Boom!!
A flash of green light streaked across the city sky, making countless pedestrians look up.
But the light came and went in an instant. Only a handful of people thought they glimpsed a crimson planet sailing overhead — then dismissed it as a trick of the mind.
After all, how could a planet possibly appear above the nuclear-peaceful skies of New York City?
Gwen, however, knew it was no illusion.
Just seconds ago, when she thought she and that innocent civilian were about to pancake together on the pavement, the stranger had abruptly transformed into an enormous red sphere — and seized control of her midair.
Now, Bant had dragged Gwen straight into his planetary orbit. The Ghost-Spider flailed around him like a captured satellite, spinning every which way.
Under cover of night, Bant floated them both down into a park and only then set Gwen on the ground.
The moment her feet touched earth, Gwen yanked her mask halfway up, doubled over, and vomited violently.
"Huurrgghh—"
Bant: ???
"That kind of hurts my feelings."
After a few dry heaves, Gwen lifted her head, her face full of apology. "Sorry, cough, I'm a little—" She paused, pulled her mask back down, then eyed Bant warily, as if searching for the right words.
"Seasick? Planet-sick?"
"But I don't get Earth-sick." She cupped her chin. "It's astonishing — you have your own orbit. What exactly are you?"
"What was that glowing tunnel?"
"Why'd you drag me into the sky? I almost splattered!"
As she spoke, Gwen's body shifted into a guarded stance, her movements so subtle that only another Spider could notice. But Bant was a Spider-Man too; he knew full well she was already poised to web him right in the face.
'Webbing in the face I can deal with — getting sprayed with water is fine, but actual web fluid? Hard pass.'
Bant's Gravity Crab Overlord physiology had nothing to fear from Gwen's strength, but once spider-silk got on you, cleaning it off within an hour or two was an absolute pain. And he wasn't exactly skilled at itching.
So he simply extended a hand, a ring of black-green light flickering in his palm.
BOOM!!
In that instant, gravity erupted again!
Gwen felt as if a weight of ten million tons had slammed onto her spine, pressing her down until she couldn't straighten up, flattening her like a puppy on the ground.
"This is…"
"Calm down, Gwen Stacy."
Bant spoke evenly.
The Gravity Crab Overlords were, by nature, an exceedingly gentle species. With lifespans as long as planets, they viewed all things without impulsiveness.
Bant had been influenced by that temperament.
Gwen, on the other hand, was the one suffering.
Pinned to the earth by Bant's power, she felt like her already not-very-impressive chest was about to cave inward.
But the physical pain was one thing. The fact that this stranger had just called her by name — that sent a jolt of terror through her.
He knows who I am?
What if he hurts my dad?
Her mind spiraled to the worst outcome. Maybe from the very beginning, this monster had been after her.
"I don't know anyone by that name…"
Gwen could only deny it, though she knew deep down the chances of him believing her were slim.
Clearly, she had already categorized Bant as evil — his overwhelming power and the fact that he had shown her no mercy proved it.
From Bant's perspective, however, he had simply "amicably" pinned Gwen with gravity to stop this hot-headed girl from attacking him. It was just that the Gravity Crab Overlord's abilities were so immense that he had trouble controlling them precisely.
"I think there's a misunderstanding." Bant said.
From Gwen's words, Bant had already noticed something was off.
First, she had mentioned the glowing tunnel as well. Clearly, like him, she had crossed the multiverse to arrive in this world.
Bant wasn't deeply familiar with Spider-Gwen's comic storyline, but he had watched those Sony animated films once or twice.
"So… this is probably a parallel universe."
He rubbed his rocky chin.
The Spider-Verse film took place in Universe 1610, where the Spider-Man was a blond, successful guy.
Handsome, life fulfilled, family happy — everything was perfect. Except he himself kicked the bucket…
Therefore, to confirm whether this was the Spider-Verse world, he just needed to see what Peter Parker looked like.
