= Chapter 189. The Final Round. Part 4. Explanation =
Commentary on Chapter 189. Final Round. Part 4. Explanation If anyone would like to support your favourite and invaluable author with deeds rather than words (although I appreciate comments with your detailed opinion no less), you are welcome to do so: 5469980470822129 - Sber - Here we are," Unknown spoke up.
Once again, another postponement.
- I'm sorry about your son.
I look up.
It's the same picture.
A stone floor, a throne made of the same material at the end of the hall, spatial violet-purple swirls at the walls, clad in golden threads.
Something has changed...
- Benji's death was a necessity.
I turn round and look directly at the Unimaginable.
The same Golden armour. Deep purple hood. The distorted voice.
But the posture isn't as confident now.
- 'Say that again and I'll make you choke on those words,' I say slowly, moving towards my opponent.
He's the adversary and now I don't care at all about other options.
My son is dead because of him.
The suit is in shreds.
Benji's dead!
I clench my fist.
He's gonna pay.
All of them.
- Wait," Knight put his palms forward in a placating gesture.
I raise my hand and strike.
I'm not holding back.
- Calm down? - The hood is gone.
Now a golden helmet with an anthracite glass surface stares back at me. With a spider web of cracks. Chipped.
One more.
I can't hold back.
I punch as hard as I can.
I feel the rest of the glove material tearing away from my shattered knuckles.
- All right, that's enough!
The unknown man raises his palm.
A faint ripple passes through the air.
And I'm back in the same spot from which I was viewing the hall.
The swirls in the web are just as monotonous.
The Unimaginable still stands at the throne.
- You needed to vent your anger," he adjusted his cloak and turned back to the threads of the web. - More mentally than physically.
Something in him had changed.
- You're rolling back time," I picked myself up off the floor. - You command reality, don't you?! - I walk quickly to the Knight.
- It's not that simple," the Unknown sighs and turns his helmet half-turned towards me. - Please don't do anything stupid, or I'll have to do it again.
- Then do it! - I spread my arms out. - Here's an even better idea: Give me back my son!
- No," the Knight shook his head. - Even if I wanted to... You saw what happened to Benji's body. I suspect he went back to his own time. To his world.
- Wait," I stopped abruptly. - Are you telling me Benji's... alive?
My fingers are tingling.
My heart is pounding fast, loud, like it's surrounded by a vise that might be about to spasm.
An emotion far deeper than hate and larger than any despair.
Hope.
- 'I... I can't say for sure,' the Unimaginable answered slowly. - I'm sorry.
And, just as quickly as that spark had flared, just as quickly it went out.
But it was enough time for my mind to no longer be completely consumed by emotion.
At least for idiotic reactions.
Falling to my knees and staring blankly at the floor.
- How did I let this happen, how did I let...
- You did everything you could to protect your son," Knight raised his palm to his helmet and for the first time I heard his real voice and not the programme-altered brittle electronics. It was muffled, but not artificial. - Trust me, I know.
He removed his helmet and a middle-aged man stood before me. Slightly overgrown brown hair, a faint trace of grey at the temples. It feels like it's been tinted to add solidity rather than a real sign of age. It doesn't fit what I'm seeing.
The eyes are deep brown, with a slight gradient of speckles from grey-grey-blue to muted greenish. And they're flared with a maddening tiredness...
His face looks haggard, his cheeks sunken, but there's a barely perceptible smirk playing on his lips, completely out of contrast with what's splashed in his tired eyes.
- You know, it amuses me how much you think about reality in detail," the brown man smiled at the corner of his lips and waved his index finger. - Though, given the specifics of the world's existence from our perspective... - the man sighed. - Tell me, why do some people have to chew everything straight? To sprinkle in details, to outline the surrounding space? - he pressed his palms together. - Why can't we give, well, thirty or forty per cent to their imagination? - The knight put his fingers to his temple.
- Probably because some people like such details," I answered, scrutinising my interlocutor. - They fascinate them, enchant them, create a complete picture of another world, completely different from reality... But we are not here to organise a lecture on writing, right?
- Huh, yeah right," he set his helmet aside on the seat of the throne and looked at me. - I think you already have a couple of guesses about who I am, but let me dispel your doubts. Yes, I am you.
- Another alternative, just like those two," I sighed, massaging my temples.
- No," the doppelganger shook his head negatively. - I'm you. Not in a metaphorical, spiritual, rhetorical, poetic, or any other sense," the brown-haired man threw back his cloak for lack of use. - I, am you. Only older by twenty-five years. That's why you could sense my disposition, our Sense synergised perfectly, and that's why I was never a real threat to you," he smiled sadly again. - Not to you.
- That's impossible," I duplicate the gesture, not believing what he said.
