Williamsburg Bank Building.
Bant and Gwen sat on the ledge at the top of the skyscraper, though they were both hanging upside down, their hair dangling toward the ground below.
"It's so quiet here,"
Gwen said.
In her eyes, the inverted city looked like a nighttime silhouette beneath the misty clouds, resembling a city in the sky.
The sight reminded Gwen of a few days ago, right after she had first arrived in this universe. She had been ten thousand meters up in the air with Bant, feeling as though they were about to plummet from the world.
"After all, aside from a handful of buildings in Manhattan, this is the highest point in New York,"
Bant replied.
From up here, all of New York was laid out before them. The city's noise was completely inaudible, as if muffled by an entire world. The flickering lights of the cars below looked as minuscule as insects crawling across the earth.
Looking out at the city before her, Gwen felt a pang of sorrow for reasons she couldn't quite explain. Tomorrow, Kingpin would make his move. Once the particle collider was activated, the time loop would close, and she would be sent back to her own world. These past few days would fade away like a distant dream.
At the thought, the emptiness in Gwen's heart spread like the darkness of the city.
"Tomorrow..."
She curled up, wrapping her slender arms around her bent knees and burying her face between her legs, her voice tinged with loneliness.
"Tomorrow we say goodbye."
"What, you can't bear to leave?"
Seeing her mood, Bant asked with a teasing smile.
Gwen clearly viewed this parting as a final farewell. After all, separated by the infinite multiverse, the distance between them was greater than the gap between life and death.
But for Bant, who had already analyzed the principles of the particle collider, building a machine capable of traversing the multiverse wasn't impossible.
Not to mention, in the futuristic city of 2099, there already existed an organization formed by countless Spider-People.
So, this was never truly a final goodbye.
Gwen didn't know this. She only felt that after tomorrow, she would return to her solitary existence. No one to confide in, no one to fight alongside. In that massive city, she was as untethered and alone as a ghost.
It was precisely because of this that Bant's appearance felt like a beam of light piercing through the gloom that shrouded her world.
These past few days had been especially relaxing, as if her heavy burdens had been lifted from her shoulders.
In the past, on countless nights, she would dream of Peter—the Lizard—lying dead in her arms, her hands stained with his blood...
But here, by Bant's side, it was as if he possessed a special magic that could soothe her soul.
The nightmares that plagued her seemed to have vanished entirely.
Bant sensed her mood.
He reached out and gently stroked her hair.
Gwen was startled by the gesture, her body tensing as if shocked.
But more than anything, she felt shy.
After all, no boy had ever touched her head so intimately before.
The feeling...
She didn't dislike it at all. In fact, it calmed her restless, sorrowful heart.
She let out a soft breath, burying her flushed face deeper into her knees, but she didn't pull away from Bant's hand. Instead, she quietly absorbed the warmth of his palm, her mind a tangled mess.
Gwen was around the same age as Bant, just a high schooler.
She used to be the quintessential good girl at school, and with George Stacy keeping her on such a tight leash, she had never even been in a relationship.
Becoming Spider-Woman made it even more impossible.
Her life was a complete mess as it was.
If the harrowing, busy life of a Spider hadn't numbed her, Peter's death and the estrangement from her father...
All that countless pain would have broken her long ago.
But here, she didn't have to think about any of that.
Gwen let out a soft sigh.
If only this moment could stretch on infinitely, like a web line, she thought.
She wanted to just sit there in silence with him until they both turned into gargoyles atop the Williamsburg Bank Building, watching the sun rise over Queens every morning and set over Staten Island every evening.
But alas.
Time never freezes into eternity.
When the sun rose and set once more, the two figures huddled together beside the stone gargoyles of the Williamsburg Bank Building were already gone.
The next night.
Beneath the streets of Brooklyn.
Bant, Gwen, and Peter had all suited up.
Through a monitor Bant had planted earlier, a holographic feed of Kingpin and his cohorts was projected before them.
Separated by thick concrete walls, no one had a clue that the three of them were gathered there.
Gwen had buried her swirling emotions deep within her heart. On the surface, she showed no signs of distress; instead, she was genuinely surprised by the grotesque appearances of the villains Kingpin had gathered.
