New York in April was breezy and sunny, and everything seemed so tranquil. For the rest of the world, last month's so-called Hydra conspiracy didn't amount to much. It was like watching a TV drama titled The Great Conspiracy only to find out it was actually about two villages fighting over a trivial dispute.
However, there was good news for Peter Parker. For one, he had possessed his spider abilities for a year now. Calculating from the time he defeated Shocker in September, half a year had passed. It felt like an eternity, as if he had read through a novel with over four hundred chapters.
The thought that he would have to wait until 2024 to confront Shathra left Peter feeling momentarily disheartened. He let out a helpless sigh and rolled over on his bed.
That's right, Spider-Man had taken the day off. Because no news had come through the police scanners for a while, it was as if the entire world had entered an era of total peace following the collapse of Hydra. Peter actually had time to spare to learn a bit of magic or play some video games—titles like Skyrim or Fallout: New Vegas.
Anyway, there wasn't much going on.
Of course, Spider-Man wasn't truly idle. Even though things had been quiet for nearly a month, Peter still had things to do. Chief among them was investigating leads on a man named Ezekiel Sims. Unexpectedly, yet perhaps not entirely surprising, there was no trace of this man to be found anywhere. It was as if he didn't exist; neither the Avengers, SHIELD, nor the Hydra database obtained by Ultron contained a single shred of information on the guy.
It was truly bizarre that even Hydra couldn't find this man.
On another front, the Avengers attended the funeral of Jim Hammond. This World War II superhero had been transformed into a fascist weapon of war due to the outrageous operations of high-ranking U.S. military officials. His brain had been completely hollowed out into a shell, containing only a computer and no soul of his own.
The tricky part was that Jim Hammond couldn't be cremated—he'd "revive" as soon as he caught fire. So, the final solution was to place him in a concrete sarcophagus filled with an airtight gel, eventually interring him beneath Avengers Tower. But honestly... no one was particularly grief-stricken; they were mostly just comforting the Captain.
Hardly anyone had a tangible emotional connection to Jim Hammond's passing.
Then there was the battle of wits against the Daily Bugle. It seemed that because Jessica had provided Mary Jane with a plethora of contradictory leads, MJ had actually started believing the theory that "Spider-Man might be a role played by multiple people." This wasn't exactly a good thing, as JJJ had found a new angle to attack Spider-Man.
If Spider-Man can appear in Europe and the Americas simultaneously, does that prove the so-called Spider-Man is nothing but a fraud?
"Sometimes I really feel like JJJ has infinite creativity when it comes to slandering Spider-Man. Wait, the alarm's going off."
[Fire reported in Hell's Kitchen—Fire department arriving in 15 minutes.]
Ever since Tony Stark began funding the Damage Control Department and the New York Fire Department, even the fire trucks had become faster.
Peter opened his computer while thinking, scanning the news first. In early April, Kraven had finally left New York to return to Russia. Simultaneously, Russia's own Avengers team, the "Winter Guard," was officially established.
The members included the previous century's Soviet super-soldier, Red Guardian; Crimson Dynamo, powered by Anton Vanko's previous-generation arc reactor; Perun, the storm god of Slavic mythology; the mutant "Ursa Major," who could transform from a human into a super giant bear; Kraven the Hunter, a master of all weaponry; and Red Widow, a super-spy out of the Red Room.
The intent was obvious—who they were meant to counter and how they intended to compete. Surprisingly, this team's popularity had already surpassed that of the American Avengers. It was clear the Pentagon had truly bungled some obvious matters.
Everyone was busy debating who was stronger between the Avengers and the Winter Guard. What? The U.S. Avengers? No one cared about the U.S. Avengers.
"Well, nothing big in the news, and nothing suspicious on social media. Looks like today is another peaceful day in New York. Strucker's interrogation is still going nowhere. If we could just find a lead on the Winter Soldier, I'm almost certain Cap would have Strucker shot immediately."
As Peter spoke, he did one final check to ensure there were no urgent matters before he began practicing magic. When Strange heard that Peter wanted to learn magic to "avoid being erased by powerful reality-warping forces," his expression had been quite complicated. Fortunately, the Vishanti did indeed have a similar spell, though the cost was astronomical.
"You'd better find another way, Spider-Man. The dangers of using such an incantation arbitrarily are immense. If possible, you should find an unclaimed dimension and become its Sorcerer Supreme. That way, you could significantly reduce the mana consumption."
That was easy to say, but where would he find one? The only dimension Peter knew of was Limbo, and that had already been claimed by Illyana.
Thus, Peter could only study magic while pondering how to solve the problem. He let his body rest while projecting his astral form, using a Sling Ring to reach the library of the Sanctum Sanctorum. After greeting Wong, he began browsing the Sanctum's books, looking for other ways to avoid being erased by a Cosmic Cube.
As he was reading, his body back at home suddenly triggered his Spider-Sense, transmitting the alert to his astral form. Peter was taken aback; the sense wasn't very violent, meaning there wasn't an immediate danger.
"What triggered my Spider-Sense? Please don't tell me Felicia snuck into my house in the middle of the afternoon—hardly anyone else triggers it."
A puzzled Peter steered his astral self back into his body and opened his eyes. As soon as he looked up, he saw Kitty Pryde, Shadowcat, phasing through the wall into his room. Seeing Peter Parker sitting up on the bed, she gave an awkward little wave.
"Hi?"
???
Why you? And how do you know where I live? Even Cyclops and the others don't know, right?
"Peter, I need your help."
"...Did I ever tell you my secret identity?"
Peter was thoroughly spooked by her words, but Kitty's next sentence was even more terrifying: "No, the reason I know who you are... is because I swapped consciousness with my future self. No, wait, I received memories from the future."
"We need to reverse the future."
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