Restoration Park (Central Park), New York City, New York
Thwip!
Thwip!
Thwip!
The distinct sound of webs being fired off as a red-blue figure traversed the tree packed park filled the air. Mixing in with the normal sounds of cars honking or the cacophony of voices talking around the area. It was calming thought Peter Parker a.k.a. the Amazing Spider-man.
'I know the city has always had a love-hate relationship with me, but I don't think I'll ever not-miss this city and it's noise. Or some of it's inhabitants.' He thought with a gentle smile under his mask as he traversed the park, lost in his mind reminiscing over his past up to this point in his life, it's ups and downs and especially mulling over the most recent events. It was safe to say Peter needed to clear his head and thought a patrol would solve that. Unfortunately not noticing the sudden growing crowd running away from the general direction he swung towards if he did, maybe what came to pass would not have. And so for a few more blissful moments Spider-man basked in the moment of the wind rushing against him, the thoughts of his city, and hoping for things to start looking up 'as does seem to be the norm for me isn't it?'
SPIDER-SENSE: 'DODGE BITCH'
As his spider-sense screamed at him to dodge, his body already moving in an acrobatic twist mid-air, he noticed the pumpkin shaped ball fly past his body before it exploded behind him. 'Thankfully that was above and away from the people.'
Peter, after landing, quickly sprinted in the direction from which the bomb was thrown spider-sense blaring at him to turn back. Wincing at the intensity of it blaring inside his head he wondered 'What is up with my spider-sense? Did some other goblin themed villain nab a spider-sense jammer that I somehow missed when destroying them with Miguel? Or did -' The sounds of explosions and the orange glow of fires spreading from deeper into the park interrupt his thoughts and his fists tighten further as he starts to sprint at his top speed.
'No time to think on it further. Though it is surprising this supposed goblin villain didn't do anything further than get my attention.' Sprinting past a group of trees, though unaware of the shimmer of an almost transparent energy climbing in a curved shape from behind him. He arrived into a clearing where the most eye-catching object is the hulking piece of metal sitting in the middle. The ground it rested on looked cracked at the very edges as though this was only recently transported to the area somehow and a multitude of blackened craters surrounded the object with the trees at the very edges of the clearing on fire. He also notes that the sky has turned red but doesn't take the chance to look up any further as he also spots a green figure standing in the center it's arms moving to enter a series of rapid commands into what looks like a terminal. It's pointed ears and armor the only features he can see from its back are enough to confirm its the Green Goblin. The sight of which was enough to enrage Peter and activate his flight-or-flight response.
With adrenaline pumping through his body and spider-sense helping push his reaction time even further than normal he steadies himself for a fight before closing the distance between him and the figure with somewhat of a plan already brewed in his head due to the goblin's apparent distracted state.
Slowing down just enough he jumped off the ground towards the Green Goblin, just to give him a boost of speed on top of his slowed sprint speed for what he planned on doing Spider-man extended his left leg out for a kick and curled the other inward and let out a yell. "DYNAMIC ENTRY!"
The screeching sound of metal crumpling and scraping against each other was heard throughout the clearing along with a male's scream of pain as he was blasted away from the force of the kick onto the top of the terminal cracking the screen and denting the surrounding metal around it. 'Yes nailed it~~'
Taking a look at the damage done to the object/terminal Peter thought 'Huh more resilient then I thought would be the case. Whatever.'
He sauntered over to what he assumed was Norman Osborn, rage now becoming harder and harder to control due to Norman's lies once again and this also not being cathartic enough for this betrayal. 'This….this is the last straw Norman. No more second chances, so recently too.' Peter thought as his spider-sense went to a soft blare in his mind.
"Man I hope Kishimoto didn't somehow hear that and think to sue me. Last thing I need is to be hated by insane Naruto fans. Guys are toxic Gobby, more than you." Reaching him Spider-man grabbed the back of his hood and lifted up the man to turn him over not caring for the pain it likely caused him. He then reached to pull off the mask and was greeted with the face of, 'Knew it.' Norman Osborn, grimaced in pain and struggling to breath due to the blow.
"Now how about you tell me how to stop whatever it is you were trying to do here huh? Ol' buddy Ol' chum? Wait...Where's your man purse?" Peter said as he tensed and looked around, prepared to dodge an attack due to the muted spider-sense slowly growing in intensity but not seeing anything around him at the moment.
Coughing up blood, 'Hm internal bleeding. Eh he'll be fine.' Peter thought. Norman responded with a menacing grin as he pushed out the words with bloodied teeth, "Our...death…...Look up." He then went into a fit of coughing with maniacal laughter bubbling from his throat.
Peter's face grew grim beneath his mask and looked up. Face quickly turning to horror at the sight. There up above him, was another earth perfectly still as though nothing was out of place. Combined with the red sky it shook Peter to his core. 'How are we not being hit with any cataclysmic event with our earth so close to another large body of mass?' Shaking his head he started to remember what this was based of Reed's briefings a ways back, an Incursion. 'But how and why? Normandoesn't have the power to travel to alternate realities.'He stared back down at Norman and lifted him up by the collar under his armor and stared right into his eyes, speaking in a grim tone. "What did you do?"
