"Hey, Aunt May," I greeted as Aunt May opened the door.
"Kevin," Aunt May said with a delighted look. "Such a nice surprise."
I smiled and entered the house.
"Hey, Uncle Ben," I nodded towards Uncle Ben sitting on the chair.
"Hey, Hotshot," Uncle Ben said with a smile.
"Is Peter here?" I asked, already making my way towards the stairs.
"He is," Aunt May. "By the way, Kevin?" She called out from behind. I turned to her.
"Do you know if something is wrong with Peter?" Aunt May asked hesitantly; worry was clear in her eyes. "He is behaving strangely lately."
"Something is bothering him," Uncle Ben also added. "Maybe he is embarrassed to tell me, or I am embarrassed to ask him."
"Come on, Aunt May, Uncle Ben," I said with a placating smile. "There is no problem with Peter," I added with a short laugh. "We're teenagers. Being strange comes with age."
Aunt May and Uncle Ben also smiled, hearing that.
"You may be a teenager, but sometimes you talk like an adult," Aunt May said with a laugh. I laughed, lightly shaking my head.
I went up and knocked on Peter's door.
"Hey, Kevin," Peter said after opening the door a little and peeking from the gap. "My room is a mess right now. Can you come sometime later?"
I gave him a deadpan look. "Shut up with your bullshit and open the damn door."
"Ok, ok, no need to be so aggressive," Peter resigned and opened the door.
"Damn," I said reflexively as I saw his room. "You sure have turned it into your spider nest."
There were giant spider webs everywhere in the room, and a bunch of things were broken or lying on the ground.
"Quickly come inside," Peter said, and hurriedly closed the door once I was in.
I walked inside and saw an open notebook on Peter's study table.
"No, don't." Peter tried to stop me, but I had already picked it up. He had drawn costume ideas in it.
"Nice," I said as I looked at the last drawing of the familiar Spider-Man costume. "When are you going to make it?"
"Maybe sometime," Peter said vaguely and snatched the notebook from my hands.
I shrugged and then noticed a newspaper on his bed. I picked it up, and, as expected, it had the used-car advertisements. There was also an advertisement for amateur wrestling offering a $3000 prize. Peter had circled it as if he were interested, but later crossed it as if to drop the idea.
"You are looking to buy a sports car to impress MJ?"
"Wh-what? No, I-I," Peter answered incoherently as my blunt question took him aback. He tried to lie, but he understood, looking at my face, that I wouldn't believe it. "How can you say I want to buy it for MJ?"
"Did you see Flash showing off his new car to MJ?" I asked instead of answering Peter's question. Now there were even more doubts on his face.
I looked at Peter as if he were an idiot.
"You'd never buy something that expensive when better, cheaper options exist. So if you're even thinking about a sports car, it's to impress someone. And there's only one person you'd be that stupid for."
Peter made a face as if his closely guarded secret had come out.
"And secondly, I heard Flash bragging to his friends about the new sports car his father got him for his birthday."
"Oh." That was all Peter said as he looked down, likely feeling dejected with Flash's resources.
I looked at him. Right now, he was not the superhero the people loved. He was just a teen, looking for ways to impress his crush.
"So, why did you drop the wrestling idea?" I said, pointing towards the circled and crossed amateur wrestling advertisement. "It looked like you were interested."
Peter stayed quiet for a moment. "I was interested at first, that's why I even sketched a costume. But then I remembered I had earned that much from the first job you gave me, and that you told me you had another job for me. So I figured I'd use the earlier money, plus whatever I earn from this job, to buy the car."
Ah, the job.
It was actually about the component from Vulture's flying harness that I found earlier.
Initially, I decided to study it and see if I could make some gadgets for myself. But realized I was being naive. I needed to study a few more disciplines before I could even understand what it was. But that required time, which I didn't have.
So, in the end, I decided not to do it myself and instead to find experts in related fields. It would be much better than doing everything on my own.
Before I came into this world, I kept that part, thinking I might find someone.
After a few days of friendship, I gave Peter the part and asked him to analyze it in detail. He didn't disappoint, and after studying it, he gave me a detailed report with schematics. Only then did I realize that it was the flight controller for the wing harness.
Now I just needed to find someone in my world to create working tech with that knowledge.
As payment for his help, I had offered Peter $3000 for the job.
"Heh, the last one was just an appetizer," I said with a smirk and pulled out a bunch of files I had printed from the research contents I had stolen. "The real work is here."
"There are two projects here." I set two stacks of files before him.
"One is the research on the spider that gave you your powers."
"The other is Dr. Curt Connors' research on his limb-regeneration serum."
