"Uh... give me a second. There are a few things I need to do."
The Spider-Man in the nanotech suit suddenly seemed to remember something. In an instant, he retracted the suit back into the bracelet, revealing a clean-cut young face.
Now that Peter got a proper look at him, he did seem a little familiar.
Before crossing over, Peter had definitely seen trailers for one of his movies, but it had looked like old material repackaged in a new bottle, so he never bothered watching it.
Still, he knew the nickname fans gave the actor in real life.
The Dutch kid.
The Dutch kid suddenly remembered what mattered and quickly turned around.
This was about Michelle Jones and Ned getting into MIT, after all.
He opened the car door and looked at the panicked middle-aged woman inside, then forced a smile.
"Ma'am, it's safe now. If you leave right away, you should still be able to catch your flight. But I hope you'll reconsider..."
Inside the car, seeing the world finally open back up in front of her, the admissions official let out a breath of relief.
She stared at him and said, stunned, "Peter, you're a hero!!!"
"No, I'm not... I'm just a wanted criminal..."
The Dutch kid lowered his head, looking miserable.
It was all Mysterio's fault for exposing his identity. Otherwise, he could have kept helping people as a masked hero without destroying his normal life.
Now his life was a complete mess. He barely knew what to do next. He was trying his best to fix things, but nobody seemed willing to give him a chance.
"Don't say that, Peter. I've seen everything you've done."
The woman gave him a warm smile and said gently, "A criminal doesn't protect civilians. A hero shouldn't be treated like this. I'll do everything I can to help your friends... and you."
"Really?! Me too? I mean... me too?!"
The Dutch kid looked up in shock, almost glowing with excitement.
"Of course. What, you don't want to be with your friends?"
The woman teased.
"Of course I do. Of course I do, I just..."
He got so excited he did not know what to do with himself.
"He's acting like a little kid..."
Peter curled his lip.
Compared to the Miles from that other universe, this guy somehow felt even less mature.
"You're Spider-Man too?!"
The admissions official looked at Peter in confusion. The suit on him looked far too similar to Spider-Man's, though the material did not seem as advanced. Even so, the tight fit showed off his athletic build so well that it made him look oddly reassuring.
"That's right. Your friendly neighborhood one."
"You look impressive too. Peter, you've got some excellent backup."
"He... isn't... I mean, he's my... no, that's not..."
Watching the Dutch kid stumble all over his words, the woman just smiled, then drove off.
That car was definitely going to need expensive repairs later, though, because the door and windshield were both wrecked.
After watching her leave, the Dutch kid clearly had a lot he wanted to ask Peter.
Another version of himself had suddenly appeared. Not being curious would have been stranger.
And from what he'd already gathered, their lives had gone in completely different directions. That only made him want to know more.
But right then, both Peter and the Dutch kid's Spider-Sense flared at the same time, and both of them turned toward the smoke.
Clang... clang... clang-clang-clang...
A metal sphere fell from the sky, bounced on the ground a few times, and then exploded.
As the smoke spread, a figure slowly emerged from the black cloud.
The owner of that figure was grinning like a demon.
"Hahahahahahahaha..."
"Okay, yeah. This version of the Green Goblin is definitely the one I know. Though his gear got upgraded?"
Peter looked at the familiar figure, listened to that familiar laugh, and muttered to himself.
"You know him?"
The Dutch kid asked, surprised.
"Of course. I've fought two different Green Goblins before. One was... another him. The other was his son." Peter shrugged. "But this one should be the one I know, because he doesn't have wings."
"Wings? What kind of monster is that?!"
"A green lizard? A dragon? Who knows. Covered in disgusting growths."
"Okay... I don't totally understand that, but imagining it is already gross enough."
The Dutch kid pictured a lizard covered in swollen lumps and shuddered.
At the same time, he was starting to believe in the multiverse theory more and more.
Back when Mysterio claimed he came from another universe, he had not believed a word of it.
But now another Peter Parker had shown up, along with enemies he'd never seen before. At this point, he had no choice but to believe the multiverse was real. In fact, now he was genuinely fascinated by it.
