Across the BRANCHES 2 : The Spider Society Chapter 7: Hell on Earth, a What If...? + Spider-Man Crossover fanfic

BRANCH-14:

As Peter and Gwen made their way through the shimmering portal, a sudden chill ran down their spines when they saw the sight before them. The once bustling streets of Washington D.C. were now nothing but a ghost town, filled with the eerie silence of abandonment. The twisted metal frames of cars littered the cracked pavement, nature had taken over, with vines and weeds creeping up the sides of buildings and through the cracks in the concrete. The air was thick with the scent of decay, and the only sound was the crunching of debris beneath their feet.

The sun hung low in the blood-red sky, casting an ominous glow upon the decaying buildings that surrounded them. Broken glass crunched beneath their feet as they cautiously navigated the desolate streets, their eyes scanning the shadows for any sign of movement.

"I have a bad feeling about this place," Peter muttered as he looked around the area.

"Where is everyone?" Gwen was almost too afraid to ask.

Before Peter could give off his theories as to what occurred there, their senses alerted them of imminent danger in the area. They looked towards where the senses were leading them, they saw what looked to be people coming out of the shadows. But dread clawed at their hearts as they realized they had arrived in a parallel universe, a world plagued by an unimaginable horror - a world overrun by zombies.

"Oh, god!" Gwen cried out in terror.

Peter Supreme worked fast as he opened a portal and threw it towards the heard of approaching zombies. "Zombies." He snarled as if this was something he had come across before. "This isn't going to be good."

"What makes you say that?" Gwen asks sarcastically.

That was when her senses alerted her of something coming at her, causing Gwen to jump back and just miss when something came out of thin air like it was nothing. She was almost attacked by what appeared to be a person wearing an all-green outfit with an R on her chest. She had what was broken glasses and was definitely a zombie considering her left cheek was rotted through and her right eye was missing. Gwen dodged her attack and punched her in the face, dislocating what was left of her jaw and sending her flying into the ground.

"What the hell was that?!" Gwen asks Peter.

"Oh, great. Hero zombies." Peter Supreme still wasn't impressed or seemed threatened by it. "Been to one of these realities before. Well, I prevented this reality. I guess that this is the result of the Spider Society. They must have a zombie Spidey on their team and send him here to take care of their enemies. And guess what that makes us."

"The enemies." Gwen was following as she kicked one of the zombies. "Okay, but you are way too calm."

"Hey, I didn't know that Witch girl and I wasn't the one who dropped Anti-Venom on that Carnage version of you." Peter Supreme shrugged as he eyed the girl Gwen hit. He didn't waste any time and snapped his fingers, causing Shrinking Rae to appear and the floor burst into flames, leaving nothing but her broken glasses behind. "And besides, she's already dead." Gwen was shocked at this action, but also knew he had a point. These zombies were basically living dead. If they are already dead, they should stay dead. "I wonder if we arrived here too late."

"You think there could be no survivors?" Gwen guessed.

"Depends on the world." Peter shrugged. "It could be a handful of survivors. Maybe some people are immune to the zombie virus, it all depends on where the virus first originated. If it did come from a parallel universe, it's unlikely anyone here could defend themselves against it."

As he was going across his theories, Gwen noticed a blue-skinned humanoid with a highly pronounced muscular body and very tall, easily dwarfing most humans and aliens. He has broad shoulders and a shaved head with square facial features. The main article of clothing is a black, sleeveless leotard with a white "M" stretching from the chest all the way to its legs. The clothes were all torn up and a lot of his skin was missing, giving the impression to Gwen of a zombified blue Hulk.

"Uh, Peter?" Gwen tried to get his attention.

"I mean, if it's similar to the quantum virus, there are a few that stand a chance." Peter Supreme kept giving off theories as the hulking zombie charged for them. "But that is a big chance."

"Peter!" Gwen cried out again.

But when the creature approached and went to strike Peter Supreme, a forcefield appeared when it went to make a strike. Seems Peter was already prepared for a sneak attack from the zombies and created a forcefield ahead of the conversation. Gwen was still frozen in fear when she saw that they were safe but was still scared for her life in a zombie-infested world.

"Oh, yeah, I wrote the guidebook on surviving the zombie apocalypse." Peter Supreme stated with a smile. "Of course, when I wrote it, me and Fitz did it as a joke."

"Great, so how do we get out of this?" Gwen asks.

Peter Supreme started to look over the situation as he saw all of the zombies that were trying to come and kill them. He pondered their decisions when he came to what he considered was the best decision to get out alive. Gwen was watching as the shield that

"Well, portals won't do us any good. We could just end up running into a bigger hoard of zombies." Peter Supreme tried to consider what to do. "And we don't know how long these zombies live for or even if they can die of starvation or something like that."

"What about the going for the head thing?" Gwen asks.

"You got a gun?" Peter Supreme asks her. "I'd be concerned if you did. Neither of us is big on guns."

"What about that whole snappy fingers fire thing you just did?" Gwen asked.

"That's only good on one subject at a time." Peter Supreme explains to her. "That won't help us in a hoard."

Then out of nowhere, it was like a giant bolt of lightning came down and struck the area around them. It sends all of the zombies back off from the shield as it the forcefield ends up ricocheting the bolt to send it flying across all of them. Taking down the entire hoard of zombies at once. The forcefield then seemed to have taken as much as it could and shattered around Peter and Gwen.

"Uh...what just happened?" Gwen asks in confusion.

"My guess? Someone powerful just came in last minute to save us." Peter Supreme stated. "And yes, that is in the survival handbook."

"Of course it is." Gwen sighed.

Then they watched as the hulking zombie started to get back up on his feet, causing the two to look concerned and get ready for a fight. But before they could prepare for it, a young girl came flying in and sent pink bolts of energy toward the hulking creature before going head-on giving them the mind of Scarlet Witch. When she forced the big guy away, Peter and Gwen were confused as to what was happening when someone else came flying down. He was a normal human teenager from the looks of him.

"Hey, I'm Invincible. We're here to rescue you." Mark introduced himself.

"We?" Gwen asks.

Then someone came out of nowhere and a red bubble appeared around them.

"Welcome to the Atom Express!" She quipped as they were brought somewhere. "Next stop, Sanctuary!"

"What the hell happened here?" Peter asks the woman.

"It's a long story!" Eve stated as she flew off.

CHAPTER 7

HELL ON EARTH

ONE YEAR AGO:

Peter Parker's day could be summed up in one word: insufferable.

