Chapter 199: Despair Is Your Fate
Right before Tobey-Peter could get a word of introduction out, Holland-Peter — fully restored now that May was fine — snapped back into himself. The chatty, motor-mouthed kid was suddenly very much back online, like the entire ordeal had just been a minor speed bump.
"Okay, seriously — who are you?" he asked, equal parts curious and grateful. "I really do appreciate you saving May. That part's not a joke to me." He pointed. "But that doesn't mean you get to mess around — especially not with the Peter Parker, Spider-Man bit. I'm the only Peter Parker Spider-Man, you know."
Tobey-Peter opened his mouth to push back on that — and Holland-Peter clapped his hands together, lighting up.
"Wait! I got it!" he said. "You're a fan, right? This is cosplay!"
Tobey-Peter blinked, briefly knocked off balance by the energy of it.
He laughed, a little awkward. "I'm — actually Peter Parker. I'm Spider-Man too. You're not the only one. There's actually another one I ran into a couple days ago — same name and everything. That's probably why they all mixed you two up."
Holland-Peter stared at him, deeply unconvinced. He scratched his head, grinning. "Come on, man. That bit doesn't land. Though — credit where it's due, you committed to the backstory."
May, watching all of this play out, had a steadily growing look of concern on her face. She glanced between the two boys.
Is something wrong with the one who just saved my life? Why does he keep insisting he's "Peter Parker"? Is this some kind of delusion?
Tobey-Peter sighed, seeing he hadn't landed it yet, and tried again, slower this time.
"I'm not your universe's Peter Parker. I'm here on behalf of someone named Ethan — Ethan Cross. He sent me to clean up the people who crossed into your universe. The ones you'd call villains. I was tracking them down when I ran into you."
The second the name "Ethan" left his mouth, something changed in Holland-Peter's face entirely.
His eyes went wide, almost glassy. That name — he hadn't heard it spoken out loud in a long, long time. For a second he genuinely thought he'd misheard.
"Wait." His voice cracked slightly. "You said you know Mr. Cross? He's your — your master?"
Tobey-Peter's surprise mirrored his own. "Wait, you know Ethan too? Does your universe have a Master Ethan as well?"
It didn't strike him as strange. There were already this many Peter Parkers running around — why not a version of Ethan in every universe too? Some greater Ethan-shaped constant across the multiverse.
It seemed like this universe's Peter knew this universe's Ethan, and held him in real, deep regard. Tobey-Peter found himself nodding along internally. Of course. A man like Ethan would turn out remarkable in any universe. That kind of quality didn't depend on which timeline you found it in.
When will I be someone like that, he thought, with the particular intensity of someone whose hero-worship had crossed several lines into outright devotion.
Holland-Peter shook his head fast. "No — no, no. There's no Ethan in our universe. The Mr. Cross I know — he came from somewhere else. I have no idea if he's the same person you're talking about."
He kept going anyway, clearly happy for the excuse to talk about him.
"He's just — completely unshakeable. No matter what's happening, he handles it like it's nothing. He seems to know everything. Science, philosophy, magic — none of it ever stumps him."
"And what he can actually do — it's insane. Lightning, chaos magic, portals, all of it, like it's effortless. He's basically a superhero who can do anything."
"We only beat Thanos because of him. He's the best hero I've ever met. Not close."
There was real reverence in his eyes — admiration tangled up with something almost like grief, like he was talking about someone he missed badly.
"And the thing is," he went on, "he never once called himself a hero. He always insisted he was just some normal guy."
"Exactly!" Tobey-Peter burst out, delight crashing over his face. He'd found someone who actually understood — someone who got it. He stared at Holland-Peter like he'd just discovered a long-lost kindred spirit.
Any lingering doubt vanished. This had to be the same Ethan. Had to be his master.
In Tobey-Peter's mind, Ethan was something close to a force of nature — mysterious, near-omnipotent, beyond ordinary explanation. The idea that he existed across universes, equally legendary everywhere, didn't strike him as strange at all. If anything it felt inevitable.
"The Ethan you're describing," Tobey-Peter said, already moving to share his own stack of reverent memories, "that's my—"
His Spider-Sense screamed.
He didn't finish the sentence. His body moved on instinct, rolling clean out of the path of a sniper round from above. It buried itself in the wall behind him with a deafening crack.
"Two Peter Parkers," Kraven said, eyes gleaming as he took in the matching costumes. "Now this is exciting."
"I told you we didn't need to leave," Electro snapped, impatient, already itching to test his new power out properly. He surged forward at both Peters at once, hands already crackling.
The Goblin, meanwhile, had locked eyes on May. "Two Peters now — wonderful. And here I thought May survived. Guess I'll just have to do it again."
He banked toward her, ready to strike.
Someone got in the way first.
A figure in a matching Goblin mask dropped between him and May, voice steady despite the tremor underneath it.
"Your fight's with me, Goblin."
Harry. Standing his ground in front of May.
The Goblin laughed when he saw the suit. "Well, well. My idiot son. You really think you can beat me? Don't forget — I'm the one who built that suit. Every piece of it."
Harry didn't flinch.
He pulled off the Goblin helmet, dropped it, and clipped a belt around his waist instead. His thumb found the memory unit on the buckle.
"Henshin!"
Somewhere distant, an engine roared to life — building, gathering, something massive coalescing out of nowhere.
The Goblin's confidence faltered as the light wrapped around Harry, and when it cleared, he was standing there as a knight clad head to toe in red.
Kamen Rider Accel — entering the fray!
"Despair," Harry said, "is what's waiting for you."
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