Peter One

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Peter landed on the ground just in front of the sanctum and didn't bother knocking before he tore open the door and ran through into the massive hall.

The entire place was dark. Not a single peep from Wanda, Wong, Strange, or even Loki.

He slowly circled the room, searching for a sign that a single person was there.

For a solid minute, he stood helplessly, wondering where he'd go if everyone else had somehow disappeared.

But then the hair on the back of his neck stood up as he heard a soft whooshing noise and felt a soft orange glow run over his neck.

He turned around, and there was Stephen Strange, stepping through a portal that closed before Peter could get a good look at where he'd come from. It almost looked like the top floor of the sanctum itself, just as dark as the rest of the place.

But if Strange hadn't bothered to even take the stairs, clearly something was wrong.

The portal closed, and all that Peter could see as it snapped shut was a few red sparks.

Strange's gaze turned wild as he stumbled through, and Peter could see that whatever disaster his Spider-Sense had been warning about had come directly from him.

No matter his intentions, Strange had broken the multiverse.

The sorcerer straightened himself and looked Peter in the eye, placing his hands on his shoulders. "I only have time to explain this once," Strange started, his words as close to frantic as Peter had ever heard them. "And then you're going to be left here to fight what you can with who you can find. I have to get to the solution, and that's going to take me off-universe."

Peter flinched, terrified that he was going to have to face a lot of this on his own.

"People all over the world are going to be able to help. Call up the rest of the Avengers. They'll listen. Your Spider-Friends are here, too. And-" He took a deep breath, wincing as if he was about to bear a tremendous weight.

After a few seconds, he'd summoned a few rings of orange magic that circled him.

Peter stayed silent, knowing what had happened the last time he'd interfered with a spell.

"Spells are easier to break than to cast," Strange said as he cast his arms out and sent the rings of orange cascading out, sending a ripple throughout everything Peter could see. "And now that the multiverse is free, I can break the one that took your life from you. You have everyone back, Peter, you'll be able to fight just fine."

He didn't have time to absorb what he'd just been told before Strange continued talking.

"Something happened up there, and I need to find out what and why. The multiverse was about to become separate from our universe, and then... my magic hit something that shattered not only the barrier I was putting up, but the barrier that existed in the first place. The one that keeps this multiverse safe from people just drifting between worlds. But now that that's broken, anyone in a nearby universe with magic or power, even a fraction of mine, will know that we're unprotected. They can break through the walls of their own universe- and even unintentionally, this universe will start to pull things here in its instability that we can't even fathom. You're going to need to help fight those things. You can handle monsters. I've seen you take them on before. And win." He glanced at the door, and his cape flew from his back as he did. The red fabric wrapped itself around the door handle and pulled it open.

Standing before it were the two Peters he'd met before, looking awkward, upset, and beyond confused.

But they were there.

And Peter didn't have time to be afraid. He had to be ready to fight.

And he had everyone he loved back.

"People all around the world are going to come together to fight what comes in," Strange said, opening another portal. "I don't know what's going to come in. It's going to be chaos. But I've been having this same dream, this same nightmare every night for weeks. I know what you're about to fight, and it isn't pretty. But I can't stay. I have to fight this madness from the inside, wherever that takes me. It's your job to protect the people. Do everything you can. If an intelligent being, like a human, from another universe is somehow pulled in, protect it or lock it up. But I'm guessing everything you'll run into will be rampaging and evil. You've all fought things like that before. And Peter," he said, looking just his Peter in the eye. "I'm sorry, but the people you're going to fight can't be saved. I need you to understand that this time, there isn't time for that. Nor can these monsters be redeemed. They're the creatures from your nightmares, and that's only the ones without intelligent thoughts. You're going to need to take things out, you three. Are you willing to do that to save this, and every other, world?"

Normally, he would've argued. Strange wasn't always right, and this incident had once again proved it.

But he could tell that this was urgent- that he didn't have time to fight Strange on this.

He also had to admit that sometimes, in order to save an entire city, a villain was going to have to die.

Part of being a hero was saving everyone he could, but part of being a hero was also making decisions that benefited everyone.

He wasn't always good at that yet. But he knew he'd have to learn someday.

So he nodded to Strange, knowing that when the time came, he'd know what he had to do.

Strange disappeared into the portal, and as he did, Peter almost heard a clock start ticking.

They only had... hours? Minutes? Before things started to pour through. Before disaster started to ensue.

He had people to call. And friends to get back.

They were going to take on the multiverse. 

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