I didn't go over why I had Frost and Lizard appear in the same place, but it was mostly because the film had Ock and Goblin both on the bridge and Electro and Sandman were in the forest. So I figured since Lizard was alone, to pair him with Frost to make it even. And before you point out that Eddie and Venom appeared alone, they are technically two people (a human and a klyntar).
The climax will be split into multiple chapters (Because I felt they made sense thematically and made decent enough endings for cliffhangers), so don't expect this as the final chapter. I also have epilogues for most of the characters.
Hope you enjoy the Super Bowl tomorrow, whether as a sports fan, just want to watch the commercials (especially the rumored trailer for Deadpool 3), etc.
Also, Happy belated 50th Birthday to actor/writer Seth Green of "Robot Chicken," "Family Guy," "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer," and the "Austin Powers" Trilogy.
Chapter 11
Sometime later and across the city, Frost is finishing off a pizza she mugged from a delivery guy from Eddie's Pizza. She remembered Peter telling Caitlin about how delicious their pizzas were and that they'd get a slice when they eventually visit New York together (when they'd find vacation time from Team SpiderFlash). It's then that a nearby screen plays a report from the Daily Bugle.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Jameson began to say in his report. "The Bugle tip line has just received a call from none other than the fugitive known as Spider-Man, fresh from his rampage in Queens. So, Peter Parker, what pernicious propaganda are you peddling?"
"Just the truth," Peter said as he is video calling the Bugle from his phone.
"Oh, sure"
"The truth is…that this is all my fault."
From what I've seen these past two days, Doctor Strange and Tony Stark have a hand in what happened too. Frost thinks as she hears Jameson scoff at what Peter said.
"I accidentally brought those dangerous people here." Peter continued to say.
"Well, he admits it!" Jameson exclaims.
"And if those people are watching…just know that I really did try to help you. I mean, I could have killed you…" He said before holding up the Macchinda di Kadavus to the camera. "...at any given moment, but I didn't. 'Cause my Aunt May taught me that everyone deserves a second chance and that's why I'm here."
"And where is "here," exactly?"
"A place that represents second chances." He says as he moves the camera to reveal the face of a very familiar New York statue.
"The Statue of Liberty? Good God, folks. He's about to destroy another national landmark!"
"And world, if you're watching…"
"Believe me, the world is watching."
"Wish me luck. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man could really use some." Peter says before his video ends.
The rest of the video is just Jameson commenting on what Peter just revealed, but Frost couldn't care less about that asshole. This was her chance to get home and kill her Peter. She didn't know if Goblin's dart made her permanently Killer Frost or not. But she knew that with every breath that her Peter still took, Caitlin still won. That any of her loved ones would try to cure her. She needed to go back and finish the job that she started days ago: To finish the fight in the woods of Earth-1.
She then makes her way as far as she could by ice slide to Battery Park, where she sees Lady Liberty right in front of her (though bronze, covered in scaffolding, and holding a shield instead of her torch). Part of her knows that this has to be a trap. Even if the kid managed to fix all the cures, why would he tell everyone? Chances are that the other villains would come and Peter would be outnumbered. Hell, the only times her Peter ever defeated multiple villains at once was because he had help from Barry or someone. She then noticed one of those viewfinders near the edge of the island and a nearby young couple.
"Give me some quarters or I'll stab you with an icicle!" She says to the couple as she forms an icicle in her hand.
The couple then just throws quarters at her before running away screaming. She then uses the viewfinder to get a closer look at the Statue of Liberty. She notices near the head and upper torso of the statue scaffolding not one or two, but four Spider-Men! Ok, so he had back up, that just made it more of a challenge.
Another thought popped into her head.
Maybe they are from the same universes of the others. If that's the case, the red and black one could be my Peter!
And suddenly, that was it for her as she then ice slid her way over the New York Harbor. She was going to kill the Earth-1 Peter Parker…tonight!
"Okay guys, it could be any minute now." Peter-1 tells them, after finishing his video call to the Bugle.
"Yep, almost done." Peter-2 says (now in his Spider-Man suit, sans the mask) as he and the Spider-Men place the cures in strategic parts of Lady Liberty.
"You know, Max was like the sweetest guy ever before he fell into a pool of electric eels." Peter-3 tells them.
"That'll do it."
"I hear you; my Otto and Connors were great friends and colleagues of mine before they changed." Peter-4 tells them.
Peter-2 then winces in pain. "Mm, oh, there it goes." He says before trying to stretch. Peter-3 chuckles a little.
