Chapter Text
Swing. Fight. Punch. Sling.
That has been his routine since he donned the mask. Since he became the hero the city needed; a job that lost its meaning a long time ago. Saving the city has become less and less fulfilling since Nagi lost him, still, it was the only thing that managed to bring any sort of feeling to him.
Whether it was fear, adrenaline, anger: anything was better than the constant emptiness that’s taken over him.
Nagi felt the color in his life fade away when he lost Reo. The Green Goblin found out who he was under the mask, and he used his newfound knowledge to hit him where it would hurt the most. Anybody who knew Nagi Seishirou also knew that he was nothing without his beloved Reo, and kidnapping a billionaire’s heir was easy enough with the proper resources.
He managed to defeat the Green Goblin at the cost of losing the love of his life.
It hurts when he thinks back on it. The way he was too late, the sound of Reo’s head hitting the pavement after falling down hundreds of feet. His web managed to reach him but it wasn’t strong enough, he wasn’t strong enough, and now Reo was gone.
His death was mourned by many, he was a popular figure after all, but there wasn’t anybody who got to know him for the person he really was while he was alive, only Nagi was awarded that luxury.
Reo was surprisingly kind for his upbringing. While money had the tendency to make people greedy, immoral bastards, Reo used his resources for the better. It used to make Nagi upset when people took advantage of Reo’s kindness, but Reo didn’t care about any of that. If he could help people in any way, he would without a second thought.
Reo was the reason Nagi took up the mantle of Spider-Ghost. Reo saw something in him he wouldn’t bother to see before, he believed in him as a hero, someone who could inspire and create actual change.
It was the biggest mistake he ever made.
Everybody saw his death as a hostage situation gone wrong; the Mikage corporations heir being targeted due to his position in society, but Nagi knew the truth, Reo was a target because Nagi loved him, and that set his demise in stone.
Kids at school would say that he was a bad omen, a living curse who granted bad luck to anyone who came close, and while the comments didn’t affect him at first, he’s starting to believe these rumours himself. Afterall, if Reo just ignored the school weirdo, he’d be alive, spreading his light and joy to others.
Reo was going to do great things, unlike Nagi. He was taking up space and living on borrowed time anyway. His parents made sure he knew that growing up, but reflecting on how much of a failure he is, wasn't going to help anyone.
So he keeps swinging from criminal to crime scene, passing the time by drowning himself in the work he sacrificed everything for.
He’s doing his nightly patrol by the city’s art museum when his spidey-senses start blaring.
As he swishes down toward the location, he activates his invisibility, the biggest positive to come from the spider-bite. He prefers to catch his villains of the week by surprise, saves him from all the trouble of having to actually confront and fight them.
No alarms go off when he enters, maintaining his discreetness. He thinks he’s in the clear as he continues to make his way throughout the building.
That’s when he spots him, flying above him erratically while knocking anything that was in his path. It looks like the Vulture from the look of his machine-wings and overall birdy vibe. There’s something a little different about the Vulture this time, and if Nagi actually gave a shit he would’ve looked further into the details.
Nagi’s fought him before, and it was an easy enough fight as far as these things go. As long as he stays hidden and he lands a sneak attack, he could get this done in time before Burger Mart closes.
He aims his wrist toward the Vulture, who’s still unaware of his presence, preparing to take him down midair when he’s knocked back by a powerful boast through the walls.
Nagi rolls across the floor and this was enough to throw off his invisibility.
Fuck, his cover was blown.
Even worse, the reason his cover was blown was actively drawing attention toward the Vulture. What the hell was this guy’s problem!?
Nagi focuses his attention toward the new intruder, noticing strange details right away.
The man is wearing a full bodysuit with web designs similar to his own suit. The majority of the suit is blue with black webbing for the details in contrast to Nagi's white suit with black detailing. He also keeps fidgeting with some sort of armband that looks technologically advanced.
What surprised Nagi the most was the way this new guy fought. He had spider powers as well, and he was using them to maneuver around the Vulture, dodging every strike and small bomb thrown his direction with impressive mobility.
New guy seems to be holding his own pretty well, and Nagi takes that as his cue to start heading out. Food would do him some good right about now, anyway.
He’s walking out through the entrance when his path is blocked by the New guy being launched from all the way across. He looks incapacitated, and Nagi groans internally. The last thing he wanted to do was fight, but New guy managed to
disappoint him.
The Vulture swoops to them from where he was perched up, and Nagi immediately gets to action.
He shoots a web to the railing on the second floor to gain some distance from the Vulture. Once his feet are placed on the railing, he pushes himself off with all his strength to land on the Vulture’s back while he’s caught off guard.
