In the vast majority of the multiverse, it looked like a gigantic web that was always connecting to other strands. When these strands continue to interconnect, it form into worlds and realities.
"Time." A mysterious voice called out, as one world showed off Peggy Carter ending up in the current time. She then fell in love with Richard Parker, leading to the two getting married.
"Space." Elsa Oldenberg was currently in deep space, fighting off Chitauri with the help of Peter Parker. By their side were also Rocket Raccoon and Groot the living tree.
Then a world where the Fantastic Four, led by Spider-Man, fought to protect their world from Reed Richards and Maximus Boltagon. "Reality."
Then there was a simpler reality where Peter Barton and Yolanda Montez fell in love. "It's more than a linear path."
"It's a prism of endless possibilities." Then an even darker world where Peter Parker was raised by HYDRA and conquered the world. He sat on a giant throne, surrounded by slaves of the conquered world, as well as the six infinity stones around his chest. "Where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities."
Speeding past infinite different bundles and webbing showing off the thousands of different realities. They were created by either small unnoticeable choices or gigantic moments that were altered. "Creating alternate worlds from the ones you already know."
Then we are met with a giant figure who stares at the vast universe, looking down at the extended universe of the What If Universe. "I am the Watcher. I am your guide throughout all of these vast new realities. Follow me, and we'll journey into the unknown and ponder the question..."
"What if...?"
Earth-1 (PRIME) Central City:
Peter Parker was walking down the hall of his home and pecked the head of his wife Caitlin before walking to the kitchen and caressing Frost's cheek. Continuing through the house, he saw his kids were together and just messing around and having fun.
"Earth-Prime is household to a thousand BRANCHES. One single change can alter everything on a universal scale. This universe is set apart due to the one day that gave them life. That fateful day that changed all of their lives."
BRANCH-122, THAT FATEFUL DAY:
Peter and Ronnie were currently on college break and strolling down memory lane with everything that has happened in the last few years since high school. But as they continued to walk, Peter began to sense danger approaching and wondered what was wrong when he noticed something up ahead.
"Where are you going, baby?" They heard someone say and looked down an empty street and saw some elder man chasing after some college girl.
"You see trouble?" Ronnie asked, feeling something up.
"Yeah. I'll take care of this, stay behind me." Peter said as he raced down the street and started climbing the houses to change.
Meanwhile, the girl in question was a girl named Caitlin Snow, who was walking back to the apartment she was sharing with a few college roommates. She was supposed to be getting a pickup order for them and her car broke down, meaning she had to walk back.
That's what got her the creepy stalker that was currently following her. Not liking how close he was getting, she decided to pick up the pace to get away, but that ended with her tripping and him grabbing her arm.
"Get away from me!" Caitlin cried as she fought her attacker off just as Spider-Man came leaping in and webbed the man's back and yanked him off Caitlin before punching him, sending him flying into the wall.
Peter saw the scared girl on the ground and slowly approached her to not scare her. "Hey, it's okay." He said to her calmly and reached his hand for her to take. "Come on."
Caitlin grabbed Peter and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you! Thank you..."
"You're going to be okay," Peter promised her and did his best he could to comfort her. He then looked and heard the attacker groaning. "I'm gonna have to take care of this guy, you sure you're gonna be okay?"
Caitlin nodded no and Peter saw Ronnie and had an idea.
"Hey, this man over here, I helped him earlier I know he can get you home safely," Peter told her and she seemed okay with that.
"Hi, I'm Ronnie." Ronnie introduced himself whilst Peter grabbed the attacker and swung off.
When Peter returned, he saw that Ronnie was comforting Caitlin on the steps of her apartment.
Peter saw everything seemed okay and began to head off as he left his friend and got changed in an alley when he heard something that sounded like crying.
"This. This is the moment that'll change everything and help create a new universe. On the day that Peter Parker would've gone home, he met someone that'll change his whole world."
Needing to check it out, Peter ran down to where the crying was coming from and was met with a young woman just about his age who had long blood-red hair.
"Hello?" Peter called out and that caused the girl to jump in fear. "Are you okay?"
"I...I don't know." The woman answered him. "I don't know where I am."