I let him take a cursory glance at the two stacks of files. His face was filled with both the excitement of a scientist discovering something new and the horror of seeing stolen goods.
"The same rules apply," I said, pulling Peter's focus to me. "You will not ask me where I got it from and analyze it for me in detail. In return, other than the payment, you can use this research with whatever you see fit, but if you monetize it, then I want royalties."
The excitement on Peter's face was replaced with conflict. Even if he wasn't sure where the flight controller came from, he knew for a fact that these research documents were stolen from the university.
"Ten grands for detailed analysis for each project," I calmly stated the offer. Peter's eyes widened at the number. I played the ace. "Another two grands per project advanced payment."
"I agree," Peter said hurriedly, afraid that I would change my mind.
Was I low-balling him with the amount? Absolutely.
"How many projects do you want to work on?"
"I will take both."
"Awesome," I said, pulling out my wallet. I took out $4000 and handed him the money.
Peter looked at the money in his hands, stunned into silence.
"There is more from where that came from," I said, pulling him out of his reverie.
Peter got up and put the money carefully inside his wardrobe. Then he set both stacks of documents on his study table. He sat in the chair, pulled out a document, and began reading it with intense concentration.
I shrugged, looking at Peter, who was not ignoring his guest, and took out a book on operating systems to study.
While reading, I suddenly remembered something and glanced towards Peter.
"By the way," I said, and Peter turned to me. "Are you not going to participate in the wrestling match?"
"Nah," Peter shook his head. "I don't need it." And then he turned back to the document.
Interesting.
I didn't interfere with Uncle Ben's life and death like the main world.
But it seems like my actions here indirectly saved his life.
Oh well, good for him.
We worked in silence after that.
A few hours passed, and Peter closed the last file.
"I will need to borrow some books from the library," Peter said, turning to me. "Many concepts used here are too advanced, and I need related material for reference."
"Sure, let's go," I said, closing my book and putting it in my bag.
We left Peter's room and went downstairs.
"We are going to the downtown library," Peter said to his uncle and aunt sitting downstairs, without stopping. "See you later."
"Bye, Uncle Ben, Aunt May," I said, walking behind Peter.
"Wait," Uncle Ben said, standing up. "I'll drive you kids, there."
"Oh, no, no, no, I can take the train," Peter said, turning back, his hand on the door handle.
Before Uncle Ben could say anything, I interjected, "Actually, we are going in my car."
Peter immediately turned to me, looking confused. "You have a car?!"
"I do," I smirked. "Just bought the beauty yesterday."
We all left the Parker residence; even Aunt May followed us with a curious look.
"Fuck!" Peter exclaimed. "That's yours?"
"Language, young man," Aunt May chided.
"Sorry, Aunt May," Peter said, subdued.
"It is," I said, sliding my hand on the red beauty. "0 to 100 in just 4 seconds."
"Damn." It was all Peter could say as he had shut his mouth from Aunt May's glare.
I sat in the driver's seat, and Peter excitedly sat beside me.
"Drive safely, kids." I was all Uncle Ben could say. He looked like he really wanted to drop us off at the library, which was just an excuse to lecture Peter.
Old man, you can lecture your nephew some other time.
I started the car and left.
"Be careful not to overspeed." We heard Aunt May's voice behind us.
At the library, Peter collected a stack of books, then sat down at a table and read one of them. I sat beside him with my book and started studying.
Our study session lasted well into the evening. Peter borrowed a bunch of books, and we left the library. He put the books in the car, and we drove out of the library.
Some distance from the library, we noticed a bunch of people surrounding someone. There were mainly civilians, with a few cops. There were some police cars also parked nearby.
A thought suddenly came to my mind as my eyes widened.
No, no, no. It should not be possible. He didn't come with us.
"What's going on there?" Peter asked, his face looking serious.
I shook my head and drove closer.
"I don't know why," Peter said with a solemn expression, his face slightly pale. "But I am having a bad feeling."
I stopped the car nearby, and we got out.
The nearby people were talking among themselves.
"It's an old man."
"What happened?"
"Someone got hurt."
My heart drummed in my chest as I shoved the crowd around and pushed my way inside.
I stood frozen in shock as I saw the man lying on the ground.
"Stay back!" A cop yelled at Peter as he tried to shove his way forward.
"Stay back!" The cop said again, this time more forcefully, holding Peter in place.
"That's my uncle!" Peter yelled and yanked the cop's arms and knelt beside Uncle Ben.
"What happened?" Peter asked, his voice cracking.
"Carjacker," the nearby cop answered. "He has been shot."
"We just called the paramedics; they are on their way."
