The Terrifying Implications of Peter's Thoughts

Gaining Peter's spider abilities also set Toby's mind racing.

Since he could obtain Peter's abilities, could he perhaps obtain the abilities of other Spider-Men as well?

Normally, each universe only had one Spider-Man.

But that was only normally.

From the moment he intruded into this universe, this universe itself had ceased to be normal. He was destined to change many things that were originally meant to happen here.

Since Peter could become Spider-Man through his interference, could other people do the same?

For example, Ben Parker, who was also Spider-Man in another universe.

And Gwen Stacy, who was Ghost-Spider in another universe.

If Ben and Gwen gained spider abilities through his interference, could he continue obtaining other Spider-Men's abilities by defeating them?

He still had more than a dozen Super Spiders left anyway. Should he give it a try?

Toby was tempted.

But he did not act on impulse.

Since Ben and Richard were biological brothers, Ben might be able to obtain Spider-Man's abilities.

But Gwen from this universe could not.

The Super Spider in this universe had been genetically encrypted with Parker Family genes by Peter's father.

Gwen did not have Parker Family genes. If she was bitten rashly, not only would she fail to become Spider-Man, she might even die from genetic collapse.

Moreover, Toby was not sure whether, aside from himself—the anomalous Spider-Man of this life who had not been bitten by a spider—two or more Spider-Men could exist in the same universe at once.

After all, in the little Black Spider universe, Earth-42's Super Spider had accidentally bitten Miles, causing that universe's original Spider-Man to die.

If he turned Ben into a second Spider-Man, Peter would not die because of it, would he...?

Considering that possibility, Toby ultimately put the idea aside for now.

There were risks involved, so he had to be cautious.

Besides, his stats had suddenly increased by a third across the board. He needed time to consolidate them first.

While Toby was thinking, Peter had recovered some strength thanks to Spider-Man's powerful healing ability and climbed up from the ground.

Toby's acquisition of Peter's spider abilities had not directly absorbed Peter's own abilities. It was more like copying a set of data from Peter and adding it to himself.

So Peter still retained his spider abilities.

But even with his powers, it really hurt!

Peter stood up while holding his waist, yanked off his mask, and complained to Toby, "God, Toby, do you have some kind of grudge against my kidneys? Why did eight out of ten hits land on my lower back?!"

Toby removed his own mask as well and said calmly, "The more injuries you suffer now, the less blood you'll shed in the future."

"According to my research, at least fifty percent of deaths in New York assault cases are caused by attacks from behind."

"And aside from the head and heart, the waist has the highest fatality rate after being struck."

"That's because people instinctively protect the two fatal points—their heads and hearts—while often neglecting the equally vulnerable and deadly waist."

"The reason I kept attacking your waist was to make you adapt early and learn to protect this third fatal weakness."

Toby was not making that up.

Even setting aside ordinary people who died from injuries to the waist, throughout the history of superheroes, there had been plenty who lost the ability to fight after sustaining severe injuries to their waists.

For example, DC's two biggest giants next door: Batman and Superman.

Batman had once had his back broken by Bane.

And Superman had once had his back broken by Batman.

Even Marvel's Spider-Man had suffered back injuries more than once.

For instance, the original Toby version of Spider-Man who shared his name had once fallen from a great height and injured his back during a period when he had lost confidence in himself and was gradually losing his powers, leaving behind a permanent back problem.

In the end, it was only after Garfield Spider-Man put him in a full nelson that Toby Spider-Man's bones were set back into place.

But that adjustment did not last long. During his crossover with Holland Spider-Man, Toby Spider-Man, trying to stop Holland Spider-Man from killing Green Goblin, had his freshly healed back stabbed by Green Goblin.

So Toby had plenty of reason to teach Peter to protect his back.

After all, he did not want Peter to one day clutch his waist and keep crying, "My back, my back"...

After thinking about it, Peter felt that Toby's words made a lot of sense.

So he accepted the explanation and committed to memory the key point of always protecting his waist during a fight.

Afterward, Toby brought Peter back down to the second basement level and stopped before an enclosure.

When Peter saw the familiar spiders inside the enclosure, he froze as if struck by lightning, as though a bolt had flashed through his mind.

Toby did not even need to explain. Peter connected all the pieces himself!

Because those spiders looked exactly like the radioactive Super Spider in the photographs inside the briefcase his father had left behind!

On top of that, Toby had said their abilities came from spiders.

And when he had followed the crowd evacuating during yesterday's fire at Osborn Enterprises, he really had felt something bite his neck.

Putting those two things together, Peter reached an even more terrifying conclusion!

That was, all of this had actually been man-made!

Whether it was the appearance of the radioactive Super Spiders or his being bitten by one, it had all been orchestrated by someone!

The person who had deliberately bred those Super Spiders was his father, Richard Parker!

And the one who had made a Super Spider bite him was his cousin, Toby Parker!

The Super Spiders had been bred while his father worked at Osborn Enterprises, so they should have been at Osborn Enterprises!

Yet they had appeared here now, which meant...

Even yesterday's fire at Osborn Enterprises had been Toby's doing!

After taking the Super Spiders from Osborn Enterprises, Toby had set fire to the Super Spider breeding room, causing the blaze, then used the chaos to place a Super Spider on him!

From personally experiencing Toby's terrifying strength today, Peter knew Toby could absolutely have done all of that without anyone noticing!

And perhaps even his meeting with Dr. Connors yesterday had been arranged by Toby!

Maybe Gwen had been Toby's "accomplice" too?

After all, it was Gwen who had invited him to Osborn Enterprises!

And when Peter voiced his suspicions to Toby in the manner of Shinichi Kudo, his head was hit hard by Toby again, just as expected.