Stephen was currently in Las Vegas and entered the Hotel Inferno, a casino for demons, and visited the one responsible for Peter's recent troubles, Mephisto.

Mephisto smiled as he entered the room. "I was wondering when you would show up, Stephen."

"Let's skip the pleasantries, Mepshisto; you know why I'm here," said Stephen.

"Ah, to assist a mutual acquaintance of ours."

"I want you to release your hold on Peter Parker; you have no right to meddle in his life," said Stephen bluntly.

"Stephen, you know full well that Peter made a deal with me."

"An alternate version of him made a deal with you," Stephen corrected. "This current reality of Peter Parker made no such a deal with you."

"Believe me, Stephen, finding a loophole was not easy; you can't expect me to toss away all that work and effort. Besides, you know that I make deals with those who are willing to offer something."

"Only when they feel they have no other choice," Stephen glared.

Mephisto smiled. "My hands are completely tied; even if I wanted to, there's nothing I can do at the present moment. However, I will offer an olive branch if you want to play a little game with me."

Stephen narrowed his eyes.

The night that MJ's new movie premiere was about to be shown for the first time was tonight. Though they had to leave Annie with Aunt May, she, Peter, and the girls were making their way across the red carpet towards the showcase.

She was glad Peter finally had a chance to relax; ever since that mess with Harry, he hadn't been himself. The Web Warriors insisted that Peter took some time off, and Gwen was more than happy to lead them for the time being.

She, however, had not mentioned that the director of her new movie was, in fact, Mysterio. Apparently, he was brought back into their universe after the Secret Wars, but he turned over a new leaf now.

"Can't wait to see your new movie, MJ," Peter smiled as he wrapped his arm around hers.

"Trust me, Tiger, you'll love it," MJ smiled.

"What's it about, Mommy?" May asked.

"Oh, I don't want to spoil it for you, Hotshot," MJ smiled.

"Nothing worse in life than spoilers," said Mysterio, who was under the guise of Cage Mcknight. "I must say, Mary Jane, your daughters are adorable."

"We get a lot," April smiled.

"Your mother tells me that you wish to become an actress," said Mysterio.

April nodded excitedly.

Eventually, they made their way inside, but trouble brewed almost instantly. Just before the film started, a whole mess of supervillains tore into the place. There were far too many to count. Peter recognised a number of them to know they belonged to him.

During this mess, Peter also discovered that Cage was, in fact, Mysterio, and MJ admitted that she knew this all along. During the scuffle, Mysterio kidnapped MJ and the girls; he was then knocked out by a clone, Otto Octavius. Apparently, his clone managed to survive the Clone Conspiracy ordeal.

When Peter regained consciousness, he found himself in Kindred's lair, where the demon began to beat him up again.

"Did you really think you would get so easy, old friend," said Harry. "I have many surprises for you in store."

He then showed him a set of mirrors, one showing MJ and the girls with Mysterio and another a beaten-up Norman Osborn. Peter still couldn't understand why Harry was doing this even under a demon's influence; he had even informed Liz or his mother.

"But I should keep you all to myself," said Harry. "We have several guests who wish to play with you."

Then, he entered the room, where another group of villains began attacking him.

At the Nest, Teresa had summoned the Web Warriors, informing them of the recent attacks.

"I know Peter's bad guys like to join up, but this seems a little overboard," said Flash.

"And perfectly timed," Ben added.

"Something is definitely going on with Peter, and not just him but MJ as well," said Cindy.

Miles looked at Gwen. "Gwen, you come from an alternate reality. Did something like this happen before?"

"Yes," she nodded. "And I'm afraid the demon behind this is the same one trying to break apart Peter and MJ's marriage."

"And you didn't see fit to inform us because…?" said Teresa.

"Because, like it or not, this is going to be Peter and MJ's fight," she said.

"That doesn't mean we leave them out to dry," said Flash.

"And I agree, but unfortunately, it is up to Peter and MJ to deal with Kindred," said Gwen. "But that doesn't mean that everyone else is fair game."

"I couldn't agree more," said a voice.

They turned and were rather surprised to find Otto had somehow entered the Nest.

"Octavius?" Ben yelled, and everyone immediately took up battle positions around him. "How did you find this place, and more importantly, how did you get in?"

"I still have a trace amount of Peter's DNA; it was enough to enter this facility," said Otto, looking around, somewhat impressed. "I must say I am quite impressed with your setup here."

"So glad you're impressed, but that doesn't explain what you're doing here," said Gwen.

"I led him here," said a new voice, and they were even more surprised to find Anna Marie.

"Anna?" Gwen stared. "Okay, we need an explanation."

