Chapter 2: Absolute Guider.
(Peter's P.O.V)
I didn't move for maybe a full minute.
Just sat there, staring at the glowing screen hovering in midair like it had always been there. Solid but not. Floating but anchored. It looked digital, but it felt alive.
My first thought was that I was dreaming. Or dying of radiation. Or finally cracking under the pressure of parenting, bio-labs, and experimental spider venom.
I whispered, "What the hell are you?"
The screen pulsed once, like it heard me.
{THIS INTERFACE IS THE ABSOLUTE SPIDER-MAN SYSTEM}
{DESIGNED TO OPTIMIZE, GUIDE, AND REGULATE EVOLUTIONARY ENHANCEMENTS.}
"Enhancements," I repeated.
{FULL-BODY GENETIC REWRITE COMPLETE. YOUR BIOLOGY HAS ADAPTED. YOU ARE NOW CLASSIFIED AS: ABSOLUTE SPIDER TOTEM.}
I laughed. Just a single, flat sound. "You're a hallucination."
{THIS IS NOT A HALLUCINATION PETER B. PARKER. I ADVISE TESTING YOUR NEW CAPABILITIES FOR CONCRETE PROOF.}
Right.
I stood up slowly. My muscles didn't feel sore. My bones didn't ache. I'd barely slept in two days, but I felt… solid. Like I'd shed something heavy without realizing I was carrying it.
I walked to the wall, pressed a palm flat against it, and before I could even decide to do it—I was on the ceiling, having crawled all the way up.
No effort. Just instinct. Like scratching an itch.
I dropped down and landed without sound.
I sat again. Rubbed my face. "This isn't normal."
{CORRECT. YOU ARE NO LONGER CLASSIFIED AS BASELINE HUMAN.}
{PRIMARY TRAITS UNLOCKED:}
– ENHANCED STRENGTH.
- ENHANCED SPEED.
- ENHANCED DURABILITY.
- ENHANCED FLEXIBILITY.
- ENHANCED SENSORY PERCEPTION.
– REFLEX ACCELERATION.
– ENVIRONMENTAL STICK-ADHESION.
– MULTISPECTRAL VISUAL RANGE.
(UNLOCK SPECIAL TRAITS THROUGH TRAINING OR COMPLETING SYSTEM ISSUED MISSIONS}
I felt like I was listening to a video game narrator break down my new skill tree.
"Why me?"
{THE ABSOLUTE SPIDER SELECTED YOU DURING EXPOSURE. NEURAL RESONANCE: 99.98% MATCH. NO ALTERNATE HOSTS AVAILABLE.}
"So... this was fate?"
{THIS WAS COMPATIBILITY.}
The sun started peeking through the blinds. My daughter stirred down the hall. Gwen's alarm buzzed from our bedroom.
The system dimmed itself slightly, like it understood.
I whispered, "Can anyone else see you?"
{NEGATIVE. SYSTEM VISIBILITY IS PRIVATE AND TETHERED TO YOUR NEURAL FIELD.}
"Okay. Good. Great. This is totally normal."
I got up. I made coffee. I packed May's snack box. I kissed Gwen on the cheek and acted normally.
But inside, under every word, every movement, there was this humming pressure behind my eyes.
I didn't go into Oscorp that day.
I told Gwen I was feeling off. Not a lie, technically. She gave me a look—half worry, half suspicion—but let it go. May shoved a plastic dinosaur in my hand before they left and told me he'd protect me.
I spent the next five hours in our building's basement garage.
At first, I just walked in circles, waiting to feel normal. That never came.
So I tried something stupid.
I stood about ten feet from one of the concrete support pillars and whispered, "Okay. Let's see what happens."
I ran at it.
I didn't mean to hit it full-speed—but I blinked and I was already colliding with the thing. My shoulder cracked the concrete. Dust exploded everywhere. I didn't even feel the impact.
I stumbled back, wide-eyed. "That... shouldn't have worked."
{MUSCLE TISSUE REINFORCED. OUTPUT EFFICIENCY: 480% ABOVE BASELINE.}
"Jesus." Hope no one saw that.
The screen appeared midair again, calm as ever.
{YOU ARE CAPABLE OF MORE}
I started testing.
Jump height performed behind the building: three stories. Clean landing onto the rooftop.
Speed: could cross the entire garage in under two seconds.
Wall-cling: no conscious thought required.
Balance: flawless, even upside down.
