Having a few people ask about Multiverse of Madness, I'm not sure about reacting to it, but it's non canon to this story, as I've said before this Wanda came to Strange for help after Westview, she never allowed the Darkhold to corrupt her, she never chased America or anything. That being said, I'm considering it as Strange deserves to have the father/daughter relationship that MOM set up for us between him and America, and America deserves to be protected. If I do include MOM though, I'll be bringing America into this.
"Is Harry alright?!" Peter-3 asked, stunned by what he had seen.
"Yeah, I said he was fine, didn't I?" Peter-2 asked.
"I mean, he wasn't breathing." Bruce noted.
"Honestly, believe me, this is the part where Harry and I finally rekindled a brotherhood." Peter-2 smiled softly, lost in memories. "If only it had stayed..."
"You can't blame yourself, Peter." Peter-3 whispered to him. "I did tell you about my Harry, didn't I?"
"Not that much, no."
"Harry had a rare genetic thing, it was killing him. He tried to synthesise a cure, using my blood, even though he should have had years left and I had found out that my blood would have killed anyone who wasn't a Parker, he went ahead and tried it. He managed to survive, by using built in medical attachments from his Goblin suit, but it warped him, in both appearance and mind. I tried to get him to stop, just like you did with your Harry, but he was, like yours, too consumed by his rage and his paranoia to listen. You can't blame yourself, you just can't. I spent a long time beating myself up over it, if I had done things differently, what could have happened. Some of the consequences, I'll never be able to forgive myself for, but for what Harry chose to do, I know that one isn't on me, and I know it isn't on you with your Harry either." Peter-3 finished.
"Thanks, I think I really needed to hear that." Peter-2 smiled at him.
Cutting to the hospital, doctors tried to restart Harry's heart, trying several times before drawing the curtains.
"That doesn't look like he made it." Flash frowned, feeling sorry for this guy he'd never met. He seemed to make Peter-2 happy, even if he hated Peter-2 at the moment, and he hoped they could have fixed their relationship, but this didn't look like he was alright, not at all.
At police HQ, Captain Stacy was told that Flint Marko, the man linked to the Ben Parker homicide, was trapped in the marshlands during a police hunt, before the scene cut to dogs and officers chasing him into a super collider testing site. Flint fell in and before the police could arrive, scientists at the sight turned on the collider, dissolving Flint's body into sandy atoms as he dropped his daughters pendant.
"How is Marko involved in your Uncle Ben's death?" Steve frowned.
"You'll see." Peter-2 said, thinking back to that night, and to how he had reacted, both with Carradine and when he had found out Marko had pulled the trigger.
"Wait, is that a super collider?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah, I think it is." Tony's eyes lit up at the sight.
"Didn't Marko say he got his powers from falling into a super collider to Max?" Kingo asked, as everyone looked at him. "What? I pay attention."
"What the hell is happening to him?" Natasha asked, horrified by what she saw as Flint literally dissolved before their eyes.
"He's been changed at a molecular level." Hope breathed. "He's not entirely human anymore, he's something more."
At the hospital, Peter was told Harry was awake but had short term memory loss, going to see Harry, Harry asked what had happened, he heard his father was dead? Mary Jane came in to greet Harry as Harry said he felt he was gone for a long time and was now back home, before Peter and Mary Jane left him to recover. The nurse said Harry had good friends, as Harry said he would give his life for them.
"Short term memory loss? How short are we talking?" Sam asked.
"It varies person to person does things like this, there's no way to know for sure." Bruce inserted.
"It must be rough, to wake up, find out you can't remember the past few years, and that your parent, the one who raised you, is gone? I can't imagine something so horrible." Betty cried.
"Aww, he's so sweet like this." Cindy cooed.
"He's Harry how he was at the beginning of the first one for the most part." Peter-2 told them. "It'll change, sadly."
Back at the testing site, the sand atoms began to come together to form a man made of sand, as Flint struggled to pick up his daughters pendant, he looked at it sadly, he stood and managed to make himself look normal again, as he walked out of the testing site.
"Well, I guess we saw how he became Sandman then." Strange noted.
"I feel sorry for him, all he wants to do is do right by his daughter, get her the medical help she needs. Is there nothing we can do to try help him?" Wanda asked Strange quietly.
"Not without risking fracturing the multiverse even more. We got lucky with the last few events, Dormammu, this with Spider-Man, the ripples throughout the Cosmos caused during Westview. We can't risk further tampering." Strange told her gently. "I'm sorry Wanda, but he's on his own for this one is Mr Marko."
