In Peter Parker's underground lab.
Gwen lay flat on the examination table, various strange devices pointed right at her. Meanwhile, a gray-skinned creature that looked like a frog was hopping up and down on her body, drawing Gwen's gaze to lock right onto it.
Earlier, because Bente had already explained the entire sequence of events and the cause-and-effect to Peter, Peter couldn't act rashly for the time being. He had to ensure the collider event happened as intended.
Of course, he had already located the particle collider beneath Brooklyn. All that was left to do now was keep an eye on Kingpin and write a program that could reverse the particle collider's effects.
Bente had pointed him in the right direction: Doctor Octopus's research lab.
Infiltration was a piece of cake for the Peter of this universe.
Brimming with success, this Peter was excellent in every aspect—you could even say he was second only to Spider-Punk.
As for Bente, he was preparing to build the stabilization device first, just as he had promised.
However, even with the mind of the Little Marvel, he couldn't just conjure things out of thin air. Fortunately, the spacetime collapse phenomenon on Gwen flared up from time to time; he only needed to analyze her to build the machine.
"But why," Gwen tilted her head up, watching Little Marvel bounce back and forth on the exam table. "Why am I the only one experiencing these collapse symptoms?"
She asked.
"You aren't."
"Our situations are different." Bente's sideways eyes recorded the data on the computer before he took a light hop, landing right on Gwen's chest.
"Hey!"
Gwen's face instantly flushed red as her voice pitched up.
Bro, are you making biscuits?
You're a frog, not a cat!
"Sorry, it's so small I didn't notice," Bente said, repeatedly pressing his feet down a few times to test the feel.
"You're insulting me!"
"Don't be so sensitive."
Bente shifted half a step and climbed off Gwen.
"Small is cute too."
Gwen was already a "xiaolongbao" to begin with, and lying down made it even less noticeable. There was only a slight bit of bounce when he landed on it.
"Not even the Spider-Totem would dare let out an extra fart in front of me, let alone this universe?"
It was a no-brainer that this was the mighty power of X-Superman.
If the universe itself possessed a will, it wouldn't risk offending X-Superman.
Enara might like to butt heads with Bente, but if someone actually tried to take him out, just watch her blow her top.
Not to mention, the little broken watch's protection mechanism would never let any real harm come to Bente anyway.
"Alright, alright, you're all geniuses, and I'm just a loser."
Gwen flopped back down, deflating like a punctured balloon.
So far, she had only met two Spider-People: Bente and this universe's Peter. Bente went without saying, but this universe's Peter also had a perfect life, finding a seamless balance between being a superhero and being Peter Parker.
Only she had made a complete mess of her life.
She couldn't protect her friends, and her dad was dead set on taking her down...
Thinking about this, Gwen felt incredibly depressed.
Bente noticed her mood and reached out to pat her head, comforting her, "Don't be sad. Things will be different now that you've met me."
"Are you some kind of magical boy?"
"I am actually learning magic," Bente said. "That baldy the Ancient One wanted me to switch classes and become the Sorcerer Supreme, but I refused. I'm still in the process of awakening my psionic energy."
Supreme Sorcerer or whatever, Gwen hadn't heard of it, but it certainly sounded impressive.
But thinking that it was Bente, she felt like that was pretty normal too.
Before long, Gwen watched as Bente reverted to his original form in a flash of green light, walking over with a watch that looked very similar to the one on his own wrist.
"You succeeded?"
She sat up from the exam table, astonished.
How long had it been?
One night? Or just a few hours?
Could even the multiverse's rejection phenomenon be resolved this effortlessly?
Gwen felt it was simply absurd.
"I had something to use as a reference," Bente tapped his own watch.
The little broken watch's protection system was highly comprehensive.
He slipped the watch onto Gwen's wrist and twisted the face. Instantly, the hourglass symbol vanished, replaced by a multifunctional screen.
"I also added some basic features,"
Bente said.
This kind of thing was second nature to him. Every time he upgraded suits for Peter or Harry, he would toss in a few little extras.
Especially after the Artisan Guild got their specialized uniforms, a lot of the tech had become modular.
"You can use it to communicate, track locations—there's a mini-tracker here—scan and analyze unknown objects... and most importantly, it can change colors."
Bente held Gwen's hand, demonstrating the watch's various functions to her.
With a tap of his finger, the originally black-and-green watch immediately shifted to a pink and white color scheme that matched Gwen's suit.
"Wow," Gwen gasped, then blushed slightly.
Because it looked like the two of them were wearing couple's watches.
"Oh right, I finished your nano-suit too,"
Bente mentioned casually, as if it were no big deal.
