Happy Friday! I'm updating a day early as I need the boost. Things are tough right now, and it's always so great to hear from you all. It's crystal clear now that I'm not going to finish Story V before I start posting it—not even close—so I am giving myself more freedom with updates. We have 24 chapters of Story V written, so I'm not going to leave you hanging for a long time.

This chapter has the action I've been teasing for a while, and it sets us up with our big bad for the rest of the series. I'm interested to see what you think of them, as you seemed pretty invested in Kaecilius.

Rjcarreno77 pre-read this chapter for me, and gave it her seal of approval—which I needed more than most time lately as it's a big plot one. She's a star to me and if you enjoy what happens, you owe her thanks for her feedback.

Chapter Twelve

Peter felt the pull once again, and he allowed himself to be drawn towards it. He arrived in a busy Hong Kong street, following a small man that was clearly not Kaecilius—again.

He'd thought by following the signature of Doctor Strange's power, he would find Kaecilius, but there were many others with his abilities, and it wasn't possible to differentiate between them. There was something he could do, a way to narrow down the search, but he'd been putting it off.

'You know you can't hold off on it much longer, right, kid?' Power asked. 'You're gonna have to face it.'

"I know," Peter sighed.

'So, are we doing it?'

"Yes. Space, can you guide me?"

'Of course.'

Peter slipped into an alley and then felt himself lifting and flying, the colors of the Multiverse whirling around him.

He had waited two weeks to do this, two weeks of searching, because he was a coward. He didn't want to face the Dark Dimension twice. He would have to go once when he took Kaecilius there, but now he had to go to get a sense of the place so he could track him down through his connection. He hoped, and the Stones did, too, that there would be some remnant of the place attached to him to trace.

He'd been scared though, not wanting to touch that darkness. As Power had said many times, though, Peter couldn't just spend an eternity traveling through time and dimensions in search of him and finding other Masters of the Mystic Arts instead.

He slowed and stopped at the point the Dark Dimension was located, outside the walls which should not be breached, and a heavy weight pressed against his chest, almost like it was crushing him. He rubbed at it and then reached out a hand towards the swirling darkness, searching for a sense of the Dark Dimension. It was there at once, a deep feeling of foreboding and danger that settled in his bones, and he quickly backed away.

"I've got it, right?" he asked. "I'll find him now?"

'You should,' Space replied. 'You can leave.'

Without hesitation, Peter flew back into the changing colors, the pressure fading at once.

He decided to give himself a moment to rest, just a moment, and returned to his time and home: the forest outside the compound. He took a breath and looked around. He could hear laughter, Morgan's high peals and Tony's deeper chuckles.

He walked to the edge of the trees and saw that they were on the obstacle course. Morgan was hanging by her hands from the monkey bars, and Tony was tickling the backs of her knees, making her wriggle away. Pepper was sitting on the grass a little away from them, laptop on the ground in front of her, but her eyes on her family at play, just like Peter's were.

As he watched, he saw Happy come out of the around the side of the building from the parking lot, holding paper sacks of takeout from the diner they liked to eat from. Morgan let go at once, and Tony caught her easily, lowering her to the ground. Pepper closed her laptop and got to her feet. As Peter watched, Tony took Pepper and Morgan's hands, and they walked together back inside.

Peter felt better now, bolstered and calmed, the weight of connecting to the Dark Dimension gone, and he knew he needed to move on. As much as he would like to go to them, share a meal and play with Morgan, he needed to move on.

He could sense the new weight to the connection he was searching for, the Dark Dimension combined with the power of the Mystic Arts, and he moved towards it. He slipped through times and realities, the Multiverse and darkness, and came to rest in a place he knew well. It was the roof of his old apartment building in Queens, where he would come on starry nights with Ben, then later, when Ben was gone, where he would come to remember him.

Kaecilius was standing on the edge of the rooftop, his back to Peter. He adjusted his shoulders and lifted his hands, fingers moving towards the web-shooters. He thought he would restrain him with webs and then find a way to incapacitate him more strongly to move him back through the Multiverse.

Before he could, though, Kaecilius turned and smiled. "Spider-Man," he said. "I was looking for you." He tilted his head, frowned, and then a strange smile spread across his face. "I was not looking for this version of you, though. How did you find me?"

Surprised, but still confident in his abilities, Peter said, "It took a while and a trip somewhere I didn't want to go, but I made it in the end. Mind if I ask a question?"

Kaecilius nodded and made a gesture for him to go on.

"Why are you trying to kill me?"

Kaecilius smirked. "The fact you do not already know is endlessly amusing to me. I thought they would have told you."

"You thought the Stones would know why you've been killing me?" Peter asked then, as Kaecilius laughed, he shot webs at his arms to hold them as his sides. It didn't work, though. Kaecilius raised his arms, broke the webs, and shook them off.

