When You Mess With Time It Tends to Mess Back
Strange stepped through the portal, his face pink with rage. He pointed an angry finger at Peter, glaring down at him. Peter swallowed hard. This elevator was no place for a fight. “You have no idea what you’ve done!”
He couldn’t protect MJ and Ned here. “Listen, Stephen. Everyone is onto you- and I-”
Stephen scoffed. “Don’t tell me you actually believe that shit! Nick Fury has no idea what he’s talking about! He was dead for five years! He knows nothing about any of this! He’s reeling after this whole mess. Magic? Sorcerers? The multiverse? Why do you think he left this damned planet? He’s out of his depth here, so he fled.”
“You’re saying that his accusations have no merit?” Peter fired back. “That you didn’t orchestrate Tony’s death!”
Stephen froze, momentarily unsure of how to respond. “You have no idea what would have happened if I let him live.” He muttered, his voice deadly quiet.
“How many?” Peter seethed. “How many alternate paths would we have won in without Tony dying?”
“Tens of millions.” Strange replied. “Thanos was never going to be successful. Every single survivor of the blip on every planet wanted him dead. Everyone lost someone. Someone on some planet was going to find a way to reverse what he had done.”
“Why’d you get him killed then?” MJ hissed. Her gaze held something lethal, something Peter had never seen in anyone before, except for Wanda when she’d faced Thanos head on.
Stephen’s face twisted into something ugly. Sneering and arrogant. “Come on Michelle, you’re a smart girl, surely you can put the pieces together. He was going to mean the end of the world. Obadiah Stane, Justin Hammer, Ivan Vanko, Aldrich Killian, Adrian Toomes, Ultron, Wanda, Mysterio, Zemo. They all came to be villainous because of him. His actions brought on countless deaths. He would get his happy little life while Wanda was left behind with nothing. You have this idea in your head that he was this perfect hero, that he did everything right. But he was always better at creating his own problems.”
“You’re wrong.” Peter snarled, but it came out like he was a petulant child, unwilling to admit fault.”
Stephen sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes closed. “I was trying to spare you from all of this… this mess. So I wouldn’t have to kill you. But it’s clear that as long as you’re alive, you’ll never stand aside, you’ll never let me do what needs to be done. This fight, this war is beyond what you can comprehend. I have spent eons preparing, gaining power. I have seen everything, every sacrifice that needs to be made. You are not a necessary sacrifice. Stay out of my way. Do not make me kill you. This is your last warning.”
Stephen stepped back and dissipated into the door of the elevator. He hadn’t even needed his sling-ring to get away.
As though nothing had just happened, the elevator doors slid open, allowing them into the ground floor of the building. White faced, Peter turned to look at Ned. “Please tell me you got all of that.”
Hands shaking, Ned held up his phone, open to his camera roll where the video was already saved. “Let’s go.” MJ said and they hurried from the elevator. They rushed through the bustling streets until they made it back to the apartment. Peter 3 and Gwen had already returned. So as soon as they entered the apartment they were bombarded by questions from both Peters, Gwen, Tony and Happy.
It was hard to sort out the mess that was everyone’s jumbled voices. But Peter got the gist of it.
“Strange cornered us in the elevator on our way out.” Peter said, silencing them all. “Ned got it all on video.”
Everyone froze and gaped at them. “Ned, you need to send that in to the Daily Bugle right now.” Gwen said, being the first to speak.
He nodded. “I already did.”
Within half an hour the video was all over the internet, trending on every platform. Peter had to get off TikTok because he couldn’t get through five videos without one of himself appearing in at least one of them.
“Ned, MJ, you need to get your families out of here.” Tony suggested over a dinner of takeout. “Strange might go after you, and when he gets to your house, you don’t want your families to be there.”
“My family will never leave. Not if they think I’m in danger.” MJ said and Ned nodded in agreement.
“I’ll handle it.” Happy said and swiftly left the apartment.
“Right, then. Ned, MJ, it would be best I think for the pair of you to stay here. Protected by four Spider-Mans and myself would be where you’re safest in case he decides to come after you. Happy will probably stay here too.”
“Eight of us in this apartment?” Peter asked with a little laugh. “This’ll be interesting.”
“How about this?” Peter 2 began. “I’ll go in the little room. Tony and Happy can share Peter’s room. Gwen and Parker can share her room and Ned, MJ and Peter can have the sitting room.”