The goblin smiled and coughed a bit before answering in a ragged breath, "I've started to make us all whole again." Before going back into a coughing fit due to the laughter that started to escape his chest once again. Spider-man dropped him and moved towards the terminal, his spider-sense blaring at him to move and hide or just plain run away. 'No can do though. If it's an Incursion then there's not much I can do, but if this machine is somehow the cause of it maybe it can undo it?….Unless…' Peter reached for where he kept his Avenger's Identicard. 'Time to call in the cavalry and let the big boys handle this. I'll just stay put and be on guard duty until Reed or Tony can come and solve this problem and we can all sleep easy tonight' As he pulled out the card he took a glance at the terminal now in front of him.
Looking to the cracked terminal all he saw was a timer with a helpful header of 'Time until collision' with below a timer displaying 30 minutes. Seeing this Peter placed the card down next to the keyboard and started to type in a few commands to see if he could open up a command line to kill whatever process, if there was one, that was causing all this. No need to call anyone actually if the terminal was somehow causing it and could be ended easily. Suddenly his spider-sense screamed at him as a heat started to encompass his back.
SPIDER-SENSE: HOT! HOT! HOT! WHY AREN'T YOU DODGING?!
Peter flipped over the terminal just before a fireball smashed and subsequently melted the already cracked glass and seemingly broke the terminal. 'Welp that is definitely not the solution anymore. Now who dares attack me with my back to them?' Peter thought as he stood back up to get a look at his new foe.
He noted the large creature hovering above the tree line, scratch that he saw the Green Goblin the one from Mile's universe. The one that helped killed Peter's other self, but died in the attempt before they both were revived for some reason concerning the Oz formula. 'At least from what was told to me.' He was wrapped in some rags and holding the Green Goblins equipment bag or as Peter dubbed it, his man-purse.
"Hi Peter, I see you started playing with my other self. Tut tut tut. And look at what you did to him" He then snarled at the other Norman. "Get up Norman, you ARE an Osborn yes?"
At this, Peter has decided to henceforth refer to the other Goblin as 'his' Green Goblin. 'Goddammit I did not just think that,' he internally sighed before moving into action letting out a quip. "You know that bag does not go with your whole ensemble, too rich for the getup you have now.
Moving out his left wrist he shot out enough webs to web his Norman to the floor. Hoping that the wounds the goblin had sustained and the webs would be enough to hold him back long enough to finish off the still standing goblin.
Unbeknownst to Peter 'his' Norman stopped struggling and started to mutter under his breath as a green aura started to envelop his body encased under the webbing.
"So Stormin' Norman, what brings you back here?" Peter said as he tensed, ready to dodge another attack while preparing to counter.
"Oh you know Peter, wanted to see my family and bring us all together again." said the actual Goblin who started to chuckle menacingly while dropping the empty pumpkin bomb bag to the ground into the burning trees causing it to quickly catch on fire, noticing the power of his God start to encase his other self."So what do you say you release the other Norman here and we all just talk and reminisce about the good times before we become whole?"
Peter cocked his head to the side before shaking his head and bending slightly forward, ready to sprint across and try to quickly subdue the bigger goblin. "No dice I'm afraid Normmie, you two have just a bit too many screws loose for me to feel safe doing that."
The Green Goblin sighed and morosely shook his head. "Shame, guess you'll just end up like all of the other spider folk we've had to make a part of the greater whole."
At this Peter recoiled and responded with a low growl, the rage from earlier back with a vengeance now coursing through him and narrowed his eyes, lenses following the motion."Osborn I'll ask you what I asked your clinically insane self here. What. Did. You. Do?"
The Green Goblin started to smile as flames flickered upon his body. "I made otherswhole of course. I told you. I wanted to bring my family back together again. And after speaking to God, I see everyone as my family, even you little Petey. This universe is just the last one Norman and I here need before we all can forget about the troubles that people go through, everywhere." By the end of his mini-speech flames licked every inch of his body and gave his eyes a demonic yellow glow.
Peter's chest tightened and grew cold at the ominous statement. 'So then Gwen? The other me's… Everyone of them is dead? Not even just a few of them...all of them?' Finishing the thought sadness grabbed a hold of him, overtaking the anger and leaving his limbs cold. 'Why didn't I or anyone else hear of this happening?'
"You'll be joining them all soon Petey, there's no stopping it. We've spoken to God, we know something you don't." Taking a slow deep breath he continued with a menacing grin."This has happened before as you know, granted not as quickly, but that's something we've taken care of thanks to God." He said letting out a chuckle with the same grin."Soon we'll all be in God's bosom whole, healthy and without a care in the world forevermore."
Peter shook his head trying to shake off his growing despair if the other goblin can be believed, 'Need to get my head in the game. End of the world here, no time to mope around...Just two goblin's one's down, one to go.'Giving an internal sigh at his options and what he might have to do, he replied in a grim tone, "Sounds like some wacko religious cult there Norman. Best go back to your kind of crazy."
Before the flaming goblin can blink Spider-man was already sprinting over the burning wreckage of the terminal towards him. The next thing he saw was a flash of white from an uppercut, followed by a darkening of his vision due to a couple of hits towards his ribs and stomach, stumbling him back a bit.