One of his biggest enemies, aka the Lizard, aka Dr. Connors in his mutated form, had shown up at his high school and just started wreaking havoc. It seemed he had managed to find out Peter's identity and was coming after him when he wasn't wearing his suit.

Peter was sent flying through the walls, landing on several desks, revealing his newly advanced suit. His suit was a mixture of armor and classic-style outfits. The front of his entire suit was made out of bulletproof material and was bright red, as were his mask and socket eyes.

His suit's hips and arms are made out of nanotechnology armor material that reaches up to his shoulders. It has a dark blue color with a few stripe of red material. His entire chest piece is covered in the casual fabric style, and his usual spider symbol is shrunk down and also encasing a drone within it. His pants are also made out of the same nanotechnology material as his arms and shoulders, but they are dark blue with a golden outline.

Quickly getting back up, Peter watched in horror as the Lizard emerged from the same hole he had created. As it approached, Peter attempted to counterattack, but the Lizard pinned his arm to the ground. With lightning speed, one of its claws swung towards him, forcing him to dodge the attack despite being unable to move freely.

Peter managed to reach one of the stools in the chemical lab and used it to smash the Lizard.

That failed as the Lizard blocked it with one of his giant scaly hands. "Nowhere to hide, Peter," he growled.

Quickly dodging the lizard's claw as it came down to kill him, Peter grabbed onto its leg and webbed it to the ground. The lizard then picked him up and threw him into another wall. As he regained his balance, Peter watched in horror as the lizard approached the hole and picked up two chemicals from the table, mixing them before tossing them into the hole, causing them to create a reaction and cause an explosion.

"All these souls lost and alone. I can save them, I can cure them. There's no need to stop me, Peter." The Lizard promised as Peter responded by throwing a pair of sneakers from the lost and found that he conveniently landed nearby.

Who loses a pair of sneakers?!

The lizard roared in anger at what Peter had done; just as the person leaped out of the hole, onto the desk, and shot two crossed webs that hit the lights. As soon as they were pulled, the electricity zapped the Lizard.

Once he regained focus, Lizard noticed that Peter was gone. However, in reality, he was crawling up the ceiling and sneaking behind Lizard, then leaping onto his back. This seemed to anger Lizard, who struggled to free himself from Peter's grasp while continuing to attempt to web him down.

"You're not thinking straight, Doc!" Peter exclaimed as the Lizard backed into the wall and crashed through it. However, Peter managed to dodge the attacking claws. "Stop this! This isn't you!" He shouted as he webbed his face and attached them to the ceiling.

The Lizard didn't seem to care about that as he crashed into the lockers and caused Peter to finally let go, grabbing onto the wall with the wind knocked out of him. Just then, his spider-sense went off, giving Lizard enough time to attack; Peter scraped all of the lockers while he leaped onto the ceiling, using it to keep a safe distance from the psychotic doctor.

"Let's talk this out," Peter begged, while the Lizard hissed and crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling, chasing after him as he tried to reach the scientist trapped inside the creature. "Doc, can you hear me in there?"

The Lizard just kept coming at him, smashing through the ceiling and lights as Peter dropped down onto the floor below. The Lizard followed suit by dropping down from the ceiling above. This gave Peter the opportunity to act quickly and attempt to stick him to the wall with his hands. All that did was cause a piece of the locker to break off and leave a piece of metal in his hand.

"Oh, fudge!" Peter sighed as Lizard swung at him to try and slice him, but Peter dodged it by using his acrobatics to flip backward and then shoot off the wall and slide in between his legs. "All right, so you don't wanna talk?"

The lizard roared at him, revealing its pointed, sharp teeth just as Spider-Man shot it in the face with a web.

"There you go." Peter quipped.

The Lizard then ripped it off and swung his tail at Peter, who quickly grabbed it; however, that didn't end well for Peter, as he was swung into the lockers and wall once more.

"Don't," Peter tried to stop him as the Lizard smacked him into the wall. "...Make me." He then swung him again and smacked him into the lockers. "...Have to...," he was then swung back into the brick wall, but luckily his suit was taking most of the damage. "...Hurt you!"

The Lizard then spun around, which sent Spider-Man flying down the hall and into the catwalk doors. He slid down it and grabbed his tail, blood spewing out of it and onto the floor as well as onto his suit. The Lizard marched down the catwalk as his tail continued to grow on his back.

"That's just disgusting!" Peter exclaimed in disgust as he tossed the detached tail off of him. He looked over and saw the blood covering his suit as he got up to then shoot the walls and slingshot himself at Lizard. However, that ended with him getting his face smashed into the wall.

Peter tried to fight him off, but without his face, fighting had become a bit more difficult for him. However, his lower half remained unharmed, and he used his legs to kick the Lizard off of him.

Not letting him have a moment to get back up, Peter quickly leaped around him and began to wrap the Lizard up in a cocoon, followed by shooting webs all around him to keep him stuck.

Peter sighed in relief and quickly spun and leaped before he kicked the Lizard in the face, causing him to fall unconscious.

"Well, the school better have Lizard insurance." Peter sighed as he quickly saw the police arriving and sees this is his time to escape.

Peter swung off and quickly sat down against the building, wanting to take a break after that intense battle. Just as he closed his eyes for a moment's rest, his watch began to alert him that someone was calling.

"Oh, for the love of God!" Peter exclaimed in frustration as he noticed it was a call from Nick Fury, the head director of S.H.I.E.L.D. "What do you want, Fury? I just had to fight my science teacher who turned into a giant lizard."

"Parker, something big has happened," Fury stated.

Peter asked, "How big?" as he lay down, worrying about his voice.

"The Guardians of the Globe are dead," Fury informed him, causing Peter to look extremely shocked as he shorted back up and looked down at the watch.

"What?!" Peter questioned in shock.

"They're all dead. Omni-Man is the only one that's left alive." Fury reported in.

Peter sighed, "Of course he is."

"Badly injured, and we don't even know if he'll make it," Fury explains.

"Yep, I've seen that before," said Peter, sighing. "What do you need from me?"

"We're calling in everyone. It's not going to take long for the criminals of the world to realize their heroes aren't here," Fury explains the call.

"So, what do you need from me?" Peter wondered.

"Be on the alert, I might call you in to help the Teen Team," Fury explains the reason for the call.

"Oh, great," Peter said, sighing. He never really got along with the team, but he didn't mean to imply they were bad either. Some of them were just...a little reminiscent of Flash. *cough* Max *cough*. "So, now I'm a superheroic babysitter."

"Just go about your usual routine, we'll let you know when we have something for you," Fury said and hung up.

