Chapter 121 - Self Help (Part 2)

𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦...

"Connors is down guys." Spider-Man, wearing his blue and black Fantastic Four costume, said into his comms before receiving praise from the rest of the team.

"Good work, kid."

"Good shit, Spidey!"

"I'm glad you're safe."

Just as the boy began receiving his praise, the debris of what was once a building began to rumble. 'Fuck, already?' Spider-Man thought to himself, pressing his finger against his earpiece once more. "Johnny, Ben, I need your help over here."

The rumbling continued and both the Human Torch and the Thing arrived by Spider-Man's side. "So much for Connors being taken care of." Ben said sarcastically as the rubble began being tossed around by a powerful force beneath it.

"Yeah..." Spider-Man said, looking on with his lenses drooping slightly.

In the nick of time, Reed arrived with a device in his hand, the Neogenic Decombinator. It was now a gun of some sort, having the appearance of some sort of sci-fi energy launcher. Reed handed it to Spider-Man, allowing him to deliver the final blow to his teacher. "He's your responsibility, right?" Reed told him.

Spider-Man nodded before slowly walking toward the rubble with the weapon in hand.

𝑹𝑨𝑨𝑨𝑨𝑨𝑨𝑨𝑯!

The Lizard screamed as he finally broke free from his concrete prison, sending pieces of debris flying as he ran toward Spider-Man like a crazed beast on all fours. He was ready to devour the hero, though Spider-Man wouldn't let that happen.

With his feet planted, the hero aimed the Neogenic Decombinator at his teacher as the beast lept into the air with his talons poised to kill.

However, just like Spider-Man's other villains, a blue streak flashed by and the Lizard disappeared.

In almost the same second, four Spider-Men appeared, surprising the Fantastic Four and the Spider-Man wearing their costume.

"Eren, I know this is going to be very confusing, but we are you from the future. Down the line, you will learn how to time travel. That's how we got here, we time-traveled to the exact moment before you defeated Dr. Connors. A villain of mine, from the future, is gathering a team of villains from your past and future. There are six of them and we need six of us. All of our timelines may be in danger if you don't help us."

As the eldest Spider-Man said this, the rest of the Fantastic Four approached, glaring at all of the spiders with confused expressions. "I didn't know you had brothers." Johnny Storm said; it was unclear if this was a joke or if he was serious.

"Can they come with us? I'd assume we could use the help." the Fantastic Spider asked.

"They can't. We have no idea what time traveling may do to their bodies." the eldest Spider-Man told him. He knew that even his own body was affected by it, so there was no telling what would become of non-Godspeed users. Even the Sinister Six might have some sort of side effects that they aren't aware of.

"Did you say time traveling?" Reed Richards asked, though he went ignored.

"We need to go if you're coming. We're changing too many things here as we speak. Don't worry about the lizards here, we'll return you back at this exact moment and it'll be as if you never left." the eldest Spider-Man told the youngest of the current bunch.

"Alright, I'll fight. How do we do the thing?" the Fantastic Spider asked.

"Just grab my shoulder." the one in the black symbiote told him. The Fantastic Spider grabbed his shoulder, along with the Wakandan and the red and blue hero before all five of them zipped away in an instant, leaving the Fantastic Four behind.

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The Phantom Spider, his limbs glowing with his blue Godspeed energy, faced the Electric man as he hovered above the hero with his body glowing brightly due to the electricity coursing through him.

Electro was growing aggravated at the child beneath him, the bug kept ruining his display of godhood and his journey to becoming pure energy.

The Phantom Spider, however, was furious. The man who proclaimed himself as a god was hovering above him, looking down at the hero as the bodies of those who he could not save before his arrival and destruction surrounded him. Though he'd lost to Electro before, he was confident. His new power was going to be the key to ending the electric man.

"Electro!" The Phantom Spider, filled with fury screamed at the god who floated above him. "This ends here!"

The boy was certain that those confident words were true. He noticed that his brain seemed to be moving faster than it usually did, allowing him to come up with a plan in only just a couple of seconds. 'That vest, it must be some sort of inhibiter. If I can get it off of him, perhaps he'll overcharge himself. Before that, I need to find a way to short-circuit him so I can get a hold of him for long enough to pry it off. The water... yes, there's gotta be more water somewhere.' His eyes scanned the area for another water truck or any source of water that he could use to momentarily slow the electric man down.

His eyes nearly locked onto a fire hydrant, though he made sure to not make it obvious in an attempt to hide his plan from Electro. 'That's the key. Alright, Parker. Let's kill this god.'

