Chapter 35: Paintballing
My team landed in our base, the pirate ship, and I said "Ok guys, this'll be a blast, but we have to make a plan, to counteract anything they throw our way."
Aunt Nari was on my team, and she said "Yes, now, what are the teams? Then we can properly plan."
I opened the list on my vambrace, and said "You guys can see it all on the vambraces. So, team leads, are me, Sexi, and Tarts."
On the vambrace, the list showed the following.
Team Spidey.........Team Cherry Face...........Team Karen
Peter Parker (Spidey).......Tartarus Parker..........Karen SEXI Parker
Nari Moon............Cindy Moon (Silk)........Miles Morales (Arachnid Kid)
Julia Carpenter......Teresa Parker (Wolf Spider).....Gwen Stacy (Ghost Spider)
(Madame Web)
Rachel Carpenter........... Albert Moon Jr...........Rio Morales
(Mini Madame Web)
Natasha Romanov..........Ben Reilly.............Kaine Parker
(Black Widow)
Pietro Maximoff........Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch).....Maria Hill (Director of SHIELD)
(Quicksilver)
Barbara Bobbi Morse.....Sharon Carter (Captain America)....... Sam Wilson (Falcon)
(Mockingbird)
Josef (Agent Of Karma)......Jeff Davis......James Carter (Agent Of Karma)
Lucas (Agent Of Karma).....Erik (Agent Of Karma)......James Buchanan Barnes.
Luke Cage (Powerman)...Felipe (Agent Of Karma)....Danny Rand (Immortal Iron Fist)
Ava Ayala (White Tiger)..... Sam Alexander (Nova)........Hunter (White Wolf)
Whitney Frost. .......... Lady Death..........Elizabeth 'Liz' Allan
(White Masque)
Elizabeth 'Betty' Brant........Edward Ned Leeds........Ben Grimm (The Thing)
Johnny Storm......Susan 'Sue' Storm (Invisible Woman)...T'Challa (Black Panther)
(Human Torch)
Shuri.............. Okoye..............Namor (King Of Atlantis)
Crystalia Amaquelin........Clint Barton (Hawkeye)...........Tony Stark (Iron Man)
Virginia Pepper Potts........Logan (Wolverine)..........Emma Frost (Ice Queen)
Ororo Munroe (Storm)......Jean Grey..............Felicia Hardy (Black Cat)
Ganke Lee........... Walter Hardy .........Yelena Boleva (White Widow)
Melina Vostokoff (Widow).......Antonia............Sabine (Widow)
28 more rows.........28 more rows.............28 more rows
The 28 more rows on each column were the other Widows, there were 84 of them total.
"Ok, y'all." I said "So, lets look at who our greatest threats are on each team. For Team Cherry Face, threat one is Tartarus, he has reflexes and powers that rival mine, he's almost equal to me in power. After him, or on the same level as him, is Ben Reilly. After that, is Lady Death, trust me, she can go faster than a blink, and she will be in your face before you even know she's there. Threat level three, is Teresa Parker, and Cindy Moon. They're really fast, and smart. Threat level unknown, is Antonia. It depends on how far into the game you meet her, she has photographic memory. She can go all the way to level two, and can even go higher. Oh, wait! I realized I made a mistake while saying the rules, that I know Tarts and Sexi definitely are going over with their teams."
I made a mental connection with them, and said Guys, did you clear it with your teams that they could use their magical powers for anything other than binding people, defending, and invisibility, as long as no one gets hurt?
Yeah, we did. They both said. Thanks for checking anyways, Dad. Tarts said.
Not a problem. I said, then disconnected.
"Ok, so we can use magical powers for anything other than binding, and invisibility, as long as no one gets hurt." I said. "Threat level four, is Wanda, Jean, and Sue. Their magical powers can be real detrimental. Threat level five, is all the Widows, and the Agents, and Okoye. They can do their job quietly. Threat level six, is Clint Barton, and Logan. Threat level seven is Walter Hardy, and Sam Alexander. Threat level eight, is Ned, and Jeff.
"Now, for Team Karen. Threat level one, is Sexi, and Miles, and Kaine. Threat level two, is T'Challa, Namor, Hunter, Danny, and Emma. Threat level three is Ben, The Agents, and The Widows, and Sam Wilson, and Maria Hill. Threat level four, is Gwen, Tony, and Felicia. Threat level five, is Mrs. Morales, and Liz. That's all the risks, copy that?"
Everyone nodded, so I said "Now, for the plan. We're camping."
I was met with a whole lot of objections, and I said "Woah, woah! You didn't let me explain! White, can you connect to the ship?"
She looked at me for a second, then a wondrous expression came on her face, and she put her mask down, then after a moment, the ship rose in the air, and she lifted her mask. "That answer your question?" She asked.
"It does." I said, smirking. "Now, Widows and Agents, and Ava, Bobbi, and I will tail the ship on the ground. We're going to head to the center of the world, and when we get there, the people on the ship will snipe our opponents, and we will have fun on the ground. Is that clear, are there any comments?"
"That's not really camping." Aunt Nari said.
"Yeah, but it was fun seeing your expressions." I said.
"Not cool, Pete." Bobbi said "The one thing, I wouldn't have minded you losing in your years, is you always being high, when you aren't."
"That's what you think, but if I lost this, you would hate me." I said, smirking. "If that'll be all, let's go!"
I jumped off the ship, and landed, making a large sound, that echoed across the planet, and made waves of wind.
Everyone else that was an the ground assault landed after me, and Melina said "Nice intimidation technique."
"That's the nicest thing you've said to me!" I said, laughing.
"Well then, don't expect more." She said "I'm still sceptical, don't blame me."
"Oh, I'm not, wasn't going to, won't do that." I said, starting to walk in the direction of the center of the three team bases, everyone following. "If anything, I'm happy. Talia was scared, that you wouldn't be the mother she remembered. She might not have said it to me, but we both knew it. You being a mother hen is easing and tensing her nerves at the same time, but with more easing than tensing. But if you go on, the tensing will rise, and neither of us want that."
"No, we don't." Melina confirmed. "But just because you're keeping her best interests in mind, doesn't mean I'm fully warmed up to the idea."
"I wouldn't expect any less." I said. "Now, we have to go in stealth mode, and stop talking, we're only five minutes away."
She nodded, and I jumped up, landing on a branch, then jumping to a treehouse, and I got my sniper out, and scoped the area. I didn't see anyone, but in the distance, I could see some trees moving by some sort of force. I got out of the treehouse, then I swung to the next tree, and looked out from there.
Still, there was no people to see, so I wasn't worried, but I still had my senses on high alert. I continued swinging onwards, and then Talia came up to me, and said "My mom hates you, it's funny."
"It is." I said quietly, as we swung across the trees. "I don't know exactly why, but I like it, you know why."
"How did you know I was scared of that?" Nat said "I made sure to keep it under all the wraps I could possibly put."
"Easy." I said, cocking my gun, and aiming at one of the Widows I could see in the distance that was from Tarts' team, her name was Vanessa. "I would've been the same."
I pulled the trigger, and a moment later, there was a red mark of paint on her suit, and then she was portalled away. Next to me, Talia had her sniper out, and she swung to another tree, and took her position, using her spider legs to balance her. I looked into the trees near where the Widow was, and saw Cindy, Tess, Ben, and Tarts in the trees, aiming.
"Everyone on the floor, get into vantage points." I said into the comms. "Snipe at my six o'clock, nine hundred feet away, twenty feet above the ground." That was the position Tess was in. I took another gun out, and aimed. "Is everyone in position?"
"Copy." Everyone said, then after a moment, they said "Ready."
"Now." I said, then pulled my triggers. Immediately I reloaded my guns, and shot again.
Tess was able to dodge the shots at first, she jumped high, and was just able to dodge all of them, but the second pair of shots I took were calculating for that, and she had two marks of red paint on her suit.
"Shit!" I heard her say, I made the comms so that they were disabled the moment that one got shot, and she fell into the portal that was made under her.
"Don't waste time on Ben, or Tarts." I said. "They can dodge the shots, no problem. Aim at Cindy."
After a moment, I heard a good amount of people say, "Target acquired."
"Now." I said, then we all shot.
Cindy clearly knew she wasn't going to get out of it, so she just gave up, and she was covered in red paint from head to toe, and as she fell into her portal, she said "Not cool."
