Chapter 197: A God Doesn't Choose — He Takes Everything
The Illuminati? My universe should only have the Avengers — when did an Illuminati show up there too?
Ethan turned it over in his head, frowning. And who was this "world-breaker"? Was it someone he actually knew? Was it Ming — the rider senior from before? Kamen Rider Decade's old archenemy?
But that didn't track either. This was Marvel territory, not the Kamen Rider multiverse.
Then again — he remembered something. As long as a world carried Rider Power, Ming could cross into it through his Laser Curtain, no matter which franchise it technically belonged to.
And "beloved wife" — that had to mean Lady Kaitou. The thief.
But why would either of them be part of the Illuminati? That made no sense on its face.
Ethan didn't have an answer. What he did know was that the next time he ran into his old senior, he was going to give the man a very thorough "welcome." Ming had always had a soft spot for every junior Rider that came after him — fine. Apparently that affection ran deep enough to follow Ethan across an entire multiverse uninvited.
There was something else nagging at him, too — something about the system's behavior just now, right after he'd met this universe's Strange.
「DING!」
「Congratulations, Host! Doctor Stephen Strange has been added as a friend!」
Then a new panel had popped up, one he hadn't seen before.
[ Doctor Stephen Strange (★★★★★ Friendship Level) — SEALED ]
Ethan stared at it. "System. Explain."
The system answered: "Host. This friend was met by you at two different points along the same universe's timeline. Full unlock only occurs at the point of first contact. Friendship levels and Family Points associated with this contact can only be claimed at the earliest meeting."
That clarified things fast.
So this was the system closing a loophole — making sure he couldn't double-dip on a relationship his future self had already cultivated. He'd briefly entertained the idea of farming the same person twice across two different points in his own timeline, and apparently the system had thought of that before he did.
Which meant the Tony in this universe was also off the table as a fresh source of friendship points — his future self had presumably already claimed it. Still, he was curious enough to want to see the man in person regardless.
The villains, meanwhile, he could leave to his students.
Back across town, Holland-Peter had finally clawed his way out of the Mirror Dimension and gone straight to find Ned and MJ — the two people in this universe he trusted most. He handed off the strange little box for safekeeping.
Then he brought the captured villains home, planning to use Tony's old fabricator to figure out a fix for each of them.
He tried calling Tony first, on the off chance. The line just rang and rang into nothing.
He started with Otto. Turned out the problem was a fried control chip — the device meant to keep his arms under his control had failed, and the arms had ended up controlling him instead. With the fabricator's help, Peter built a replacement chip fast, hands shaking slightly as he installed it.
He watched, breath held, as the voice in Otto's head went quiet and the man's expression shifted back into something calm and almost gentle.
Otto looked at him with genuine gratitude and handed back his torn-up nanotech suit.
Peter was already turning to the Lizard problem when his Spider-Sense went off.
He spun around. Green Goblin. Electro. Several of the others — somehow already inside his apartment.
Fury and confusion hit him at once. Someone had to have tipped them off.
He scanned the room, eyes narrowing on Sandman.
He was the only one who'd never left Peter's sight the whole time — but sand traveled. Sand could carry a message somewhere Peter couldn't see.
"It was you," Peter said, voice shaking with anger. "You told them. Why?"
He didn't understand. He'd been trying to fix this. Trying to give them all a way back to being normal people. Why would anyone sabotage that?
"You actually thought we wanted to be saved?" Sandman said, face blank.
The Goblin laughed, delighted and cruel. "You really thought any of us wanted to go back to normal? You cure us, the powers go too. And then what are we? The same losers we were before any of this. We're not interested in giving that up. We were born to rule. Why would we throw that away?"
Something cold settled in Peter's chest as he listened. He was starting to understand — too late — that he'd badly underestimated who he was dealing with. These weren't tragic figures waiting for a second chance. They had real power, and twisted values to match, and they liked exactly who they'd become.
"A god doesn't choose," the Goblin said, voice rising into something manic. "A god takes everything. And that's what we are now. Gods."
He threw his head back and laughed.
"Little spider," Kraven said, eyes hungry, "we're not going back. Be a good little prey animal."
Vulture, somewhere above them, sounded almost rapturous. "We don't want to be normal. Flying like this — this is everything I've ever wanted. Nobody's grounding me again."
Peter listened to all of it and felt something collapse inside him.
These people were lost in their own obsessions, completely beyond reaching. He'd thought kindness could fix this. He'd genuinely believed that if he just tried hard enough, they'd want to come back.
He understood now, with a sick kind of clarity, exactly how naive that had been. He'd let his own compassion blind him to what was actually standing in front of him.
Strange was right.
While he was still drowning in that realization, Electro moved. Fast. He snatched the arc reactor — sitting unused on the workbench since their last attempt at fixing things — right out from under him.
"The arc reactor. Iron Man's own tech." Electro turned it over in his hands, eyes bright with greed. "Never thought I'd get my hands on one of these in any universe."
"Thanks for the assist, Peter. Should've known — every version of you is exactly this soft." He smiled, slow and cold. "Tell you what. As a reward for all your hard work — I'll let you die with dignity."
He pressed the arc reactor against his own chest.
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