Interlude: Conspiracy

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***

The Legendary Spider.

Peter Benjamin Parker.

No sooner had Pete put away his findings than the sound of the lift doors opening announced that the family was here.

- Daddy! - Two girl's voices, merged into one, loudly greeted the parent.

Parker just started to turn around as energetic whirlwinds rushed towards him with hugs. The man chuckled and lightly stroked two of the top of their heads, one with hair just like his and the other with wheat-coloured curls.

- Mayday, Felicity, leave your father alone," the red-haired woman rolled her eyes mockingly.

- 'Right, he's not that age anymore,' the platinum blonde continued after her friend.

- Very funny. It's good to see you girls, - Parker pressed his daughters tighter to him.

- And we you, Dad, - unclasping the embrace, confirmed brown-eyed brown-haired girl.

- It's just that lately you are so rarely at home, - said the eldest daughter a little sadly.

- Oh, babies, - Pete couldn't help himself and hugged his girls tightly again, - I'm just so busy with work, but I promise that we'll spend this weekend together, as a family, - the man said, looking into the same eyes as his own.

A reminiscent electronic hum sounded nearby.

- You did mean this Saturday, didn't you, Creator? - Peter was gently reminded by the electronic assistant.

- 'Right,' Spider rubbed the back of his head a little guiltily.

- Hello, Pammy! - The wheat blonde waved at the AI in a friendly manner.

- Mistress Felicity, Mistress Mayday, Mrs Parker, Mrs Parker," the holographic assistant alternately greeted all the females.

- Why is it only Saturday? - With a nod to Pam's greeting, the youngest daughter asked, frowning slightly.

- Because this Sunday is your father's and my anniversary," Felicia answered her co-daughter's question.

- You haven't forgotten, have you, love? - Mary Jane Parker, a famous red-haired model, owner of several fashion houses and Spider-Man's wife, joined the conversation.

- Of course, I haven't forgotten, - Pete now put his arm round his wives' waists.

- And we expect at least the same evening as a fortnight ago, - said the famous former thief, stroking her husband's torso.

- And a night as ardent as the night before," MJ added passionately.

- Oh, God, can we not do this in front of us?! - Lissy blushed, but rather squeaked indignantly as she rested her forehead on her sister's shoulder.

May only laughed at her older sister's actions.

- Okay," Felicia agreed cheerfully, taking her husband under her arm, "now let's go.

- Where to?" Parker asked confused.

- To lunch," MJ repeated, taking her husband under her right arm.

Peter realised that it was too expensive to resist, and he wasn't going to.

***

The World of Irresponsible.

Red Spider / Peter Benjamin Parker.

Pete's eyelids began to twitch slightly and, within a few minutes, the man cracked his sleepy eyes open. After a couple more moments, he found the strength to rise and found himself lying in his bed.

"Time to stop imbibing booze with magic," a thought flashed through Parker's mind.

A slight movement to his right caused Peter to direct his unfocussed gaze at an obscure object.

That "strange object" turned out to be a tossing Annie.

Trying not to wake his daughter, Red got out of bed and began to pick up his scattered clothes with his symbiotic tentacles.

A couple of minutes later, Spider was at full strength.

- Dad? - Parker said sleepily.

- 'Sleep, baby,' the man mumbled as he entered the coordinates into the silver spider-shaped bracelet.

The redhead only nodded and made herself comfortable in bed.

Peter was about to activate the device, but turned towards his daughter. Removing the symbiotic cloth from her face and arms, he stepped closer and, covering the girl more tightly, kissed her on the temple.

"Just like before," an unsolicited thought slipped through.

No. It was a moment of weakness.

Red ran his palm lightly over his daughter's cheek.

I will not give up what I have.

Regaining his fighting attitude, Red donned a full symbiotic suit and pressed a button.

*

To an unknown location.

Peter felt transported and found himself in a place that changed his destiny, giving him a new path.

The familiar halls of the castle, which blended features of Medieval and futuristic styles, opened their doors welcomingly before him until he reached the right point.