Peter then made his way home, unsure of how to proceed with his day normally after what had happened. He had just learned that the heroes of the world, the Guardians of the Globe, had been murdered. The most powerful and the world's first line of defense, was murdered. How does one go about their lives with that kind of knowledge?

"Hey, hon, how was school?" May asks as she exits the kitchen.

"It was normal," Peter said as he put his bag down. "You know, went to class, fought the science teacher who had turned into a giant lizard. The usual."

"Oh, sounds like you've had a busy day," May commented as she gave him a hug. "You okay?" she asked, noticing the look on his face. "You look worried."

Peter said, "No, I'm okay." As he broke the hug. "Just a little tired after everything."

"I'd bet," May said. "Why don't you take it easy for a while?"

Peter was about to respond when his watch beeped, alerting him of danger approaching. He activated the call and saw it was coming from Fury again.

"Director," Peter said in surprise as he saw another call from him so quickly. "What's happening?"

Fury said, "We've got an alert of portals opening downtown." He continued, "Some sort of alien attack, and we're a little understaffed after some recent events."

"And you need me?" Peter asks.

"Well, I thought of asking your brother, but you don't have one." Fury snarly replied.

"Really? You just said that?" queried Peter as he prepared to leave. "You could have just said get your ass down there and help; it doesn't take that long, does it?"

'Then do exactly that," Fury proclaimed. "The Teen Team is already en route, with a new recruit already engaged."

"Alright," Peter said when he stopped for a second. "Wait, who?"

Peter kept making his way through the city, where he saw the chaos was coming from, and knew that was more than likely where the battle was happening. When he made it to the scene, he saw the dozens of civilians getting gunned down every second that he wasn't acting. But as he was about to swing in, he noticed that there was already another player in the middle of the field.

His hair sticks out of the top of his hero suit. His suit features a yellow mask with goggles to keep the air out of his eyes as he flies. The suit is yellow down the middle, stopping at his waist in an upside-down triangle shape. It also bears blue on the shoulders and continues into the yellow in somewhat of an M shape. The rest of his costume is black, aside from the yellow gloves and blue boots that start from his knees down.

Peter muttered, "That must be the new recruit that Fury was talking about." He then saw the death and chaos these things were causing. "Okay, this is going to be bad. God, I hope Fury has backup coming."

"What? We're not enough?" Peter turned and saw a friend of his Atom Eve come flying next to him. "Loving the new suit, Spidey."

"Eve!" Peter was relieved to have professional help. "The rest of the Teen Team coming in to help?"

"Most of us are already here," Eve confirmed.

Looking down, they both got a look at the new recruit who was getting his ass handed to him in this fight. "We better get down there."

"You go low, I go high?" Eve asks Peter, summoning some power into her fists.

"Like we do it any other way." Peter joked as he leaped down to tackle one of the alien invaders. "Hey, fellas!" He then kicked one of the invaders and leaped into the air where he then webbed two other aliens and slammed them into one another. "Guess you didn't get the memo. This world..." He then spun around to kick one of them in the knee. "Is..." He then leaped into the air, using his web to yank himself into the ground, and released a shockwave on impact. "...protected!"

Before he could get overrun by blaster fire, Eve came down and created a forcefield to protect him and the new recruit who seemed to be holding an injured civilian. "Always need to make an entrance?" She asked Peter before tuning to the new kid. "You, get her to a hospital!"

"You're...Atom Eve and Spider-Man." The new kid said in surprise.

"What?" Eve asked in surprise. "Just get her to a hospital!"

The new kid then flew off and took the victim with him. With him out of the way, the rest of the Teen Team came in as Dupli-Kate, Rex-Plode, and Robot came into the fight to start and try and rescue civilians. Things weren't exactly working their way as Dupli-Kate tried quickly to keep on shifting and making doubles of herself so that she didn't officially die. Rex wasn't able to keep up with all of the explosions he kept on him were starting to lay thin. They seemed to be impenetrable to Peter's webbing and were strong enough to break it.

Then out of nowhere, something seemed to happen and they watched as the aliens started to get old very fast. Seeing the danger they were in, the aliens raced back into the portal they came from and left without a trace except for their destroyed tanks, and the bodies they left in their wake.

"What..the hell...was that?!" Peter asked the group.

And it didn't take long for them to come back for round two. This time with Invincible directly by their side as they rounded up. Robot managed to put together a device that alerted them the next time that these aliens decided to make a second visit to their world. When they did, they all rounded up together with Eve and Invincible showing up after the portal opened.

"Hey, we never met. I'm Invincible." Mark greeted Peter.

"Spider-Man." Peter greeted him. "Pleasure. Ready for your second round?"

Mark slightly nodded as they all prepared for round two against these aliens. They went in and waited for them to start aging, but nothing was happening. They were just invading and nothing was happening to them.

"That isn't good," Peter commented.

"I agree," Robot confirmed. "I will tell Cecil to send in a nuclear option."

"What?" Mark asked.

"We are not nuking anyone, Robot!" Eve cried.

Peter stood with determination as he addressed the group. "Let's just figure out what's different, and try to save as many people as we can," he told them. "Nobody is blowing up my city!" The urgency in his voice was palpable as he surveyed the destruction around them.

But these aliens were not to be underestimated. They had spent their time wisely, developing countermeasures for just about every superhero they encountered. A laser kept Dupli-Kate busy, preventing her from using her powers to their full extent. A strange drone had latched onto Eve, cutting off her oxygen supply and rendering her helpless. Strange metal devices had been attached to Robot, rendering his mechanical body useless. Even Invincible had been brought down by a strange goo that had kept him pinned to the ground.

Despite their best efforts, Peter managed to dodge the aliens' weird nets as they tried to catch him. He knew that time was running out and they needed to act fast if they were going to save their city and their people.

"You guys thought it would be that easy?" Peter asked as he dodged one of their lasers. "That's just pathetic!" Then he got an idea when he leaped over and landed right in front of Invincible. "Hey, lasers don't hurt you, do they?"

"Uh... never learned," Mark admitted.

"Well, we're about to find out! Once you are free, get to Eve and get that off of her!" Peter said as he saw everyone point their lasers at him. When they fired, he leaped out of the way. "Yoink!"

"Hey! What the hell?!" Mark cried as he saw all of the blasters were coming right at him. When all of the lasers hit their target, a cloud of smoke was made. When the smoke cleared, Mark was long gone and they heard Eve gasp for air as he ripped the device off her face. "Okay, that was a good idea...I guess."

"Yeah, I am just glad it worked," Peter stated when he eyed the bracelets on all of them. "Hey, let me try something." He then yanked one of their bracelets with his webs and watched the aliens start to age again. "So, that's your secret to eternal life."

