Surprise! I'm not dead, just lazy lol. Sorry to keep you all waiting, I've had some uni stuff to take care of so it's been taking a lot of my time. But anyways, here is the next chapter. Sorry for the wait!
To Hope you're okay (Guest), Yes I'm okay, thank you for the concern. Just lazy lol
To RCRC36, thank you very much. Trust me this story will be seen through to the end
To smallroo, thank you! I'm glad that my story has been such a hit with you. I really try to nail the personalities of the characters, bc if the characters are OOC, are they really even the same character?And yes, you wouldn't be the only one protesting lol
To Dinogeoff022, yes, Snatcher is gonna get it pretty soon, although I tried to make him less douchey than canon while remaining true to character. He's still gonna catch these webs though. Then yes, the studio will be back soon.
To SunsetScrewball, welcome to the AHiT fan club haha, glad you enjoyed the game as much as the rest of us have. And thank you, I tried my best to create that creepy atmosphere which was a bit hard to do. I won't be adding the DLC's in this story so just the main 4, but I do have plans for them in the future
All 3 members of the group arrived back at the tree before Snatcher, who excused himself to go haunt some poor soul that had triggered his trap. Once they had arrived, Spidey and Venom sensed something was amiss with Hat Kid. Ever since they left the manor the second time, it felt as if she was holding back on telling them something.
"Everything nifty Hattie? I'm alright now, and I've had Saturday morning naps that lasted longer than that 'coma' Symbie said I had. Why do you still seem so down?" asked the web slinger.
Hat Kid twiddled her thumbs a little before finally responding, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"
The request slightly surprised Spidey. "Yeah, sure. Where do you want to talk?"
"Well, I was thinking at the top of this tree. I never went to the top, but the view seems pretty. And no one goes up there."
The web head nodded as he said, "Top branch it is." He then turned his voice inwards as he asked, "Hey, you've eaten enough of my brain cells that you can stay down here for a little while?"
Tchh, don't make it sound so uncivilized the symbiote retorted, but he agreed to separate from his original host for a little while.
Once Spidey was back in the red and blue, Hat Kid grabbed him by the hand and pulled him along. Together, they made their way up the tree, jumping on mushrooms of all sizes and landing on the giant tree branches. It was almost like the tree had grown a path for them to take.
There was one time where Hat Kid nearly flew off the edge thanks to over-jumping, but Spider-Man caught her with his webbing and hoisted her up, though that left him down to one regular cartridge per shooter.
Once reaching the top, the two contractors took a moment to take in the view from the top of the bioluminescent tree. Up above, they could see all Subcon Forest through through some fierce winds. In the distance, they could see the regular purple Subcon gloom, though the bio luminescence helped grant a serene look to it. To their left, they saw the icy confines of Queen Vanessa's domain, a castle of ice standing in the distance. Finally, to their right, they saw the burning section of the forest glowing through the dark, its flames never to be extinguished. Directly above them, the moon glowed brightly, illuminating the world around them.
"Even city dwellers like me can appreciate a good landscape view. And this is just... wow," admired Spider-Man as he soaked in the scene. Hat Kid was surprised too, having expected the view to be much less appealing knowing Subcon. She was glad to be wrong.
"Now then, penny for your thoughts?" asked the arachnid.
"Well... it's... I don't know if I should say..."
"It's fine, but whatever we talk about here, stays here. Spider's honor," Spidey empathized. Though he would have to tell Venom not to get snoopy later.
"It's just... you know when you broke the time piece and fell asleep?" Hat Kid relented.
"Yeah, how can I forget? Old man Symbie down there wouldn't stop nagging me once I woke up."
"Well, what happened is you created a purple time rift. I fixed it, but you remember what purple time rifts do, right?"
The realization hit the wall crawler like a truck as he said in a more sullen voice, "Oh, yeah." Taking a seat at the edge of the mushroom tree, he was accompanied by Hat Kid shortly.
"Why didn't you ever talk about how you became Spider-Man before?" asked the hatted child plainly.
Spidey took a few moments of silence to form an answer. Finally, after mulling the answer over, he replied, "Because being Spider-Man is my responsibility. I messed up that night, and I promised I'd never turn my back to people who needed me again. No more Uncle Ben's will happen as long as I'm around."