With haste, the hero of the night flash-stepped forward, dodging Electro's lightning bolts with even more speed than before. He was untouchable as he zipped from side to side as if he were dodging the blasts from the toy gun of a child. 'Who's a god now!' He thought to himself as he began flash-stepping up a nearby building. With each step, one of the screens on the building would shut off due to his power interacting with them.

'No, I'm no god.' His inner voice declared as he continued up the building, dodging the lightning strikes that trailed behind him until reaching the height at which Electro was hovering. Using a Godspeed-infused jump, the hero lept backward, jumping so high that he even surpassed the so-called and self-proclaimed god's altitude.

'I have no need to see myself as such. I am but a man, a mortal who will stand up to these so-called gods for those who cannot.' Using his webs the young hero webbed Electro's electric bolt-slinging right arm. Just before Electro could throw another bolt, the Phantom Spider yanked the villain's arm to the side, causing the bolt to fly in the wrong direction and disappear into the clouds above.

'I may be a man with weaknesses.' Using his other hand, the boy webbed Electro's left hand. With both hands in his control, the trenchcoat-wearing hero yanked his webs forward, causing Electro to fly upward uncontrollably as the boy's body was flung downward toward the Earth and the villain.

'But that weakness made me stronger. Strong enough to defeat 'gods' like you. That's why I will call this power of mine Godspeed, the power that allows me to be fast enough to keep up with supposed gods like you.' Just as those words left his brain, the hero used both legs to kick Electro in the chest, sending them both hurtling toward the Earth with great velocity.

However, before Electro could hit the ground, he disappeared with a blue streak of electricity being left behind where he should have landed. The Phantom Spider landed on the ground, looking at the ground in front of him with his eyebrows furrowed beneath his goggles. "What?" he whispered before the five Spider-Men from the future arrived right in front of him.

"What's with the stupid costumes?" the Phantom Spider mocked his future selves as he stood in a ready stance with his hands glowing with Godspeed energy. The other spiders all looked at each other, remembering their old, edgy self. It was nostalgic, seeing how much they'd changed over time.

Starting from a kid who made his own costume out of things from his closet, wanting revenge for his mother's killer but discovering a desire to help people in the process. Then becoming a kid haunted by the ghost of his past mistakes, wanting to make things right by becoming a hero using a hand-me-down costume from the Fantastic Four. He learned that you couldn't save everyone, but you could for damn sure try.

Soon after he was a young man worried about being accepted, worrying whether or not his past mistakes would ever be forgiven despite his efforts. After speaking to his mother one last time, he was finally able to accept who he once was and move past it. He wore a costume that represented his homeland, one that reminded him of who he was and who he fought for.

That boy seeking acceptance one day found himself questioning everything he told himself that he stood for. Fighting a man who wanted to do nothing more than prove a point to him. He learned that this idea of being a symbol of hope would be far more complicated than the fairy tale story he had hoped for. He wore that symbol on his body; he wore that bright red and blue suit to inspire those who looked up to him. He wanted to continue to be that symbol until the end.

Until the end came sooner than the boy expected.

He became a liar.

He became a killer.

He became hopeless.

His dark costume covering his body may as well have been a representation of his psyche, returning to how he once was when he was fueled by hatred and the desire to find his mother's killer.

At the very end, he was a man overwhelmed by numbness. He wasn't hopeful, but at the same time, he wouldn't call himself hopeless.

Just numb. His costume lacking any color matched that sentiment.

Despite that numbness, he would never give up until he took his last breath.

"You made them. We're you." the red and blue hero told him.

"Huh?" the Phantom Spider didn't understand how six of himself could possibly exist in one place, especially wearing those silly hero costumes. However, once every single Eren removed their masks, he knew that they weren't lying. "Dad was right... time travel is real. Why is that one clear? What's with the white hair? Is this like a Goku thing? Where your hair changes color when you transform or something?"

"Yeah, something like that. Listen, Electro is in my timeline with five other villains of the future. We need your help to face him. We need your help to save time itself. If my enemy takes over my timeline, every timeline in existence is fucked." the leader said.

Immediately, they could all see those feelings of self-doubt flooding the Phantom Spider. It was written in his eyes that were visible through his goggles.

"I- I don't think I'd be very useful to you guys. I mean, look at you guys, and look at me. You have that crazy aura on your bodies. I can't do that... I don't think I'd be much help. I couldn't even beat Electro I don't know what happened between now and whenever you guys came to be, but I'm no hero. All I care about is finding the man responsible for killing my mom." the Phantom Spider was still brand new to being a hero, in fact, he still didn't even consider himself that. The thought of saving timelines was something far beyond anything he could imagine himself doing.