Strength: lifted the back of a parked SUV like it was made of cardboard. Felt like I could lift it over my head but there was cargo in the back, I was wary of damaging.
I didn't even break a sweat.
Eventually, I sat cross-legged on a workbench covered in someone's old paint cans and muttered, "Okay. So I'm not human anymore."
The System didn't answer that one. Just hovered at the back of my mind, waiting.
The worst part? It all felt right. Like my body had been waiting years to catch up with something my DNA already knew how to do.
I punched a support beam just to see what would happen. Left a fist-sized dent.
{CAUTION: OVERUSE OF UNTRAINED FORCE MAY RESULT IN COLLATERAL DAMAGE.}
"No kidding."
I looked down at my hand. No bruises. No soreness. Just steady, calm power vibrating through the bones.
I was turning into something else. The Absolute Spider Totem, according to the system, though it didn't offer up any information about what a Totem was and said I wasn't ready. Still, this was happening.
And the scariest part?
A small voice in my head whispered: Finally.
When I got back upstairs, Gwen was in the kitchen, May dancing around her feet.
I stood in the doorway watching them. My family. Still normal. Still human.
I felt like a stranger in my own life.
I tried to fake a smile. Gwen noticed anyway.
"You okay?" she asked.
I nodded too fast.
"Sure. Just tired."
She kissed me on the cheek and went back to chopping vegetables.
And I thought: I can never let them see what I'm becoming.
That night, I lay in bed next to my wife, staring at the ceiling.
The System hovered in the corner of my vision like a ghost.
I whispered, "What else is coming?"
The screen pulsed once.
{UPGRADES IN PROGRESS}
{ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PENDING TOTEM ACTIVATION PROGRESS}
{TOTEM FULL ACTIVATION: 21% COMPLETE}
{TRAIN HARDER TO AWAKEN MORE SPIDER TRAITS}
Twenty-one. I was still undergoing changes.
I couldn't stop asking questions.
Every time the System replied, I had a new one. Most of them it answered. Some it didn't. But the longer it stayed tethered to me, the more I realized this thing wasn't just a guide. It was a mystery.
Where had it come from? Not everyone that got powers received a sentient program guide on how to use them. It seemed the only I was getting answers was to train.
I was back in the garage the next night.
Didn't even bother pretending I was just going out for a walk. Gwen was busy with May's bedtime story. I told myself I'd only be gone ten minutes. I stayed for over an hour.
"I need more than patch notes," I said out loud, performing pressups on the ceiling. "What's happening to my DNA?"
The System responded immediately,
{YOU ARE EVOLVING INTO A TOTEM}
{THE ABSOLUTE SPIDER'S GENOME HAS YET TO FULLY SYNTHESIZE WITH YOUR DNA}
I paused.
"Are you saying that A-0 actually, physically merged with me? So it wasn't just some mutated bug crawling out of a tank?"
{NEGATIVE}
{THE ABSOLUTE SPIDER WAS A SINGULAR ORGANISM MADE UP OF MULTIPLE IRRADIATED SPIDER SAMPLES, ALL CONNECTED TO THE WEB OF LIFE- AN INTERLAYERED DIMENSION THAT ONLY SPIDER TOTEMS CAN INTERACT WITH}
"Then where did you come from?"
Surprisingly, it answered. Maybe because the progress bar went from 21% to 29%.
{EVEN AMONG TOTEMS, THE ABSOLUTE TOTEM IS ADVANCED BEYOND HUMAN INTELLECT. ENGINEERED TO BE ADAPTIVE AND SENTIENT ON A BIOLOGICAL LEVEL. TO ENSURE SEAMLESS ACTIVATION, IT EVOLVED INTO A LANGUAGE MODEL FORMED FROM THE HOST'S NEURAL STRUCTURE AND THE TOTEM'S ADVANCED ADAPTIVE ENGINE. THE SYSTEM GUIDE IS A CONVERGENCE POINT BETWEEN DESIGN AND INSTINCT. I AM AS MUCH OF A SPIDER TRAIT AS WALL CRAWLING. THINK OF ME AS PART OF YOUR POWERS.}
okay, so basically a Spider Totem was a being connected to the Web of Life. And apparently the Absolute Totem was special. And the System was essentially it's voice. Not created by an external party like I'd feared, but a combination of my mind and A-0.
Wow. Mind. Blown.
I didn't speak for a long time.
So now I was what? Some kind of upgraded, unwilling weapon system?