"Does the Green Goblin in your universe look like that too?"
"Is there a problem?" Peter scratched his head, looking at Bant.
As far as he was concerned, that was exactly what the Green Goblin was supposed to look like.
Bant scratched his head as well. "Don't look at me. There's no Green Goblin in my universe. I cured Norman, and now he's the director of H.A.M.M.E.R."
Both Gwen and Peter stared at him in unison.
"Is there anything you can't do?" Peter asked, envious.
In this universe, he had once been very close to the Osborn family, but fate had turned them into enemies.
Bant added, "I also cured Dr. Connors, the Lizard. Now he and Dr. Otto are both doing research at my company."
Peter: ???
Gwen: ???
"You actually managed to handle that crazy woman?"
"How did you make the antidote for the lizard serum?"
For Gwen, the Lizard—Peter—was a permanent scar on her heart.
She couldn't help but think that if she had managed to develop the serum back then, Peter might not have died.
Knowing this, Bant answered Gwen's question first.
"I'll send you the serum formula later, though it's hard to say if it could relapse," Bant explained. "The Lizard mutation isn't just a result of the serum; it's tied to totems."
He patted Gwen on the back, comforting her. "So it wasn't your fault."
Then, Bant turned to the blonde Peter. "In my universe, Dr. Otto isn't a woman, and he's actually a decent guy."
Hearing this, both blonde Peter and Gwen looked at him with outright envy.
"I have plenty of my own troubles, though."
He continued, "For instance, a mad scientist who thinks New York is too urbanized and plans to turn the whole world back to the prehistoric era, a purple sweet potato bent on wiping out half the universe, and a stinking flower octopus who's obsessed with my watch..."
???
Upon hearing that, Gwen and Peter instantly decided they were no longer envious.
Compared to the rogues in Bant's universe, the enemies they faced were honestly not that bad.
The group turned their attention back to the projection.
The massive particle collider looked a lot like an Arc Reactor, except it was dozens of meters tall and generated enough energy to tear the multiverse apart.
Looking at the colossal machine through the high-strength blast-proof glass, Kingpin's eyes gradually gleamed with life.
"Vanessa... Richard..."
He murmured the names of his wife and son, tears welling in his eyes.
Who would have thought that the underworld emperor of New York could care so deeply for his wife and son?
Beside him, this universe's Doctor Octopus glared at the various data on her computer screen, looking surprised. "Spider-Man didn't come to mess things up this time."
A few previous collision experiments had already caused abnormal earthquakes and blackouts in Brooklyn.
She had received explicit intel that Spider-Man had started investigating the matter days ago, but for some reason, he had gone completely quiet since.
"Maybe he couldn't find anything," the Prowler, standing not far away, waved a hand dismissively.
Rhino and Scorpion, hearing them talk about the Spider-Man they hated so much, couldn't help but want to chime in.
But before they could utter a word, Kingpin slammed his cane heavily against the floor.
Clack!
"I don't care about Spider-Man," Kingpin said icily. "If he dares show his face, I trust you all will ensure his death."
His gaze swept over everyone present.
Doctor Octopus, Prowler, Rhino, Lizard, Green Goblin...
If Spider-Man could still ruin his plans with this many heavy hitters teaming up, then these useless fools were better off dead.
"Don't worry, Kingpin. You're not the only one who wants Spider-Man dead!"
The Green Goblin, far more massive than a boulder, landed.
His enormous size couldn't even fit into the protective observation room; he stood directly exposed outside the colossal particle collider.
In truth, as long as he wasn't taking the direct impact of the particle collider, Norman the Green Goblin wasn't afraid of much.
Seeing these villains gathered, Kingpin felt a wave of relief, though he still barked, "I don't care what happens to Spider-Man. I only care that tonight's experiment goes off without a hitch!"
"Otto, don't disappoint me!"
Kingpin snarled.
In the previous experiments, the particle collider had clearly been unrefined and had to be shut down. Afterward, Doctor Octopus had taken over, continuing to perfect the machine at Alchemax.
Today, no matter what, he was bringing his wife and son back!
Kingpin thought.