The plan works, and Nagi starts shooting some webs at his hands to bind them behind the Vulture’s back; however, before he could succeed, the Vulture spreads his wings.
Shit, this Vulture has razor sharp wings, which he uses to slash at Nagi's arms while simultaneously setting himself free from his bounds.
When did the Vulture get that upgrade!? Now he was a greater pain in the ass than usual.
He jumps off his back to avoid getting injured, landing roughly on a grand statue at the center of the museum.
The Vulture is wreaking havoc. He is slashing at portraits and toppling down sculptures. He seems to be in pain, and Nagi notices the way he seems to be glitching almost, like a video game character.
He sees him hobbling in pain toward some paintings that line a hallway directly from where Nagi is watching him, and what Nagi sees next awakens something in him.
Vulture is slashing all the paintings, and he’s about to slash an abstract piece that Nagi vividly remembers seeing in Reo’s room.
It was ugly to him, but Reo always appreciated art in all its forms, he felt like he understood the story it was trying to convey despite it consisting only of thick black squiggles.
When Reo died, his art collection was donated to the museum by his parents. They offered everything to Nagi at first, they respected their relationship at least that much, but he couldn’t bear to look at anything that reminded him of Reo at the time.
The Vulture was approaching Reo’s painting, clearly with the intention to destroy the piece as well. He was not going to let that happen under any circumstance.
Nagi immediately jumps into action, slinging into the hallway with amazing speed, and this catches the Vulture off guard.
Nagi takes the opening to kick his face with all the momentum he gathered. This knocks his opponent off his feet, letting Nagi bind him again.
When he senses the Vulture is going to use his bladed feathers to escape again, Nagi makes quick work to rip away the blades with all the strength he could gather.
It was stupid to use his own hands though, the blades cut through his suit and caused his hand to bleed, but he could care less at this point.
The Vulture is talking to him, but it’s all in a language he doesn’t understand, which confirms that this isn’t his familiar opponent.
This doesn’t deter him from beating the Vulture, he was a pest anyway so taking him down would do anybody a favor.
His fists are moving on their own, he doesn’t know if the blood on his hand is his own or the Vultures, maybe both. He is aiming at his face repeatedly, and hearing bones crunch only makes him punch harder.
He would have killed him if the new guy didn’t step in. He hauls Nagi away through his shoulders and tries to shove him as far as he could to offer the villain some medical attention. He’s confused on why he's giving the other help, he’s the reason this whole mess started in the first place, after all.
Nagi supposes his work here is done, and starts heading toward the museum's exit before the authorities are going to arrive, he’s almost off the main area when he gets pulled back by the New Guys web. He lands on his back, facing the new guy standing above him.
“You! What the actual fuck is wrong you? Spiderman doesn’t beat people half to death when they are already immobilized! You fucking lunatic, you almost compromised the entire mission!”
What the hell was this dude’s problem! It's moments like these that make Nagi wonder why he even bothers helping people, he would’ve let the Vulture take care of this guy if he knew he was going to be this much of a hassle. Also, what mission was he even talking about?
Nagi gets up slowly. “Look, I don’t know who the hell you are, or what mission you’re on, but I handled that situation how I felt like handling it. I don't appreciate you yelling at me after I saved your ass, by the way.”
New guy doesn’t seem to like his response, he takes off his mask revealing a very bad haircut and some horrendous eye bags.
Nagi can acknowledge that he is not the most attractive guy in the world, everybody would ask Reo what he saw in him all the time, but he knows ugly when he sees it.
This man has his hair cut into a bowl shape, and his face seems to be aged by the sheer severity of his eyebags. He reaches into his suit pocket to pull out a pair of glasses and Yikes! As if he couldn’t get any worse.
Nagi was getting upset now, not only was he getting yelled at by someone he helped, the guy was ugly, too.
Fugly faces him. He is clearly looking down at Nagi, and this is really starting to piss him off. The guy lets out a deep sigh as if he was the one being inconvenienced and begins introducing himself.
“My name is Ego Jinpanchi, I am from another Earth on a mission to hunt down multiversal anomalies that disrupt the order of the spiderverse.”
Yeah, this guy is coked out for sure.
“You don’t have to believe me, I don’t care. What you did right now was dangerous, this Vulture variant needs to be returned to his universe alive, and you almost killed him over a petty break in-”
“Hello? Ego? Have you completed the mission already?” A voice comes from Ego’s bracelet, and Nagi just notices the hologram popping from the bracelet's huge screen.
Ego looks a little annoyed at being interrupted, but he reports back a confirmation that everything went well. He looks at Nagi again once he’s done, before inputting something into the armband.
“I have a mission to maintain the multiverse’s integrity at any cost, and I am not going to bother wasting any more time explaining things to a maniac like you.”
Okay, rude, especially when he’s the one talking about crazy nonsense. Still, his words get Nagi to start thinking about the possibility of them being true.
If there were other universes with different variants, that had to mean that there were variants of himself out there too, right?
Different Nagi’s who had their own Reos and hopefully better circumstances.
He had to give it a shot. He had nothing worth living for in this universe anyway, and nobody to go back to.
Ego opens a portal using the bracelet, he pushes the unconscious Vulture in first, and before he steps forward, Nagi grabs his arm.
“Wait! Let me join you!”
“No. You’re clearly going to be a liability, and I would rather not be with you any longer than I have to be.” Ego tries stepping forward, but Nagi’s grip is preventing any movement forward.
“Please let me join you! I have nothing left for me here. I can help you, you saw me fight, you know I can be an asset!”
“I know you are a nuisance. Your sob story won’t be doing anything for me, unfortunately. Let me go!”
Nagi looks at the portal in front of him. He can see a building on the other side. Ego clearly knew where this portal was headed, and it didn’t seem to hold any risk for either of them if they were to go through. If Ego wasn’t going to let him join him willingly, he'd just have to tag along by force.
“I’m sorry.”
Nagi holds Ego’s body close and he jumps into the portal while holding the stubborn bastard. Said man is taken off guard, and can’t react to the sudden change in location. Before they both know it, they’re inside a large building with open hallways all around them. Men and Women, Nagi thinks he sees a horse, are wearing spider suits all around them, and they are looking at Ego’s position in confusion.
Right, Nagi landed on top of Ego when they got here, he thinks he feels him punching at his chest, but they were landing as weak hits.
Nagi leans his face down to Ego’s ear and whispers. “If you let me join you, I’ll get off of you.”
Ego is getting red in the face, but he relents, grimacing in pain from the heavy weight of Nagi on his injured body.
“Fine. You can join us, but if you become an issue to our mission, or anyone else in this coalition, I will get rid of you, that is a promise.”
Nagi smirks a little under his mask. Ego’s threat didn’t mean anything to him. Not when he knew that he was going to be able to see Reo again. He was going to be reunited with the love of his life if it was the last thing he ever did.
He gets up from squishing Ego, and even offers him a hand to get up, ever so generously. Ego slaps it away, because of course he would, ungrateful bastard, and gets up on his own. He looks at the crowd and waves a hand at Nagi, who finally takes off his mask.
“Everybody, this is our new member from Earth-0506”
Everyone is looking at him now, and he’s starting to gain a little stagefright. He wasn’t used to this many people seeing him without a mask.
Ego was clearly done speaking, considering he was walking off toward whatever direction he was going, so the rest of the introduction was up to him. Fair enough, he never introduced himself to Ego earlier.
“Uh, I’m Nagi. Nagi Seishirou from that earth Ego said earlier. I go by Spider-ghost.”
He bows a little to end his introduction, and he gets a few scattered claps from those around before someone grabs his shoulder.
He looks for the person who touched him and he is met with a woman with short, brown hair and gentle eyes. She seems nice, so he lets her unwarranted touch pass. She also seems to be the only person around them who isn’t wearing a variation of a spidersuit. Instead, she's wearing a pencil skirt with heels and a pink blouse. She’s wearing a name tag that says Anri.
Would he be getting a nametag? He hoped they were optional, he feels that a nametag would probably ruin the mysterious aura his suit was supposed to give.
“Welcome, Nagi, let's get you started with a tour of our headquarters. Afterwards, we can start getting you situated with our tech experts and data team, just to make sure we document all your new data correctly.”
“When do I get a bracelet?”
“I’m sorry?” Anri asks.
“That bracelet he used to teleport. When will I get one?” Nagi really only joined so he could get access to that technology, and he really didn’t want to have to fight Ego for it, or anyone else for that matter.
“Oh, our armbands! Those will be granted to you once we get you settled, alright? It won’t be too long before we get you on board, and we need all the help we can get after all.”
He’s going to see Reo soon. Nagi can imagine it already; them living out their college years as high school sweethearts, Nagi will be majoring in computer science and physics, Reo in Business. They’ll join the school’s soccer team, Nagi couldn’t before with all the Spider-Ghost duties taking up his time.
He would treat Reo right this time. He would keep him as his priority, never letting him out of his sight. He was too comfortable before, with the idea that Reo would never leave him. He wouldn’t dare take that risk again.
He’s so lost in his thoughts that he doesn’t realize how far Anri has started walking without him. She realizes this as well, and stops to give Nagi a chance to catch up.
Nagi couldn’t wait. He was going to see Reo again, and they were going to be happy forever, he’ll make sure of it.