"What is the purpose behind guiding me?"
{THE ABSOLUTE SPIDER TOTEM'S GOAL IS SINGULAR:- ADAPT, EVOLVE AND BECOME ABSOLUTE OUT OF ALL SPIDER TOTEMS}
{THIS CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH UNLOCKING ALL KNOWN AND UNKNOWN SPIDER TRAITS IN THE MULTIVERSE}
Oh boy.
"Let me guess, just training won't cut it."
{AFFIRMATIVE. CONFLICT IS INEVITABLE FOR RAPID TOTEM PROGRESS}
I felt like I'd learned enough to decide what I, not the system wanted. With the progress stuck at 29%, I returned upstairs, weighed down with heavy thoughts.
Because for the first time in years, I wasn't just Peter Parker.
Husband. Father. Researcher.
Uncle Ben had this popular saying back when he and Aunt May were alive: With Great Power comes Great responsibility.
But what if what you had was the potential for Absolute Power? Did that come with Absolute responsibility?
I made it back upstairs just as Gwen was finishing dishes. She smiled at me, wiped her hands on a towel, and asked if I wanted tea.
I nodded.
We stood there together, quiet, the TV murmuring something about another robbery in Midtown. A little too close to Oscorp.
"City feels weird lately," Gwen said.
"Yeah," I murmured. "It does."
And I could feel it.
The world was already starting to change with me.
For a few days, things felt almost normal again.
I woke up early. Made breakfast. Took May to the park. Gwen teased me about my sudden interest in doing the dishes.
Every once in a while, the System would flicker into view—quiet, observant. No new updates. No new warnings. Just that low, constant vibration beneath my skin, like a distant engine warming up.
I told myself it was over.
That maybe the spider had done its thing, and now... I'd just learn to live with it.
I was wrong.
It happened on a Thursday.
I was walking home from the store, balancing a bag of groceries with one arm and scrolling my phone with the other. It was raining—soft, warm drops tapping my jacket like a reminder I was still here, still human.
Then the System reappeared,
{CONFLICT SIGNAL DETECTED}
{THREAT EVALUATION: HIGH}
{PROXIMITY: 2.4 MILES}
{FIRST MISSION AVAILABLE}
I stopped walking.
It was broad daylight. Queen's traffic. Kids coming home from school. People out with umbrellas and coffee.
And now I had a floating mission screen in front of me like I was in a video game no one else could see.
{WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENGAGE?}
I stared at the words.
They didn't blink. Didn't fade. Just waited.
When I got home, I didn't say anything to Gwen.
May was watching cartoons on the rug, humming to herself. Gwen looked tired—long day at the clinic. I handed her the groceries. She smiled. That small, familiar smile I didn't deserve.
I nodded and said, "I might go for a run later."
That wasn't a lie.
By sundown, I was in the garage again. Hoodie pulled low. Gloves on.
"Show me the threat," I whispered.
{UPLOADING DATA…}
A small map unfolded across my vision. A few flashing dots. Then one pulsing red near the edge of Midtown.
{SUBJECT: L-001}
{CLASSIFICATION: AGGRESSIVE MUTATION.}
{ALIAS: THE LIZARD. (CURT CONNORS)}
{MISSION OBJECTIVE: NEUTRALIZE AND CONTAIN.}
{REWARD: CLASSIC SPIDERMAN TIER 1 SUIT UNLOCK. INCREASED TOTEM PROGRESS}
I almost laughed.
A reward system. Like some kind of twisted incentive structure.
But I couldn't ignore the other part.
The Lizard.
Curt Connors.
I remembered him from grad school panels. Brilliant guy. Regenerative research. He disappeared three years ago. Most people assumed he'd taken a corporate job overseas.
Apparently not.
I sat down on the concrete floor.
I could hear sirens now. Distant, but moving fast. Toward the red dot.
I closed my eyes. Tried to pretend it wasn't my problem.
But then I saw May's cute little face pouting because we couldn't go to the park after a supervillain fight. Gwen's hands shaking as she opened a bottle of painkillers last week. The news stories piling up. Mutants. Creatures. Superpowered criminals.
And now the System choosing me to deal with it.
I wasn't ready.
But maybe I didn't get to be. I just had to make a choice.
{MISSION PENDING}
{CONFIRM PARTICIPATION?}
I stood.
Breathed in.
And said, quietly, "Please don't let me regret this."
Then more firmly:
"Yes."