Max Kent came from a long line of heroes, and it's something he can never forget. His ancestor was Clark Kent, the legendary heroes known as Super-Soldier, along with four members of the Legion of Galactic Guardians. He also uses the identity of the hero known as Spider-Boy, with historians theorizing a connection between him and Super-Soldier, who despite having died two hundred and fourteen years ago still continued to influence the lives of many through the tales told of his many amazing adventures.

Right now he was waiting to be allowed in the room where his mentor laid in bed, dressed in casual civilian clothing, slowly dying from centuries of conflict and sacrifice for the greater good. The one who personally brought the world back from the brink of destruction caused by the Chronal Collapse in 2099, who formed TOTEM thirty years ago to protect the timeline and ensure nothing like that happens again. A child prodigy who easily built his own suit to enhance his powers at the age of twelve, TOTEM saw his potential. Now sixteen years old he has had many adventures, most really good like when he ensured the hero Wonder Gold left his home year of 2487 and went to the 20th century, and as explained to him by an future agent from the 34th century Wonder Gold would go on to become the precursor to TOTEM itself. But there were also a few bad adventures, like when he encountered his insane daughter Robin from an alternate future timeline or when he he couldn't save everyone.

But despite everything he went through, the sixteen year old always knew he could count on Charles Xavier to help him through whatever he suffered through. He could count on the great Dr Strangefate to be there to give him advice, to comfort him when he was in pain, to be the father figure Max never had. And now the Sorcerer Supreme was finally dying after living two hundred and sixty-seven years, in part due to passing on his responsibilities to a new sorcerer named Steel Magnus who took great pains to keep his true identity hidden, an impressive feat for an idiot. Max still wants sure why Xavier chose him as his successor but eh apparently saw something.

"He's ready to see you now." a nurse told him, drawing Max from his deep thoughts. He nodded in thanks, and walked through the open door.

"Hello Max. Are you doing well?" Charles asked him, smiling in an attempt to comfort the boy. It didn't work, as all Max saw was someone too pale and thin to be healthy, and for a moment the genius felt as young as he actually was. Then he tried to regain his composure and walked towards the chair next to his debtor's bed.

"I'm doing fine sir. How has everybody been treating you?" Max asked as calmly as he could.

"Oh you know. Like I'm really fragile and could die at any moment, forgetting that I've outlived actual gods and battled across time and dimensions." Charles answered with a small chuckle, which quickly evolved into a violent coughing fit. Max quickly panicked, not sure what to do, and it was only when he got up to get the nurse that Charles grabbed him by the arm.

"It's fine Max, it's fine." Charles told the boy and the teenager reluctantly sat back down with Charles removing his hand. "While I hate to admit it, the doctors here aren't wrong. I am dying and let's face facts I haven't got that long left."

"Don't say that." Max said, hating how obvious the fear and sadness in the tone of his voice was. "Like you've said, you've done so much. How can you know this is the end for you?"

"I won't lie and say that I'm absolutely certain. The world we live in is an odd place. Hell the multiverse we live in is odd. Did you know that once we were the first universe in the multiverse?" Charles asked Max, who shook his head on instinct. While Max was aware of his mentor's friendship with the dimension traveller known as Access, he never really understood what Charles meant when he started talking about alternate universes and several crisis events. Charles had tried to explain it to Max many times, especially how to know when time travel will create an alternate universe or simply rewrite your reality with a new timeline, but the teenager was never able to wrap his head around it. "The Chronal Collapse quickly put us here and now a different universe is the first one. Or was it the Crisis Wars that did it?"

"I don't know." Max replied, though he could see Charles was in thought and handy really heard the teenager.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway does it?" Charles eventually said with a weak wave of his hand. "I'm still dying. And while I'm not certain that this will be the end for me forever, I can tell you with absolute certainty that it's today."

"What?" Max practically chocked out after a moment of silence, his brain struggling at first to understand what Charles had just said.

"There's no need to be shocked Max. I'm Dr Strangefate, sorcerer supreme and protector of the mortal realm. I might not know if this is where my journey ends, but I do know that I'm dated to die here. That's what happens when you're a wizard who was once in charge of an organization of time police." Charles told Max with a large smile. "Now there's a sentence I never thought I would say."

"How can you be so calm about all this? Why are you just accepting it?" Max asked, trying hard not to sound angry. But he couldn't help the tone that came with the words he was speaking, and he felt guilty for it. Charles didn't seem to mind however and just looked at Max with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"If this had happened back when I had been younger and more arrogant, I definitely wouldn't be this calm. I would have been way too serious and melancholy for us to get along as well. If the Chronal Collapse had never happened, I can't imagine that I would have developed past the idea that the end justifies the means, so we would likely have been enemies." Charles began to explain to his protege. "But with age comes wisdom and I had lived a long life. Has it been great? Not at all. Has it been terrible? Not necessarily. The point is that I'm going to die today, and while I've accepted that I don't want to die alone. I was hoping you could help with that?"

Max looked at the hopeful expression on Charles' face, showing more emotion than Max had ever seen before. At that moment Max knew that regardless of how he felt about his decision, Max couldn't leave. So with a heavy heart, he nodded which made his father figure give a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Max." Charles told him, before looking at the television. "Now, why don't we see if there's anything good to watch?"

"Alright." Max almost whispered before settling into a silence as Charles turned the machine on and started looking through the channels.

So Universe-96 is meant to be the same universe as the original comics with the exception of Spider-Boy Team-Up, Lobo the Duck and Dark Claw Adventures. This means it is one and the same as Earth-97061 where Spider-Boy died and there isn't a Spider-Boy 2099. Xavier mentioning how Universe-96 was once Universe-1 is a reference to how the Doomsday Clock revealed that the pre-Crisis Earth-One is now Earth-1985. So basically the Chronal Collapse, or something else since that event, acted as a reboot which reshuffled the multiverse into its current state. The next chapter is set in Universe-97, which is where the events of Spider-Boy Team-Up did take place.

Amalgams:

Max Kent/Spider-Boy 2211 (Max Borne/Spider-Man 2211 and Kal Kent/Superman)

Robin Kent/Super-Goblin (Robin Borne/Hobgoblin, Lois Wayne/Supergirl-Red and Lara Wayne/Supergirl-Blue)

Steel Magnus (Dormagus/Doc Magnus and Steel Maxum)