Skitter glanced over at the young man before him.
In so many worlds Hobie Brown was the Prowler. Sometimes a hero, sometimes a villain. Sometimes he started as one only to become the other.
This wasn't Hobie Brown.
This was a blond haired, blue eyed, All-American looking white boy. Standing there in the Prowler outfit, smiling weakly as Skitter stared him down.
For the last few weeks there had been reports of someone new in Greenwood, fighting against the likes of the Kingpin and other organized crime. Not the supervillains… they never tangled with the likes of the Gray Goblin or Mystic or the Polar Bear. But they did take on the likes of Graveyard. Skitter hadn't been too upset by that; after all, if he could inspire more of his brothers and sisters to rise up and fight against corruption and injustice then he was doing his job.
He had NOT expected to finally encounter the Prowler fighting against some thug that, just before he got knocked off, removed his mask to reveal he was an Arryan's wet fucking dream.
"So… hi," Prowler said awkwardly.
In the past Skitter would unleashed a wave of hate and vitriol at the little white boy who thought he could come into Greenwood acting like the Noble European Savior. Asked if he thought that he'd agree to become his slave because he'd saved his life and now owed him a debt. Mocked and insulted him for thinking that a brother needed help protecting his own people and then done all he could to drive him out. Told him that this wasn't some Hollywood bullshit film where Prowler was the noble white man, different from the rest of his kind, who actually treated black people properly and thus earned their love and respect. And Skitter certainly wasn't going to be the magical negro who helped train Prowler to be an amazing hero.
In the past he would have said all that.
But Skitter remembered the long nights where he'd worked with Chris Chase, the man making a joke that he couldn't participate in cultural fairs because "bitch, my ancestors robbed the rest of them fucking blind". Of Spinneret making suggestions for his costume that would allow it to breathe better in the hot Greenwood nights. Of Margo glowering at him when he tried to get on her for her past and demand to know why he was so desperate to turn her into the caricature of the 'angry black woman'. Of meeting other Spiders who weren't lily white Peter Parkers who had looked at him and asked him why he was so angry with those that had never done him harm, willing to judge them just as he claimed they judged him.
He thought of all of that… and held out his hand.
"Those were some slick moves you used taking down the Demons."
"Really?" Prowler said and man the boy's voice just SQUEAKED like a chew toy. "I mean…" he said, gathering himself, "thank you. I… I really appreciate it."
"You move here?"
"Yeah," Prowler said. "I know you have things under control so I'm not trying to step on your toes or anything but… I couldn't NOT help."
In time Skitter would learn the Prowler was Hank Blasio. That he was an orphan… fostered by a loving Jamaican family. That he truly did want to help EVERYONE. That he was hardest on the bigots and the racists, no matter their skin color.
But that would be later.
"So…" Skitter said, "want me to show you some of the trickier areas?"
The Prowler bobbed his head.
~MC~MC~MC~
"This is very interesting," Dr. Gray said as she looked over Dr. Parker's notes. Percy could tell that she was surprised by what he had shown her, not that he blamed her. From what he had heard from others the poor doctor had gotten very used to being given the runaround by other medical professionals that had insisted they could do what she couldn't. She had come in openly stating that he owed her a VERY nice dinner for traveling all the way from the upper parts of New York and fighting through NYC traffic to get to the hospital. She had been expecting a failure, which was why he had quietly let her take over his desk and look over the notes. "Very interesting. And you learned about all of this from… another earth?"
"As weird as it sounds, yes," Percy admitted. He had decided to be open and honest with her about where he had gotten the samples he'd studied, knowing that she would never accept a lie or him trying to distract from his sources. She wouldn't risk her patient with research that she couldn't examine and test herself.
He had been worried she wouldn't believe him and had been ready to present her with proof. He had the transporter that would take him to Nueva York and gotten permission to bring Dr. Gray there if need be to show her that the multiverse was real.
Dr. Gray though merely chuckled. "Not as weird as you might think. The Xaiver Institute has dealt with our fair share of weird things. Remind me to tell you about my sister, Madalyne, sometime." She went back to the notes. "But what you have here… this would be a big help for Anna Marie."