'Peter, this isn't right,' Reality said. 'He should not be this strong. He's got too much power.'

"I noticed," Peter muttered. "Where did it come from?"

Before any of them could answer, Kaecilius sauntered forwards, eyes alight with glee.

"I was told this would take time," he said. "I was supposed to search for the right reality, the right timeline. She could not tell me the one that mattered from the information she had. You have come to me, though, haven't you? What do they call you? Spider-Man One? Prime Peter?"

'I don't like this,' Power said. 'Either attack or get out of here, kid. I'd suggest attack, but you've got that whole non-violence thing going on. Do it fast, though, because this is not just a man or Master of the Mystic Whatever. He's got something in him, something big.'

Peter knew he should leave, but he also knew he had to stop this. He couldn't spend the rest of his life dreaming of his own death and waking with scars. Also, he had a duty to these other versions of himself and the people that loved him. With each death, there was loss to the people that remained.

He thought he was going to have to fight.

He lifted his hands, and rainbow light rippled over them. Power urged him on, telling him to strike, and Peter shot out a blast of light. He only intended to hold Kaecilius, to pin him, but he couldn't even do that. Kaecilius dodged the bolt of power and stared at him with a quirked brow.

"Where did that come from?" he asked.

"From us," Peter said, sending a stronger blast that passed him by and hit a window of the building opposite, which shattered.

Shocked by the damage caused and the harm he could have done if that blast had hit Kaecilius, Peter gasped.

"Us?" Kaecilius' eyes narrowed. "What are you?"

Peter didn't answer, but he threw himself forward and skidded to kick Kaecilius' feet from under him. He jumped over Peter's legs, though, and kicked him, making pain explode in the small of his back.

He was far too strong. From what Peter had seen, Strange had no enhanced strength, all his power came from the magic he practiced, but Peter felt like he'd been hit by a truck. What had Kaecilius done to himself to enhance his strength beyond Strange, who was apparently the boss of his people?

Peter rolled and threw out a hand, aiming to blast Kaecilius off his feet, but again it was dodged. The shock flew into the building opposite and more glass shattered. He was acting instinctively, trying to protect himself, but it was not enough for Power, who snarled, 'It's time to use us, kid. Fight back.'

Peter felt a moment's hesitation, a doubt, and then he threw himself into the fight. He had no intention of killing, but he knew he couldn't let Kaecilius get away—he was too strong and too dangerous to be free. As bad as it was to be dreaming of his death, thanks to this man, he was a bigger threat than that. So far, he'd targeted Peter, but what if that changed and he went after others? He had to trap him and get him back to the Dark Dimension.

'Now you're getting it,' Power said.

'Don't push him, Power,' Reality scolded. 'He's doing what he needs to do.'

'This time,' Power said, and there was real approval in his voice. 'He learned his lesson from that asshole Ross.'

Peter winced at the reminder. This was different, though. He was not risking anyone else by fighting back, not the life of his little sister that he loved so much that sometimes it seemed impossible to hold it in himself. He and Kaecilius were isolated up here; the risk was to him and to property damage, which was a risk he had to take.

'And you can't die,' Soul said softly. 'You are safe with us.'

That wasn't Peter's most pressing concern. His overriding priority was protecting the rest of the world, all worlds and all times, as Kaecilius had proven he could move among them.

'Which I still don't get,' Power said. 'He's got some tech hidden up his sleeves.'

"That doesn't matter," Peter said.

Kaecilius tilted his head to the side. "What doesn't matter? I suspect it's not you that doesn't matter, at least not in your opinion. To me, you do matter as you have something I want hidden away somewhere. I want them back."

Peter sucked in a breath. All he could think of that he had was the Stones, and Kaecilius couldn't think he could take them. They'd made it clear it was a once-in-an-eternity connection that enabled him to possess them—that he was impossibly worthy.

Kaecilius stalked towards him, a long blade whipping from the folds of his shirt. Peter sent out a web at it and tugged, but he couldn't break Kaecilius' grip on the handle.

He laughed at Peter's attempt and said, "As if you could. As if I do not have strength now that surpasses your own by extremes you can't even imagine."

"You'd be surprised," Peter said, slipping into the confident persona of Spider-Man, giving himself strength.

Kaecilius frowned. "Is it possible you're using them? I don't see how. They are not like me."

So, he knew Peter was connected to the Stones, but he didn't know he possessed them. His information was either incomplete, not from Wakanda as was the obvious answer, or Ross, which shouldn't be possible anyway. There were others that knew, though, the people that Peter had sent to jail after removing Ross.

It was not the time to question it, though, as Kaecilius was coming at him.