I lost about five people already, and I started to aim at the ground with my spider legs, taking people out left and right, and with my hands, I was shooting at Tarts and Ben, to make sure they couldn't get my people. I honestly wasn't trying to take them out, I knew that wouldn't work. I was just shooting at them so they had to focus on me, rather than others.
They saw what I was doing, and Tarts jumped into a treehouse, and I started aiming all of my spider legs' guns at the door of the treehouse, and used my left hand to throw a grenade into the treehouse, while shooting at Ben with my right hand.
After a moment, I stopped shooting at the door, and focused back on the ground assaults, and then to my surprise, Tarts came out the treehouse, not a drop of paint on him.
"How?" I said into the comms, Tarts couldn't hear me.
"With the power of family." Nat said, then started using five AK-47s on him.
At firt he was doing good, just managing to dodge, but still not getting hit. I changed to AK-47s too, and aimed three at him, and three at Ben. "Lead them to each other." I said.
"That might work." Talia said, then put half her focus on Ben.
After a minute of non-stop shooting, they bumped into each other, not registering the other as a threat, and paused for a millisecond, and that was all we needed.
Tarts was covered in red paint, and Ben was lucky, he managed to use Tarts as a human shield, and Tarts fell into a portal, and Ben was still in the game.
"Take care of the smaller threats." I said. "We can't take Ben out anytime soon. I will have to go hand to hand with him in a while. Me, him, and Kaine. It'll be rad."
"You're high as fuck." Bobbi said. "But I'm not complaining."
"That's the vibe, Bobbi." I said. I started using only one gun on Ben, and started moving, Ben was shooting at me, and I swung directly over enemy territory, and was just shooting everyone I could down, while dodging.
Eventually, I got into a treehouse whose window didn't face the enemy, and I got in, knowing that they couldn't do what I did to Tarts. I poked my guns through the wall, and started shooting, depending on only my instincts, I couldn't see what I was aiming at.
"Can you come out of your hole?" Talia said. "Ben has me pinned down, and the only reason I'm not out is because both Madam Webs have the rest of his attention, but we'll get out anytime now."
"Yeah, Uncle Pete." Rachel said "Oof, Mom just got out."
I got out of the treehouse, and started shooting at Ben with all I had, and took him by surprise for a moment, but he was able to dodge, by millimeters. He was about to shoot at me, when a large sound took both of our attentions.
I looked up in the air, and saw in the distance, a humongous robot coming our way. "Fucking hell, Sexi." I said. "White, use the ship's cannons, aim one of the cannons at the floor surrounding her transformer thing, it can take out her ground support, and she might slip on it, though I doubt that. Talia, you need to go, and infiltrate the transformer, I got things here, with Tarts' team."
"Copy that." They both said, then Talia added "Should I take some Widows with me?"
"I don't see why not." I said. "Not more than ten of y'all, though." I looked then chose ten of them. "Valerie, Thea, Geraldine, Emily, Hiba, Katy, Linda, Lina, Mary, and Nadia, you're with her."
I went across the trees again, taking about sixty percent of what was left of Tarts' team, and Valerie said into the comms "Copy that. But how, does he just know our names, and keep it in memory?"
"I'm not that empty headed, Valerie." I said, with a smirk. "Sure, I forget the dates every now and then, -"
"Every now and then?" Talia said, and I winced. "More like all the time."
"Whatever." I said. "Take your team, and go. This win is imperative, this is our first match, and it matters so much."
"Yeah, because you, Kaine, and Ben are going to duel it out at the end." Bobbi said "Please tell me that we're going to be able to see it."
"I have cameras on the suits, that the people at home are currently watching from." I said.
"Plan for everything, applies to paintballing too." Talia said, heading out with her team. "Never knew that, but ok."
"That applies to everything, when it comes to me, Talia." I said. "Good luck, and keep us updated."
"I'm looking at the current state of the scoreboard, or whoever is left on the teams." Betty said. "It looks that on Tartarus' team, there are only Ben, Antonia, Wanda, Sharon, Death, Sue, Okoye, Logan, Sam Alexander, and Walter Hardy left."
"Yow, that must suck for them." I said, blasting at Ben with renewed vigor. "Melina, how about you do a full advance, and take care of them. Leave Death and Antonia for the last, you can't win against them, not alone. The others, you have a fair chance, it's fifty-fifty."
"You tryna get on my mom's good side?" Talia said into the comms amusedly. "Never knew you were such a briber, why didn't I get that type of treatment?"
"That's not what I'm doing here." I said, nearly falling down with laughter, and Ben was looking at me confusedly. I saw a Widow that had a clear shot at him, and he was distracted by my laughing, so I said "Sabrina, shoot Ben, now."
She shot him, and he was able to dodge, but his distraction still cost him his life, I had my guns shooting at him full force immediately, and he was out.
"So it'll be me and Kaine." I said "Major letdown, Ben." I said "I know you're listening to me, bro. I thought The Beyond Corp said you were the Spider-Man that mattered."
"I took out Susan, Logan, Sharon, and Wanda out, and I'm going to go Hail Mary on them." Melina said.
"No, don't." I said. "For now, every single person matters, we don't need to sacrifice you. I will take care of them, you want, you can help."
"You can have your fun." Melina said.
"Thank you." I said sincerely, then dropped to the ground. I dug into the ground, and went right nextto under where Okoye was, and made the ground under her so thin, that when she moved, the ground under her fell, and she landed in front of me. I shot her, then said "Sorry."
She glared at me, but she couldn't hear me say sorry, and she fell into her portal.
"You're apologizing?" Hiba said, in confusion. "What type of a dude are you?"
"The weird kind." I said. "I can't find Walter or Antonia here, I think they sent them to take care of the other team, Talia, watch out."
"I just lost two Widows to them." Talia said, amidst gunfire. "We took care of Walter, but Antonia is a little more difficult, we're going to finish this though. Fuck! Three Widows out. Ugh, forget this, I'm going to go hand to hand with her."
"That's a little dangerous." I said.
"Let me focus, Daddy Spider!" She screamed in Russian, and snickers came across the comms from the Widows. There were several grunts that came from the comms, and I was making my way to them, when it all stopped, and Nat said "Phew, that was close."
"You won?" I asked, incredulous.
"You doubted me?" She asked, sounding scandalized.
"No!" I said immediately, much to the amusement of the rest. "It's just, how did you do it on your first time? That sounds weird, the way I said it."
"That's because you're weird!" Talia said. "Hunter told me about the protocols you installed in his suit, that helped him defeat Karnak. I -"
"That's ingenious!" I said. "You did moves that you knew that she would copy, and you utilized the weaknesses you put in the form!"
"Yeah, and now," Emily said "We're looking at an army, that we're taking out one by one, and we need some help."
"I'm almost here." I said.
A moment later, I made it to them, and I started opening fire. I took twenty people out, they were expecting attacks from the direction of Talia's team, and I was in a whole other direction.
My spider sense blared, and I moved a foot to the left, and there was a splatter of paint where I just was. I looked up, and saw both Sams, shooting at me. It seemed that they formed a temporary alliance, to take me out.
"Bruh." I said into the comms, dodging their attacks, not yet attacking back.
"What happened?" Bobbi said "We're a minute away."
"Both Sams are teaming up on him." Nat, Valerie, and Rachel said.
"I seriously don't understand this." I said. "They know they can't defeat me, don't they? Unless it's a trap, and Kaine is up there. If it's a trap, I'm springing it."
"If it's a trap, then I wish you the best of luck." Pietro said.
"Oh, is that Pietro that said that?" I said, genuinely surprised, and finding it funny. "Wanda, you seeing this? Pietro is wishing me the best of luck! Did The Shadow finally decide to pity me, or some shit?"
"I'm not that mean to you..." Pietro said.
"That's right." I said "You're meaner. Why though?"
"I.... Don't know." He admitted. "I honestly trust no one in the world more than you and Wanda, but I feel the need to be a jerk to you, don't know why."
"It's all cool, Slow poke." I said "That's just our vibe, you annoy me, and I shrug it off. But I don't exactly know why we're having a heart to heart on the comms."
"Good point." He said, and the comms was filled with light laughter.
"Ok anyways guys, I'm springing it, if it is a trap." I said "Wish me luck."
"Luck!" Everyone said, and I started running up the trees, not going immediately after them, instead going around the transformer bot, and webbing its legs, running on the trees. All the while, I was shooting the enemies on the ground, and Nat said "Not cool! You're taking out our guys! We were meant to beat them!"
