The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 68: Best of Both Worlds- Part 2
"Hold on, you're telling me that Lonnie freakin Lincoln is Tombstone?" asked Miles, with a shocked expression.
"In my universe, at least. Man he was a headache, R.I.P though," said Peter, readying his web shooters.
"He's dead?" asked Miles.
"Yeah, Wilson Fisk's son killed him," replied Peter.
"Fisk has a son?" asked Miles, even more shocked.
"Yeah, long story which involves a lot of flowers and octopus jokes," said Peter. "We should plan out our next move. Also, here you go," he continued, reaching into his pocket and pulling two small web-shooters.
"You just carry extra web-shooters around?" asked Miles.
"Just started doing so, after I lost…well, an enhancement that rendered web-shooters useless, so I never made spare web fluid. Since I'm running low on web fluid cartridges, I just carried around these smaller, older ones," explained Peter.
"Why'd you get rid of the enhancement thingy?" asked Miles.
"It did more harm than good," said Peter, his voice becoming a little more somber. Miles knew he had to change the subject.
"So, I'm guessing our next move is to break into Tricorp? I could help with that," said Miles.
"How so?" asked Peter, as Miles walked towards his laptop and pulled up an image. It was a Tricorp ID badge of someone who looked a lot like Miles.
"My uncle, Aaron used to work at Tricorp. Maybe we can ask him for help?" suggested Miles.
"Yeah. Make sure to keep the whole "alternate dimension Spider-Man is helping me, who also has spider powers, break into Tricorp" on the DL," replied Peter.
"Gotcha. We'll head there tomorrow morning then," said Miles. "By the way, you don't have a place to stay, do you?" asked Miles.
"Not at the moment, but I'll figure something out," said Peter.
"You do know you can stay here, right?" asked Miles.
"It's too risky, especially if I run into your parents. Besides, there could be some side effects of being in a different dimension, no idea," said Peter.
"Right. I'll see you at Tricorp tomorrow then, after school," said Miles.
"Awesome. Catch you there," replied Peter, deftly jumping out the window and out of the neighborhood. He silently swung through the night, trying to process everything that just happened.
"Oh man. Alternate universes, symbiotes? When did life get so complicated?" Peter asked himself, making his way to Times Square, as he sat on a tall building. Every electronic billboard in Times Square talked about Spider-Man, and all the brave things he had done.
"I remember when Mr Parker prevented the Goblin Squad from attacking the Empire State Building," said one civilian, live on television.
""Goblin Squad?" Yeesh," thought Peter, cringing at the thought.
"There was one time when Peter took on the Sinister Sixteen on the Brooklyn Bridge, without breaking a sweat. My son wouldn't be here without him," said another man.
"Sinister Sixteen?" asked Peter, in awe, and at the same time, jealousy.
"There you have it folks! Proof that Spider-Man will go down as one of the greatest heroes this world has ever had the privilege of having," said Jonah Jameson, on a Daily Bugle billboard.
"Jameson too?" asked a shocked Peter.
"He was perfect…me without all of the mistakes I've made. Wait a minute, if it's without all of the mistakes…" thought Peter, as his eyes went wide. He quickly jumped off of the roof and rushed to the Upper West Side.
"If Gwen's alive…then I can-" thought Peter.
"But should I? Did I ever even meet her? Is she even alive? Does she even know me?" thought a perplexed Peter, as the thoughts began to swirl in his head. However, he shook them away and moved forward.
Once Peter got there, he quickly crawled to the floor where Gwen and her family would live. As soon as he got there, he took a peek in. The room was completely empty, with only some furniture.
"Oh no," thought Peter, as he slowly pulled out the window from its hinges, and stepped in. Gwen's bookshelf was in the room, along with some posters of Oxford University. There was also a photograph of Peter and Gwen, the one taken at their graduation.
Tucked right under the photograph, was a letter. The paper seemed old.
"Should I? Would this universe's Peter do this? Hell, judging by how he's Mr Perfect he wouldn't even come here," thought Peter, as he slowly opened the letter.
"Hey Gwen, I know we haven't talked in a while, and this whole rift between us does suck. But after what Norman almost did, on that bridge, I couldn't risk anything. That's why I had to create some distance between us, and suggested why we take a break. I talked to your dad about it, and we both agreed that your safety is my number one priority. I just found out that you got into Oxford, and you're not picking any of my calls. So I thought a good old fashioned letter would work, sent through the literal web, of course. I really want to patch things up between us, especially since you're leaving now. Time hasn't been on my side, ever. I know it's been about 4 years since we even hung out, be it as friends or…something more, but I really want to talk to one of my oldest friends, I miss you. Yours always, Peter Parker." Read out Peter.