“I can take a couch or chair.” Peter 3 offered. “And MJ can share with Gwen.”
“Thanks.” MJ said, giving Peter 3 a small smile.
Peter knew Peter 3 really liked MJ and after saving MJ, he could tell Peter 3 was very protective over her. He was glad for it. If someone burst into the apartment, he didn’t like the idea of MJ being right in the immediate line of fire. He didn’t much like the thought of Ned there either but at least Ned had a bit of developing magic to work with.
Happy returned three hours later, with two suitcases in hand, one for Ned and the other for MJ. Apparently they had been packed by their families, both of whom were now being taken into Stark Industries protection and safe houses.
“We need to figure out what the hell Strange is trying to accomplish by doing all of this.” Peter 2 said softly as they all sat gathered in the sitting room.
“He said he has been gathering power for eons. But he’s only like thirty something right?” Ned asked. “So how does that work?”
“He’s probably been using magic in some way to pause or slow time as he accumulates power.” Tony suggested.
“I think he’s feeding off of the dark dimension to gain strength. It’s what the Ancient One did, according to a sorcerer, Baron Mordo. He spoke out against her methods and even left her Sanctum when he found out. She was only using a little bit in order to keep herself alive, but I think he could be using a lot of it.”
“Okay, so we know the how. But that still doesn’t explain the why.” Tony said, tapping his chin rhythmically with his fingers.
“What if he’s trying to protect someone?” Peter 3 asked. “I mean, he claims that he’s trying to save the world, but what if there’s one specific person that he’s trying to keep from dying.”
“I don’t think he has any family… or friends for that matter.” Peter said, thinking hard.
Gwen glanced at Peter 3 and then said, “It must be a girlfriend then, or an ex maybe? Was he ever married or engaged?”
“Wasn’t there another doctor?” Ned asked. “A few years ago, when he was in the accident. There was someone else that tried to help him. It was in an article that even she eventually gave up on him.”
MJ snapped her fingers. “Wait, now that you mention it, I think I remember something like that.”
“What was her name though?” Peter asked.
“Charlotte?” MJ said with a shrug. “Carly?”
“I think it definitely had a C in it.” Ned said, nodding. He opened up his phone and searched up Doctor Stephen Strange. “Maybe I can find the article.”
“Cross check it with the year.” MJ said.
“What year was it though? It was a while before the blip. 2016?” Ned said, typing furiously into his phone.
“Yes, I think it was in the fall of 2016.” MJ said with a snap of her fingers.
“Damn, there’s like thousands of articles.” Ned groaned. Soon they were all on their phones, digging through article after article in search of any potential candidates for Doctor Strange’s lover.
Peter 2 found a Clea Lake who had a long term relationship with Strange back when he was in high school and during his early years in college, but she was happily married with three kids now. And there was nothing to suggest they had had anything to do with each other since.
Soon after Happy found a Doctor by the name of Gina Atwater, but she was a dead end as well. After another hour of sifting through articles MJ found a woman named Alice. Their breakup had been bad and according to Celebrity Orderly’s Alice had confessed to still being in love with Strange, but nothing indicated that he reciprocated his feelings.
“Hang on.” Peter 3 said, leaping to his feet in excitement. “I think I found her. Doctor Christine Palmer. She works in Metro-General Hospital with Strange. They were tougher for a long time on and off before and after the accident. A few months ago she moved to Australia for a really good job opportunity in medical research and supposedly went off the grid a few days after starting the job. She stopped showing up to work and a lab technician filed a police report when he went to her house and found her phone had been left behind. There was no sign of distress or kidnapping so the police dismissed the case.”
“So, he’s using this magic to find her?” Gwen asked. “What if she really just wanted to build a new life for herself?”
“Says here that her family reported that she was very happy with her life and intended on spending a year in Australia before returning home to resume her position at Metro-General. They don’t believe she would have done this herself and they have been pushing for the case to be reopened.”
“I have gone back in time over and over again, trying to save her.” Strange muttered from the darkest corner of the room. “And yet, somehow, it is never enough. I have consulted the stone over and over, to find a way. But now the stone is gone.” Strange gave a maddened smile. “What is it you said, Stark? ‘When you mess with time it tends to mess back.’ So I have had to resort to other means.” Dark tendrils laced around his fingers, twining around his limbs and spreading through the room like a creeping wildfire.
