“I can’t wait to kill all of you” Bullseye smirked, his arm blurred as he flicked his wrist sending three metal fountain pens he had snatched from a table flying through the air.
They weren’t aimed randomly, Peter’s tactical mind instantly calculated their trajectories with one was tracking his left eye, one was heading for his carotid artery and the third was placed to hit Shadowcat if Peter dodge.
BAMF.
Nightcrawler materialized mid-air, his blue tail snapping outward to intercept the lethal projectiles, knocking them into the wall with a metallic clatter.
“We are in trouble!” Nightcrawler yelled, a fresh cloud of sulfur smoke venting around him.
“Cat, phase!!” Peter commanded, his mind as the vault floor began to buckle under Avalanche’s seismic waves and he shoot his webbing towards Bullseye and the flying pens.
“Damn!” Kitty cried sprinting away towards Avalanche, her body slipping into an intangible state to avoid the attacks before phasing Avalance’s feet into the ground.
Right as Bullseye was pinned to the wall by Peter’s web-net, the rear concrete wall of the vault exploded inward.
Heavy blocks of reinforced stone flew like shrapnel as two more of Fisk’s high-priced heavy-hitters stepped through the dust.
Rhino roared as his massive armored horn glinting under the red emergency lights.
Beside him, Typhoid Mary stepped into the vault with jagged machete in each hand, her split-personality eyes glowing with a terrifying, pyrokinitic fever.
“I will squish you like a bug!” Rhino bellowed stamping his massive boot and cracking the floor.
“Five villains, three heroes and an unstable structure” Peter muttered as he quickly check his surrounding.
“The margin for error just dropped to zero percent”.
“Kill them!” Klaw shouted, his weapon light up with energy as he leveled his sonic cannon alongside Rhino’s charge.
Rhino put his head down, accelerating like a multi-ton freight train directly toward Peter.
At the same time, Klaw unleashed a massive wall of red sound waves to pin the wall-crawler in place.
“Blue, deal with the big guy!
Now!” Peter yelled.
BAMF.
Nightcrawler materialized mid-air directly on the back of the charging Rhino.
Nightcrawler grabbed the massive villain’s back and teleported him three feet into the air before dropping him.
BAMF
Rhino reappeared mid-charge, completely re-oriented sideways.
He crashed directly into Klaw, his massive armored bulk flattening the sonic mercenary into the vault wall in a chaotic explosion of metal and sparks.
Peter used that exact split-second window.
He shot two web-lines onto Rhino’s massive shoulders, using the villain’s own derailed momentum to slingshot himself across the room like a missile.
After that, he leap across the room and planted both of legs squarely into the chest of Avalanche, who was trying to shake himself free from Shadowcat’s concrete mold.
The impact completely broke the Avalanche focus, knocking him out cold against the floor.
“Die!!!
Die!!!
Die!!!” Typhoid Mary laughed, her telekinetic mind seizing a dozen loose safety deposit box doors and hurling them through the air like razor-sharp circular saws.
With a snap of her fingers, she ignited the metal doors, turning them into flying disks of white-hot plasma.
“Watch out!” Peter roared leaping backward.
Shadowcat sprinted into the path of the flaming projectiles.
She grabbed Nightcrawler, holding him tight as both of them become intangibility.
The flaming metal doors passed completely through their bodies, slicing into the vault’s support pillars behind them, melting the steel rebar.
As they phased back into reality, Peter felt the floor tilt.
The melted columns were giving way.
“Homer, structural load redistribution!” Peter commanded.
“Sir, the ceiling will collapse in forty-two seconds if the northern arch isn’t braced,” Homer reported instantly into his ear comm.
“Blue, drop me there!
Cat, girl fight!”.
BAMF
Peter materialized directly above Bullseye, who had managed to cut his hands free with a hidden blade.
Before the assassin could throw his weapon, Peter start shooting his webbing at his arms and legs.
Using his proportionate spider-strength, he lifted a metal railing and slam it down across Bullseye’s arm, pinning him perfectly without crushing him.
After that, Peter find a piece of broken concrete beam to prop up the sagging northern arch.
“Argh!” Typhoid Mary screamed as Shadowcat phased straight through her body, disrupting Typhoid Mary’s focus before Shadowcat grasp her from behind and phase Typhoid Mary into the wall.