"Are you okay?" Peter-3 asks.
"Oh, I'm f-my back. It's kind of stiff from all the swinging, I guess."
"Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I got a middle back thing, too."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you want me to crack it?"
"Yeah, that'd be great."
"All, right." Peter-2 then goes in front of Peter-3 with his back to him. "You ready?"
"Yeah." Peter-3 then lifts Peter-2 to crack his back. "Yep, that's good."
"How is it?"
"Wow, that's good!
"Right?"
"That's better. Wow."
Peter-3 then sits down on the scaffolding, in awe of the situation
"God, this is so cool. I always wanted brothers."
"I hear you. Though a lot of my best friends I consider as brothers. But I like you guys as brothers too." Peter-4 tells them.
"Thanks, man." Peter-3 tells him as the two fistbump. Since they're waiting, Peter-3 decides to return to the subject of Peter-2's organic webs. "So you, like, make your web fluid in your body?"
"Uh, I'd rather not talk about this." Peter-2 tells him.
"No, I don't mean to-"
"But, are you teasing me?"
"No, no. He's not teasing you. It's just that…we can't do that. So, naturally, we're curious as to how your web situation works, that's all." Peter-1 assures him.
"He's right, of all the universes and doppelgängers that I've met, I've never met one that could shoot webs from their body." Peter-4 tells him.
"If it's personal, I don't wanna pry, but I just think it's cool." Peter-3 tells him.
"No. I-I wish I could tell you, but it's, like, I don't do it. Like I don't…like I don't do breathing. Like, breathing just happens." Peter-2 tells them.
"Whoa."
"Like, does it just come out of your wrists or…does it come out of anywhere else?" Peter-1 asks.
"Only…only the wrists." Peter-2 confirms.
"You never had a web block? 'Cause I run out of webs all the time. I have to make my own in a lab-" Peter-3 asks.
"Right. That's-"
"And it's a hassle compared to what you got."
"Yeah and have to keep track of how much you have or you can't web swing or stop a bad guy." Peter-4 says in agreement.
"Exactly, man."
"Sounds like a hassle and a complication to not have in battle, yeah. But I did, actually you said that. I was like, "Oh, I had a web block."" Peter-2 tells them.
"Whoa, why?"
"Existential crisis stuff."
"Yeah, I mean, don't get me started on that."
"This the same crisis that made you briefly retire?" Peter-4 asked.
"The very same."
"Hey, what are, like, some of the craziest villains that you guys have fought?" Peter-1 asks his doppelgängers.
"Seems you've met some of them"
"Heh-heh, that's a good question." Peter-3 responds.
"I've fought a lot of evil speedsters, mostly because of my partner, Barry." Peter-4 tells them.
"Yeah, I fought an alien made out of black goo once." Peter-2 tells them.
"Yeah, Venom, right? It started out as an alternate suit and slowly made you evil, but then you tried to get rid of it, only for it to bond to someone else, wanting revenge?"
"Yeah, in fact, while wearing it was when I accidentally hit Mary Jane. That's when I got rid of it and it bonded with my rival, Eddie Brock."
"Yeah, but my Eddie was a weapons dealer. It possessed him and Joe before I destroyed it. In fact, the first doppelgänger I ever met of us was a version of us that kept it, became evil, and tried to rule New York."
"Wow."
"I've fought an alien too, on earth and in space." Peter-1 tells them.
"Oh."
"He was purple."
"Yeah, read about Thanos. Still can't believe after that, that people like Jameson would turn on you. I have fought lots of aliens and fought alongside some." Peter-4 tells them.
"Really? That is awesome dude!"
"Yeah, my two friends, Kara and Clark, are from a destroyed planet called Krypton, and my other friend, J'onn, is from Mars."
"No way? Martians exist!?" Peter-3 asks.
"Yep."
"Ah man, I wanna fight an alien or be friends with an alien!"
"I'm-I'm still like that he fought an alien in space and he's friends with aliens." Peter-2 says as he is surprised by the lives of Peter-1 and 4.
Peter-3 sighs, "I'm lame compared, like, I fought a Russian guy, like, in a rhinoceros machine."
"Sounds like Rhino, he's another bad guy I've fought. But back to the "I'm lame" part, because you are not." Peter-4 tells him
"Yeah, thanks. No, I appreciate that. I'm not saying I'm lame-"
"But it's just the self-talk. Maybe we should…you know-" Peter-2 tells him.