"Bracelets?" Eve asked.

"Get their bracelets, and they start aging again," Peter stated.

"Then let's do it," Eve said as she used her powers to destroy the laser targeting Dupli-Kate.

"Invincible? You go first, we get the Teen Team back to action." Peter said as he swung over to the members in danger.

After a grueling battle, they finally managed to save the Teen Team from the clutches of the alien invaders. Robot, with his advanced technology, was able to scan and locate the frequency on which the bracelets were operating. He used this information to generate a high-pitched sound wave, causing the bracelets to shatter and caused the bracelets to allow them to age again. The aliens, realizing that they were losing the fight, retreated back into the portals and disappeared into thin air. However, they knew that it was only a matter of time before the aliens would return and launch another attack. The Teen Team, still reeling from the ordeal, couldn't help but express their frustration at the situation.

"This is getting ridiculous," Peter sighed, as they all took a moment to catch their breath and regroup.

Several days had passed since the news of the Guardians of the Globe had been revealed to the world. Eve was going about her day when she suddenly ran into Rex and Kate in the shower... together. She was taken aback and didn't know how to react, but she knew that Rex wasn't going to win her back easily.

Feeling the need to talk to someone who could understand her situation, Eve made her way to New York. She flew to Peter's room where he was working on upgrading his web shooters so they could have more than one type of web. As he worked, he heard a gentle knock on his window, and upon looking up, he saw Eve standing outside.

"Oh, Eve, hey." Peter greeted. "Uh, wanna come in?"

And like it was nothing to her, Eve made the window slightly bigger so she could fly inside. "Sorry to drop in on you so late like this, but...I needed to talk."

"Something happened?" Peter asked.

"Ugh, where to begin?" Eve sighed as she dropped on Peter's bed. "When I made it back to the base after the funeral, I found Rex in the shower."

Peter did not want to hear where this was going. "Uh, do I need to know this detail?"

"Maybe a little," Eve admitted it was a little weird. "And he wasn't alone in the shower."

"Oh." Peter was starting to understand. "Who...who was he with? If you..."

"Kate," Eve confirmed who Rex was with.

"Oh, thank god," Peter said with a sigh. "I was thinking you were gonna say Robot."

Eve couldn't help but laugh when she heard that. "That...oh, god that image."

"Yeah, I kinda regret it, too." Peter had to admit the image was disturbing to consider. "So, I am gonna guess you guys broke up?"

"Not only that, I might have been kicked out of my home," Eve informed Peter.

"What?" Peter spun to face her. "Your parents kicked you out?"

"My dad mostly," Eve admitted. "Doesn't want me using my powers if Rex isn't watching me."

"You have a whole team, and he thought one guy was good enough? And Rex of all people?" Peter questioned more to himself. "No offense."

"No, go ahead. Open field." Eve assured him he could ask that.

"I mean, you could kick his ass," Peter stated, knowing Eve was ten times more powerful than Rex. "What was your dad gonna expect him to do?"

"That's what I was wondering." Eve agreed as she sat up. "I know it's a lot...but I was kinda hoping I could hang here for a day or something."

"No. no trouble at all." Peter promised her. "I'll let May know your situation." He then headed for the door to tell his aunt everything. "Oh, and don't worry about the couch. I'll take it. You can have my room."

"No, I can't ask that of you." Eve denied that.

"You are not asking. I am offering." Peter said as he opened the door. "And you are taking it. No questions."

Eve chuckled as Peter shut the door to go talk to May. She was lucky to have a friend like him.

That was when everything turned to hell...

NOW:

The once bustling streets of Washington D.C. were now nothing but a ghost town, filled with the eerie silence of abandonment. The twisted metal frames of cars littered the cracked pavement, nature had taken over, with vines and weeds creeping up the sides of buildings and through the cracks in the concrete. As Peter and Gwen made their way through the shimmering portal, a sudden chill ran down their spines when they saw the sight before them. The air was thick with the scent of decay, and the only sound was the crunching of debris beneath their feet.

"I have a bad feeling about this place," Peter muttered as he looked around the area.

"Where is everyone?" Gwen was almost too afraid to ask.

"Oh, god!" Gwen cried out in terror.

"What makes you say that?" Gwen asks sarcastically.

"What the hell was that?!" Gwen asks Peter.

"The enemies." Gwen was following as she kicked one of the zombies. "Okay, but you are way too calm."

"Hey, I didn't know that Witch girl, and I wasn't the one who dropped Anti-Venom on that Carnage version of you." Peter Supreme shrugged as he eyed the girl Gwen hit. He didn't waste any time and snapped his fingers, causing Shrinking Rae to appear and the floor burst into flames, leaving nothing but her broken glasses behind. "And besides, she's already dead." Gwen was shocked at this action, but also knew he had a point. These zombies were basically living dead. If they are already dead, they should stay dead. "I wonder if we arrived here too late."

"You think there could be no survivors?" Gwen guessed.

"Uh, Peter?" Gwen tried to get his attention.

"I mean, if it's similar to the quantum virus, there are a few that stand a chance." Peter Supreme kept giving off theories as the hulking zombie charged for them. "But that is a big chance."

"Peter!" Gwen cried out again.

"Oh, yeah, I wrote the guidebook on surviving the zombie apocalypse." Peter Supreme stated with a smile. "Of course, when I wrote it, me and Fitz did it as a joke."

"Great, so how do we get out of this?" Gwen asks.

"What about the going for the head thing?" Gwen asks.

"You got a gun?" Peter Supreme asks her. "I'd be concerned if you did. Neither of us is big on guns."

"What about that whole snappy fingers fire thing you just did?" Gwen asked.

"That's only good on one subject at a time." Peter Supreme explains to her. "That won't help us in a hoard."

"Uh...what just happened?" Gwen asks in confusion.

"My guess? Someone powerful just came in last minute to save us." Peter Supreme stated. "And yes, that is in the survival handbook."

"Of course it is." Gwen sighed.

"Hey, I'm Invincible. We're here to rescue you." Mark introduced himself.

"We?" Gwen asks.

"Hey, I'm Invincible. We're here to rescue you." Mark introduced himself.

"We?" Gwen asks.

Then someone came out of nowhere and a red bubble appeared around them.

"Welcome to the Atom Express!" She quipped as they were brought somewhere. "Next stop, Sanctuary!"

"What the hell happened here?" Peter asks the woman.

"It's a long story!" Eve stated as she flew off.

