章 10: Chapter 10- I am Spider-Man

"Are you going to face it or not? Are you going to hit or just keep dancing? You half-pint brute," Noir finishes, pulling a car with his web and throwing it on one of Fisk's henchmen.

Looking around, he sees the robotic scorpion destroying one of Peni's robot arms. Shooting his web at one of the floating objects around him, Noir propels himself towards his little friend.

***

Porker arrives just in time to help Peni, who was defeated by the Scorpion. Taking advantage of the fact that he was focused on destroying her robot, Porker throws an anvil at the opponent's head.

"¿Un cerdo?" Scorpion asks as he turns around, laughing at the spider that appeared. "What are you? A ridiculous cartoon?"

"Don't like cartoons?" Porker responds, dodging the stinger that was coming his way. Shooting a web in Scorpion's face, he pulls himself, delivering a punch and disorienting Scorpion a bit.

Seizing the opportunity, Porker takes his hammer out of his pocket and uses it to defend himself from the stinger coming his way again. Then, he spins it like a propeller, rising above Scorpion's head and delivering a powerful hammer blow ¿.

BLAAMMO

Scorpion falls to the ground. Trying to get up, he is held by the tail by Noir, who begins to spin him at high speed and launches him toward Peni, who had come out of the robot and picked up the arm that had been broken.

"TAKE THIS!" she says, hitting Scorpion with all her strength.

"Ridiculous is the beating you took," Porker comments to the unconscious Scorpion from Noir's shoulder.

Peni looks at her destroyed robot with tears in her eyes. A small compartment opens, and a spider comes out. Peni approaches, gently taking her best friend in her hands.

"Are you okay?" Noir asks upon arriving next to Peni, putting her hand on her shoulder. Porker stands beside them, wiping his own tears. Not getting a response, Noir extends her hand. "Come with me, I'll take us to the others."

***

"They're coming," Gwen replies to Arthur, seeing Noir, Porker, and Peni climbing up to them.

"Okay, hand me the goober," Arthur takes the system key and swings himself to the compartment. 'Here goes,' he thinks, inserting the flash drive and taking control of the collider. "I'M CONTROLLING THE PORTAL!"

***

"What's happening!?" Fisk asks, watching his wife and son disappear again from the chamber in the middle of the collider.

[Alert! Quantum polarity reversed]

"ARRGHH!" Fisk hits the table in front of him with force. 'I'm going to kill them, no matter how many Spider-Men it takes!'

***

The Spiders arrive next to Arthur, all sticking together on the ceiling.

"We did it..." Gwen said, feeling the sadness of knowing she would never see her friends and Arthur again, returning to being alone.

"Yeah... it's good to know we're not alone, right?" Peni spoke, still holding onto Noir's shoulder.

"...we'll never be alone again, we have each other now, even from a distance," Arthur said, analyzing the panel that opened thanks to the system key. Making some adjustments, he looks at the first one to leave. "I've opened the portal... go ahead, Peni."

"It was a pleasure meeting all of you," she said before looking at her spider friend on her arm. "I'm speaking for both of us, sayonara, guys." Peni lets herself fall straight into the portal, taking with her the friendship they built.

"I love you all," Noir said before holding up a Rubik's cube. "I will take this intriguing cube with me. I don't understand it, but I will unravel its mysteries. Goodbye."

After Noir has passed through the portal, Porker takes his hammer out of his pocket. "I want you to have this... it fits in your pocket," he says, passing it to Arthur, tears in his eyes. "That's all, folks."

Watching Porker leave, Arthur turns his gaze to the two remaining people, and those it would hurt most to say goodbye to.

"It's your turn, partner," Arthur said affectionately to Gwen, the next one to go.

"Seems like it, partner," Gwen responded, locking eyes with Arthur. Even with the masks, they both knew where each other's eyes were. They wanted to say so much to each other and express the feelings that had formed in these few days.

But they chose only silence, knowing they would never see each other again. "...goodbye, Gwen."

"...goodbye, Arthur." She bids farewell, letting go of the ceiling and falling into the portal, returning to her dimension.

Arthur continues to look where she passed, feeling pain in his heart. 'Maybe this is my destiny, to fall in love with Gwen Stacy and in the end, not be together,' he reflected melancholically before turning to his last spider friend.

"Your turn... Jedi master."

"...yeah," Peter B. says, emotional. He really became fond of the kid.

!!!

As they were saying their goodbyes, the spider senses of both activated. Looking back, they see Kingpin coming towards them on the half of a bridge.

"You're not going anywhere!" Fisk shouts with deep anger.

"I'll handle him, you shut do—" Peter B. begins to say before feeling an electric shock through his body.

"I thought you would do this after your conversation with Mary Jane," Arthur said, holding Peter's limp body. "You were saying your goodbyes, weren't you, Peter?"

"What are you doing!?" Peter asks with difficulty.

"You have to go home!"

"This guy can kill you! I can't leave knowing that," Peter exclaims, worried.

"It's okay, Peter. I already have a plan," Arthur reassures. "You have to trust your students more."