"If I remember correctly, although the collider event happens simultaneously, because the multiverse's spacetime was disrupted, Gwen should have arrived a week early in this universe."
Bant frowned slightly.
Events involving time and the multiverse tended to get very messy.
Take right now, for example: he knew Kingpin was behind all this, but he couldn't act directly. Doing so would risk a time paradox. In severe cases, it wouldn't just collapse this universe but could also affect all the other universes linked through the collider event.
While he had the X-Men as a safety net, every use required a debate. Oyana was fine, but Enara loved to oppose him.
"Better to play it safe and wait for the collider event."
Bant made his decision.
Of course, since he was here now, he wasn't about to let this universe's blond Peter die.
It didn't matter which universe a Peter Parker came from — one was his little bro, and all of them were his little bros!
That said…
The one who was already dead was another matter.
Bant thought of Lizard-Peter and couldn't help but sigh. Then his gaze shifted back to Gwen.
The Spider-Woman had been reduced to a white worm, squirming in the dirt that had caved in under the pressure of gravity…
"Sorry, forgot about you." Bant scratched his head and directly canceled his transformation.
The moment he reverted to his Earth-human form, the gravity pinning Gwen vanished instantly. With the pressure gone and the monster turning back into a man, from any angle it looked like her opponent had dropped his guard.
If she could seize that moment of carelessness and subdue him, maybe she could extract all the intel she needed.
The sky had cleared, the rain had stopped, and Gwen once again felt she could take him.
She launched herself forward, a strand of webbing shooting straight at Bant. However, the scene she'd envisioned — instant submission — did not play out.
Bant sidestepped, evading the web.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, three webs shot out in quick succession. Two of them intercepted Gwen's web-shooters before she could attack again, locking them up. And the third, in an act of pure humiliation, splattered right across her face!
I studied fine arts — this is color!
"Mmph!"
Even though it was just webbing, it launched at high speed, and with the silk's incredible toughness, it hit Gwen like a bat to the head. She spun in midair and crashed to the ground.
"That's spider webbing… how can you—"
Gwen was incredulous, but the next moment, a tingling, numbing sensation crawled through her brain like an electrical signal, making her whole body jolt.
A realization struck her.
"Wait — you too?"
"Only just figuring it out? My spider-sense picked you up while we were still in the sky," Bant said, spreading his hands.
"Back then?"
The possibility that Bant might be like her made Gwen relax her guard. She replayed the situation and let out an awkward laugh. "At that moment, my spider-sense was screaming that I was in danger of falling to my death, so I ignored it."
She scratched her head, got up from the ground, used two fingers to pick the webbing off her suit, and then asked, "I never imagined there'd be someone else like me… and what was that huge monster? How did you know my identity?"
Though she'd let her guard down, Gwen still had plenty of questions.
"Don't be impatient."
Bant didn't rush to explain. Soon enough, Gwen would have even more questions.
"My name is Bant Parker. Like you, I came through that portal and arrived in this universe."
"Huh?"
Portal?
Universe?
Every movement of Gwen's froze. Most importantly, she had heard the name "Parker."
"What is going on?!"
For Gwen, the death of her childhood friend Peter Parker was an everlasting wound. She had become Spider-Woman, yet she hadn't been able to save her friend. That cowardly Peter Parker had ultimately gone to the extreme, and in Gwen's eyes, it was all her fault.
But Bant knew better — it was just the animal totems pulling strings.
"Like I said, we're from different parallel universes. In my universe, Peter Parker is my cousin, and both of us are Spider-Man." As he spoke, Bant pulled out his phone, found a Daily Bugle article about the two Spider-Men, and handed it to Gwen.
"Whoa!"
Gwen was astonished.
"Your phone still has service in a parallel universe? Unlike Fruit phones — can't even get 4G without it crashing."
"Primos Tech."
Bant shrugged.
His phone, naturally, was different from the ones on the market. It used dark-communication — quantum-entanglement technology — so distance was no obstacle.
