[ Sanctum Sanctorum ]

After a few hours, this was suddenly the plan now.

"So, we're going to be staying here?"

It was a run-downed room inside the confines of the Sanctum Sanctorum. It was in terrible condition, but had enough room for the three of them. There were surfaces that could hardly pass as cushions. There was a table that looked like it could give way at any moment.

This wasn't the ideal situation for any of them.

"Is he being serious?" MJ complained, throwing her duffle bag onto the table. "Does he actually expect us to stay here?"

"I mean, I guess we have to follow. It's a sorcerer." Ned reminded.

"So?! It's not like he can boss us around. We're grown-ups. We can handle what's outside."

"Yeah, unless if it's supervillains that desperately want to kill us." He sarcastically emphasised.

"And we dealt with Beck. What is worse than that?"

"I don't know, Thanos?!"

"C'mon, if it was a Thanos-type guy, then the Avengers would he showing up at the Brooklyn Bridge. It's something less than that," MJ glanced at Peter, "and it's something more to the point that he doesn't trust Peter with it."

"Any ideas?" Ned asked Peter.

"I—I don't know. I don't know what he could be talking about." Peter leaned on the wall.

"This is just... crap." Ned motioned with his hands an explosion. "There's apparently a 'bad guy' in town and he pockets Spider-Man? Is he even an Avenger?"

"Okay, that's 'kinda low for someone who helped save the universe." Even MJ had to admit.

"Spider-Man!" Ned presented Peter, a living Avenger, that was standing right in front of them.

"Alright, guys, we need to think." Peter began suggesting. "Are we actually going to stay here and wait all week for Stephen to come back—"

"You call him Stephen?"

"—or..." Peter bit his lip and returned to his train of thought. "We can go find the bad guy ourselves and end this whole thing."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

MJ blurted, "Simple—we track the bad guy."

"Like I said, how do you plan on—"

One of their phones began to ring. They all looked cluelessly at one another, wondering who's device it was. When they tracked the source to Ned's pocket, he took it out and almost answered it.

—It was swiftly denied by Peter pulling it away with one of his web shooters.

Landing on the table, Ned looked at Peter with disgust. "What was that for?"

"C'mon, we're going to be tracked by the police." Peter reprimanded. He walked over to Ned, who had already sat down. "Can you find anything suspicious on the network?"

"You just talked about the whole police thing." Ned said, as Peter opened the laptop.

"That's why..." Peter plugged in a USB which began downloading files into the laptop. "I'm putting us off the grid."

"You do know this is against the law, right?" Ned mentioned as he began typing on the laptop.

"C'mon, it's just this one time."

"Look, if we get found out—"

"We won't, Ned! This tech from Stark Industries." Peter assured.

"I don't think Tony Stark intended for this kind of tech to be used this way."

"Ned's got a point, Peter." MJ pointed out.

"Wa—wait!" Peter leaned down to see what was going through the laptop. There were multiple lines of communications that suggested a common occurrence. "There's been reports of... missing tech?"

"Yeah, missing tech." Ned understood immediately. "You know, stuff that makes engines run or powers up an entire city kind of tech. Happens all the time; usually gets misplaced or something."

"No, no, no..." Peter knew something. "It's been happening in only one part of the city. All this tech that was reported missing, it's for a specific part. It's to run a highly engineered device that needs a strong power source."

"I guess it's only been happening in New York precincts." Ned noted.

"And that's all I need."

Nonchalantly, Peter began to remove his t-shirt. In an instant, Ned turned his back on him, while MJ looked on with a face of disgust. Ned closed his eyes, wishing his friend was not this determined.

"Peter, Ned's in the room!"

"What? What's wrong?" Peter confusingly inquired, revealing the advanced suit in his undergarments. It's red and black colours illuminated in what was seemingly a very dull room. It was tightly fit, making it indistinguishable from his normal clothes.

"You have the suit?!" MJ was now furious. "Why would you wear it to school?!"

Peter bended his knees as he talked, "It's too keep people safe, MJ. C'mon, we talked about this!"

"NO! WE HAVEN'T!" MJ freaked out, standing back.

"What do you plan on doing then?" Ned posed.

