to no one in particular.
"Hey newbies, you did it! The cage is down!" cheered one of the Subconites. "We can't believe we didn't think of that before. Use a dweller to make a cherry bomb? Genius!" yelled another.
"Well at least that's out of the way, right kid?" asked the web head to his partner, who nodded shakily.
"Hey, that cage was guarding a piece of yarn. I think you two deserve it for helping us out. Thanks!" one of the Subconites said as he held out the ball of yarn to the two.
"Thank you," replied Hat Kid, though still shaken. As she took the ball in her hand, she felt goosebumps run up her back. Something about this yarn seemed super spooky. And that's when it hit her. The ghost thing, or dweller, whatever it was called, had the same spooky sensation as this green yarn. Just as fate would have it too, she saw a green spirit with a fox mask whiz by. Drawing her inspiration and finding her yarn count was sufficient, she tossed the yarn up into the air and worked her magic.
"Gotcha!" she declared, her happy go lucky nature returning for a brief moment. She proudly held up her new creation for all to see, giving everyone a view of what seemed to be a fox mask.
"Huh, masks are a new one. Seems someone's been reading those sewing books I saw in the bookcase," Spidey commented.
The Subconites meanwhile all "Ooooh'd" and "Ahhhh'd" at it. One particular servant explained, "Ohhhhh, a dweller mask! Legend says that when you wear one, you can see the world through a dwelller's eyes. Objects from other dimensions then come into focus!"
Spidey stroked his chin, contemplating. "Other dimensions you say?" he murmured. Just then though, he felt a familiar feeling swell up in his head. Hoping it was what he thought it was, he made sure to remember this event later. "Anyways, we have to get going. Can you point us toward Subcon Village?" requested the arachnid.
"Yup, just follow this path and you'll be right at the entrance."
"Thank you!" Spidey and Hat Kid called back as they took off down the path. Maybe those guys aren't so bad after all the duo pondered as they continued.
As they walked, Hat Kid became more and more unnerved by the various gravestones, the dead trees, and the haunting atmosphere. This was a forsaken place, but hopefully that contract let them stay guests, at least long enough for them to grab her soul and the time piece and ditch this place.
While she was in her thoughts, she was suddenly tackled by Spider-Man as he screamed, "Move!" Right at that moment, a giant spider, similar to the one they had seen to the ones in the gallery rift descended rapidly on a web, nearly pouncing right on top of them.
"Hey, spinning a web is my shtick! You start wall crawling and I'll sue!" Spider-Man quipped as he shot his own webbing at the spider. He then spun around repeatedly until letting go, sending the feral arachnid to peck knows where. "And tell Daddy Longlegs I won't be home for dinner!" he called after its receding figure, though he hoped it landed somewhere safe.
Standing back up, Hat Kid asked him," How did you do that?" In response, Spidey retracted his mask, showing a wide grin on his face. He only needed to tap the side of his head for her to know.
"So that's how Spider-Sense works?" she inquisitively questioned, earning a nod in reply.
"You have no idea how good this feels," said Spider-Man with glee.
Giving a small smile, she beckoned for him to follow her as they kept going down the trail. Eventually, they arrived at the Subcon Village. It was a small town, mostly made of tree stump houses and a big square where they could see a great fire blazing in the distance. It was surrounded by what seemed to be a big ditch, though evidence suggested it was meant to be a river.
Pulling out the contract from her hat, Hattie took one of the colored pencils she kept in her pocket and checked off the first obligation. Now, they were on their second objective: Murder the Spirits. The two felt extremely uneasy at that obligation, but they continued forward anyways, determined to finish these terms and go home.
As they approached the little settlement, Spider-Man's spider-sense went off, causing him to pull Hat Kid back. Just in time too, because the Snatcher poked his head out from where she was just standing before popping out fully.
"WHYYYYYYYY HELLO THERE! You didn't forget about me did you? Don't tell me you forgot about me," he announced, wearing that obnoxious smile of his as he looked down at the two contractors he deafened.
"Little warning next time, please?" Spidey complained, holding his ears from the sudden bellow the ghost had put forth.
"Oh please, like I need to warn you of all people, kiddo. What with that fancy little "Spider-sense" you got going, I bet you saw this coming," smirked the ghost.
The webhead objected in his best Harrison Ford impression, "That's not how the spider-sense works. Also, how do you know about it?"
"Oh please kiddo, you act as if I don't have my sources of news! Flinging that annoying eight legged cousin of yours across the forest tends to cause some ruckus, wouldn't you agree? After that, the little bugger ratted out how you could detect danger like him, so I went to investigate. Turns out, you're more spider than man! the shadow explained.
