[ Sanctum Sanctorum ]

—Strange, meddling with spells once more.

But these weren't spells being done for the benefit of answers, but to solve the answers that arose from his fateful meeting with Peter. Safe to say, the parts of the Multiverse suffered from their ignorance. Now, he was trying to solve it.

"..." Strange hummed, looking for something to go off by. "Hm..."

He needed help. There was no denying it. It may be the first time he would be willing to accept help. If Stark were there, he would be laughing hysterically.

"Hm..." Strange smiled, feeling some presence around him. "I know you're there. I can hear you."

—There was no answer.

"How bored are you? Just sitting there; do you have anything else better to do?" He mocked, creating sorcerer rings around himself. "If you don't show yourself, then I'll do it—"

Suddenly, his sorcerer rings disappeared. He fell to the floor, looking at his surroundings. There was still no sign of the person he was talking to. At least he knew one thing—it was a sorcerer as well.

"You know, we're still connected." Strange stood up, approaching the middle of the room. "Do you mind me asking who you are?"

"How about you?" The voice echoed behind him.

Strange immediately turned around him. He was expecting something more... different. But he didn't expect what he was bargaining for.

In the form of the Mirror Dimension, the portal opened. The sorcerer was right in front of him.

—It was him.

"Do you mind my time?" The Dark Supreme ridiculed. "Look, I was just watching. I didn't realize you would bother me."

"Bothering you from what?" Strange argued, approaching the Mirror Portal. "Where are you?"

"I'm sorry, but does this concern you?"

"What? You, watching my universe? Of course, it concerns me." Strange scoffed. "Why are you watching me anyway? Someone else has the pleasure of doing that, right?"

"Technically, I'm not fully watching you." The Dark Supreme grabbed something from his back and revealed a container with the shape of a snow globe. In the middle was a blast of multiple colours—similarly to the vision Strange had on Titan. "A Zola-fied Ultron and the Black Panther. Lovely, isn't it?"

"That's the big threat of the Multiverse?"

"It's only the start. 'Gotta start small, am I right?"

"Well, how about this threat? Do you mind helping me?"

"No can do." Dark Strange shook his head, "You're on your own, buddy."

"Hey, hey..." He pleaded. "C'mon, why can't you just lend me a hand? Is it because of that guy?"

"That guy? Please..." He sarcastically chuckled. "That guy went to me for help. Call this—me, doing a favour."

"How about me? You wouldn't mind owing me a favour, right?"

"Favour? For what?"

"For putting on such a wonderful show." He boasted, but ultimately got a snark from the Dark Supreme. "Come on, just give me a hand. I mean, what happened to you? You're someone who helps, right?"

"What happened to me? I'm you... you should know who I am; and you should know that I can't help you." The Dark Supreme began to walk away.

"You know what?! I do know who you are." Strange grinned. "You're just the Strange that lost Christine; and didn't have the balls to live in that mistake he had made."

The Dark Supreme paused in his tracks. Slowly turning around, he squinted, "And that's how it is? So easy for you to say that—a Strange that hasn't lost anything yet. You know what, maybe I should just let this world be. Seems like you need a lesson to be taught."

"And you're willing to just watch?"

Now they were standing in front of one another—face to face. It was like staring at a mirror, the other side reflecting a lost future that they were meant to go on.

It was true—the Dark Supreme had gone through so much already. He has the power to change the outcome of this universe that is already on the brink of collapse. Was he willing to just watch? Just like he did when he let his other self destroy an absolute point in time?

"Fine..." The Dark Supreme sneered, closing their fist. Behind Strange, a portal began to open. "I'll send you another later; but for now, I'll give you this one."

Strange began smiling, noticing the voice that was coming out of the portal.

"The Watcher'll give me quite the lecture if he finds out what we're doing." He walked away. "Make sure he doesn't."

"I'll give you my word."

...

The blinding lights hit Peter like a truck. It was like he had been sleeping for numerous nights to that point. His whole body was aching and heavy. He didn't know where he was. He didn't even remember the last thing he saw.

—But he was sure of what he saw next.

There were armed bodyguards around him, all looking forward. They were non-responsive, as Peter was the only reacting at them. He was looking around—it was a familiar place.

It was the same place he was taken to when he was initially arrested. It was the same room he had his meeting with Mr. Murdock.

To interrupt his thought was a middle-aged woman with formal clothes. Peter's first thought was an agency worker—which he was right.

"Hello, Mr. Parker. Do you know who I am?" She began, approaching his side.

"Um..." Peter shyly denied. "Should I?"

"Tough swing." She noted, sighing. "I'm Detective Moss. I've been assigned to question you—on the ride."

"Ride? Ride on what?"

"You'll find out..." She faced her peers. "We have three rides outside. Bring him to the middle one. And tell the first car to go on ahead; clear a lane for us."

"Yes, ma'am." All of the officers left the room.

It was only her and Peter in the room. He was still confused of the situation. There were too many questions to be asked.

