World's Greatest Superhero
Chapter 3
Peter saw an Egyptian Catlike deity with another taller being standing close to him. As they kept coming closer to them, there was a certain aura about the cat that made his Spider-sense go crazy. It was as if his spider-sense was warning him not to piss off the cat. Peter was sweating a river, whilst the others seemed calm since they thought that Beerus and Whis came here to probably demand some Earthly delicacies they have not tried yet.
Beerus with his ever so present frown began, "Hello you all, we sensed a small tear from reality on earth, we wanted to find the source of this and we're also hungry for some new dishes so why not kill two birds with one stone." staring at Peter, to which he slightly shivered at the cat deity's attention directed towards him.
Bulma seeing her friend's nervousness steps in front of him and said, "Beerus-sama, Whis-San the reason for the recent abnormality was Peter, he accidentally fell to our universe, literally" smiling back at Peter before continuing, "we're trying to find a way back for him, we tried to use Shenron to wish him back to his home, but that failed" she finished.
Beerus looked interestedly at Peter and asked, "So what's your story mortal? And what's with the ridiculous outfit? You look like a clown" Peter, a little offended just answered, "my name is Peter Parker, I'm a scientist and also the superhero called Spider-Man, I got a criminal arrested before some artifact I was holding, started glowing and sent me here"
"Hnn, superhero huh.." Beerus said Whis with a smile joined the conversation, "Well, Peter I feel a weird aura from you despite you having a weak ki, it intrigues me really because this doesn't seem like a coincidence to me." Whis concluded before tapping his staff on the ground, that's when the staff was showing Peter's life story to everyone present, his life, his fights, the friends he made, how losing Uncle Ben and Gwen impacted his life, all the way of how he ended up here. Whis, having seen enough, made his staff stop showing Peter's life, then said amusingly, "well Mr Parker you've had quite the interesting life in your universe" Peter sarcastically added, "so interesting that I ended up here, I would love it to be boring once in a while" Whis just smiled.
Vegeta looked indifferent, Goku then asked, "What about Zen-Chan? Shouldn't he be able to send him back?" Beerus was wide-eyed at the higher deity's mention while Bulma said, "Of course! Why didn't I think so? Goku! you still have your button to summon him!?" "Yeah, I do!" Goku said while going through his sash on his gi. When he did find it he was about to press it until "Absolutely not!" Beerus said with an angry and frantic expression on his face.
Goku confused l, asked "Ehh? Why?" "Are you for real? We just got back from the tournament of Power! Do you seriously want to doom the universe once more to help this insect?" "Arachnid" Spidey said automatically, "Like I care what you are!" Beerus growled at Peter,, to which he went behind Bulma for protection. "Besides, despite Zeno-Sama's innocent nature, he does not do things without getting something back to sate his boredom and erasing the universe might as well be the first thing he would think of" Beerus grimly added. Bulma grimacing as what the God of Destruction said was indeed very true, Goku finally realized how right the God's words were. He wasn't that stupid, he knew of the hatred directed towards him by people from other universes because of him convincing Zeno to hold the Tournament of Power, at the cost of erasure. Since then, he felt a little guilty over putting them through that.
Peter was just frustrated and settled at counting the help of the heroes from his universe to get him back home, although he doubted they would help him considering how much they 'like' him. His hope on his homecoming, overall, was slowly diminishing.
Until
Whis while looking at his nails indifferently said, "I can travel to other universes".
WHAT?
All eyes except Beerus were on the Angel attendant.
Bulma then said, "That means you can help Peter! You're definitely going home Peter"
"Bulma-san, just because I said I can, it doesn't mean that I am going to help Mr Parker" Whis said with an expressionless face.
Bulma and the rest were surprised, she asked "What! Why?"
Whis didn't answer her question as he looked silently at Spider-Man for a full minute before saying, "Mr Parker, the reason why I am skeptical about returning you to your universe, is because I think you are a threat to your own universe, I'm normally indifferent about these things but I cannot ignore how dangerous you are."