Spidey facepalmed as he grumbled, "Alright, very clever, yada yada yada. Also could you stop with the kiddo? I'm nearly 20. I can legally vote"
Snatcher laughed as he retorted, "Not in my forest you can't, kiddo!" He then said in a lower and more smug voice, "Come back to me when you have a few centuries under your belt, THEN we can talk about old." He then cleared his throat as he pointed out, "Anyways, check it out. Those incredibly annoying fire spirits are sitting are sitting right there in the middle of my village." His usual yellow smile turned into a deep frown as he continued, "Their little dance is creating these incredibly annoying barriers that stop me from getting to parts of my forest. It's almost like they're trying to put an end to me... how adorable.
He then clamped his hand into a tight fist as he ordered the duo, "Dispose of them! I don't care how you did it, as long as they suffer for entering my domain." Then, as if by magic (probably was), the frown returned to its usual jack-o-lantern smile as he said, "Anyways, back to work troopers! This isn't a vacation, and I'm getting impatient!" And with another dive, he once again faded into the ground.
"Man, and people thought I'm annoying," huffed Spidey as he and Hat Kid went into the village to confront the fire spirits.
Walking up to one of the aforementioned fire spirits, Spidey awkwardly greeted it, "Um, hello. So you guys are causing a bit of a ruckus over here. Do you think you can move this somewhere else?"
"We want to die. Yayyyyy!" responded the fire spirit, causing Spider-Man's eye lenses to go wide at the suicidal fox.
"We want to burn bright, and then burn out. Become a cloud of smoke!" The arachnid looked at his companion for an explanation, receiving only a shrug in reply. "Our bonfire needs more fuel. Only the finest paintings will do! Can you help usssss?"
"Um well, I guess you're already dead, so that makes it a little less terrible?" Spider-Man tried to awkwardly reason. He looked to his left where Hat Kid had been, only to see that she had already taken off, looking for the paintings the spirits desired.
"Hey kid, wait up!" he called as he shot a web to a nearby tree. Zipping up onto the branch, he perched and searched for the little purple child, until he saw her signature top hat far off by some ice.
"Swinging down to meet her, he asked, "So, you spot any paintings yet?"
"Yup, in there," she pointed, revealing a painting trapped in ice.
"Spidey patted her on the back, saying, "Good eye kid, now how do we break this ice?"
As the arachnid based hero tried to come up with a solution, Hat Kid spotted another one of those cherry bombs from before. Looking up, she also saw several dwellers floating around. They could make an excellent fuse. Walking over to the fruit, she picked it up and jumped on a mushroom. One of the nearby dwellers rushed into the purple fruit, turning it red like before.
"Huh? Spidey muttered, before freaking out at the now ticking time bomb that the fruit had become. As he dove for cover, Hat Kid chucked the explosive at the ice, destroying the barrier that held the painting.\
"Well, that's one way to start an ice breaker," Spidey whistled. "Although, this painting seems familiar, doesn't it?"
Hat Kid looked at it for a few moments, but merely shrugged it off as she took the painting, saying, "You'll come with me."
The little girl scurried over to the bonfire with the painting in hand, and once in range, tossed it right into the middle of the inferno. There, the blaze evidently grew in size, turning from a mere flicker into a true bonfire.
"Yessssss, moreeeeee!" chanted one fire spirit.
Spidey, seeing that the painting was doing the trick, whispered to Hat Kid, "Let's split up. The sooner we find these paintings the sooner they can leave," receiving a nod from the little alien.
And so, they split up, running and swinging across tree tops for any more paintings they could burn. They weren't too hard to find, considering one was sitting in the center of a tree platform, and another was on top of a tree stump house. Though they found it odd why an Express Owl and Moon Penguin were abstractly painted into the canvas.
"One moreee pleaseeeee, then we can buuuuuurn bright!" a fire spirit voiced with glee.
Glad to be nearly done, the two decided to regroup for the last painting. As they turned the corner, they found their painting, and something else.
"Hat Girl! Spider Person! It is you!" the burly and exhausted voice of the Mafia man rejoiced. "Please help, Mafia don't want to become painting!" he pleaded to the two wayward adventurers.
Shocked, Spider-Man quickly reached out a hand, trying to grab the Mafia man before he was sucked in. Unfortunately, the large goon tripped on his untied shoelace as he reached out his hand.
"Aghhh!" he yelped as he was pulled backwards, inches away from Spider-Man's hand. After a bright flash of light, the duo opened their eyes to find that the Mafia man had become the painting.