"You were going to beat Electro. We all did right at this very moment, Eren. I know it's scary, and I know it's intimidating, but we are all warriors. We are all heroes. Without you, without all of us, we won't be able to win. This won't be your first time fighting against all odds and it won't be your last. Please help us." the Spider-Man in the Wakandan suit tried his best to convince his younger self and it seemed to be working.

"Think about Cindy. Think about Mom and Dad. You wished you could have saved them right? You want to protect Cindy, right? Well, if you help us, you can protect her. You can make Mom and Dad proud, they already are so proud of you Eren, trust us. We all know. When the time comes, you'll know it too." the red and blue hero spoke gently, trying to reach that softer side of his younger self that he knew existed.

"We can't save everyone, but we can save an infinite amount of lives through time if we take these guys down together." the Fantastic Spider told him, remembering what he learned on the night of the Lizard invasion.

"If you don't help us, your timeline is next." the all-black Spider-Man said plainly.

"They'll kill everyone and everything you love and there will be no way you can stop it by yourself." the eldest Spider-Man told him.

All four Spider-Men looked at the two symbiotic spiders with frowns visible from their lenses squinting and beneath the Phantom Spider's goggles.

"What? We're just being honest?" the all-black spider told them all, shrugging his arms.

"Well, what do you say, Eren? Will you help us or will you doom time itself?" the oldest spider asked him frankly, causing the young hero's heart to jolt.

"Well... I don't really have a choice, do I? I'll do it." It was clear that his words immediately brought a sense of relief to the five other spiders. "But I have one question and I want an honest answer."

"Sure." the eldest said.

"What happens to Mom's killer? Do we ever catch him?" as he said this, all five other spiders looked at each other.

"Should we even tell him?" the red and blue spider asked.

"We do find him. What happens when you find him is up to you, Eren. That's all we can say. Your timeline is already going to be the one that is changed the most. I'm sorry we can't tell you more." the eldest told him.

"I see... I just wanted to know if I'd find him. Thanks for being honest." the Phantom Spider was clearly horrified by this knowledge. The men in front of him weren't who he thought he was. He wondered if they actually went through with it. He could see the two oldest taking a life, but not the others.

The oldest spider nodded, completely understanding him. It was himself after all. Wanting to have a plan before they get back, the leader spoke to all of them, giving them a rundown of what they'll see.

"Since we have the Neurogenic Decombinator, let's take out the Lizard first. Once he loses his Lizard body, he'll be practically useless. Then we need to get rid of Mysterio. He's going to be a big guy with a fishbowl helmet on his head. After that, I need you to take care of Electro and then the guy with the four tentacles.

That will leave us with two guys, the strongest ones. The two biggest ones. There will be one with fire and horns, focus on him first because he is slightly weaker. Once he's gone, we take out their leader, Venom. This whole time, I'll distract Venom since I'm strong enough to fight him one on one."

"How exactly do we beat them?" the red and blue hero asked, reminding the two eldest that they once had a no-kill rule.

"We have to kill them. Kill the man beneath the symbiote It's the only way. If it helps, all of these guys died fighting us regardless, whether it be on purpose or by accident. It's their fate." this was a lie since not every single villain was destined to die by Spider-Man's hand. "I know you three are against killing, but it must be done. We abandoned that idea long ago. We have to cross that line to save everyone. Six lives in exchange for..."

It was at this moment that the leader remembered what he was saying. It wasn't just six lives, but his best friend was under the symbiote. To save everyone, Harry Osborn was going to have to die by his hand.

"We have to kill them to save an infinite amount of human lives through time. That's how it has to go. No matter how much we might care about the man beneath the symbiotes."

"Hey, I have a question." the Phantom Spider asked with his hand raised. "What exactly is a symbiote? Like, I know what a symbiote is, but it sounds like you named something very, very dangerous that."

"Yeah, I don't know what that is either."

"Me neither."

"Oh, right. It's this alien from another planet that enhances its user's strength. Me and this guy are wearing one right now, see. So basically, all of your villains are super buffed." the all-white spider explained.

"Ah, great..." the Fantastic Spider said. "Very great."

"Why don't we just bring Franklin?"

"Who the hell is Franklin?"

"He can't control his powers, remember?'

"Oh, right?"

"Who is Franklin?"

"Reed Richards's son."

"He can bend reality."

"Yeah, If he could control his powers he could probably just snap his fingers and solve all our problems."