Snarling in anger the flames on the other Norman rose higher and threw a haymaker at Spider-man who, spider-sense ringing, dodged under before grabbing the offending arm and lifting the larger man up and over his shoulder. Slamming him into the ground, hard enough to cause it to crater. Still holding on to the arm Spider-man quickly webbed down the Goblin's legs and other arm before slightly pulling on the arm he had threateningly.
"I think you're talking crap Norman, but you still need to be stopped. So, how about you tell me how to stop whatever caused this incursion before your arm gets shaped like a poorly made pretzel." Peter said in the same grim tone.
As he finished speaking he heard the growing maniacal laughter from below and saw the other Norman seemingly rest not caring for the threat Peter just gave.
'What is he planning? Granted this has so far been a lot easier than I expected. I normally have to fight and tooth and nail to stop even my Norman from succeeding in whatever he's attempting. Hell they are contradicting this Norman's statement about fighting me by saying to get up. Was it a lie?' As Peter attempted to think through why both goblins would seemingly try to fight and then stop. Before ending that train of thought.
His grief he decided, could take a step back, and let his previous feelings of rage rush forth as in the end. It didn't matter, what mattered is trying to save 7 billion lives. Focusing his rage, he forced himself to think on what the Norman he just trapped words' were and tried to count how long it's been until he last saw the timer. Thinking that stalling is all they were planning.
Chuckling the other Norman spoke, "Now Petey that just doesn't sound like you. You aren't the type to go and br- Wait what are you doi-?" The goblin stammered staring into Spider-man's lenses. An orange glow reflecting off from the flames.
Snap!
Snap!
The sound of squelching from mushed muscle and crunching bone permeated the area.
The flaming goblin then let out an inhuman yowl as his arm was bent backwards at the elbow and his bicep snapped forward hanging by a thread. Peter saw the bone and muscle tissue jutting outwards and for a moment let himself be satisfied the events of Kindred still recent in his mind and Norman's part in it.
Glaring through his lenses at the now disabled goblin Peter growled out while ignoring the growing ringing of his spider-sense. "I'm sorry what was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of snapping bone. I could have sworn you were about to tell me how to stop whatev-"
SPIDER-SENSE: HOLY FUCK DOD-
Before his senses can fully be comprehended by his mind, his body was already trying to twist away from the large clawed hand heading his way. Unfortunately, he was just a little too slow and was still hit with a glancing blow that teared away at his suit and sent him flying through the air towards the treeline before with a meaty whack, his body connected with some force field before dropping to the floor.
A pounding headache permeated his body as it hit the floor and Peter thought to himself as a green glow filled his vision. 'Did I just get hit by the Hulk or something?' Stumbling as he got up he shook his head before focusing on what hit him and thankfully, gave him time to stand up taking note of the blood flowing from his chest. He then felt as his spider-sense again started to scream at him to leave.
SPIDER-SENSE: GET OUT! LEAVE!
The reason why was due to there now being two Hulk sized goblins grinning menacingly at him and perfectly healthy. One green eyed hinging on emerald and the other an orange hue, 'Wait not just hulk sized, Hulked-out!' Peter, now in a cold sweat started to think of any possible plan he could enact that would give him enough time to still somehow think of a way to stop this incursion event.
'God I wish I could have some help about now. But no I just had to let my little bit of pride that I do have make me think to instead first try and see if I could do anything myself. When has that ever actually went exceedingly well.' Peter thought angrily towards himself.
"What's wrong Peter? Hulk got your tongue? Mwahahahaha" The first goblin with glowing green eyes asked.
'My universe's Norman…definitely insane if he thought that was a good pun.' Peter's eyes started to dart around still trying to think of how he could get out of this and run to get help. Identicard probably either melted by the fireball, or if it wasn't, was in too hot of an area literally and figuratively with it being behind the hulked up goblins. Before he could get farther than that in his thoughts the orange eyed goblin spoke.
"Like our new power? We won't be holding it for long, but long enough to get a chance to pay you back for his back and my arm. God treats his followers very well you know." With a sickening grin flames started to again lick his now hulk form and charged at Spider-man, hands wreathed in flame ready to toss fireballs.
Spider-man ready this time, began a series of flips and twists dodging as best he could from the flaming goblins fireballs and punches from his universes golbin. 'Crap I forget how much time has passed, but it couldn't have been more than ten minutes not much time left.' Peter thought before his spider-sense reminded him that there is another pressing problem, the flaming hulk goblin tired of his flames not getting the job done threw a telegraphed low jab that would have hit Peter in his solar plexus.
Key words "would have" as Spider-man jumped on top of the goblin's fist and launched himself away towards the broken terminal taking the opportunity to see if he could glimpse the Identicard somehow being in functional form. Just as he landed he heard a familiar feminine voice in his head of Julia Carpenter.
'Peter there's not much time, I have been looking through the Web of Life due to the unusual silence that has begun to encompass more and more of the web throughout the day. I have no idea how they prevented me from being alerted to what is happening in the Webbut I am now seeing what's been happening. I've contacted Dr. Strange to transport the two Norman's away to give you more time and the Avengers, and Fantastic Four to start brainstorming ideas, but Peter…' Julia's voice spoke and ended in a sobbing tone. 'Oh Peter, they aren't lying. Every other world has been destroyed already. The Web is only holding due to your presence as the center in one of the only two surviving universes.'