"Uncle Ben?" Peter called, his voice choking even more. "Uncle Ben?"
"Peter," Uncle Ben said weakly as he slightly opened his eyes and looked at Peter.
"I am here, Uncle Ben," Peter said, trying his best not to cry, but a tear fell from his eye.
"Peter," Uncle Ben again said weakly. It looked like he had a problem even speaking.
No, no, no, no, no.
This can't be happening. He shouldn't even be here.
Why? Why? WHY?
I looked at Peter, then at Uncle Ben bleeding out on the pavement.
Is this Peter's destiny?
To become something greater, he had to lose someone first.
Is that it?
I remembered the many times I went to Peter's house, how Uncle Ben and Aunt May welcomed me warmly and treated me like family.
Fuck destiny!
How dare destiny try to kill someone whom I spared?
This stopped being about Uncle Ben the moment destiny tried to assert itself.
Now it is personal.
Because destiny fucked with my ego.
I roughly shoved the cop in front of me aside and knelt beside Uncle Ben.
Uncle Ben's eyes were open, unfocused, his breath shallow and uneven, and his pulse was weak.
I pressed on the wound to steady the bleeding enough to slow it.
"What are you doing?" The cop whom I shoved aside yelled.
"Call. An. Ambulance. Right. Now." I said, my voice cold, my face emotionless. The cop was taken aback but didn't argue; instead, he said into his radio to hurry up the ambulance.
"Peter," I called, but he didn't listen. He just looked at Uncle Ben with tears streaming down his face, muttering "Uncle Ben" under his breath.
"Peter," I called again. This time louder. But once again, he didn't respond.
SLAP
The slapping sound was loud enough that everyone nearby stopped whatever they were doing and looked at us in shock.
"Snap out of it," I barked. "Uncle Ben is not dead yet."
Now, I finally had his attention.
"Keep him engaged; he can't lose consciousness. But make sure he doesn't overexert himself; he is very weak due to blood loss," I said with a serious expression. Peter looked at me with a similar expression and nodded solemnly.
Peter swallowed hard and nodded. "Uncle Ben—hey—stay with me, okay?"
Good.
Now, all that remained was waiting for the ambulance to arrive. I used all my First Aid skills to keep Uncle Ben alive just long enough. That was the only thing I could do with my limited skills to delay long enough so that we could save him.
Finally, the ambulance arrived. The paramedics carefully placed Uncle Ben on the stretcher and slid him inside. As the door closed, we heard a cop talking on the radio.
"They got the shooter. He's headed south on Fifth."
Peter and I looked at each other.
"I will accompany Uncle Ben," I said with a nod. "You follow behind us."
Peter nodded and left.
I climbed into the ambulance and sat beside Uncle Ben.
In the hospital, Uncle Ben was rushed to the ICU.
Peter arrived a while later, while I waited for the doctors to come out of the ICU.
"Is he—?" he started.
"The doctors are with him," I said. "That's all we know."
Peter nodded and sat beside me.
"You didn't follow us," I asked offhandedly.
"Yeah, had to take a detour."
I nodded, and we didn't speak anymore, just quietly waiting.
Soon, Aunt May also arrived. She was a sobbing mess. Peter caught her before she fell and guided her into a chair. She clutched him, and he held her like he was afraid she'd disappear too.
While we waited in silence, I thought about this destiny thing.
This wasn't the first time destiny had to fix itself after I derailed its path.
On the day of the science trip, I found Peter had been bullied again on the bus. Peter experienced what he was supposed to experience. All because I slept through my alarm and missed the bus.
As for why I slept till late?
I had given thought to this before. The gang I targeted the day before the trip had been on my radar for days. The actual operation day wasn't even that day; it was a few days earlier. But for whatever reason, I got the location for that particular gang base a little late. That delayed my attack.
But just that wasn't enough. If everything had gone according to plan, I was supposed to finish the job quickly and leave. But who knew that they had locked up a failed Quest Aerospace genetic experiment? Fighting against that abomination seriously messed with me, so I woke up later than usual and missed the bus.
Did destiny somehow mess with my plan so that the major events in Peter's life won't derail?
Sigh.
Whatever. At least it wasn't for nothing. I got something useful from that clusterfuck.
Congratulations! Feat Achieved!
Killed a Superhuman for the first time
Reward: Armament Haki Manual (One Piece)
That was the achievement I got after I killed that science experiment.
The time passed with my thoughts.
After what felt like an eternity, the ICU door finally opened.
Peter and Aunt May hurriedly got up and went to the doctor to ask about Uncle Ben's well-being.
I was about to get up when the notification I just received revealed the operation's result.