He then looked her directly in the eye as he retracted his mask, stating, "As for why I never told you, some people see Spider-Man as an icon. People like to imagine that us superheroes are living the best life, with all these crazy powers. Reality is, we're still human, and we mess up just as often as the people who look up to us." He took a breath as he continued his explanation. "I wear the mask to keep the Spider separated from the Man. And ever since we met, I wanted the Spider to distract you from the problems of the Man. Because Peter Parker tends to be bad news."
Hat Kid contemplated his words, and the more she thought about it, she began to understand. What Peter had told her about his adventures had been the iconic side of Spider-Man. The story she had experienced in the rift was the man behind the legend, yet he tried so hard to separate the two.
"Maybe its time for the Spider and the Man to become whole then," she simply replied. She held his hand to comfort him after his revelations.
Peter gave a wistful smile as he stared off into the burning horizon. "Yeah, if only it were that easy." Turning back to his young companion, he turned serious again. "Now I have some questions for you, if you don't mind answering them."
"Ok, what is it?"
Spidey chose his words very carefully in his head as he told her, "When we first met, you had this undertone of guilt and sadness that I couldn't pin down. I didn't ask at the time, but I want to know... What's hurting you Hattie?"
There was a long moment of silence, and Peter started to feel awkward as she didn't respond back. Sliding his mask back on, he prepared to apologize and take them back down, saying, "I'm sorry kid, maybe that was a bit too much to ask. If you want we ca-"
"Luna," the little alien said
"Huh?"
"It's my real name. I was born on a full moon. Kind of like this one." Hat Kid giggled as she recalled fond memories. "Mommy and Daddy said it was pretty like me."
Sitting back down on the mushroom tree, Spidey looked up to the sky at the moon shining bright upon them. "Pretty name," he commented. Relaxing back into a criss cross, he said, "Well then Luna, what's you story?"
Luna took a deep breath as she prepared her response. "My home used to be called Chronos. It was really big, and it had these really pretty seas and mountains. We always tried to keep it in good shape whenever my people built cities and towns."
She then spread her arms out wide, saying, "And they were really big cities! There were buildings that were built into the sides of giant trees, and temples floating in the clouds! And in the middle of everything, the Time Core helped to build our world up and to keep peace, while also fulfilling our ancient duty as protectors and wielders of time and Chronal Energy."
"Hmm, sounds a lot like a comic I read once. They wouldn't happen to get matching green uniforms made of chronal energy, do they?" joked the web slinger
Luna chuckled as she answered, "Does this look green to you?"
Piecing together her statement and hint, Spidey looked at her in amazement. "Seriously? You're part of the Time Core? At like 10 years old? I can barely call you a tween!"
"Hehe, well kind of. My parents were Time Keepers, one of the most important and powerful positions in the Core. They were really strong with using chronal energy, and that means I am too! Sometimes..." she said. "They liked to teach me about the Core, and they helped me develop my magic and chronal control younger than any Time Core member ever. And they were always good to me. And then there was Mr. Timmy! He was the CEO of Time, and he and I liked to play whenever my parents weren't around. He's like a second daddy to me, and he taught me a lot about my hats!" reminisced Luna
"I don't know Mr. Timmy, shouldn't I wait until I'm older to do this?"
"Nonsense Luna! Or should I say, Hat Kid!" a jovial voice encouraged.
Luna was nervous as she stitched together the threads of a purple top hat. She was just about to finish sewing on the yellow sash and finish her creation.
"I made my two watches here when I was just two years older than you. Bonnie made her magic bow earlier this month, and she's only a year older than you. Time magic ironically doesn't care about age, just as long as you have the spirit. And who better than the talented daughter of my best Time Keepers?" cheered the three-eyed CEO of Time.
Luna couldn't help but smile at the encouragement she was receiving. Mr. Timmy was adamant about this little experiment, and she was happy to see that she was making him proud. "Aaaand, done!" she announced as she finished with the final thread. Holding up her creation, she looked to Tim to see his verdict. The smile told all, and he gave her applause for her creation.
"I've never seen a Time Conduit quite as... Classy as that. Seems someone has an eye for fashion, don't you Hat Kid?. Come on. Let's go show your parents," the CEO of Time said as he held out his hand
"Yeah!" Hat Kid cheered as she took his hand and walked with him, eager to show her parents and her friends what she had made.