At Peter's apartment, he looked over a restaurant reservation he had made as Mary Jane came by, lamenting a bad press review of her play, Peter tried to tell her it was alright, he was blasted like that in the news too, not to worry about it, with her saying being Spider-Man was not the same here. Peter had to go with a crane collapse, as she watched him leave sadly, leaving herself, unaware of the black goo on his floor moving around.
"You both need to sort out your priorities here." MJ glared as Peter-2 looked over.
"What do you mean?"
"She's more worried about what some critic is saying, rather than listening to what you, her loved one, is telling her about it, meanwhile you're too wrapped up in acclaim for Spider-Man to see she's struggling with her own self belief and offering her the comfort she needs, making it about you." MJ stated. "You both need to focus more on the other one in this situation."
"You're right, I was an idiot here." Peter-2 admitted after a moment.
"Jeez, you need to go save them." Abe exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I saved who I could." Peter-2 assured him.
"So I guess your other self is making a move?" Eddie asked Venom.
"I HAVE NO IDEA, I DON'T RECALL THEIR MEMORIES OF THIS, I'M NOT FULLY TUNED INTO THEM ALL, EDDIE."
At the site of the crane moving, there was a photo shoot with Gwen Stacy involved, as the crane crashed into the building, it took out several bystanders on the street below, as Captain Stacy arrived, a photographer took shots and noted it was Gwen. Stacy asked who he was, the man introduced himself as Eddie Brock, working for the Daily Bugle and said he was dating Gwen.
"Is that Gwen in a photo shoot?" Peter-3 blinked, surprised she was doing a raunchy looking photo shoot.
"She's looking good." Tony winked as both Peter's glared at him. "I'm kidding, happily married man, remember?"
"Didn't your Gwen ever do this?" Ned asked Peter-3.
"A raunchy shoot? Not a chance." Peter-3 laughed. "She was photogenic as hell, even let me snap her pics a few times, but it was never anything even as remotely suggestive as this." He sighed. "I guess that's another difference between our universes."
"It wasn't that raunchy! It was just some posturing!" Peter-2 protested.
"I've just realised her father is the police captain. He was in my universe too." Peter-3 blinked.
"Was?" Flash asked.
"Lizard." Peter-3 simply said, not wanting to go into further details. Fortunately, nobody pressed him, having an idea of what had happened just from that word.
"Who's the guy with the camera?" Sprite questioned.
"EDDIE, I DO NOT LIKE THIS." Venom hissed to him.
"Yeah, neither do I, I get the feeling that this photographer will be someone I want to punch." Eddie replied.
"WHY?"
"I think it's me." Eddie said simply, as if that explained everything.
"THIS GUY? HE LOOKS LIKE HE WOULD FIT IN ON A SITCOM, EDDIE. HE CANNOT BE YOU!" Venom declared.
"Eddie Brock? Is he you?" Ikaris asked Eddie, who shuddered..
"Yeah, I think this guy is my alter." Eddie cringed.
"He looks flamboyant, I'll give him that." Clint quipped.
"He does seem more put together than you at least." Natasha told Eddie. "If I had to describe you, I'd say that you need a good nights sleep. He seems at least together."
"Gee, thanks." Eddie grumbled.
"You're dating Gwen?!" Peter-3 turned on Eddie, feeling angered for some reason.
"He is!" Eddie protested, pointing at his alter. "I've never even met anyone named Gwen Stacy!"
Spider-Man arrived and caught Gwen, swinging her to the ground, she thanked him and ran to her father as Eddie approached Spider-Man, taking his photo and telling him that he was gonna cover Spidey now for the Bugle, that Parker was an amateur who made Spidey look bloated in photos. Gwen watched as Spider-Man swung away and smiled.
"Woo, go Peter!" Cindy cheered as they saw Peter save her from the collapsing building.
"Wow, my alter really is a prick." Eddie growled, seeing him snap photos of Spider-Man and state he was going to take over for him from Parker and that Parker sucked at his job.
"Not cool." Peter-3 glared at on-screen Eddie.
"He was just excited about the chance, and kind of a sleazeball as well." Peter-2 stated.
"You don't make yourself look bloated!" Ned protested.
"Thanks man." Peter-2 smiled at him.
"Someone's got a crush." Betty teased, seeing the way Gwen watched after Spider-Man as he left. MJ pursed her lips. It didn't matter what universe it was, Peter was hers.
I'm really tempted to write a dark Spider-Man fic, like blood, gore, Spider-Man straight up torturing folks, the works. Ofc it'd be super OOC, but whatever. Issue is, if I do, I'm splitting my time between even more fics. Would anyone want to see it?
So tempted to abandon this fic for like a week or two, just spend the time rewatching MCU stuff and making the scripts for the rest, since I've got to do that eventually anyway.
