"It was time for Peter to head home."
The night wind swept across Spider-Man's mask, carrying the fading echoes of sirens and gunpowder. He cast one last glance at Herman, who was still surrounded by reporters and talking nonstop into the cameras like some washed-up actor who had finally clawed his way back into prime time. Fine. Let Herman enjoy his last few moments in the spotlight.
He had already used a pretty terrible excuse to explain why he still wasn't home this late. May was definitely going to start nagging him again. On top of that, Tony had just texted him, asking him to come by Avengers Tower the next afternoon for a talk.
"Okay, even if the Avengers already figured out who I was when they carried me back there, just digging through someone's private life this directly feels a little wrong, wow."
Peter stopped mid-swing.
Because between two glass-walled skyscrapers, a woman was standing upright on a vertical wall.
The hem of her beige trench coat fluttered in the wind. Her sunglasses reflected the lights of New York. And somehow, not a single drop had spilled from the two cups of coffee in her hands.
"I've been watching you for a long time, Spider-Man." The woman tucked a strand of deep chestnut hair behind her ear. "We need to talk."
"Wait. I know your voice."
Something clicked in Peter's mind as broken fragments of memory surged back.
"It was you. You were the one talking to me in my dream?"
The woman smiled.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Julia Carpenter, messenger of the Web of Destiny. But you can call me Madame Web."
Madame Web.
Peter scratched his head. Between Madame Web, alternate spiders, and everything else that already made no sense in his life, he had long since stopped expecting this world to follow any pattern he understood.
"All right, ma'am. What exactly do you want to talk about? Magic? Fortune-telling?"
"How about a coffee first?"
A few minutes later, the two spider-powered people were drinking coffee together from the top of the Empire State Building. Peter watched this obvious mystic-type figure carefully and asked:
"In the dream, I heard you say I had to find another spider. Was that you, ma'am?"
"I would never tell you to find me. I am only a messenger of the Web of Destiny, delivering what it shows. And before you ask, no, I'm not blind."
Madame Web didn't drink her coffee. She only held the cup in her hands, as though using it for warmth. She gazed out over the New York skyline as if she were studying patterns invisible to everyone else.
"Have you ever heard of the multiverse?"
"Uh... yes. Reed Richards managed a rough observation of alternate universes back in 2008, even if nobody else has really been able to reproduce his work properly."
"The Web of Destiny exists on a higher plane. Through spider totems, it spreads power across countless universes. Most Peter Parkers are bitten by a radioactive spider. That is one of destiny's anchor points."
Peter had actually known that part for a while, but obviously he couldn't say so. So he just had to sit there and let Madame Web explain it to him all over again.
"And among all spider totems, you are especially unusual. Not because Ben Parker lived and you still became Spider-Man."
Peter nearly choked on his coffee and waved his hand frantically before staring at her. Madame Web merely smiled.
"In truth, you were meant to be born three years later in this universe. But for reasons I still do not fully see, one of the nodes in the Web of Destiny shifted, and a new kind of totem emerged."
She looked straight at him.
"You are the Patriarch."
"What... the Patriarch?"
Peter knew that the Spider-Verse had three major special totems: the Other, the Bride, and the Scion, each tied to a different kind of spider-powered being. But the Patriarch? What was that supposed to be? A brand-new spider totem that existed only because of him?
Julia clearly had no intention of explaining that part. Instead, she guided the conversation back to what mattered.
"As the Patriarch, you possess the ability to respond to the Web of Destiny itself. Whenever it begins to tremble, it means the spider totem of that world is in danger. You will be able to cross the multiverse, travel to where the disturbance is happening, help that world's Spider-Man, and repair the broken threads of fate."
"I can barely keep New York under control, ma'am. And now I'm supposed to help Spider-Men across the multiverse? Isn't there anyone else? Multiversal Avengers or something?"
Peter set his coffee aside and spread his hands.
Julia simply looked at him with that same quiet smile.
Peter stared back at her for several long seconds, then sighed in defeat.
"Okay. So what am I supposed to do?"
"Before long, you will feel the tremors of the Web of Destiny for yourself. But first, you need to find the other spider. The two of you were given power by the same totem. Your destinies are linked. Only by finding the other one will you be able to return safely to your own universe after resolving the Web's crisis."
"If you can see the future," Peter asked this this strange spider seer, "why not just tell me where to look?"
"I do not weave fate, Peter," she said, speaking his full name for the first time. "I only read it."
At Times Square, as the police and Damage Control gradually moved in, the media were finally pushed back. Still, they were thrilled with the material they had gotten tonight. In front of the cameras, Herman had been an endless talker, happy to say almost anything.
Not that he had said everything.
He had kept quiet about Otto and Kingpin. Herman wanted fame, but he wasn't about to betray a friend or his boss.
Among the crowd of bystanders, though, there were a few people worth noticing.
One of them was Carl King.
He didn't care much about the Shocker or Spider-Man. He had only come for the spectacle. As he walked past a broken chunk of billboard lying on the ground, he noticed webbing stuck to it. Curious, he tugged at it and frowned.
This feels familiar.
And then it hit him.
The chemistry lab Peter had left that afternoon.
"Peter Parker is Spider-Man?"
Carl muttered the words to himself, then gave a small mocking laugh. Skinny little Peter?
But Peter had gotten ridiculously strong lately.
Carl sank into thought. He remembered the prank from back then, when he'd placed the mutated Oscorp spider on Peter's neck at the science expo.
Was that what turned Peter into Spider-Man?
No. No, he still couldn't be sure Parker was Spider-Man...
He was thinking so hard that he didn't even notice someone brush past him.
That person was dressed like a reporter. He pushed his way out of the crowd interviewing Herman, slipped into the larger crowd, and made a phone call to Herman's new boss.
"Yes, it's me, Mr. Fisk. Your new employee behaved himself. He knows what to say and what not to say. I don't think you have much to worry about."
The reporter smiled as he stepped into a restroom stall. While listening to Kingpin's instructions on the other end of the line, he closed the door behind him.
When he came out again, he was a completely different person.
Not just the clothes. His face had changed. Even his fingerprints and the irises reflected in the mirror were different.
"Yes. I've finished observing Spider-Man's every move. His movements, his mannerisms, even his personality. I can imitate all of it perfectly. As long as those little toys of yours are really as good as you say, then I, the Chameleon, can promise you this, Mr. Fisk."
He smiled at his new reflection.
"Spider-Man is going to become infamous. Soon, everyone will hate him."
(End of Chapter)
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