"Wah, h-h-how do we get him out?" stuttered Spider-Man. In all of his crime fighting days, he had never seen something as bizarre as this. Now it dawned him and Hat Kid why the paintings looked so identical to real people: It's because they were real people!
Instead of trying to help Spider-Man find a way to release the man, Hat Kid instead picked up the portrait, and as Spidey asked her what she was doing, she chucked it head long into the blaze to burn with the others.
"Hat Kid! Why did you do that? You basically murdered the guy!" scolded the arachnid angrily. She knew what these paintings were, so why did she send that poor man to his doom?
"I know I should feel bad, but-" she trailed off.
"But what?" demanded Spidey.
"But I don't feel anything," she finished, glancing up at the hero with a worried expression.
Oh yeah, the no soul part he remembered. Maybe he shouldn't be too hard on her, but he definitely needs to steer her moral compass back in the right direction, if she has one right now. Patting her head in apology, the two looked to the bonfire to see that it was so large now that its smoke rose above the clouds of Subcon.
"Thank youuuuu!" cheered all 3 fire spirits as they became on with the fire, going up in embers as they became part of the flame. And as quickly as the fire had flared, it was gone as if it wasn't even there.
'Burn, burn, burn!" chanted Hat Kid as she put her hands out like a magic spell.
Yup, we need that soul back IMMEDIATELY Spidey urgently thought. Although he would admit she was the most adorable pyro he'd ever met, and he'd met many.
Around them, they found the landscape being morphed back into a familiar purple color. His spider-sense warning him, the wall crawler turned his head just in time to see the Snatcher rise out of the ground once again.
"Well done!" praised the Snatcher to his two contractors. "Please tell me they suffered. You murdered them, right? I bet you strangled them. Good kids, hahahaha!" He then held up a shadowy claw in the air, saying, "Don't think I'm done with you yet though. You may have removed all those fire barriers from those pests with that little stunt, but up next on your to-do list is to clean up the Subcon Well. That's right, you're plumbers now! Congratulations on your promotion!" he taunted sarcastically, earning a facepalm from Spider-Man.
"I also have some...other.. work for you that I cannot do myself. And hey, as long as I need you, you get to stay alive. What a deal, huh?" he added, drawing protest from both of them.
"I thought, we were done after this last one?!" the outraged superhero objected.
"Read the fine print, kiddo. You signed on for as long as it takes to get her soul back. There was no definite limit to how much I can put you work horses through though, so that means you listen to me," smugly snarked the Snatcher, earning frustrated grumbles and curses from Spidey. In response, he summoned two more contracts in front of the two.
"But enough talk. You look like you can handle multiple things on your plate at once! Let's get you an additional contract."
Looking over the two contracts carefully, the hero and the alien found both of their tasks equally disturbing. The first one was to investigate a creepy manor, while the other one asked them to go clean the local outhouse. Though Hat Kid repulsed the idea of having to go anywhere near a port-a-potty, she would take it over going to that old manor. Who knows what lived there? In the end, she signed the contract concerning this "Toilet of Doom," adding the spider insignia underneath her peace sign to add that Spidey was along for the ride.
"Good choice! Let's hope you're up for the task," Snatcher enthusiastically grinned, before a light bulb seemed to go off in his ghostly head. "Oh, you're looking for time pieces, right? I found one of them while haunting some poor soul!"
Now Hat Kid and Spidey were immediately on edge. Even THIS GUY knew about the time pieces? So much for one of the universe's best kept secrets.
"Like I said kiddos, centuries," the ghoul added, as if reading their minds. Could he do that? "You can keep it, but this is the only time I'll reward you for completing a contract. Because guess what, I'm not legally obligated to! HAHAHAHA."
And so, true to his word, he pulled a time piece seemingly from thin air and gave it to the two wayward adventurers. Experiencing a moment of pure joy, Hat Kid hugged the time piece like it was the last chocolate chip cookie in the universe. She then pointed it into the air, ready to get them back to the ship.
5 seconds pass, then 10, then 15. Nothing. Both Spidey and Hattie give it a good shake, hoping that it was something simple to fix. When nothing worked, Hat Kid became perplexed. The time pieces always work!
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention," interjected the Snatcher. "I cast a spell to keep you from returning back to your ship. Can't have my contractors going off and dilly-dallying across the planet, can I? Hahaha!" And then the shadow faded into the ground once again, leaving the two to themselves once again.
Only one word rose to their minds in that moment, and in unison they cried out, "PECK!"
And here we go! The beginning of Subcon is here. This is definitely going to be one of my favorite arcs to write. And you're all in for something special next chapter. Anyways, thanks again for reading, and see you next chapter!