Shortly after the fight, the rest of the Spider-team swung over to Peter’s side, hauling a collection of webbed-up, spherical supervillains in tow.
“Well done, Peter!”
The middle-aged Peter Parker glanced down at the unconscious Thomas, then looked up at the five stable multiverse portals glowing in the dark purple void, giving Peter a solid thumbs-up.
Originally, their entire plan hinged simply on shutting down the particle collider, leaving Peni Parker with the daunting task of researching a way to send everyone back to their respective universes later.
No one had expected Peter to brilliantly accomplish both objectives at the exact same time.
It was a feat that easily earned the genuine praise of a veteran with over twenty years of superhero experience.
“You didn’t do too bad yourself, old Peter,” Peter replied with a grin.
The two web-slingers laughed, raising their hands and bumping fists in perfect sync.
“So, what do we do with this trash?” Spider-Man Noir asked, pointing a heavy black boot at Bullseye.
Fortunately for the deadly assassin, Noir hadn’t outright killed him.
Unfortunately for Bullseye, his hands had been absolutely shredded by Noir’s custom revolver rounds.
Missing eight of his ten fingers, the mercenary was going to have a hard time even brushing his own teeth from now on, let alone committing any more high-profile assassinations.
He was practically guaranteed to spend the rest of his miserable life locked in a maximum-security prison.
Honestly, he was probably going to regret not just dying at Noir’s hands.
“Please, notify the NYPD to come and arrest them.
I will wait right here for them to arrive, and then I am turning myself in.”
The voice didn’t belong to any of the Spider-Men.
It came from the Prowler.
He had already pulled off his heavy tactical mask, fully revealing his identity to a stunned Miles.
Over the course of the battle, the Prowler had actually been an immense help to the team.
Not only had he teamed up with his nephew to help take down the Green Goblin, but he had also actively interfered with Bullseye’s lethal crossfire, giving Noir the perfect opening to capture the assassin.
That was precisely why the hardened Noir detective hadn’t turned his guns on the mercenary.
However, the entire group of multiversal heroes still turned their masked gazes toward Peter, silently waiting for him to make the final call on the Prowler’s fate.
“I believe Mr.
Davis has truly realized his mistakes,” Peter said, nodding softly.
He looked over at the young teenager.
“Miles, after we leave, I am leaving you in charge of supervising Mr.
Davis.”
Miles nodded fervently, his eyes shining with overwhelming gratitude.
He knew deep down that Peter’s intervention was the only reason his uncle had chosen to completely reform his life.
For Peter, it meant something else entirely.
He had successfully broken the infamous, unspoken rule of the Spider-mantle.
Aaron Davis, the Prowler, did not die a tragic death like the Uncle Bens of so many other universes.
His unwavering belief—that making the absolute right choices could avert inevitable tragedy—had been validated once again.
With the battle won and the villains secured, the time for partings had finally arrived.
One by one, Peni Parker, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man Noir, and the middle-aged Peter Parker stepped up to the edge of the platform, offering their final farewells before leaping gracefully into the swirling portals to embark on their journeys home.
Finally, only Gwen Stacy remained.
“Thank you for everything.
For all your help,” Gwen said softly, tucking a strand of her shoulder-length blonde hair behind her ear.
“If you were in my shoes, you would have made the exact same choices.”
He paused, pointing a finger at the side of her head.
“By the way, I really like the new hairstyle.
It’s very rock-and-roll.”
Gwen reached up, touching the unevenly shaved patch of hair on the right side of her head—a battle scar from a close call during the chaotic fight.
She offered a small, genuine smile and extended her fist toward him.
Peter understood instantly, raising his own hand to bump fists with the Ghost-Spider.
“Goodbye, my friend Spider-Man,” Gwen said.
“Goodbye,” Peter replied.
Gwen spread her arms wide and leaned back, letting gravity take over as she fell backward into the glowing portal, vanishing back to her own universe under Peter’s watchful gaze.
“So…
it’s just the two of us left,” Miles said, swallowing hard as he looked around the devastated cavern.
“Please tell me what I am supposed to do next.”
Noticing the rookie’s excessive nervous energy, Peter walked over and clapped a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“You don’t need to do anything else.
Just get these bad guys to a safe distance and wait for the cops.”
A few minutes later, Miles and his uncle had successfully dragged the unconscious villains back down the subway tunnel, putting a safe distance between themselves and the massive machine.
Alone in the control center, Peter felt a sudden, familiar surge of burning pain flare up in his right palm.