"I'm going to find who was responsible of stealing those tech. Whoever it is, it might be the one who Mr. Strange is looking for. Maybe by then, he'll trust me." Peter excitedly ran up the stairs.

Being the ever-famous Spider-Man, he was too quick for his friends to catch up. If it was normal circumstances, they would have let him go; but this time, Peter Parker and Spider-Man were labeled criminals—it meant that they were hellbent on keeping him inside the Sanctum.

Ignoring the leftover coziness of the room, they ran up with all the speed they had. Peter was slowing down, trying to put on his mask that was slipping every time he tried to put it on. When he reached at the top of the steps, he had finally put it on. Fiddling with his web shooters gave Ned and MJ enough time to catch up.

"Peter! What are you doing, seriously?!" MJ questioned his already insane boyfriend from doing more insanely deadly things.

"Didn't I tell you? I'm going to find the guy who stole the tech from the precincts. At this point, I'm a hundred percent sure it was him." Peter argued.

"So?! What did you gather from the info in the laptop? It could just be some ordinary criminal!" Ned tried to persuade him, but he was running out of confidence.

"What kind of ordinary criminal would rob a precinct? A matter of fact, two precincts! Nobody's crazier than that?!"

"Says the guy's who about to have a trial in a few days about an alter-ego that's being convicted as a murderer!" MJ refreshed him on the situation.

"Look," Peter now had a serious and concerned face on. "If I do this, maybe Mr. Strange will begin to trust me. Maybe he can even help with the case—"

"—Or... you can trust Mr. Murdock to handle the case. And what does his trust have to do with you? Why does it matters to you so much?"

"You... yo—" Peter couldn't say it. "I just need to check it out. I won't be for long and I won't be spotted, I promise."

"I guarantee you, Peter..." MJ had unconsciously placed her hand below his, "you're not going to find who you're wanting to find."

Peter bit his lip. Even MJ had said that to him. But still, there was a hope. He wasn't going to give up on the little spark that was in him.

"I'm sorry, but I have to find hi—"

}{ }{ }{ }{ }{

"No need to!" A sound echoed at the top of the stairs. It was a rough and oddly toned voice. Standing at the top of the steps, a figure stood tall over the three of them. "I'm the one who did it."

—Him.

The man from the forest.

"If it isn't Spider-Man..." The man above traced his hand over the railings. "Or should I say Peter Parker?"

"Who are you?" Peter demanded more calmly than earlier.

"Name's Norman Osborn. Why won't we talk, ay?"

...

He was passive?

Peter, MJ, and Ned thought as they intently watched him sitting across from them. He was obviously planning something—a statement backed up by the Peter-Tingle. There was intent in his eyes.

—At least they knew he was the one who stole the technology from the precincts and was the person Mr. Strange was looking for.

"What do you want?" Peter interrogated, wearing the Spider-Man suit without the mask. "—and are you from the Multiverse?"

"So it's true?" He was shocked.

"Do you study on the Multiverse? You're some cosmologist?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Osborn shook his head. "I'm... something of a scientist, per se."

"Is this your Earth?" Peter tried to keep his composure. It felt like every waning moment, he was taking control.

"It doesn't appears to be. I mean, everywhere I go, I see the name 'Tony Stark' scattered around the streets. Even a company is named after him!"

"So, you're one of Mr. Strange's Multiversal Warriors?"

"His name was Strange?"

"—Yup." MJ straightly answered. "I know, it's weird."

"I'm sorry, but why is Mr. Strange looking for you if your one of the Multiversal Warriors?" Peter crossed his arms across, waiting for his answer.

"I... hm..." Osborn smiled. "Yes, I'm one of his Multiversal Warriors."

"Then why is Mr. Strange hunting you?"

"Here's the catch, kid." Osborn licked his lips, preparing for his great speech. "I'm not only a scientist; I'm a hero in my time. I've fought with you until the end of the line... until I died."

"How did you die?" Ned budged in.

"I was pierced—by blades that I did not see coming. He was there when I died. My dying body was in Peter's hands."

There was a sense of guilt. This universe's Peter wasn't there for Osborn when he died, but there was a tremendous heartache when those words came from his mouth. It felt like he had failed him.

