Chapter Text
New York City, near the Daily Bugle
Peter walked down the sidewalk, taking in a deep breath, it was strange to get back into the rhythm of things. Being the one and only Peter Parker, being just the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The Web-Head walked up to a hot dog vendor and ordered one of New York's finest as they were called.
He got a few texts from several associates. In the years following the defeat of Venom and Sandman, he quit the Daily Bugle. Peter didn't want to support Jameson's continued smear campaign against him, plus he had ideas to start up a company. Parker Industries, dedicated to the invention of new technologies, and to ensure that he could prevent the creation of more Green Goblins or Doctor Octopuses.
Oscorp was liquidated, and along with it, the loss of the Super Soldier research that Norman had worked on. What surprised Parker the most, was that his name was on the list of people to inherit Osborn's fortune. Without that, he wouldn't have gotten the headstart he did with his company.
He got a phone call halfway through his walk across a street and answered it. "Hey, Max. How's things going back there?" He asked before taking a bite of the hot dog in hand, Max was one of the few scientists that Peter recruited during Parker Industries' infancy. Dylan was an extremely passionate scientist, diving into the field when her father fell ill with an unknown disease.
"It's going... okay, just setting up a few variables and the control group." Max replied, some noises of what an experiment could presumably be occurring in the background. Parker shifted right to avoid a soft ball being sent his way, some kids yelping in surprise. Honestly, it took all of his effort not to jump over the more dangerous things, like cars... and maybe the occasional bus. "I'm just finishing what he started. Safely, of course... I've got a handle on it." She said, managing to get her voice into a more reassuring tone.
"Alright... just, don't push yourself too much. I've seen what that can do." Peter frowned to himself, and he had been through pushing himself too far. He remembered that time all too well. It wasn't only the week when Doctor Octavius's experiment went wrong, it was also when he first lost his powers. He remembered the darker side that could've been brought out during his hunt for Flint Marko, the man who killed Uncle Ben. It was when he first encountered Venom, who at the time became his new costume, a symbiotic substance that enhanced his powers but at a cost. Once he realized what the symbiote was doing, he got rid of it, inadvertently creating Venom in the process.
"I'll be safe, Gramps. So... did the honeymoon go well with MJ the actress? I mean, I know you've got the whole... thwip thwip thing going on, but did it go well?" Max asked, it was still strange that she knew that he was Spider-Man. In a way, it made sense, he had found her after a failed experiment that gave her power over electricity. The experiment's guinea pigs, funnily enough were electric eels and one of them nipped her hand. It was very similar to how Peter Three mentioned his Max had gotten powers, with the exception of the latter falling in rather than getting a bite from one.
"It went fine, thankfully. Nobody decided to rob the bank while I was gone." Peter remarked with a bit of an amused tone, it was a relief in all seriousness. No super villain attack, no former friend out for his blood. It was a nice peaceful January, well... as peaceful as a month in New York tends to be.
"Honestly, same. I'm still getting used to the electric powers." Max sighed; noises of liquids being poured onto another in the background. It was still kind of surreal, the Electro from the other universe wasn't a hero alongside Peter Three, yet here is an Electro, working with Peter. He quickly reminded himself that the Multiverse is a rabbit hole of infinite possibilities and infinite horrors, it was bound to happen one way or another. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a news broadcast, a fire had started at an apartment building. He knew there was only thing he could do at a time like this, suit up and swing into action.
"Um, gotta go, duty calls!" Peter said quickly, hanging up after muffled words from Max. He finished off the food and tossed the wrapping into the nearest trash can. He walked quickly into the alleyway, and after examining if anyone could see him, tossed off his shoes and pulled himself up the wall.
Peter sprinted up the tall building, tossing his civilian clothes into a backpack. He webbed the pack to the wall near the fire escape, pulling the mask over his face. It had been sometime since he had worn the Spider-Man costume, and it had felt refreshing to hear about a normal crime on the police band. No Super Villains, no hijinks in a world where he had a different face. The first thing Parker did when he returned was to check the news of the past twenty years. No such luck on any front, everything had happened just as it did before. Norman Osborn died by his own glider, Doctor Octavius drowned with his machine... Flint vanished, and Harry? Harry was still dead.