"Listen, I-"
"You're-you're amazing. Just to take it in for a minute."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can take it in."
"He's right, you are amazing, never forget that." Peter-4 tells him.
"I can, thank you."
"You are amazing." Peter-2 repeats
"Thank you."
"Will you say it?"
"No, I kinda needed to hear that, thank you."
"Plus, you have your whole life ahead of you. There could be alien villains or allies in your universe eventually. And even if there isn't, next time there's an alien invasion in my universe, I'll find you guyses universes and ask for help." Peter-4 told them.
"Oh, thanks!"
Soon after, Spider-sense of the Spider-men tingle.
"All right, guys, focus up. You feel that." he asks them.
"Yeah." Peter-2 replies.
They see near the city, lightning striking from the clouds and producing roaring thunder. The lightning gets closer and closer.
"What's up, Peter?" Max asks before appearing in a bolt of lightning, now sporting a lot of tech on his person to give him power from the arc reactor chest piece he's wearing. "How do you like the new-new?"
Soon after, Frost jumps onto the scaffolding the three multiversal Spider-Men are on.
"Hey cutie, glad to see you again. I missed you. And look, you brought company! But don't get any ideas." She flirtatiously tells her Peter.
"Dude, that's your future wife?" Peter-3 whispers to Peter-4, who nods.
"I don't want to hurt you Frost." He tells the woman he loves.
"Oh come on, Spider, at least give me a challenge!" She replies.
"Look, who showed up, my old friend, Spider-man. But as for you, kid, give me the cube, cause I'm going to destroy it." Max tells Peter-1 and 3 before laughing. "But I'll let you live. Don't make me a murderer, Peter."
"What? I have to get home before they cure us, you fool!" Frost tells Max.
"Well then, let's destroy his cures! Permanently this time!"
Peter-1 then takes the Macchinda di Kadavus and dives off of Lady Liberty's head as Max follows
"Okay, guys, here he comes." Peter-1 tells his doppelgängers.
The four put on their masks and the multiversal three jump and dodge a cold blast from Killer Frost. Peter-3 jumps towards Max.
"Hey, Max, I missed you, man!" He tells him before dodging a bolt of lightning from Electro.
"All right, MJ, heads up!" Peter-1 tells his girlfriend as he throws the Macchinda di Kadavus to an open portal from the science lab that MJ and Ned are in.
"Got it! Close it." MJ tells Ned after catching the cube.
Peter-4 swings by as he dodges Killer Frost's attacks and notices that the two teens are having trouble closing the portal. He then notices Doctor Curt Connors in his Lizard form, emerging from the water onto the island. Meanwhile, Peter-3 continues to dodge Max's attacks.
"Max, Max, Max! Can we talk for a second? Just you and me, just talk? I'm trying to save you, Max. That's all I've ever wanted!" He asks.
"He's right, we want to save you, Frost!" Peter-4 tells Frost.
"You don't want to save me, you just want to cure me so you can have your girlfriend back!" Frost yells as she continues to chase and kill her Spider.
"Yeah, you're not trying to save us." Max replies.
"No, we are" Peter-3 tries to reassure him.
"You ain't even the shit no more." Peter-3 sighs, a little aggravated that he's not getting Max to agree with him. "Don't worry about me, I'll save myself." He then starts to glow as he's charging his electricity and then yells before sending him a lightning bolt, "Burn up!"
Peter-3 starts to dodge and swing away from Max's attacks.
"Whoa, well, I got his attention, now what!?"
"Same for Frost!" Peter-4 tells his doppelgängers.
"Ok, great!" Peter-2 tells them as he now has the lizard hanging from his leg as he's swinging, trying to attack him. "Just FWI, lizard guy's here too." He then manages to kick Lizard off him as the two land on a crane and dodges his attacks. "Guys, comm check? Hello?"
"I need Max's cure!" Peter-3 tells them over the comms.
"Yeah, I'm on it!" Peter-1 replies.
"Peter, I need the Lizard cure!" Peter-2 tells them over the comms
"I can get it! Looks like teen Peter has a problem. The Sandman, he comes!" Peter-4 tells them as Peter-1 is running from a giant sand hand that soon grabs him.
"Was that a Metallica reference?" Peter-3 asks over the comms.
"Where's the box, Peter?" Flint asks Peter-1 after forming a giant head next to the giant hand.
"Flint, we can help everyone." Peter-1 tries to persuade him.
"I don't care!"