DARK DIMENSIONS:

Peter watched as Talia was placed down in an experimental room with the Harun-El floating above a container orb absorbing all of its properties into the laser aimed at her. Peter watched in concern and wondered if this was going to work.

"Shall we proceed?" Dr. Curtis Connors, the top genetic splicer in his universe asked.

"Do it." Peter wished to see if this would work.

The laser began to warm up as it began to inject which was basically a high-tech injection needle that beamed the properties of Harun-El right into Talia's body. The beam reached her heart and Talia gasped as she took in a deep breath, feeling the properties of Harun-El enter her body. Talia screamed as the Kryptonite was beginning to completely rewrite her DNA.

Peter was pacing back and forth, wondering if this was making anything better. Connors was watching and was wondering the same. There were no changes to Talia, and it seemed like nothing was changing. Talia's body began to glow and Peter was worried, watching as if her entire insides were being put aflame. There were no changes in her condition, the monitors were alerting her condition wasn't getting any better and Peter reluctantly shut down the test. Talia panted in pain as the machines finally stopped and Peter growled and smashed the computer in anger when he saw the cure didn't work.

"Why didn't it work?" Peter asks Connors.

Connors looked over the data and sighed at what he saw. "I am sorry, sir. But the rock isn't helping. The disease is still there, it can't fight the cure out of the timeline." He explained that basically, the Time Stone isn't helping Talia heal. Since he had been keeping her alive for so long, she had been altered in the normal timeline. "Its properties are too hard to decipher from current time to Talia's time. We need a more permanent healing factor to help her."

Peter then turned around and used his powers to open a map to all of the BRANCHES. "Then find me one."

BRANCH-14:

Back with Peter and Gwen, Eve brought them around the entire city before she stopped in what appeared to be an abandoned subway station that was fortified and blocked off in every direction except for the entrance they came from, and what looked to be a secret exitway out the back. Seems they altered the subway cars into small huts for themselves and there were even a few other people, but not many than the ones who came to their rescue.

"Were there any others with you?" Eve asked.

"No, just us," Gwen replied with a sigh of relief. "So if you don't mind me asking...What the hell is going on?"

"What? Never seen a zombie apocalypse before?" Peter of this reality asked.

"You'd be surprised." Peter Supreme commented.

"Eve. Invincible. Spider-Man. Who are these guys?" Black Sampson asked as he approached them. "Where did they come from?"

"We're not sure," Mark admitted. "Found them on the way here after our usual recon."

"My name is Peter Parker-Coulson, Sorcerer Supreme. This is Gwen Stacy, Spider-Woman." Peter Supreme introduced themselves.

"We're multiversal travelers, and ended up here chasing the enemies called Spider-Society," Gwen explained the best that she could.

"Multiverse?" Rex asked as he exited one of the huts. "What's that?"

"Is that your resident idiot, or do you just not know about the multiverse theory?" Peter Supreme wanted that to be clarified.

"That's a thing?" Gwen wondered.

"You'd be surprised how many worlds never heard of a multiverse." Peter Supreme replied.

"No, he's just an idiot." Nikki, the only kid to survive the apocalypse, had told them. "We've all seen sci-fi movies."

"What the shit did you just say?" Rex asked Nikki. "Who asked you?"

"Rex. Don't." Peter was getting a little annoyed.

"Look, we just want to know what happened here," Gwen said as she took a step forward. "When did this happen?"

"About eight months ago," Eve informed them.

"We got a call of some riot downtown, and we answered the call...only to be ambushed by a hoard of zombies," Dupli-Kate informed them. "We lost a lot of friends that day. They overran the Pentagon before we even know what happened and took our biggest guns all at once."

"It was strategic. Which is surprising, considering they are all mostly brainless and aren't known to group up." Samson tells them. "From what we've seen, most of these zombies are out for themselves."

"Once they took down our biggest guns and got access to tech like cloning and teleportation, there was no stopping them," Eve said with sorrow.

"What's worse was most of everyone was still healing from what happened a few months prior," Peter said as he looked at Mark sympathetic under the mask. "Invincible's dad tried to destroy the world for some psycho alien race, and only ended up destroying most of Chicago."

"We have been trying to fight them off, but things always go wrong, and they only end up getting stronger with all of their forces," Kate explained. "I rarely go out anymore since every time we end up in a fight, these zombies end up getting about twenty more members."

"And we only send Mark for quick evacs or help dealing with big hoards quickly. Can't risk this disease being passed on to the most dangerous force on the planet." Peter said as he gestured to Mark. "No offense, man."

"None taken; took it as a compliment," Mark replied.

"Well, if we are done with this recap of all of the events..." Samson got their attention. "We finally got a message on the radio."

"A message?" Eve was shocked to hear.

Samson brought them to the radio that was placed in one of the more damaged train cars that they couldn't use as a hut. He activated the radio and what sounded like constant beeping came through the other end.

"What is that?" Rex asks. "Sounds like a bunch of beeps."

"It's morris code." Peter and Supreme both recognized. "Coordinates and a message."

"Coordinates to where?" Eve asks.

Peter used a quick spell to physically show them where in the world they would need to go. "New York. Looks like a base of sorts."

"Could be one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s or the government facilities." Peter-14 commented. "It could have whatever you need to make a cure."

"That's not far from here," Mark said. "Well, by flight."

"What's the message?" Nikki wonders.

"Possible cure." Peter Supreme was trying to translate. It's been a moment since he last did this. "Any survivors? Assistance needed to complete."

"Someone found a cure to the disease?" Eve asked in shock.

"We can save everyone?" Kate asked.

"Only if we can get there," Samson said as he saw they were not going to last long. "Ugh, I am going to regret this, but we can't stay here. There aren't enough supplies to last us. We need to get there or die trying."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Peter asked him.

"No, but it's the only idea we have left." Samson sighed. "We go under the cover of the night. We've learned that they don't see well at night."

"Can't we portal there?" Gwen asked Peter.

"I explained that earlier. I can detect them getting closer, but can't open a portal without risking zombies." Peter Supreme muttered. "Let's just follow along with them, see what we can find out. We need to find out what they're after here."

In the darkness of night, things might be easier for them to sneak around without attracting the attention of the larger hoard of zombies. But it also made things more dangerous for them since they could never clearly see where the zombies were coming from. And what's worse, some of the more intelligent zombies knew how to stay silent and sneak up on survivors. That's something they learned when they lost Shrinking Rae.

Peter-14 peaked his head down from the top of the train station as he looked and tried to see if he could find any more zombies. When he lowered himself down on a web, he looked and spun around to find nothing in the area. He dropped from the web and waited a couple of minutes, before letting out a whistle. Mark came flying down with Eve transporting the rest of the heroes and survivors on a small platform. Which was only them and Nikki. The only survivors of this world.

