"Kid, are you okay? You don't seem to be in a good place."
Steven slowly sat down beside Peter. His expression was gentle, though there was still a trace of the timidness that defined him.
"When I was your age, I had plenty of problems too. I got bullied at school, the girls I liked laughed at me, and my grades weren't exactly impressive..."
He draped an arm over Peter's shoulders and spoke with quiet sincerity.
"But those things pass. In the grand scheme of your life, they're just small bumps in the road. You wake up the next day, and eventually they become memories."
He offered a faint smile.
"You're Spider-Man."
"Just like Mark," Steven continued. "He's always been able to do the things I couldn't."
Thinking of his other personality, Steven couldn't help smiling bitterly.
Mark had always been the violent one.
Whenever bullies picked on Steven, Mark would quietly seize control of their shared body and beat them sensibly. The next day, those same bullies would avoid Steven like frightened dogs.
"But... the person who could solve my problems is gone."
Peter buried his hands in his hair, clawing at it helplessly.
He blamed himself for Aunt May's death.
If only he'd noticed sooner.
If only he'd been faster.
If only he'd stayed calmer...
Maybe she would still be alive.
"That's not your fault, kid." Steven's voice softened. "You were a victim too."
Looking at Peter, he saw echoes of his younger self—the lonely student juggling school and work while believing he was completely alone.
All the while, Mark had been hiding inside his mind, watching everything.
That bastard...
Steven silently grumbled.
He'd filled Steven's head with false memories, making him believe they belonged to a normal life.
But now...
Mark wasn't alone anymore.
He had a brother.
"You know..." Steven hesitated. "I used to have a little brother."
His expression suddenly twisted in pain, as though someone inside him desperately wanted him to stop talking.
"When we were kids, he always followed me around... followed Mark."
Peter wasn't surprised.
By now, almost everyone knew Steven struggled with multiple personalities.
"We were together every day," Steven continued quietly. "My mother used to watch us play. She always smiled. She trusted us."
His breathing became uneven.
"And I betrayed that trust."
Steven grabbed his head.
The memory was agonizing.
It was also the reason he existed.
"One day, after a heavy rain, I took him into a cave."
"I wasn't trying to hurt him. I just thought it looked interesting."
"I knew it was dangerous... but I still went."
His voice trembled.
"I brought him inside."
"The rainwater poured in..."
"I..."
"I couldn't hold onto him."
"He was swept away."
Steven couldn't continue.
Whether Mark was resisting the memory or the pain was simply too much, the story ended there.
"...Thank you."
Peter spoke softly.
He understood.
Steven had shared one of the deepest wounds in his life simply to comfort him.
Peter appreciated it.
He'd been too young to fully understand Uncle Ben's death. Aunt May's love had carried him through that grief and allowed him to keep smiling.
But now...
She was gone too.
The memory refused to leave him.
A knife had opened a deep wound across her neck.
Blood had poured endlessly onto the floor.
The light faded from her eyes.
Peter couldn't bear to remember it.
He curled into himself like a frightened cat, instinctively seeking whatever little sense of safety he could find.
Steven sighed.
The loss of family had wounded this kind-hearted boy far more deeply than words could reach.
Children like him...
They shouldn't have to endure this.
Steven looked around the quiet square.
There weren't many people left outside.
A dozen or so survivors leaned silently against walls or sat alone on the ground.
Baxter Base's network still functioned perfectly.
In one corner, Blade—Eric Brooks—sat expressionlessly watching The Vampire Diaries and another vampire film. To him, those stories were mostly ridiculous, though a few details weren't entirely wrong.
Vampires really did possess incredible speed, long lives, and an insatiable thirst for human blood.
There were many lonely people here.
Most had lost family or close friends.
Now they survived beneath the earth, hiding from the red mist spreading across the world above.
Steven let out another quiet sigh.
The confidence these heroes once carried had been shattered.
Like a priceless porcelain vase smashed across the floor.
Even if someone painstakingly glued every piece back together...
It would never truly be the same.
He wasn't good at comforting people.
All he could do was tell them stories even sadder than their own, hoping it somehow eased the burden.
It was a foolish approach.
Still...
Mark's method probably wouldn't be any better.
He'd likely just yell insults until the poor kid became even more confused.
Compared to comforting children...
Even dealing with Khonshu felt easier.
Gods were strange beings.
Cunning in some ways.
Simple-minded in others.
They would strip every ounce of usefulness from a person, grant incredible power without hesitation, then care very little about the consequences—or whether their chosen avatar survived.
Steven thought about the two Asgardian gods he'd met.
Were all gods this stubborn and arrogant?
Maybe.
After all, it took a special kind of confidence to lose a fight to a pig.
A thought suddenly crossed his mind.
What if every supernatural power in the world ultimately traced back to some god?
The more he considered it, the more reasonable it seemed.
His own abilities came from Khonshu.
Ghost Rider's power was tied to Mephisto.
Blade's existence was inseparable from Dracula.
Even mutants had legends surrounding Apocalypse.
Throughout history, humans had worshipped many of these beings as gods or devils.
They had always influenced Earth from the shadows.
Perhaps they had never truly conquered the planet...
But very little escaped their notice.
Maybe Spider-Man had a spider god watching over him.
Steven nodded thoughtfully.
That explanation honestly sounded more believable than gaining superpowers from a radioactive spider.
It was almost as ridiculous as becoming Superman after drinking a can of soda.
Night settled over Baxter Base.
Moonlight filtered through the deep cracks above, spilling into the underground refuge.
Steven found a patch of silver light and sat cross-legged beneath it.
The pale glow soaked into every cell of his body.
Once, he had barely cared about moonlight.
