Chapter 185: Two Spiders in Frame — and a Third?
Tobey-Peter walked over to Ethan's side. "Master, you could've waited for us."
Then, quietly, he reached up and pulled off his mask, revealing a face full of quiet determination and hard-won resilience.
His gaze drifted to the figure standing a short distance away — Garfield-Peter, still suited up in his own Spider-Man costume.
Their eyes met across the air between them, like two live wires touching.
Garfield-Peter stared back in open shock. He'd never imagined he would meet another Spider-Man here, like this.
Both their expressions were a tangle of surprise, curiosity, and something neither of them could quite name — an instinctive, inexplicable familiarity.
They stood there staring at each other, and time seemed to stop.
Off to the side, George — still bound in webbing — watched the whole thing unfold. His face was a complicated mess: surprise, confusion, and something slowly shifting toward belief.
But seeing two Spider-Men standing in the same place, at the same time... it was starting to make Ethan's earlier explanation feel a lot less insane.
Ethan himself stood back and watched the moment with quiet amusement.
He'd seen the three-Spider scene in a movie once. Even now, the memory of how much it had wrecked him emotionally was still vivid.
Holland's Spider-Man was basically a prop anyway, so he didn't really count.
And yet here he was — actually living it. One small wish, quietly fulfilled.
Still, for all the historic weight of the moment, the two Peter Parkers — standing in the same parallel universe, face to face — had absolutely nothing to say to each other.
They just stood there in silence.
Tobey-Peter's mind was a quiet storm of questions and uncertainty. He'd known going in that he might meet another version of himself, but confronting it in the flesh was something else entirely. He'd been turning over how to start — how to introduce himself, how to say anything — and coming up empty every time.
That was just who he was. Reserved. Not great at first impressions. Prone to overthinking.
He was afraid that whatever he said would shatter the strange, delicate balance of the moment, and he'd just end up looking awkward or ridiculous in front of his alternate self.
Garfield-Peter was fighting a different battle.
The initial shock had faded. Now he found himself genuinely wanting to know — was the other Peter's life as hard as his? Did he have family? Did he still have Uncle Ben?
But he couldn't just ask that. He couldn't look the other guy in the eye and say, "Is your Uncle Ben dead too? Are you an orphan like me?" That was too raw. Too cruel.
He wanted connection. He also wanted the other Peter to have had it better than him. Both at once.
So he said nothing.
Two Peter Parkers. One silence.
Then Harry arrived.
He came in on his glider — a streak of green cutting through the night, fashionably late. He took one look at the scene, clocked the two Spider-Men standing across from each other, and his eyes went wide.
Then he threw an arm around Tobey-Peter's shoulders and jerked his chin at Garfield-Peter.
"Hey, Pete. That Spider-Man over there is way better-looking than you."
Tobey-Peter let out a small, sheepish smile and didn't argue. He couldn't, really. Garfield-Peter was objectively better-looking. He felt a flicker of something — not quite envy, more like wistful acknowledgment — but no bitterness. If anything, the warmth between Harry and himself only seemed to highlight something he was already sensing: that this other Peter shared something with him he couldn't easily put into words.
Garfield-Peter, for his part, watched Harry and Tobey-Peter with something quieter in his eyes. Must be nice, he thought, having someone like that beside you.
Then both Peters spoke at exactly the same moment.
"Hi. I'm Peter Parker."
Their voices rang out in unison into the night air.
They both stopped. Blinked.
Then the absurdity of it hit them simultaneously, and something in the tension cracked open.
Ethan looked at the two of them — two painfully awkward young men, frozen in their own moment — and shook his head.
"Alright," he said. "You can catch up somewhere else. The cops are almost here."
That cut through everything. George was already on his feet, stepping toward Garfield-Peter with quiet urgency.
"Go," he said. "All of you. I'll handle things here."
"Right — follow me, I'll take you to my place." Garfield-Peter reached for his web-shooters, ready to lead the way.
But nobody moved.
Tobey-Peter and Harry were both looking at Ethan.
Garfield-Peter paused, then understood. He's the one they follow.
Ethan glanced back toward the edge of the scene. "Harry — bring the Lizard."
Harry didn't even blink. He grabbed the still-dazed Dr. Connors and hauled him up.
A biology teacher, Ethan thought. Hell's Kitchen could use one of those.
Garfield-Peter watched, baffled, as a golden portal opened in the air behind Ethan.
"Let's go," Ethan said. "Found us an empty villa."
Garfield-Peter could not begin to explain what he was seeing. He jumped slightly, trying to process it, then watched as Harry — Connors slung over one shoulder — walked through without hesitation, followed immediately by Tobey-Peter.
He followed.
He stepped through the portal and stopped dead.
Bodies on the floor. Fresh blood. Very recently dead.
"I thought you said it was empty," he said, voice carefully even.
Harry barely glanced at the bodies. "These guys were criminals. As far as my brother Ethan's concerned, they stopped counting as people a while ago."
Garfield-Peter filed that away behind a very careful expression. Racist went onto his mental tab for Ethan, right alongside terrifyingly powerful and definitely not to be crossed.
Ethan was already moving, clearing the bodies with methodical efficiency. He looked back at the two Peters.
"You two, talk. I'm going to go get someone."
Tobey-Peter tilted his head. "Who, Master?"
Ethan was already opening another portal.
"The third Spider-Man."
He stepped through and was gone, leaving the two Peters staring at each other and Harry staring at the empty air where the portal had been.
"...There's another one??"
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