When Percy had heard about the young girl who couldn't touch a single person because doing so resulted in her developing painful lessons on her skin he had just known he had to help her. Reaching out to the Alliance, Spinneret had gotten him in contact with the X-Men of Earth 16734, who had a Rogue who had sadly suffered a similar issue, though her's had been caused by her trying to use Graydon Creed's X-Gene suppression drugs to rid herself of her mutation. It hadn't worked but had instead resulted in her not only absorbing energy but the horrible lessons. On that earth it had taken nearly a year to undo the damage but Dr. McCoy of that world (and it had been so weird for Percy to see the man he knew so well as one of the leading experts on genetic conditions with blue fur) had given Percy some samples of the drugs he had used and Percy had refined them.
"I think… I think this will actually work!" Dr. Gray said, finally looking up and utterly beaming at Percy. "I think this will actually work!"
"I'm glad," Percy said. "I've looked into using it for others… I think it might help those with shingles and the like… a reduced version of course, not as strong. And there are other uses…"
He paused.
"What is it?"
"I'm just thinking… what other trouble cases do you have?"
Dr. Gray frowned at that. "Well… we have one man, only goes by the name Logan. He is suffering from memory loss that came on suddenly, we can't figure out why-"
"Metal poisoning," Percy said at once and Dr. Gray's eyes went wide at that. "Check to see if he's had any implants put in."
"We… we never considered a poison… the multiverse?"
"On other worlds Logan is 'The Wolverine'. A lot of my counterparts talk about him. I'm betting they can give me a full name, maybe help you find his family…" he shook his head. "That's what I was thinking about. How… how the multiverse is so big… and we need to begin using it."
Dr. Gray slowly nodded. "Would you be interested in a partnership?"
Later, Percy would count this as the moment that changed his life. Not just allowing him to cure many diseases on his world… but others. In a hundred years the Percy Parker Medical Alliance would span the Spiderverse and the multiverse, seeing doctors exchange discoveries so they might better the lives of billions of people. And more than that… it would be the agreement that would lead to meetings, dinners, and dating, and eventually Dr. Jean Gray becoming Dr. Jean Parker.
Later…
"Yes… yes I would."
~MC~MC~MC~
Otto landed on the building and activated his tentacles.
'Finally… finally have these perfected,' he thought to himself. It had taken a lot of work to get the new tentacles to work correctly… and not be a risk. That was the mistake so many Ottos made, he had seen. It was the mistake he had made, before he had become the one Superior Spider-Man. In order to operate the tentacles there needed to be a dedicated neural interface that could help one handle the burden; one didn't naturally have 4 more limbs and the brain simply couldn't handle it on its own. It was why the Peters that became Man-Spider tended to act rashly, as their brains were trying to deal with the overload of senses.
But the new tentacles, built using tech from Nueva York, New Chaos City, and several other places in the Multiverse, instead used AI. His partner, Maria (he refused to give it a goofy name like Starks and Parkers tended to do), ran the tentacles. It wasn't the same as his original pair but honestly he felt the draw backs were far outweighed by the benefits.
'Namely my sanity,' he thought as he looked about the roof for his target. 'Anything Maria?'
'Nothing, Otto,' the AI responded. While she didn't actually appear in front of him he always got the mental image of a short woman with dark hair and a sassy smile whenever he talked with her. The tentacles swayed slightly as they scanned the roof. 'You sure she came this way?'
'I am sure,' he thought before touching his comm unit. "This is Superior. Hunter-Spider, do you see the target?"
"I do not," Hunter-Spider replied. "But she has not left the area."
"She's not thinking clearly, remember that," Night-Spider replied.
"Of course she isn't," Spider-Shock said sadly. "She almost killed-"
"Almost," Grains reminded him. "Almost. We'll fix him up."
"Still need to find her though," Weaver reminded them all.
Otto opened his mouth to reply only to snap it shut; he heard something…
'I think… someone is crying.'