Peter stares at Arthur, feeling a mix of anguish and reluctance to leave his pupil. "You're giving me your word that you'll be okay, aren't you?" Peter asks.

"Of course... go win back your girl, I know you can," Arthur concludes, releasing Peter into the portal.

'If I had a son, I'd want him to be like you.' Those were Peter's last thoughts before crossing the portal, returning to his dimension.

Confirmed Peter's departure, Arthur faces Kingpin, who was approaching. 'If I try to shut down the collider, Kingpin may throw something at me and damage the panel... I'll put an end to him quickly,' he concludes, swinging toward the final enemy. Upon reaching the bridge, Arthur confronts a deranged Fisk.

"Why?... Why do you keep preventing me from reuniting with my family!?" Fisk asks angrily.

"What you're doing puts the lives of millions at risk," Arthur responds.

"Don't be a hypocrite, Spider-Man, if you were in my place, you would do the same!"

'Would I jeopardize my dimension for my family?' Arthur wonders, quickly arriving at an answer. 'What good are my powers if I can't protect those I love?'

"No answer, huh? You're different from the other Spider-Man; he'd give up everything to save the city, but not you!" Fisk said, laughing maniacally. "We are equal, after all!"

Arthur looked at Fisk. 'No, we are not the same. If I were in your situation, I wouldn't lose.' Interrupting his thoughts, he starts running towards Fisk.

Seeing him approaching, Fisk takes a pistol from his waistband.

Arthur becomes invisible when he sees the gun pointed at him.

"Show yourself!" Fisk starts shooting in all directions until the magazine is empty. A web then pulls out his weapon. As Fisk turns in that direction, he receives an extremely hard punch to the left rib.

CRACK!!!

"ARGH!" Fisk feels some ribs breaking.

Arthur jumps back and shoots webs at Fisk's sides, propelling himself like a slingshot. He points his feet at the Kingpin's chest, but Fisk defends himself by predicting his trajectory because of the webs with one arm, taking the opportunity to push Arthur away.

"You don't hold back, Spider-Man," says Fisk, looking for the still invisible spider, feeling his arm go numb and the sharp pain in his left side.

"Only when necessary," says Arthur, shooting a web in the Kingpin's face. Taking advantage of the moment, he throws another strong punch to the left rib.

BAM!

"ARGH!" Fisk tears the web with one hand and swings the other arm forward. 'I'm tasting the blood.'

Fisk was strong, but he was Spider-Man. Arthur firmly holds the approaching hand. "You're not as strong as you think," he tells the stunned Kingpin, who wasn't expecting to see his fist halted.

Arthur pulls his arm back, bringing Kingpin forward and delivering a powerful punch to his chin. Taking advantage of Fisk's disorientation, Arthur delivers another strong blow to the left ribs, aggravating the injury.

When Arthur was about to throw another punch, his Spider-Sense kicked in. Looking behind, he saw a train approaching at high speed. Trying to dodge the collision, he leaped, but his leg was caught by Fisk.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Fisk asked; he had noticed Spider-Man's position between the blows. Holding Arthur's leg, he threw him towards the oncoming train.

"Damn!" Arthur exclaimed before colliding with the train.

BAAMM!!

He passed wagon after wagon, hitting every possible point on the train. Emerging on the other side, Arthur lies on the ground, feeling pain all over his body.

"Haa...Haa...Cough! Cough!" He coughs up a bit of blood. 'This cough isn't good,' Arthur thinks, hearing footsteps approaching. 'Yes... come to me.' He starts to concentrate, pulling the little energy that remained.

"I'm going to kill you just like I did with the other one, then I'll have my family back!" Fisk spoke with difficulty, getting close to the fallen spider. 'No reaction at all? He must be unconscious,' Fisk concluded, raising his arms, wanting to kill this one the same way he did with the other.

Arthur felt the arms descending slowly towards him, with the intent to kill him; his spider-sense warning him of the danger, the need to do something, anything... and he knew what to do. Turning quickly, he grabbed both arms, absorbing the full impact with his hands.

BAM!

"What?" Fisk tries to pull them back, but Spider-Man held his wrists firmly. "Let go-"

"Checkmate!" Arthur said, unleashing all the energy he still had.

KAABOOOMM!

Fisk was thrown upward, disappearing into the multiversal chaos surrounding the collider.

'I can't blindly trust my invisibility powers,' thinks Arthur as he gets up. Looking around, he realizes the critical situation of the collider. "What could these things be?" Arthur mutters, observing the dark particles bubbling around.

"Time to put an end to this!" Arthur shoots a web towards a floating car, allowing himself to be carried. He releases it upon reaching a building emerging from the portal.

Being carried to the top, he shoots another web at the ceiling and activates the launcher's traction feature. "Let's see... it must be this," Arthur mutters, adjusting the controls on the panel and deactivating the machine.

Upon shutting down the collider, everything that had crossed the portal begins to be pulled back with force, as if it were a black hole.