Everyone was on their feet the moment Strange’s presence had become known. Peter was between Strange and MJ immediately, trying to create a buffer, a shield with his own body. Strange laughed. “Look at you, little Spiderling, trying to protect her. Over and over, I’ve tried to save her. No matter what I do, she always disappears.”
“Have you ever thought that maybe she doesn’t want to be found?” MJ seethed. “Maybe she’s just realized how crazy you are. Maybe she wants to get away from you!”
Strange’s gaze lit with a fury that was unmatched by anything Peter had ever seen. “Careful, girl.”
“So what? The stone told you to kill me?” Tony asked, his tone was casual, leisurely, as though this was just any old conversation between two friends who hadn’t spoken in a while. And Peter was great for it, because he saw it for what it was; Tony’s attempt to divert attention from MJ.
“Something like that.” Strange said, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. He tutted at Peter. “You just had to go and be the hero, didn’t you? You never could just leave well enough alone.” Strange sighed. “I didn’t want to. I tried to avoid it. But I see there, there is no choice. I have to kill you. It is the only way to save her.”
“And how do you figure that?” Tony spat, looking Strange up and down.
“The stone told me he was a threat. He was part of the thing keeping her away. Just like you and the black widow. I had no qualms about orchestrating the murderers, but he is a child, he has killed no one. I wanted a way around it. But that just isn’t plausible anymore.”
“Hang on, back up a damn second.” Happy said, throwing out a hand. “You? You killed Natasha?”
“No. I just brought about her death, by letting Scott out of the Quantum Realm before Loki could come waltzing in to save the day. So you would go with Scott’s plan and thus, she would die.”
“You bastard.” Tony hissed and suddenly his blaster was in hand and firing at Strange. Using his magic, he absorbed the blow with ease
Strange laughed, the sound hollow and chilling to the bone. “You really think I cannot face you? I can take a hundred of you at once without a thought!”
“You can’t beat me though.” Peter said, stepping forward, his hands raised in a fighting stance.
Strange scoffed and rolled his eyes theatrically. “I let you win, kid.” He said kid like an insult and the dark tendrils wrapped themselves around everyone, becoming something darker, something deadly.
Peter choked and was barely able to get the words out around the suffocating feeling that was overtaking his lungs. “You are going to be so dark, so inhuman by the time you figure out how to save Christine that she won’t even be able to recognize you. Don’t damage your soul beyond repair so save someone who will hate you because of it.”
The darkness faltered for a moment before increasing by tenfold. MJ gasped for breath before sinking to her knees. Tony was down next, soon followed by Happy and Ned. Gwen was swaying on her feet and Peter knew the only thing that was keeping them upright right now was their spider bites. His vision was blurring, darkening and he couldn’t tell if it was from the darkness filling the room or the fact that he was losing consciousness.
His lungs burned, his limbs were tingly and his heartbeat which had been thundering in his ears had calmed to a slow rhythm that he didn’t think he even achieved in sleep. Gwen collapsed, her head falling to her shoulder at an odd angle and Peter 3 lunged to keep her body from hitting the ground. The effort was too much for his weakened body to manage and Peter 3 was out cold the moment he hit the ground, crumpling on top of Gwen.
Peter 2 shot webs at Strange in a last ditch attempt to thwart his attack, to no avail. The darkness was too thick for him to aim properly. He fell to all fours, retching, as nothing came up.
Peter’s eyes struggled to open with each blink. The darkness was like acid on his eyes. He couldn’t see anyone anymore, but he could still hear MJ’s heartbeat, faint and barely there. Slowing. Slowing… she was dying.
And there was nothing he could do to stop. She was going to die. Ned was going to die. They all were. He was going to die. This was the end. He shuttered as he fell to his hands and knees.
He was going to die.
Without having even managed to graduate high school.
He was going to die.
His parents were waiting for him on the other side. Uncle Ben was waiting for him, reaching out a warm, calloused hand. Smiling down at him, with all the pride in the world.
And Aunt May. May who had raised him. Who had died for him. With great power comes great responsibility.
There she was, standing beside Ben, her hand outstretched. It would be so easy for him to go with her. To join her and his parents.
But… MJ.
Her whole family was here. She had so much to live for.
They all did.
“I can help you find her.” He gasped out, barely audible over the final beat of MJ’s heart. Everything went utterly black and he was gone, closing his eyes, knowing full well he would never open them again.