Spider-Man, surprised at that, couldn't but ask, "Why do you say that? I'm just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! What is it with Jameson, other citizens or heroes in New York and now you think I'm a menace!? I'm just trying to do the right thing" frustration and despair etched on his tone.
Whis, somewhat sympathetically stated, "Well Mr Parker despite your honorable intentions, you failed to consider the weight of responsibility that you really carry." Whis raised his hand in anticipation before continuing, "and before you say that you do, let me expand on that. Your choices during your acts as a superhero are noteworthy but at the same time, selfish. While it is a good thing that you do not enjoy killing and you shouldn't, it is really irresponsible for you to carry this kind of saintly attitude you have about not killing, over the top I might add is what causes you to doom innocent people that are subjected to your enemies ambition or villainy. I'm going to ask now. How many times did you spare this green goblin character? This man killed thousands of people but that all could have been avoided if you did what needed to be done as your role as your city's protector. Instead, you let him live with the hope of reforming him, which sounds like leaving a ticking time bomb waiting to explode"
"there's also the fact that you have never thought of improving your skills as a superhero, always improvising with what you have which most caused you losses, you are the Center of the Web whether you know it or not but this level of weakness for someone who holds the universe together is disappointing"
"I'd say you're better off here then going back there to die and killing everything"
"You let yourself be so focused on being your superhero alter ego that you don't even pay attention to your real life, which is universally irresponsible. You have no balance which again costs you in misery and tragedies"
"The most irresponsible act from you is when you made a deal with the devil like being called Mephisto, which you don't remember doing. But you traded your aunt's life for your marriage and the possibility birth of your daughter" Peter gasped while Whis continued, "Yes you did that, it was honestly the most illogical decision I have ever seen"
Peter could look down on the ground as most of the things the angel said were true except with one. "So, you're saying I should go all Punisher or Deadpool on my baddies? Because of what? It would make my life easier? Killing would make me empty on the inside, my Uncle taught me that with great power comes greater responsibility, it's my responsibility to do the right thing."
Whis, emotionlessly said, "You seemed to have misinterpreted my words. I am not telling you that you should kill everyone that's bad, I'm merely stating as a protector, it is your RESPONSIBILITY to make the hardest of decisions for the good of others, even if it's not pleasant. You let yourself be walked over by almost everyone, your enemies, your teammates, your low self esteem often affects both your superhero life and civilian life. All I am saying is Mr Parker is that you need to grow up."
Peter, too stunned, couldn't utter a word.
After 15 minutes of silence, Whis said, "How about we leave this depressing subject for the time being? Mr Parker, how about we make a deal?"
Peter, finally being able to speak, asked, "What kind of deal?"
"Mr Parker, as you are right now, I honestly find unworthy" Whis said before saying "how about you prove yourself worthy beating at least one of the fighters in this world? If you do, then I will personally escort you to your universe."
Vegeta unhelpfully scoffed and said, "This insect seems so weak that even Trunks can beat him."
Peter just wanted to go back desperately and said, "I'll do it" "In fact, I think I can beat sunshine over there" while pointing at Vegeta, who only frowned before laughing at Peter, who started to look a little nervous.
"You really think you have a chance with me boy? I'm the prince of all Saiyans, so many have fallen in front of me. Don't make me laugh, insect." Vegeta finished
"Why? Are you afraid that this 'arachnid' would embarrass you in front of your friends?" Spidey quipped.
"Why you? You know what? Let's do this, have it your way boy!" Vegeta said with a 'come on' gesture with his hands.
Bulma could only facepalm as she knew her husband would possibly crush Peter in this fight. Goku, on the other hand, stayed silent curiously, with his hands behind his head.
"Ohohohohoho brave choice Mr Parker" Whis said
Peter started to regret his choice of words and definitely his choice of opponents, maybe the other guy who seemed friendly would let him off easy?