'Even in this state she mourns,' Otto thought as he carefully moved towards a stairwell entrance. It was opened a crack but he couldn't see any lights coming from it, which wasn't a surprise considering the neighborhood they were in. He slowly opened the door-
-there was the sound of glass breaking and Otto whipped around, tentacles firing out as the small pigeon coop to his left exploded, birds crying out and fluttering as the massive beast let out a guttural cry. Not a roar… Spiders didn't roar, after all… but it was still a rather loud vocalization and his suit adjusted itself instantly to protect his ears. That was another upgrade that he'd gotten thanks to the Alliance and he was glad for it as the creature showed itself, struggling against the tentacles.
She was huge… at least 8 feet tall and covered in gray tuffs that might at first have appeared to be fur but he knew wasn't at all. No, those were millions of sensory hairs, which allowed the creature to sense the slightest changes in the air currents, detecting if someone was approaching. The creature had two clawed toes on the front of each foot and a third toe on the back where its heel should have been. It had six sets of arms that it waved and waggled about as it tried to fight off the tentacles, desperately trying to yank them off its arms or, better yet, yank Otto towards its mouth with tiny hollow teeth and two sets of pincers on its cheeks. But Otto's suit had already locked his feet onto the roof so the creature could only bellow as its 8 eyes stared at him with rage and anger. It shifted wildly, causing the green garments it was wearing to tear and shred further, the twisted metal on its back clanging against the roof and the remains of the coop as it continued to struggle.
'There she is,' Maria said cheerfully, causing Otto to roll his eyes.
'Yes, well done,' he answered back before he turned and watched the tentacles pull the creature's arms wide while Otto fired off webbing to wrap up the feet. That done he began to pin the arms to its side, layering on more and more of his modified webbing. Ten times stronger than normal web fluid, he only used it for things like the Lizard, the Rhino, or other super strong foes. And the creature before him needed every drop.
Finally though the creature was completely restrained, with only its head exposed, and Otto was able to retract the tentacles into the small backpack he was wearing. That done he carefully walked up to the creature and took out the injector he had on him, pressing it to the creature's neck and pulling the trigger.
"Weaver, can you bring a blanket? She will be rather exposed as this works."
"Only because I know you aren't making a weaving joke," Beck stated and a minute later he landed, handing Otto the blanket. Already she had shrunk down in size, the webbing no longer tight around her. Not that it mattered; the fight was gone from her. "She's young."
"The suit was still stealing vitality even as she was rampaging. We'll need to reach out to the Alliance for help in restoring the others." He knelt down before the woman that, while mentally in her 60s, looked to be only 20 years old. She had short red hair and refined sharp looks that made her rather attractive, Otto had to admit. Though he had always preferred variants of the woman before him when they were older… more wisdom.
"May Parker," he said gently, holding out the blanket. "Its okay… its alright."
It was a sad story. On this Earth May Parker was a brilliant scientist who had been working on the effects of aging and reversing them. Her Ben Parker had suffered early Alzheimer's and May had been convinced that she could save him if she were able to undo the aging process. After all, scientists had found that there was a link to old age and the disease… in fact Otto knew of a study that showed that stopping cells from degrading and aging actually made the disease worse. Yet old age also caused it. The entire thing was a thorny subject but Dr. May Parker had been obsessed, to the point that she had neglected her nephew Peter.
She had also, eventually, become so consumed by her research and funding it she'd become The Vulture.
Stealing the vitality and lifeforce from others she had sought to turn back the clock for Ben Parker and had succeeded… only for him to be horrified by what she had done. This had caused Peter to come in.
'A Peter dealing with the first stages of the Man-Spider transformation,' Otto thought. 'And as a result she had absorbed not Peter's youth by accident… but the Man-Spider mutation.'
"Peter…" May whispered.
"He's alive," Otto assured her. "As is Ben. And the others you…"
"…oh." May dropped her head. "Oh."
Later Otto would tell her all was not lost. Later he would tell her that while she had done horrible things she could make it right. Later, May would discover she now possessed Spider Powers and, along with her wing suit, become Spider-Hawk, helping Otto find other lost Spiders and guide them back to the path of goodness.