Congratulations! Feat Achieved!
Overrode the destiny of someone marked by fate
Reward: Observation Haki Manual (One Piece)
"Congratulations, he is out of danger."
The doctor proved the notification right.
Uncle Ben was no longer a victim of destiny.
Peter and Aunt May started thanking the doctors profusely. Their faces were covered with tears, but this time they were happy tears.
"Can we meet him?" Aunt May asked hopefully.
"He's under anesthesia," the doctor said gently. "You can see him tomorrow."
Aunt May looked like she wanted to insist—but stopped herself.
"Can I stay the night?" Peter asked. "Just here."
The doctor hesitated, then nodded. "As long as you don't disturb other patients."
Peter agreed immediately.
The doctors left.
I saw Aunt May's face and knew what she was about to say.
"Aunt May," I called, standing up. Aunt May and Peter looked at me together. "Please go home, it is too late. Peter and I will stay here for the night and take care of Uncle Ben."
Peter looked at me as if he were about to say something like he'd stay the night, and I didn't need to stay here. I gave him a flat look, and whatever he was about to say never came out.
Peter then looked at Aunt May and nodded with me. "Yes, Aunt May, we will stay here. Please go home and take a rest."
Aunt May looked at us alternately with a proud look.
"Thanks, dear," Aunt May said with a hoarse voice, but her eyes were happy. I gave her a genuine smile.
I will not lie, that felt good.
"Peter," I said, turning to Peter. "Drop Aunt May off, then come back." I continued with a tone of surety, "I am here."
Peter nodded, and both he and Aunt May turned around to leave. They had taken a few steps when Peter suddenly turned back to me. He ran and hugged me tightly.
"Thanks, Kevin," Peter said with a choking voice. I patted his back reassuringly.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said with a fake dismissive voice. "Now leave, damnit."
Peter broke the hug with a light laugh, then turned to leave.
"Peter," I called. He looked at me.
"Catch."
I tossed him my car keys. He caught them, surprised—then nodded and left with Aunt May.
I sat back down in front of the ICU.
An hour later, Peter returned.
"I'm going to get some sleep," I said, stifling a yawn. "Wake me if anything happens."
Peter nodded.
I closed my eyes.
Sleep took me immediately—deeper and faster than it should have.
I hummed softly as I drifted awake.
What time is it?
Something felt… off.
Wasn't I sleeping on the chair while sitting on it? Why do I feel like I am lying on my back?
Did Peter lay me flat on the chairs?
I tried to turn over to my side, as I don't like sleeping on my back.
"Hmm?"
I can't turn.
I tried again. It felt like my hands were tied.
What the fuck?
That snapped the rest of the sleep out of me. I cracked my eyes open.
At first, it was dark, but after blinking a few times, my vision adjusted and I could see ahead.
Where the hell am I?
I saw a massive ethereal spider web in three dimensions. I couldn't see where it began. I couldn't see where it ended.
Sometimes, more web structures shimmered and blinked out as if the entire web wasn't just limited to three dimensions.
On the web, there were spiders.
Too many spiders.
They were available in every colour, shape, and size.
I don't have a phobia of spiders, but seeing so many of them sure did make my heartbeat race.
Some spiders were moving around idly on the web.
Some spiders were spinning more webs, further enlarging the web structure.
Some spiders were repairing the torn parts of the web.
Cocoons were stuck in many places, pulsing with life. One such cocoon broke, and a tide of tiny spiders crawled out of it.
A chill ran down my spine.
That's when I noticed.
I was tied to the web.
I saw around me. Multiple spiders were spinning threads around my arms, legs, and torso, binding me to the web.
I turned my head to the right.
A massive, translucent spider—nearly half my size—paused its work and looked at me.
I was creeped out when those eight black eyes, like eight vortexes of the abyss, looked at me.
A few moments later, the spider returned to its work, securing me to the web with no concern at all, as if my existence required no acknowledgment.
Soon, the spiders finished securing me and skittered away.
I didn't move much before, fearing those spiders might just eat me.
Only then did I struggle.
It was pointless.
No matter how much force I applied, I might as well have been a fly trapped in silk.
How the hell did I appear here?
Where is here?
I don't know how long I have been here.
No matter how much I moved, I just couldn't break free of the web.
I had even used the Brutal Strike skill. Even with my strength momentarily pushed to the superhuman realm, I couldn't move. At all.
I could have tried teleporting to the dungeon, but unfortunately, I couldn't do it in this world, only in the main world.
However, I feel that even teleporting to the dungeon wouldn't have saved me from whatever this place is.