He took in a deep breath before leaping off the building, doing a flip and thwipping a web-line to the Daily Bugle. Swinging up above the building before jumping and letting out another line, Peter was back in the groove. Spider-Man had his groove back. "Hello, New York!" Spidey exclaimed, with an excited holler, swinging past a hot dog stand with a salute before flipping over a bus. His feet moving along the middle before launching himself towards the scene of the crime. If it wasn't so ironic, he'd laugh, it was a burning building. The same building that he had fought the Green Goblin in during his first weeks as Spider-Man.
A newspaper blew past him in the wind, with the words of Daily Bugle on it. The same paper he was hired during that week, reading with familiar words. 'Spider-Menace is back!', of course Jonah had still called him a menace... it wouldn't be New York without it. It was using an old picture, part of him was relieved, Jameson couldn't find another photographer that could get as accurate of pictures of Spider-Man as he did. He wasn't sure how much longer that newspaper organization was gonna stay afloat... but it somehow kept trucking along.
Another line thwipped out that allowed him to zip through a window, shattering it. "Hang on, I'm here!" Peter called out with a reassuring tone, quieting his thoughts to listen for anyone there. There wasn't a peep, it was strange, there wasn't a single person in the building. It felt way too familiar, he almost expected to see the familiar green armor of the Goblin. Slowly, the flames faded with a green mist, and he realized why his Spider-Sense wasn't going off. At first he thought he was losing it, but now, now he realized it was an illusion. Illusions and green, that only meant one thing and one person he knew. "Mysterio." He simply said.
"You catch on quick, Spider-Man. I had almost taken your words to heart, last time we fought." Green mist rose, and became a humanoid shape, a solid figure formed. Out walked one of the last Super Villains Peter had faced, with reflective fishbowl helmet and all. "Ten years. Ten years waiting for this moment, and I almost thought you lost your touch." The fishbowl helmet glowed with every word spoken, his costume was a little different, however. The purple gloves had been replaced with purple gauntlets, and the leather outfit had been replaced with armor stolen straight from Oscorp's lab. The same one that created Spidey's first enemy.
"I beat you and your bag of tricks once; I can do it again." Peter dashed toward Mysterio, ducking underneath a couch that was tossed at him. A quick look behind and the couch actually broke the wall from the impact and was tossed out the building. "Going a little ham on the illusions, Beck, glad the effects team got a raise." He quipped, thwipping a line at Beck's hand, only for an energy blast to knock him back. Wait... that felt real, that was no illusion. Spidey bounced back up, watching as Mysterio vanished in a shroud of green mist. If the blast wasn't an illusion, then what else wasn't? "Didn't know that he had a power upgrade lately..." Peter mumbled to himself, glancing around for the illusionist to reappear.
"Awww... little itsy-bitsy Spider," Quentin's voice began in a rather mocking tone, appearing to have been echoing from all around. "It was so easy to pop out my old bag of tricks to draw you here. Your heart's too much of a bleeding one." He said as he shot out another energy blast from the darkness, one that Spider-Man was ready for, and jumped over it. "When I broke into the Museum, I didn't imagine any form of power there. I just wanted props for my revenge. Though I did find something... interesting." A green mist formed up to reveal a display stand and a type of strange urn. "The Urn of Power as legend called it."
"Legend or not, Beck, I can't let you just steal from the Museum." Spidey replied with defiance in his voice, closing his eyes and steeling his mind to all outside distractions. He then flipped over an energy blast and charged at where his Spider-Sense flared up the most, ducking and weaving around object and energy to get to Beck. He could hear Mysterio's panicked words of desperation, but he let them fall to the wayside. He kicked the illusionist in the chest, knocking him off balance and almost making him drop the urn.
"You wall crawling pest!" Mysterio growled out before vanishing, with every movement that could give away his position. "You could've broke it!" He was quick to be protective of the relic, but that was strange. Mysterio wasn't the type to be sentimental, especially over old relics of a foregone past.
Spidey hopped over an energy blast, and thwipped at the urn to try and yank it away, only for Mysterio to summon an energy blade to cut the web-line. Peter then shot out two web-lines at the opposite side to pull the wall down on Beck, but the former illusionist managed to avoid the ensuing debris via a mystic shield.
With Peter's frame ready to lunge at Mysterio, suddenly his spider sense flared up again, from his side instead of front. Spider-Man jumped up towards a wall, his eyes widening to near saucers with shock. It was an armored being unlike anything he had seen before, silver and smooth yet marred with blood.