Peter nodded as he listened to the little girl speak. "So you made that hat all by yourself? I've got a fashionista named Mary Jane that you should meet," he joked, eliciting a chuckle from Hat Kid. "Tim sounds like a great man. The way you talk about him, it reminds me of Uncle Ben."
"Yeah, he was," Luna smiled sadly. Knowing that the question was biting at the back of her friend's mind, she continued on. "For a long time, my parents and Mr. Timmy helped keep the flow of time safe and secure. We were all happy. But then, he came back..." she shuddered.
"He?" Spider-Man did not like the sound of that. The way that she said that last part was a poor attempt to hide the emotional trauma that whoever she was talking about had inflicted. "Mind clarifying?" Clearly she didn't, but this was the only time he would get the answers he wanted. He just had to make sure not to push her.
Luna's little frame trembled as she spoke next. "Walker Malius," she whispered. "From what Mr. Timmy used to say, Walker was the next person to become CEO of Time. He was really smart, but he got too obsessed with making alterations in the timeline than with maintaining it. He was thrown out when he erased the evolution of an entire species," she revealed. Her face scrunched up to one of annoyance as she also added, "His magic conduits were creepy black cloaks. I didn't really like him," she admitted
"I've had my fair share of Walkers who liked to play God. They also never know how to dress either" Spider-Man said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Continuing with her story, Luna's face became even more downtrodden. "I just got back from my final spaceship licensing test. Daddy and Mommy got some ice cream to celebrate when they got a call from Mr. Timmy..."
"This is really good ice cream Daddy!" Luna said between licks as her lip was now covered in brown.
"Ah, anything for my spacefaring little girl," her father said as his large hands pinched her cheeks. Her mother smiled at the display as she licked her own frozen treat. Suddenly, her work watch rang, and she saw that it was an urgent alert.
"Honey, it's Tim. We need to go, now," she urged. Looking down at her daughter, she stroked her brown hair as she said, "I'm sorry sweetie, we have to leave, it's really important. We'll finish celebrating at the house with Bow's family and Mr. Timmy and his nephew."
"Okay Mommy, I'll meet you at the house," the little girl agreed.
"We'll be back soon my little Hat Kid!" called her mother over her shoulder as she and her father ran to the clock tower that housed the Time Core.
Hat Kid walked another block before a loud BOOM caught her attention. Whipping around, she saw that the clock tower where she had made so many memories was in shambles. On the side of the building, she saw smoke and fire coming from the top floor. Where Mr. Timmy and her parents worked...
"Mommy! Daddy!" she cried, and she took off as quickly as her little feet could carry her while everyone around her fled for their lives.
Arriving at the crumbling clock tower, Luna could see that fallen rubble had blocked the front door. Looking for an alternative way up, she spied that the rubble had created some elevations for her to climb on. Using her Junior Time Keeper training, she sprinted and executed a double jump up to a broken window. Manipulating gravity and diving forwards, the hatted child found herself in a control room. Already knowing where she was from her experience around the tower, she pushed open the door and found herself in the spaceship hangar. Looking to her left, she could see the emergency lift that lead straight to the CEO of Time's office. Running and punching in the top floor, the hatted child formed nervous knots in her stomach as she prepared herself for what awaited her at the top.
What she found at the top was traumatizing. In front of the glass doors of the lift, a cloaked Walker Malius stood with his back to her as his hands glowed a dark purple and black. All around him, Time Keepers, people that Luna considered as friends, lay either dead or dying, their bodies strewn across the room. The only ones left to oppose him were her parents and Mr. Timmy, who floated in the air and wielded a bright chrome energy. None of them looked in very good condition.
"These are some of Chronos's finest? Honestly Tim, you should have some better standards for cannon fodder like them. Maybe they would still be alive. "
"Walker, you of all people should know that everyone here's sole duty is to protect the power of time from the likes of you. You don't know what the ramifications could possibly be." the CEO of Time panted.