'Alright, might as well get this over with, then I'll go home' Peter thought optimistically.
Spidey shot webs at Vegeta before pulling himself at him for a punch but Vegeta predicted that and sidestepped out of the way. "Bahh! What are these disgusting things?" Vegeta said while ripping the webbing off his Saiyan suit.
Spidey lept again to engage in combat with Vegeta, with punches and kicks all together but Vegeta kept dodging them with his arms crossed in order to mock him.
"I'm not going to bother transforming for you," Vegeta said.
Spidey got a little creative, "Concrete webs!" trapping Vageta's legs stuck on the ground, shocking the Saiyan, before he could react, Spidey finally landed a punch to the Saiyan's face.
"Ouchhh! What is your ugly face made of? Vibranium?" Spidey said while holding his knuckles despite wearing his advanced suit, which enhances his strength a little bit.
"I'm impressed bug, you managed to land a blow on me but you will come to regret that!" Vegeta said, finally advancing for his turn. Spidey's Spider-sense blared so much that it started to hurt him, before he barely dodged Vegeta's punch but couldn't avoid a kick to the side that came after. "Ahhhh, my poor ribs" Spidey while holding his sides in pain.
"What's going on, bug? Is that all you got?" Vegeta mocked
'Alright, Maximum effort, it's clear that I don't have to hold back, he looks like he can take it. Seriously! Why do I feel like this guy is scarier and stronger than the Hulk?'
"Hey sunshine! Your forehead is so big that big momma asked for some" Spidey quipped.
"What?" Vegeta asked.
Spidey continued, "Do you Know? Short people like you tend to die faster? Cause they smell everyone's farts!"
Vegeta with a vein popped on his head and clearly annoyed by the arachnid's mocking of him, flew at him at fast speed. Spidey, predicting this, barely dodged him thanks to his Spidey-sense, before using the invisibility feature, disappearing in front of everyone. Spider-Man did a backflip while kicking Vegeta's chin hard, making him spit a little. He reappeared once again before going through a barrage of punches and kicks, using all his abilities to the fullest to pin down the Saiyan warrior.
"ENOUGH!" Vegeta shouted, transforming into Super Saiyan and throwing Spider-Man away from him.
'What? That worked last time with Firelord! What does it take to knock this guy out?' Peter thought in disbelief while only looking at Vegeta.
Vegeta turned off his transformation before saying, "Well, I hope you're proud, you made me use more than 20% of my base form and made me transform temporarily." Vegeta took a moment before saying, "Alright, this will be quick and painless… well before you wake up that is" Vegeta suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of Spidey before punching him hard on the gut, knocking him out, in the process.
"Hey Best buddy! You actually held back against him, I knew you had a heart" Goku said laughing.
Vegeta blushed at the embarrassment and shouted, "Shut it, clown! You don't kill an insect with a hammer or gun or whatever you humans use."
"Aww my Vegeta" Bulma teased, "Shut up woman!"
"Ohohohohoho, indeed Goku's right Vegeta-san, your compassion surprised us" Whis added, while Beerus smirked.
Vegeta just stayed silent and looked in another direction, with his arms crossed.
Suddenly two excited Saiyans came flying from the sky.
"Hey, what's happening? We sensed dad briefly turning into a Super Saiyan, was he fighting someone?" Trunks said excitedly.
"Yeah Dad, was Mr. Vegeta fighting a bad guy? Can we fight him too?" Goten mirroring Trunks in excitement.
Bulma simply smiled in amusement before saying, "No kids, Vegeta was just sparing with a friend of mine"
"He must be strong if he fought dad." Trunk said
"He was doing okay until your dad took the win." Bulma said
"I see," Goten and Trunks said.
3 hours later
"Owww" Spidey said, before finding himself in the same lab he woke up in. "I'm getting a sense of deja vu" He saw Bulma once again, this time with the others and two kids.
