Chapter 201: Assemble Time to Raid
Ethan had already recognized the new arrival as Garfield-Peter. But Tony had the wrong idea entirely — this one wasn't Ethan's doing, this one was Strange's mess to own.
He hadn't expected Garfield-Peter to end up in this universe at all, let alone that he'd bring his girlfriend along.
Down at the base of the statue, Ned leaned through the portal and let out an excited shout: "Peter! I'm here to help!"
Three heads turned simultaneously.
Ned froze. Looked between them. "I meant — my Peter! The one I know!"
"That's me, that's me," Holland-Peter called out from mid-dodge, briefly pointing at himself before ducking under a thrown piece of architecture.
Tobey-Peter had already spotted Garfield-Peter and blinked in genuine surprise. He hadn't expected to see him here — they'd just met in Earth-42 barely hours ago. "How'd you get here? And you brought your girlfriend?"
"We can catch up after," Garfield-Peter said, already moving. "Let me help first."
He launched himself straight at the Lizard — his own old enemy — and then at Electro, and the conversation ended there.
"Three Spider-Men," MJ said, watching it unfold from behind the portal. "Three. Spider-Men."
Gwen nodded beside her, something clicking into place. She'd thought Garfield-Peter was making it up. She'd wondered whether the whole "another universe saved my father" story was just an elaborate excuse to create distance between them. Standing here now, watching three separate people in Spider-Man suits fight side by side — she couldn't exactly maintain the skepticism.
He'd already told her everything, after she got back from reporting to Miguel. And now here it was, happening in front of her.
Ned surveyed the scene with great satisfaction.
"This is all because of me, by the way," he announced to no one in particular.
Ten minutes earlier:
MJ and Ned had been glued to the television, watching footage of the explosion at Holland-Peter's apartment with steadily mounting dread. Phone calls to Peter went nowhere — straight to "unable to connect," over and over.
Electro's interference had knocked Peter's comms offline. He was in the middle of it, cut off, no way through.
Then Ned remembered the Sling Ring.
Strange had put it in his hands — Peter had handed it off to him through the portal before vanishing. Ned slid it onto his finger, thought hard about the motion he'd watched Strange use, and traced a circle in the air.
A gold portal opened in front of them.
They stared at it for a second. It worked.
Ned stepped up and called into it: "I'm looking for Peter Parker! Peter Parker!"
The portal shimmered — and on the other side stood a Spider-Man and a girl holding his hand.
"Who are you?" MJ asked immediately.
"I'm Peter Parker," Garfield-Peter said.
MJ looked at Ned. "That's not possible."
"He really is Peter Parker," Gwen said, from his side. "I can vouch for that."
Just — not the one they were looking for.
Ned tried again. Second circle, second portal. This one opened directly onto the Statue of Liberty platform, and there was Holland-Peter mid-battle with Vulture and Kraven bearing down on him.
MJ and Ned were already moving.
Garfield-Peter spotted Tobey-Peter through the new portal and didn't hesitate. He turned to Gwen. "I'm going in. Stay here."
She shook her head before he'd finished the sentence. "I'm coming. I won't slow you down."
She took his hand.
They stepped through together.
Three-Spider frame: complete.
The only one without someone cheering him on from the sidelines was, of course, Tobey-Peter — still the only single man on the battlefield, fighting without an audience, deeply unfazed by this.
"Okay, raid time!" Holland-Peter called out, already in motion.
"We should all have callsigns, otherwise this is going to get confusing fast. I'm Spider-Man One!"
"Then I'm Spider-Man Two!"
"I don't really mind. Three works for me."
The battle hit full intensity all at once — all three Peters and Harry in motion, the Six responding in kind, impact and energy and chaos layered across the face of the statue.
Gwen kept her eyes on Garfield-Peter, hands tight together, trying to look calm about it. She wasn't entirely succeeding.
MJ watched everything, refusing to blink. She wasn't going to miss a second of this.
Ned screamed encouragement at a volume that was probably heard several blocks away.
The first one to close out a fight was Tobey-Peter.
With Garfield-Peter pulling the Lizard away, Sandman became a two-on-one and then a one-on-one — and Tobey-Peter knew this version of Sandman inside and out. Family member back home. He'd trained against him enough times to see every attack coming before it arrived.
He wrapped it up fast and clean, and was already turning to find the next fight when something huge and metal whipped out of his peripheral vision.
He ducked. Mechanical tentacle, moving fast — not a glancing hit, a deliberate strike.
He traced it back.
A man in a black jacket and sunglasses stood blocking his path.
Tobey-Peter's Spider-Sense had already registered the intent as non-lethal — just enough to notice, not enough to commit to. Something about that read as strange.
He pulled off his mask.
"Dr. Otto?" he said, uncertain.
Obviously this wasn't his Otto — his Otto was home in Hell's Kitchen, teaching classes and guarding the community school. This one was older. But the face was close enough.
"Peter," Otto said.
Just the name. Like he'd been carrying it around for a while and hadn't had a chance to put it down.
Then, more quietly: "How are you?"
Something landed in Tobey-Peter's chest that he hadn't expected. He'd been about to explain the mistaken identity, open his mouth to say I'm not the Peter you're looking for, we've never met —
He didn't.
He wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the way Otto said it. Like the answer actually mattered.
"...Getting better," Tobey-Peter said, eventually. "Working on it."
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