"Please, I prefer Voidwalker now. Only YOU don't know what the ramifications will be. I will have complete control of time and-" the villain monologued. Unbeknownst to Timmy, but very much to Luna's parents, the little girl had managed to slip under the desk that Voidwalker stood upon. Opening and scanning the secret compartment where Tim kept his key to the Time Pieces, she quickly tucked it into her pocket, hoping to keep it from the hands of the madman above her.
She tried to creep back into the lift, beckoning her parents to come with her with pleading eyes, but she was stopped when she felt a malicious force grab her and pull her and the key away.
"Thank you for opening that blasted compartment, "Hat Kid". Only someone this moron trusted could gain access to the one thing I needed. I'll be sure you don't feel a thing." Voidwalker evilly grinned.
"Stay away from our daughter!" roared her father as he tried to swing at the cloaked man with a blade of chronal energy, which the cloaked man merely deflected.
"Feisty are we? Let me rip that spirit out of you, by ripping out your daughter's!" And with that, Voidwalker's hand glowed even more as Hat Kid felt a suffocating feeling around her throat. She could only watch as her parents and Timmy looked to her in horror as she floated towards Voidwalker's hand. Floating to the nearby safe where all of the Time Pieces were being kept, Hat Kid knew that if he got his hands on them, it was over for everyone. Summoning what little strength she had and her fading consciousness, she did the only thing she could think of. She opened her mouth wide and clamped down on Voidwalker's middle finger.
"Gah! I need that finger for cursing!" yelled the corrupted Time Keeper as he tried to shake her off. This allowed Timmy an opening to blast him with chronal energy, sending the man out of the clock tower.
"I'll deal with him. You must leave, NOW!" shouted Timmy. Levitating off the floor, he opened the vault containing all the Time Pieces and teleported them all to a certain ship in the hangar. He then took one in his hand and took off in pursuit of his former colleague as Luna and her parents hurried into the elevator she had taken up there. Descending back into the ship hangar, Hattie's parents looked frantically around until their eyes landed on a large ship with a glass front. Hurrying their daughter along, Luna's father pulled out a key that allowed a ramp to descend .
"I-is this for me?" questioned the little girl.
"Your father and I have planned for months to surprise you with this. We were going to show you at the house later today," smiled her mother sadly. Dropping the keys into her hands, she heart wrenchingly ordered, "Luna, you have to flee. If Malius gets his hands on all of the time pieces, our universe may unravel. I wish we could come with you, but we are bound to stay here and help Mr. Timmy."
Luna began shedding tears, hugging both of her parents as she sobbed, "But Mommy, Daddy, I don't want to leave you!"
Holding back tears themselves, her parents hugged their daughter as her father said, "We know Luna, but we need you to be strong. For the sake of the universe." Squeezing a little tighter, he whispered, "We love you, and will always be with you." He then broke the family hug and nudged Luna towards the entrance to the ship. "Now go! Before it's too late!" he commanded.
Before Hat Kid could call back to her parents, they had already started sprinting out of the hangar when the body of Tim came crashing in, suit in taters with bruises covering his arms and face.
Entering the hangar as well was Voidwalker, now holding what looked to be a corrupted time piece. "You know Tim, you really should've looked further past what that old geezer taught us. Maybe then, your employees wouldn't be lying at my feet." And with that statement, he drew power from the dark time piece, imposing its power on Luna's parents, the little girl only able to watch in horror as they shrieked out, the dark power washing over their being as they screaming in resistance.
The screaming ceased moments later, and Luna was shocked to see her parent's faces, yet now, they looked like true shadows of their former selves. Their entire bodies were coated in a dark and menacing aura, similar to the power that Voidwalker had wielded in the top office. But it was their eyes, their lifeless red eyes, that told Luna that her parents were no more.
"Become one with us Luna," her mother's sweet voice said, but the little girl knew there was no warmth to the phantom's voice. Instead, she gunned the engine on her ship, making a break for the open hangar doors. She was stopped however when dark chronal energy halted her ship, jolting her forward into the windshield.
Using her side mirrors, she could see Voidwalker straining to hold her in place. "Give up your Time Pieces, kid," he ordered, commanding those he had subjugated to come for her.
"Give up kid," repeated the shadow people he had controlled. They were rushing towards the suspended ship, trying to climb up and reach the little girl inside.
"This is it," shivered Hat Kid as she watched a shadow climb up her wind shield. Any second now, they would break through and take her, and she would join her parents in their enslavement to this maniac. She closed her eyes for the inevitable.