- How big do you think the scale of all this is? - The doppelganger suddenly turned away and pointed to the swirls of space behind him. - The Marvel Universe, other dimensions, the Web of Life and Destiny," he began to list. - There's more than one side open, Peter, or Dan, if you still don't believe what he said, though," the brown-haired man held out his palm, "the others knew it too, okay," he sighed. - Mary gave birth to Mayday and Benji on the 15th of February, 2014, between 19:37 and 22:38, we swore then that we would never forget the time of their birth. Fey gave birth to Walt and Lissy at 2am. 29 October 2014... Or rather Raj and I had a lot of help. It still gives me goosebumps just remembering that we could have lost Kitten that way, right?
- Enough! - I pressed my open palms to my temples. - Just stop talking! Shut up for one second!
And he did stop talking.
I evened out my breathing, secretly thinking about what I'd said.
Those two didn't survive this, they had lives of their own. And I don't feel like I'm lying. My gut is silent. My instincts don't say anything.
He's too honest.
Or a really good liar.
- You were talking about scale," I say in a parched voice.
- How about some water? - I asked you nicely... Я.
- Tell me, - I raise my eyes at the double.
The interlocutor only sighed, but nodded affirmatively.
- Do you remember how many so-called "canons" we studied? - The knight began to curl his fingers. - Universe 616 is the cradle of everything, film and cartoon adaptations. Cartooning in general opened the idea of the so-called "Spider Meta-Multiverse", the name, by the way, is patented," the man thought. - The best example of what I'm talking about would probably be Peter from Insomniacs. Remember when he appeared in Spidergedon with the returning Heirs? And then in Sony's Spiderverse. Different Spider Universe, one Spider.
- It could very well be a different Spider from Insomniac, you said it yourself, there's a lot of canon and they get confused themselves, not knowing how to set things up properly.
- What if it's not human error? What if it's not confusion and inability to demonstrate a certain relationship due to the alienation of copyright or their own proudly constructed canons? - The brown-haired man looked at me with a penetrating gaze. - It's much more complex and deeper than the usual human pursuit of profit, Peter. And it starts here," he turned to the swirls again. - The web. It's perfect. Infinite. It has no inhibitions or limitations. It permeates all of existence, the entire multiverse, the entire meta-universe, every dimension and every world," Spider squeezed his palm. - Hence the references, the hints, the realisations in other media. It's so much bigger than any Weaver, any Nate, any reconciled world Spider who managed to access the threads, if he's a spider at all... Or any screenwriters idea," the brown-haired man looked at the swirls. - She doesn't care about the assignment of land numbers, the contradictions of characters and events, the Web of Life and Fate connecting a bridge, and the ropes running across that bridge... just ropes.
- Why are you telling me all this?
My head is beginning to swell with these information layers...
- To make you understand," the Knight turned to me. - Events go as they go, everything... EVERYTHING we know, everything we've been familiar with, it's all there, it exists," the brown-haired man pointed at the Web. - There. All the retcons, rollbacks, corrections, attempts to fit a single concept - circus! Events happen, dimensions are born, interfering with this process is just silly games. If something happened, it exists. The genie cannot be driven back into the bottle, and we are a perfect proof of that too.
I'm trying to concentrate on everything he's saying.
This speech is like an incoherent stream, but I'm trying to keep my hooks in.
- As an example," and he keeps going on. - "One more day." Prime Peter's throwback to the days before marriage, infantile again, where guilt outweighs responsibility, always running and trying to do the right thing, only failures in life, so folksy, kids love, kids will buy," the doppelganger grinned. - But we've seen what he was, what he can be, that's why retcons don't play such a role for us.
- Okay. Stop," I rubbed the bridge of my nose. - I know what you're saying, I've thought about it many times myself, but what does this have to do with you? What does it have to do with me?!
- The web is endless, like I said, and it chooses its champions," the man put his hands behind his back, "you know that too. Annie Parker, Cindy Moon, baby Benji... Prime Peter. They have their roles. But they're not the only ones with a specific purpose," he pressed his palm to his chest. - Our totemic essence, our inner core. What we are. Who we are.
It is through your connection to the Web of Life and Destiny.
You are intimately connected to it. The Web has Guardians. Have you learnt anything about your role?
Have you learnt anything about yourself? - There's the Weaver," I swallow the saliva I've collected. - Bride, Other, Descendant, Seers, Caretaker, Chosen One," I raise my head. - Who are you?
- I guessed," the brown-haired man closed his eyes. - When we first met, you were quite right in choosing my nickname, your senses guided you on the right path.
- Knight?
- My role," the Unimaginable nodded. - The Eternal Guardian. The one to keep safe. Vigilant Guardian. Protector," he spread his arms out to the sides. - This dimension, the Silent Ones, is but a seeping shadow of the neighbourhood of the world of Dormammu, place is not essential, Peter," the brown-haired man began to approach me. - You are. You've been important all this time," he stopped in front of me. - Just as I was important when I stood here, after the battle with Irresponsible and Zanuda, when I listened to this story for the first time," the Knight put a hand on my shoulder. - The circle always closes, Peter. And we take turns.