"You're up" Bulma said smiling at him
"Yeah, this time after getting my butt kicked though, I am NOT fighting that guy again" Peter said while scratching his neck.
"At least, you only got knocked out and not hurt too bad"
"I'll take that"
Whis broke their attention away by saying, "Well done Mr. Parker, you have impressed me, you obviously didn't beat Vegeta-san but you managed to land a few blows to him" making the prince frown at the reminder, Whis continued, "But, my deal was that you beat someone which you didn't"
"I know, I guess I'm stuck here," Peter said defeatedly
"Well chin up Mr. Parker, in my deal, I said that you only need to manage to beat one of the fighters in this world, you're certainly allowed to lose as many times as you can, so you can try again." Whis said.
Peter, shocked at the revelation, began to find some hope.
"You hear that buddy! You can try again, this time maybe you can train before you fight one of us, there's Gohan, Krillin, Tienshinhan, Master Roshi, Piccolo and so many." Goku said excitedly.
"I can train? Not that I'm complaining but how much would I improve?" Peter said skeptically.
"Master Roshi is a human who trained a lot in martial Arts, when I was a kid, he was able to destroy the moon from his Kamehameha," Goku said, remembering his childhood self fighting his old teacher in his first Tenkaichi tournament.
"Kame-what? But wow a human able to destroy the moon?" Peter asked.
"There are humans that can fly," Goku said
"How is this possible? What kind of world did I end up in?" Peter asked, wondering what kind of insane world he ended up in.
"Well, the answer is ki. Every living thing holds ki, when you master that you'll be able to do a lot of things, project energy, fly, heal yourself to a certain extent" Whis said helpfully.
"Wow" Peter could only say.
"Indeed, maybe you could use some training before facing one of the fighters, it will certainly be benefitting for you" Whis said.
Peter was considering his words, with ki and maybe some martial arts training is what he needs, he was silent before saying, "I'll do it, but who would train me?" asked, having no idea.
"I know just the guy!" Goku said smiling, thinking of a familiar old man who would be perfect for the job.
Bulma smiled while she looked at Peter, who looked less stressed and nervous than earlier this morning.
"Ok" Peter said
"Alright, now that's settled let's eat!" Goku shouted
"Alright Mr Parker, when you do beat an opponent my staff will let me know and then I will take you home. Whis said with a smile
"Enough of this, I want to eat too! Give me something new!" Beerus demanded
Bulma sighed but she led them to her dining hall, her cooks were making food for the company building after all, they could talk about Peter's living arrangements over dinner. With that, the day went by, with Peter deciding to stay in one of Bulma's rooms in Capsule Corp for the time being until he gets his training done and beats one of the Z fighters.
With that Beerus and Whis left Earth.
Meanwhile in Space
Beerus while holding Whis's shoulder while they are going to Beerus's planet, Beerus finally asks.
"So what was that? It was unusual for you to be so interested in a mortal and to go out of your way to help him get stronger?"
"Ohohohohoh Beerus-sama, it seems like I can hide nothing from you," Whis said amusingly without turning to Beerus.
"Don't mock me, Whis," Beerus said, frowning.
"Apologies, Beerus-sama. To answer your question, I mentioned that after seeing through his life, I thought that he is indeed very heroic and honorable but I felt like Mr. Parker has been limiting himself. I merely want to give him a much needed push"
Beerus let him continue.
"I could've taken him back to his universe the moment I saw him but I sensed divine energy residue which prompted me to look through him and concluded that he was sent for a reason, either for his own safety or something else really. This is why I made the deal with him. If he ends up defeating someone in a trial of combat like we agreed then it will probably be satisfactory to him to earn the right to go back."
"I see," Beerus said.
"I will look forward to watching Mr. Parker even after he gets back to his own universe," Whis said.
"You seem pretty confident that he would beat someone," Beerus pointed out.
"He seemed pretty determined, but only time will tell," Whis said finally.