"He distanced himself from her to keep her safe. H-He saved her…" said Peter, as he slowly put the letter down, tears falling from his eyes.
He walked back towards the window and climbed out, closing the window behind him, not knowing how he was going to spend the rest of the night.
"Peter, hey!" said Miles, as he swung up to Peter, who was standing on a building adjacent to Tricorp Tower.
"Hey Miles, I see you're using the web-shooters," commented Peter.
"Dude, these are so much better than the ones I was using before, thanks! Also I got you this," said Miles, as he handed Peter a store bought Spider-Man mask.
"Guess I'm going back to basics," thought Peter, as he put on the mask, which was pretty much part of a Halloween costume set.
"Okay so what's the plan?" asked Miles.
"Did you get the schematics for the building?" asked Peter.
"So here's the thing. Uncle Aaron told me that the Tower is basically like a front for operations. All the business deals and stuff go down there, but the top secret stuff takes place elsewhere," explained Miles.
"And I'm guessing the alternate dimension portal thingamajig is top top secret," replied Peter.
"Exactly. He couldn't give me an address though. He told me that all of that info is kept at the very top of the Tower, in Lincoln's office," said Miles.
"Well then let's head there, shall we?" asked Peter, barely able to see through the eyeholes in the mask.
Peter and Miles jumped off of the building and swung to the glossy surface of the tower. Peter was climbing way faster, ahead of Miles.
"Hey, Peter?" asked Miles.
"Yeah?" asked Pete, noticing that Miles was lagging behind.
"I can't exactly climb really fast," said Miles, quivering a little.
Peter jumped back down to where Miles was.
"Alright so, put your good hand in front of you," said Peter, as Miles extended his hand above his head, sticking to the surface of the tower.
"Not too much pressure, don't press your hand too much. Your fingertips are good enough to stick," said Peter.
"You sure?" asked Miles.
"Trust me," replied Peter.
Miles relieved some pressure from his hands, and found himself still sticking to the wall.
"Hey, that actually works!" said Miles, as he began to climb faster up towards the top.
"Slow down!" exclaimed Peter, as he followed Miles. They both made it to the top floor, which contained a triangular room, along with a desk and a laptop.
"Booyah! Tombstone's coffin shaped office," said Peter.
"How do we get in?" asked Miles.
"The usual way," said Peter, as he smashed the window and jumped into the office.
"Not very subtle," commented Miles, as he followed Peter in.
Peter walked up to the laptop, only to be met with a password screen.
"Ah for God's sake," sighed Peter. "Let me try…" thought Peter, as he typed in Tombstone.
"Incorrect password. Dammit!" cursed Peter.
"Hmmm…what about…Diox-3? The chemical he was exposed to?" thought Peter, as he inputted the password, unlocking the laptop.
"No way!" said Peter, as he began going through the files, looking for anything related to secret laboratories.
"You could've just asked for what you wanted," said a booming voice. Peter and Miles looked at the door, only to see a large albino man staring back at them.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Mr. Stone himself. First name being Tomb," said Peter.
"You should probably have looked for a silent alarm before breaking into my office," replied Lonnie. Miles shot Peter an "obviously" look.
"So, what are two Spider-Man wannabes doing breaking into a businessman's office?"
"Businessman? Please, you're a crime lord," replied Peter, as Miles began going through the laptop.
"You definitely sound like the Spider-Man I fought before. So you aren't dead?" asked Lonnie.
"Yeah, it's kind of a long story. You could fill an entire Bible with it," replied Peter.
"Well, let's rectify that, shall we?" asked Tombstone, charging towards Peter.
Peter jumped over Tombstone, dodging him in the nick of time, as he hopped onto his back and covered his face with webbing.
"Find the files quickly!" exclaimed Peter, to Miles.
Tombstone grabbed Spider-Man and slammed him into the ground. Peter tried to wrestle out of Tombstone's grip, but to no avail. Lonnie then slammed him into a wall.
"Hope you don't run away with your tail between your legs this time!" said Tombstone.
"W-What?" asked Peter, as he webbed up Tombstone's face and kicked him away. He then shot two webs at his legs and pulled them down.