"At last, the Urn has been found." A growly scratchy voice echoed, the smooth armor formed edges and their gaze aimed towards Mysterio. The illusionist had little time to react before the armored being zoomed over to crack his glass helmet like plastic. They glanced at the urn in the villain's hand and the edges on the armor became sharper. "You used its power for revenge. YOU WASTED ITS POWER ON CHILDISH GAMES!" The being growled, and gripped Beck's throat tightly. Peter could see the desperation behind his every movement and knew he had to put an end to this. "Perhaps you will be the first it will taste."
"Hey, Sauron. Let him go!" Peter webbed at the being's back and yanked them away, throwing them off balance. They growled in frustration and turned to face him, the sharp edges that were once smooth armor cutting away at any webbing. "Sorry about ruining your cult ritual, but fishbowl boy is off limits. If you want someone, how about me?" He added, yanking the urn away with a web-line much to the others' surprise. He placed the artifact down and got into a battle-ready stance, again here he was. Having to save another of his rogue's gallery from the grip of death itself. It seemed like a habit at this point, not just for him but for all Spider-Men.
Peter lunged at the being, kicking them off balance and causing Mysterio to be dropped from their grip. Instead of even worrying about the urn, the green villain took the time to flee. The action not surprising the wall crawler in the slightest and it didn't even seem to faze the silver fiend. "You, pest. You're not like the others." They said, hand forming into a rather long blade of silver. "Not like your counterpart, that I met. You still have the spark of nobility within, do you?" Their armor began to sharpen, as if the very concept of nobility angered them. They began to charge, the very ground shaking from every stomp like movement.
Spidey jumped over the attack, blade slicing through brick wall like a knife through butter. He was quick to web the urn over to him before the entity could grab it, it was becoming obvious. Pete had to get the urn out of here, there was no way he could both fight and play the world's most dangerous game of keep away by himself. "Well, as fun as this is, I'm going to return it to the museum." He zipped out of the room, door frame having been broken during Mysterio's escape and bounced out of a new window. He began to swing away, seeing the being walk towards said window with armor almost impossibly sharp.
Just as Peter thinks he had the distance between him and the silver fiend, a concussive force blasted him into a taxi. He managed to pull himself up, watching as a red portal closed, a figure in yellow walking out. "Well, if it ain't the 'Amazing Spider-Man'. I would gander to say that you're in quite the pickle." Said figure quipped in a cocky tone, the mask resembling a ski mask. A metal gauntlet on the figure's hand lit up with energy, a man in green armor dropping down. Much more to his own shock, a familiar man in black dropped down... it couldn't be! He had watched him die in the blast radius of a Pumpkin Bomb, there's no way he could be back.
"Hey, Parker." Eddie Brock grinned after the symbiote retracted away from his face, his eyes gleaming maliciously. "I believe you have something of ours." He added, shooting out a black web-line at the urn and pulling it towards him. Peter felt his heart pulse and was quick to shoot a web-line of his own at the urn to stop it mid-air, seeing Venom scowl in irritation. The symbiote then covering his face back up, putting more force into the pull of the artifact. Spidey webbed another line to the urn, attaching it to a nearby lightpole and then shooting a bit of web to blind Venom.
"Sorry, Eddie." Peter muttered, seeing that the web did blind Brock for the briefest of moments. He yanked the urn back to him, the black webbing falling from Venom's grasp as he clawed off the webbing on his face. Spidey witnessed the symbiote point and roar in anger, the guy that kind of looked like a scorpion getting ready to pounce at him. "I don't know how you're alive, but I can't let you get your hands on this." He felt a slight bit of guilt bubbling up, the physical form of one of the people that died under his watch. Even with the intent to kill him, he had hoped to save Eddie.
"Oh, wouldn't you like to know, arachnid." The man in the Scorpion outfit almost laughed, a devious smirk crossing his face. "Either way, the boss doesn't care about how... he just wants his relic. He did promise us the chance to redo everything. Without you." He sneered out, and Peter doubted that he could get a single answer from any of them. What was this relic, was it some kind of genie in a bottle? If so, then for certain, it was one genie that he would rather not be released. He was quick to nab the urn back before Brock could web it, all four figures in a standoff position.