"Do you need help?" Peter asked her, earning a nod of confirmation. "My name is Peter Parker. What's yours?"
"Natalia. Natalia Rushman." She answered with a smile.
10 YEARS LATER:
Peter was resting in his bed and was starting to wake up and was getting ready to get back up just as arms wrap their arms around him. He is a Caucasian tall man with a slim, yet muscular physical build, due to the radioactive spider bite. Smiling and knowing exactly who it was, he turned around and saw a familiar face.
"How the heck did you do it again?" Peter asked the figure, revealing that it was a six-month-old child with shaggy brown hair.
The child giggled and gave a gummy smile to his father as Peter looked and saw the child's mother still lying down next to him.
She was resting and was very tall and strikingly attractive and beautiful, with a finely curved athletic figure. She has long dark red hair that reaches down to her shoulders, along with steely blue eyes and a stoic expression of confidence and self-assurance that were hidden by her closed eyelids.
Peter rolled his eyes and picked up the small child to allow his fiancée Natalia to sleep a little longer.
"Come on, buddy, let your mommy rest. She was up late last night for your not-so-tiredness." Peter informed Clinton, the name of their son, as he left the room as quietly as he could to not wake her. "Let's get you some breakfast, how's that sound?"
They lived in a small, but not so much that they're cramped, home with three bedrooms. One of the bedrooms is the main room they just left and another one is Clinton's nursery. There was a large living room that connected to the kitchen through a small walkway.
Clinton cheered at the thought of food as Peter placed the little demon into his highchair whilst he giggled endlessly.
"God, I wish that I had your energy, kiddo," Peter commented as he started to make breakfast for the three of them. "Especially after three hours of sleep you so lovingly allowed us to have."
Clinton giggled at his father as if to say he was sorry.
"God, you're lucky you got your mom's cuteness, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to stand you for so long," Peter stated jokingly as he looked and saw Natalia get out of bed and make her way out.
"Morning. When did you get up?" Natalia asked as she strolled over to the highchair and pecked the baby on the head before rubbing her eyes.
"When Houdini decided that it was time to pick the lock of his bed," Peter stated as he began to cook breakfast for them.
"Geesh, how the heck does he do it?" Natalia asked in shock as she made her way to the bathroom.
"Something we have yet to discover," Peter commented as he stared at the child, but all Clinton did in response was to give his gummy smile to his dad yet again. "I can't tell if I'm more scared of you or your mother."
A while later, the three of them were walking out of the house, which had a news report outside due to the closeness they live to the accelerator and the protesters are all there. But they ignored them as Peter carried Clinton to the car just as Peter took notice of an electric motorcycle on the driveway. It was an all-black motorcycle with a red outline on some parts and what looked to be an hourglass on the hood.
"What's this?" Peter asked with a chuckle, used to his fiancée's crazy lifestyle.
"I saw it yesterday when I was on my way home, and I just had to have it!" Natalia said with a wide smile as she pecked Clinton's head. "And don't worry, I was able to get a cheap deal on it, and I won't be taking Clinton on it."
"You better not," Peter said with a laugh as Natalia got on the cycle. "So, I'll see you tonight at the accelerator?"
"Well, I did make sure it was up to code for tonight," Natalia stated as she leaned in and pecked Peter's lips. "I'll be there."
"I'm gonna drop our little escape artist home with my aunt for the day on my way to the labs," Peter promises her before turning to the child who looked at his father with a smile. "And you better be good to May and not give her a heart attack, buddy. No escaping!" He demanded playfully as he began tickling him.
Clinton then began to laugh and giggle as Natalia did the same until she saw she needed to get to work. "I gotta get going."
"See ya later," Peter said and walked off with the baby in hand the two passed a news reporter who was talking about the particle accelerator countdown as Natalia then walked off and got onto her motorcycle before placing on her helmet and driving off to her work.
But unknown to them, someone was watching the news and was shocked when he saw the familiar face of one of his enemies.
The man is named Anthony Masters. And he had a score to settle with this woman.
"Natasha Romanoff."
On the construction site of a skyscraper, a group of people was standing over blueprints.