I felt like I'd been kicked in the arse.
My eyes are blurred.
I'm staying on my feet by sheer force of will.
- I know it's shocking," the doppelganger nodded. - I know how you feel, because I've been where you are. But this is what we were meant to do from the beginning," the brown-haired man released my hand and took a few steps back. - It's a destiny, kid, and you need to embrace it. Our Power. Our Responsibility.
- So...destiny? - I look up at the Unimaginable. - Is this what it's all about? All... ALL the experiences we've had? Who we met... who we saved... Your son's death? - I point to the space around me. - For this?
- I'm sorry," the man said genuinely sympathetically. - But there are always sacrifices to be made.
And that made me angry.
- Benji's dead.
- Maybe...
- In my arms," I lifted my hands. My fingers are trembling. - My son died because of my own alternative, brought here by you, like all of us. ON MY HANDS. For me to take over some fucking baton?!
- They were echoes, our copies, who were simply incapable of accepting such responsibility," Knight sighed. - Too violent, too greedy, too weak, too broken. But good tools.
- Were they really my only alternatives?
- Of course they weren't. But the only ones who had the skill or ability to be useful in your test. To deal with alternate realities at all.
I shut up, accepting the newly discovered facts.
Think, dull your emotions.
You've already failed your son anyway.
So don't let his sacrifice become meaningless.
- You said you closed the circle when you were in my place," I said, raising my eyes to my companion.
- That's right," the Knight nodded.
- What happened to the other you?
- He did his duty, - the man averted his eyes. - And retired.
- You're certainly not talking about a pension in Florida...
- He disintegrated, transmitting the energy that all Knights must have," the brown-haired man explained reluctantly, pointing to the spatial swirls. - The power that must be wielded to control the Thread.
- And you go down this path so easily? Are you willing to accept death with humility? - I shake my head in the negative. - I would not.
- I realise it's the fear in you.
- Fear? FEAR?! What about Mary and Fey?! - I'm interrupting myself. - Our babies!? Aunty May, Cain, Ben, Delia, our family... OUR life?!
- And selfishness," the doppelganger sighed. - Stop reasoning like a child and think! - the man tapped his temple. - The threats will keep coming, and we... we need you to keep things running!
- To keep the machinery turning..." I took a few steps back. - You can't make me do that, can you? - I can see the way he's squirming. - If I could, I would have done it by now.
- It has to be purely voluntary," he explained grudgingly, and then his eyes flashed a red spark. - But that doesn't mean I can't keep you here until the end of time unless you agree.
And after those words, I finally put the puzzle together.
- "You can't," I say in astonishment.
- What?" The brown man arched an eyebrow. And his pupils dilated.
- The swirls have gotten darker since we first got here," I point to the space at the end of the hall, "the cobwebs have faded a few tones since we started talking. Everything's fading.
- What if it's me? What if I'm creating this illusion? The appearance of actually realising something?
- Always listen to your gut," I repeat the words that have become my mantra. - Even you can't fool me if I listen.
- Who'd have thought you'd be aided by keen eyesight? - The brown-haired man hummed, nervously fixing his hair.
Just like I do.
- I'll disagree.
- Then let me tell you what's going to happen," the Unimaginable looked up at me tiredly. - This isn't the first time we've been through all this, Peter, and you're not the first person who's decided to be stubborn in your own way.
The Unimaginable moved his palm and the space changed.
I saw a bedroom. My old bedroom.
That night...
That night.
- Why...
My question is interrupted when a teenager in pyjamas wakes up, jerking out of bed.
Tries to blink. Doesn't know what's wrong with his vision.
Fumbles for his glasses. Walks over to the mirror.
And the realisation hits him.
Memories of several lives, barely contained hysteria, nails digging into his palms, apathetic musings.
- Idiot's dream come true, huh? Became Spider-Man...
And the picture blurs like morning fog.
We're back in the auditorium. The swirls again.
They've only gotten darker.
The cobwebs have faded again.
- It's just going to start all over again, kid," the Unimaginable said tiredly, answering the unasked question. - A cycle of events. It's in your power to continue, not to go back to the beginning, resetting everything again.
- So there is no choice? - I asked, reflecting on what I had seen.
- There is," the doppelganger said confidently, making me look back at him. - Accept responsibility, do your job, help people. Be a real Spider-Man. Save lives. Continue the journey.
- That's what being a GH is all about, isn't it? - I'm chuckling hysterically. - Everything's centred on us...
- It would be better if it was Cain, wouldn't it? - sadly mocked by a man. - I'm sorry. I really am.
- So an eternal role and... I won't be able to see them?
In response, Unimaginable raised his palm and an image of my girls appeared.