"Um, Detective Moss? How's MJ?"

"Oh, that little girl?" She asked. "We found the two of you off the side of the coast. Sewer system flowed you right out of there. Poor girl must've been stuck there for hours."

"Is she okay now?"

"You could say. She's been brought in for questioning over at a separate police precinct. No wounds on her anything." She remembered. "She did have blood—yours. I do have to say, the Spider-Man recovers quite quickly."

"Ye—yeah, I 'kinda do."

"Well, don't expect those questions to come out of mouth later." She stood and leaned her head to the door. "C'mon, let's go."

When Peter tried to stand up, he felt his hands bounce back onto the table. Looking further, he realized he had restraints on his hands.

"Oh, right." She walked over to him and began uncuffing him. "Can never be too careful, huh?"

"I guess so..."

...

In a blink of an eye, they were already on the road. It was a six seater car, with the front and back seats separated. The middle and the very back seats were facing one another, allowing Peter to have a conversation with Detective Moss.

When they got in, she explained that he was being taken to a special facility. He'd wait there until tomorrow—the day of Peter's trial. Before that, Detective Moss was going to interview Peter regarding his antics the night before.

"So, Peter..." She began. Peter was looking out the window, feeling uninterested by the topic. "I need you to work with me, alright?"

"Su—sure..."

"What were you doing last night, exactly? We got some reports of massive power-outages near the location where you were found. Do you mind elaborating that?"

"Um... one of the transmission towers were malfunctioning so... I did Spider-Man things there." He nodded, trying to sell.

"Friendly-neighbourhood Spider-Man, right?" She assured, to which Peter agreed. "Not, friendly-lifeguard Spider-Man."

"Spider-Man's neighbourhood is pretty large sometimes."

"Besides that, the sudden crater holes was a cause of the incident too?" She added. "It's not everyday that craters and hills show up out of nowhere."

"The shock of the transmissions tower went through the ground and created an electric reaction which sunk and raised some dirt. Yeah..."

"And the octopus-like prints were yours?"

"Mhm..." He nodded repeatedly.

"Alright, I know when someone's bull-shitting, Peter." She shook her head. "You have to work with me. You have a trial tomorrow; if you can't help me solve what happened yesterday, then this will just stack on tomorrow. You need to give me details."

"I can't... I can't."

"They can't hear us in here. No mics, no radios, no nothing. It's just the two of us." She gestured. "Only thing that records is my ears and my notebook; I'm not listing everything I hear on the notebook. So if you could just please... cooperate."

"If I tell you, a lot of people are going to get hurt. I've hurt too many people the past few days, I can't let any more."

"That's our job, Peter. Let us help you so that less people are going to get hurt."

"Tha—that's my problem, ma'am." He stared at her with serious intent. "Everyone who ever knew that I was Spider-Man was in danger. That's why I tried to keep it a secret. But when people found out I was Spider-Man, everyone I knew as Peter Parker was in danger—and I have a lot of people who I know. One way or another, they're going to get hurt. The less people I tell, the better."

"And you think that's going to solve your problem? You just think that the bad guys are going to start running away? The little guy will feel protected because they don't know who Peter Parker is? C'mon Parker, wake up." She placed her hand on her head. "You need to get your priorities up."

There was silence. She was frustrated just by listening to him. He couldn't blame her; he couldn't understand her, she couldn't understand him. But maybe, that's how they solve their problems.

—It was only a hunch.

"Oh, by the way." She grabbed something out of her coat. Handing over it to him, he immediately knew it was. "Girlfriend handed it over to me when we found the two of you. Said to give it to you safely."

It was the E.D.I.T.H. glasses. Taking it quickly, Peter placed the glasses in his pocket.

"Hm," She laughed. "I'd bet that looks good on you. You know, I understand why you're gir—"

}{ }{ }{ }{ }{

Peter could sense the screeching tires ahead of them. Looking around the area, they had stopped on the middle of the highway. They were on a bridge, with the river just below them. It was the perfect place for an ambush.

—The growing traffic further emphasised it.

Detective Moss grabbed her radio, signalling to the first car. "What the hell is happening? Why are we piling on top in the freeway?"

There was something going on. The next two kilometres had people screaming. If it was only a road accident, it wouldn't have piled on this much.

—Then the sound of mechanical arms began to echo in his head.

"Hello, unit one, where the hell is the—?!"

—AN EXPLOSION.

"WHAT THE—?!" Detective Moss screamed.

Cars began crashing into the exit. There was virtually no exit now. The car was in the middle of a car jam.

Peter tried to get out of the car, but it was locked. Having no other choice, Peter kicked the door out.

"PARKER! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" She ordered, rolling down the window. "GET BACK IN THE CAR!"

"Look, ma'am, I know you're a good person, so I don't want you to get hurt!"

"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THAT?"

}{ }{ }{ }{ }{

The part of the bridge in front of them began to crumble. There were cars that began to fall in.

"CRAP!"