At this admission Spider-man almost grew still before the motion of a fist heading his way forced him to try and push it back to deal with later as he dodged, and just added it to his pile of things to use as fuel for his rage before letting the relief he also felt permeate his voice in his mind, knowing she can hear his thoughts 'Julia, man am I glad to hear from you. And great we got high-tier backup coming in. About how much time is left? And don't worry I've pulled win's out from Norman before when stuff looks bleak and I can do it again.'
He turned to dodge an incoming fireball aimed at his back while keeping an eye out for the other goblin who he lost track of. He was noticeably slower in his movements as thoughts of pretty much being the only Spider-man left again excluding Miles and the other universe's Spider-man broke through to his surface thoughts. 'I'm alone again...'
She was silent for a couple of seconds before speaking again. Peter tried to listen carefully while being mindful of dodging out of the steadily increasing attacks from the flaming goblin he had to dodge.
'About fifteen minutes Peter. Strange says he has a lock on their location and is starting the spell now. Just hold on, I'm still waiting to hear back from the Avengers and everyone else for any solutions. No one can get in for some reason and it looks like we can only grab anything living from what Strange has relayed.'
Peter's mind started to race to think of reasons why only living things can be taken out and not put in. Spider-sense ringing he dodged another kick by jumping up in the air. He tried to twist away from a grab from the other Goblin, 'Sneaky bastard' but failed. 'Oh this is gonna h-' his thought was cut off as he was brutally slammed into the ground, four times on either side of the green eyed goblin. His mask now broken over his right eye, before Norman twisted his arm till it snapped and dislocated Peter's leg causing the already short of breath Spider-man to open his mouth for a scream he couldn't voice.
"Hm hurts doesn't it? Maybe you should learn to stop breaking people's limbs that only want to help." Peter's Norman says before letting the leg fall and bending down to gloat over his tired body.
"Don't worry like my other self stated earlier Peter. Pretty soon none of us will need to worry about anything. We'll be whole again. All your problems will just wash away. You'll get to be with all your friends" Norman chuckled after saying this and took the time to take in Peter's tired body just laying there. As Norman finished his sentence Peter felt a wave of tiredness envelop him overtaking his other prominent emotions.
'Peter? Peter please just hang in there Strange is almost done with his spell and we'll get them out of there.' Peter heard Julia say inside his head.
Feeling the other Norman move to stand beside his universe's Norman. 'God why do I always seem to get into these situations…' Peter stated not caring if Julia is listening in before continuing. 'I mean two hulked out green goblins, how unlucky can you get'
At that thought, the frustration mixed with rage he had been building up from the events with Kindred on top of heavy news just now lead to his boiling point before abruptly ending due to as always his guilt letting the grief overtake him instead.
'God…I'm just so tired...maybe I should just lay down here and wait. The goblin's seem to be content with just letting me lay here…It's my fault right now anyways...' As his thoughts finished crossing his mind, Julia who was listening, started to speak to try and say something in a morose and comforting tone.
'Peter...you do-' Before she could finish whatever she was about to say, deep feelings of shame and rage rush through him interrupting what she was about to say.
Shame from thinking of giving up when the going was getting tough 'Again.', when lives were at stake. 'When a universe is at stake…' Rage at himself for falling into the pit of despair he told himself he wouldn't descend into ever again. 'I'm better than this. I need to be better than this.'
Gritting his teeth Peter dug deep within himself for that well of strength hes had to use on occasion. Once when saving himself from a collapsing roof with the weight of an old locomotive and ocean pressing down on him to chase after Dr. Octopus for an isotope to cure Aunt May. Or the time he stayed behind to make sure a Phoenix possessed Colossus and Magik couldn't get to Hope after being in technical worse shape than he is now.
'Never again. I won't give up. People need me!' With that Peter suddenly launched himself upwards, ignoring the pain in his leg and gave an uppercut to his universe's hulked out goblin and felt the satisfying cluck of a jaw slamming shut under his fist before carrying his momentum to his dislocated leg to let it fly and kick towards the flaming goblin's jaw. Both goblin's stumbled back a few steps from the force.
Ignoring his pulsating leg Peter stood and readied himself as best he could for stalling them until they get transported to who knows where from Strange.
The crackling of fire filled the air for a short moment before they both start to charge at him with snarls.
Spider-man, spider-sense screaming, made to sprint between them, but before they take more than a few steps a red ring formed under them and they fell through towards an icy tundra before it closed abruptly.
Sighing in relief and taking a small moment to rest, Peter grabbed his dislocated leg before resetting it and holding back a wince before slowly getting up and walking back towards the hulking mass of metal and calls out to Julia through his head.
'Julia, it worked they're gone. How much longer do we have?' It took Julia a while to respond due to a combination of relief at her friend now being safe and pride in her friend for still being willing to stand up in the face of seemingly impossible odds. 'About ten minutes now Peter. Now that Strange is freed up he's casting a spell so that everyone can speak to each other and see each other at the same time.'