"You won't have to worry about swapping out gear until the nano-molecules run out."
Finally, Bente tapped a counter on the screen.
"This will display the suit's various statuses. If anything goes wrong, there's one-click repair, one-click cleaning, matter restructuring, web generation..."
"Foolproof operation. Even you can use it."
Then he let go of her hand.
"Are you calling me a fool?"
Gwen glared at Bente, her face flushed.
Bente waved his hands and quickly soothingly said, "Just a joke, don't get mad."
Why is this kid getting so triggered?
Gwen wasn't actually mad, of course. Rather than angry, she was just shy. She gripped her own hand, which still retained the lingering warmth of Bente's palm.
Suddenly arriving in this strange yet familiar world, meeting Bente Parker, someone who was a Spider-Man just like her, was an incredibly novel experience for Gwen.
Especially the moment the Spider-Sense flared between the two of them, it made her feel like it was something extraordinary.
In contrast, although meeting Peter later on also triggered the Spider-Sense, it still felt different compared to that very first time.
If she ever said this out loud, Bente would definitely say:
Understandable. Whether it's a boy or a girl, everyone remembers their first time quite deeply.
Even spiders are the same.
Want me to tell you about my first time?
What, with Peter?
Of course not!
It was my first time with Ruma on Sakaar, back when we were both Four-Armed Brutes...
Alright, the rest of this is Rated R.
Anyway, Bente's whole demeanor gave Gwen the feeling that nothing in the world was a big deal to him. It gave her, who had been fighting alone in agony for so long, a sudden chance to catch her breath.
By Bente's side, she didn't have to think about anything or worry about anything. She could lean on him to her heart's content, just like she used to rely on her dad a long time ago.
Gwen cast an admiring gaze at Bente's back; he was already working on crafting a few other devices.
So, she steadied her emotions, hopped off the exam table, and said:
"You're not a Spider-Man, you're practically Doraemon."
Bente shrugged.
Gwen padded over softly, leaning her upper body forward and watching Bente, who was assembling parts, with curious eyes.
"Do you not need to turn into that little frog anymore?"
"That's Little Marvel," Bente corrected. "I've already figured out the structure, so the rest is much simpler. Plus, not every device needs to be as fully-featured as yours."
Gwen's was custom-made, since Bente had promised her a nano-suit.
As for the rest, something like the baby bracelet Miles wore in Across the Spider-Verse would do just fine.
Hearing Bente say her watch was more special, Gwen's face reddened again, and she subconsciously gripped the watch.
For the next little while, Bente just went about his business, while Gwen, for once, fell completely silent, watching him without blinking.
During this time, Peter returned once with the data stolen from Doctor Octopus's lab. He originally wanted to go down to the basement to analyze it but was stopped by Aunt May.
The unashamed Aunt May winked at him, signaling him not to disturb the two youngsters.
"When I first laid eyes on him, I thought, if Ben and I actually had a kid, maybe they'd be just as good as him," Aunt May said happily to Peter, before shaking her head. "Then I realized that was impossible. Neither of us are smart people."
Peter hugged her and comfortingly said, "But you raised me, and I'm pretty smart."
"That's because you take after your mom and dad."
"No, there are plenty of people with brilliance, but they don't use it for good," Peter said. "You two taught me to be kind, to do good things. That's your achievement."
A few hours later, Peter did return to the basement, and together with Bente, they managed to create the key to the particle collider.
"Speaking of which, to think that a particle collider could be used to open a gateway to parallel universes... this universe's Doctor Octopus really is a genius," Bente said.
From the data Peter brought back, he had already grasped the principles behind the particle collider.
Although he couldn't replicate the thing himself, some of the theories could still be applied elsewhere.
"When in doubt, quantum mechanics,"
The blonde Peter said.
In the Marvel Universe, the Quantum Realm was the gateway to unlocking the powers of time and space. Both the multiverse and time machines were tied to it.
Looking at it that way, the original Ant-Man's research into the Quantum Realm was truly forward-thinking.
But using Pym Particles just to get bigger and smaller was whatever...
"The key is finished. Next, we just wait for Kingpin to fire up the particle collider and complete the time loop. Then we just take him out,"
Bente said casually.
A parallel universe crisis was a walk in the park for him.
Moreover, when the blonde Peter went to steal the data to make the key, he hadn't been spotted. Theoretically, even the Spot might not make an appearance this time around.
With that, even the Across the Spider-Verse incident was wiped off the board.
"Then again, maybe not. There are always various reasons that cause villains to pop up,"
Bente mused.
/-\
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