Rhino, shaking the dizziness from his head, roared and charged straight again towards the pinned Peter.
Peter didn’t move.
He waited until the armored giant was exactly three feet away.
“Blue and Cat, tag the big guy!”.
BAMF
Nightcrawler teleported Rhino toward Shadowcat as she slapped her palms onto the concrete right beneath Rhino’s massive boots.
Rhino’s immense weight sent him plunging straight through the foundation before solidifying the floor around Rhino’s midsection, trapping the city-level threat like a cork in a bottle.
The vault went dead silent, save the groaning voices of the villains and the crackle of Mary’s crazy voice as she struggle to break free.
As the five supervillains lay entirely neutralized, Peter checked his heads-up display.
The countdown clock was flashing a hostile, blinding crimson.
Time remaining until the high school attendance bell: 1 minute, 12 seconds.
“Damn it” Peter cursed to himself, before looking toward Nightcrawler and Shadowcat.
“Sorry, guys!
Secure the place.
I need to go!”.
With a high-velocity snap of Peter’s wrist, the transmigrated hero launched a web-line towards the exit at absolute maximum speed.
Nightcrawler and Shadowcat glance at each other in confusion before Shadowcat said “Was fighting villains suppose to be that easy?”.
Nightcrawler just answered her with a shrug.
Midtown High, the quietness of the second-floor janitor’s closet is shattered with a soft thwip as Spider-man barrelled through the open window, tumbling onto the damp concrete floor amidst the smell of industrial bleach.
Peter tear his mask off his head before his boots even hit the ground.
His brain was running a frantic high-speed calculation ‘Wall Street to Queens in sixty-eight seconds was a personal record, but according to Homer’s internal clock, he is forty-five seconds late for class.
“Homer, status” Peter hissed, frantically ripping off his red-and-blue gloves and jamming his feet into his unlaced sneakers.
“Crisis resolved, Sir” Homer chimed smoothly in his ear.
“Got it” Peter threw his oversized, faded flannel shirt over his shoulders, deliberately buttoning it crookedly to look completely disheveled.
He crammed his thick glasses onto his face, ruffled his hair into a chaotic bird’s nest, and threw open the closet door, stumbling out into the hallway just as the final all-clear bell rang.
Peter didn’t make it five feet before a vibrant flash of red hair blocked his path.
Mary Jane Watson was leaning against a row of lockers with her arms crossed, watching him with a smirk that made Peter’s Spider-Sense give a tiny confused buzz.
“Well, look who finally decided to join the rest of the mortal world” MJ said, her voice dropping into a playful teasing rhythm.
She stepped closer, her eyes lingering on him from head to toe.
“Oh!
Hey, MJ” Peter replied acting natural “Just searching for something”.
MJ didn’t buy his story for a single second as she continue to stare at him with interest.
“You know, Tiger…
you’re a terrible actor” MJ leaned in, her voice a low whisper that sent a jolt straight to his brain.
Before Peter respond to mitigate MJ rising interest, Gwen Stacy rounded the corner, her eyes lighting up when she spotted him.
“Peter!” Gwen called out, marching over.
“Where were you?”.
“No time, girls!
Going to be late for class!” Peter said as she sprint past them, his unlaced sneakers clicking loudly against the tile as he bolted into the classroom.
The next morning, Midtown High was absolutely buzzing.
The usual hallway gossip about sports and dating had been completely replaced by a massive, high-stakes debate.
Everywhere Peter walked, groups of students were huddled together, gesturing wildly at their phones.
They were aggressively scrolling through the verified data dumps that vindicated the mutant community overnight
“I’m telling you, it was a setup!” Ned Leeds argued loudly at his locker, waving his tablet in front of a skeptical Harry Osborn.
“Did you see the leaked server logs?
Wilson Fisk literally paid international black-hat hackers to deep-fake those anti-mutant videos.
“I’m just saying, the Department of Education needs to actively recruit mutants” Harry Osborn chimed in, leaning against a locker with a smug smile.
“Think about if we had a student with teleportation powers.
No more traffic on the Long Island Expressway”.
“Bro, forget transportation.