The mysterious golden web pattern was glowing with a radiant, pulsing light once again.
He understood perfectly.
The time had come.
Peter reached out and slammed his hand down on the glowing green override button on the control panel.
Instantly, the highly ordered, humming beam of energy tearing through the cavern began to violently twist and deform.
An unfathomable amount of raw, multiversal power began to compress erratically, collapsing in on itself before violently detonating outward.
A deafening roar ripped through the earth.
The colossal particle collider, a machine the size of a mountain, was obliterated in a fraction of a second, reducing the entire underground test site to a sea of scorched ruins.
The purplish-blue spatial rifts were completely wiped out by the staggering energy wave, sealing the five multiversal portals behind them.
A dark, quiet corner of 42nd Street in New York City.
A spark of golden light suddenly materialized out of thin air, rapidly swirling and expanding until it formed a glowing, vortex-like spatial portal.
Peter, carrying a heavy backpack over one shoulder, stepped out of the light and landed smoothly on the concrete.
“Phew, finally home,” Peter exhaled, wiping his brow.
“This whole multiverse vacation was definitely not easy.”
He looked around the highly familiar street, recognizing it as the exact same alleyway he had been standing in when he first crossed over into the parallel universe.
Digging his phone out of his pocket, Peter checked the screen.
He was completely stunned to find that his timeline had undergone some kind of localized reset.
“Well, that is definitely good news,” Peter muttered with a relieved smile.
“If the time flow had been completely synced, I would have had a really hard time explaining to Aunt May and Uncle Ben where I had been for the last few days.”
Leaning against the brick wall, Peter deftly pulled off his mask and stuffed it deep into his backpack.
He quickly stripped off the Spider-Man suit, changing back into his ordinary civilian clothes, smoothly completing the transition from multiversal superhero back to high school student Peter Parker.
However, as he zipped his bag shut, he noticed something strange.
The golden web pattern on his right palm was still emitting a faint, pulsing glow.
Peter subconsciously raised his hand to his face, squinting to examine the strange mark more closely.
Just as he focused on it, the pattern suddenly flared with a blinding brilliance, shooting a concentrated beam of golden light directly into his eyes.
A colossal, ethereal golden web—completely invisible to anyone else—silently unfolded in his vision.
Every single intersecting node on the massive web was shrouded in a hazy, radiant light.
Only one specific node displayed a crystal-clear string of text: 1610b.
Sitting right beneath the 1610b designation were two distinct, glowing icons: a jagged blue lightning bolt and a green, translucent, dotted outline of a humanoid figure.
Along with the visual of the web, a massive influx of unfamiliar, complex information suddenly flooded directly into Peter’s brain.
The sudden realization hit him like a freight train.
He finally understood exactly what the mark on his palm meant.
It was the physical symbol of the power of the Web of Life and Destiny.
Every time Peter successfully traversed a multiverse connected to the Spider-Totem, the Web of Fate would permanently illuminate a corresponding Fate Node, granting him access to its unique abilities.
The blue lightning bolt and the optical camouflage icons under the 1610b node were the exact special abilities utilized by Miles Morales.
Through the Web of Fate, Peter could now directly harness those unique powers for himself.
But that wasn’t all.
The information also revealed that his own foundational physical attributes would receive a permanent, slight enhancement with every single universal crossing.
Peter threw a quick, experimental punch at the empty air.
The sharp crack of his fist breaking the sound barrier confirmed it.
His raw physical strength had undeniably increased.
Furthermore, he could feel that the enhancement was entirely comprehensive, equally boosting his reflexes, his speed, and his stamina.
As for the exact upper limits of his new strength, he would need to find time to run some precise, scientific measurements later.
“So this…
this is the correct way to use the Web of Fate,” Peter whispered in awe.
Staring at the glowing, infinite threads of the Web mapped across his vision, a deeply familiar, iconic phrase drifted to the forefront of his mind.
With great power comes great responsibility.
But looking at the limitless potential of the Web, Peter realized the inverse was also terrifyingly true: with great responsibility comes great power.
If his power could theoretically scale infinitely by exploring the multiverse, did that mean his responsibilities would also multiply without end?
Would he go from protecting a single street, to an entire city, to a whole world, and eventually…
to the infinite, sprawling expanse of the multiverse itself?
Was this unbelievable power a miraculous gift of fate, or was it a crushing, eternal burden?
Who could really say for sure?
Peter lowered his hand, a quiet, resolute smile playing on his lips as he stepped out of the alley and back into the vibrant, beating heart of New York City.
Perhaps…
it was both.