Chapter 118

A/N: Two chaps for today to make up for yesterday

°°°

"Alright, let's quickly deal with our matters and leave this timeline. If we drag this out, we might end up creating a new parallel universe, and that would be troublesome," Mark reminded.

Creating a new parallel universe would mean dealing with another version of Spider-Tom, and he didn't want to repeat these actions. Moreover, such an act falls into forbidden territory and could attract the attention of certain big shots.

Despite his current strength, he acknowledged that he still fell short when facing true powerhouses.

This differed from his actions of traversing various worlds and altering the destinies of Spider-Men. His movements across worlds were guided by the force of destiny, intervening directly into the world using the power of space and time, altering the original destiny of the Spider-Man in that world.

In other words, the world, after being influenced by him, remained the same world, not some parallel universe derived from it. It was just that its "plot" direction changed after being influenced by Mark.

Perhaps this was the power bestowed upon him by the master weaver, the power to "break the shackles of destiny."

The upcoming tasks were quite straightforward.

With the hypnotic tools provided by Doctor Strange, within a few minutes, Mark obtained everything he wanted, and incidentally made the two Skrulls forget about encountering him and Spider-Tom.

Interestingly, these two Skrulls turned out to be a married couple.

The male among them was called Talos, named after a giant in Greek mythology. However, this Talos wasn't giant, his skin wasn't bronze; instead, it had the typical greenish hue of Skrulls.

Afterward, without lingering in this timeline, they directly returned to their original timeline.

A round trip took only a few minutes.

Soon, with everyone's cooperation, all the preparations were mostly complete.

Firstly, Doctor Strange located the Skrull named Talos.

When they found him, he and his wife were living in a house in the countryside, leading a life similar to ordinary Earthlings.

Upon the arrival of Mark and the others, Talos expressed great surprise.

After clarifying the reasons, they revealed a sense of guilt.

As it turned out, after the final battle of Avengers: Endgame, Nick Fury went into space to undertake the work of S.W.O.R.D., protecting Earth from extraterrestrial threats.

He then asked the two Skrulls to impersonate him, replacing him to hand over the EDITH glasses left by Iron Man to Spider-Tom.

However, things took a turn with the interference of Mysterio.

If it were the real Nick Fury, how could he easily believe the nonsense of Mysterio?

Later, realizing his mistake, Talos reported to Nick Fury and returned to this house with his wife Soren, unaware that his wrongdoing had nearly caused Spider-Tom to meet a tragic end.

From this Skrull, Mark also heard Captain Marvel's name.

It seemed they had fought side by side.

After hearing this, Mark decided not to give them a hard time.

After all, Captain Marvel was hailed as one of the most powerful superhero in the Marvel Universe.

Some foes were better left untouched.

Fortunately, they had a very cooperative attitude in admitting their mistake. After explaining the situation, they immediately contacted Nick Fury, who was on his way back.

Later, Nick Fury had them stand in for him and issue a statement. Spider-Man was officially recognized as an "Avenger," a public servant, not a vigilante. Meanwhile, Mysterio was directly labeled as a "super villain."

With this official endorsement, they proceeded. Next, Mark presented the video of Mysterio from the other world that came that day.

At the time, Mysterio, thinking he had everyone nearby under his control, spoke arrogantly and proudly revealed his villainous identity.

This evidence of a major twist, along with Nick Fury's statement, was handed over to J. Jonah Jameson (JJJ), who had already been contacted.

Under the dual influence of immense interest and a powerful fist, JJJ spared no effort in publicizing the information. Soon, these messages replaced the original ones and began to widely circulate.

Shortly afterward, someone managed to capture the "real identity of Spider-Man." Supposedly, a lucky citizen unintentionally recorded an image of Spider-Man in person.

The Spider-Man in these images had blond hair and a rather resolute face, clearly not the same person as the previously leaked Peter Parker.

This "Blond Spider-Man" was naturally a disguise by Mark. After careful consideration, he decided not to show his true face.

Even though the Skrulls currently seemed to be on the side of Earthlings, he still harbored some suspicions that they might have a hidden agenda.

His previous encounters with Talos and others were all in armored suits during their interactions. As for the appearance of this Blond Spider-Man, Mark created the image based on the Spider-Man he saw in the world of Miles, slightly adjusting the features to resemble a mature version of Spider-Tom.

This way, he could explain why some people had mistaken Peter Parker for Spider-Man.

