"We come to you now with revelations about last week's attack in London. An anonymous source provided this video. It shows Quentin Beck aka Mysterio, moments before his death. You may find this video disturbing. "
"I managed to send the Elemental back, but I don't think I'm gonna make it off this bridge alive. Spider-Man attacked me for some reason. He has an army of weaponized drones. Stark technology. He's saying he's gonna be the new Iron Man. No one else."
"Are you sure you want to commence the drone attack? There will be significant casualties."
"Do it. Execute them all"
" This shocking video was released earlier today on the controversial news website TheDailyBugle.net"
"There you have it folks! Conclusive proof that Spider-Man was responsible for the brutal murder of Mysterio, an interdimensional warrior who gave his life to protect our planet and who will, no doubt, go down in history as the greatest superhero of all time. But that's not all, folks. Here's the real blockbuster. Brace yourselves, you might want to sit down."
" Spider-Man's real-- Spider-Man's real name is--Spider-Man's name is Peter Parker!"
It all went wrong. Everything went so wrong. It wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this.
All Peter wanted was a normal trip to Europe, but he ended up being conned. Mysterio is no superhero, but perhaps the greatest con artist of all time. He convinced the world that Spider-Man was the bad guy.
He, along with all his friends and his aunt have to answer to the authorities, which means they all need a really good lawyer.
Peter Parker's world has turned upsidedown and can no longer have a normal life. Spider-Man and Peter Parker are the same to the rest of the world. He can no longer have the luxury of a secret identity. When he goes to school, he has to walk passed dozens of people. News reporters, fans and protestors alike. Every single day.
And when it comes time for college applications, he's met with denial after denial after denial. Even his friends don't get accepted.
And it's all his fault.
His first thought it Mage. All her power. She would be able to sway the college board without any effort. But all he finds is an empty apartment. He crawls up the side of her building and tries to enter through her balcony, but gets blasted back by a protective shield.
But then, he goes to his second option. The New York Sanctum on Bleecker Street.
He knocks on the door and enters the Sanctum, only to find that it's filled with ice and snow.
He finds that Wong is now the Sorcerer Supreme, but wants nothing to do with the spell he's asking for.
However, Stephen Strange oddly accepts. He takes him down to one of the lower levels of the Sanctum. A fairly easy spell for him to perform, but the boy does not make it easy. He interrupts over and over and over again, each time changing the spell.
On his final alteration, the spell explodes. Gravity no longer holds them down to the ground and a whirlwind of gold and purple magic surrounds them as it breaks the border between known and unknown. Stephen manages to contain the spell before it could ripple outwards and destroy the fabric of reality and before anything bad could happen.
Or at least that's what he thinks.
Lauren feels the impacts of the spell all the way from her vacation hut. It feels as if she's been impaled with a flaming sword. Her head pounds as she collapses onto the sandy beach, her eyes glowing gold as the pale sand grows dark and begins to foster a flame from her fingertips. She screams out as the normally painless flames are now searing her nerves. She feels every ounce of pain as it flows through her body.
This isn't normal. This is far from normal.
She does her best to focus on the cause of her pain. She closes her eyes as her hands ball into fists. She exhales deeply and brings her mind back to a place of tranquility as she focuses and comes up with an answer.
Doctor Strange.
With a growl from her chest, Lauren opens her eyes and effortlessly teleports herself to the place where the spell was cast, acting as a jump scare for both of the parties involved.
" What the hell did you do?" She says through grit teeth, her eyes glowing gold like the Eternal Flame itself.
Peter's eyes nearly bug out of his head as he gulps loudly, finding the woman to be extremely, chillingly terrifying in her current state.
" Were you on vacation this whole time?" Stephen quips as he narrows his eyes.
" Answer the damn question," She growls, truly in no mood for bickering.
Clearly Peter is too shocked to speak, so she focuses her anger on the only other adult in the room.
" Parker wouldn't stop talking and changed my spell six times," Stephen groans.
" A-Actually it was five times," Peter mumbles.
" You changed my spell! You don't do that! I told you. And that is why," Stephen says as he turns to the boy and points to the spell contained within a spell, " That spell was out of control. If I hadn't shut it down, something catastrophic could have happened."
" Stephen, listen to me, I am so--" Peter starts.
" Call me sir," Stephen orders.
" Sorry, sir," Peter sighs.
" You know, after everything we've been through, somehow I always forget you're just a kid. Look, Parker, the problem is not Mysterio. It's you trying to live two different lives. And the longer you do that, the more dangerous it becomes. Believe me, I am so sorry about you and your friends not getting into college, but if they rejected you and you tried to convince them to reconsider, there's nothing else you can do."
" When you say convince them... you mean like I could've called them?"
" Yeah."
" I could do that?"
" You haven't called the..."
" Well, I mean, I got their letter. I assumed that--"
" I'm sorry, are you telling me that you didn't even think to plead your case with them first before you asked me to brainwash the entire world?"