ZZZT!
The sound of chronal energy alerted Hat Kid to the blast of energy erasing one of the subjugated from her windshield. Looking to her side, she saw Tim making a final stand as he fired madly at anything that moved.
"GO!" he screamed as he charged at Voidwalker, breaking the villain's concentration and allowing Hat Kid to blast off.
Once she had reached orbit, she turned back around to look at her home world from the rear window. She could see a few ships had the precognition to leave just in time, as the planet started to break at the seams with blinding chrome lights exuding from the surface.
As she continued staring, the planet glowed a brilliant blue and white color, indicating a massive release of chronal energy, before exploding forth, swallowing most of the ships that had just breached orbit. Moments later, the light died down as where Chronos had once been, the void of space had filled in.
"NOOOOO!" screamed the horrified child as she watched the world as she knew it end right before her eyes. Tim, her parents, Bow's family, they were all gone...
Paralyzed to the spot, Hat Kid sobbed uncontrollably as she stared at the empty space she once called home long after it had disappeared from the horizon.
"If I hadn't opened the key compartment, or if I was stronger with my chronal energy, maybe I wouldn't be wandering space looking for a home that's already gone," finished Luna. At this point, she couldn't hold it back anymore, and tears burst forth as she sobbed. She continued to sob even when Peter's arms pulled her into his chest. He too has known the pain of loss better than most, but he could never imagine losing his entire planet. When things like this happened, there were other people he could rely on to be his rock. Hat Kid had nobody left to turn to.
That's what that map was for realized the arachnid, remembering the big screen in the main hall setting a course for home away from a big explosion. That explosion he realized was her real home, and the one she had set a course for was Galactus-knows-where.
"I'm so sorry Luna, I can't imagine the kind of weight that's got to carry," he said softly as he patted her back.
"I don't know what to do Peter, all my friends and family are gone. All because I couldn't protect the time pieces like I was supposed to," sniffled Hat Kid.
The superhero immediately turned her face to look her right in the eyes as he said,"What happened that day was unavoidable. If not you, Voidwalker would have used your mom and dad to get what he wanted. You did what you could, which was more than most people would have done under those circumstances."
He then began speaking from the heart as he continued, "You can't let what could have been done haunt you forever. Instead, learn from it. Even though I know I could've done more to stop Uncle Ben's murder, I don't let what could have been stop me from doing good now." He looked up to the moon in his reminiscence, saying, "I like to think that Uncle Ben is proud of me for doing good in his name. And I know that your real parents, not those things, would be proud of what you've done to keep this universe safe."
At this point, Hat Kid had ceased her tears as she looked at the smiling face of her arachnid companion. "Besides, you still have family right here," Peter comforted as he stuck his thumb at his chest. Finally, the girl broke into a grand grin as she hugged her trans-multiversal brother tightly, the superhuman doing the same.
Out of sight from the two contractors, two large yellow eyes were piqued up in interest. "Interesting," Snatcher hummed to himself as he floated down to the base of his tree, unsure how to process all the information he had heard.
Once they had finished their heart-to-heart moment, Spidey and Hattie clambered their way back down the tree. At the bottom, Venom was waiting impatiently for them as he hissed, "It is about time you came back. Being part liquid does not provide very good insulation."
"Keep your undergarments on Tendril-Tongue, I'm coming. But unless the kid here says so, do NOT go through my recent memories, or I'll drop you off at the closest star." Spider-Man retorted. The symbiote indignantly chuffed, but agreed.
As the symbiote bonded with the web slinger again, Hat Kid sensed something with her hat. Nudging her dark companion, she pointed off into the burning forest.
"I think there's another time rift," she informed the symbiotic spider.
Spidey groaned, "Another one? Well, best to take care of it before it causes anymore problems around here."
Rushing off into the burning section of the forest, Hat Kid and Spidey made their way through the sweltering heat of the brightest part of Subcon, much to Venom's protest. Eventually, the magic hat led the two time keepers to a blue time rift atop some rusty pipes.
Examining the swirling blue mass, Venom grew curious as he asked in Spider-Man's head, What would this be?