As Julia finished speaking Peter was greeted with the faces of his allies mainly the Avenger's and Fantastic 4. He first noticed his brother in all but blood, Johnny Storm standing next to his old crush from when he was a teen and good friend Sue Richards nee Storm.
Ben stood behind both of them looking restlessly around for something to do perhaps knowing his strength was very unlikely needed as of this moment. Reed of course was in the middle of a heated debate with Tony Stark already. Discussing how to send the machine back. 'I guess I was right on the money that the machine is doing something.'
Reed, from what Peter could overhear, was growing angry that what he did was essentially being undone. Peter stopped listening as he felt he didn't have the experience to start discussing what to do. Though he fully expected to be the one to probably mess with the machine as the only one inside the area.
Seeing Julia walking towards the Fantastic Four excluding Reed, Peter made his way forward to speak with them while waiting to be told what to do. 'The Avengers should be able to keep each other company for a bit before Reed or Tony let us all know what we need to do.'
Arriving at the party, Peter hoped to catch up with them a bit before he had to do whatever it is Reed and Tony came up with, who he noticed now contained a Stephen Strange all looking at the melted wreckage of the terminal. "Hey guys what's up?" Peter said with a strained small smile beneath his torn up mask.
Receiving the same smile back from everyone in the group Johnny and Ben both give him a once over before giving him a nod both tense as they probably know what's at stake even more with Reed confiding in them about this more than just a briefing. Julia and Sue were both frowning heavily at his injuries being more open with their thoughts to his current condition.
"So Peter, tussling it out with two hulks essentially how was it?" Johnny asked with a grin, happy his best friend made it out alright not seeing anything wrong with asking how the fight itself went and choosing to ignore the crisis for a bit. Anything to distract himself from not being able to do anything and to make sure Peter was alright. Or at least he did until his sister punched him in the arm with a scowl.
"That's rude Johnny," Sue said before turning back to Peter she continued with a more strained smile compared to Johnny's grin the obvious weight of the situation getting to her and not far from her mind, "What he means to say is how are you doing? Julia here was just telling us about the situation in more detail so we know what's at stake and what you just went through."
Peter gave a small painful chuckle and responded, "I'm doing alright Sue thank you. Honestly the only thing dangerous about them was the fact that there was two of them and I was, no, am boxed in here."
Sighing and giving a sheepish grin he continued, "I was also kind of stressing about how to solve this issue here. I kinda left my Identicard on that pile of smoldering metal there. I'm glad Tony and Reed are working on it with Dr. Strange though, I don't think I would be able to do as good a job as those three."
At this both Johnny and Susan make to say something, righteous anger on their faces, but before they can do so are interrupted by Iron Man whistling loudly and calling everyone over. With Susan sighing and Johnny grumbling something about 'self worth' the group and everyone else make their way over to where the 3 members of the Illuminati are standing. Dr. Strange is muttering a spell under his breath and causing the terminal to revert the damage done to it. Reed is clearing his throat and Tony is deep in thought pondering over something.
"Okay everyone, as Julia relayed to everyone we are apparently dealing with an Incursion event, again….somehow." As Tony stated this Reed took over, speaking to the group. "We have around 5 minutes before the collision between our planet and a universe we are naming "Earth-199999, Really Tony?" Reed shook his head before continuing.
"As I am the only one familiar with how to end the event, due to fixing exactly what happened last time I'll sum up what we are dealing with. Essentially there is a paradoxical event occurring to cause our universes to collide with another or in this case our earth's. If this happens both universes are destroyed. There is "one" way to prevent this. Normally it would constitute destroying one of the earth's to save both universes, but leaving one earth behind in it's respective universe. Unfortunately we don't have time to do so without condemning a lot of people to death. Our best guess though is that the machine itself is causing the paradoxical event and destroying it won't do the job of ending it as we think there is a similar machine on the other reality as a means to ensure the collision happens. To that end Spider-man you are going to have to be Tony and I's hands here." As he finished the terminal made a small beep likely indicating that Strange was done reverting any damage done to it and he jerked his head to it while looking at Spider-man.
Adrenaline coursing through his veins, and blood pumping in his ears he almost didn't hear the words of encouragement from his friends and allies. Johnny's comment of "You got this bro!", Susan's quiet words of encouragement "I believe in you Peter. You're just as capable as Reed or Tony.". Julia gave him an assured nod, knowing his experience herself of when the chips were down Peter always did pull out a win somehow. The rest of the Avengers each gave their own comments and encouragements, but Peter was already feeling numb by that point and actually did stop paying attention and only noticed their faces and mouths moving.
Stepping up to the terminal and distinctly feeling the stare of everyone on his back Peter coughed and pointedly looked to Reed to start giving him some commands to run or something. 'God, please let this work.'
Reed shook his head at Spider-man before opening his mouth to speak.
'Probably just a little disappointed seeing as I am a scientist and expects better...but I'm not to his and Tony's level so I would just get in the way if I tried anything myself,' Peter thought to himself with a small hint of bitterness at his perceived short-comings.
"Okay so Spider-man I need you to run…" Reed started to list off a litany of commands to Peter.