Later… Otto would do that.
For now… he allowed May Parker to sob, offering her silent comfort.
~MC~MC~MC~
"How is he?" Spinneret asked as she walked through the halls of Ravencroft with Dr. Samson. They had chosen this Earth because it had some of the best medical care in all of the multiverse. Mary Jane had been mildly bemused that this Earth had things so well purely because, of all things, T'Challa had been abducted by Yondu of the Ravengers rather than Peter Quill. That ripple effect had led to Wakanda revealing itself to the world, Bruce Banner gaining instant control of the Hulk, Steven Strange becoming Iron Man and Tony Stark the Sorcerer Supreme, and Kang the Conqueror deciding to Conqueror… through humanitarian relief.
He'd been elected President for a second term and was so popular that even the opposing party was calling for an end to term limits.
"He remains unchanged," Dr. Samson said with a sigh as he gestured towards a room. Mary Jane entered and saw Dr. Ohnn glaring at a mirror in his room. He thought it was a one way mirror, not realizing that, in reality, unstable molecules allowed Ravencroft to turn the solid wall into a one wall window. "We have tried to integrate him in with some of the other patients. We thought, perhaps, if he talked with others it would help him break through his delusions, but he just insults them and it causes some to have setbacks. We've had to return to this."
Mary Jane sighed and motioned for Dr. Samson to activate the speaker in the room.
"-in there, Spider-Man! Watching me! Mocking me! They won't give me donuts anymore! They refuse! I know its because of you!"
"Donuts?" Mary Jane asked.
"He accused us of giving him bagels that were dressed up like donuts. He called them…" Dr. Samson sighed, "… 'bagel hoes'."
"…of course he did," Mary Jane said with a shake of her head. "Of course he did."
Some in the Alliance had felt that Dr. Ohnn was a lost cause. That he would never be able to break out of the delusions he'd fallen into. They pointed out that he had been working for the Kingpin and had never once shown an ounce of goodness or kindness. Interviews with Octavia Olivia Octavius had only enforced that.
"The man was deranged," she had told them all with a dismissive wave of her hand. "He always acted like the world was against him. He used to tell us how he was bullied in high school… oh, the stories he would tell! But I got tired of it and decided to look things up because it all just rang so false to me. So I asked around. Contacted some of his teachers, his bullies, those he never even talked about. Know what I found?" Octavia had tilted her head at that. "The normal taunts and the like but he gave just as much as he got. Picked on other students but he failed to mention that. He turned slights they couldn't even remember into giant things, claiming they engulfed the school. Claimed he dated girls who never even spoke to him and that he had enemies that didn't exist. He lived in a fantasy world then and he kept living in one well into adulthood."
Mary Jane knew the diagnosis. Intermittent Explosive Disorder, coupled with Narcissism and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. There was some talk if he had Borderline Personality Disorder but because he had shown only rage and nothing else the doctors weren't confident, even after two years, with labeling him with BPD. But the mix of it was very dangerous. It created a man who felt he was the greatest in the world but was constantly stopped by others. Who became obsessed with certain people, currently Miles Morales, Chris Chase, and Miguel O'Hara, and who would fly into fits at the slightest thing.
Later, after a very long stay at Ravencroft that would see the man never escape his demons, the brain of Dr. Ohnn would be examined after his death. Doctors would learn much about the conditions he had and, while not the final step, use those to help them eventually treat others. Though no one would know it Dr. Ohnn WOULD change countless worlds by being part of the research that did help finally cure several mental conditions.
Later that would happen.
For now… he was an angry man screaming for a void he could no longer create.
~MC~MC~MC~
Harry Osborn slowly pulled off his mask as he sat on the edge of the building, looking down at the city below him. The Spider-Man of Earth 831 (not that he knew that) was tired.
"Dad," he said, looking up at the sky, knowing his father was looking down on him, "I'm trying… I'm really trying. I remember what you taught me… and I am trying to use these powers to help others. But sometimes dad… sometimes…" He shook his head.
"It's hard, isn't it?"