"You guys are taking too long!" I said.
"I will show you too long." Talia and Pietro said at the same time, and they turned into two blurs, putting paint on everyone on Sexi's team.
"Will you guys kill me if I said that I said that, so you guys would do that?" I asked, and both of them just looked at me, and Talia said "Run. Before I do something Melina will hate me for."
"I wouldn't hate it if you killed him." Melina unhelpfully said.
"Not you, Melina." I said, then ran for my life, taking the bot down with a pull of my webs. I started running up the trees, jumping around, and then I was in midair, and I shot both Sams out, and then I felt my spider sense blare, and I jetted out of the way of the blurple paintballs that were being shot at me, and the paint grenades, and the knives, and, well, the everything. I looked around, and saw that everyone other than the Widows surrounding me, on different trees, aiming at me, and shooting at me.
"Knew it'd be something like this." I said, dodging their shots with the grace of a dancer. "It was even more cemented when no one other than the Widows on her team were on the floor, I knew this would happen. Pietro, Nat, use your speed."
They did, and within a second, they were falling through portals, and so were Sabine, Yelena, Felicia, Tony, Ben, Ms. Morales, and Liz.
"Sorry guys, and it was a necessary loss, sorry guys." I said. "Josef, you're up next. Take care of your fellow Agents."
"You only had to say it, Karma." He said, and in two seconds, both James were falling through portals.
"Bobbi, Hunter." I said "If you take him down, and both of you don't go down, Maria is next, then T'Challa."
Bobbi flew in, and took some of the heat from me for a moment, and then she was shot, and both Hunter and Maria were out too.
"Josef, shoot T'Challa, and Namor." I said. "Lucas is out, isn't he? I don't see him."
"Lucas is out of the picture, has been, since when we clashed with Team Cherry Face." Josef said, as he shot them both down.
"Melina, take care of Emma and Danny." I said. "Everyone else, aim at them two as well, us spiders are going to finish this."
I took the attention of the Spider-Fam, and I saw Emma and Danny get stabbed with paint knives, and then fall through portals.
"Can I blast the area with my cannons?" Whitney said mischievously.
"How many have we lost?" I asked, as I shot Gwen on the ankle, and she fell through a portal.
"We've lost ten total." Betty said "Lucas, Nat, Pietro, Julia, Bobbi, Luke, Valerie, Thea, Emily, and Linda."
"Well, shit." I said "I wanted to make it to this point with eight losses, but this works too."
"Your goal was eight!?" Shuri said. "Dude, I'm thinking that we made it out awesome!"
"Yeah, but these are eight soldiers lost." I said "In real war, every life matters, don't it? And this is mock war, so I'm willing to accept losses, but I'm also very intent on cutting it down. Anyways, yes. Everyone on the ship, other than Whitney, jump out, and shoot. Whitney, use your mask to control every single cannon. We're doing this."
Five seconds later, the whole area was practically flooded with red paint, and when the paint settled, Miles was just managing, and the other two were floating in the air, and shooting the rest.
I pulled my AK-47s out, and changed my looks to Carnage, and screamed out "Carnage!" And started blasting them, the others remaining doing the same.
After a minute, Miles fell into a portal, having been shot by...a lot of people, and Sexi and Kaine took care of everyone, and it was just me and Whitney.
"Should I sacrifice myself?" Whitney asked.
"It won't do any good." I said "And they can't make duplicates, or portals, so you, run away. I'm doing the sacrifice here."
"Fucking hell, this is what you wanted." She said, in awe. "For there to be only one survivor, and you chose me, because I had the ship. That's why you sent everyone away. Damn."
She started taking the ship away, and Sexi took off her mask, and I could see her shock at what Whitney was doing, and Sexi said "Shit. Uncle Kaine, what's the move?"
I was still shooting at them, and they were still shooting at me, and there were felled trees all over, from the 'carnage' we unleashed.
"Either one of us go after Whitney, we're dead." He said, taking his own mask off. "The whole ship is probably paint all over, and a drop of red paint is on us, and we're out for the count, I know which spells Peter used."
"Don't you dare think of breaking the spell." I said, taking my mask off as well.
"I wasn't going to, asshole." Kaine said "We did the same thing to our bot too, it even had a person inside, but Nat, she uh, took care of that the moment she came, how, I don't even know, the place was literally blurple paint all over."
"Karnak's powers, that's how." I said.
"Shit!" Kaine said "K, Sexi, we're going against your dad, if we lose, we lose, and if we win, we can easily take the ship piece by piece."
Sexi put her guns away, and took her knives out, and had grenades and knives all over her spider legs, and said "Let's do this shit."
I put my guns away as well, and armed myself to the teeth, even making paint fangs. "I'm gonna win, you know why?"
"Why do I feel like I want to know, but don't, at the same time?" Kaine said, arming himself to the same level as me.
"I'll win, because I got family." I said, and we all started laughing.
We sobered, and started jumping at each other. They both were about to get me, but I just managed to twirl smoothly, and nearly stabbed them, but they just managed to pull their stomachs away in time.
"Fuck!" We all said.
"Can I go Beyonder mode?" I asked.
"Yes!" Kaine said, and then his eyes turned white, and then he said in the multiple voice thing that The Beyonder had "Ahh, I didn't even do this once, feels badass."
I went into Beyonder mode as well, reverting to my usual looks, but with white eyes, and said in the multiple voice "It does feel badass. But now, we're duking this shit out."
I rushed at them, and Kaine was able to get away, but Sexi was covered in red paint.
"It's just us." Kaine said, floating in the air, with crossed arms.
"Just me and you, bro." I said, floating towards him, until I was only ten feet away from him. "Whoever wins, no hard feelings."
"No hard feelings." He said.
We went away from each other, till we were ten million lightyears away from each other.
We rushed at each other, knives out, and instead of meeting each other head on, we tried stabbing each other, or even putting paint on the other's face, whatever we could physically do, rather than just making paint appear on the other's face, that would be cheap.
Damn, why couldn't you let me live then, Pete? Ben said in our heads. It's not a full house, it needs to be all three of us.
"Not either of ours faults that you got distracted." We said, mentally, and physically, for the kicks.
"But if you want," I added, "then get your ass here, we need to have fun."
Can I come too? Tartarus asked.
"Totally!" I said "But it's no longer about the teams then, my team won, this is just between the four of us, paintmatch."
"Is that supposed to be deathmatch, but with paint instead?" Tartarus asked amusedly, as him and Ben appeared, armed, and in Beyonder mode.
"Yeah!" I said "Got a prob with it Tarts?"
"Actually, I don't, surprisingly." He said "I'd call it that myself."
"White, you can head back home, just land the ship, and then a portal will appear, walk through it." I said.
"Copy that, and your voice," Whitney said, making an expression with her hands "badass."
"Complete with the hand motion, right?" I asked amusedly.
"How?" She asked.
"There's a reason why I'm not always like this." I said "I don't even need to try, that's how omnipotent we are. Right now, we just focus slightly, and I can see... Well, let's leave it at a lot of things."
"Y'all chill as fuck." Whitney said, giving me a thumbs up, knowing that I could see it. I let her feel my smile, and she said "See, that smile, that's the vibe."
"Yeah, well, we're about to fight, wish me luck." I said.
"Nope." She said, miming that she was zipping her lips. "Not giving anyone luck here, sorry."
"Fine then, be like that." I said.
She went through the portal, then I ignored her, and faced the other three. "Ready?" I asked.
"Down to go." Kaine and Ben said.
"Three." We all said, our several voices making it seem like at least twenty people were talking.
"Two."
"One."
"Go!"
We all started fighting, punching at each other at least thirty million times a second, and missing, because the others were dodging, and doing whatever we could physically do, trying to take any of the others out.
After two minutes, we decided to take it to the next level, and we started doing more than just physical, shooting webs as well.
After about five minutes, I managed to smear a drop of paint on Ben, and he was out, and taking advantage of the one trillionth of a second that Kaine was in shock, I smeared him too, and then I went for Tarts, but he saw it coming, and managed to flip over me. As I turned to face him, I sensed his hand coming my way, and I dodged it, only to find out that it was a feint, and his spider legs smeared paint on me.
"Damn." I said, as I fell into the portal.
We all landed home, and I changed back to normal, and said "Congrats to Tarts!"