The flying girl with grey bangs has a great sexy body” a junior varsity football player named Seymour countered “I need her to rock my world”.
“Bro, did you see the video of the weather girl?” a sophomore track runner asked with his eyes wide.
“She look like a goddess”.
“Yeah, but what about the ice guy?” another student chimed in “He create ice with a wave of his hand.
The Department of Transportation just released a statement saying his organic ice structure is the only reason the tunnel didn’t collapse immediately was because of his ice power”.
Sitting on the concrete steps near the main doors, Flash Thompson was uncharacteristically quiet, staring blankly at a live Daily Bugle broadcast on his phone.
J.
Jonah Jameson was onscreen, looking deeply defeated as he read the legally mandated retraction regarding the Federal Reserve heist.
“Spider-man is amazing” Flash muttered in fascination.
Peter shuffled toward them Harry and Ned acting casual before MJ suddenly grabbed him and drag him into an empty room.
The door close with a clicked as Mary Jane Watson’s red hair catching the afternoon sun.
“I caught you” MJ said with a brilliant, entirely wicked smirk.
“Oh!
hey, MJ!” Peter said in confusion “What’s up?”.
“Cut the act, Tiger” MJ whispered leaning in so close Peter could smell her floral perfume.
The playful teasing vanished, replaced by an intensely sharp, knowing gaze.
Peter froze feeling confuse as he started feeling a slight buzz in his head again.
“I went to the janitor’s closet yesterday where you disappeared” MJ murmured with her voice a low thrilling purr.
Peter felt a cold sweat burst across his forehead.
His panic metrics were spiking.
Of all the people to find out—Gwen with her high-level intellect, or Captain Stacy with his police database—it was Mary Jane Watson, the school’s resident drama enthusiast, who had scooped the physical evidence.
“MJ, I….
I have a perfectly logical explanation” Peter stammered his adult composure completely shattering under her intense scrutiny.
“Relax, Tiger” MJ laughed and tapping his nose with a single finger.
“Your secret is perfectly safe with me.
But let’s just say…
no more excuses anymore if I ask you to walk me home”.
Before blowing Peter a playful kiss and sauntered out of the room, leaving the Peter absolute wide eyed in terror.
Peter standing in silence in the room.
The faint hum of Queens traffic drifted outside window, but his mind was running an entirely different simulation.
Peter gripped his chin and start analyzing the situation transmigrated soul deeply troubled by the day’s events.’Mary Jane Watson’ he thought, his brow furrowing as he remembered her brilliant, wicked smirk.
‘Of all the variables in this universe, she was the one who broke my camouflage’.’
In his previous life, Peter had been a pragmatist.
He believed in data and logic but ever since waking up in this hyper-vibrant comic book reality, he had been forced to confront the concept of narrative gravity.
Peter knew the original lore of the universe he now inhabited.
In a thousand different worlds, across countless timelines, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were an immutable equation.
They were a universal constant that bound them together by a cosmic script that defied logic, tragedy, and time itself.
“Is it destiny?” Peter whispered to the empty room, looking down at his hands.
“Is the universe actively bending its laws to pull her into my orbit?”.
The thought didn’t comfort Peter, It terrified him.
To a man who had already died once, the idea of a per-written fate felt like a structural prison.
If the universe was forcing him down a specific path with MJ, then his life is an illusion.
It meant he was just an actor reciting lines written by a cosmic author, waiting for the inevitable tragedies that always followed a Spider-Man.
Peter jaw tightened, a cold sharp spark of defiance flaring in his eyes.”No” Peter muttered firmly, his voice dropped.
“I am not the original Peter Parker.
I am an outsider who inherited this skin.
If the universe says I have to follow a certain script, then I am going to rewrite my fate”.
He didn’t hate MJ, in fact her sharp intuition and effortless confidence were incredibly captivating.
But he refused to love someone or be with someone, simply because a metaphysical law demanded it.
He wouldn’t let fate dictate his partnerships, his losses, or his victories.
“I choose my own fate” Peter said with a calm, unshakeable certainty settling over his mind.
“If MJ and I end up together, it will be because we chose it not because of destiny”.
Peter took a deep breath and left the empty room with a decision to make his own way.
In the hallway, Peter was looking through his locker when suddenly, the air in hallway shifted with the scent of expensive floral perfume.