That my slimy friend is a time rift. Hope you're not hiding a secret stomach somewhere, because it's about to get trippy the wall crawler replied. Right as he though it, Hat Kid touched the swirling blue mass, engulfing them all in the familiar blinding light.
The two and a half protectors of time stumbled out of the portal that marked their entry into the rift. After Venom's small rant about giving a warning next time, they took a moment to study the path that was ahead of them. The platforms before them were colored blue like usual, as well as new red ones. When Hat Kid curiously stuck the tip of her foot on a red platform, she was yanked backwards by a web line.
"What happened?" asked the little girl.
The superhero tapped his temple as he stated, "Spider-sense. Look."
Looking back, Hat Kid saw that the platform had fallen down into the endless blue pit. Gulping, she nodded her head in understanding.
"How about we sprint towards the next blue platform we see? As long as we're not too far ahead of each other, the platforms shouldn't give out under us," suggested Spidey. Hat Kid once again nodded as they gave a countdown. Once they reached 3, they ran across the first red platform before it gave out. They repeated this process across the rest of the blue and red platforming section, double jumping or web zipping as necessary to get across the longer stretches.
After clearing the last of the colored platforms, Hat Kid and Spider-Man reached the next section of the rift. Next on their plate, they found themselves faced with spinning gears on giant dowels. In order to get to each gear, they had to swing across a hookshot.
Just what is this place? Venom asked his host.
Spidey mentally shrugged as he simply thought Beats me, all I know is that for some reason, I'm feeling really zen right about now. Blue rifts tend to do that to you.
Yes, now that you mention it, this place does seem to have an almost trance-like calmness
Finishing their mental conversation, Spidey did another countdown as he and Hattie leapt across the giant gears. Though there was a misstep from a bad swing by Hat Kid, Spider-Man managed to catch her before she lost her balance. From there, the two sprinted across a rotating rectangle with edges, very much reminiscent to Spidey of an obstacle on Wipeout!
As they managed to get past the spinning rectangle, the two were now faced with spinning half circles connected via hookshots. Unlike the last obstacles, the pair tore through this section, having gotten back into the rhythm of completing Time Rift courses.
As they finished up their last swing to another safe platform, Spider-Man looked to the horizon where he saw a familiar glowing light.
"Alright, there's the Time Piece! Come on Hattie, let's wrap this u-"
The web slinger was surprised to find Hattie not by his side ready to finish the rift like he was expecting, but instead sitting on the side of the platform staring into the distance.
"Hey kid, what's wrong?" Peter asked worriedly as he retracted the symbiote mask.
"Oh, nothing's wrong, I just wanted to sit for a bit," reassured the little girl. "I just... wanted to think about home for a little." Looking to the clocktower in the murky blue distance and the Blue Whale passing by it, she explained to her concerned friend, "All of the blue time rifts are modeled after some place the current Time Keeper cares very much about. For me, the rifts are echoes of Argos."
Interest piqued, Venom pulled all of his attention to listening with Peter as the latter crouched down beside the little alien. "Argos? Is that where your parents worked?"
"No, but the Time Core did help build it. This was where I used to live before Mommy and Daddy became official Time Keepers. It was under my world's oceans, and every dawn and dusk, our sun would come out and set just like this." Smiling to herself, Hat Kid continued, "I used to sit outside together with my family and watch Mr. Blue Sky the whale pass over with his family. Looking back, I wish we got to go sit one more day and say goodbye to him." Seconds passed as Hat Kid stared down at her kicking feet before looking back up to Spider-Man. Finally, she pleaded him, "Would you sit with me? I want to pretend that I can rewind time. Just for a little."
Instead of responding, Peter simply lowered himself down on his bottom next to his little companion and put his arm around her, allowing her to rest her head. Together, they sat for a long while as they listened to the distant whale songs and the ethereal tune of a clock tower beneath the sea.
I hope that this chapter wasn't tooooo bad. I wanted to make this more than a simple recap story featuring Spider-Man, so I hope that you all enjoyed it! I've seen a good few AHiT stories who had a similar concept to this, but they never expanded much on the idea. Shoutout to imagigamegirl though for being the first person to inspire me with the concept! Also, I hope everyone liked my integration of Tim. Moonjumper gets all the cut character love, but I gotta give the spotlight to the literal CEO of Time lol.