We were all back to normal, all four of us, and after several rounds of applause, Tess said "How fast were you guys punching each other?"
"Uhh, that wasn't our fastest." I admitted. "That was more like -"
"Why are you freaking them out!?" Ben asked. "Just say the statistics you have, rather than not explain it fully." He turned to the rest. "Our fastest so far is one trillion punches in a trillionth of a second."
Everyone except Death looked at us like we were...on a whole other level, which was kinda true, and I said "That's why, Ben. Because they don't need to know that in comparison, they're slower than slugs to us."
"I knew that for a long time, that you were that fast." Death said "It doesn't really change anything."
"It does!" Liz said "I'm already the only non meta human that Peter has feelings for, and now, when I'm already this different, I'm now talking so slow to him, I could be an old hag!"
"Lizzy!" I exclaimed, aghast. "You don't have anything to prove to me!" I put my hands on her shoulders reassuringly. "You're amazing as you are, hell, you're stellar, and I hate that word, but its meaning, is like, the best. Not to say I hate you, or some shit, that word is just the most fitting. I don't stay in that form for a reason, but even if I did, I'm going to tell you something that one of the characters from one of the best R shows that I ever watched said. He was really fast too, and he told his wife, or whatever she was, that with her, every single moment was a blessing, but with others, it was just so slow, time just stopped for him, basically. I save several hundred people across the universe while we're in class, but when we go to lunch, I'm not anywhere in the universe, other than the lunchroom, at our table. When it comes to my family, every single moment, is the biggest blessing, everything else comes second, other than my family. Now I know that doesn't make sense, but what I'm trying to say is, if one of my family members are in the hospital, and there's a war going on outside, I'm not just going to ignore the war, I will be in both placed, I'm not an asshole like Invincible. And that's if I stayed in my Beyonder mode. But now, I can only throw a billion punches in a second, give or take. Every single moment with any of y'all, is a blessing! And that's why I don't hesitate to use the Time Stone to spend more time with y'all! You don't have anything to prove to me, or anyone, Lizzy. I love you fine, just the way you are, or the way you will be. You're Elizabeth 'Liz' Allan, the first person I kissed, and there's a reason for that! I'm my own person, and if you're afraid that any of my feelings for you aren't from me, then let me tell you, I've outlived those days, and yeah, maybe, I still technically lived for more years in those memories than my time travel stuff, but it only took me a million years to become my own self! And the rest of the time, I always thought about coming back, and not having just one part of my family, and having all of it! There is nothing, and I repeat, nothing, you have to prove to me."
She hugged me, and said "How do I say something that I want only you to hear?"
"Well, there are, several ways." I said "It's your call. Different dimension, then Ben, Kaine, and Tarts will have to waste time trying to find us, or in the locked throne room, no one other than Miles can get in without my express permission, or just go to your system, then no one here can hear unless they want to, or I can make a bubble that no one other than us weirdasses can open up, or I can block your mind from everyone other than me, and you can think it out loud, or -"
"Ok, I think you're going a little over the top, we don't need to go crazy." Liz said, looking at me. "And you can do that without going all god on us?"
"The correct term is Beyonder mode," I said "it's from the couple of Beyonders that were bad, but they weren't at their full potential, because they weren't the only Beyonders, but I'm straying from the topic, and I didn't answer your question, and why the fuck am I not yet answering your question, and uhh, what was the question again? Oh yeah, I can do any of those without going Beyonder mode, and more, I can also temporarily kill both of us, then the only people who can reach us are Tarts, Death, and me. Or -"
"We need to get you on some sort of drug, then you'll get normal." Bobbi said, but her eyes had some sort of softness to them, that she was sending my way. I mentally smiled back at her, so no one other than someone who was looking to see if I did that would notice, and she glowed at the smile.
"For real!" Shuri said, not noticing our interaction. "I could bring you some illegal things, and it will be perfectly fine! What do you want? Nicotine? -"
"Shuri!" I said "Don't! Can you, just not, it's not that funny. Besides, the only thing that can make me high, is a specific Web Magic spell."
"Only one thing, in the world." Aunt May said "Did you even get drunk before?"
"Let's not go there." I said. Then I made a bubble around me and Liz, and said "Lizzy? Everything ok?"
"Yeah!" She said, looking at me. "Yeah, I just wanted to say, you're amazing! And, I'm thinking, I don't mind proving that we're better than the other Peters and Lizs that got together. If anything, I want to."
"You sure?" I asked "That's not something, you can ever really back out of, not with my genetics. But like I said, your wish is forefront to mine. And how, are you going to explain anything, to your very scary father, whom I respect for his attitude towards me, but, like bro, that's a very nice toy, that won't even itch me."
"I told him, y'know." She said, smirking. "I told him that you wouldn't be afraid, and you'd just roll with it, and he said that if you did that, then you would have won his trust, to an extent."
"That's funny." I said "What did he say later on?"
"He didn't expect you to be that cool with it, he at least expected you to say something about guns being illegal, but in his words, he was outgunned."
"That, he was, one thousand percent." I said, smirking. "Is that all? Or is there something else?"
"Well, now that you mention it.." Liz said, then went on her toes, and kissed me.
I kissed her back, and after a while, we parted because Liz needed air.
"Now, we can go back." She said, smiling.
"All your call." I said, then got us back home.
Everyone was still looking at us, and Aunt May said "I'm gonna take a shot in the light here, and say that you guys had your talk within a moment, hence the change of your expressions."
"Well, more like no time passed at all." I, Ben, Kaine, and Tarts said.
"How the actual fuck..." Bobbi said, then just gave up with a shrug. "You're weird, Pete."
"And that makes me so much more awesome." I said. "Now, after fight party!"
"No, us humans have to sleep." Aunt Nari said, yawning.
"Aww." Sixty percent of us said.
"Go, save the world or something." Shuri said, punching my shoulder playfully.
"Fiiine." I said, flopping onto the couch. "Men, get a copy to where my copy is, let's just idle fight for now, I'm fucking bored."
"That's the vibe." Kaine said, flopping onto his couch, the others doing the same.
"You know what!" I said "How about we control the copies video game style?"
Everyone just looked at us, and we were making controllers to our specifications, and screens were showing our copies POV, and we started gaming.
"Y'all for real weird." Bobbi said, then gave me a side hug, and went upstairs.
The others followed, leaving only us four, and we started gaming intensely, with no true point to what we were doing.
Chapter 36: A Change Of Phases
I, Tarts, Ben, and Kaine played through the night, with Death commentating from the side. Every time someone made a mistake, or blundered, she would point it out.
Eventually, Ben and Kaine said at the same time. "I can't help but notice, you didn't criticize Pete, but you did for the rest of us."
"Well, it's not like he made a mistake, did he?" Death said, smirking. They thought for a moment, then when they couldn't deny it, she said "There's your answer."
"They didn't ask a question." Tarts said.
"Did everything I taught you go down the drain?" I asked. "Some girl came, and blew your mind out? What's her name?"
"Kriff off, Dad." Tarts said "I was trying to help them."
"Pete." Ben said seriously, setting his controller down. We all looked at him, and he said "When do you expect to be contacted?"
"I don't know." I said, all of our moods souring. (except for Death, she didn't know what we were talking about) "It can happen in a second, or a minute, or in a year, or in a week, or a year, or in no time, or in the past, or in the future."
"What has all of you guys so worried?" Death asked.
"Nothing, Mom." Tarts said.
"It sounds like a whole lot more than nothing." She said.
"Reaper, don't ask." I said "You'll know soon enough, and we have no reason to worry you."
"Like hell you don't!" She said "You're in danger, and so is our son!"
"He may be in danger, Reaper, but I promise you, I will protect him, to the best of my ability." I said. "I'm his father too, I worry too. My soul will be ripped away from my body, if it means that he won't get his arm broken."
"What are you planning?" Ben asked, in horror.
"The same thing you all were." I said, getting up. "The responsibility falls to me, y'all. I'm the father, I'm the older brother. Don't talk when we are summoned, that's an Order." I slammed my fist on the table to get my point across, breaking the table in half. I fixed the table, then said "Wanda is coming down in ten seconds, this conversation is over, and all has been decided."
They all made sounds of protest, but I ignored it, and walked up the stairs, and turned, to see Wanda "Red!" I said enthusiastically. "How was your sleep? What'd you think of your system?"