- A perfect balance, a standard of harmony, - an involuntary quote... just that line fits perfectly with what I see.
- Time is running out, Peter, the painting is gone. - It's not easy, but there's no other option.
The Unimaginable has moved towards the throne, clearing the way.
- So what's next? - I ask the question with a sense of doom.
- I'll transfer the energy into the Thread, you'll need to start absorbing it, the Web will sense your essence and renew itself, thanks to the new Knight. Cycle.
- I see...
Walking forwards, stepping behind the throne.
- You'll know what to do," the brown-haired man added, gripping the armrests.
I feel the air grow heavier.
The swirls come into active motion.
Bright purple lightning bolts start to shoot out of the purple space. It smells like ozone.
The threads begin to glow brighter.
- AAAAARGHHHHHHHH! - screams the doppelganger behind me.
Following my instinct, I reflexively shoot the threads of the organic web into the centres of the Web of Life and Destiny, winding the threads around my wrists.
Sense rings out like it never had before.
- The following school year, Anna Watson's niece, Mary Jane, moves to town. You may remember you played as children. I hope you two find some common ground...
- Meow, and I thought this was going to be a casual evening affair, but it looks like fun is in store...
- I'm proud of the man you've become, Peter. Your scientific giftedness, just like Richard, even more capable, I'm sure you'll surpass him. Your job, you started helping me and my aunt even though you could concentrate on your studies, your friends, your girlfriend. A true champion...
- You know, honey, for such a smart boy, you say some really stupid things sometimes, thanks for trusting me with your secret, honey...
- I won't let you use that weakness against me...
There's doubt in her eyes at first, but then it's replaced by calmness and...recognition? The brown-haired girl mirrors my gesture and puts her hand on the glass...
- Calm down or I'll do it for you...
- Swear that one day I'll be Mary Jane Parker...
I feel energy begin to flow through the threads, travelling towards me. The cobwebs are digging tightly into my skin.
- More ice cream?
- "Yeah," I shift my gaze to Ock's abandoned severed tentacle. - "But I still have a couple of ideas."...
- You're prone to half measures, sparing these scum, thinking you're acting like heroes, when in fact you're condoning rampant criminality...
- Let's let Mary come to her senses, - I gently lay MJ on the pillows, - and with you we've only just begun, Kitten, - I say, stroking the cheek of Felicia, who is caressing my limb...
-Wonderful gift, sunshine.
Finding myself in front of Mjolnir, I nervously grabbed the hilt...
The energy from the threads crashes into me like a sparking stream.
There is no way to even scream...
Willingness to sacrifice oneself in the coming battle is what Mjolnir considers the main sign of worthiness...
The battle. Hunting. Prey. Food. That's all that matters now...
The girls and I spent the rest of yesterday and most of the night in bed, so right now I was watching their exhausted, sleep-deprived, but undoubtedly satisfied faces. It's nice to see the result of one's labour, especially one like this.
Knowledge.
Experience.
The web of Life and Destiny. - Sorry, Tony - Firing a kinetic pulse, pushing Iron Man out of the vortex...
I told you I'd stand by you even when everyone else turned their backs and I meant it. Pete, I'll be your partner, all the way to the end... Raj...
"Avengers, to battle!"
- There was another... experiment.
- Come on, Mum!
- Tiger, look at this," Mary whispers quietly, "these are our babies," tears begin to flow from MJ's eyes. - They are so beautiful...
My son...
- It's just... I've been away for a while and to be honest, I just wanted to be as honest as possible with a friend...
Feeling the power infuse me as I become one with the Thread.
Kissing Felicia on the top of her head and hugging Kitten from the back, putting my palm on her tummy, I fall asleep...
- It ends tonight, do you realise that?
- Listen to your gut...
- Hunters are coming...
- Save them...
- I just want to be alone!
- What's with the nightmares?
- If you think I'm going to leave you alone, you can go to...
- I just always wanted to be a hero like my dad...
- Cycle of events... I'm sorry...
Wow...
So this is what it's like to have your whole life flash before your eyes...
Taking on a role... A cycle?
- So... everything is fixated on me?
Wrapping my strings tighter.
- My responsibility?
I begin, as in all the lessons taught to me of sensing my inner signature, to pull energy from the multiverse unifying network on my own.
- My destiny?!
In the background you can hear the attenuated echo of my doppelganger's screams.
- No! I'm not going to sacrifice my own freedom!
My hands are burning.
- To be deprived of my family at the behest of some universal design invented by others! To give up my own life!
My whole body's on fire.
- And if you're tied to me...
Shimmering with lights of varying degrees of brightness, the golden glow of the threads of the Web of Life and Destiny flashes with blinding light.
Cracks appear in them.
- I will take you with me!
The volume of energy becomes indescribable.
And an explosion occurs, consuming all conceivable surrounding space.