In Marvel 616 universe
It's been just a day since Spider-Man's disappearance, The spider clan went to the Museum, where the arachnid hero disappeared. They talked to the staff and the police officers involved with White Rabbit's arrest. They told them that spidey successfully stopped the criminal before disappearing from thin air, leaving the Tablet of Order and Chaos on the floor, which surprised them. They politely asked the manager of the Museum if they could borrow the tablet to find Spider-Man, to which he agreed, since he was grateful to the Web head's intervention when White Rabbit broke in. With that, they head to the Sanctum Sanctorum, and once they get there, Julia knocks on the door.
The door opened, the Spider clan saw that Wong answered the door for them.
Julia said, "Hi Wong, we're here to see Dr Strange regarding something"
Wong replied, "Of course, let me show you the way." Wong led to Dr Strange who was reading some sort of magic related book while levitating in the air. Stephen noticed the guests that came to his room, he greeted them, "Hello Julia and you all."
"Hi Stephen, we're here because we need to know if you can help us find Spider-Man." Julia said
"Spider-Man?" Stephen asked, confused.
"Yes, he disappeared after dealing with a criminal, some of the officers told us that the artifact he was holding at the time, started to glow and that's when he was gone" Jessica cuts in between Julia and Stephen's conversation.
Stephen was getting a rough idea of what happened and then asked, "I see, could you please show me this tablet if you have it?" Julia replied, "Sure" Julia handed him the tablet, and the ex-surgeon looked at it as if he saw a ghost.
"The Tablet of Order and Chaos?" Stephen said shocked, Julia, without wasting time asked, "What is it, Steven, you recognize it?"
"Yes, it's said to be the most powerful mystic artifact, it boosts one's powers and desires to kill, the fact that something that dangerous is here in this universe is utterly terrifying," Stephen said, Julia and the others were shocked at the revelation. Dr. Strange continued, "I did hear your predecessor Cassandra, the former Madame Web before you, saying something about having grouped Spider-men from different universes to stop a godlike Mysterio."
Shocked again, Julia again asked, "that's crazy, but it doesn't explain why Spider-Man disappeared."
"There is only one Tablet of Order and Chaos, but the fact that Spider-Man disappeared is really suspicious and I have a feeling that there's a third party involved in this, either way I am going to try to locate him through this tablet, and do some research on it while I'm at it."
"Is there any way we can help?" Miles asked
"I'm afraid there isn't, but keep in mind that this might take time on my end, so you're free to ask for an extra pair of hands." Dr. Strange admitted.
"We were planning to ask Reed Richards, after leaving the Tablet to you," Julia said.
"I see"
The Spiders leave the Sanctum Sanctorum and they were planning to swing to the Baxter building next. Anya Corazón was really quiet during everything, which was noticed by Miles, so the latter asked.
"Hey Anya, everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's just that I'm worried about Spidey," Anya said, thinking about her mentor.
"Me too, he is also my mentor, but I think we made some progress. We informed Dr Strange of the situation, he'll try his best to help us and we're heading to Reed Richards for help, the quicker we can get them involved, maybe the quicker Pete will be able to be back here." Anya saw the logic from Miles's words, smiled back at him. "You're right, let's do this."
Jessica, was near them when they were talking about Spider-Man and simply smiled at the positive attitude the two spiders had on bringing back their mentor.
A voice broke from her thoughts, "You love him don't you?"
Jessica looked back and saw a smiling Julia, "WHAT?" Jessica was blushing up a storm.
"Don't think I didn't notice you, smiling more while you were talking about him." Julia teased.
"That's crazy, I was smiling out of respect." Jessica denied.
"Sure," Julia said sarcastically, with that she went ahead, Jessica could only watch Julia's back.
Cindy, having eavesdropped on their conversation from a certain distance could only frown while she thought, 'You won't get him you bitch! Peter will be mine and you won't hurt him, you've had your chance when he was with you.'
With that, she continued to swing with the rest of the Spiders on their way to the Baxter building.