Earth-96283.
Peter stared at the newly appeared designation but could not make sense of it yet.
Marvel’s Multiverse system was incredibly chaotic and complex, and Peter could only remember some of the more famous designations.
There was 616, known as the Prime Marvel Universe, 199999 for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2149 for the Marvel Zombies Universe, 1610 for the Ultimate Universe, and so on.
“As long as it isn’t one of the darkest Marvel universes…”
The mere thought of those dark Marvel universes sent a chill down Peter’s spine.
With his current strength, he would have trouble protecting even himself if he entered one of them, let alone saving anyone else.
Once the Destiny Node fully manifested, a golden radiance appeared in the void once more.
Fine strands of golden light rapidly wove themselves into a Multiverse portal leading to Earth-96283.
The moment the vortex-shaped portal took form, powerful spatiotemporal turbulence swept through the room, scattering papers all over the floor.
By the time the turbulence subsided, Peter had already vanished.
…
Earth-96283.
Once again, Peter found himself in the familiar streets of New York City.
An unfinished elevated railway stretched out above one of Manhattan’s busiest streets.
Half of the track jutted abruptly from the ground before ending in midair.
Yet a train packed with passengers was racing at astonishing speed along a track that should never have been open to traffic.
A man in the classic red-and-blue Spider-Man suit stood at the very front of the train.
His name was Peter Parker, the Spider-Man of Earth-96283.
The conductor stood inside the wrecked control room.
The missing control lever on the dashboard was proof enough that the train was completely out of control.
“Spider-Man, that Octopus Freak destroyed the control lever!
Is there anything else you can do?”
Even the violent wind roaring past the train could not drown out the sheer terror in the conductor’s voice.
“Don’t worry, Mr.
Conductor.
Spider-Man always finds a way to solve the problem.”
Spider-Man’s words reassured the terrified passengers to some extent.
But no one could see the unease flickering in his gray-blue eyes beneath the mask.
This was the greatest challenge he had ever faced.
Even Spider-Man had no confidence that he could pull it off.
His first attempt was to jump onto the tracks, brace his back against the front of the train, and plant his feet against the thick railroad ties to slow it down.
That attempt quickly ended in failure.
Spider-Man immediately tried a second method.
He fired webs from both hands and used their tension to reduce the train’s speed.
The method worked, but the tremendous force immediately pushed his body to its limits.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, his muscles tore, his bones shifted out of place, and even his suit began to split apart.
Yet those external injuries were insignificant compared to the truly fatal damage occurring inside his body.
The immense force placed every one of Spider-Man’s organs far beyond its maximum capacity.
They could fail at any moment.
Even so, Spider-Man gritted his teeth and held on to the webs with hands as immovable as stone.
Vast amounts of webbing shot from the mutated veins in his wrists.
As more and more webs pulled against it, the train finally began to slow.
Elsewhere, Doctor Octopus, dressed in a gray trench coat, raced after the train on his four mechanical octopus tentacles.
“Foolish Spider-Man.”
Doctor Octopus was certain that Spider-Man could never stop the runaway train.
It would eventually crash, killing everyone aboard.
Then Doctor Octopus would be free to take control of the city without ever having to see that irritating Spider-Man again.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of a residential building beyond Doctor Octopus’s line of sight, a golden, vortex-shaped spatial portal suddenly appeared.
Peter stepped through it.
The deafening noise from below immediately caught his attention.
The moment Peter saw Spider-Man using his own body to stop the runaway train, he understood.
Earth-96283 was the universe of the First-Generation Spider-Man played by Tobey Maguire.
The timing of Peter’s arrival was also remarkably precise.
He had appeared at the exact moment of the iconic scene where Spider-Man pulled the train to a stop.
“Talk about perfect timing.
I arrive right in the middle of his big moment.
Good thing I warmed up beforehand.”
Peter pulled several small Spider-Trackers from his backpack, then fired a strand of webbing and secured the bag in a corner of the rooftop.
He quickly surveyed the area and soon spotted Doctor Octopus pursuing the runaway train.
“The regular version of Doctor Octopus is still much easier on the eyes.
The female version is just too weird.”
As Peter made his comment, he silently dropped onto Doctor Octopus’s back.
Without Spider-Sense, Doctor Octopus had no idea that another Spider-Man had appeared behind him.
Only when Peter placed his right hand against Doctor Octopus’s back and called out, “Surprise!” did the doctor belatedly turn his head.
At almost the same instant, Peter activated his Bio-Electricity ability.
Zzzzt!
Zzzzt!
Blue arcs of electricity danced wildly, instantly paralyzing Doctor Octopus’s mechanical octopus tentacles.
“Spider-Man!
How can there be another Spider-Man?”
Doctor Octopus stared at Peter in disbelief, his shrill voice carrying a trace of panic.
“Is that really so strange?
There are countless Spider-Men throughout the Multiverse.
Naturally, there are countless versions of you too, Dr.
Otto.”
“The Multiverse?
How could something like that possibly exist?
It’s nothing more than the absurd ramblings of lunatics.”
Doctor Octopus had clearly never studied quantum physics in any real depth, so he refused to accept the existence of the Multiverse.
Every second mattered.
Peter had no time to keep arguing with him.
He punched Doctor Octopus squarely in the jaw, instantly sending him into a deep and peaceful sleep.
Of course, Peter controlled the force behind the punch.
He had no intention of killing Doctor Octopus with a single blow.
Doctor Octopus in this universe was not truly an evil villain.
His consciousness had been taken over by the Octopus Tentacles he had created.
As long as someone found a way to suppress the Tentacles’ influence over his mind, Doctor Octopus could regain his sanity and return to being the brilliant physicist who devoted himself to developing controllable nuclear fusion technology for the benefit of humanity.
Peter secured the unconscious Doctor Octopus to the wall with spider-web, then turned toward the runaway train.
It was already approaching the end of the tracks.
Peter knew that Spider-Man would ultimately manage to stop it before it plunged over the edge, but he had no intention of simply sitting back and watching.
The Spider-Man of this universe had already endured far too much.
Peter wanted to shoulder some of the burden and make things a little easier for him.