"A Spider-Man whose origin is tied to the magical side..."
Faced with this query, even Miguel felt a wave of perplexity. His first instinct was Spider-Man Noir, but after listening to Peter's account regarding Doctor Strange, he realized Peter was specifically referring to "a Spider-Man whose origin correlates with Strange." He was surprised to discover upon checking that there was absolutely no relevant news or record matching that description.
"So you mean we should first locate a Spider-Man with a similar origin, and then seek out his variants? Furthermore, this origin must involve the Sorcerer Supreme himself, which would make it easier for you to investigate the related incidents..."
Miguel pondered for a moment before pulling up a registry. As the list expanded, Miguel noticed a genuinely severe issue: despite having explored so many universes, the Spider-Society did not actually possess a single variant of Doctor Strange mutated by a spider, let alone a proper sorcerer Spider-Man.
That was, of course, if one excluded the half-baked sorcerer from Earth-616.
Miguel began operating the console, prompting Gwen to lean in curiously next to Peter. "What is he doing?"
"I figure he's scanning the records, searching through known Spider-Man intel for concurrent appearances of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange to find a matching universe." Peter rubbed his chin as he spoke. He actually knew of such a universe—specifically the universe from the animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. In that world, Peter Parker became Spider-Man precisely because of a time loop initiated by Strange.
The problem, however, was that he didn't know the exact designation of that universe, though he remembered a few specific details.
"I have a few keywords from a dream I had. See if they can help you out. It's something like... Midtown High School being destroyed, and Strange was present during that battle."
Upon hearing this, the other three turned their eyes toward Peter. The reason was simple: four out of the five individuals present were students of Midtown High. Hearing this line, Jessica couldn't help but marvel, "Should I feel fortunate that nothing catastrophic has happened to our school so far?"
Cindy glanced at Jessica, leaving Jessica a bit puzzled, while Gwen chimed in from the side, "Didn't Harry get kidnapped once? A wall even got smashed to pieces."
"Wasn't that just a single wall? It wasn't even a load-bearing wall."
"Why do I get the feeling you sound a bit disappointed about that, Senior?"
Jessica shrugged and replied to Gwen, "Come on, it's school. Don't tell me you guys have never wished for the school to get blown up at least once?"
Hearing this, everyone found themselves momentarily at a loss for words. It wasn't until Cindy seemed to recall something that she added, "If the school gets blown up, I don't think they refund the tuition..."
"You sure have a calm way of looking at things, Moon."
"Found it. Earth-86445, a divergent timeline of Earth-199999. The divergence occurred in 2016 when Midtown High was destroyed due to a battle between Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Oscorp Technologies... What kind of mess is this? How did a battle involving Oscorp Technologies end up destroying Midtown High? Did New York get nuked?"
Miguel was completely baffled by the entry. Peter, however, simply shrugged. "Most likely because Strange accidentally opened a portal, causing the battlefield to get dropped right onto Midtown High."
"But this isn't an origin story. This is just two people fighting side by side."
Miguel's supercomputer wasn't omniscient. It couldn't monitor every universe in existence; it merely aggregated data from universes that Spider-Society field agents had visited and documented.
Not every Spider-Man was invited to join the Spider-Society. To prevent inexperienced Spider-Men from learning certain truths prematurely—which could disrupt their crucial growth—and to safeguard against unpredictable anomalies in the Web of Life and Destiny, Miguel was exceptionally cautious about inducting new Spider-Men into the Society.
Currently, one of the known triggers for a multiversal anomaly was when a Spider-Man from an alternate universe took charge of a core event belonging to a native Spider-Man. In other words, a foreign Spider-Man replacing the native Spider-Man in a canon event would spark a catastrophic chain reaction. Rookie Spider-Men were the most prone to blurring the line between "helping out" and "interfering."
Of course, the Patriarch was an exception. He had thoroughly thrashed Symbiote Spider-Man in the Web of Shadows universe and forcibly ripped the symbiote off him without causing any apparent issues. The Web of Destiny treated all Spider-Men equally, yet some were clearly more equal than others.
"Wait, I see it now. Peter Parker became Spider-Man on the very day Midtown High was destroyed. He went on to accept funding from Norman Osborn, and his blood was extracted to engineer a mutant spider. Later, Osborn attempted to open a portal leading into deep space, but accidentally directed the gateway to Klyntar... Strange arrived to assist, fighting alongside Spider-Man, which unexpectedly triggered a portal leading into the past."
Consequently, that mutant spider created from Peter Parker's blood slipped through the portal into the past, biting a younger Peter Parker on his way to school, thereby turning him into the Spider-Man of that universe.
This origin story incorporated elements of coincidence, magic, and causal loops, yet it maintained a core scientific foundation. Miguel wasn't entirely certain if this universe met their criteria, but they would find out soon enough.
"If someone is planning to prevent this entire timeline from coming into being, they could simultaneously strike from two different angles. One would be to stop the Peter Parker of that universe from getting bitten in the past, and the other would be to travel to the future to stop Strange from opening that portal."
As Miguel spoke, he shifted his gaze toward Peter and the others. "In other words, if the four of you intend to investigate this without calling in reinforcements, you'll need to split into two teams."
Peter contemplated the strategy before shaking his head. They didn't need any more help; a higher head count only increased the probability of triggering an anomaly. He then looked at his teammates. "Alright, everyone heard the plan. We're splitting into two groups. I intend to head to the future to see if Strange and the others run into any enemies. After all, Miguel mentioned that almost all related Sorcerers Supreme have been assassinated. So, who's coming with me..."
Peter watched as Cindy and Gwen practically leaped to his side at the exact same moment. He then glanced at Jessica. His senior offered a smiling expression that said don't mind me. "Then I guess I'll head into the past. Haha, wish you guys a successful mission."
Miguel added, "I'll tag along with you just in case. We still have no idea who our enemy is."
As he spoke, Miguel began calibrating his wristwatch. "Based on the laws of temporal displacement, we can enter any specific point in time within that universe, rather than a point relative to our present. But remember, our interference can trigger a multiversal divergence at any moment. If that happens, the wristwatch will sound an alarm. When that occurs, no matter what is happening, abort the mission immediately."