Chapter 190: Dimensional Watch Acquired
Ethan's first thought, watching the notifications stack up, was simple: the Society already knew. They knew about Uncle Ben. They knew about George Stacy.
He flew back to the villa. The moment he walked through the door, he felt it — the air had changed.
Everyone was looking at him. Serious. Worried.
Gwen broke first, eyes down. "Ethan — I'm sorry. I told Mr. O'Hara. About you."
Tobey-Peter had a more pressing question. "Master — is it true? Does saving Uncle Ben really put our whole universe at risk?"
There was real anxiety in his voice. The idea that his own existence might have put his world in danger clearly hadn't occurred to him until just now.
Garfield-Peter had momentarily forgotten about the apprenticeship rejection entirely; he was watching Ethan just as closely, hoping for an answer of his own.
Harry, predictably, skipped straight to outrage on his friend's behalf. "Why does it work like that? Peter doesn't get to have family? Is that just the rule — superheroes have to be alone forever?"
"Relax," Ethan said, without elaborating further. "I've got this. Nothing's going to happen as long as I'm around."
Then he shifted gears. "Anyway. It's late. Get some sleep. I picked up on some kind of multiverse disturbance earlier — something might go down tomorrow, so everyone needs to be sharp."
He hadn't actually noticed anything wrong with this particular universe. But the Space Stone made him unusually sensitive to spatial disturbances, and something out there had moved. Whatever it was hadn't fully surfaced yet. Better to have everyone braced for it regardless.
Tobey-Peter believed him without hesitation. Two months had passed in his own universe since Uncle Ben's rescue. Nothing had gone wrong. Uncle Ben was alive and well. That was proof enough.
Harry, for his part, had stopped questioning Ethan's calls entirely sometime after becoming his student. If Ethan said it was fine, it was fine. Simple as that. He trusted Ethan, and by extension he trusted that Peter would be okay.
Garfield-Peter had a list of questions he badly wanted to ask, but he knew this wasn't the moment. He and Ethan barely knew each other, and Ethan had already saved his father-in-law. Pushing for more felt like overreaching. He filed the questions away.
Tobey-Peter had quietly told him: behave well, and Ethan's approval might follow. That was something to hold onto.
The three of them headed off toward their rooms.
As Garfield-Peter passed him in the hall, Ethan suddenly remembered something and stopped him.
"One thing. If Gwen's ever in danger — don't use your webbing to save her. Whatever happens, hold onto her. Physically. Grab her and don't let go."
Garfield-Peter froze.
Is something going to happen to Gwen?
He'd already made up his mind, after talking to George, to keep his distance from her — and after hearing about the whole "Spider-Man's love interests don't survive" thing, he'd been trying to brace himself for the inevitable. Was Ethan telling him it was going to happen again? That he was going to lose her too?
Ethan clearly read every bit of that hesitation on his face. He put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't overthink it. If you want to love her, love her. Just get stronger. And if you run into trouble you can't handle — come find me."
Ethan wasn't more than a few years older than him, if that. And yet here he was, sounding like somebody's father.
The truth was, Ethan had a genuine distaste for the whole concept of narrative "fate" — for the way writers in his old life had built these heroes by grinding down everyone around them, as if growth only counted if it came soaked in grief. Every version of Spider-Man he'd ever known, in his old life, had been miserable in some fundamental way. He wasn't trying to be a saint about it. He just didn't buy the premise. Killing someone off was the fast, cheap way to manufacture growth — but cheap didn't mean necessary. He thought he could raise better Spider-Men than that.
Garfield-Peter left.
That left Ethan and Gwen alone in the big, empty living room.
"What, not heading to bed?" Ethan asked. "Or are you stalling on reporting back to base?"
His actual motive in pulling Gwen into this whole mess had been simpler than any of that — he'd wanted to see if she and Tobey-Peter clicked. Tobey's MJ, frankly, had some toxic streak to her, and this universe's Gwen had apparently fallen for that kid Miles instead. Ethan figured it was worth seeing whether the chemistry was there between Gwen and Tobey. The rest would be up to Tobey.
"I'm leaving tomorrow," Gwen said carefully. "Mr. O'Hara is probably coming in the morning. He wants to meet you."
Ethan understood immediately — she'd been assigned to babysit him. Make sure he didn't vanish before Miguel got here.
"It's fine," he said. "Go sleep. You look tired."
Gwen's face went faintly red. She knew he'd seen through the whole arrangement instantly. She didn't push it further. She nodded and turned to leave.
But right at the doorway, she stopped. Turned back.
"Mr. Ethan — you know saving them puts the whole universe at risk. So why did you do it anyway? You don't even know them."
It was the question that had been sitting in her chest since the moment she'd learned the truth. Ethan seemed rational. Controlled. Not the type to gamble with something this big. So why?
Ethan looked at her, and something cooler than usual settled into his expression.
"What's the end of the world to me?" he said. "I just need my own family to live. That's all I care about."
He let that sit for a second, then went on. "Besides — I don't actually think the universe is going to collapse just because I saved one person. You Spider-People are too scared of your own shadows. Always worrying about this, worrying about that, and somewhere along the way you forgot the only thing that actually matters. Family. Their lives. Their happiness."
Gwen stood there, stunned.
She had not expected that. Had not expected him to talk about the end of the world with that kind of flatness, to put one family's happiness above the fate of entire universes without so much as a flicker of doubt.
It scared her a little. For a second, he sounded exactly like the kind of person she'd been trained to stop.
"Anyway," Ethan said, already turning away, "if you're not going to sleep, I am."
He walked off without looking back.
Gwen stood there a long moment, watching the space where he'd been. She didn't know what to make of him — what he believed, what he was capable of, whether any of it should worry her as much as it did.
But before she turned to go, she said it anyway.
"Thank you, Mr. Ethan."
She still didn't understand his reasons. But she meant it.
「DING!」
「Congratulations, Host! Gwen Stacy has been added as a friend!」
「Congratulations, Host! Dimensional Watch acquired!」
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you