Even if he had to sink all of Brooklyn into the chaos of a spacetime collision, he would do it without hesitation!
"He's a madman."
Gwen hadn't had much interaction with Kingpin until now. Seeing his unhinged obsession sent a chill down her spine.
"Get your masks ready."
Peter muttered.
In the projection, Kingpin had just given the order to activate the collider.
"It'll take a few minutes for the machine to fully boot up. Remember, you have to wait until it's completely activated and the multiverses begin colliding before you shut it down,"
Bant reminded them.
"Got it." Gwen nodded.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she turned to Bant.
"What is it?" Bant asked.
"What about the symbiote suit you promised?" Gwen put her hands on her hips, waiting for him to make good on his word.
"I almost forgot if you hadn't brought it up."
Bant chuckled, his gaze turning playful. He rested a hand on his battered old watch and asked mischievously, "Ready to be possessed?"
"Huh? Possessed?"
Before Gwen could process what he meant, a flash of green light erupted.
In the next second, Bant transformed into a massive mass of black, viscous slime and lunged straight at her.
"W-wait... mmph..."
Only then did Gwen realize exactly what a "symbiote" entailed.
The viscous substance felt like the corrupt slimes from certain R-rated comics, making her shudder violently.
She seemed to recall that if things progressed the way they did in those comics, these things would go seven times in and out, coming at her from three directions, and then she'd be sticking her tongue out and rolling her eyes back...
There was no way she was doing that!
Gwen thrashed frantically in her mind.
But it was too late to struggle. Bant had already surged over every inch of her skin, clinging tightly to her entire body.
In an instant, the cute pink-and-white Ghost-Spider vanished.
Standing before Peter was a striking, curvaceous figure radiating dark green energy.
Super Kill Gwen.
Or rather, Nightmare Ghost-Spider.
To be fair, it looked badass!
But for Gwen on the inside, the experience was agonizing.
"Bant!!!"
Right now, Gwen's face was so flushed it felt like steam was coming off it.
"Y-y-y-you..."
She never in her wildest dreams imagined that Bant's idea of a symbiote suit was transforming into a symbiote himself and wearing her.
Feeling the cold, silky-smooth texture of the suit pressed flush against her bare skin, Gwen couldn't shake the sensation that she was entirely enveloped by Bant.
'Even in those places...'
At that thought, Gwen wanted to find a crack in the floor and disappear into it.
How was this any different from letting her crush see her streaking naked?!
It wasn't just Gwen—even Peter was dumbfounded by Bant's stunt.
"I mean, I know about the symbiote suit, but you turning into the symbiote yourself is a bit..."
Now in his Super Kill form, Bant surged a Venom-like head out from Gwen's shoulder and said, "Hey, is it a symbiote or not?"
"Besides, Gwen, weren't you the one who asked for the symbiote suit? Or do you not want it anymore?"
Bant was just teasing her. Seeing her flushed and panicked expression, he figured he had achieved his goal and prepared to pull back.
"If you really can't handle it, I'll just change back."
With that, the black substance began to slowly recede.
But the moment Bant started to withdraw, Gwen suddenly blurted out, "Wait..."
"Hmm?"
"No... don't change back..."
Gwen's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
The thought that she would be separated from Bant forever once this was over made her once-timid heart surge with unnatural bravery, as if she had been pumped full of adrenaline.
It wasn't just bravery—it bordered on madness.
'If we're destined to part, at least leave a lasting impression on him at the very end!'
With that thought in mind, not only did Gwen not reject Bant's symbiote suit, she boldly recalled her original nano-suit.
Which meant that right now, other than Bant, she was wearing absolutely nothing.
Now it was Bant's turn to lose his composure.
Bro, seriously?
You can recall your suit, but could you at least leave a base layer on?! Now it's all wet and smells!
Gwen remained silent. She patted her burning cheeks, took a deep breath, and declared:
"Let's go!"
"I'm going in as Bant!"
/-\
Enjoying the story? Want to read ahead?
Support the novel and unlock early access to unreleased chapters!
~ +20 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon! (+1 Chapter daily)
https://p-atreon.com/Its_Zack
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access Patreon normally)