"Is anyone gonna walk the new guy through this?" One of the men asked as Natalia approached with her bag and a takeout of coffee for them.
"Sorry I'm late guys, I brought coffee as a peace offering," Natalia tells them and hands out the drinks she picked up.
"Damnit, it's impossible to stay mad at you, Nat." The man in charge chuckled as Natalia placed them down on the table. "Here is what we're doing." He began to tell Nat what they would be working on for the workday.
Later on in the day, Peter was making his way out of Mercury Labs and got a call from Natalia.
"Hey, honey, what's up?" Peter asked into the phone as he made his way down the steps to get to the sidewalk and walk to STAR Labs.
Natalia was currently driving her motorcycle down the road, almost feeling like this was second nature to her to avoid the crazy traffic.
"Hey, I'm on my way back to the house. I'm gonna stop by and get my car before picking up Clinton from May. Was he good for her?" Natalia asked as she stopped and got off her motorcycle and then opened the door to her car as she started driving.
"Not one complaint," Peter admitted as he walked into an alley and began to change into his Spider-Man outfit. "I think it's because he was watching us sleep all night and was just sleeping for her all day."
Natalia rolled her eyes as she came to a stop over the bridge leading to May's home. She loved her fiancé, but his humor is a little stupid sometimes.
"Well, I'll see you soon. Love you." Natalia tells Peter.
"Love you too, honey," Peter replied before she hung up.
Natalia then turned the corner, only for something to come out of nowhere and hit her car, sending her car flying across the bridge and crashing with the top skidding against the road.
Natalia moaned as she somehow could tell she was at least okay, not injured in any life-threatening way. Quickly searching, she found her phone and immediately dialed 911 as she saw a mysterious car approach and stop on the bridge.
"911. What's your emergency?"
"Hello? Help...I'm on the Central City Bridge, and I'm stuck and under attack." Natalia cried as the car door opened and this mysterious figure came out and marched towards her wearing some armor.
"Ma'am, don't panic. We've got an officer nearby; he'll be right there."
"Please hurry," Natalia begged as she hung up and unbuckled herself, causing her to hit the front of the wheel.
Working fast, she reached into the glove compartment and pulled out her pistol that she for some reason felt she needed to keep there. Once she took the safety off, she quickly began to climb out of the back.
"Listen, if this is about me taking the last donut, I have to say, I'm pretty sure you're overreacting." Natalia tried to make light of the situation as she climbed to the back of the car and got a clear shot. "And I don't know where I learned to do this." She confessed as she raised her gun and opened fire on him.
But the figure then raised his arm before a shield formed around it and blocked the bullets. "You really screwed up this time, Romanoff!"
Natalia became very confused as to who this guy was talking about and must've gotten her confused with someone else as he tossed the shield at her, but it was luckily blocked by the window frame.
"Dr. Wells, the accelerator is primed and ready for particle injection," Cisco says as Caitlin and Wells enter the room.
"I feel like I should say something profound like one small step for man. All I can think of to say is I feel like I've waited for this day for centuries." Wells says as he finally turns on the accelerator and it activates, and they wait for something to happen.
"That's it?" Cisco asks thinking more would happen. "You'd think there'd be, like, a loud bang."
"If there was a loud bang, we'd all be in big trouble," Ronnie replies to his friend and notices Peter is eyeing his phone. "Pete, you okay?"
"I'm worried for Natalia," Peter explained and wondered what was keeping her.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we did it," Wells tells everyone as they cheer, and clap, and Wells opens that bottle.
"You wanna go find her?" Ronnie asked Peter.
"Yeah, I gotta go make sure she's okay." Peter agreed.
"Go," Ronnie told him and Peter ran off, feeling like there was something wrong going down, just missing as the drink began to float and the alarms started blaring.
Natalia climbed out of the car as fast as she could and aimed her gun where Taskmaster was once standing but now didn't know where he was anymore.
Just then, she heard someone running and turned to see he was flipping over the car taking his shield back blocking her bullets, and landing on his feet.
"You should know that move doesn't work on me, Natasha!" Taskmaster reminded her.
"My name is Natalia!" Natalia cried in anger as Taskmaster spun and kicked the gun out of her hands.