"Believe it or not, I'm here to help," said Otto. "That same demon you mentioned earlier tried to make a deal with me, but I remember what you said, demons and their deals, and they refused him. Instead, he turned to my clone, promising him if he got rid of the Parkers, he would replace me."

"So you're only here to save yourself," said Flash, looking disgusted.

"Believe it or not, Thomson, I do owe Parker," said Otto. "Additionally, I refuse to have a big facsimile of myself running amok."

Gwen looked at him. "So what do we do?"

Otto smile. "I'm so glad you are."

Meanwhile, MJ and the girls were in Kindred's clutches, who was now forcing her to watch Peter fight for his life as if it were a film.

"We really should have bought some popcorn," said Kindred.

MJ looked at the girls, who were utterly terrified as they watched their father getting beaten up.

"Bad enough you dragged me into this, but you have to bring the girls to watch this horror show?" MJ glared.

"Didn't want to have them miss out."

"Harry, what is the matter with you?" MJ cried. "You and Peter already made up years ago. Why bring up old wounds now?"

"I'm afraid I'm not exactly who you think I am," said Kindred and then removed his mask.

MJ gasped, thirsty for Gwen, but then realised it was Sarah, her daughter.

"Aunti Gwen?" May frowned.

"Oh, I'm not your auntie; in fact, her daughter," said Sarah. "All that's when I was thought to believe."

"What to do you mean?" MJ frowned.

"I was never her daughter or Norman's, for that matter, which I suppose I should be grateful for," he said bitterly.

"I don't understand?" MJ asked, confused. "Instantly remember me and Gwen talking about it."

"Actually, that conversation never happened because you were under hypnosis, thanks to Mysterio," Sarah explained. "I'm surprised my so-called mother didn't tell you; I admit I was surprised to find that she was alive and Ghost Spider, for that matter, but I had to keep on appearances."

"I thought Gwen just didn't want to talk about it," said MJ. "That said, I did find it hard to believe that she and Norman had an affair."

"Yes, but Norman believed it just as much as you did, as he, too, was under hypnosis orchestrated by his son."

MJ's eyes widened. "Harry did this?"

"Oh, it wasn't just him, but Norman's former business partner Mendell Stromm along with Mysterio and Chameleon. They had agreed quite a number of times before they finally got it right. Then they set us loose with those implanted memories to toy with Peter and Norman."

"But why would Harry do this?"

"This was back when he became the Green Goblin, but then he forgot everything, which brings us to the present. Unfortunately, the cloning process is incomplete, which means my brother and I are still ageing rapidly."

"But you still look the same," said MJ.

"And that is thanks to the Chameleon's technology," she said.

She then revealed her true face, which caused both May and April to scream. Her face looked exactly like Kaine's when he was suffering from cellular degeneration.

"Both me and my brother have been suffering endless torment every time we died and moulded to become what we are today."

"Wait, if it was you all this time, then where's the real Harry?"

"Don't worry, he's alive; we just wanted him out of the way for a while so he didn't ruin things, but once this mess is over, we will deal with him afterwards. Then he can suffer the same tormentors us."

"What do you mean?" MJ asked.

"Because his soul belongs to a demon."

Harry was currently in some sort of cell, but we had yet to learn how he got there. He only knew he wasn't alone as Carlie was there, and she explained what happened.

"And next thing I know, I'm here," she said.

"So Pete thinks I've gone crazy again?" Harry moaned.

"Yeah, I was going through the corpses that Kindred dug up, and I spotted something unusual on my Webware," she said. "There were trace amounts of DNA, but they didn't belong to the corpse. I first thought it belonged to you when I looked in closer. The DNA closely resembled that of Gwen. I tried calling MJ, but then I was grabbed. The next thing I knew, I was here."

Harry could sympathise; he had taken a long trip to Europe to finally get some relaxation when he was suddenly kidnapped himself.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Carlie asked.

"I think I do, and if so, it's all my fault," said Harry.

"Well, we need to get out here and tell people that there is an impostor running around pretending to be you."

"I've been trying to get out ever since I woke up, but these bars have been reinforced. I can't break them."

"Come on, you're a smart guy. Surely you can think of something."

"We don't have anything that can…" He stopped when he saw Carlie's Webware. "You're still wearing your Webware."

Carlie blinked. "I know, but something is jamming, and I can't call for help."

"I wasn't thinking about calling someone, but it might just help us get out of here."

Carlie handed him her Webware. "What do you plan to do with it?"

"I might cause a small explosion with the electronics in it, enough to break us out of here."

"You think it'll be strong enough?"

"Only one way to find out."

"And you're sure it's going to kill us?"

"Don't worry, the explosion will be nearly that powerful."

"Somehow, that's not entirely reassuring."

