In the patient room of Arkham Sanatorium, Spider Silk in her black and white uniform sat next to Peter. Noting his desolate expression, she said, "Peter, the doctors have your best interests at heart. Your current physical and ntal state don't allow you to participate in the war."
"I know." Peter replied gruffly, "I also know that if I go back, it wouldn't make a difference. What can one person change anyway?"
Spider Silk opened her mouth as if to say sothing but instead chose to remain silent.
She wanted to tell Peter about the ti when Stark of this universe sought her out, hoping she could use her special power to bring Iron Man from another universe here.
Spider Silk didn't want to initially agree, but once she got a glimpse of that universe—a landscape writhing in sorrow and tears, signifying the end—the physical state of Iron Man in that universe was dismal too.
Spider Silk didn't want another Spider Man to lose his father forever. He had already gone through enough tragedy.
Her heart softened, and she took an opportunity to draw Stark from that universe into the Hong Kong Temple, one of the endpoints of the Spider Totem multiverse connection passage.
Unknown to Spider Silk, the issue actually began when Iron Man from this universe noticed the increasingly strange look in Shiller's eyes. Deciding to escape, he found a scapegoat to take his place, and he took off in a spaceship.
She thought that Stark from this universe got him to rescue Iron Man from his world out of pity for Peter.
But Spider Silk had just discovered that the two persons who ca to this universe hadn't t.
After slight consideration, she could understand why Shiller did it. If the two of them t and shared the situations of their universes, they would definitely want to return imdiately.
But the problem was, the ntal and physical states of the two were not ready for another war. Regardless, going back to their universes would be a suicide mission. It would be better keeping them ignorant of each other's situations, offering them a chance to recuperate, letting their bodies heal and adjusting their ntal state. Then once they return with so weapons, they stand a fighting chance.
While she understood the situation, Spider Silk still felt a bit saddened. Having grown up in captivity, she didn't feel that many emotions. But after traversing many universes, she observed various tragic stories of the Spider n, making her realize that she wasn't that pitiful, even quite fortunate, in fact.
Her spider-sense was significantly more potent than other Spider n. She could resonate with most of the Peter Parkers she t. This is why when a Spider Man expresses pain in front of her, she too feels heartbroken.
As Spider Silk heaved a deep sigh, Peter turned his head towards her, as if he was snapped out of being entranced, and asked, "Is Aunt May alright?"
"I don't know if she's dead, but if she's not, she must be grief-stricken, because I am all the family she had left."
Spider Silk's lips pursed tight, and the dark-haired young girl's breathing began to slowly quicken; emotions started spiraling out of control.
"I'm truly sorry." Spider Silk, hands covering her face, said, "I know you have nightmares about your family and friends every night. I can completely empathize with your grief, but I can't do anything about it. I can't possibly send you off to die."
"I just want to see Aunt May," responded Peter, his eyes filled with tears, "I just want to know if she is okay."
Spider Silk was silent for a mont, then looked at Peter and said, "You must promise that you are only going to see your family for a bit, then imdiately return to recover from your injury. You should not do anything else, or else I will definitely not open the door for you."
Peter's eyes widened. He strained to push up his upper body, moving closer to Spider Silk, and staring straight into her eyes, he said, "I promise. I really just want to confirm if anything happened to my aunt."
Spider Silk's eyes reddened a little. Clearly, she could feel Peter's anxiety, grief and expectations. She had no control over her empathetic ability towards Spider n. So, with a trembling voice, she said, "Alright, I'll open the door once for you. You will only stay for a short while, just to confirm she's okay."
Upon finishing her sentence, Spider Silk stood up, shaking slightly. She glanced left and right, then bent over to place her hands on Spider Man's chest, syncing them to the sa spider-sense frequency.
With a swoosh, the two disappeared from the patient room.
A scene later, a figure dressed in a white coat pushed open the door, followed by a mage in a long robe.
Loki, following behind Shiller, shook his head and said, "So you just let him go? He's definitely going to stir up trouble when he gets back."
"What do you think I did it for?" Shiller laughed casually, walking to the bed, smoothing out the wrinkles left on the sheets from when Peter tried to sit up.
Loki narrows his eyes, not understanding what Shiller ant. He did not believe Shiller would intentionally put any Spider Man in danger. But letting this universe's Spider Man go now certainly isn't a wise choice.
After dealing with Shiller for a while, Loki picked up on a lot of psychology. He understood very well the terrifying symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to Shiller, Peter had been having nightmares lately, a typical symptom of PTSD.
Maybe the symptom won't affect him when he's awake but if it gets triggered again, his ntal state would spiral down toward a dangerous abyss.
So, why did Shiller let Spider Silk visit Peter? And why did he use her soft heart to send Peter back to his original world?
"Before, didn't I say I didn't know how far Nick is in his plan? But now, there's an opportunity to figure it out, to help advance our progress here."
"Your aning is..."
