Peter 3

The university auditorium began filling up with people- mostly scientists, science majors, and professors.

Gameday for nerds, basically.

I flipped through my notes, making sure I wouldn't have any humiliating accidents mid-presentation.

Two administrators from Columbia University were standing to the side of the stage, talking.

They kept glancing in my direction, probably wondering why the Daily Bugle guy with no doctorate or science career was giving a talk on quantum mechanics and multiverse theory.

Four months ago, I would've wondered the same thing myself.

But that was before I was pulled out of my own universe.

Before then, I was lost.

I was recovering from a very bitter period of my life and I didn't know how to keep on being Spider-Man with all the damage I'd done.

But then I was reunited with some old enemies and met two other Spider-Men.

We cured Doctor Connors, Max, and some other guys. I even found solace in Gwen's death after ten years.

I came back to my universe, a new man.

Since then, I've been researching the multiverse and reading every scientific paper I could get my hands on. I ran simulations and maybe even created a few new physics equations.

Now I had a new theory.

It was crazy and radical, but if I had just faded into a new dimension and came back the same way, then this theory could potentially be put in practice.

The windows in the back of the auditorium were closed.

The lights dimmed and the conversations died down.

One of the professors walked up to the podium.

"Good afternoon, everyone. We've got a great set of lectures to look forward to today."

He looked in my direction.

"For our first speaker, I'd like to introduce a graduate of Columbia University, Peter Parker."

I stood up from the front row and walked up to the stage while people gave polite applause.

The projector lit up with my powerpoint presentation on.

I flashed a smile.

"Alright, guys. It's great to be here. So as Professor Meeks said, my name is Peter Parker. I graduated from Columbia University and I'm here to talk about quantum mechanics and the multiverse theory."

I heard a few reluctant murmurs in the back.

That's alright. I was expecting some doubters.

I pressed an arrow key on my laptop to move to the next slide.

"So I've been doing research for about four months now. Believe me, it hasn't been easy, especially with coming back into the field after some time. But after dusting off Einstein's work and re-reading Hawking's papers, I've created a theory that could potentially change the world."

Suddenly, there were some low crackling noises coming from outside. Almost like a huge piece of wood falling into a campfire.

Everyone began looking to the back in confusion.

I stared at the closed windows.

It was a good thing I wore my spider-suit underneath my suit today.

"Hey, can we get the windows opened?" I asked.

I was already dreading whatever crazy, techno villain was on the other side of that window. I wondered when I could sneak off and change into my Spider-suit.

The blinds were pulled up.

People gasped in awe.

Everyone left the auditorium and went to the outdoor courtyard.

This wasn't a super villain or a lab monster.

It was something more dangerous.

Cracks.

Cracks in the sky. With violets and blues mixed together and stretched across the sky like a big canvas.

I had seen them before.

On Liberty Island, minutes before I went back to my universe.

Something was happening.

The universes were converging again.

Suddenly, I felt myself getting light-headed.

I looked down at my body and realized that I was fading just like the trip to the other dimension and back.

But the last two times, it was gradual and peaceful.

This was sudden and impatient.

I was torn from my reality in a blur of lights and colors.

I felt like I was falling.

I shouted the whole way down until I hit the wooden floor hard.

I'm going to be bouncing back and forth between this story and the Spiders and the Soldiers story. I won't have a consistent publishing date, but I will try to update either story once a week or so.

You should go check out that story too!

I'll be updating soon! Thanks for reading!