04:30
'I'll bite, a lot of these commands seem more like search functions I was going to run through earlier, as though Reed also doesn't even know where to begin. Must be because even he is not so sure what he's looking for.' Peter thought with a frown. A cold feeling starting to grow in his chest, but continued diligently typing just as fast as Reed spoke the commands.
04:00
As Reed continued to whisper increasingly longer and longer commands in his ear, Peter's chest grew more and more cold at not seeing progress and by that he meant nothing was running except the terminal and countdown timer. Which shutting down the timer wouldn't solve anything.
03:00
It didn't help that Reed himself, was starting to sound strained in the commands he relayed to Peter. 'What is this, a red herring? Is there another object in this space that is actually what we should be looking at?' Peter started to think desperately the timer still glowing not so helpfully at the 02:30 mark.
Body going on auto pilot to Reed's words Peter thought of what could possibly be done, nothing seeming to work. Seeing the timer start to descend to 2:20 he thought back to if the Goblin's gave off any clues, except all they talked about was talking to God and making everyone whole.
Hearing another set of breaths behind him, of which Peter correctly assumed were Strange and Tony, nonetheless Peter's first reaction was to jerk in surprise before his mind came up with such a nutty idea if he had the time he would go to the nearest asylum and check himself in.
02:15
Ignoring Reed's next set of commands he typed in not a command, but a message as though this was a chat menu. One that made him twitch in fear and apologize mentally due to recently just getting back into his faith while also surprisingly sending his Spider-sense into a frenzy. 'Sorry God, but if this works I hope you understand. Here goes nothing'
02:10
"Are you there God?" Peter typed while morbidly thinking of the famous books full title. Spider-sense still ringing.'It's me Margaret!' As the dark joke, considering the circumstances, finished crossing his mind he heard a sharp inhale of breath behind him.
'Probably muted outrage from Reed and Strange, Tony would probably laugh with me if the other two weren't here.' Causing him to start turning his head to explain himself just as he heard Reed start to yell indistinctly.
02:05
"WH-" Reed choked on his words staring at the screen.
"Hello Peter." The words glowed against the screen. Chilling Peter to his bones at this machine knowing his name. The ringing in his head was like a crescendo now it was getting his blood roaring as his body wanted to move.
02:00
Peter couldn't hear the sound's of yelling beginning to erupt behind him as Tony exclaimed an appropriate "What the fuck?" and turned to explain what was happening and the group started to mutter as to what they could do.
All Peter could hear was the rush of blood and his spider-sense screaming at him to stop and run. He hesitantly typed out another message while thinking. 'It can't hurt to ask right? It's our only shot'
As Peter was about to type out his next message the group's voices behind him grew louder as argument's started to erupt on what exactly was happening. Strange's voice specifically sounded grave, but Peter stopped listening as time was running out and it looked like his best option was to finish speaking to whoever this really was because like he said, this was crazy.
"Hey uh God or whatever can you maybe stop this incursion from happening?" Peter typed out already guessing the response. After all, this is God according to Norman. 'This might as well be Satan for all I know' At the thought his spider-sense sharply increased even further causing him to wince in pain.
01:55
"Why you have no idea how right you are Peter. And yes I can." The entity replied.
Causing Peter to recoil in shock and his mind to race. 'Telepathy? Crap, I don't got anything against that.' Peter thought worriedly.
01:50
"Excuse me momentarily while I get rid of the white noise here." As that message appeared on screen before everyone else around him faded, Strange reached out and yelled something to Peter.
"Spider-man! It's the One-" or tried to, fading before Peter could finish hearing what he had to say. Leaving Peter as again the last one standing in the clearing with nothing but an apparent direct line to some entity.
01:45
"That's better now. No one else here but you and me." the entity replied to Peter, who can swear he's starting to see a large Green Door behind the terminal.
01:40
Peter was starting to hate feeling fear and grief throughout tonight, so it wasn't surprising when rage was overwhelming his other emotions and he angrily asked in his head. 'Where are my friends? Are they dead?'
01:35
The screen stayed the same, as though the voice didn't care for his outrage or was waiting for a more polite reply. 'Or more likely it wants me to stew in worry over everything that's going on.' Peter thought with glare.
01:25
Taking a few seconds to calm himself down Peter tried asking again in a calmer tone, trying to prevent showing his desperation at everything just going downhill since he entered the park and just wanting it to stop. 'Look can you please stop everything and bring my friends back if they are dead? Whatever power play this is I'm sure there is something we can all do so no one else has to die.'
01:20
The terminal didn't change in what it presented except the time failing. Just as Peter was about to go into a rage again at the entity being so confusing with it's actions and words, the next message appeared.
"I gave you a glimpse at what I want boy. Silence. The only thing I want." Came the reply from whatever this entity was the Green Door now appearing and not fading.
01:15
Mind a whirl at the more than likely possible implications considering the situation, Peter asked two more questions to the entity. More than aware at what was about to happen in a minutes time, but at a loss for what he could possibly do… 'Who are you and what do you want?'