Peter, meanwhile, was still fighting against all of these villains. He tried to split them up to take them down into smaller chunks, but no matter what he did, more just appeared.

"It's all over for you, Spider-Man," said Doctor Octopus gleefully. "Oh, how long I waited for this opportunity."

"Afraid you might be waiting a little longer," said a voice.

Then, suddenly jumped into the fray with the Web Warriors, and even more surprising, Otto was with them.

"We've got your back, Spidey!" Flash yelled as he punched Scorpion.

"Take this impostor!" Otto yelled, slamming into his clone.

"What are you guys doing?" Peter asked.

"What's it look like the evening the odds," said Cindy as she fired some webbing at White Rabbit.

"We're a team; perhaps during this malarkey, you forgot about that," said Teresa as she blasted Vulture.

"Otto, you got everything you needed?" Gwen asked as he wrestled with Kraven.

"I have exactly what I need," said Otto as he grabbed a centipede.

He then paced it against some sort of device, and immediately, all the villains cried out in pain and collapsed.

"What did you do?" Peter stared. "Are they—"

"Relax, Parker, they're fine," said Otto. "Kindred was controlling them with the centipedes; I've nearly eradicated them inside their minds. They are no longer controlled by him. That said, most of them still no doubt want to see you dead."

"I do not to say," said Peter, stunned.

"You can consider us even," said Otto, then swung off.

"Still think that guy is a jerk," said Ben.

"Jerk, no, he did save the day," said Cindy, turning to Peter. "Now I think your wife is waiting for you. We can take these guys into custody."

"I'm coming with," said Gwen. "There's a few things I need to tell you."

They immediately swung over to the crypt, where they planned to use the mirror to transport themselves to Kindred's new base. On the way, Gwen admitted that she never had an affair with Norman.

"Wait, so you, Norman, never—"

"No, we did not," said Gwen. "I can't believe you thought we did."

"I did find it strange, but when I saw Sarah and Gabriel, what was I supposed to think?" said Peter. "But why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I have a good idea who we're up against."

They used the mirror to transport themselves to Kindred's base, which was somewhere in Paris. Peter was still rather unsteady on his feet after battling against so many villains by himself for so long; he was grateful that Gwen was with him.

However, no sooner had they arrived than Kindred attacked them and sent them flying into the abandoned mansion. Peter saw MJ and the girls jumping out of the mirror and rushing over to him.

"MJ, is that you?" Peter asked.

MJ answered this question by kissing him on the lips. "Does that answer your question, Tiger?"

The girls immediately hugged Peter.

"It was so worried about you, Daddy!" May cried.

"We saw you getting beat up by those bad guys," said April.

"Take more than that to beat old man," Peter smiled.

"Not to ruin the moment, but you better get clear!" a voice yelled.

They looked up and were rather surprised to see Norman.

"Norman, what are you doing here?" Peter asked.

"Coming to terms with my own sins," he said. "But we should move. We're still in danger."

"All the bad guys are taking care of Kindred is the only one remaining," said Peter.

"And that's where you're wrong. It's not just one…" Then suddenly, smashing through the roof, were two kindreds, Gabriel and Sarah. "…there's two of them!"

"How can there be two of them?" Peter stared.

"It's a long story, and we can explain it once we survive this," said MJ, looking at the girls. You do get to safety. I'm going to help your father."

"As I," said Gwen.

Then suddenly, there was an explosion, and Harry was flying on a glider, wielding a collection of bombs. "You can count me in too!"

"Harry?" Peter stared confused. "Okay, I need an explanation, and I need it now."

"Peter, their Stacy twins," said Harry.

Peter looked at Gwen. "Is this what you meant earlier?"

Gwen nodded and looked at the twins, removing her mask. "Sarah! Gabriel! You don't have to do this!"

"Oh yes, we do, mother," Gabriel spat. "All this time, you will live and never even bother to tell us."

"I had to keep my identity a secret," said Gwen. "I tried to find you after the Secret War, but you had completely vanished."

"Well, it's too late to play the loving mother part," said Sarah.

"Don't blame her," said Norman. "All this is my fault, I groomed the two of you to eliminate my greatest enemy. I used your weapons to make you believe that he was your father and he killed your mother."

"And as it turned out, when nothing more than empty costs to be discarded," said Sarah, glaring at Harry. "By you."

Peter looked at Harry, shocked. "What do they mean?"

"Pete, I'm sorry I just discovered this myself; in my madness, I wanted to hurt you and my father, so I created them. I even tried MJ into this to make it more believable."

"And now the truth is finally revealed," said Sarah.

"But I wasn't the one who activated them after my death, and neither was my father," said Harry. "The AI that I designed to teach them was hijacked by Mephisto all to get you, Pete."