Spider-Man was like that.
Whenever they ran into something they did not understand, they got obsessed. They would happily waste hours chasing answers, even when most of the time they found nothing.
But they enjoyed the chase anyway.
Just as Peter was about to use the virtual wristwatch to summon New Goblin Harry over and stage a father-son showdown, a strange flash of light cut across the air.
When the white light faded, Peter found himself standing in an extremely dark place.
Good thing spiders had night vision.
That let him clearly see the room around him.
But why was he trapped inside some kind of giant glass container?
It looked like glass, but energy flowed across its surface in weird patterns. Peter could tell immediately that even with his current strength, he probably could not shatter it with brute force alone.
"Which absolute idiot thought this was a good idea?"
Peter was already in the mood to start cursing.
Still, the container was not truly unbreakable.
He could probably crack it open with the power of Kamen Rider Killbus, but since the situation still was not clear, Peter decided to wait and observe first.
Magic, when you got down to it, was a form of dimensional power.
And Kamen Rider Killbus possessed Blood Tribe dimensional power.
The two were different, but not fundamentally different.
It was more like one leaned toward darker magic and the other toward more conventional magic.
As for the deeper details, Peter had no clue.
Before all this, he had just been a science geek. Why would he ever have studied magic?
Still, not bad.
He was standing in the center, dead middle in the best spot. On his left was a slimy Lizard creature. On his right was Doctor Octopus Otto, still snarling. And in front of him stood the thoroughly confused Dutch kid.
Great view.
Perfect for watching things unfold live.
"I told you to be careful what you wished for, Peter. Because you kept talking during the spell, it got completely messed up. You wanted the world to forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. But the broken spell started pulling in people from across the multiverse... people who already knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man."
A man wearing a cloak, with that distinct kind of middle-aged charm, sighed and looked at the Dutch kid as he explained.
The moment Peter saw the Eye of Agamotto hanging on the man's chest and the red Cloak of Levitation draped around him, he immediately guessed who this was.
Doctor Strange.
Stephen Strange.
And honestly, the live-action version looked way better than the comics.
Whoever cast him deserved a raise.
"So how do we fix this?"
"Honestly, my understanding of the multiverse is still very limited. I've never actually traveled to another universe myself, and I don't fully understand the theory behind how these intersections happen or what kind of damage they can cause. Most of it is still unknown."
"Peter, you've created a huge problem. As for how to reverse the consequences of this spell, I don't have an answer yet. There are too many tears in it. Since this involves the multiverse, we first have to seal up all the openings before we can even begin solving the larger issue."
"But how?"
"First, we need to find everyone from other universes who was pulled here and already knows your identity. Then I'll check the Book of the Vishanti to see whether there's anything relevant. And if there isn't... then I'll have to try creating a new spell. Though I have no idea what that might actually do."
"Because I haven't really dealt with the multiverse before."
Doctor Strange sighed again, clearly frustrated.
"That's basically right. The multiverse is like a main universe with countless branching parallel worlds, and now some kind of point of convergence has caused those parallel worlds to intersect, which led to this mess."
"That probably sounds vague to you, but I've gotten used to it. I've been to other universes."
At some point, Peter had somehow appeared right next to them.
He pulled off his mask and looked at Doctor Strange.
"Locking people up without asking isn't a great habit, Stephen Strange."
Doctor Strange turned around, eyes widening.
"How did you get out?!"
"Whoa, man, you broke Doctor Strange's magic? That's incredible!"
The Dutch kid really had weird priorities, but his eyes were glowing with excitement.
"A little magic trick, that's all. I'm not exactly a wizard, but sometimes magical power can still end up in my hands."
Peter lifted the Spider Full Bottle in his hand. It contained a rich amount of Blood Tribe energy, and he'd used that power to liquefy himself enough to slip through the magical glass.
"As for the multiverse... maybe I can give you two a little help. Interested?"
Peter smiled.
(End of Chapter)
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