Now...
Everything was different.
"...Sigh."
He shook his head helplessly.
The order of things had changed.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
A shrill alarm suddenly shattered the silence.
Red warning lights flashed throughout the base, bathing everyone's faces in a pulsing crimson glow.
"What happened?"
The question appeared on nearly every face.
But some people sensed danger before anyone else.
Peter's spider-sense exploded into a violent warning moments before the alarm sounded.
His grief vanished instantly.
He rolled to his feet in one fluid motion, body instinctively settling into a fighting stance as his eyes scanned every direction for the source of the threat.
Steven stiffened in panic.
Situations like this had never been his strength.
Mark...
He desperately called for his other self.
Please...
"You coward."
Mark's voice echoed inside his head with open contempt.
"So this is all I am to you?"
Resentment still lingered from Steven dredging up those painful memories earlier.
"Come on! We're in danger!" Steven pleaded. "I'm not cut out for this! Please!"
This time...
Mark answered.
Control shifted instantly.
Steven's frightened eyes hardened into a predator's glare.
Years as a mercenary had sharpened Mark's instincts until they rivaled Peter's spider-sense.
Both men identified the source of the disturbance almost simultaneously.
Boom!
Wong came flying through a doorway.
His large body bounced across the floor before coming to a stop, unconscious.
A towering figure burst through the shattered wall behind him.
Like an enraged Tyrannosaurus, the giant let out a savage roar.
Long brown hair hung wildly around his shoulders.
His bloodshot eyes swept across everyone present with the gaze of a hunting beast.
Very few superheroes still remembered what it felt like to become prey.
Their powers let them overcome tigers, lions, and monsters alike.
Yet now...
That instinctive sense of danger returned.
"Balder?!" Mark cursed. "Has this alien completely lost his mind?"
"It's the red mist!" Peter shouted immediately.
"It corrupted him!"
The crimson in Balder's eyes was unmistakable.
Peter had seen that madness before.
It looked exactly like someone who had gone days without sleep, their mind collapsing under endless exhaustion.
He and Ned had once stayed awake through entire holiday weekends playing video games. By the end, their eyes had looked almost as bad.
Peter smiled bitterly at the memory.
Despite their completely different backgrounds, they'd somehow become inseparable friends.
Spider-Man instantly entered combat.
At almost the same moment, Mark completed his transformation.
Moon Knight had arrived.
The others resting nearby immediately surrounded Balder.
Blade drew the sword from his back.
It had tasted vampire blood countless times.
Perhaps...
Tonight it would taste the blood of a god.
Eric Brooks remained expressionless behind his sunglasses.
To him, this was simply another hunt.
With more than a dozen heroes closing in—including fighters like Moon Knight and Blade—the pressure was overwhelming.
Against most enemies...
It would have been enough.
But Balder was still a god.
As the new king of Asgard, his raw power surpassed every living Asgardian.
Even stripped of his twin swords, over two thousand years of combat experience remained engraved into his instincts.
Combined with the overwhelming physique of an Asgardian deity...
He was an extraordinary warrior.
Like the highest-ranked player in an online game.
Unfortunately...
He'd been driven mad by chaos itself.
Balder threw a punch, knocking White Tiger out of the air.
His arms erupted with brilliant white light as he drove a second blow toward Blade.
Blade was half vampire.
Though sunlight no longer harmed him, vampire blood still flowed through his veins.
Against the God of Light...
That became a fatal weakness.
Balder's title had never been just for show.
Blade was blasted backward.
Burn marks spread rapidly across his body as if paper were being consumed by fire.
"I've got him!"
Spider-Man leaped behind Balder with effortless agility.
Webbing shot from his wrists, binding the god's arms.
"I got him!"
Mark seized the opening.
His crescent dart slashed across Balder's chest.
Moon Knight's divine power clashed directly against an Asgardian's.
"RAAAAH!"
Balder roared in pain.
Blood splattered across his chest.
The attack had worked.
Enraged, the last traces of reason vanished beneath the chaos consuming his mind.
He exploded with full strength.
Spider-Man ranked among Earth's strongest heroes.
His raw physical strength bordered on the Hulk's.
Yet...
Even that wasn't enough.
Balder violently jerked both arms.
The enormous force hurled Peter skyward.
He slammed into the ceiling hard enough to shatter his web lines.
Mark barely had time to react.
Boom!
Moon Knight crashed through a wall.
Balder's blazing white light drove him across the floor, carving a deep trench through the reinforced concrete.
"Hey, big guy!"
Even now, Peter couldn't resist talking.
"Didn't your mother teach you not to bully people?"
He swung in and planted a kick squarely across Balder's face.
"...What?"
Peter's eyes widened.
Balder hadn't moved an inch.
The god slowly turned his head and smiled.
A feral, terrifying smile.
Before Peter could react, an iron grip closed around his ankle.
His vision blurred.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Like the Hulk smashing Loki against the floor, Balder repeatedly slammed Spider-Man into the ground.
Peter lacked an Asgardian's durability.
After only a few devastating impacts...
He lost consciousness.
Balder casually tossed the limp body aside.
Then he searched for his next target.
"Hey!"
He turned.
A man in a spotless white suit waved at him.
"I must be insane..."
Steven's legs trembled so badly he nearly lost control of his bladder.
"Mark!"
He screamed inside his own mind.
"You'd better wake up!"
No answer came.
"...Fine."
Steven gritted his teeth.
"If you're not coming, then I'll do it myself. Stay asleep forever for all I care."
His fear remained.
But so did his resolve.
The gentleman of the moon drew his twin batons.
With a shout that was equal parts terror and determination...
He charged straight at Balder.
__________________________________________
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