01:10
Again Peter waited a couple of seconds for a reply, the timer starting to be the only thing Peter could focus on except his head drew a blank on what he could even possibly do, and it was starting to eat away at him. 'Trillions of lives, about to be lost. Because of me. Because I'm going to fail.' He thought, just as he could start to feel the earth around him rumble and the Green Door start to glow with what he assumed was radiation. Peter's spider-sense suddenly overwhelmed him, now screeching in his head from the hum it was previously, causing him to fall to his knees.
"I am the One-Below-All. And what I want is to make all worlds as hollow and dead as I am inside." The entity's reply echoed throughout Peter's entire form, not just his head, causing him to let out a scream of pain.
And that was all Peter knew for a minute straight. When his head stopped killing him he opened his eyes and looked up noticing the time left.
00:10
'No, please no.' Peter started to hyperventilate. His mind drowning in despair at the situation and his uselessness at being able to do anything. 'If only I had…' Peter's thought's trail off, at a loss for what he can do up against something with a name as imposing as that. 'I thought Mephisto was the devil, but this thing has got to be on a whole 'nother level'
00:05
'Crap crap crap what can I do?' Peter thought in a panic, mind scrambling for a way for himself to do something, anything. And then it hit him, there was nothing he could do. His mind thought back to a time just before Morlun appeared and how he went to Strange for help. His advice then he felt, was a little too hard to believe, but he did it anyway. Now seemed like a good time to follow it one more time.
00:04
'Hey, I know I haven't done this as much as I should now that I started believing in you again...but Are you there God? It's me, Peter. Peter Parker...Look, I'm sure you know exactly what's going on here right now.' Peter braced himself for what will probably sound blasphemous.
00:03
'Look I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but this sure as hell ain't the apocalypse, so if you could help us, no... me, out here and deliver some divine intervention. That'd be you know, kind of greatly appreciated.' Peter winced after the thought completed. Expecting to be smote down for what he is sure most would consider heresy.
00:02
Peter sighed despondently. 'I mean, I know he doesn't just answer every prayer. But I would have thought with the circumstances as they are right now that he would.' With that thought Peter took one last look at the Green Door in front of him, before looking at the Earth on top of him. So close that he could probably jump on to it from a tall building helping him.
00:01
'Everyone...I'm sorry.' Peter's last thought completed as tears fell from his face. The green door then blasted open just as the Earth above seemed to touch whatever the metal structure represented.
00:00
As the timer hit zero, everything was blanketed in an ocean of white and Peter suddenly felt comforted, as though his Uncle Ben and everyone he knew and loved was with him now just giving him their support.
'Hey Peter.'
Peter's eyes opened and stared in awe while tears of joy fell.
Outside of Time and Space
Peter hurriedly started rising to his feet, ignoring the pains and aches in his body now that the situation seemingly passed and wiped his face as best he could, 'Aunt May taught me better manners than to just stay kneeling on the floor.' Before Peter could finish standing though he felt a hand momentarily touch his shoulder and start lifting him up. In a full standing position now, Peter noticed that his wounds and suit were healed or repaired respectively.
Taking a moment to gather his wits Peter glanced at being in front of him. 'God.' He had gray hair neatly combed back, a neat, trimmed gentlemanly mustache, military styled amber aviators, a dark blue long-sleeved shirt and a light brown v-neck sweater and a pair of light brown dress pants. It pretty much screamed grandpa. Well the big ol' grin on his face also helped in selling that image. 'Well this is a lot less of an imposing presence visually than I was expecting. But it surprisingly fits.' Peter thought.
Before Peter could work up the nerve to speak, nervousness settling in like he was up on a stage again about to present to a large body, he was spoken to first.
"Hi Peter. Be not afraid." The old-man spoke with a kind and uplifting tone. Big grin still on his face.
After hearing that Peter felt more at ease as, almost like a wave of gently flowing water washed over him, all the tension seeped from his limbs and he started to respond.
"Hey there, uh Big G!" Peter started off before internally freezing at what he just said. Undoing the relaxed state he was under immediately right after. Stammering he continues "O-o-oh, um that's probably not appropriate. I mean nice to meet you God, I'm Peter." Unfortunately this just caused Peter to start muttering under his breath "though you already knew that obviously, you just said it." At that he stopped short remembering what just happened moments prior, it all finally hitting him now that he was 'safe'.
Before his mind could start delving in on itself as it wont to do. He felt a hand land on his shoulder firmly but comfortably. "Hey there Peter, you can call me Stan. No need to make this a formal conversation."
Feeling the hand start to press down he followed the motion unconsciously before he found himself on a bench made out of what looked like it's own galaxy 'What in the…' As he sat down he slowly looked back at Stan with a grin that came out looking more like a grimace before nodding and centering himself much more quickly this time.
"So uh…I guess I screwed up big this time huh?" Peter said in a morose tone. "What...what could I have done? Was there even anything I could do?" His tone becoming pleading.
At this Peter saw Stan's grandpa grin become more somber and sighing answered. "Short answer. No Peter, there was nothing you could do at the time." His look then becoming stern he also responds with, "And no Peter you were not at fault. The only reason you were even in that situation was due to the Normans' wanting to taunt you. The blame lays entirely with them and The One Below All."
