In the second-floor office of Tonya's Auto Shop in Fallout Town, Peter, Deadpool, Old Hawkeye, and Old Hawkeye's daughter Ashley were discussing what had just happened. After dealing with the Hulk, Logan had returned home to guard against other surviving Hulks. He wasn't particularly interested in getting involved in superhero affairs, so Peter decided to let him be.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye, while cleaning up the shattered remains outside his ex-wife's place, discovered that the guy taken down by Spider-Man's painted War Machine was actually Bullseye. He retrieved the Necro-Lock (Deathlok in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) cybernetic eye Bullseye had transplanted, washed it clean, and thoughtfully fiddled with it in his hand.
Now, Peter was complaining about Deadpool's recent actions.
"What were you thinking?! I already removed the arc reactor from his chest; we could have kept him for questioning!" Peter was truly furious: "That organization, the Web-Warriors, was undoubtedly the key, possibly even the cause, of the Web of Destiny's tremors, and then you just cut him down with one slice!"
"You never said that guy was also supposed to be protected! On the contrary, you've always believed your multiversal granddaughter was the key, okay?! So I was protecting your precious granddaughter, alright?!" Deadpool yelled back with equal high-decibel fury: "Why would I protect a rapper in spider camouflage who might even be a Skrull?!"
"If I wanted to kill him, why would I even bother removing his reactor? Can't you see that?!"
"You don't kill anyone anyway, do you?! Even if you wanted to, you've never actually killed anyone! So how was I supposed to know you wanted to keep him alive?!"
Peter felt a headache coming on. His spider-sense was still buzzing, though not as intensely as before. There must have been something wrong with that Spider-War Machine; otherwise, a mere Spider-Man version of War Machine wouldn't have made his spider-sense go off the charts. But the guy was dead, and not only dead, his body had been sent back to deliver a message. Who knew if that was why his spider-sense kept blaring.
Ashley Barton had no idea what was going on. Still a 'spirit girl,' she rubbed her hair. Yesterday, she had beaten up a chubby kid who owed her protection money, along with the guys who beat him up. Today, she was told that Bullseye, the President's chief marshal, died in front of her, and that her waste-of-space dad's companions, her grandfather from another world and his friend, had taken down the Hulk.
She paused for a while, then asked her dad, who was still fiddling with the cybernetic eye, without much hope: "They came for me?"
"They were, but now it sounds like they came for the person who's looking for you."
Because she had witnessed Spider-Man's powerful strike that removed the arc reactor, Ashley told Peter everything she knew about the Web-Warriors, but apparently, she didn't know much. However, after hearing their dialogue and seeing their appearance, it was clear that one of their founders must have been a Spider-Man version of Deadpool. And they weren't a heroic team but rather a group dedicated to helping ambitious spider-totems conquer various worlds.
What else?
After seeing the body of the Spider-War Machine return, would they choose reciprocal retaliation, or would they disappear without a trace?
Peter would soon find out.
His spider-sense roared in his brain like never before, his head throbbing, his vision blurring. But at the same time, he seemed to see a gigantic web, constantly vibrating.
It was the Web of Destiny itself trembling, as if, as if...
An immensely colossal spider was walking on the delicate web, so much so that the web couldn't bear the weight. And as the giant spider drew closer, the vibrations of the web became increasingly pronounced.
The pained Peter stood up, then fell to his knees. Ashley also painfully collapsed onto the bed. Her abilities weren't as prominent as Peter's, and her spider-sense wasn't as sensitive, but even she felt immense pain at that moment.
"Are you okay, little spider?"
"Ashley! Ashley, are you alright?!"
Both expressed concern for their respective spider-totems. Peter struggled to his feet.
The pain lessened.
Something had appeared.
Peter darted out of the room and onto the streets of Fallout Town. This was the place with the strongest superhero atmosphere in the wasteland, with all sorts of superhero merchandise scattered everywhere. In the very center of the street lay Thor's Mjolnir, which had fallen there when Thor died. No one seemed to notice the young man in the Iron Spider suit without his mask.
Behind him, Deadpool, Old Hawkeye, and the curious Ashley also followed. They followed Peter's gaze and looked up at the sky.
They saw a spiderweb, starting from a single point and spreading across the entire sky. The spider-sense was gone; even more terrifying, it had vanished. Peter felt no danger at all. Only countless dense spiderwebs exploded completely, tearing open the sky above Fallout Town, revealing a massive crimson scar. Within the scar, phantoms flickered, and then a figure floated out from within the scar.
It was a Black man, dressed in traditional West African tribal attire. With a wave of his hand, the webs retracted, stitching the sky back together. Then he landed in front of Thor's hammer, separated from Peter by the numb ordinary citizens who were praying to Mjolnir, begging for a god to descend upon the world.
"I once challenged the King of the Gods with lies, bringing stories to the mortal realm."
"I made humanity believe that I was a facet of my divine father, and with lies, I drove the gods from my universe. Thus, I became the only god in the entire universe, a god who conquered his own universe."
Peter put on his Iron Spider mask. The built-in database analyzed the figure's words, and Peter stated the conclusion of the analysis: "You are Anansi, the Ghanaian god of lies and stories."
"Indeed, I am, Chief."
Anansi gave a polite, smiling bow: "I formally invite you to join our Spider-Army. You possess the power to freely traverse the Web of Life and Destiny, which is precisely what we urgently need. In exchange, we can offer you power, protect your universe and family. And, we can also tell you a secret."
"A group of monsters called the Inheritors are preying on spider-totems across various multiverses, and the Web-Warriors can protect the spider-totems' safety."
"Conquer?" Peter suddenly countered: "Is that how you recruit people?"
"Yes. Is there anything strange about that?"
"If you're recruiting and you don't fear the Inheritors, what are you preparing for?" Peter probed: "The Hive?"
Anansi, unexpectedly, fell silent.
It really was the Hive...
Anansi thought for a moment, finally preparing to say something, but before he could finish, a gigantic steel beam came hurtling through, directly striking Anansi and sending him flying. Subsequently, almost all the metal structures in Fallout Town were yanked into the air.
A shriveled, emaciated old man floated in mid-air, glaring furiously at the god from another realm.
"Get out of my territory!"
Author's Note:
Anansi is the son of Nyame, the father of the gods in Ashanti mythology. There are also legends that Anansi is one of Nyame's incarnations, who transformed into a spider and wove the entire world with his webs. Marvel Universe's Anansi first appeared in Spider-Man: Fairy Tales Issue #2, from Earth-7082. His world has no superheroes, only a mythological one. He is recognized by Marvel as the first Spider-Totem.
This novel has again taken liberties. His power level roughly aligns with the main universe Thor. The way he conquered his universe is as he stated: he severed the connection between the gods and the world. Anyway, his universe had no other superheroes. (The god of stories as a divine identity is truly an overpowered existence in Marvel.)
The "Hive" that PP mentioned at the end of this chapter is not Hydra's Swarm or AIM. The author mentioned it in the group, or some deep fans of American comics might know who it refers to.
The setting of the Web-Warriors is a foreshadowing for a series of future Spider-Verse stories, because American comics are classic "spaghetti code," so various problems arise. For example, Morlun has been feasting on the entire multiverse for decades, but the Spider-Men haven't noticed anything...