Peter turned his head to his left to see Liz Allan with her cheerleading skirt swishing as she tapped a polished fingernail against his locker door.
Her usual confidence had returned, replaced by a fiercely determined pout.
“Peter” Liz said, her voice dripping with sweetness that instantly drew the attention of every sophomore in the immediate vicinity.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said.
If your Aunt May’s mandatory dinner is on Friday, then we are doing the science museum exhibition tonight.
I already bought the tickets.
No excuses”.
Before Peter could answer, a sharp crisp footstep clicked behind him.
Gwen Stacy materialized on his right, a heavy binder clutched tightly against her chest.
Her blue eyes were flashing with an icy, intellectual fury as she looked at Liz’s hand on Peter’s sleeve.
“Actually, Liz, Peter is occupied tonight” Gwen interrupted as her voice dropping into an authoritative tone that brooked no argument.
“Both of us need to finish to complete the AP Chemistry advanced distillation model.
and it is non-negotiable”.
Peter froze, trapped exactly in middle of the two girls.
“U-Uh, girls” Peter voice crack slightly as wondered why problems keep coming one after another.
“Shut up, Peter, we’re negotiating” a third smooth voice purred from behind them.
Mary Jane Watson sauntered into frame, leaning her shoulder casually against the locker.
She didn’t look angry.
In fact, she looked thoroughly brilliantly amused by his suffering.
She locked her sharp eyes onto Peter’s panicked face, a slow wicked smirk spreading across her lips.
“Peter here can make his own decision” MJ teased with her voice carrying a heavy playful undercurrent that only Peter understood.
“Maybe we should ask him how he should split his time between both of you.
But I’ll take the night shift”.
Peter’s anxiety exploded through the roof.
“Ladies…
When all of you decide who come first tell me, I got to go”.
Peter as he leave the three girls standing in a tense silent triangle.
Much later in the cafeteria, Peter, Ned and Harry’s corner table is in mid discussion.
Ned aggressively stabbed his food with his plastic fork, leaning across the table with wide conspiratorial eyes.
“Spider-Man is a mutant!
A spider bite?
Come on.
That’s just a cover story the Daily Bugle feeds the masses.
He’s obviously got a dormant X-Gene that triggered a power similar to arachnid”.
Peter said “That is an interesting idea” before continuing to eat his food.
“Actually, Ned might be onto something” Harry noted smoothly, swirling the ice in his cold brew “From a corporate intelligence standpoint, Oscorp has been analyzing meta-human data for years.
Spider-Man’s reaction time and kinetic output are perfectly aligned with some of the high-tier mutant profiles”.
“And honestly?
Peter blinked behind his glasses ‘Dating pool?
What dating pool?’.
“Oh, absolutely!” Ned gasped, his voice dropping into an excited whisper that unfortunately carried across the immediate rows of tables.
“The real question the internet is trying to solve right now is: Who is Spider-Man’s girlfriend?
Because did you see the live feed from Wall Street yesterday?
He was down in that vault working in sync with Shadowcat”.
Ned sighed, looking completely dazed by his own theory.
“I mean, let’s be completely objective here.
The mutant community has an absolute monopoly on gorgeous heroes.
You’ve got Rogue flying around looking like an absolute high-fashion model in leather green-and-yellow, Jean Grey radiating literal psychic elegance and Storm who is quite literally a drop-dead gorgeous goddess”.
“If Spider-Man is a mutant, he is living the absolute dream.
He’s probably can pick any of the gorgeous mutant chicks” Harry excitedly said.
Peter internally experienced a violent, catastrophic system error complained to himself ‘Teenage male hormone working at its best’ .
While Ned Leeds’s assessment of mutant aesthetics is statistically accurate but another more difficult problem is approaching them.
Liz Allan, Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson had just walked into the cafeteria lounge space, navigating the lunch trays with three entirely distinct, hyper-focused trajectories straight toward their table.
Peter complained to himself ‘Oh, Shit!
I can’t catch a break!”.
Liz was smirking, clearly ready to reiterate her museum schedule.
Gwen looking ready to corner Peter about homework.
And MJ?
MJ was just trouble with a capital T, giving a slow incredibly wicked smirk spreading across her lips.
