In the aftermath of a world-ending alien invasion, most of the Avengers were immediately swamped with global damage control, press conferences, and military debriefings. But for Peter Parker, a teenager desperately clinging to a secret identity, his most pressing post-apocalyptic mission was far more mundane.
He had to go home and convince his aunt and uncle he wasn't dead.
"Okay, Aunt May, I'm almost home. Don't worry, I'm completely fine!" Peter said, trying to keep his voice steady over the phone as he swung high above the boroughs.
After hanging up, he used his webs to cross into Queens as fast as physically possible—but he purposefully slowed down two blocks away. He had to time it perfectly. He needed to walk up to the front door at the exact theoretical time it would take an ordinary, transit-riding Peter Parker to navigate a city recovering from an alien siege.
He slid his key into the lock. The second the deadbolt clicked, he heard the frantic thud of hurried footsteps inside.
Peter pushed the door open, and Aunt May immediately threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into a crushing hug.
"I'm fine, Aunt May. I promise," Peter wheezed, gently hugging her back. "Didn't I tell you on the phone?"
"Who knows if you've been secretly injured or if something terrible happened that you're just not telling me?!" May scolded, her voice trembling slightly.
Trapped in the maternal vice-grip, Peter looked over his aunt's shoulder. Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy were standing in the hallway, both fighting back amused smiles. Peter shot them a desperate, pleading look.
Uncle Ben chuckled, walking over and gently rubbing May's back. "I told you, May. Peter is a Parker man. He's resilient. He's going to be just fine."
"Ben Parker, if I have learned anything since marrying into this family, it's that whenever a Parker man says 'nothing will happen,' they are absolutely lying through their teeth," May retorted.
She finally released Peter, rolling her eyes at her husband. Ben just offered a helpless, loving smile. But as May stepped back to get a good look at her nephew, her nose violently wrinkled. She covered her face with her hand.
"Oh my god, Peter," May gagged slightly. "You smell awful."
"Yeah, well, I haven't showered since yesterday," Peter admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was running from the chaos, and, uh... I accidentally got stuck under one of those weird black alien monsters for a few minutes."
"You were stuck under an alien monster?!" May gasped, her panic returning.
"Just for a few minutes!" Peter nodded quickly.
May frowned, looking him up and down with deep displeasure. "Well, no wonder you smell like a toxic waste dump. You need to take a shower. Right now. Go!"
Peter didn't argue. He dropped his backpack by the stairs and bolted up to his room to grab a change of clothes.
Standing under the scalding hot spray of the shower, Peter finally let out a long, exhausted breath.
I DO NOT SMELL AWFUL, Venom grumbled indignantly in Peter's mind.
"Yeah, I know, buddy. I was just trying to give Aunt May a believable excuse," Peter muttered, washing the soot out of his hair. "Hey, by the way... what happened to Knull?"
THE KING IN BLACK HAS DISAPPEARED.
Peter frowned, shutting his eyes against the water. What did that mean? Grendel had never possessed a human host, so the dragon didn't actually possess a traditional Codex.
Oh, we succeeded, do not worry, Venom added, sensing Peter's sudden spike of anxiety.
For a terrifying second, Peter genuinely thought he had failed and that Knull was resurrecting.
"Are you absolutely sure?" Peter asked tentatively.
YES. I CAN FEEL GRENDEL'S COSMIC POWER FLOWING WITHIN OUR VEINS.
"So that's why we can walk through walls now, and conjure heavy weapons and wings," Peter deduced. "But wait... that doesn't make sense. If we absorbed Grendel, why don't we have Riot's immunity to fire and sound? And why can't we transform into a giant dragon?"
Because you rejected my power.
Peter froze. The water cascading over his shoulders suddenly felt like ice.
He was absolutely certain that the voice he just heard didn't belong to Venom. It was the ancient, grinding, tectonic-plate voice of the King in Black.