She kissed my cheek, then held my hand, and said "I was expecting to find you downstairs, still playing. What happened? You wouldn't have come upstairs to greet me, unless you wanted to end a conversation."
"Don't worry, Red." I said, putting my free hand to her cheek, and she leaned into the touch. "I have it under control, -"
"And it involves you paying the price, and they aren't ok with that, because they want to pay it." Wanda correctly deduced. I looked at her in surprise, and she said "C'mon, I'm not dumb. You guys are all the same, for a reason."
"I'm the leader, the older brother, the father, Red." I said. "Them paying the price, and me not, was never an option."
"I'm not going to argue with you on this, because if you had a fourty percent or higher chance of dying, you would tell us the full story. But that doesn't mean I'm not worried." She kissed me on the lips, and I kissed back softly, and we parted, and she said "I need to burn the worry away, let's cook something in the kitchen."
"Stress cooking?" I said, following her back down "I used to be a good cook, even if you don't believe it."
"I won't believe it till you prove it, and even then, I will doubt it." Wanda said, pulling some bowls out of the cabinet.
"That hurts." I said, frowning in mock offense. "How about this? I make pancakes without my powers, and you do too, and we see which one turns out better."
"You're losing," Ben called out from the living room "because I'm voting for her, because you need to live, bro."
"In another universe, you died twenty six times!" I said, having enough, and it was showing in the glitching of the atoms around me. "Call me selfish if you want, or whatever the fuck you want to call me, but I'm doing this, whatever it takes! I'm not losing shit, and I'm not backing down! The world doesn't owe me shit, I owe it! I owe it for giving me another chance, I owe it for my family, for everything! And if it means I do what Tony did in the other world, so fucking be it!"
"And you are not telling me that you're about to die twenty six times instead of me!" Ben said, standing up, and the atoms around him were glitching. "I'm the one that's supposed to be revived time and time again! You, are supposed to live a fucked up life, that you love! I am supposed to live a fucked up life, that is only death and resurrection, that I hate! We have roles to play, Peter!"
"You don't know that!" I said, making a knife appear in my hands, and cutting my head off, but continuing to speak anyways. "We know that although the comics were helpful, they aren't the truth! They aren't the real game! They aren't what we will face, not to the dot! And if it means I die, and you don't, then fuck it, I'm down! As Victor said 'Fuck the world!'"
Ben thwipped my head to him, and reattached it to my head. "You know that's not how shit works! Get out of your fucked up mindset! You can't pay for everyone's sins, if you do that, the sins will come to eat you! I'm the New Jackal, not you!"
"Shut the fuck up, both of you!" Kaine said, standing up as well. "We're not alone, and whatever the fuck happens, we can't control it, not even together! So, get your heads out of your hearts!"
We looked around, and I saw all of my family was around us, watching us with worry. "Fuck this shit." I said, finally. "You know, that in his eyes, I'm the superior one, so my word stands. I'm also your king as well, and I sure as fuck will dig my sword into your chests, if it means you guys live. My word is final, and you're honor bound to comply."
"Well, you know what?" Tarts said "I am defying it! I'm going to do it, not any of you! We can all feel it, and I sure as hell am not going to let you go through it, any of you! This shit, will make what you guys went through with Morlun seem like a cut that a newborn baby gets from the fork that they're eating from! I'm a Prince, and I can defy you! And I sure as hell am defying, in this case!"
Ben glared at him, and said "You're the next generation, Tarts. You remember your father's policy during the First War with The Inheritors, and none of us are breaking it! This was meant for me, and you all fucking know it!"
"If you're not there, you won't face destiny!" I said, casting webs onto him, and trapping him with Web Magic. "This was for you, remember that!"
"You realize he can break me out, and so can I?" He said.
"Well, I'm going to die those hundred times, or however many times, not you." I said "And this, is making a point."
Ben broke out of the webs, and jumped at me, and was attempting to bind me, when Wanda threw both of us off each other, and said "Enough!"
"No it isn't." Kaine said calmly, watching both of us while leaning against the wall with crossed arms "I don't have Deadpool skin, and that means something. You know what that means? Instead of the edited Logan powers, I automatically got the Logan powers. That means I can come back, and that decides shit."
"Fuck y'all and your skewed intellect!" I said "I'm the King, and I order you to stand down, and accept my sacrifice! This is for you, all three of you! My brothers! Tarts is my son, and he won't die once, not while I'm around! I'm his prized toy, get that clear! You're the sidekick toys!"
"Guys!" Miles said "Who the fuck cares! No need to scare the rest! We know he's warning us, and let that happen! Why will anyone need to die!?"
"You have no place in this discussion, Kid!" I said "You're not a god, you're not one of us! You may have the potential, and the jurisdiction, but this doesn't involve any mortals, or even Death! This is between us! Don't interfere!"
"Oh fuck no, that ain't happening!" Miles said, realizing what was at stake. "None of y'all finna go through that shit! Y'all can stop it! Just stop arguing, and get your asses to work!"
"There's a reason we aren't bothering with that, mortal." Ben said "We all tried, to see, if there was a way, but our multiverse, is in another multiverse of multiverses."
"Fuck!" Cindy said, and punched the wall really hard, making a hole in it. "Shit just can't be easy, can it?"
"No, it can't." All of us people out of the universe, recently discovered out of the multiverse, as well as Tarts, said.
"What's wrong?" Crystal asked.
"It's happening." I said, and we all fell into the ground in one fluid motion, and our bodies evaporated.
We all appeared in a dark mindscape, me, Tarts, Ben, Cindy, Miles, and Kaine, and I stood up, and said "Show yourself, I can't stand the feeling of your presence for this long, asshole."
A shadow materialized in front of us, in an already dark mindscape, and he said "So brave, my experiment, guess it worked out better than expected."
"Don't fool yourself." I said. "There was never any other way it would turn out." I grabbed him by the neck, and picked him up by his presence, he didn't have a physical form. "Now, if shit doesn't go my way, I will find a way to kill you, and I will make it torturous, and slow, and your presence will beg for a release, trust me."
"I was never thinking of doing anything otherwise, Your Highness." He said condescendingly. "And just you wait, your insolence will be taken care of, you will feel pain, like never before."
He twitched his shadow, and I was thrown off him, and I was smashed onto an invisible wall, and I slumped down. "Just you wait." I said, standing up. "In time, you will go down, Shadow. But for now, we're playing your game. And if you think I'm insignificant, and I can't do shit, think again."
I used my magic to stretch his form, and he groaned, then released himself from my grasp, and said "I didn't see that coming, I'll admit it. You knew I would make sure you couldn't use magic, so you did the opposite of magic, getting the same effect."
"I don't have patience for this shit, Shadow." I said. "Let's get this over with."
"A good king never loses his cool." Shadow said.
"He does, when his people are effected." I said. "And you know better than me, I'm not a normal king."
"True." He said. "Now, why are we here again? Oh, yes! Phase 1 of my experiment is over!"
"MCU phase one hasn't even started yet, Shadow." Ben said "Why so early?"
"Don't talk, this is between me, the king, the queen, and the prince." Shadow said "The others, don't have permission to speak, don't make me force it on you."
"We're benevolent now, aren't we?" I said sarcastically. Immediately, I felt as if I was going through the worst forms of pain, needles were poking me from everywhere, and I was groaning. After a minute, I saw my life flash before my eyes, then I felt my soul leave my body, and then Shadow made me a new body, and inserted my soul into it, and said "This is your third death, amongst many times."
"You didn't even make a point there." I said, getting up. "What does this change? I'm going to die several times today anyways. Get this shit going, or are you too small down there?"
"I have no need for down there, I have you." He said, caressing my cheek, and I couldn't do anything to stop him. "I'm so proud of how far you've gone, in so little time. You have no idea, Son."
"I don't want to know." I said between gritted teeth.
"You'll remember this one day, and wish you spent more time with me." He said, removing his hand from my cheek. "But, back to point, we're finishing phase one. And answering the clone's question, Bruce is out there, isn't he? So MCU phase one is about to start. And, things can't be too easy for you, then how will you ever learn? So, I'm removing all the powers you got from your travels, it's for your own good."
"Shut up." I said. "Don't tell me what shit's good for me, and what isn't! You know what I want!"
"Could you humor me, and say it out loud?" He asked.
"I want to be able to keep my Celestial powers. I need it, I don't care for my Beyonder powers, or the others, but I want it."