"Alright, we gotta secure the perimeter and hotwire one of the trains," Samson tells them the plan.

"Splitting up?" Peter Supreme asked them. "You seriously don't see a problem with that?"

"We need to make sure the perimeter is secure, otherwise we might just be wandering into another zombie hoard, or a trap set up to lure us into a hoard," Samson explained his decision. He then turned to the survivors. "Parker, you, Mark, and I will get the train started. The rest of you secure the area."

"Let's just get this over with. I wanna wake up tomorrow and forget this whole thing!" Rex cried and walked off to secure the area.

Everyone seemed to nod and go along with what he was saying while Gwen and Supreme were acceptable. "You wanna bet on who dies first?"

"My money is on the old guy." Peter Supreme admitted. "Some things just have to happen."

Gwen was a little confused by that one. "What does that mean?"

"Oh, come on, the oldest of the group is usually the first to die." Peter Supreme knew what she was thinking. "Hey, if I wanted to go by gender or race, I am going with Rex. He's the pain in the neck that people would willingly watch die."

"You make it sound like we're a movie or something," Gwen commented as Peter Supreme floated to the higher platform to search for zombies.

"Well, some cliches are bound to happen, no matter how much you prepare for them." Peter Supreme shrugged.

Down with the trains, Peter and Samson were working on getting them functional, but there was something that seemed to be stopping them from starting. Samson was using his energy to start the engine, but the train was still not moving.

"Ugh, we've got power, but it doesn't want to start," Peter told him. "We're going to need a push."

"How do you suppose we do that?" Samson asked.

Peter looked around the area and at Mark who was waiting outside the train, keeping the area secure. "I might have an idea," Peter said and whistled to Mark. "Hey, Mark, were gonna need a favor."

Peter then shot two webs at the front of the train and then handed the other ends towards Mark. Mark was starting to slowly pull the webs backward while Samson ignited the brake on the train to keep it still. Mark was pulling it, eventually giving the train enough pull that they could use it as a way to start the train and hopefully make it to New York.

"Alright, guys, we're ready for you." Peter contacted the others.

"On our way," Eve said as she and Rex were teamed up. With everything that happened, they decided to put their petty differences aside and focus on the fate of the world. Not that she has forgiven him for what he did, its more there are bigger things that are more important right now. "Let's go."

"Hey, listen, uh, Eve?" Rex tried to get her attention. "Look, I get you don't want to hear this again, but...can I just say that I am sorry?"

"You did, Rex." Eve reminded him. "Again and again. But I am not willing to hear it."

Rex stopped talking when he heard something and looked around the area. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Eve asked as she looked around the area. "Do you hear zombies?"

"I hear something, I just can't see anything," Rex commented as he grabbed some pocket change to throw. "Okay, you know what? Let's just get the fu-"

Rex was suddenly grabbed from behind and yanked into the darkness, his screams filling the area. Eve spun to face Rex and started to use her powers to illuminate the area. "Rex? Rex!"

Then the area became deadly silent, causing Even to try and throw one of her blasts of energy to illuminate the area. And what she saw was a hoard of zombies making their way towards the light shined down by the moonlight where Eve was.

"Guys? We've got a problem!" Eve cried as she created a forcefield using her powers.

Peter, Gwen, Nikki, and Dupli-Kate were making their way through the main room when a window shattered and they looked to see a zombified version of the superhero Immortal come flying into the room and snarled, coming in to try and kill them.

"Guys, you better hurry!" Mark was beginning to struggle to keep ahold of the webs with the strength he was using on them. Then as he was looking around, he noticed a zombie coming up behind him. "Ahh!"

Then out of nowhere, Peter's Cloak came out and attacked the zombies approaching Mark. Luckily it can't attract the zombie virus and could protect itself from the diseases of the multiverse.

Back with the fight against Immortal, Peter used his webs to try and slam him against the ground. But Immortal seemed to still have some of his powers and so when he hit the ground, he only flew at full speed and ended up tackling Kate in the process. Kate punched Immortal a few times, trying to break free of his hold on her, but then he got an idea when she saw they were heading for a balcony. Grabbing Immortal by the head, Kate made him head downward before she duplicated herself. Splitting off of one another, Kate leaped to safety, followed by the original, and Immortal being crushed under the rubble of the falling debris. Kate was falling when Peter Supreme opened a quick portal for her to fall through and land safely on the ground.

"We gotta move!" Gwen cried as they ran off towards the train.

Immortal got back up and pushed the debris off of him and snarled, half of his jaw now detached from the left cheek. But before he could make a move, Peter already sent an inferno his way, surrounding him before engulfing him in flames.

"Yeah, had to be done!" Peter cried, not risking Immortal coming back later.

Samson was able to keep the larger hoards of zombies back with his lightning powers, but they were becoming too much to bear. Luckily that's when everyone else came around, making their way for the train. When they entered, Mark finally let go of the train and flew out of the tunnel while the train rammed all of the zombies. When they made it out of the tunnel, the train finally started and they managed to drive off towards their destination.

"We did it!" Peter-14 cheered. "Next stop, New York!"

"Don't jinx it." Gwen warmed this dimension's Peter.

At the back of the train, Samson watched as Washington was beginning to fade into the distance, as well as the entire hoard of zombies. He started to make his way back when something landed on top of the train car. He charged up to strike an attack against whoever it was when a giant hulking hand came smashing through the roof and grabbed Samson. He screamed in pain as his ribs were being crushed, getting everyone's attention.

Mark flew into the room first and smashed into the train door when he saw that the Hunk, one of the many heroes of this world, who was basically just a large muscular guy with super strength, had crushed Samson. Luckily since he didn't bite the old man, there was no way he was going to come back to life as a zombie.

"You're going to regret that!" Mark cried at Hunk.

Hunk only snarled and dropped into the train car, crushing everything as he approached Mark. Mark didn't need to do much as he only needed to fly in and give Hunk one swift punch to the face, sending his head flying out of the remains of the train car. Seeing the car was slowing down due to the drag, Mark ripped the cars apart and allowed their train to keep going.

Now they had a moment to take a second and mourn their fallen friends. Rex wasn't exactly the nicest guy or even the easiest to get along with, but the guy had his moments. Samson was the oldest surviving member of the Guardians of the Globe. He was a true hero who saw it out to the end. Now it was left to them.

"Sorry for your friends." Gwen showed sympathy to the people who got entangled in their battle. "We didn't...we didn't think this would happen. We never thought they would come for worlds like this."