The spacious room was the same as before. The same boundless dark vortexes swirled around the edges, rarely erupting in bright energy lightning, and in the centre stood the same enormous throne, remotely reminiscent of the Iron Throne from the Game of Thrones reboot they'd watched with Annie. And, in its proper place, palms folded in a gesture of contemplation, waited its master.

Meeting no inner resistance, Red calmly dropped to one knee.

- 'Master,' Peter said calmly, and the stone floor seemed harder than usual.

- How did it go? - The man sitting on the throne asked in a rather soft tone. The mask made it impossible to make out the intonation.

- Not without excesses, but successful, - Parker swallowed a little and tried to push away unwanted thoughts.

- You're troubled.

- Master? - the man said a little frightened.

- Why," continued the man (?) in armour, completely ignoring his kneeling subordinate, "you took the mystical artefact that was the perfect bait for the Shatra and set Queen Os on her younger version, right?

- That is correct, Master.

- Then, I'm sure to your own surprise, the guy handled the threat perfectly, right?

- Yes, Overlord," Red's voice was infused with a touch of pride and a little sadness, "he found the symbiote and seems to have overcome the crisis of ability.

- It's interesting, the boy's progressing faster than I expected, that's good," the one on the throne said thoughtfully. - Did you erase his memory like before?

- Yes.

- But he saw? - The Unimaginable asked ingratiatingly.

- Yes," Red gritted his teeth this time.

- Good. He won't remember, but he will feel...at some point it will play a role.

The man continued to kneel, his Master staring into the swirling Web of Destiny.

- You have doubts," the armoured warrior asserted.

- What we're doing, that plan," Peter tried to gather his thoughts, "I'm not sure what....

- Doubt is not acceptable, Irresponsible," the steel of the voice broke through the distortion of the helmet. - You and the Intelligent One must not doubt my judgement.

The man raised his palm slightly and it was as if a multi-tonne weight fell on Peter's shoulders. The spider instinctively tensed every muscle in his body, infused his body with magic, but the pressure only intensified. He tried to resist, but after a few minutes his leg gave out and he fell on his back, holding back cries of pain.

- Or should I remind you of the consequences of insubordination?

- No, I'm sorry, Master! - Red said forcefully.

The pressure disappeared as quickly as it had come.

- We all have to do our jobs, Peter, and then the reward will exceed all expectations," said the One Who Sits on the Throne, putting his hands behind his back. - But if doubt overcomes you, remember, the pay will be indescribable.

- I understand," Peter knelt down again and stared at the stonework, trying to extinguish his incipient anger.

- Good. You have completed your task. Now it is the Intelligent One's turn to create a test for the boy. You will go to his world, give him the details, and if necessary, help him.

This time Irresponsible couldn't help but stare in shock at his Master. He didn't want to go to Zanuda's place and look at his vomitously successful life, full of joy and surrounded by happy events.

- Master, but--

- This is not a request.

***

The world of Spider-Zanuda. 

The afternoon.

Peter was on his way back to the lab after having a great time with his family. He had forgotten how nice it was to get away from research, company business, work, or recreation with other heroes for a moment and just dissolve in the blissful tenderness of emotions emanating from the flower bed of his favourite women.

The lift door opened.

- Pam, book a table at that restaurant that Mary and Fey love so much, and also prepare the park area with the best view of the stars, I want to give them a picnic tonight.

But the electronic assistant didn't answer.

- Pam?

- Planning a romantic getaway? - Spider in Red emerged from the shadows of the lab's far archway.

- It's our anniversary," Stilyaga was still a little tense, even though he was used to his alternate version.

- Congratulations, - Red stretched out a little mockingly, - I'm sure they're happy.

- Look, I'm sorry.

- Don't worry about it. Like I give a fuck about your life.

- Nice," Peter clenched his hand into a fist, "what did you do to Pam?

- I sent her to sleep with one spell, nothing serious.

- I see. Why are you here?

- On an errand for the Overlord.

Now Zanuda wasn't so melancholy anymore and quickly focused.

- Tell me.

- Wouldn't it be better in the Timeless Zone?