Peter gripped the shower tiles, his heart hammering. But when he focused his mind, the dark presence was gone. All he heard was Venom happily rambling about their new combat options. Peter didn't fully understand the mechanics of the cosmic power they had just stolen, but he knew one terrifying truth: he now possessed a spark of limitless potential.
THE BEST NEWS IS THAT WE DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE OUR OVERALL STYLE TO USE IT, Venom was saying, completely oblivious to Peter's internal panic. WE CAN NOW FLUIDLY SHIFT BETWEEN THE RED BLUE AND BLACK SUITS DEPENDING ON THE COMBAT ENVIRONMENT! WHEN WE REQUIRE RAW BRUTE STRENGTH, WE DEPLOY THE MUSCULAR, ALL-RED BLUE SPIDER-MAN. WHEN WE REQUIRE PURE SPEED AND STEALTH, WE SHIFT TO THE SLENDER, ALL-BLACK SPIDER-MAN!
Venom paused, waiting for Peter to snarkily ask why he hadn't just used the red form from the beginning. When Peter remained dead silent, the symbiote's tone shifted to a mix of curiosity and concern. DID I FORGET SOMETHING?
"No," Peter whispered, turning off the shower. "It's just... I think I just heard Knull's voice."
IMPOSSIBLE. YOU ARE LIKELY EXPERIENCING AUDITORY HALLUCINATIONS FROM EXHAUSTION.
Peter shook his head. He was certain he wasn't hallucinating. Knull's consciousness was gone, but the throne wasn't. Peter realized that the cosmic key was still sitting right there inside his own mind. If he ever chose to pick it up, it would unlock boundless, god-like power. The terrifying question was: would he ever be desperate enough to pick it up?
Peter dried off, threw on some clean sweatpants and a t-shirt, and walked down the hall to his bedroom.
Gwen was sitting cross-legged on his bed, idly spinning a small, encrypted USB drive between her fingers.
"You know, I'm really glad I don't keep a diary," Peter sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "Otherwise, I'd have to worry about people snooping while I'm in the shower."
"Please. I would never read someone else's diary," Gwen smirked, tossing the USB drive to Peter. He caught it effortlessly. "Senior Felicia gave this to me. She said it contains new, heavily encrypted evidence against Wilson Fisk. She mentioned I could give it to my dad or pass it to you, but considering the alien apocalypse, I figured you were the better bet."
Peter looked at the sleek silver drive. "Ha. That's weird."
"What's weird?" Gwen asked, her brow furrowing. "Do you think she's hiding something?"
"Definitely," Peter nodded, walking over to his desk. "The Defenders have been actively building a massive case against the Kingpin all year. Felicia knows them personally. There is absolutely no logical reason for her to bypass the street-level heroes and bring this directly to me. This isn't just about the evidence. It's a coded message. She's either tipping me off to a massive discovery... or she's warning me to back off."
Gwen gave him a strange look. "Your method of communicating with that girl is really... weird."
"Rule number one: never try to figure out how a cat thinks. You'll just give yourself a migraine," Peter joked, pocketing the drive. He changed the subject. "So, is Uncle George still out there?"
"Of course," Gwen sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. "He has an entire ruined city to police, so his daughter has to take a backseat for a few days."
She masked it as a casual complaint, but Peter could hear the deep helplessness in her voice. Gwen desperately wanted to help her city, but in a world of alien gods and super-soldiers, she was just an ordinary high school student. What could Gwen Stacy possibly do?
"Hey," Peter said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. "I actually had something I wanted to ask you about."
Gwen looked up.
"Midtown Tech is organizing a special field trip later this month," Peter explained, a small smile returning to his face. "A visit to the Arecibo Observatory telescope in Puerto Rico. To qualify, you just have to pass a quick science quiz. I already looked at the syllabus; the questions are incredibly easy for someone like you."
Gwen's eyes lit up slightly. "Are you asking me to come with you?"
"Well, I'm hoping you'll say yes," Peter grinned. "But you'll have to clear the dates with the Captain. The flight leaves on Monday, November 12th. We'd be in Puerto Rico for the week, flying back on Friday afternoon."