Everything was chaos in the darkness, with no sense of front, back, left, or right. Weightlessness quickly gave way to the crushing distortion of spacetime, like a roller coaster ride. Even with his Spider-Sense, he had no idea where he was being flung.
For a moment, the warped forces of spacetime bypassed his psychic power's protection and spread over Josen, as though trying to assimilate him into the fabric of spacetime itself.
He tried to resist, but could barely preserve his consciousness. His senses sank into silent darkness.
Marvel's Earth-1610, New York City.
Miles Morales, a student at Visions Academy, had been having a rough time lately.
First, a strange spider had bitten him. Then one bizarre thing after another had happened.
Overnight, he had gained powers like Spider-Man's, then ruined his crush's hair because he couldn't control them. A beautiful romance seemed to have ended before it could even begin. That evening, he had witnessed Spider-Man being killed beneath Brooklyn by a fat man packed with muscle, only for the news to claim he had died from injuries sustained in an earthquake. Then a villain in a purple high-tech suit had chased him for several blocks, and he had barely escaped with his life.
All this chaos had tangled his once-normal life into a hopeless mess, right up until he attended Spider-Man's memorial.
He had thought everything was finally settled, but then he found another Spider-Man in front of Spider-Man's gravestone.
Only this one was middle-aged and out of shape.
Whether he was real or an impostor, he was now securely trussed up at Uncle Aaron's place.
Time for a proper interrogation!
Josen awoke in the darkness.
His senses gradually expanded. Around him was still the chaotic, disordered space between dimensions, but intricate spiderwebs glowing white occasionally streaked through the darkness.
Thanks to them, he knew he was moving at high speed.
Josen tried moving his body and touched a tough spacetime barrier.
Judging by the sensation at his fingertips, this seemingly sturdy barrier was actually as fragile as a bubble. With his current strength, he could break free easily if he exerted just a little more force.
As he considered this, the view ahead suddenly opened up.
Beneath a starry night sky, a modern city both familiar and unfamiliar appeared before him.
Familiar because he had learned about this city in many different ways; unfamiliar because he had never actually been here.
His gaze locked onto a statue of a goddess holding a torch aloft along the shoreline, and Josen immediately confirmed it.
This was New York.
And he was hurtling toward the ground at an incredible speed!
An instant before impact, Josen exerted his arms, unleashing terrifying brute strength. The barrier of spacetime energy shattered at once into countless distorted fragments of varying hues, which dissolved into the air.
His psychic power spread out, and Josen steadied himself among the towering office buildings. The famous Times Square lay directly below him.
Neon lights flashed, pedestrians filled the streets, and prosperity was everywhere.
Except something was off about the news playing on every nearby LED screen.
...Spider-Man died from severe injuries sustained during a powerful earthquake in Brooklyn. His true identity has been confirmed as Peter Parker, a twenty-six-year-old graduate student and part-time photographer. New York City's friendly neighborhood hero has left its citizens forever.
Well, this was awkward.
Josen landed on the rooftop of a small building. The people within his perception were just as stunned as he was, pulling out their phones to verify the news.
In the blink of an eye, immense grief enveloped the entire city.
"Looks like it's true."
Josen narrowed his eyes, finally certain which world he had arrived in.
This was the Marvel Universe.
As everyone knew, the Marvel Universe had a nearly infinite number of alternate universes, whose vitality depended on comic sales and the writers' imaginations.
They might undergo ages of upheaval, or get rebooted with a single snap.
And New York in the Marvel Universe was the epicenter of countless major events-a city of friendly folk and nuclear "peace."
Spider-Man was confirmed dead? That was definitely bad news.
Josen didn't know how long the "brief stay" mentioned in the Black Box's description actually was. It seemed he needed to hurry and investigate what had happened...
As he pondered, a familiar red-and-blue figure flashed through the corner of his eye and stopped on the glass curtain wall of a nearby office building.
Josen: ???
He looked back at the special report still playing on a loop on the big screen...
Fake news?
"What the hell? I'm already dead?" Peter Parker stared blankly at the news playing on the screen below, his thoughts briefly thrown into disarray. "Twenty-six? But even counting the time lost to the Blip, I'm only twenty-one! And a graduate student? Give me a break, I haven't even started college! So... did Doctor Strange's spell go wrong again? Oh my God, what is happening...?"
"I was just about to ask you that very question, Mr. Parker."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!!"
Peter Parker jolted in fright, the hairs beneath his suit standing on end. He performed a series of backflips along the glass wall, putting nearly ten meters between them before finally getting a clear look at the speaker.
Hey, how was this guy so handsome and so tall?
That wasn't fair!
He had to be six foot five, right?
That build, those absurd muscles... he was practically as big and strong as Thor from Asgard!
"Wait... why are you flying? Oh my God, you can actually fly? Psychic powers? A hero, or a superpowered villain...?"
"Stop!" A vein twitched on Josen's forehead as he cut off the little spider's rambling. "What are you even talking about? My name is Josen. I'm a police officer, and a hero on the side."
"A hero? You mean you're a hero too?" Peter paused, perhaps because his Spider-Sense detected no ill intent from Josen. "I get it. You haven't joined the Avengers, right? That's why I don't know you."
"What you're saying... is at least logically sound." Josen floated over to Peter, who had calmed down somewhat, with his hands in his pockets, and laid out their situation. "The hero organization I belong to isn't the Avengers. It's the Hero Association. And the world we're in now isn't either of our home universes."
Peter: !!!
"Hss..."
An identical prickling sensation came from the backs of their heads as the Spider-Senses of two different individuals instinctively detected one of their own.
Before Peter could process all the information in Josen's words, he turned and stared at him in shock. "There's no mistaking that feeling. You... you're like me?"
"Yes, I do have some spider powers." Josen nodded, holding his right index finger and thumb in a pinching gesture that South Korean men utterly loathed. "Just a little."
"I see." Peter Parker finally regained the composure expected of a superhero and hesitantly removed his mask. "Mr. Josen, I think we need to have a proper talk."
"Of course." Seeing the handsome Tom Holland face beneath the mask, Josen made an inviting gesture. "I know just the place."
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