"We don't blame you." Eve stopped her from apologizing. "This isn't your doing, and from the sounds of things, we are just one world in a whole lineup of victims."

"How far from our destination?" Mark wonders.

Peter Supreme used his powers of deduction judging by the time they left, the train's speed, how far they needed to travel, and the fact that the car was already low on fuel when they got their hands on it. "I'd say about half an hour."

"Then what?" Kate wonders. "We find this cure, and we can bring everyone back? Is that even how this works? I mean, they're dead. Like rotting corpses. Can you really heal that much damage?"

"We need to figure that out when we get there." Peter-14 was taking this a step at a time. "But if it only stops us from getting the disease, then that would make us the only humans left on Earth."

"That's a scary thought," Mark commented. "The four of us against an army of zombies that have taken over the world?"

Gwen looked over to Peter and wondered if he was going to offer them what he did for her. "What if we sent them to a new home? Got them off of this world?"

"No." Peter Supreme was sorry to say. "I managed to slip you out of time with the help of Morlun feasting on the multiverse. If I pull another thread like this, especially with a group this powerful, I could unravel the fabric of the multiverse."

"Good, because we weren't going to leave." Eve proclaimed. "This is our home. We will stand to fight for it."

"What's left of it at least." Kate sighed.

"It's going to take a lot of work." Peter-14 sighed as he looked out and saw all the hoards they were passing. "But this is our home. They're our friends. Were."

The train started to come to a slow stop, showing they'd officially run out of fuel. Looking from the window where they were, they seemed to have landed just outside of the New York area. Peter Supreme and Eve used their powers to transport themselves and the others to the location which turned out to have been 3 mile island.

"We sure this is the place?" Eve asked as she looked around. "I don't see anyone."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Peter-14 was wondering as he looked around. "No zombies. No survivors. There is definitely something out here." Then something came up and touched his shoulder, causing Peter to scream in terror, and everyone to turn and see what was going on. But to everyone's surprise, it wasn't a zombie but rather their own friend. Robot. "Rudy?!" He screamed in delight and even hugged the mechanical man. "Oh, Robot! It's so good to see you! I am so relieved it's you! You have no idea how good it is to see you and not a zombie!"

"One of the benefits of having an entire body made of metal and other alloys. I am not on the menu." Robot told them.

"So, this is where you've been hiding?" Eve asked.

Robot led them to an elevator shaft that went downward under the island where it seemed there was an entire underground bunker. In the center was an assortment of computers, some severed limbs from deceased bodies, and a kid they recognized as Rudy. The man behind the robot.

"It's so good to see that you're okay, Rudy." Kate was the first to say as she approached and hugged him. "But how did you survive?"

"Well, when the outbreak happened, and communications went down, I started to consider our options. I figured that if I could study the disease without the fear of being discovered by them, then maybe we could find a way of surviving this." Rudy explained to them what happened to him since the outbreak. "So, I've been spending the past year locating Patient Zero to see if there was a chance of synthesizing the cure."

"Were you successful?" Peter Supreme wonders.

Then there was an eerie laughter coming from the room, causing them all to get back into a defensive position. "Why don't you come see for yourself?" An eerie voice echoed through the room.

"Who said that?" Eve asked.

Rudy then pushed a button that seemed to be activating some sort of two way mirror. On the other end of the cell was zombified Spider-Man. "Meet...Patient Zero." He then showed the security footage of the Pentagon. "I found this footage daring to just before the outbreak happened, and found he was the first person to contain the virus and spread it to everyone."

Peter Supreme approached the zombie and came up against the glass and the two snarl at one another. "Spider Society sent you here, didn't they?"

"Yyyyyeeeeeeessssss." Zombie Spider-Man slurred out. "They sent me here to lure you into this world for the ultimate challenge."

"Challenge?" Eve asked in anger. "People have died. We've lost friends. Family."

"And you have the means to finally make a cure." Zombie Spider-Man stated. "And that's what they need." He then looked to Supreme. "You understand now?"

"What's he talking about?" Gwen asked Peter Supreme.

Peter was wondering that himself before finally understanding it. "Agent H's beloved has the zombie virus."

"And the only way to cure her is finding a cure." Zombie Spider-Man confirmed.

"So, either we find a cure that allows your leader to cure his wife's disease..." Gwen was finally catching on. "...so they can go back to conquering time and space..."

"Or you doom our world to an eternal zombie apocalypse." Mark finished her thought.

"Uh, I feel like I am missing a piece to this story." Rudy commented.

"They're from the multiverse, and the zombie Spider-Man is payback for messing with their plans." Kate recapped the story for Rudy.

"So, what do we do?" Gwen asked Peter Supreme. "Do we help them cure this?"

Peter Supreme sighed as he slummed against the wall. "There is no cure."

"What?" Peter-14 asked.

"I've done this before." Peter Supreme explained to them in sorrow. "My world once was threatened by this, but it never worked out. I stopped the disease before it could spread and destroy my world. Because I couldn't create a zombie cure. Not with the resources of my world. There was no spell. No incantation. Nothing that could cure the world of a zombie virus."

"So, that's it?" Eve asked. "We lost?"

Peter Supreme nodded in sorrow. "I'm sorry."

As everyone was starting to lose faith in what they were doing, they wondered what they were going to do next. There was nothing but zombies everywhere, and they didn't know what to do next. They weee never going to see their friends again. They lost. Everyone who's a zombie were dead with no hope of being cured.

Peter-14's spider senses went off, alerting him of danger. The senses also alerted Peter Supreme. They looked around and wondered what was coming. Seeing that they were sensing something, Gwen, Mark, Kate, and Eve, all got ready for a fight. They heard what sounded like a rhino coming at full speed down a hallway. Looking around, everyone got ready to defend themselves, and Rudy jumped back into the Robot suit.

"Rudy, what else do you have down here?" Peter-14 asked his friend.

"Just a few other zombies I captured to test out the cure on." Rudy explained. "I believe some of them must have escaped."

"Because that's always how these turn out." Peter Supreme admitted with a groan.

They were watching all of the entry points for when this zombie was going to come out. Nikki was slowly backing away as she didn't want to be a victim of the zombie, whichever way it came from. But when she bumped against the wall, she felt the walls vibrating and froze in fear.

"Uh-oh." Nikki whimpered out.

That's when the wall that Nikki was leaning against was smashed open and a gigantic zombified Amanda, aka Monster Girl, came crashing through the wall, crushing Nikki in the process. She roared and snarled at the group who were scared as to how they were going to defend themselves against their old friend.