Harry turned, yanking on his mask… only to blink in confusion at the figure before him. He was wearing an odd variation of his own outfit, only he had his hair exposed and the outfit was red and blue rather than the greens and purples that made up his Spider costume. He thought about telling him that Spiders weren't red and blue but… well, spiders didn't look like him either.
"You're not a clone, are you?" Harry asked. "Because I dealt with a clone and that wasn't fun."
"Oh no no no," the figure said with a heavy Indian accent. "I am not a clone. I am just another Spider from a different part of the Spiderverse."
"The… Spiderverse?" Harry asked.
"Yes. Or Multiverse, if you wish to not be flagrant with your ego."
"…yeah, okay," Harry said. "Honestly at this point its not the weirdest thing I've dealt with."
"I am Pavi," the new arrival said cheerfully, moving to sit down next to him.
"Harry… Harry Osborn."
"Rough night?" Pavi asked him.
That made Harry laugh. "The worst." He looked skyward again. "Dr. Ross turned into the Hulk against and went on a rampage… I managed to stop her but I'm sure that Silvermane is going to claim I was actually the one that did the damage. Ms. Potts then got upset that I went to help because she thinks I'm not ready… I don't think she can let go of the fact that my dad married my mom instead of her which makes her trying to be my mentor awkward. And tonight…"
"The Green Goblin, yes?"
Harry turned to stare at the other man. "You saw that?" he felt a bit of anger bubble up at the idea that Pavi had watched that fight and done nothing.
"We got an alert after it was over… I am sorry about Captain Jameson."
Harry nodded at that, anger still there but now only simmering. "He… he didn't deserve that. He was a good man. A good cop. God, I don't know what I'll say to his family. Should I say anything?" He looked down at his hands. "And the Goblin… I know who he is."
"Ben Parker," Pavi said softly.
"My best friend's guardian. I… I keep trying to get him to understand this is wrong. He's sick and needs help. It wasn't his fault he was near that explosion that Doctor Fantastic set off. What's happened to him… if he were in his right mind he'd be horrified. But he isn't and he's hurting people and… and…"
"And what?"
"And sometimes it feels like no matter what I do things are destined to end up this way!" Harry groused in frustration.
"…they aren't," Pavi told him softly. "We all go through pain. Some, sadly, more than others. That is life. My Auntie likes to say you can't enjoy a nice Ghevar if it is all you eat. Sometimes you need something spicy or sour or even just bland. The same with life; there has to be pain so we appreciate the good." He slowly reached out and patted Harry on the shoulder. "And there is good."
Later, Harry would learn more of the Spiderverse. See what it was like and know he was not alone. And more than that he would learn of the Society that would have told him he was destined to suffer… and the Alliance that said "We suffer, but we also fight". Later, when Betty was threatened by the Green Goblin, Harry and his new friends would save her and he would be confused when one mocked it as a "canon event stopped".
Later he would deal with that.
At that moment though he merely allowed himself to be comforted by Pavi… a new friend.
~MC~MC~MC~
"So people are still asking how you came back," Miles stated casually.
That caused Peter A. to scoff as he looked up from the webshooters he was working on. They were at Peter's place, having learned that it wasn't wise to do such work at Miles' house. Even with the lab in the back yard there was a risk of one of his family members coming in and startling them at a key moment; last time it had been Rio, who had gotten a face full of webbing.
"They have some real interesting theories," Miles continued.
"Do they?"
"Oh yeah. Maybe… magic?" He paused, glancing at Peter. "Or… clones. Clones are a thing."
"Clones are a thing."
"Mysterio has been thrown around."
"Uh huh."
"Something about an 'Other'?"
"Hmmm."
Miles smiled as he leaned in towards Peter.
"…I'm not telling you."
"COME ON!" Miles complained, throwing his hands up in the air. "Not even a hint?"
"This is really bugging you, isn't it?" Peter said with a smirk. Miles had been losing his mind ever since Peter had returned back to life, trying to figure out how his mentor had cheated death. And Peter had been more then willing to let him spiral into madness purely for his own amusement. Miles had tried to come up with all sorts of ways he could come back. Had pleaded and begged. Even tried to use Billy against him…
"Yes it is!" Miles said. "I can't stand it!"