Peter shot a blast of power at him, the rainbow lights rippling in the air, but once again, Kaecilius dodged them. They seemed to surprise him, though, and he stared for a moment and then said, as if to someone else, "He is using them. How?" He paused a moment and then said, "Of course."

Peter stared dumbfounded as Kaecilius' face became blank, and then his eyes flashed white. He flinched as the Stones came to violent life in his head, all crying out in shock and repeating the same name, which he spoke aloud.

"Ego!"

Kaecilius smirked. "You know about me. I suppose they told you. No matter. It is my turn to ask the questions. Where are they? Where are my Stones?"

'Peter, you need to leave,' Mind said roughly, his voice taut with an emotion Peter had not heard from him before—fear. 'You are not strong enough for this. Not yet. You need to prepare.'

"I can't leave him," Peter said. "He's even more dangerous than I realized. You're scared of him."

'We're scared of Ego,' Power corrected. 'You would be too if you knew what she was capable of. This man is just a tool she's using. They combined are Nemesis.'

Peter hesitated, instincts warring. He knew Ego was powerful, she had to be for the Stones to be so scared of her, but he couldn't die. She was a threat in the most extreme form and needed to be stopped.

'There are worse things than death,' Soul reminded him.

"There are people to protect," Peter argued.

Kaecilius stepped closer and said, "How are you talking to them?"

Peter hesitated a moment and then acted. While Kaecilius was distracted by his question, he threw out his arms and blasted him with power. It hit this time, and a blaze of rainbow light surrounded him. He bowed over at the waist, his hands coming to his chest and a cry of pain ripping from him, and then he thrust out his arms, and the power spread out from him. It flew through the air and crashed into the windows of the buildings around them. They smashed; people on the streets below screamed, and feet pounded the sidewalk as they fled.

"No," Kaecilius breathed. "They can't have…"

'Show her,' Space said angrily. 'It might be enough. Take off your mask.'

Peter obeyed, tugging it from his head and throwing it to the ground. He knew what Kaecilius saw, the rainbows in his eyes which showed what was inside him, and he felt a grim satisfaction as he stepped back and whispered, "Impossible…"

"I am the Stones!" Peter shouted, anger driving him. "They are me!"

Kaecilius' expression smoothed, and he smiled. "I cannot kill you then. In that case, I will have to change you. It's a complication but easily repaired. What were the chances of it happening after all?

Peter's lips moved with words that were not his, and Power spoke through him. "With this kid, the odds are good, bitch."

Kaecilius smirked. "Not with me opposing them." He gave his head a small shake, and then he paled, and a look of horror filled his eyes. "No, you can't. I need you."

Peter stared, and when he spoke again, he recognized that it was Ego speaking with Kaecilius' voice the way Power had with him.

"You have served me well, but you are not who I need now. I need power, not cunning."

Kaecilius' eyes flew wide, his arms spread at his side, and then a blaze of white light poured from his eyes and mouth, filling the air, and then rising. Beneath the light, Kaecilius' body dropped, not even moving with the shallowest of breaths.

Peter stared between the light and the body, chest heaving, and then he cried out as the light flew at him. It hit with the force of a speeding truck, but unlike before, he couldn't stop it. He felt it wrap around him, crushing him and causing pain to explode across his body, and then he was weightless, flying over the lip of the building and falling.

Soul cried out a warning, and Power demanded, 'Leave!' but Peter couldn't think clearly enough to obey. The pain was agonizing, and he was terrified. He collided with the sidewalk with a sick thump and crack. He tried to move, to pull himself to his feet, but his legs did not seem to be connected to him anymore, and it felt like something was tearing apart in his gut. He sank back before moving more than a few inches.

His mind fogged, and he welcomed unconsciousness, eager for the reprieve, but Power bellowed in his mind, shocking him back to alertness.

'Not here! Not alone, kid! Get yourself home! You need help!'

"I can't," Peter whispered, tasting blood in his mouth.

'You can! Do it now!'

Nothing had ever taken so much effort in his life—not breaking Thuri's programming, not lifting the warehouse from himself—and nothing had ever hurt so much as concentrating on his power and driving himself back into the Multiverse and slip of time. He focused on what he needed and where he had to go, colliding hard with a wooden floor.

Unable to move his head in fear of the pain he'd feel, he looked up at the ceiling of his bedroom and whispered through tingling lips, "Friday, I… need help... Tony…" He drew a weak breath and added, desperation in his voice, "Don't let Morgan see…" before darkness finally descended, and he slipped into unconsciousness, which mercifully banished the pain.

So… I told you action was coming. What do you think? We're nearly at the end of this story now, and then we'll be in Story V which has the plot that excites me more than any of the series. Kaecilius is dead, Ego needs a new vessel to fight. Can you guess what she meant by changing things?Any idea who she'll choose as her next vessel?

Until next time…

Jadey xxx