"You all get to keep it, to an extent." He said "At any given moment, you can control other than you, but to control yourself like a Celestial would, you have to use The Eye Of Agamotto. The rest of your powers, all of them, will be held within, should you be nearing death, they will reveal themselves."
"I want Logan's powers for all of us." I said. "I'm not leaving anything for chance."
"Granted."
"I want that all the protection I have placed on my family, stay there."
"Rejected. But your spells on other things are still in effect."
"I want to keep my knowledge, all that I learned in my time."
"Granted."
"I want to take the pain for everyone else, they don't need to experience the pain, give it all to me."
"Granted." He said, then we fell into void, how, I don't really know, or care to know, at least we were away from him.
We landed in the living room, and everyone crowded us, worrying for us, and saying that it had been an hour.
"Guys, enough!" Ben said "Pete's about to die, how many times, I don't know!"
I looked at Ben, and said "It's already started, the needles are being inserted, one by one."
All of a sudden, I groaned, and I fell to the ground, and tried to land on my hands, but I failed, my hands were too wobbly. I lay on the floor, and groaned, and then I felt my hands twitch, then my whole body, and I was writhing from the pain.
"Peter!" Sabine said "How can we help?"
"Don't." I groaned out.
"This was supposed to be me." Ben said, clearly angry, but also worried. "How long till the fourth time?"
I didn't respond, I was unable to, the pain was too much, and then I felt my legs starting to disintegrate, and I was trying my best to stop it, but eventually, it went all the way, and I was no longer there.
I reappeared, and it all started again. After seventy-nine times, it stopped. I lay on the ground, too scared that it would start again, and I said "When will it start again?"
"Petr!" Wanda said, and she put my head on her lap. "It's over, it's ok. You're back, you have nothing to worry about."
I cuddled my head into her stomach, and said "I do."
"You're fine, you're with us." She said. She started combing my hair with her hands softly. "You're fine, and so are we. What's there to worry about?"
"I'm not strong enough anymore." I said "There's only so much a strong mortal can do, I'm no longer the Legend I was. How can I keep us all in the room?"
"You're exhausted." She said "Me and you, are going to your room, and you're going to sleep, then we can talk."
She picked me up, and took me upstairs to my room, then lay me down, and lay down next to me, and cuddled me into her.
I hugged her, burrowing my face into her neck. "I'm s-"
She cut me off in Sokovian "You have nothing to be sorry for, love. You kept me safe, to the best of your ability. There is nothing to be sorry for. Sleep, you're exhausted."
I wanted to say something, but she just hugged me tighter, and said "Not now, Petr, sleep, then we'll discuss this all."
"I failed -"
"Sleep." She commanded. "We're not talking, until you sleep."
Knowing I couldn't push her on this, I acquiesced, and fell asleep in her arms.
A while later, I woke up, to find myself still in her arms, and she was awake, and combing my hair with her hands. "How long has it been?" I asked.
"It's been five hours, Petr." She said, then kissed my forehead. "You want to get up, or you want to sleep more?"
I stretched my arms and legs, and said "I think I'm done for today. What about you? You want to sleep, or not?"
"I slept more than enough." She said, getting up. I got up as well, and she said "When was the last time you slept?"
"Before Morlun." I said. "I had no need to sleep after that, so I didn't. And even if I slept, it wouldn't be real."
"I thought so." She said with a victorious smirk. "Me and Natasha had a bet on whether you slept since then or not, she said you did, and I said you didn't."
"Well, you won the bet." I said, kissing her cheek. "We never did finish cooking, did we? Who do you think will win that?"
"Oh, I'm winning, no doubt." She said. "But not now, right now, it's Sunday evening, and we can make the pancakes tomorrow morning, rather than now."
"Do you know what happened?" I asked.
"All I know is that someone that made you look weak -It was The Shadow, wasn't it?"
"Yeah." I said. "I'll debrief in the living room, that cool?"
"Yes! They've all been waiting for you, they don't want to start without us."
"Then let's go down." I said. I kissed her passionately, and she did back, and then we parted, and went downstairs.
As soon as I entered the living room, Ben said "And the self-sacrificial idiot is back and running."
"I can't get a break now, more than ever." I said "Don't think that I wanted this to happen."
"Oh really?" He said "It seemed like that, with how chummy you were with him!"
"Well, that's because I've been hearing his voice in my head, since the beginning of times!" I said "There was no escape! I knew what was coming, more than you did! You are a separate soul, and that's why you don't know that! Don't you dare, think I wanted that to happen. Ask Reaper, I spent two million years away once, trying to stop it."
"Hmph." Ben said, unsatisfied, but he didn't push it.
I sat down on my couch, and Death sat in my lap, like most times, and said "I knew you were gone for a reason. What happened?"
"Let me explain." Kaine said "Ben and Peter were too invested into this, they're hotheaded about this whole thing, and I'm best equipped to explain. So, The Shadow. He brought Peter here, and made us out of Peter, or something. But anyway, so thing is, Shadow doesn't think that his favorite 'son'" I cringed at that "will learn properly, if he can just breeze through what comes his way. So, he decided, us strong ones, will lose our powers, and no longer be what we were. We're no longer gods, we no longer are the big ones. We're mere humans, mere nuisances. We may still be immortal, and our powers are still in our system, but we can't use it, and that means we've failed, once again."
"I'm sorry." I said softly. "I was going to put all the power in a weapon, but I saw that that could go sideways, if Thanos got the weapon, or someone else. I failed you guys."
"You didn't." Tess said firmly. "We're alive, and safe."
"Maybe, but now, we don't have any sort of guarantee, that we can rock this." I said. "I'm just a weak human, struggling against the Mad Titan."
"You're a totem." Cindy said "You're a totem, you're the leader of the Justice League, you're Spider-Man, you're Karma, and this planet, will follow you to war. You're not just Peter Parker, you're %#%$%@$."
"And that may not be enough." I said.
"How about this?" Ben said. "We burn our steam patrolling, and we break The Bar With No Name in, and we have fun, and then we can prepare."
"It works, but no destroying The Bar With No Name yet, wait that out." I said.
"So I get to suit you up again?" Sexi asked. "It's been so long since I managed your suit."
"Guess out of evn the worst things, some good can come." I said "But do y'all even know what your names are going to be?"
"Death Spider!" Tarts said enthusiastically. "And it'll be a black suit, with a gray symbol and lenses."
"Awesome!" I said "Ben and Kaine, what about you two?"
"I will do the original." Ben said "The hoodie, and all."
"In case you forgot, I don't know what you're talking about." Sexi said "I don't know how the suit looks."
I made an illusion in my palm, showing the Original Scarlet Spider suit swinging, and I said "This is what he wants."
"Gotcha." Sexi said, then made a Parkerwatch appear in her hand, and gave it to Ben.
"Thanks, Sexi." Ben said, after suiting up.
"Not a problem." Sexi said.
"What about you, Kaine?" I asked. "And both of you need monikers, think about that."
"I'm wearing the second scarlet spider suit." He said decidedly. "And moniker wise, I'm going to be The Redback Spider."
"A worthy title for the deadliest of all of us, the one who truly pushes his other side to its limits." I said, nodding in appreciation. "Talia, Ghost, you two want to come too? If it's me, you two, Ben, Kaine, Tarts, Sexi, Tess, Miles, Julia, Rachel, and Cindy, we can be the Spider Squad!"
"Are you for real?" Ben, Kaine, Miles and Cindy all said, torn between being amused or cringing at my suggestion.
"What?" I asked. "It's a chill name."
"That you got out of The Suicide Squad." Miles said "Those movies were always the sickest movies DC ever released, they almost always delivered."
"I didn't even think about The Suicide Squad until you mentioned it." I said "It just came to mind, and now that you mention it, I'm not settling for any less badass of a name."
Cindy rolled her eyes, and said "And here I thought the fanboying was on a break."
"Don't worry, while I do kill people, I'm no Peacemaker." I said jokingly.
"That name sounds like one of a superhero, but the way you said it, it's not." Gwen said "Who is this Peacemaker?"
"The Peacemaker, is in a way, an anti-hero, like me." I said "But, he's a villain, because, in his words, he wants peace, no matter how many men, women, and children he has to kill to achieve it."
"So he's crazy up there, and genocidal." Namor said "I feel ashamed that he is one of our ranks."