I felt like I was in that place for hours, days, months, years. It felt as if I had lost the sense of time.
As I was lying helplessly on the web, something changed. I felt a faint tremor in the web.
Something or someone had invaded it.
That's when I saw them. Many massive, disgusting leeches appeared from somewhere. There was one that looked like a leader, and it was even larger than I was.
Some leeches attacked the spiders. They latched onto the spiders and bit into them. The spiders began shrinking in real time, as if the leeches were sucking everything out of them. Soon, the sucked spiders were left with just a husk, which broke down into specks of light.
Other leeches started biting into the web, tearing it apart one strand at a time.
The spiders finally attacked, and the leech fought back fiercely.
The leader among the leeches, the largest among them all, moved unimpeded. Whenever a spider attacked it, it would bite into the spider, tearing it apart.
I craned my neck slightly to watch it all.
The leader of the leeches, who was aimlessly moving around, likely noticed my gaze and turned to me.
As if it found a new target, it started creeping towards me.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I struggled harder in my bindings, but despite my plight, the bindings still didn't budge.
"Hey, let me out," I yelled at the nearest spider. I had no idea why I even did that. Why did I even think that the spider could understand me? Maybe it could. Maybe it couldn't.
The spider, as expected, ignored me and instead attacked the leech. But it was torn apart effortlessly.
The leech didn't even bother sucking that spider like it was doing before seeing me. It looked at me with hungry eyes as if I were a much better delicacy than those spiders.
"Fuck you, you disgusting prick," I snarled at the monster. "I am no food."
Because of my restraints, I was like a food served on a platter for the leech.
The leech ignored my outburst and bit into my chest.
"Aaah."
I screamed at the top of my lungs. I felt a pain so intense that I had never experienced before. It felt as if the pain was coming from my soul.
I felt myself getting weaker. The longer the leech latched onto me, the weaker I got.
I felt my consciousness getting hazy.
"Ke—"
"Kevi—"
Now, I was even having hallucinations. I was hearing Peter's voice calling me.
"Kevin"
The voice was getting louder. But my consciousness was slipping fast.
"Kevin. Wake up."
I opened my eyes with a sharp gasp.
I looked ahead. Peter and Aunt May looked at me with concern.
Faint sunlight came from the windows. It looked like I slept through the night.
I noticed I was sitting in the chair rather than lying flat.
Was it a nightmare?
My clothes were soaked in sweat. Sweat still fell from my face and wet hair.
I was breathing heavily.
My throat felt dry.
I felt a phantom pain in my chest.
"Kevin, you alright?" Peter asked carefully.
I didn't answer, instead asked, "How's Uncle Ben?"
Peter was taken aback, but still answered, "He is better. The doctor checked him up not long ago and said he is stable."
Aunt May stepped closer. "Kevin, dear… are you alright?"
"Yeah," I said, forcing a weak smile. "Just a nightmare."
I turned to Peter. "I am going for a walk. Need some fresh air."
I got up and left without waiting for a response.
My rapidly beating heart finally calmed down after a short walk. As the sunlight fell on my face from the windows, I felt that whatever had happened earlier was just an illusion.
I no longer felt the pain in my chest, but I had been itchy there since I woke up. So, I went to the washroom to take a look.
I stood in front of the mirror. My face looked pale with massive dark circles under my eyes.
I took off my t-shirt.
I looked at the Y-shaped scar with jagged edges on my chest with a somber expression. It was big, around 10 cm in diameter.
It looked as if I used to have a nasty Y-shaped wound that healed over time and left a scar after healing.
I was sure I never had a scar like that.
I hadn't noticed before, but I felt weaker than I had the day before.
Was that really a nightmare?
Why do I feel as if the answer is in those notifications?
I got two notifications after I got up. But partly because I wasn't in the mood, and partly because I was dreading opening them as if they would prove something terrifying, I didn't check them till now.
With a heavy heart, I checked the first notification.
Due to your unauthorized causal interference, you have now been marked by The Web of Life and Destiny.
You are now a pseudo Spider Totem.
Because of your unique circumstances, the Web has assigned you a new aspect: The Variable.
Consequences of becoming a pseudo Spider Totem:
You will inevitably be drawn to events centered around the Web and the Spider Totems.
You are forbidden from acquiring any spider-related abilities.
You will be hunted by the Leech Totems because of your connection to the Web.
This motherfucking destiny!
Ok, deep breaths.
And I still have another notification to open.
It's already the worst, so what more can I possibly lose?
"…"
I just raised a flag, didn't I?
Morlun has absorbed a portion of your life force.
Vitality Reduced (F3->F2)
"FUCK!"