Even though the sentence sounded extremely unemotional, the Legendary Spider realised that his alternate version was terribly uncomfortable in his world.

- Sure, you can head to our usual spot, I need to pack, I'll be quick.

Red didn't need to be told twice and immediately dissolved into a lilac flash. The stilyaga only sighed and began to put on his costume, not forgetting some uniforms.

*

Timeless Zone.

A flash of lilac lit up the space, revealing the appearance of what was known in his homeworld as the Legendary Spider.

- You took your time," said Irresponsible, leaning against the huge statue of the Spider.

- Are you in a hurry to get somewhere?

- After my task, I would like to rest. Preferably sleep for five days.

- How did it go?

- In fact, I have come to tell it, - irritated Spider in symbiotic suit, creating several comfortable chairs from earth and stone.

- I see the flow of your magic has normalised? - Stilyaga questioned, sitting down in his seat and removing his mask.

- Your formula did work," Red replied, mirroring his doppelganger's actions.

- And the rest how? - Pete asked with the interest of a true scientist used to trace the passage of his experiments.

- What do you mean?

- Well, the Uni-Seal, the raising of Mjolnir with the help of forces superior to Odin's magic, and so on?

Red only laughed in response.

- Did you really think I wasn't bullshitting the little guy and could do all that?

- I knew it," Zanuda leaned back in his chair satisfied, "you're such a twat, can you even fly?

- With magic," Red explained irritably.

- How so? As far as I know, even Dr Strange can fly only thanks to his cloak.

- I developed the spell myself after years of painstaking labour, and I've been improving it for a long time, and now it doesn't even consume power, it's a nice skill.

- Not bad, I've also developed a flying technique. Two of them.

- How so? - Irresponsible exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

- The first is not the best, attached to the suit gravitational discs, that's all the flight, of course, there are a lot of restrictions: the height of flight, speed, and you can easily disable them.

- Yeah.

- And here's the second one, - Stilyaga has visibly transformed, - flight with the help of Uni-Seal!

- What?! - Red even jumped up from his seat, - you said that the remaining spark is enough for a few energy blasts at most, and then requires a long recharge.

- It turns out that if you train your internal energy tirelessly for many months, and if you take serums of your own production, you can raise your personal strength quite a bit.

- And from here, let's go into detail.

- I didn't have much free time in my world for personal research, but after we got mixed up in the story with the Master..." he said, nodding.

- Yes, I see," nodded Irresponsible.

- So, I used my father's notes and the formula I'd taken, opened the journals and realised that, in the final stages, it was a real super-soldier's serum. Of course, I didn't need it, but I injected it into the girls, but it made it harder to satisfy them in bed....

- How I sympathise with you," Red replied in the exact opposite tone.

- Ahem, ahem, so, the super soldier serum itself, aka Dr Abraham Erskine's notorious Project Rebirth, was unnecessary and I thought, why not multiply it?

- Science and genetics aren't really my thing," Irresponsible folded his arms across his chest, "what did you come up with?

- A mixture. You see, I've seen a lot of things in my life and met a lot of people, so I decided to strengthen the serum with some samples, - with glittering eyes, like a true mad scientist, started a lecture Legendary.

- Like what?

- I decided to start with the samples available to me. Firstly, I travelled to Xavier's school and, after training in the Danger Room, took some blood and tissue from Logan.

- I'm sure the clawed man wasn't too happy about it.

- I paid him off with cigars and bourbon. Second, I called Wade.

- What do you need that clown for?

- Although Deadpool is pretty...tainted material, his regeneration factor is an order of magnitude greater than Logan's. Still, if you cut off Wolverine's head, he'd die, but Wilson would just keep making jokes.

- And all you had to do was stabilise two similar but almost opposite genetic materials, right?

- Pretty much. Blade's DNA was harder to get.

- You're turning into a vampire?

- Do you have any idea how rare a hybrid form of dhampir is? Especially one like the one our dear, dear hunter of evil?

- No idea. In my world, Eric's dead, so you know what I mean.