The four Spider-Men are trying and failing to win their fights, with some of their attacks accidentally affecting the other Spider-Men. Peter-1 tries to pull the crane down on top of Flint with a web line, but Peter-3 accidentally breaks the line by swinging into it while avoiding Max. Peter-3 then tries to shoot a web blast at Max, only to have it land on the face of Peter-2's mask.
"Sorry." Peter-3 apologizes
"Gross." Peter-2 says while pulling the web off his face.
"Sad to tell you, Sandman, nobody is going home." Max tells Flint as he fires a blast at Peter-3, but dodges it.
However the blast hits the crane and it falls towards Flint's arm, releasing Peter-1 and trapping Lizard under the fallen crane. Peter-3 tries to dodge more of Max's lightning, but one does hit him, sending Peter-3 into the scaffolding. Meanwhile, Flint uses the sand trucks on the ground to make him grow larger causing a sand storm to surround the Statue of Liberty.
"Your friends kinda suck at teamwork!" Frost jests.
"They're just not used to working with others like I am, including Spider-Men!" Peter-4 tells her before sending a web blast to her face, temporarily subduing her as he joins his fellow Spider-Men. The four take off their masks to catch their breaths and take a quick reprieve to recuperate.
"What the hell is going on out there? I keep yelling at you, Peter-2!" Peter-3 tells Peter-2.
"But, I thought you were Peter-2?" Peter-2 asks.
"What? I'm not Peter-2!"
"Stop arguing, both of you! Listen to Peter-1!" Peter-1 yells at them.
"Makes sense, we're in your universe." Peter-4 agrees.
"Thank you. Now look, we're clearly not very good at this."
"I know, I know, we suck! I-I don't know how to work as a team!" Peter-3 exclaims.
"Me neither." Peter-2 tells him.
"Well, I do, I've been in a team, okay? I don't want to brag, but I will. I was in the Avengers." Peter-1 tells them.
""The Avengers?"" Peter-2 asks.
"Yeah."
"That's great!"
"Thank you."
"What is that?"
"Wait, you don't have The Avengers?"
"Is that a band? Are you in a band?" Peter-3 asks.
"No, I'm not in a band! The Avengers is-uh…"
"They're a team of superheroes. In this universe, there's more people fighting crime with superpowers or great skills than just him. Same for my world, but we call ourselves the Justice League. I already told you guys I work with my speedster friend Barry to save our city and after I cure Frost, she joins us and becomes a hero." Peter-4 tells them.
"Fighting crime with your wife? That's the dream!" Peter-3 replies.
"Yeah, I've also worked with other multiversal doppelgängers and other Spider-people, like a doppelgänger of your late girlfriend."
"Whoa, Gwen's Spider-Man-uh, Spider-Woman?"
"The point is, me and him," Peter-1 says as he points to himself and Peter-4, "have been on teams and know how to work with others. All we gotta do is focus and trust our Spider-sense and coordinate our attacks, okay?"
"Yes." Peter-2 agrees. "Okay, let's pick one target."
"Right."
"We take them off the board, one at a time." Peter-3 says.
"Now you got it. Ok," Points to himself, "Peter-1," points to Peter-2 "Peter-2…"
"Peter-2." Peter-2 agrees.
"...Peter-3…"
"Peter-3!" Peter-3 agrees with his arms up in exaggerated joy.
"...and Peter-4!"
"Sure, okay." Peter-4 said.
"Wait, shouldn't he be "Peter-2?"" Peter-2 asks as he points to Peter-4. "I get why you're in charge since we're in your home universe, but he seems to have the most experience and would make for a better second in command."
"Thanks, but I don't mind being "Peter-4." We're at the home stretch either way."
"Okay, then."
"Alright, let's do this. Ready?" Peter-1 asked them.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Peter-3 says before putting his arms around his doppelgängers. "I love you guys!"
It's a little awkward for Peter-1 and 2, but they say in unison, "Thank you."
Peter-4 smiles and lets out a small laugh. "I love you too, man! And I'm serious about asking for help next time there's an alien invasion on my Earth."
"Alright, let's do this." Peter-1 says.
"Let's go!" Peter-3 agrees.
The four Spider-Men then put their masks back on and then run off the scaffolding and swing up to Lady Liberty's crown, to face the villains head on.
Part 1 of the climax out of the way.
In case it's obvious. Garfield is one of my favorite Spider-men and that's partly why he and Peter-4 seem more like buddies than the others in this story.