" Well, I mean, when you put it like that--"
Stephen is quick to cast a spell over Peter to kick him out of the Sanctum, then pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers to soothe his growing headache as he exhales deeply, but ends up ignoring the other person in the room. Her demeanor softens somewhat, the glow from her eyes leaving as they return to their normal color.
" So the kid's going to college?" She asks, making Stephen turn around to face her.
" I don't know, and I don't care anymore," He grumbles.
Within seconds, Lauren hears a blood curdling screech ring through her ears. She hisses in pain, but manages to detect it's origin. She teleports herself, along with Stephen down into the sewers below the city. She forms a ball of fire in her hands, acting as the only source of light in the dingy sewers.
" What the hell are we--"
Stephen tries to speak, but he's shushed by the woman. He takes the hint and they both stand guarded as they make their way through the sewers.
It comes so naturally to her, pursuing enemies. It's second nature for her. It's ingrained into every fiber of her being. It comes on like a light switch.
A low rumbling sound echoes through the sewers, accompanies by the sound of dripping water. They both stop in their tracks, and Stephen conjures shields on both of his hands.
Lauren's head slowly tilts up to the top of the sewer, the flames casting the slightest bit of light to the figure up above. The figure jumps down with a menacing scream. Stephen prepares a spell, but Lauren stands eerily still. The figure comes within inches of scratching her eye, but she remains perfectly still. Her eyes flash a neon green, and suddenly the figure is frozen in its exact spot with it's claws still seconds away from piercing her eye out.
Stephen is impressed to say the least, and quickly takes them back to the sanctum where the enemy is now trapped within a cell, revealing itself to be some sort of lizard-man hybrid.
And yet, she doesn't seem phased by it. Not in the slightest. She lets out a sigh and simply brushes off her sleeves as if they were covered in dirt. She doesn't even notice that Stephen has gone to the great lengths of bringing the boy back here until the room is filled with his screams.
" Be careful what you wish for, Parker," Stephen gruffs as the boy turns to face him.
A new enemy bangs on his magical cell doors, demanding to be let out from his confinements.
" Can you please explain to me what is going on?" Peter asks, wide-eyed once more.
" That little spell that you botched where you wanted everyone to forget that Peter Parker's Spider-Man, it started pulling in everyone who knows Peter Parker's Spider-Man from every universe into this one."
With that, Lauren's ears perk up, her curiosity only growing with every word that falls out of Stephen's mouth.
" I think it's better we don't engage with them because, frankly, the multiverse is a concept about which we know frighteningly little."
" The multiverse is real?" Peter whispers in amazement.
Lauren's head tilts up to look at the pair as they begin to picker, her mind overflowing with thoughts.
" I thought you stopped the spell," Peter says.
" No, I contained it. It would appear that a few of them squeaked through," Stephen corrects, " After you left, Lauren detected an otherwordly presence. We pursued it into the sewers where we found that..." he motions to the lizard-man hybrid, " slimy green son of a gun."
" Spell? As in magic?" The man with tentacles seething from his back asks, " What is this, a birthday party? Who is this clown? What is this madness?"
" Watch this," Stephen sighs, " Do you know a Peter Parker who's Spider-Man?" the man agrees, " Is that him?" the man disagrees, " See? Okay, here's what we gotta do. I don't know how many visitors we've got--"
" I saw another one, on the bridge. He was like a flying green elf," Peter explains.
" Well, he sounds jolly. Start with him. I need you to capture them, bring them here while we figure out how to get them back before they destroy the fabric of reality, or worse, Wong finds out," Stephen says as he begins to walk away from the cells.
Lauren's concentration is momentarily broken as she shakes her head and brings her attention to the man with the cloak.
" I'm sorry, who is this we you're referring to?" She asks.
" Me," He points to himself, " And you," he points to her.
" Uh, Doctor Strange?" Peter says, stopping him from leaving.
" What?" Stephen groans.
" My friends and I just got a second chance to get into MIT, if the school sees me fighting these crazy monsters--"
" Hey, watch your mouth!"
" I'm sorry, but--"
" Are you seriously still talking to me about college?" Stephen asks as he summons the boy's Spider suit, enchants it with Eldritch magic, then slings it back into the boy's arm, " One shot, send them here, move on. You're welcome. Get to work."
" S-Sir?" Peter stutters, wanting to say just one last thing, " I know this is my mess, and I swear to you I'll fix it, but I'm gonna need some help."
" Do what you will, Parker," Stephen sighs, finally able to leave the catacomb like cellar.
Peter gives the woman a quick smile before he darts off as well, leaving her all alone with the so called monsters. Monsters from different universes. It sends her mind into a frenzy. It obsesses over the previous conversation.
The Multiverse.
A theory now being revealed as true.
And Stephen knew about this. He knows more than he's letting on, and it drives Lauren crazy.
She must know more.
She has to know more.
She follows Stephen out of the cellar and to the main level of the Sanctum. He makes it to the top of the stairs and she teleports herself to be directly in front of him, stopping him from moving even by an inch.
" Tell me about the multiverse."