But Natalia then was completely shocked as she got behind the man, wrapped her legs around him, and smashed his face into the ground. But that didn't work in her favor as Taskmaster did the exact same move on her and sent her flying down the bridge.
"How the hell am I doing this?" Natalia asked herself, having no idea where she learned to do all of this. She then decided this wasn't the place to question it and flipped to get back up, but Taskmaster did the exact same move she did.
The two of them then felt the ground shake and both looked to see it came from the particle accelerator.
"Seeing this task was too important, Harrison Wells, aka Eobard Thawne, didn't trust the task to ensure that the Particle Accelerator worked properly, he went into the pipeline himself." The Watcher explained.
In this world, rather than Cisco and Ronnie, Thawne has set the door on a timer, believing he will make it back. He then used his speed to race into the container, feeling the blast would destroy the cameras and footage, allowing him to get in and out.
But when he was doing the work, he watched as his hands began to phase out of time. He began to panic as he realized his damage to the timeline might be too severe. He quickly raced to try and make it back to the door. But as he was running, he fell as his speed deteriorated and he had to run.
But he was too late. The accelerator exploded, causing Thawne to fall over and see that his fifteen years of work had led to this. And it all led to nothing. This universe would lead to a new world completely different from the one he was from and would ever be born into.
"But there are some upsides..."
Ronnie and Cisco ran up to the door only to hear Thawne scream and they didn't take long to figure out that Wells has perished...
Barry Allen was just returning to the CCPD after missing the accelerator turning on and sighed just as people were racing through the halls.
"What's going on?" Barry asked the officers.
"There's some sort of assassin on the bridge attacking someone. We might need you." One of them said as they ran past.
Barry was confused at this but quickly ran back into the labs to get his stuff when the accelerator turned on and sent a wave of energy out into the city. On his way out, he missed as a bolt of lightning came through the glass ceiling and scorched the floor.
As the ground began to shake, Taskmaster was able to get his footing and approached Natalia as sirens also approached.
"Incoming!" Natalia heard Peter cry out and looked to see Spider-Man swinging on and kicking the mercenary away from his fiancée. "You stay the hell away from her!"
"Ah, Spider-Man. I've wanted a crack at you for a while now." Taskmaster stated as he drew his sword which began to glow.
But before anyone could do anything else, the sirens made it to the bridge, and a dozen officers all aimed at the criminal.
"You really need these many people to watch your back, Romanoff? I thought you were tougher than this!" Taskmaster stated.
"Who the hell is Romanoff?" Peter asked Natalia, no idea who he was talking about.
"I have no idea," Natalia informed him. "He thinks that it's me for some reason."
Taskmaster then revealed to have a jetpack and came at the two while Peter raced at him, but then the accelerator wave hit the bridge, causing a wave of energy to hit Peter, making him lightheaded as Taskmaster went off balance and crashed into Natalia's car.
Natalia however got hit by the wave and was the one who had the biggest effect as her mind was suddenly hit by a load of memories of her being trained somewhere unrecognizable. All she sees is her training. She saw some mouths move, but no noise was coming out of any of them. Some faces were blurred out, and others weren't. But she doesn't recognize any of them.
Peter quickly webbed Taskmaster down before he could pull his head together and allowed the police to take him away.
"This is not over, Romanoff! Everyone now knows where you are, and they're all coming for you!" Anthony promises as he is thrown into the back of a police car.
"You okay? Are you hurt?" Peter asked Natalia after she gave her statement to the police.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Natalia promised him. "Except...I don't think I'm just an architect."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that," Peter said with a laugh. "I'll meet you at the station after picking up Clinton, I'll go get my car." He promised in a hushed tone before swinging off and leaving Natalia to go with the police.
But Natalia is wondering about what Taskmaster said to her about others coming for her now: What others?
As she questioned this, a figure watched from the shadows.
"This is how everything changed for the young hero. That one altercation gave birth to a whole new world and will give the universe a new hero. As for me, these are my stories. I observe all that transpires here, but I do not interfere, cannot stop fate, can't do anything but observe. For I am..."
"The Watcher."
Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman