The Spider-verse madness (pt.1)
"P-peter?" - girl couldn't believe her eyes. - "H-how is that even possible? I just saw you die in my arms. Who are you?"
Peter then noticed himself lying dead on the ground. - "This must be a joke!" - Peter whispered. - "I'm Spider-Man... and it seems I'm very far from home and need help to get back".
"Wait, wait, wait". - started Flash. - "Since when geekette has powers?"
"Let me explain. This is not your Gwen Stacy. This Gwen Stacy is from another universe". - everyone just looked at Croakus like he was a madman. - "Look, just imagine if instead of Peter, Gwen was bitten by radioactive spider and she got powers, not Peter. Or imagine if Spider-Man became a villain, or if Peter died in a fight against strong enemy. There is infinite number of possibilities and these possibilities created something that we Watchers call Multiverse or in that case Spider-verse".
"So, is the theory of multiverse true?" - asked Gwen.
"Yes, but there's not one but multiple different multiverses. And every one of them revolves around different persons. Your multiverse revolves around not Peter Parker but image of Spider-Man. That's why I called it Spider-verse".
"Spider-Man? Couldn't think of something better?" - Gwen asked.
"What's wrong with the name Spider-Man? Like you have something better". - Peter started arguing with Gwen.
"In fact, I do. Superhero name is Ghost-Spider". - the girl smirked at Peter.
"Well, that doesn't matter... What matters is how did I get into... Ehm... Your Earth?" - asked Spidey.
"From the shittiest day in my life it turned into strangest one".
"I think we should call the ambulance". - Pete pointed at his dead self. - "It's still strange to see another version of myself".
"I can say..."
"But what happened? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..."
"No, I'll tell. Peter and I were dating. And our "friend", Harry was always jealous of Pete, and the last straw for him was the fact that I started dating Peter. He...
"Became the Green Goblin." - Peter finished for Gwen.
"Y-yes... Is your Harry a Green Goblin too?"
"No, in my world the Green Goblin is his father, Norman Osborn... Well, was one".
"Did you find a way to cure him?"
"No, Norman is dead... When we were fighting, I broke his glider and Goblin landed into water tower that was full of his own bombs. Let's get back to your problem".
"Right. As you said Harry became the Green Goblin. Peter was always a big fan of my alter ego - Ghost-Spider. Harry found out about my identity and decided to use Peter's admiration for Ghost-Spider against him. Oscorp helped in creating some of my enemies by using enhanced genes. And Harry used lizard DNA to turn my Pete into the monster. Till the very end I didn't know that it was Peter, who I was fighting with. I managed to create a gene cleanser. When I chased after the Lizard, Goblin attacked me and he managed to take away the gene cleanser. I managed to get it back and then injected Peter with it. And here we are..."
"Harry must've mixed the gene cleanser with the toxin that wouldn't make the serum useless".
"Maybe, when I got back the gene cleanser, I thought it was too easy to get it back, but I decided just to go chase after the Lizard... It was a mistake..."
"No, I don't think it was. If there's a downside to being a hero, it's that we can't hesitate. Otherwise, it may lead to more victims. You know when Norman died, I blamed myself for it. But there was more experienced hero that helped me to understand something. He said: "Even if you give your all one hundred percent, you cannot save absolutely everyone, regretting about victims, you threaten to double their number. Therefore, do not blame yourself and never dwell on feeling guilty, because it will only kill you from the inside". Wise words..."
"Wise words indeed..." - Gwen said and not so long after hugged Peter and buried her head on the boy's chest.
"Gwen?" - asked surprised Peter but still hugged the girl back.
"C-can we stay like that for a little while?"
"Of course, for as long as you need to".
After 10 minutes Peter and Gwen heard the sirens, pulling their masks (Peter had to use plastic bag to cover his face.) on and after they broke the hug, they saw medics and police.
"Ghost-Spider? And..." - Captain Stacy looked at Peter.
"Spider-Man. The Ghost-Spider asked me to help with the Lizard dilemma. But the Green Goblin interfered and that led to this boy's death". - Peter explained as he looked at his dead self.
"Oh, Peter..." - George Stacy looked at the bruised boy.
"Did you know him?" - asked Peter just not to be suspicious.
"He is... Was my daughter's boyfriend. How will I tell this to my girl?"
"If he only knew..." - said Croakus getting nods from everyone in the theatre.
Then they heard a loud explosion somewhere in the center of New York.
"Well, I think we should get going". - said Peter getting nod form Gwen.
"You know, you don't have to help me dealing with Harry". - Gwen said as she and Peter swinged towards the large cloud of smoke.
"Yes, but I'm sure you're angry right now. I don't want you to make a mistake that you'll regret. And I still don't know how to return home anyway".
"What do you mean?"
"When I only got my powers, I wanted to use them for easy money and went to underground fighting. When the boss offered me a contract, I declined it and he refused to pay me. I was walking in the corridor, and I heard yells of this boss. Eventually he got robbed. When he saw me, he begged me to stop the robber, but I refused saying to him the same words he said to me - "It's not my problem". These fights were happening near the library I usually went to. So, Uncle Ben waited outside to pick me up. But when I got outside, I saw Uncle Ben getting shot. With great power comes great responsibility were last words Uncle Ben told to me. The robber needed the car to get away... I wanted revenge, so I found this same robber that killed Uncle Ben, but when I pulled off his mask, I saw the same man I didn't stop from robbing the guy, who tricked me. I threw that man out of the window, but instead of killing him I just webbed him up and left him for the police to handle... Even if you'll kill Harry, it won't bring your Peter back".
It took only 6 minutes to get to the Goblin's location.
"Hey, Gwen, enjoyed my little present?" - Harry asked amused. - "And who's your little friend?"
"Gwen, I got a plan". - Peter half whispered to the girl. - "I found a formula that will reverse the effects of Globulin Green. Is there a lab nearby I can work in?"
"Yes, ESU lab. You just need a pass to come in. Here". - Gwen gave the card to Peter while they were swinging away from the Green Goblin.
"Buy me 15 minutes". - Spider-Man said as they separated.
"Wait, if Pete found the cure for my father, why didn't he help him?!" - Harry got angry.
"He didn't have the formula when he fought your father, Harry". - answered Croakus. - "Everything will be explained in due time".
"Hey, Gobbie! I'm here!" - yelled Gwen as she kicked Harry from the glider as the Green Goblin landed on his two legs.
"Hey, Gwen! How's Pete doing? Wait! He's dead now! Hahahahaha!" - The Green Goblin tried to get Gwen angry as he jumped back on his glider and started to fly away.
Gwen wanted to murder Harry right now, but she remembered the words the other Peter told to her.
'I still need to go after Harry though'. - thought Gwen before swinging after the Green Goblin.
After Peter was done with the formula, he swinged across the city to find Gwen and Harry. When he found them he saw Goblin holding Gwen by the throat.
"Gwen, you know, I liked you for a very long time... But you decided to ditch me for Peter. Well, soon you'll see him, because you'll die just like he did!" - Harry said with an evil smirk on his face.
"Oh no..." - said Gwen looking at her other version getting closer to being killed.
"Are you sure that I'm dead, Harry? I thought we were friends. But you wanted to kill me. I'm quite hurt". - Peter stood there in his spider suit without his mask on.
"How are you alive?!"
"Maybe because you're not as smart as you thought you are". - Peter tried to get Harry furious.
The Green Goblin sent his glider to finish Peter off, but got caught off guard when Parker webbed this same glider and sent it to a nearby wall.
"Catch me if you can, Gobbie!" - said Spider-Man as he jumped off the roof.
Harry released Gwen's throat, jumped on his glider and started chasing after Pete.
"Peter!" - for a moment Gwen forgot about this Peter's powers and went to the end of the roof to look down, where Peter disappeared only to find a syringe webbed to the wall with a little note.
'This is the anti-globuline. Go to the Oscorp building's roof and hide somewhere. I will lure Harry into the trap. I hope 10 minutes will be enough for you to get there'. - this was the message Peter left for Gwen to find.
On the roof of Oscorp building:
"Not so smart now, Pete?!" - Harry told while he was holding Peter above the city streets by his neck, while Parker made a look that he couldn't escape from Goblin's grasp.
"You're actually dumber than I thought". - Peter said as Gwen injected Harry with anti-globuline as the Goblin lost his powers.
Harry fell to his knees as the unmasked Peter and Gwen held him and pulled off his mask.
"W-what happened? Gwen? Pete?"
"Well, I think we have some explaining to do". - said Gwen.
After Gwen and Peter were done with explaining Harry just grabbed his head in disbelief.
"So, Pete is dead? I can't believe I killed him. What have I done?"
Gwen kept silent the whole time after the explanation.
"Thank you for curing me, both of you. I think I better go". - Harry was very sad and left Peter and Gwen alone.
"Gwen, listen, don't be too hard on Harry..."
"What?! You can't be serious! He killed my Peter! I think not putting him in a cell is enough!" - yelled Gwen.
"Gwen, Globulin Green not only enhances your body and mind. It alters your mind as well. I think instead of taking small doses by inhaling the gaseous form of Globulin Green, he drank it in big doses. The symptoms are very similar to the symptoms Harry from my world had. In my world Norman Osborn didn't lose his memories because of Globulin Green, he just enhanced his strength and brain. It doesn't change the fact that Harry still killed your Peter Parker... But..."
"I'll try... Wait, since you know about anti-globulin, why didn't you cure Harry's father?"
"Even if I would've taken away his powers, Norman was always like this. He would've just taken Globulin Green again. He was not like Harry. And I haven't created anti-globulin at the time. But after Norman died, I thought that his death will affect Harry. So, I decided to create the formula for an emergency. Even if we're not friends anymore, I still care about him. He always was like a brother to me".
"You're not friends?" - Gwen became curious.
"More like I have no friends left. Well, they're alive, but they hate me and try to avoid me". - Peter said smiling sadly.
Peter told the Spider-Gwen about his breakup with LIz, Felicia hating him and Gwen from his universe staying with Harry.
Everyone in the theatre became very sad after hearing this.
"Wow... This must be hard for you..."
"This is the consequences of keeping secrets, I guess". - Peter just stared of in the distance.
"Well, the Gwen from your world is stupid then. It's her loss".
"Huh?"
"Even though I know you for a couple of hours at max, I'm sure you're a great guy". - Spider-Gwen smiled at him.
"Thanks, I needed that". - Peter smiled back.
"You're welcome. Want to crash at my place for the night?" - Gwen wasn't really comfortable with that, but the guy beside her needs somewhere to stay until they find a way to get him back to his world.
"Are you sure? I mean..."
"It's fine, come on!"
They started to swing towards Spider-Gwen's house but some black liquid like form pinned Peter to the wall.
"Just who I wanted to find. Did you miss me, Peter?" - said a female voice.
To be continued...