Alright, let's start with a quick recap. My name is Y/N Maximoff Parker; I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and for the past three years, I've been one of many, many, many. My God, is there a lot of us, Spider-Man? I've rebranded quite a few times; I started being known as the Spider-Vigilante when no one knew who I was. I dabbled in the Human-Spider but went with Pro Hero Spider-Man. After a while, I changed it to the Scarlet Spider, named after my mother; you may have heard of her. Former Avenger current mass murderer psychopath the Scarlet Witch. Trust me; it's a long story, a very long story.
Scarlet Spider is taken; thank you, Ben Reilly, you could have thought of anything else, seriously anything... I would stick with the name, but then old Kaine had to take it, too. No one can be original in this Spider-Verse, can they?! So I had to go back to the drawing table; I went by the Red Death for one night; yeah, I very quickly pulled out of that edgy phase... Nowadays, I go by the one and only Crimson Spider; if someone tells you being Spider-Man is easy, they're lying. Take it from me; I've had a few ups and downs, and it feels like more downs. For you see, I was hidden across the Multi-Verse from said mother, who was hellbent on taking me away. She killed quite a few people because of that...
That adventure landed me in quite the universe, where 80% of the population had some superpower. I joined a prestigious hero academy; you haven't heard of it, trust me. I fell in love, lost the person I loved, and managed to get them back, only to lose them again. I had to leave that universe behind to keep it safe. My being there was destroying it slowly; I could never go back. I miss it quite a bit. Regardless, I returned to my reality with the powers of my mother, Scarlet Witch, just in case you forgot, and well, I don't seek out a social life anymore. The world doesn't have much use for forgettable, pointless Y/N, so I spend most of my days acting out as Spider-Man. My Aunt is dead, my closest family don't know I exist, and I'm late on rent for the fifth time. Everything is just groovy.
It's not all bad, though! I have a lifetime pizza supply over at Eddie's Pizza, the perks of looking out for the little guys. They closed down two months ago for health violence. Now? Well, that's complicated, just a little. You see, remember that other universe I mentioned? They called it Earth -2016; my messing with it caught the eyes of old Miguel O'Hara; he took me prisoner, working my punishment off; one day, I may go home. One day. It's all just a day in the life of your friendly neighbourhood Crimson Spider. Did I mention my mother is the Scarlet Witch? Yeah, Miguel sure likes to remind me...
****
Coming through the portal, Miguel pushed me forward into the open. The building in question still looked under construction; a handful of Spider-Men were working on getting it ready. "Lyla, when is the elevator ready?"
"Sorry, Miguel, it's not on the priority sheet. We decided to focus on the cafeteria and lab first."
"Does the cafeteria have to come first?" He grumbled, taking his mask off.
"Spider-Man still needs to eat."
Shaking his head in annoyance, he began walking backwards as hologram popups appeared around him. Swiping through them, he kept muttering to himself, lost in thought.
Strolling sideways, the other me spun around, scoffing. "You'll get used to Batman over there, always brooding and thinking the universe rests on his shoulders. Newsflash, Miguel, it doesn't!"
Rubbing my face, I looked at Y/N, baffled. "Sorry, all this is over my head; where am I?"
"Not getting told a lot around here? Don't worry; you'll get used to that too if he doesn't give you a proper introduction; welcome to the Spider Society, working title. The guys in PR are still working on the name."
More Spiders came into view, a handful talking to each other, but one took interest, swinging towards us. His Spider costume was something new... A Union Jack dawns the centre stage. "Well, lookie here, we have another bobby to join the crew. My name is Billy Braddock; you can call me Spider-UK. Can I say crikey, this is the fourth Y/N Parker we've had now? You lot are taking over. What happened to the third guy, the bloke from Earth 12131?"
"I've already told you, Billy, Zombie Avengers ate him," Y/N grumbled, hands in his pockets. "Nasty piece of work that guy was. It's a mixture of us old Doc Ock and Anti-Venom. This wouldn't have been his style."
Billy shook his head, amused. "You're still trying to blindsight me with the Zombie story? This guy, I swear."
"You can always see for yourself, Billy; Earth 2149 is all for you. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet."
"Daft, you are completely bonkers." He smirked, looking at the others calling him. "I've got to leg it; we've got to deal with some Spider-Man and Doctor Strange messing with the Multi-Verse."
"Oh yeah, send me a postcard from whatever earth you venture on," Y/N replied, fist-bumping Billy and turning back to me. "Cool guy, Billy. I'm a huge fan of that London accent; can't get enough of it."
"Yeah..." I whisper, watching more Spiders walk by. "How many of us are there?"
"A couple of dozen; we've reached one hundred friendly neighbourhood allies. All of this is quite new. Miguel started this little club ever since you almost destroyed the Multi-Verse."
"Almost? Wait, hang on!" I shout, catching up with Miguel. "That was a week ago; how did you get this all up and running in a week?"
"Time works differently across the Multi-Verse; each world has its time metre we keep track of. One can pass twice as fast as another. For us, that event was six months ago."
