Peter had been in many situations that confused, amazed, and terrified him to his core. Many felt strange to even recall, memories he knew to be true seeming nothing more than fabrications of a madman. But here he was, at Mid-Town High, at his high school… With two other versions of himself.
He wasn't even sure he believed it, and he was living it.
Behind him worked his doubles, though they resembled him little, their faces not a match, brown hair and pale skin as close as they got to resemblance, ages even varying.
Although these differences separated them, made them visually different. They couldn't be more alike. They were all Peter Parker, each one of them Spider-Man, each with there own universe to call home.
Lives lived on other worlds wasn't something that appeared strange to Peter, the existence of aliens not a new revelation. The multiverse however was a whole different story.
In his thoughts and theories of reality, along with their place in the mess of cosmic voodoo. A sudden presence at his side didn't go unnoticed.
Peter continued his work briefly before the leering eyes forced him to look up from the contraption he was cobbling together.
"Hey." It was the older of his two doubles, casual clothing making him stand out against his counterparts.
"H-Hey." Peter couldn't help stammer, adjusting himself awkwardly on his chair to face the recently seated man, a stool having been pulled up from under the desk.
The third member of the trio worked behind them, Peter catching him in his peripheral vision observing them causally as he continued his work on his own ass-curing project.
"it's easy to hide behind the work." The older man spoke with a gentle tone, wisdom in his words and hardened eyes.
"Erm… W-what do you mean?" Peter tried to play coy, though he had a good idea what his double was referring too. He avoided eye contact at first, vision flicking from his work on the desk before him, to the man beside him in a slightly frantic and indecisive motion.
"You never stop missing them." The man sighed deeply, eyes closing as he contemplated his troubled emotions that had boiled to the surface unexpectedly. There was a pause, Peter not able to conjure a reply. "Vengeance… is a slippery slope; one you don't want to go down. Trust me."
Peter put down the tool he was holding, laying it on the table surface.
"At some point you stop pulling you're punches." His other, younger double spoke up from behind them. Voice like ice, cold… Sad and pained.
Turning to see him, the young man leant on his own counter having halted his work. A chemical compound was brewing within a blue branded flask, a cure for the Lizard in process. The white lab coat he had acquired did not normalise his skin-tight spider suit in anyway, his outfit far from common in such an environment.
Peter's eyes found MJ, seated beside Ned her own eyes read an assortment of sympathy and concern. He couldn't look for long, only able to manage a fleeting glance. Beside her sat the box that contained his mistake, the spell he asked for, the spell he meddled too deeply with.
He wasn't sure which was more painful to look at.
"Sometimes the mask, makes us forget." The older Peter sighed, memories clearly coming to mind, the look on his face offering a hint to their emotional baggage.
"Forget what?" Peter questioned, turning in his seat more to face the two men better. The younger man hung his head, now the one to avoid his gaze.
"That we're only human."
Peter pressed his lips together fighting his emotions. The fresh cuts and still healing ribs where more than enough reminder at this time that he wasn't invulnerable. The fresh hole in his heart very much a constant pain that he couldn't think possible to survive, serving a similar reminder that those around him shared his imperfection.
His world was torn apart, in the blink of an eye, everyone around him that he loved and cared for dying.
For Peter his humanity wasn't enough of an excuse. It was hard to not blame himself.
He did blame himself.
"She was there… because of me." A single tear broke loose, gliding down his cheek, cutting through the dried blood and dirt as his voice cracked. "She died be-"
"You're gonna make enemies. People are gonna get hurt…" A pause as the young man collected himself. "Someone, someone warned me of that once. I wish I would have listened then." The younger double had sat down, wiping his very own stray tear from his face. "Now… it's too late to listen."
Peter didn't know what to say, glad when the silence was broken by the older man beside him.
"Sometimes we can't save everyone."
The younger double nodded along. "What makes life valuable, is that it doesn't last forever. What makes it precious is that it ends. I know that now more than ever. Time… Time is luck."
"Urh… Peter?" Ned suddenly interjected, standing in a sense of urgency.
"What?" All three Peter's said in unison, all standing at his sudden call.
Neds sudden confused glance between the three made them look to each other, pointing at there doubles trying to deduce who Ned was referring too.
"Peter Parker?" Ned tried again.
"We're all Peter Parker Ned." Peter spoke for him and his doubles.
"The laptop!" Ned finally gave up with the troublesome task of referring to the correct Peter Parker.
"Oh!" Peter exclaimed, using the power of deduction on the projects they had assigned themselves leaving one definitive answer.
Peter went to spin the laptop round, the calibration on his device to cure Electro apparently having been completed.
The sensation was one that Peter was familiar with, in an instant a warning signal going off in his brain like an alarm. A tingle that could only be described as an instinctual feeling, a warning of danger.
The hairs on his neck stood on end, the pain in his side and heart silenced by one almost primal sense.
No words where uttered as the older double dived for Ned, having been the closest to him. Reacting only just a little quicker than Peter himself as the back wall to the lab exploded inward.
Peter dived over the desk towards MJ, covering her with his own form as rubble pierced through the air. Carnage littered the lab within seconds, counters swatted clean in an explosive manner, their work deposited on the floor once again in pieces.
There wasn't time for words as Peter pulled himself away from MJ, a hand on her arm as he looked back towards the origin of the blast.
He watched as his taller but still young counterpart was violently batted aside by a long scaly tail. Colliding into one of the last remaining cabinets, papers tumbling out as the metal frame toppled over with a crash.
"Get them out!" The older man was already on his feet beside him, having hoisted Ned up, a hand now outstretched for Peter.
"Conner's long time no see!" the younger double mocked as he bounced back from his fall, webs finding their target, covering the Lizards eyes. Following up his manoeuvre, he sprung forward landing a solid uppercut to the prehistoric looking creature's strong jaw.
"Go!" The older man ordered seeing Peter's hesitation to run from danger. He forced him up right, Peter pulling MJ in tow.
The lizard hissed a fierce roar of annoyance as it stumbled back, hands running down its face, claws catching the troublesome webbing and peeling it from his eyes.
Peter didn't realise he had a death grip on MJ's hand, she squeezed back ignoring the pain of his hold. He looked to her and Ned for just the briefest moment to make sure they were still at his side before making for the door.
MJ pulled away making his heart stop, he looked back seeing her snatch up the box that held his mistake. The one device that could end it all with the press of a button.
He took MJ's hand back in his own before making for the door once more, Ned waiting for them at the threshold, refusing to leave his friends behind.
The older double webbed the ceiling, pulling himself feet first into the side of the Lizard disrupting him mid punch, as Peter in the background scrambled to get his friends from the room.
Authors Notes
The movie was everything I ever wanted... Minus more Peter whump! I'm here to fix that and I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on the movie and this story so far!