"I don't like him either, for the record." I said "Like, I like him, but I would kill him the moment I saw him."
"I can't help but notice," Aunt May said "you spoke of him, as though you would expect him."
"Come to think of it, that's true." Cindy said.
I sighed. "My paranoia." I said by way of explanation. "I will always plan for any single weird thing, even if there is not a chance of that happening."
"Not surprised." Ben said "I thought about it too, but I dismissed the thought, but come to think of it, it's very possible."
"Forget this bull." I said "What's your moniker looking like?"
"Drumroll please." Ben said, and we started. "My moniker is...The Huntsman!"
We all stopped to look at him. "What?" He said. "I wasn't going to be The Tarantula, sorry."
"So!?" I asked "You could have been something else? Like pull a name out of your personality, and skills, like what Tarts did!"
"Fine then!" He said "I'm going to be Spider-Carnage. So weird though, that name."
"You'll warm into it." I said "He said he wants to be The Huntsman. Ben, flash news, just because it's the name of a spider, doesn't mean you can take it."
Kaine suited up, and said "How do I look? I even added the design a Redback Spider would have on its back!"
I looked at it appreciatively. "Not bad at all, not bad at all." Then I looked at Talia, and said "This is the last time you're going out, until Melina arrives."
"Melina's already here." Aleksei said, confused.
"You haven't been told yet?" I asked, amused. "We're expecting, me and Talia."
"Why have you named the girl Melina?" Melina asked, confused.
"I would love to blame it on time paradoxes." Talia said "But actually, I also wanted to name my daughter after you, because you taught me how to stay alive, even after all I went through."
"It also is a very beautiful name." I said.
"That too." Talia said.
"I thought you couldn't have kids?" Aleksei asked.
"Man's really behind the times." I said. "I am a genius, so I found a way to undo the surgeries. Makes sense?"
"No." Aleksei said.
"Good." I said, then looked to make sure everyone that was coming was suited up. "Now, let's kick some thug ass!"
I went into the garage, and got into the McLaren, while Nat went and got into the Ferrari I made for her, and everyone got into the two cars.
We pulled out of the secret alley, and I said "So, what's the move?"
"Get us all our own rides!" Kaine said "It's too squished back here!"
"You just had to say it." Sexi said, smirking. A moment later, several motorcycles came up to us, personalized to each person's designs.
"That's more like it!" Ben said, jumping out the window, and getting onto his bike. He revved the engine, and said "It's been too long!"
Everyone was on their own bikes, and I said "This looks very badass, not going to lie. But now, y'all want to split, and do some light patrol?"
"Totally!" Tess said "Split into pairs?"
"I get Cindy." Talia said.
"Fine by me." Cindy said, and the two of them revved away, as a car and motorcycle pair.
"I get Mom." Rachel said
"I have a feeling I shouldn't be letting you ride your own motorcycle." I said to Rachel. "But I'm trusting your spider sense."
"She's a big girl." Julia said, the pride in her voice obvious. "Let's do this, Rachel."
They biked away, and Tarts said "I get Sexi, unless she's in a mood, and wants to kill me, then I want Aunt Tess."
"I'm not in a mood right now." Sexi said "But don't change that, you know you won't like it."
"I'm scared!" Tarts said sarcastically, and they drove off.
"Ben, you down?" Miles asked. "Me and you? We can make sure what happened when you became Spider-Man Beyond doesn't happen, just by trusting each other. I mean, we already do, but like, we need to know each other a little better."
"Kid, we came here right as Beyond started." Ben said "I don't know what went wrong, none of us do, but I've got an idea."
"Eh, doesn't matter, we're already closer than those two were, or are." Miles said. "But you down, or not?"
"Can you keep up with me?" Ben said, and without waiting for an answer, he drove off.
"Son of a -" Miles said, driving after him.
I shook my head amusedly, then said "Last two pairs? Who wants to go with who?"
"I was waiting, because I wanted to get to chill with you, like the old days." Tess said "But if Gwen wants to go with you, then it's fine."
"Nah, it's fine." Gwen said "Me and Kaine are kinda chill?"
"That's one way to put it." Kaine said, and they drove off.
"I'm sorry, Tess." I said, as we started driving. "I haven't been giving you the attention you deserve."
"What?" She asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "Me and you literally spent that whole day last week playing Monopoly, and chess before that, and we haven't lost touch! What are you on about?"
"I haven't gone with you on patrol lately, have I?" I asked. "I don't know, it just feels like I've been losing my touch."
"I haven't gone on patrol either, not as much." She said, parking her motorcycle, and I parked my car next to her. "I don't think anything has gone wrong, I mean, if you were involved with things, and I was alone, that'd be one thing, but these days, we're both giving each other the time that we need, and chilling with the others at home! You're good, bro."
"I guess so." I said. "Now, where to?"
"How about your Starbucks first?" Tess said. "They could call that one The Spider bucks, that'd be funny."
"Y'know," I said "I didn't want anyone to control any of our monikers, or anything, so I patented all of them under my name."
"Like, as Peter?" Tess asked, nearly laughing.
"Yeah." I said "It's widely known that Peter is connected to me, so I took advantage of that. The Parkerwatches have a second generation version, called the Web Watch. It has all the details I missed on the Parkerwatches, and it has several paint designs, all to our respective designs."
"I don't know what to say." Tess said, chuckling lightly, as we landed in front of the Starbucks.
"Don't say anything." I said, opening the door.
We walked in, and they all looked at us, and I said "How many times do we have to go over this y'all? I'm not here to kill you, I just want some coffee!"
"Is this going to be your usual Starbucks?" One of the people asked.
I shrugged. "It depends, really. I was free now, and my sister wanted to come here, so I did. The rest of the Spider-Fam, as we call ourselves, are swinging around, or doing something, and we were nearby."
"You guys are siblings?" Another person asked, and most people had their phones out, taking videos.
"Yeah!" Tess said "We are not, and I repeat, we are not, lovers or something. He is my biological brother, and we have a wonderful relationship, and I have a significant other, who's sitting at home, wrestling with his brother."
"Him and Tich are wrestling?" I asked, amused. "Who's winning?"
"Does it look like I'm watching them right now?" Tess asked sarcastically. "They decided they were going to wrestle like a couple days ago, and they were heading to the gym as we left."
"Karma, why are you fine with your sister being in danger, while her partner is at home?" Someone asked. "Does that not seem, incorrect?"
I and Tess laughed lightly. Then I said "No, not really. We're vibing here, and there isn't really any danger. And I know the moment that we're in danger, he will suit up, and come wherever we are."
"Are you single?" Someone else asked.
"No." I said, and Tess laughed. I rolled my eyes amusedly, and leant onto the bar. "Can I get the same as last time?" I asked the barista. "Cold brew, two sugars, and whipped cream on top."
"Coming right up." He said, and turned around to make the drink.
I went and sat down, and said "Wolf Spider, get your order as well."
She went to the bar, and said "I think I'll have a cold brew too, two sugars, without whipped cream."
"On it." Another barista said, and started making it.
Tess sat across from me, and said "So this is where you cut Fury's hand off?"
"Well, it was outside, but yeah." I said, and then got up to get our coffees, and came back with them, and gave Tess hers, and started drinking mine. "How's things with you and Wolf?"
"It's going good." She said "T'Challa wants him to go back to Wakanda when they go, they have to go pretty soon, and Wolf thinks he will just go and stay for a week, then come back. He doesn't really want to stay there anymore, y'know, what with everything."
"I don't blame him." I said softly. "But when are they leaving?"
"Why?" Tess asked, even though she knew why. "Want to know how long you have with a specific someone else?"
"Well, yeah, duh." I said.
"They're leaving in about two weeks, that's the max T'Chaka gave them, so they're going then."
I didn't say anything, I just nodded.
Tess winked, and said "Someone's sad, isn't he?"
I rolled my eyes. "I have the ability to teleport to her place when I want to, and it's not like she's going to be off-world, so it's not that far."
"Never thought I'd see the day I agreed with that." Tess said, and we chuckled.
I emptied my cup, and lowered my mask, and said "Ready for some light swinging?"
"Let me empty my cup." She said, and drank whatever coffee was left in her cup, and got up, and I threw our cups out, and before we left, I went to the bar, and pressed some buttons on my vambrace, and said "You should find that you've been paid, as well as a tip."