Tombstone fell to his knees, as Spider-Man shot a web at his face, and kicked him. However, Tombstone regained his footing, as he grabbed Peter's leg and threw him across the room.
"Our last fight, about 5 years back. I beat you so hard, you never came and fought me again. Like the coward you are," replied Tombstone.
"He did that? This Peter?" thought Spider-Man, as he got back to his feet.
"Spider-Man! I think I found something!" exclaimed Miles.
"Grab a pen drive! Copy it down!" replied Spider-Man, charging towards Tombstone and kicking him in the chest, before webbing up Lonnie's left arm and punching his knees.
"NO!" shouted Tombstone, as he threw Peter into a wall, and then menacingly walked towards Miles, who grabbed a random pen drive from Lonnie's desk and inserted it into the CPU.
"Give me the drive," he said, as Miles eyes went wide with terror.
"P-Peter…" said Miles. But Peter seemed to be knocked cold.
"Either way, you're in for a world of pain, kid!" said Tombstone, approaching Miles, who seemed frozen.
All of a sudden, something seemed to happen, as Miles' adrenaline kicked in.
"What the Hell?" asked Tombstone, taken aback.
"W-What?" asked Miles, who was still frozen.
That's when Peter jumped back into the fight, grabbing Tombstone by the head and slamming it into the desk.
"Let's go! M-Miles?" asked Peter.
"Yeah?" replied Miles.
"Where'd you go?" asked Peter, confused.
"I'm right here!" replied Miles, waving his arms around. Peter looked closer, and began to see a faint outline of Miles.
"Where's the kid?" asked Tombstone, as he got to his feet, but Peter webbed up his mouth.
"I can kind of see you…but barely…" said Peter, as he poked around the outline.
"Ow!" exclaimed Miles.
"Hs gne invsble…" said Tombstone, muffled by the web, as he ripped it out.
"He's invisible…." Repeated Tombstone, just as surprised as Peter, as he too poked around the faint outline.
"Yeah. It's like a defense mechanism…camouflage," said Peter.
"Yeah…that's kind of cool," replied Tombstone.
Before Tombstone could say anything else, Peter uppercutted him and knocked him out.
"Whew, almost forgot about taking him out. Now about this invisibility, when are you going to be visible again?" asked Peter.
Just then, Miles began to reform from what looked like thin air.
"How'd I do that?" asked Miles, shocked and in awe.
"Might be some extra powers you got from that spider bite! Like a pre-order bonus of sorts," said Peter.
"Aside from that, I've got the plans in the drive," said Miles. Peter walked up to the monitor and accessed it.
"Well, luckily we don't need the drive. Who knows what else Tombstone's got stored on that thing," joked Peter, as he opened up the files.
"There we go! Looks like the lab that was working on trans-dimensional tech was at The Bronx. But…this lab was shut down a few weeks back!" said Peter.
"Maybe someone else accessed it?" suggested Miles.
"Maybe. Let's go investigate," said Peter, as both him and Miles swung off towards the laboratory.
Sergio and Kraven walked into the woods, carrying carcasses of deer with them, unfortunate animals that had run into them while Sergio led Kraven to his hideout. It was almost 7 o clock, and it was getting dark.
"Here we are," said Sergio, as they reached the destination. It looked like a research station of sorts.
"This is where you stay? This place has been infected by the disease of mankind, taking it away from its roots. You're a disgrace of a hunter," said Kraven, snarling.
"Come on muchacho, you wanna kill 2 Spider-Men you gotta put up with me," replied Sergio, grinning.
"Fine. But we cannot waste any time, we must follow the spiders," said Kraven.
"News flash, this isn't your world! Your Spider-Man is just as confused as you, and probably doesn't have a "watering hole" to visit, so to speak," explained Sergio narcissistically.
Kraven hmphed, as they walked further towards the hideout. All of a sudden, both of them stopped dead in their tracks, at the exact same time.
"You can sense it as well, can't you?" asked Sergio.
"Yes. That scent. Our prey has come to us…" smirked Kraven.
15 MINUTES EARLIER
"So this is the lab? Looks like no one's been here since the Secret Wars," said Miles.
"The what?" asked Peter, confused as they both landed on a rock formation, near the lab.
"Just something that happened a long time back," replied Miles. "You sure this is the place? Doesn't look very techno to me,"
"Looks like it's been abandoned for a while. Perfect place to host such experiments in secret," replied Peter, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the windows of the lab.