Before either could even make their move, a blue portal opened behind Spider-Man. "Ah, here we are." A voice called out, yanking Peter through the portal, the webslinger surprised it didn't register as a threat. He stood up, urn in hand, and turned around to see two figures. Both figures clad in the familiar red and blue suits that he would wear, one being recognizable. Peter Three yanked off his mask, while the newer mystery Peter yanked his off as well. "Peter Parker, I'm afraid we will need your help. The Multiverse is in severe danger." A man stepped out, dressed in a 1950's lab coat and with a rather unsettled look on his face.
Spidey frowned under his mask, tilting his head with one question. "I'm sorry, who are you?" He asked, pulling off his mask, seeing yet another Spider-Hero join up with the two Peters. This one clad in a red and black suit that looked a tad more futuristic. Well, more futuristic than the ones he had seen on the other Earth.
"My name is Professor Paradox, and we need your help. You and the other Spiders are the only hope to saving the Multiverse." Professor Paradox spoke carefully, his eyes examining Peter in a way that seemed more like caution than anything else. What had that silver maniac meant? Was there a Peter like him that didn't carry on Uncle Ben's words? More questions that barely lead to answers.
Two Weeks Ago, In An Alternate Dimension...
A shadowy figure watched the fragments that seemed to form an energetic prison of somekind. The fragments shifted, until a familiar A symbol appeared over a complex. Perfect, just the universe they needed.
"Spider-Man's real..." A video fizzled out for a moment, causing a hum to be emanated. "Spider-Man's real name... is Peter Parker!"
This was the perfect one to cause the event they needed. All they needed to do was to wait as events played out.
"The entire world is about to forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man..." A fragment with Dr. Strange in sight pulsed as he casted the first rune of the spell, "Including me."
"Wait! Everyone?" A confused Peter Parker walked forward into the sight of another fragment, face showing that he was processing this. "Can't some people still know?"
"That's not how the spell works." Dr. Strange playfully replied, casting another rune that caused the fragments to pulse with energy. "Very difficult and dangerous to change it mid-casting."
"So, MJ is going to forget everything we've ever been through?" Peter's glance turned downward as the fragments pulsed with a crack on it. "I mean, is she even gonna be my girlfriend?"
"That depends, was she your girlfriend just because you're Spider-Man or..." Dr. Strange trailed off with his question, eyebrow quirked.
"I mean, I don't know, I really hope not... but..." Peter's voice cracked with uncertainty, finally glancing back up at the former Sorcerer Supreme.
"Alright, fine..." Dr. Strange sighed, casting yet another rune that caused the fragments to pulse with a more intense energy. "Everyone in the world's gonna forget you're Spider-Man, except your girlfriend."
"Thank you so much, I... oh my god, Ned. Ned!" The fragment seemed to skip around, like a glitched record. Now with six runes, all bursting at the edges, and the fragments becoming immensely cracked.
"Peter," Strange let out a noise of frustration, his eyes narrowing as he prepared a rune which seemed like it would stabilize the spell. "Stop tampering with the spell."
"When she found out I was Spider-Man, it... it was really messy." Strange could see how Peter's eyes lit up with an almost panic-like emotion. "I don't think I can go through with that again. So... my Aunt May?"
"Yes." Dr. Strange answered with slightly gritted teeth, another rune forming that caused the fragments to glow brighter.
"Thank you." Peter said, then blurting out another, "Happy?" The name causing the fragments to crack to almost the breaking point.
"No," Strange spared a glare in Peter's direction, hand tracing around the current rune. "I am annoyed."
"It's a nickname. Harold 'Happy' Hogan." The light emanating from the fragments becoming almost too bright to make out any figures. "He used to work for Tony Stark, then he was kind of dating my Aunt-"
"Would you just," Dr. Strange exerted out with strained effort, his focus shaken and the runes glowing brighter. "Stop talking!?"
The spell began to lose control, both Peter and Strange lifting off the ground as the fragments shattered apart, the former shouting. "Basically, everyone that knew I was Spider-Man before should still know!"
The fragments broke away from a formation around a familiar silver armored figure, who let out a victorious shout before vanishing into the infinite void. A web forming around the former prison and a blue portal opening.
Professor Paradox stepped out from the portal, eyeing the chaos that had occurred. "It's begun, I had hoped they wouldn't be able to abuse the Runes of Kof-Kol to their end, but... I was mistaken."