"Sir, I don't think a hundred thousand dollars is considered a tip." The barista said, looking at his screen.
"The good people of New York, need their life to be made easier." I said "And by doing this, I can improve the condition of life, same as when I pick up a piece of trash, or save the city, or make sure people find a little bigger number in their checks. It's the smallest things, that can save the world."
Everyone in the store nodded appreciatively, and I gave the peace sign as we left.
I turned to Tess, and said "You think I gave a good speech?"
"It was awesome." She said, and shot a web at a building, and yanked herself up, as I did the same. As we swung, she said "You have a knack for this talking thing. You told them the things they needed to hear. Well done."
"Thanks." I said "But then again, there's the problem, that people will start increasing their prices. I may have to discuss that, hopefully I don't though."
"I don't think you'll need to." She said "Even if you don't give tips like this, we're bringing crime rates down, and that improves economy by a lot."
"True." I said, then crawled down the walls to where a kid, and two masked bandits, were robbing a store. I said into the comms "Let me handle this, I recognize this, I think I know what's going on."
"That kid is robbing a convenience store." Tess said incredulously.
"Look again." I said, as the masked bandits broke in, activating an alarm. "The kid is their watcher, they're having him keep an eye out for cops. Look at the kid's body language. He wants to be anywhere but here. But he knows better than to run away. I read this scene in the comics before."
"You might be right." Tess said.
In the distance, I heard a siren, and after several moments, it seemed the kid heard it too, as he shouted into the store "The cops are on their way!"
He started running, and the robbers were following him, but he was faster than them, and the cops just arrived, and the robbers all turned into an alley, and the cop car stopped so as to go after them on foot, and I jumped into action. I webbed the kid up to me as he turned again, and said "Kid, why are you robbing a store?"
"I don't want to, I swear!" The kid said, he looked no older than thirteen. "They would have hurt my mom!" Tess gasped into the comms at that. "Believe me! Please!"
I believe you. " I said softly, and webbed his mouth so he couldn't make a sound, as I webbed the other two robbers.
Two cops came into the alley, guns out, and when they saw me, and the two webbed up robbers, one of them said "Spider-Man. There was a kid too, were you able to apprehend him?"
"No." I lied. "But these two..." I dropped to the ground, and glared at them "Y'all got any contact with The Big Man?"
"No." They said fearfully.
"Karma, are you suggesting crime is organized here?" One of the cops asked.
"I'm not suggesting, I'm saying." I said "I know of the crime bosses, have heard whispers of him during patrol. They call him The Big Man. Are you telling me that NYPD is unaware of his existence?"
"There is nothing in the police records to suggest the presence of a crime boss." The leader said, but his heartbeat was off, as if he was hiding something "You can talk to the captain, but there is no organized crime here." His heart skipped a beat.
I didn't comment on that, just memorized his name, and said "Good to know. I will contact Captain Stacy once I have sufficient evidence."
"Yes sir." The cop said, and handcuffed the robbers, and placed them in the car, then drove off with them.
I jumped up to the roof, where Tess and the kid were sitting, and I said "They're gone. Sorry for webbing your mouth, kid. I had to make sure they didn't know you were there."
"It's not a problem, thank you." He said "They put a gun to my mom's head, for no reason! Thank you."
I sat next to the kid. "It's not a problem, kid. This is my job, to keep the world safe. You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm totally fine!" He said, and stood up. "Thanks, Wolf Spider! It was nice talking to you guys!"
He started walking, then paused as he realized he had no way of getting down the building, and I laughed, and said "C'mon, I'll give you a ride. You wanna go in my car, or swing?"
He looked at me with a smile, and said "Does both work? I'm always going to be able to loud this over my mom."
"Totally." I said "My car isn't right here, it's a bit away. So we can swing there, then we'll go to your place. That cool with you?"
"Thanks so much!" He said.
"Don't vomit." I joked, then grabbed him with my spider legs, with Tess following, and I swung us discreetly, and he enjoyed the swing.
After a minute, we arrived at my car, and he got into the shotgun as Tess got onto her motorcycle, and we drove to his place.
We arrived, and as he got out, he said "Thanks! And I didn't vomit!"
"No, you didn't. What's your name though?"
"My name is Bradley." He said. "Bradley Richards."
"Nice to meet you, Bradley." I said, as I shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you too, Karma." He said, and I nodded. He closed the door, and went up the steps to his door.
Right before he unlocked his door, I lowered the window, and said "Bradley!"
He looked at me, and I said "You ever need a tutor, call my number. You'll find it on your phone, I'm about to add it right now."
I pressed a button on my vambrace, and then said "There. My number's been added. Don't tell anyone other than your mom that you have my number!"
"Gotcha!" He said, with a thumbs up, then he unlocked his door, and walked in.
I smiled, and raised my window, then drove off.
"We going home now?" Tess asked, driving next to me.
"Yeah." I said "We don't have much else to do, and I think I'm going to go out on patrol again around 2 am, the crime arises then."
As we drove, my vambrace started beeping, and I looked, to see a call coming from Bradley. I smiled, and answered, and said "Hello? Is this Bradley's mom? Is he ok?"
"Hello." She said "Yes, this is his mom. He's ok, I just wanted to say thank you. He would have had to rob a store, thank you."
"He said thanks to me more than enough times for both of you." I said, smiling. "And if he ever needs help studying, call my number. I'm a genius, if I do say so myself. One of the smartest in the world, free of charge. You know what, I will visit him Wednesday evenings, and he's going to get out of highschool top of class, if that's fine by you."
"That would be great, but why?" She asked.
"The correct question, is why not?" I said. "I'm a very strong person, one of the strongest, but that doesn't mean I can't do this. I'm pretty sure what I said in the coffee shop ten minutes ago is already going viral, that it's the smallest things that change everything."
"Thank you." She said "I owe you my son's safety, thank you."
"It's not a problem, this is what I do." I said "If that'll be all, then bye, Mrs. Richards."
"Goodbye, Karma." She said, then disconnected.
"-Eter?" Tess's voice came on immediately "Peter, you good? You haven't responded to me."
"I was talking to Bradley's mom, sorry." I said "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." She said "I was just wondering when Crystal would have to go back to Attilan."
"She told me that her sister has been asking, and she's been delaying, saying that she's been enjoying it." I said "I think next week, we're going to Attilan, and talking to her family, she doesn't want to go."
"The love is in the air, amirite?" Tess said, and I swear I could hear the smirk in her voice.
"You have no idea how much I'm rolling my eyes right now." I said, rolling my eyes very aggressively.
"Actually, I can." She said "I'm right next to you, and your windows aren't on tint."
"What has my life come to?" I complained. "It seems like just yesterday, I was reading comics, and seeing Eddie Brock become the god of symbiotes, and now, I'm in a totally different situation."
"That's life." Tess said in a sagely voice. "It gives you the most unexpected of situations."
"Cuz you're older than me, right?" I said sarcastically. We pulled into the secret alley, and we descended into the hole.
After a moment, we rose into the garage, and I got out of the car, and Tess got off her motorcycle.
We got into the house, and I said "We're back! What's the other's statuses?"
I walked into the living room, and stopped, seeing The One Above All, as well as everyone else, looking worried.
"If you're here to know why I lost my powers," I said "my self proclaimed adoptive father took them away."
"I know you might not think so, but I actually care for the universe!" He said "You were the only people in between Thanos and his carnage! I can't interfere, our father has drew a promise out of me! You better come in clutch, Legend."
"He calls you his son too?" I asked, and his face gave me the answer. "I promise, Brother, that I will do my best to keep things safe, but I must let things roll out. I don't have the power to change things around and facing the repercussions easily."
"We're depending on you, Brother." He said, then turned to face Ben, Miles, and Kaine. "All four of you Brothers."
He vanished, and I said "Well, fuck. I knew I wouldn't be able to enlist his help, but there's still one place, but we have time."
"Why are you fine with him being your brother?" Miles asked, confused.
"Did Gamora ever not consider Nebula as her sister?" I asked rhetorically. "Same thing here."
"I don't know who Gamora is, but ok." Tess said
"Gamora is one of the Children of Thanos." I said "Not biologically, but his Daughter anyway. Same with Nebula."
"Informative, thank you, but time to go to sleep." Aunt May said. "You guys have school, and work tomorrow morning."
"Good point." I said, and headed upstairs.
I went to my room, and lay down, then I fell asleep.