The two Spider-Men jumped off of the rock formation and approached the doors of the lab. Peter pushed it down, and Miles quickly shot a web, to prevent it from hitting the ground and making any noise.
"Check it out," said Miles, as he pointed to a wall. The wall had a chart, which was the layout of the lab.
"We're at the entrance. The testing chamber is forward and two lefts, and then a right," said Peter, observing the map. They made their way down the corridors, moss growing all over the walls and floors.
"What do you think they experimented here?" asked Miles.
"You ask me, this place was probably Area 52. Maybe they were working on contacting aliens, and hey, working on a zombie virus isn't out of the question," commented Peter, as they walked past multiple smaller laboratories.
Eventually, they made their way to the testing chamber. It was a massive room, with a circular gateway right in the middle of it.
"Think that's it?" asked Miles.
"Looks that way. We just need to power it up," said Peter. "Look for a junction box, or a transformer, or anything like that," said Peter.
"I found a switch," replied Miles, as he walked up to a wall.
"Woah, wait! You sure that won't totally vaporize us?" asked Peter.
"If it does, then I'll apologize," replied Miles, while Peter chuckled. Miles pressed the switch, and instantly the laboratory lit up with light.
"Let there be light," said Miles, as both him and Peter walked up to the portal. The circular gateway was supported by two massive pillars, as well as a stand underneath it, all made of metal.
"Looks like Vibranium," said Peter. There was something protruding from the center of the stand. It looked like a pink crystal.
"That looks alien," replied Miles.
"Yeah. Looks like the portal still isn't powered up," said Peter. "We're gonna need a lot of electricity to power this up,"
Just as Peter said that, the lights went out.
"Uh, Peter?" asked Miles.
"Yeah?"
"My head is hurting, a lot!" exclaimed Miles.
"Hold on, what's happening?" asked Peter.
"It's like it's….tingling a lot," replied Miles.
"Ah crap," said Peter, as his Spider-Sense began to tingle too.
Both the Spider-Men heard a noise, as they turned around to face the source of the sound. Backs against each other, they tried to make what else was in the room with them.
Whoever was with them was silent, hunting down the duo.
"Spider, Spider, burning bright," said a voice, that Peter instantly recognized.
"In the forests of the night," said another voice, which Peter wasn't able to recognize. However, Miles seemed to find it familiar.
"What immortal hand or eye?"
"Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?"
Out of nowhere, a lasso wrapped around Miles' leg.
"WOAH!" shouted Miles, as he fell to the ground and was dragged away.
"Miles!" exclaimed Peter, but he was tackled to the ground by someone else.
"Good to see you again, Spider-Man!" said the assailant, as he grabbed him and threw him aside. Miles was thrown back towards him too.
The two assailants walked up towards them, and Peter's eyes adjusted to the darkness.
"Kraven…" he said, gasping for breath.
"And The Grim Hunter," continued Miles.
"So you couldn't beat me, and had to team up with T-800 here," said Peter, as both him and Miles got on his feet.
"My Peter also cracked jokes like that. It's a shame he never came after me again," said Grim Hunter, as both him and Kraven took out smoke pellets and threw them to the ground.
"Where'd they go?" asked Miles.
"Miles, get out of here!" said Peter, all of a sudden he was ambushed by Kraven. The hunter grabbed his back, while Sergio slashed at his chest.
"AGH!" exclaimed Peter, as he kicked away Sergio and jumped behind Kraven, webbing his back and pulling him down. Just then, Sergio kicked him in the face, before stabbing him with a needle.
"Horse tranquilizer. It's not enough to knock you out, but enough for us to kill you!" said Sergio, as he kicked Peter's shin, while Kraven uppercutted Peter. All of a sudden, Miles jumped in and kicked Kraven's chest back, but then got knocked down by Sergio.
"Spider-Sense not kicking in?" mocked Sergio, as Kraven grabbed Peter and slammed him into a wall, punching his chest repeatedly, and threw him back to the ground.
Miles shot a web at Sergio, who grabbed it with ease. He pulled hard, causing Miles to fly ahead, and then punched him in his face with his bionic arm.
"Two spiders caught in one web. The web of the Hunters!" said Kraven.
"That doesn't sound as awesome as you think it does," said Peter, shooting a web at a wall and pulling himself forwards, freeing him from Kraven's clutches.
"Now, who's ready to dance?" asked Peter, as he rushed towards Kraven. Kraven threw a couple punches, but Peter kicked both of them away and jumped off of Kraven's chest, towards Sergio.