“Hey, Peter” Ned whispered frantically, completely oblivious to the real danger as he watched the three prettiest girls in the school converge homing in their direction.
“Why are they looking at you like you’re a prize asset?”.
Peter swallowed hard, his anxiety rising “Ned!
Harry!…
I think I need to go, immediately”.
Liz Allan marched straight past the junior varsity football players with her cheerleading jacket swaying “Alright, Peter, cut to the chase” Liz demanded, her voice cutting cleanly through Ned’s energetic rambling.
“The science museum exhibition is running tonight, tomorrow night, and Saturday morning.
I have the tickets on my phone right now.
You are going to look me in the eye, pick a time slot, and commit to it.
Choose”.
The immediate vicinity of the cafeteria dropped into a dead, terrified silence.
Ned Leeds froze and his eyes darted from Liz’s intensely demanding face to Peter’s.
Harry Osborn slowly set his cold brew down, his shoulders turning stiff as the absolute weight of the school’s social royalty pressed down on their corner booth.
“Uh…
Pete?” Ned whispered, sweating profusely as the entire football team turned around to glare at their table.
“Should we leave?” Harry muttered dryly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as the intense spotlight of teenage attention focused squarely on them.
Before Peter could open his mouth, Gwen Stacy stepped up right beside Liz with her arms crossed “Liz, as I already explained.
Peter is my designated lab partner and he has better things to do”.
Peter thought to himself ‘Why is this happening to me?’ .
Mary Jane Watson sauntered up.
She didn’t look angry like Gwen and she didn’t look demanding like Liz.
She looked like a chaotic agent who had just found a box of matches.
A slow, incredibly wicked smirk spread across her face as she looked down at Peter.
She wanted to watch it all detonate.
“You know, ladies, you’re both being so rigid” MJ teased with her voice carrying a heavy playful undercurrent that only Peter understood.
“Liz!
Gwen!
MJ!
Let’s lay the problem on the table,” Peter said commanding absolute attention.Liz blinked.
Gwen froze.
Even Mary Jane’s wicked smirk faltered slightly.
“I’m going to be entirely direct with you” Peter continued looking each of them in the eye with an unblinking focus.
“You are all incredibly intelligent, attractive and capable.
And yes, I am attracted to all of you.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t”.
A collective gasp rippled through the nearby lunch tables.
Ned looked like he was about to faint.
“But attraction doesn’t necessary mean relationship” Peter explained calmly.
“The reality is, I don’t have deep romantic feelings for any of you right now.
We simply aren’t close enough for that yet.
But I’m a person.
And until we actually know each other as individuals, rushing into dates makes zero sense”.
The cafeteria went dead silent.
Nobody had ever spoken to the school’s queen bees like this.
He hadn’t been mean; he had just given a rational reason.
Gwen Stacy stared at Peter as she process the emotional honesty of his words.
Liz Allan defensive pride completely melting under his steady gaze.
Even MJ smirk softening into a look of genuine profound respect.
The three girls exchanged a long, silent look.
The petty rivalry and high school territorialism vanished, replaced by a mutual quiet agreement.
Liz was the first to clear her throat, her cheeks flushing a light pink.
“Okay.
Fine.
You’re right, Parker”.
“If we want a valid decision…
we need proper individual time” Gwen said hesitatingly.
MJ stepped forward, her playful grin returning but this time it was warm not mocking.
“What they’re trying to say is that you are going to take your time and spend it with us individually.
Real dates.
Just to talk.
No masks.
No high school drama”.
Peter blinked, his adult brain quickly running ‘Individual dates.
One-on-one time with three’.
Peter let out a quiet defeated sigh but he couldn’t help but smile “Deal.
One at a time.
On my schedule”.
As the school bell rang for fifth period, Ned Leeds practically collapsed saying “Pete…
you just rejected the entire varsity cheer captain, the smartest girl in the state, and a literal model, and they just agreed to queue up for you.
Teach me your secrets.
Please”.
Harry Osborn chuckled, throwing his empty coffee cup into the recycling bin.
“I’ve gotta hand it to you, Pete.
That was a masterclass performance”.
Peter just shook his head, slouching back down to preserve what little dignity he had left, realizing that choosing his own fate was going to be a very busy exhausting process.