"But you will have created the AI that hadn't been for me," said Norman. "I was jealous of the success of my business partner, and in a moment of weakness, he came before me and offered me a deal. In exchange for full control over my company, I treated the soul of my firstborn child, you, Harry; that is why your entire life has been miserable. Mephisto came before me just after the Civil War; he was offering to spare your soul if I destroyed the Parkers, but if I failed, my soul would be his to claim. I agreed on the circumstance that he would no longer influence your soul, which he agreed."

Harry stared at him. "Dad, is this true?"

Norman looked at him apologetically. "It is. I am so sorry, Harry."

"Lies!" Sarah and Gabriel yelled.

"It's the truth," said Norman.

"Then killing your beloved son is the best way to punish you!" Sarah yelled.

Peter and MJ tried to help, but Gabriel wrapped his centipede tendrils around them and knocked Gwen aside. They could only watch as Sarah shot her centipede tentacle straight at Harry, but at the last moment, Norman pushed him aside and took the blow.

"Dad!" Harry cried.

Norman smiled. "I'm sorry that I was never the father you needed. Promise me you do better. Peter, Mary Jane, Gwen, him, I'm so sorry for everything I did. I hope one day you can forgive me."

His body then went limp, and Harry yelled with absolute fury and charged at the twins. However, Sarah then wrapped her tentacles around Harry and Gwen as she tried to jump in. Gabriel then threw Peter and MJ across the room, and rubble fell on top of them.

At the demon casino, both Stephen and Mephisto watch the events unfold.

"It looks like we're coming to the end of our little game, and it looks like you will lose a Strange," said Mephisto, smiling satisfactorily.

"The game is not over yet, demon. Do not forget, like you, I'm entitled to two champions," Stephen reminded him.

"Both Peter and Mary Jane are trapped; Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn are at the mercy of my champions; you have no one left."

Stephen then smiled. "Now, ever said that they were my champions?"

Both Peter and MJ were trapped in the rubble, and it looked as if they had failed. Then suddenly, the rubble above them began to move on, and to their surprise, they saw both May and April offering their hands.

"We got you!" said April.

"We're here to save the day," said May.

"May! April! We told you to hide!" Peter yelled as they helped them out.

"You could have gotten yourself killed," said MJ.

"We couldn't let you die," said May.

"We're family; we support one another," April smiled.

Peter couldn't help but be proud of the two of them. "Then let's do this as a family."

However, when they turn to face the twins, their bodies began to disintegrate, and they released both Harry and Gwen.

"There is no need; you've already won," said Sarah. "And in so doing so, you saved us as well."

The two collapsed, and Gwen instantly rushed over to them.

"I'm sorry I was never there for you, both of you," Gwen smiled.

Sarah looked at her. "You're here now, Mom."

Tears began to trickle down from Gwen's eyes. "Know no matter what, I'll always love you!"

They then watched as the two of them disintegrated. Harry knelt beside his father, and he, too, began to cry.

"Well played, sorcerer," said Mephisto, not looking too pleased with the outcome.

"You will honour your agreement?" Stephen asked.

"Yes, Harry Osborn's soul is now three, along with the Stacy twins," said Mephisto grudgingly. "Awesome; since you have managed to rescue Harry Osborn, my contract with Norman Osborn has been rendered mute, so I no longer have access to his son."

"And the Parkers?" Stephen asked.

"Freed from my influence."

"Then our business is concluded," said Stephen.

"You know this is only a temporary setback; I still have plans for the future," said Mephisto.

"Yes, but what you feared most has only strengthened their bond, making it unbreakable thanks to your arrogance. I may not know what the future holds, but I know that love always finds a way."

Once everyone was back in New York, they held a funeral for Norman; unsurprisingly, not many people showed up.

Harry looked at his father's tombstone. "Dad, I wish things could have been different between us."

Peter then placed a hand on his shoulder. "At least he was there for you at the very end."

Harry looked at Peter. "Pete, I'm so sorry for everything."

"You weren't yourself," said Peter. "Now we have a chance to make a new future, and I think it's going to be a bright one."

Peter then made his way over to MJ, who was waiting for him.

"You're right, Tiger?" she asked.

"With you by my side, how can I not be?" Peter smiled.

"Then there's no way ever going to leave yourself."

The two of them then kissed.

I'm marking this story as complete, but I'm very welcome back to continue the story, and this was the perfect moment to pause to give the comics a chance to spread out.

I am also coming up with several other projects involving Spider-Man, one being my own series and another a sequel to this story where Peter's children grow up. When I'll get around to these, I cannot say, but this will not be the last you hear of Spider-Man.