When hearing that Peter looked up questioningly towards Stan. "Who or what even is he?"
"Again, to give a short answer: He is one of my first creations, greater to that of the Cosmos entities and, due to jealousy and hatred of other beings. Has chosen to become an anti-thesis to life of any kind. He hates every living thing and his goal is to become the sole being left in every universe he can get into." Giving another sigh he continues. "He has technically done so as of now. There is nothing left, except for him in your collective multiverse Peter."
Mouth agape under his mask Peter asks, "How did it even get this point then? I mean." Peter mentally gulps at his next words. "Shouldn't you have done something? I can't think of anyone who could stand up to a being of that caliber."
Giving a nod Stan responds "I did, you noticed the large green door when the end was nearing yes? As long as the door is closed he was limited in beings he could posses, which was one, and could not communicate with anyone." Giving Peter a moment to digest the information he then continues. "Unfortunately a variant of Doctor Banner or the Hulk, when confronting him due to the possession of his father's soul, died and that sole universe was destroyed. That should have been the end of it and him being contained once more. Instead he was able to communicate via manipulation of the first Cosmos as a mediator and, with the help of other beings across the multiverse with promises of power, employ what was one of the easiest ways to attack the multiverse. Which is to cause the end of the multiverse through the use of Incursion events."
"Didn't Reed setup sensors across our universe though to detect when another paradox like that happened and also to help prevent them from happening?" Peter said in confusion. "He assured us that even though the probability of another one happening was so astronomically low it was better to be safe than sorry."
Giving another nod Stan continued "He unfortunately gained more and more power as Incursions appeared throughout the multiverse. In every universe except yours and the other universe that machine you saw was made to communicate with the inhabitants of each universe and have them each open the door in their respective universe. I'm sure you can follow with what he did as he had access to more and more power. Even enough to hid what was happening to the Web of Life."
Rubbing the back of his neck Peter asks "So um, not to sound pretentious or anything but are you allowing me to know all this because you want me to stop kicking myself in the butt about what I could have done or…" He trails off not having the guts to ask what he hopes is the reason he is really here.
Giving a grin Stan responds "I'm still here because you are Peter. As long as there is a piece of me around I will still be able to undo whatever damage is done. So in other words, yes I am allowing you to hear all this so that it can be changed."
Always one to quickly look on the bright side of things, Peter quickly stood up and started to try and mentally put the last however minutes in his "don't mope about things" box and asked "Then what do I need to do when you send me back? Tell Reed? Strange? Tony? Dr. Banner?" Tilting his head a little bit and a bit of a childish hesitance to his tone "Amadeus Cho?" 'Kid will gloat fooooorever if he's the one the multiverse will rely on'
Standing up himself Stan shakes his head genially. "No Peter, I want you to do something."
Eyes widening on his mask Peter responded "Say what now? But you just said I couldn't do anything just a couple of minutes ago." Scratching his head, Peter continued "I mean I thought you brought me here to just relay a message or something you know?"
Shaking his head Stan replied "I said you could do nothing at the time. I'm going to be messing with the multiverse as it's put back together, I normally don't have the opportunity to do this much you know? Free will and all. One of those things is to send your soul back in time. Before this, with your memories intact."
Gawking at the daunting task thrust upon him Peter sputtered "B-b-b-but what am I supposed to do? I'm just Spider-man?!"
Giving a wide grin Stan and something Peter swore was a cackle, he spoke "You'll figure something out. You always do. Now, you ready?"
It was at this moment Peter knew. God could be a cryptic asshole. 'Why yes I can be.' Echoed in Peters head causing him to choke on his breath.
Letting Peter get a hold of himself Stan waved his hand in front of them both, soon after a black portal appeared.
Seeing the portal before him caused Peter to straighten. Letting out a small cough he started to walk forward, but stopped for a moment before turning around. "Hey Stan….was….was there ever a chance for Mary-Jane and I to actually end up together and it be permanent?"
Still grinning this time more of a grandfatherly smile Stan nodded.
Giving a nod back Peter started walking again.
"Of course now I think you'll certainly have more than just a chance with her alone this go around."
Stopping a step short Peter started to turn around to continue this conversation, something he thinks almost any man would want to do after hearing something like that. "Wait what did you just saaaa-"
Unfortunately, for Peter, he was gently pushed backwards through the portal the last image he had was of Stan giving a Cheshire grin.
Darkness was the only thing he saw for what was an indeterminate amount of time until he felt like his eyes were closed and with herculean effort opened them.
The next thing Peter saw was what he assumed was a hospital based off of the white ceiling along with the smell of antiseptic and the feeling of soft cotton on his back. Feeling a wave of tiredness and a slight headache suddenly hit him though stopped him from thinking further on it. The loud voices around him certainly didn't help. Deciding to sleep it off where he would hopefully feel better later with his, in his own words spectacular healing.
Just before he entered the realm of dreams though, he heard a soft and noticeably tired feminine voice speak "Peter. His name can be Peter Parker. Does that sound alright honey?" A noticeably happy and dare he say proud masculine voice responded. "That sounds perfect dear."
'Oh you've got to be shitt-' Peter never finished, as his thoughts were quickly over taken with dreams.