"Why not go to the future and bring him here."

"He's lost in his own pocket dimension. We also can't go past a point in time where Eren Parker doesn't exist, so assuming he does come back one day, we cannot access that timeline."

"How do you know that's a rule? Have you tried it?"

"A different Eren Parker tried it."

"How many were there?"

"I don't know... hundreds. Maybe thousands so far."

"Wait, but wouldn't there be infinite? Since technically, at any second, our timelines could diverge and create new ones?"

"Well... I mean before me, there are hundreds. I don't know. This time stuff makes no sense."

"Hold on, so will all of us have to come back and fight the Sinister Six again once we reach each point in time?"

"I don't know, guess we'll find out."

"Guys!" the eldest spider interrupted everyone as they were all beginning to change the topic. "Let's focus, yeah?"

"My bad." they all said simultaneously.

"We're going to need to communicate with each other out there. We'll need temporary names. You don't need to change your name." the leader said, pointing at the Phantom Spider.

"Wait, why?" the Phantom Spider asked.

"We all go by Spider-Man now." the Wakandan Spider said.

"With a hyphen, at least?" the Phantom Spider cringed. He thought the costumes were silly, but the idea that he eventually went so far as to change his name to be a hero was even sillier.

"With a hyphen." the red and blue hero told him.

"Oh, thank god." as the Phantom Spider said this, the eldest looked at both him and the red and blue Spider-Man with an unamused glare.

"You. You're the Red Spider." the leader said.

"Let me guess, you're White and he's Black?" the Wakandan Spider quipped, looking at both the symbiote-wearing spiders.

"You have any better ideas? Did you wanna do Eren one, two, three, four, five, and six?" the White Spider retorted.

"Yeah, that's worse." the Phantom Spider added.

"Way worse." the Fantastic Spider added on top of that.

"You, black and blue. You're the Fantastic Spider. You, you're Wakandan Spider." the White Spider told them both.

"Simple enough, I guess." the Wakandan Spider said.

"Alright, let's go save time itself." the White Spider said, looking at all the others. "Here, you should be able to track me once I give you my energy. I'll see you guys then." the White Spider's afterimage ran itself into the Black Spider, allowing him to absorb his energy. Immediately, the Black Spider was able to hone in on the exact time that he needed to travel to.

"Everyone grab on." the Black Spider instructed them all, compelling them all to do just that. Once everyone was ready, all five spiders ran to the future, prepared to fight.

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"𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵" 𝘥𝘢𝘺...

"Can't forget to keep the silly cycle going, can we, Parker?" Venom teased, knowing exactly what sending an after-image back in time meant. However, Spider-Man's laughter was telling a different story. The Sinister Six thought the Adam Gas was making him lose his mind, however, this was far from the case.

"Not this time." Spider-Man whispered before a blue streak of electricity flashed by Venom's face and led up to a nearby building.

The Sinister Six looked up to see six familiar silhouettes standing high above them, looking down at them as their bodies all shone brightly with blue electricity, all but one who was surrounded by an aura of pure darkness.

The White Spider.

The Black Spider.

The Red Spider.

The Fantastic Spider.

The Wakandan Spider.

The Phantom Spider.

All six of them glared down at their old and new villains with pure determination shown through their lenses.

"No more games, Venom. This time, I will kill you. All six of us will win." the White Spider shouted from the top of the building.

"Seven of us." Silk added before web-zipping and landing right next to her lover wearing the synthetic symbiote that Harry made for her. He didn't just create one, he made one for both of them. She looked nearly identical to how she usually did, however, her color scheme was swapped. Her chest was now all black while her limbs were white. The symbol on her chest was now a tiny white spider and her red mask was covered with what looked like black veins.

"Took you long enough." the White Spider said sarcastically.

"I had to make sure the odds were in our favor before I got myself killed." Silk spoke sarcastically back. Of course, this wasn't true. She said her goodbyes to her family and went to receive the symbiote that Harry made for her. Everything happened so fast, by the time she was ready to fight, all of the other Erens were already there.

"Holy shit is that Cindy?" the Phantom Spider whispered.

All of the spiders, including Silk, looked at him with blank expressions.

"Sorry." he said quietly.

"Silk and I will deal with Venom. The rest of you, stick to the plan." Spider-Man grabbed Cindy's hand, sharing his Godspeed aura with her. He figured, since he could transfer Godspeed energy to people's minds, he should be able to do the same with the rest of their body as long as they maintain physical contact. His theory would be correct, as her eyes shone white and her hair became darker than black.