"Damn!" Arthur holds on with all his might. Looking down, he sees infinite webs interconnecting. "The multiverse is... beautiful."

BOOOOMMMM!!!

***

The city, which was on the verge of collapsing, returns to normal, and the tremors cease. People look at each other in the streets, wondering what happened.

***

Mary Jane Parker looks at the collapsed Fisk building, with numerous firefighters and police around. She gently touches her belly. 'The city is safe, Peter. We are,' Mary Jane thinks, determined to go see May and meet this new Spider-Man. 'I hope he's okay.'

***

Arthur looks around, amid rubble and smoke. After the collider's explosion, he began to search for Fisk. Hearing a faint breath, Arthur walks in that direction.

Upon arrival, he finds Fisk lying there, tears in his eyes, and a pillar piercing through his chest. Seeing the injury, Arthur knows he won't survive.

"I... failed... them," Fisk says with difficulty.

"They wouldn't be them, Kingpin. They might have the same voices and faces, but they're not the same people," Arthur explains. 'It will be better this way; he won't be a problem anymore.'

"No... matter... I just wanted to hug them... one last time," Fisk said before looking at Spider-Man. "One day you too... will go through this, and I hope you lose everything." He spoke before taking his last breath.

Arthur looks into the lifeless eyes of Kingpin, confirming that the villain had died. Shaking his head, he looks at his body; a good portion of his suit was torn, especially on the chest and arms. 'I'll have to fix it,' he thought before returning to the ceiling, picking up Olivia's unconscious body.

***

After leaving the villain with the police, Arthur swings between the buildings, stopping several times to help people amid the chaos on the streets of Brooklyn.

After several minutes, he finally arrives home. 'The chaos in Brooklyn was greater than I calculated,' Arthur thinks as he enters through his window silently.

He goes to his closet, picks up an outfit, and lays it on the bed. Just as he was about to take off his tattered uniform, he hears his door opening.

"Arthur?" Gwen enters through the door. 'I know I heard something,' she thinks, looking into the empty room after turning on the light. "Arthur, are you here?... Please, if you're here, show yourself... SNIF!... SNIF!"

Arthur looks invisible at Gwen, who had started to cry. 'Should I reveal myself?... I hate seeing her suffer because of me, but, analyzing rationally, the probability of her finding out in the next years... no, the next months is very high. She would have to be very naive not to notice my behavior, especially if something bad happens with her around; eventually, she'd realize I always disappear when a criminal or villain appears.'

'It's risky to involve her, but it would be even worse if I didn't tell her. At least with her around, I can leave some kind of emergency communicator. Moreover, she'll serve as an alibi for the rest of the family and can assist me with her intelligence.' In less than 5 seconds, Arthur thinks and concludes his next steps.

When Gwen reached for her brother's door handle, a force grabbed her mouth and pulled her back into the room, closing the door. "HMM!!!"

"Calm down, Gwen, it's me!"

Gwen calmed down upon hearing Arthur's voice. When released, she turned and hugged the figure in front of her. "Art!! I knew I heard you!" she said, embracing him tightly.

"Yeah... you always find me somehow," Arthur spoke with pain; she was pressing on his wounds. 'She hasn't seen me yet because of the darkness,' he concluded, mentally preparing himself.

"Art, are you okay?" Gwen asked upon hearing his voice. She stepped back but couldn't see anything; reaching for the switch, Gwen turned on the light.

"WHAT THE FU-" Gwen screams in shock at what she saw.

Arthur quickly puts his hand over her mouth. "Don't scream! Our parents can't find out."

Gwen calms down, taking a closer look at his body. She notices numerous cuts. "You're injured," she says, concerned, quickly leaving the room to get a first aid kit.

***

The two were in silence; Arthur had taken off the top part of his uniform, and Gwen was cleaning his wounds. "You better have a good explanation, Arthur Maxwell."

"...I'm Spider-Man."

***

"How's the situation in New York?" A man with an eyepatch asks one of his top agents.

"It's under control, sir. The new Spider-Man handled the situation," Agent Hill explains.

"Things are getting complicated very quickly," the man says, looking at papers detailing the situation. "To think there's a multiverse... Agent Hill, send Agent Romanoff. Her mission is to eliminate all scientists involved and burn all data from the collider project. We're not ready to deal with such technology."

"Yes, sir!"

"Any updates on the situation with the Asgardians?"

"No further contact or sightings since the incident."

"Have we located Stark?"

"Not yet, sir. His abductors know how to evade our satellites."

"Hmm... there must be a traitor, possibly within Stark Industries. Investigate their payments and where their weapons are going."

"Yes, sir!" Hill begins to turn to leave the room.

"Hill."

"Sir?"

"Add the new Spider-Man to the Avengers Initiative, but erase any traces of his identity."

"But, sir, he's very young."

Nick Fury lifts his head from the papers on his desk, locking eyes with Hill. "I foresee a war approaching. We'll need everyone at our disposal."

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or songs featured in this fic. Additionally, I do not claim ownership of any products or properties mentioned in this novel. This work is entirely fictional.