Using his Spider-Tingle, there were three cars. Two were coming off the side, and the other was sliding off the crumbling bridge. The one sliding off was a truck with a winch. Realizing it was nearing off the edge, he shot a web.

"—?!"

He didn't have any web-shooters.

"E.D.I.T.H, I NEED YOU TO SEND ME A SUIT!" He ordered, frantically running to the truck.

"What suit, Pe—"

"ANYTHING! ANYTHING WILL DO!"

Just before the truck could go overboard, Peter grabbed a hold of the winch and began pulling. He sensed that there were a family of four inside, all scared for their lives. His hands were burning, but it was enough to slowly bring them up.

He noticed the other two cars that were going off the ledge. Both cars had one person in it. The much leaner car was threatening to fall off quicker. Peter instinctively grabbed the winch and threw it with force. It hooked onto the car's window, making it turn to the right before it could hang off the ledge. Since it was now facing sidewards, it stopped the other car from falling off too.

Peter managed to get the truck onto the road. He was still pushing it the other way because if he let go, both cars would fall off the ledge due to the connection.

He peeked the side and signalled to the driver. "I'm going to move the car to the other side of the road! Once I do it, I want you to start driving the opposite direction, okay?!"

The nervous man went with it, offering a simple nod. With all his strength left, Peter lifted the car slightly over the separator. The car did the work, tipping over and the driver began accelerating.

—It wasn't getting any speed, however.

Peter rushed to the two cars entangled with one another that was about to fall off. He pulled the car that was up against the side of the lean car away. It began rolling on the road—away from any danger. The lean car, however, was in great danger.

The driver was just a teen, whimpering on his seat.

"Hey, hey! I'm going to need you to reach for me!"

"PLEASE! HELP ME!"

"I WILL! JUST... I NEED YOU TO START CLIMBING!"

Without opening his eyes, the teen began to climb up. Slowly moving around their car, they stepped on the driver seat's window to balance themselves. Holding the head rest of the passenger seat, they were nearing the broken glass.

—And it suddenly broke.

"—AHHHHHH!!!"

The car door came off and the car began to fall. Quickly, Peter nudged on the winch and lowered it to the teen. Thankfully, he grabbed onto it and the truck began to pull the teen up.

He fell onto the road, as the truck began to drive off into safety. Two of them laid on the road, taking a breath over what happened.

"Oh god..." The teen exclaimed. "THANK YOU! I... THANK YOU!"

"Go..." Peter coughed dust, trying to stand. "Get to safety! GO!"

"I—I WILL!"

He got up, looking to the ash fog. It was full of nothing. Only screaming and fear. Whoever was causing this was achieving their goal.

—If only he knew who was causing th—

From the shadows, a man emerged.

"Hello, Peter..." Octavius exclaimed.

Peter backed off, standing back with no suit on. He still had his glasses, however.

"E.D.I.T.H... send an orbital strike on the bridge." Peter murmured.

"I'm sorry, Peter, but orbital strikes are unavailable."

"What?"

"Ever since the day you were revealed as Spider-Man, all Stark satellites were shut off. Thus, No orbital strikes are available."

Octavius neared, stomping his mechanical limbs onto the road. Peter had nothing, just his strength to fight.

"Dillon was supposed to kill you the night before." He mentioned, lowering to his level. "I was very disappointed—to the point that I'm willing to finish the job myself."

One of his tentacles smacked Peter across the face, making him land onto the side of a car. He slowly tried to get up, but he was pulled on the leg by a tentacle again.

Octavius raised him up, upside down. They were now face to face, two enemies breathing in the same inch.

"This universe, that universe; you're all the same—blind to the true cause. Such a shame!" Octavius threw him to the side; Peter's bruised body rolled.

Peter tried to get up, but he was too injured to do so. Was this the end? Was he actually going to be killed by one of these Multiversal variants before he could capture one? What would Ned think of? What would May think of? What would MJ think of?

"Truly a concerning sight you are, Peter." Octavius stated. "Was a failure, still a failure."

Octavius' tentacles grabbed a sharp sheet of metal and raised it high—readying to strike him down.

—This was the end of the line.

"So long, Parker."

Peter closed his eyes, preparing for his demise. He couldn't fight anymore—he was too battered. This wasn't only the end for Spider-Man, it was the end fo Peter Parker as he knew it.

...

He was expecting for pain... but there was nothing. There was only—

}{ }{ }{ }{ }{

When he looked up, the two upper tentacles of Octavius were tied together—by a web. He was struggling to get it off, which allowed Peter to strike. Using the momentum, he rushed Octavius and knocked him back.

That only untangled the web even more. The tentacle managed to grab Peter and knocked him away. Before he could land on a painful surface, he was stopped by some more web again.

Octavius was furious. He stomped his way towards Peter, thinking it was him who was causing these problems for him.

As he got in front of him, a figure landed in between them. Neither of them could believe who it was—maybe Peter was even more surprised. He didn't even know how to react—whether he should be happy or scared.

The person was...

—It was none other than Spider-Man himself.