Gwen scrolled through the phone, growing more and more amazed.
She could never have imagined a world like this, where Peter hadn't died and even had an older cousin. Although the Peter in the photos looked different from the one she knew, Gwen was still very happy.
"Wait, Peter's alive — then what about me? I didn't turn into a lizard, did I?"
Gwen clutched her face in horror.
Please, not that!
"What are you thinking? In our universe, Gwen Stacy and we are just classmates," Bant explained. "Parallel universes may have many similar individuals, but most are only similar. They might all be called Peter or Gwen, but looks, personalities, and experiences aren't necessarily the same."
Just like the Gwen in front of him was vastly different from the Gwen in his own universe. By comparison, this Spider-Gwen was smaller in build and had a bit more of a rebellious streak.
Gwen nodded. She was a genius herself and could grasp the concept of parallel universes.
"But I don't think there's a 'you' in my universe," she said, then glanced around uncomfortably.
The familiar yet foreign environment made her feel a little tense and uneasy. Gwen took a couple of steps closer to Bant, and catching the pheromones coming off him, she felt a bit more at ease.
"That tunnel — what did it send us here for?"
"Can we even go back?"
Perhaps because Bant had been so calm from the start and seemed to know a lot, Gwen instinctively began leaning on him.
"Let's find this universe's Spider-Man first. Even though I'm fairly sure, it's hard to confirm without seeing Peter with my own eyes."
Gwen nodded, then suddenly realized something and asked, "How do you know this universe's Spider-Man is Peter and not me — or someone else?"
"In most universes, Peter Parker is Spider-Man."
Bant pointed at Gwen's flat chest. "People like you and me — we're the exceptions. Probably the Spider-Totem needs diversity too, otherwise some folks would start waving banners and kicking up a fuss."
Bant shrugged.
He didn't really have any issue with Spider-Man diversity. Miles was pretty great, after all.
As many had said: Spider-Man wears a mask because anyone could be behind it.
The two talked as they prepared to leave the park.
Bant also switched into his black nano-suit. Such an advanced suit left Gwen staring with envy.
Gwen was brilliant, but right now, she faced the same dilemma as most Peters — wavering between the superhero life and her personal life, unable to find balance.
"If you want, I'll give you one next time," Bant said casually.
"Really?"
Above the New York City skyline, two figures swung in an interlocking rhythm, one black, one white, rising and falling like a pulsing soundwave.
The city lights blazed brilliantly.
Gwen also truly noticed that this New York City was, in its details, genuinely different from the one she knew.
At the very least, in her world, no one would plaster Spider-Man posters in the city's most prominent spots…
"Wow, he's a real celebrity."
Gwen's tone carried a hint of jealousy.
In her world, even though she always did good deeds, everyone treated her like a villain.
Especially her dad — he couldn't stand the sight of her. He was itching to catch her on the spot, turn her into a commendation, get promoted to police chief, and then speed-run his own sacrifice.
"Being a Spider-Man and this popular — how is that fair?" Gwen asked.
"It's really not fair," Bant agreed, nodding as he gathered intel on this world. "In my opinion, it's all because this universe's Daily Bugle isn't doing its job!"
As long as there was a J. Jonah Jameson around, could you, Spider-Man, possibly have a good reputation?
Impossible!
Bant figured that, to counteract the Spider-Totem's curse, a Spider-Man's life shouldn't be too perfect — otherwise, bad things were guaranteed.
That spider from Earth-42 and Miles were clearly this universe's Peter Parker's tribulation.
Don't look at old Jonah always trashing Peter — he was helping Peter ward off disaster!
Therefore, Bant decided that in his own universe, the Daily Bugle must never stop its crusade against Spider-Man. Not only must it not stop, it had to step up its game!
He resolved to go back and acquire the Daily Bugle, merge all of New York's news media, and spare no effort in trashing his own little bro.
As for this universe's Peter — no need to fear.
Because your strength… your Bant… is here!
/-\
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