- Yeah, well, anyway, using a sample of his regeneration, enhanced with formula and fuelled by Logan's DNA, I was able to purify Wade's cancerous regeneration factor and graft it onto myself.

- Wait, you invented a cure for cancer?

- Not on purpose, and trust me, it's very expensive to produce, unless you want to make cancer patients into super-soldiers with diabolical regeneration, oh, and on top of that, you have to pump the derivatives out of guys who don't like to have their blood drained and stuff.

- Makes sense. So, what, you're maxed out Deadpool now?

- You make it sound pretty insulting, but in general terms, if it's just a matter of regeneration, yes.

- So if I cut off your head, you won't die?

- Not right away, but remember, I'm not Wade, and I'm not gonna just scrap parts of myself off.

- And I'm wearing a symbiotic suit.

- Mine's just as good, made of unstable molecules and nanobots, plus all sorts of technical stuff.

- I'll use magic.

- I'll respond with Uni-power.

- I'll fly you up into the air.

- Again, Uni-Power.

- I've got a bigger dick.

- As your doppelganger, I highly doubt that. Can we just cut to the chase?

- Okay, okay, you can't make fun of me now," Red smirked. - Actually, the boss set me a task to get a very rare mystical artefact located in a dimension inhabited by huge monsters, in general, never mind, the point is that this trinket was supposed to be a beacon.

- For what?

- Tents, remember that one?

- Queen Os? I remember.

- Anyway, I crumpled it up a bit and baited it, since the Overlord's assignment was for Junior to deal with it himself.

- Interesting," Nerd rubbed his chin, "why do you think that was necessary?

- Why don't you ask the Overlord yourself?

- No, no, I'm not exactly suicidal, go on.

- So, the guy did well," Irresponsible smiled slightly, "I didn't even expect it myself, in my time of Symbiote ownership I never achieved the synergy that Junior achieved in that fight," Red clenched his fist covered in symbiotic cloth.

And Zanuda wondered.

- You say this has never happened to you?

- Nope, what about you?

- I got rid of Raj when it was time for him to give birth.

- Yes," Irresponsible touched the suit, "it was something similar.

- But the strange thing is," he bowed his head owlishly, "none of us have had the same adventures as the kid under our control.

- Maybe because we erase his memory and therefore ours? - Red joined in the reasoning process.

- I don't think so. The devil lies in the details, and it is they that separate our fates, - said Zanuda thoughtfully, - think about it, unlike the younger, I have never had experience with the Defenders and that fight with Electro.

- Yes, and I didn't lose the fight with Ozborn before Halloween," Irresponsible also thought about it. - What does all this mean?

- What if the boss's interference affects more than just Junior's fate?

- How?

- Look, we three are a branch of one man's destiny, but how come you survived a dozen losses and chose a dark path full of death and suffering?

- Maybe because the world is a stinking rotten hole? - replied angrily to Red's assessment of his life.

- And me? Except for a few little things, I can only name the good.

- Good for you.

- And is it?

- Isn't it?

- Why us?

The irresponsible one even twitched.

- What?

- Why the two of us? Why did the Boss find and give this mission to us?

- Maybe because there are no other reborns in the infinity of the multiverse besides us, it's just us, isn't that logical?

- And yet I'm confused by the way things are going....

Suddenly Red jumped up and putting a hand on Stilyaga's shoulder spoke:

- Think before you say anything, brother, the cost of doubt will be indescribable.

Zanuda shuddered and looked into the eyes of his double, a warning in them.

Suddenly Irresponsible stepped back and continued as if nothing had happened:

- 'So, next you should create a challenge for our younger version, any ideas?

- A couple," Stilyaga said calmly, "can you help?

- Sure.

- Class," Legendary stood up and put on his mask, "there's a critter to hunt.

***

In an Unknown Place

The Unimaginable sat on an enormous black and gold throne and watched through the Web of Destiny for his agents.

Everything was going just as he had anticipated.

- Like flies caught in a spider's web," the man in armour said as he changed the weave of the Web of Destiny and began to watch the one that had caused the whole thing.