"But here, I've been reborn. Now, what I see, is a make-believe hero that are taking good and innocent people that are taking their well-deserved rest, and snatching them away!"

"Wait... there's more of the Multiversal Warriors?" Peter entertained.

"Yes, Peter, there are! Trapped beneath this very building." Osborn persuaded, "That's why I stole those tech from the precinct. I'm going to use it to save my fellow warriors that have been trapped by the evil wench!"

"Mr. Strange isn't doing this for the good?"

"I don't know," MJ felt uneasy, "It doesn't feel like Strange would do this for that purpose."

Osborn raised his finger. "But he did! He's stealing heroes from other dimensions and trying to form some sort of team! In the end, he'll just throw all of it away and gain it for his own personal glory." He looked at Peter. "Same fate will meet you, Peter. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Peter continued.

"Join me. You and I, we'll be powerful enough to stop that Strange. Even more powerful than that! We'll be unstoppable! We'll free those trapped heroes and you and I will set the multiverse right!"

"I... I don't know anything about magic and sorcery and all that stuff..." Peter stuttered, brewing the idea of what was happening.

"Science will not be an obstacle of ours. Your mind. My mind." Osborn grinned, "It's full of endless possibilities."

MJ and Ned stood concerned for Peter. He was realistically thinking that they were going to be able to pulling it off. Not only were they breaking into a heavily enchanted building, but they were breaking into the home of the Sorcerer Supreme.

But they had no choice. If what Osborn was saying is true, they knew that Peter couldn't deny the offer.

"What do you say, kid? Are you in?" Osborn offered his hand.

"I can't, sir." Peter stood firm to try and prove that he was tough. "I'm Spider-Man and—"

"But isn't that who Spider-Man is?"

"What?"

"Even in the face of uncertainty and dread, Spider-Man always helps. No matter what, whether it be a bus commuter or an inter-multiversal friend, they never let anything get in their way."

"Tha-that's Spider-Man?"

"No, that's who Spider-Man is supposed to be."

...

MJ and Ned raced to Peter who was climbing down another set of stairs opposite from the ones earlier. This one led to the dungeon that Peter entered with Strange yesterday. Peter had placed his entire suit on—mask and everything. Even if they were lightly shoving him, he wasn't budging.

For Osborn, he had told them that he was going to watch the outside of the Sanctum just in case Strange came back from whatever he was doing.

—But whatever they were doing, Ned and MJ were the only ones capable of stopping it.

"What do you think you're doing, Peter?" MJ grabbed his arm, "Don't you think we should wait for Strange?"

"I can't let those innocent people just be trapped in there, MJ." Peter contended. "Mr. Strange can't just keep heroes in the basement."

"Well, don't you want to wait and hear what he has to say?!"

"And risk him killing them? I... I can't." Peter held onto her hand before gently removing it from his suit. "I'm sorry."

"Have you thought of the ramifications of what you're doing?" Ned suggested. "Do you even know what you're doing?"

"I'm opening that cube." He said with glorious intent.

They had reached the bottom of the stairs—the furthest place Ned was willing to go. There was sand and shattered glass all over the floor, a risk he didn't want to take. The ruins looked more ruin than before, signifying that Strange really kept these people against their will.

And in the center of it all was the cube. It was floating on the same altar that Strange had used for the ritual, rotating endlessly. Runes were circling all over it, keeping the enchantment up.

For Peter, this was the end goal. MJ had followed him up to the altar, standing in front of his way just so that he could reconsider—one more time.

"Peter, please. Listen to us. Why do you want to trust him? You've only just met!" She tried to wake him up, but he was too deep in a sleep for it.

"Because I let him die, in my hands! Mr. Stark died too... and now he's gone." His voice trembled, "I have a second chance, I'm not letting it go again."

MJ's hand shifted to his. Her face fell onto his mask, trying to understand him more. He knew that something was bothering Peter and he was just being strong to make up for it. At this point, he was close to giving up.

"Listen to us, Peter. We'll be here to help you, but you've got to give us your ears. We're going to solve this—together."

"MJ... I—"

}{ }{ }{ }{ }{

"So, it was here, all along."