While standing by the window, observing the calm skyline of New York, Shiller stated, "For the King of Special Agents as ambitious as Nick Fury, Spider Man is an unmatched treasure..."
"Nick Fury wouldn't let anything happen to any Spider Man."
Elsewhere, there was a flash of light, a familiar nauseating feeling, and the Spider Sense ringing crazily for a few seconds. Peter soon felt himself being flung onto the ground. His blurred vision made out Spider Silk, who had adjusted more quickly, now standing in front of him.
"I have locked in on the Queens District as best as I could, but I am not certain if this is your ho. Take a quick look and let's get going."
Standing up, Peter felt dizzy at first. When his vision returned to normal, he was t with a familiar yet strangely unfamiliar neighborhood.
Sowhere on the opposite street had smashed into a row of houses, blowing them all to ruins. There were crushed cars all over the streets. Spider-Man was no stranger to such a sight, as this was a common aftermath of any New York battle.
However, as Peter shifted his gaze into the distance, he felt his heart constrict. His familiar rooftop was half collapsed. The car in front of the house was gone, leaving only burnt marks on the streets.
"May!!!" Peter shouted and rushed in that direction.
The Spider Silk followed him and they soon arrived nearby Parker House. Upon reaching, Peter was aghast. He had thought that the garage had collapsed, but to his horror, half of the main building had fallen too.
Peter imdiately jumped onto the street and ran towards his house with his eyes filled with tears. He spotted a familiar figure in the shadow of the alley beside the house.
"Auntie!!!"
Peter dashed without hesitation, but as he approached the entrance of the alley, he saw several figures ard with guns appear behind Aunt May.
A whistling sound filled his ears. Spider Peter's spider sense kicked in high gear, his muscles tensed as he tapped into his maximum potential. Moving at a speed unseen to the naked eye, he dashed upwards and held onto Aunt May hiding in the corner.
Just as he held onto his Aunt May, Peter slled a pungent scent of blood. Lowering his gaze, he saw that the back of Aunt May's neck was covered in blood. Judging by the scratch marks, it was likely that she was injured by debris from the building.
The stench of blood made Peter's mind go blank for a mont and he stiffened. But at that point, he faced three dark gun barrels. Even less than a second of hesitation could be deadly.
"Bang!"
"Peter!!!" The Spider Silk scread.
A bullet struck Peter's shoulder. As blood splattered, Peter's pupils contracted.
Looking deep into his pupils, another Spider-Man was reflected. This Spider-Man wore a battlesuit and hurriedly rushed into a dimly lit room.
"Director Nick! Director Nick! Alert!" the Spider-Man shouted, "Universe C193! Spider-Man is in danger! And it's an extre danger, he may have been shot!"
A black man standing in front of a filing cabinet turned back to gaze at the anxious Spider-Man without saying a word.
Nick took big strides past Spider-Man, pressed a button on his earpiece, and spoke in a calm voice:
"All units, gear up, and prepare for a rescue mission!"
Standing at the alley entrance and watching Peter being shot, the Spider Silk was dumbfounded. Instinctively, she extended her arm, wanting to fend off the attackers with the spider silk launcher, but the next second, the sound of a nearby car explosion rang out.
The impact blew Spider Silk off her feet. Shielding her head with her arms as she fell, she shook her head fiercely to look into the direction of the explosion, only to find a group of mobsters engaged in a gunfight.
Turning her gaze towards the other side of the road, she saw a bunch of thieves wreaking havoc in a jewelry store whose door was blasted open. Elsewhere, a cornered cop was being beaten up by a gang. All around, chaos reigned.
The greatest horror brought about by Thanos's single snap was the extre chaos that erupted when order was lost. Fear of impending doom brought out the worst in people, transforming obedient sheep into ferocious wolves, each desperate to take a bite off others in the end tis.
Just as Spider Silk was about to take a step, she felt a shooting pain in her calf. Turning around, she saw a piece of tal lodged in her muscle, probably debris from the explosion. But she had no ti to think about that, she held her breath and rushed into the alley.
Peter held Aunt May, struggling to breathe. Most likely, the bullet had pierced his lungs, making breathing laborious.
Ignoring the three dark gun barrels pointed at them, Spider Silk ran towards the two of them. She had a clear view of the leading gunman's fingers tightening on the trigger.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The barrels dropped, the fingers let go, the pupils dilated, and Spider Silk watched in shock as the three gunn fell in front of her.
Suddenly, a shaft of blue light emanated from the shadows of the alley and shone on Peter. It was like watching a movie in reverse as Peter was reset to the mont he had dashed into the alley.
Peter glanced around, obviously unaware that his tiline had been reset.
As he lifted his gaze, he saw a few figures erging from the bright sunlight at the end of the alley across the street.
The figure on the left was wearing a long coat, with a revolver gun at waist, like a cowboy gunslinger. The one on the right was in a red tight suit, with the spider eyes narrowing slightly.
Finally, a one-eyed black man stepped out.
With a "click", he loaded his weapon.
"Don't touch my little lamb."
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