Peter Supreme went first to attack, using the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to try and stop her. But it seems that the creature has some mystical properties that managed to defend itself against the spell and broke free. Peter-14 came in next and used his webs to bind Monster Girl. Eve went next and used her powers to create a box around Monster Girl to keep her in place.

"We gotta get out of here!" Kate cried as she couldn't help hold Monster Girl back.

"I thought you'd never ask." Eve said as she turned around and used one hand to hold Monster Girl back and another to blast a portion of the roof off. "Let's go!"

Eve then created a platform for everyone to climb on, and they made their way up through the hole she had made for them to escape. Monster Girl managed to break free from the container and charged at Eve. But before she could take a bite out of her, Mark flew into the air and attempted to punch her in the face. That turned into a mistake as Monster Girl changed direction and managed to bite Mark's arm. Mark cried in pain as he punched Monster Girl, taking a chunk of her face and brain in the process.

Mark was shaking in fear as he looked down at his arm and saw nothing. No bite mark appeared, and there was no blood. He couldn't contract the virus! This was huge! But he also needed to escape. Turning around, Mark flew off into the sky and they made it to one of the other secret base locations that Ruby had known about.

When they made it to a small cabin in the middle of the woods that had a secret underground bunker that looked like a small neighborhood underground. Rudy was running test on the area that Mark was bitten and was surprised by the results.

"This is...to be expected." Rudy commented when he saw everything. "Turns out Mark's impenetrable skin and biological structure can't catch the virus."

"So, his DNA could be used to make a cure?" Gwen asked.

"No, his Viltrumite DNA would be too dangerous to spread to normal humans. Mutated or otherwise." Rudy was sorry to tell them. "But...he can use this power to...kill all zombies."

"Kill them all?" Mark asked. "So, there isn't any way we could make a cure? This is it?"

"This is what they wanted." Peter Supreme explained with anger. "Either they get what they want or we lose."

"You did all that you could." Kate didn't blame him. "And something tells me you need to get going."

"Watcher?" Peter Supreme called out.

The Watcher then appeared out of thin air. Only visible to Peter and Gwen. "I'm sorry, Peter Supreme. There's nothing either of us can do for this world. But..." He then conjured up another portal for them. "I found their next destination. They've already had a head start, so we must hurry, or other worlds might suffer the same fate as this one."

Gwen wasn't exactly on the idea of leaving this world unprotected. "So, we just give up?"

Peter sighed. "I know this is new to you, Gwen. But I've seen this happen before. Sometimes worlds live and sometimes worlds die. Sometimes people survive and pick up the pieces."

"Then you better get going." Eve stated.

"We've got this." Kate agreed. "But something tells me other worlds need your help more than us."

"I mean, you did manage to give us a second chance." Peter-14 agreed with them. "Now go protect another universe from being dealt the same hand we were."

Peter and Gwen nodded and eyed the portal and to the remaining five people on this world. They needed to get back to saving other worlds from sharing the fate of this world. Gwen walked up to the portal and felt bad about leaving this dimension in the state it was in, but there was nothing they could do about it. They just had to have hope that this world would turn out better with another chance.

Gwen stepped into the portal and was ready to defend another world in the name of this one. Peter Supreme never showed how much seeing worlds die pained him because he knew he always needed to have a brave face. And with the fact that it's one dimension in the universe of thousands that might die, he needed to protect the majority over the few. It might make him sound heartless, but that's what he was burdened with. He needed to keep his eyes on the bigger picture.

Disappearing into the portal, Peter Supreme left the world and the portal closed behind him. "So...what is the plan?" Mark wonders.

"Since Eve can create the food and water we need to keep this place sustainable, I think it would be best if Mark went out on his own." Rudy tells them the plan. "Once he has destroyed the last zombie and the surface is cleared of these infected creatures, we can return to the surface."

"That...that could take years." Mark commented.

"It's the only way we can ensure we don't get infected." Rudy was sorry to say. "And the faster you move, the more you could destroy swarms faster."

Mark saw that this was their only choice and that he was their only hope to finally defeat these things. "Alright. Let's do this."

And that's how things went. Mark flew across the world flying as fast as he could to take down the hoards of zombies first. Then once he took down the bigger hoards, he went after searching across the whole planet for the smaller packs that would hide in the woods or in the cities.

While back at the bunker, Eve was conjuring up some water and fields for them to crop for food. She would even use her powers to make up some quick food for them. Rudy would spend days trying to build devices for when they can return to the surface while Kate duplicated herself to help get all of the work done in the bunker with Peter's help.

As time went on, Mark was really missing his friends and wondered what they were up to in the bunker. He made a few jokes to himself about how Peter, being the oldest between two younger girls, was a genius in the body of a child. He didn't really have time because every time he sat out in the open, zombie hordes would come for him. That's exactly what he wanted to happen. Leading the hoard towards fresh food and killing them before they could get to him.

When he finished the job and finally killed the last of the zombies, and did multiple rounds around the world to check if that was indeed the case, he made his way over to the bunker in the cabin. He opened the hatch and looked down to see what looked to be darkness.

"Uh, guys?" Mark wondered if he was too late. "It's...it's done!" He then reached a hand down to see what would happen. "Hello?"

Then someone's hand did grasp him, and due to the lack of decaying skin, he could guess they were indeed human. But when they came out of the bunker, he was shocked. This was someone he never met before. She had long brown flowing hair that reached down to her shoulders. She offered a friendly smile and Peter noticed she wore an outfit similar to Dupli-Kate's but with a Spider-Man logo on the front.

"Hi." She greeted Mark. "We've never met, but we were told about you." She then came out of the bunker and raised her hand to shake. "I'm Mary."

"Is that him?" Someone asked. He sounded must more grown up than Mary, who looked to be his friends age the last that mark saw them. Then he watched as a man came out of the bunker with long hair and a beard. "Its you!" He then hugged mark like he knew him. "It's really you."

"Rudy?" Mark was starting to put it together. "What? How long was I gone?"

"20 years." Peter Parker said as he, Eve, and Kate left the bunker. "And...we've been a bit busy."

"Yeah, you have." Kate replied snarkily.

"Come on, wanna meet the rest of the family?" Peter asked, leading mark into the bunker where there was a dozen or so kids.

Everyone seemed to be going from the age of 19 all the way down to recent months. They were helping out with the colony, and it seems Eve expanded the bunker so they had more space for everyone. With Rudy being a genius, helping them understand basic concepts like math and English and anything like that weren't difficult. They've been dreaming of returning and showing their kids the surface world after so long, and now they finally have the chance.

They were what was left of the population of earth. Like it or not.