He shot a web at Sergio's face and slid under his legs, pulling him down.
Before Peter could do anything else, the horse tranquilizer began to kick in. Kraven rushed at him and grabbed his right arm, twisting it behind his back. Sergio roundhouse kicked Peter's face, before punching him in the chest.
Sergio then went behind Peter and kicked his leg down, as Kraven moved forward and kneed his face.
Peter stumbled to the ground, as he began to slowly crawl away.
"Look at that. The great Spider-Man reduced to nothing but a bug, slowly crawling away," mocked Kraven. Just then, Miles jumped on his back and webbed his face. However, Sergio pulled Miles down, and Kraven pulled the webbing away, grabbed Miles and threw him towards Peter.
"Peter….something's happening…" said Miles, as his arms started to shiver.
"Get…out of here, Miles…" grunted Peter, struggling to get off the ground. Miles got to his feet, as sparks of electricity began to show up from his hands. He faced both the hunters.
"Little more fight in him. Let's exterminate 2 more spiders," said Sergio.
That's when Miles jumped high in the air, and slammed his fist into the ground, a massive surge of electricity emanating from his fist, as it knocked away both the Hunters.
"What the-" said Miles, looking just as confused as Kraven and Sergio, whose bionic arm was malfunctioning because of the electricity.
"Kraven, we need to move," said Sergio.
"No, we can still kill him!" replied Kraven.
"We didn't anticipate this! We need to go," said Sergio, throwing down another smoke pellet down, as the two of them disappeared.
"M-Miles," said Peter.
"Pete! Did you see that?" asked Miles.
"I…did," said Peter, getting back to his feet.
"You okay?" asked Miles.
"I've been worse. But dude, bioelectricity? That's awesome!" said Peter.
"Yeah. I should've used my invisibility in the fight! Dammit, I forgot," said Miles.
"Hey it's okay. You got a new power too, and were able to fend off Mr Crazy and Crazier," reassured Peter.
"Yeah. I guess I could use it to power up the portal," said Miles.
"Yeah. But I need to get my Kraven back to my dimension. Try powering it up," suggested Peter.
Miles walked up to the circular gateway, and placed both palms on the stand.
Sparks of electricity were flying, and the gateway began to glow blue.
"AGGGHHH!" exclaimed Miles.
"Miles, stop!" said Peter, as he pulled him away from the gateway.
"Yeah no, it's not enough," said Miles.
"And it looks like Kraven and Dr Robotnik cut the power supply to the entire lab, which just so happens to be in the middle of nowhere," lamented Peter.
"I may have an idea, but you may not like it," said Miles. "There is someone who can….well, generate electricity," he continued.
"Okay, where is he?" asked Peter.
"At Ryker's Island," replied Miles, and Peter instantly knew who he was talking about.
"Okay no, nope, nada, nope, no, no, nope," said Peter.
"It's our only way for now," said Miles, as Peter sighed.
"Fine. Let's go break out Electro."
And there you have it! Next episode will be the final part of this 3 parter, and then we move back to the Venom saga. I truly cannot wait to show you guys everything I have planned for the future of the series, which is definitely going to have 10 seasons (or volumes). I estimate the entire story will probably end by May 2023, but I'm not sure. As always, stay tuned for more!
Also, I do apologize for the delays in posting. I have my first grade 11 semester exams starting from 15th, so I've been swamped with studies, hence uploads have been erratic. The No Way Home poster was released today, and it does seem intriguing, hopefully we get to see more of the movie! In less happy news, I recently broke up about a month back, but I'm going steady for now. Things are looking up!
Fate-Be Changed- Yep, it definitely was a hard choice!
Geek4Life- He's gonna stay as Spider-Man throughout his stay. But trust me, a bald variation of Spider-Man is definitely coming soon!
SpideyXBC- Definitely!
Teller-Story- Maybe, you'll have to wait and see!
I am the Voice: You'll certainly see that happening in the next chapter!
Guest: For now, Peter's running on no sleep lmao
redbirds12: Thanks! I had half a mind to keep it as 1610, but then decided it's best to stick with it!
Guest: Thank you!
MyGeekLife1997: Thanks man, those words mean a lot! And don't worry, drive comes organically when writing something. Quick tip: Always make sure you have a brief order of sequences that will take place in the chapter, and build up from there. Do stick around for more!
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.