Certainly, there's no need to state these things directly; just hinting at it will naturally lead people to speculate.

At most, have Edith publish a few ambiguous articles to fuel the speculation online. Soon, public opinion will be brought back under control, and the crisis for Stark Industries will be resolved.

Correspondingly, Spider-Tom's persistent worry about admission to MIT is no longer an issue. This not only relieved Spider-Tom and his companions but also brought a sigh of relief to Pepper Potts.

To express gratitude for their actions, Pepper Potts warmly invited them to a family banquet.

During the banquet, Spider-Tom and MJ were chatting quietly, Spider-Gwen, Ned, and Morgan Stark were busy with a high-tech toy model, while Max and Dr. Otto Octavius were enjoying drinks and conversation. Meanwhile, Doctor Strange was sipping his drink alone.

At this moment, Pepper Potts walked up to Mark's side.

She hesitated for a moment and then said, "Can you really travel through time?"

Mark nodded. His temporal abilities allowed him to enter the quantum realm and choose to appear at a specific point in time.

So, it's not far-fetched to say he can time travel.

Pepper Potts became somewhat excited. "Can you go back to when Tony died?"

Mark was momentarily stunned, then shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not possible."

Without waiting for her to continue, Mark explained again, "For Mr. Stark's sacrifice, we are also sorry. His death was a backlash caused by using the power of the Stones. As a manifestation of the fundamental forces of the universe, it not only inflicted permanent physical trauma on Mr. Stark but also affected his soul, time... his existence."

Soul and form, both extinguished.

This has already exceeded the simple definition of "death."

It's like Black Widow who died on the planet Vormir.

This is the cost of gaining power, a kind of eternal "sacrifice."

Pepper Potts' expression changed again and again. After forcing a smile, she left in silence.

After hearing about Mark's abilities that day, she had been contemplating and hesitating about this matter for the past few days.

She feared that if she allowed herself even a glimmer of hope, it would be ruthlessly extinguished, leading to greater despair.

Yet, she was reluctant to give up on this rare possibility that had emerged.

This led to the current conversation.

In response, Mark was also regretful. Iron Man was a character he quite liked and a life mentor to Spider-Tom.

If possible, he would undoubtedly want to save him.

Unfortunately, he couldn't.

Even if he traveled back to the past timeline, participated in that final battle with only a 1 in 14,000,000 chance of winning, and succeeded, it would merely create another parallel universe with a victorious outcome.

Later, Mark recommended Dr. Otto Octavius to Pepper Potts.

Although there was a gap between his knowledge and this era, his high qualifications quickly gained Pepper Potts' approval, and she wanted to hire him for Stark Industries' research department.

Stark Industries needed talents like Dr. Otto Octavius in fields such as mechanical manufacturing and energy industries.

With the powerful support of Stark Industries, Dr. Otto Octavius's talents could be fully utilized.

Mark even considered bringing over the Dr. Octopus from the Tobey Spider World.

However, he gave up on this idea after some thought.

Every world has its own characteristics, and separate actions might offer infinite possibilities.

Moreover, in that world, Harry provided funding, the Octopus Doctor provided technology, and Tobey Spider was a rogue enthusiastic about heroism.

If they lost the Doctor Octopus, all the efforts made there would be in vain.

After careful consideration, Mark decided to only share certain resources with that world and not bring people over.

For this reason, after discussions, they decided not to join Stark Industries but to form an independent studio and establish certain forms of cooperation with Stark Industries.

After giving it some thought, Pepper Potts agreed.

It's just an investment; Stark Industries is not lacking in money.

And this studio has a top-notch nuclear physicist and Mark, a person capable of traversing different parallel universes. Its potential is immeasurable.

Later, Mark stayed in this world for over a month.

The inter-universal technology company in this world is in its early stages. While most matters are handled by Dr. Otto Octavius, there's still a lot that Mark and the others need to assist with.

For example, Max needs to help design power diagrams that meet the requirements.

Afterwards, Mark and Gwen thoroughly explored this world, visiting and experiencing many advanced technologies surpassing their era.

Keep in mind that the technology in this world has basically reached the level of interstellar travel, approaching a Type I civilization.

During this period, Mark also consolidated his knowledge of quantum magic and then decided to continue his journey of traversing different worlds.

°°°

Hungry for more chaps? Then check out our pătreon!

Link: Påtreon.com/BaphometFiction

I post 10 advanced chapters of this fanfic there.