Y/N shrugged, giving it not much thought. "Trust me better now; dwell on the matter too much. Say while we're here, O'Hara, old buddy, old pal. Think you can let me loose?"
Another Spider-Man in a red and black suit landed beside Miguel, nodding. "You want me to take him in again, Miguel?"
"That would be great, Peter; I have enough to deal with right now."
Y/N sighed, meeting with the other Spider-Man. "Hey, Otto... How's it been? I hope you kept my cell warm for me." Edging towards me, he whispered. "Don't let this guy push you around us Y/Ns have to stick together. Boy, am I starving! I've been dying for good old ramen; who's up for ramen?"
Y/N quickly left Spider-Man, leaving me alone with Miguel; he glanced over his shoulder, looking at me with a judgemental stare. I didn't think twice about ditching him; this guy was intense. Dragging the Golden Hobgoblin through the construction, neither of us walked in complete silence. A handful of other villains were locked up in similar prisons. I kept walking, only to pause on one catching my eye.
"Don't get too close to that one. That's an echo of Y/N's old reality that slipped through. Wannabe magician called Mysterio, he almost destroyed two universes with his illusion crap."
Smirking at this, he had his head hung down low. "It's called a quirk. I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for Y/N..."
"Takuya, lock this variant up with the other Hobgoblins. Be careful. This one is super." I watched another Spider-Man take him away, and Miguel waved me over. "My lab, now."
****
Screens filled the room with different worlds, different Spider-Men. He had a watch of them all; I even saw myself scroll by. He was watching me this whole time. Zipping up to the higher platform, Miguel looked down at me, webbing Silk's watch back and handing me a small wristband. "That will stop your body glitching. For the past six months, you and Miles have been high on my list—you more so as of now."
"You've been watching me?" I whisper, paranoid, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"
The screens all reacted, showing Silk entering my dimension. "Get the picture now? It's paramount that you tell me what she told you. You two worked together for a few days, took down Electro and ended up stuck on Earth 1610. What did she tell you?"
I paused momentarily, almost spilling the beans, but something told me to keep my cards close to my chest. "Tell me? I don't quite follow. Was she meant to tell me something?"
"You tell me, was anything mentioned on why she ended up in your backyard? Anything at all?"
"Silk was a part of the Spider Society, wasn't she? That doesn't make sense; you weren't active before the collider almost destroyed Earth 1610."
"As I said, kid, time works differently throughout the Multi-Verse. How did she die?"
"By saving me." I frowned, crossing my arms. "I buried her if that's anything to go by. Will that destroy Miles' world because I did that?"
Miguel shook his head. "It shouldn't. If you know nothing of Cindy's condition, I'll be sure to send you home first."
"Hold on a second, home? As in my earth."
"Earth 1998, the world where everyone is Spider-Man, that's your world, right?"
"Home sweet home. But, if you're in the recruiting phase for this new book club, I could always throw my hat in the ring?"
"No; under no circumstances would we ever bring you in." Miguel snapped, turning away. "We don't need an anomaly here."
"Why not? Is it because I'm not experienced enough? Am I not Spider-Man to you? I may be new to all of this, but I helped save the Multi-Verse; I took down Beetle and Electro. Put an end to Kingpin's plans. Why can't I take on that responsibility? Isn't that what Spider-Man does? Don't make me pull up the great power quote."
"Th-The what?" Miguel replied, squinting. "There's a quote? When was there ever a quote?"
"You know... With great power comes great responsibility."
"You're making this up; no one had ever told me that. Lyla, tell me he's making this up?"
"Sorry, Miguel, it checks out."
"It doesn't matter!" Miguel snaps, pushing Lyla away. "We've already got plenty of more suitable Spider-Men from your world ready to join; we don't need a nobody."
"Is that what you told Cindy Moon the last time she saw you?" I hissed, getting his attention.
"Y/N, are you sure about this? We can just walk away."
I'm sure. Cindy ran away from this lot for a reason; I will find out why. "She did tell you something? What did she say!?"
"She told me I was amazing and I'm Spider-Man. That's all the proof I need to keep going." I mutter, glaring at Miguel. "Just give me a chance, one chance. I can do this; I don't want what happened to Cindy to happen to anyone else."
Lyla appeared beside Miguel, holding her hand up and covering her mouth. "We can use the extra manpower, Miguel. The anomalies aren't slowing down anytime soon."
Gritting his teeth, he turned away, cursing under his breath. "One shot, you get one shot. If you mess up in any way, you get sent home with no expectations."
"Thank you, Miguel! You won't regret it, I promise you. We're going to make a great pair."
"We?"
"Yeah, me and Carange."
Rubbing his face, he was already regretting all his life choices. "Maldita sea todo... The kid has a murderous Symbiote; it's like giving a toddler the nuclear codes and telling them to have fun—one chance. Lyla, show him to his room. Remember, Y/N, one chance."
Leaving the lab, I smugly pulled up Silk's Spider mask, smiling. "One chance is all I need. I will find out the truth, Silk, no matter what. Even if it kills me."