"Yet you don't mind making fun of people wondering how Aunt May is back in New York…"
"THAT is different," Miles said. "She moved back. People do that all the time! People don't come back to life!"
Peter stared at him.
"…okay, some people do but you know what I mean!" Miles slipped out of his chair and fell to his knees. He clasped his hands together and bowed his head. "Please, Parker-Sempai-"
"Parker what now?"
"Tell me the secrets that brought you back."
Peter stared at him for a long moment and then sighed. "Miles, I didn't tell you because once you know… you can never UNKNOW. You will be burdened with this knowledge forever." He took a deep breath. "Alright, fine. So after I saw you and gave you that thingiemabob-"
"Goober."
"Whatever. I shut my eyes and when I opened them again I was in a room. It was rather plainly furnished, honestly. But what was more important was the Black Mountain I could see out of the window. Was the only thing other than the house so I figured I needed to make my way there. So I did just that and at the top I found an arena where I had to fight three faceless versions of my father. After I defeated two of them the third then ripped my heart out and ate it, which was odd because, again, no face, but-"
"Okay, if you don't want to tell me," Miles said, standing up.
"I'm being honest!" Peter complained. "Now, you know about the Space Koala, right?"
"Uh huh, yeah, sure. I'll never ask again." With that Miles got up and dusted himself off. "You-"
His phone chimed.
"Crap, I have to go!" he declared.
"Told you setting that for 2 hours early would be smart!"
"Yeah yeah." Miles made for the window.
Peter chuckled and rolled himself over to another work bench.
Later, after long physical therapy, Peter would finally be able to put weight on his legs and be able to work. He would then work to be able to jog, then to run. Later, he would regain nearly all the mobility he had once had and while he would never become Spider-Man full time again, New York would burst into cheers when he swung out to help Miles against a threat from the Kree.
Later.
But for now… he was content to merely chuckle as his student hurried off.
~MC~MC~MC~
She was standing there, several notebooks clutched in her hand.
She'd dyed her hair again and he had to admit… it looked good.
As for her, she saw he'd gotten a bit more muscle but otherwise looked the same… and he looked good too.
"…I am trying to remember what joke I told in class, and I have to admit, I can't remember."
Gwen laughed at that.
She couldn't remember it either. It had something to do with being late.
"Well… I remember some advice someone said they got, when it comes to making a good impression," she said before walking over to him and placing a hand on Miles' shoulder and looking at him with hooded eyes.
Later would come the reading of Gwen's journals and the sharing of Miles' new art. The tickets to movies in both their worlds so they could compare the differences. The nights spent sobbing and pleading for forgiveness when the doubts crept in. The days where the anger made them both scream. And the dawns where they would apologize and make up. Later would come a true friendship, what they should have had rather than rushing into pining for one another, making them impossible dreams. A friendship where they shared themselves, flaws and glories, and found that all of it made them care all the more.
And after that… as friendship grew into something more and two stupid teens became not quite as stupid adults, ready to try to live their lives together…
Well, that would come later.
In the now?
Gwen smiled.
"Hey," she drawled.
Miles smiled back.
"Hey."
~MC~MC~MC~
Alright. Let's do this one last time.
This is the Spiderverse. It is filled with people bitten by radioactive spiders. And from the beginning of time there have been Spider-People. Men. Women. Children. Animals and Beasts. Strange Creatures and Robots and so much more. Not the one and only… but part of the great Web of Life.
I'm pretty sure you know the rest.
They saved a bunch of people, fell in love, saved their worlds, and then they saved their worlds again and again and again.
But after everything… they are loved. I mean, why wouldn't they?
So no matter how many hits they take, they always find a way to come back. Because the only thing standing between the Spiderverse and oblivion is them.
Anyone can wear the mask.
Anymore can change.
All it takes… is a leap of faith.
~MC~MC~MC~
Author's Notes: 50 chapters… for what was supposed to be a one shot.