14. We keep the balance

(Unknown Plane of Space)

"How in the hell is it my fault that the earth is doomed?"

Peter is willing to take responsibility for a lot of bad things that have happened. So long as there is a perfectly good reason.

Or at the very least, he was present for it.

But the world ends because of a cosmic dodo bird he has never associated with. Well, he will not take the rap for that.

The devil's chuckling brings attention back and said devil says, "Oh no need to be worried, we will be getting to that in a moment. But there are others who will be going first."

"Now see here you Satan reject, You can't just drop a bombshell like that and expect me to ignore it."

"That is exactly what you will do."

He flinches at the loud voice. How does he keep forgetting that there are others present? They're not exactly easy to ignore. Particularly the one who told him to shut up.

He turns his attention to The Living Tribunal, who thinks he might be annoyed with him, it's kind of hard to tell, and listens when he speaks, "Your ignorance in this matter does not excuse you from the consequences. Nor does it from your race. Furthermore, you will wait until we arrive at Mephistophele's testimony so that you may hear what you have wrought."

Uatu steps forward and bows, "Forgive him for his brashness, Tribunal. He is an earthling and they have yet to fully grasp the workings of the universe."

He feels like he should stick up for humanity, but it will probably only get him in trouble. So he'll just shut up for now.

The Living Tribunal nods and says, "Mephistopheles, you shall speak first."

The demon king bows, "Thank you, oh glorious Tribunal," he turns and calls out, "Master Order and Lord Chaos, please come forward."

Two giant heads float beside the area Peter is on. One looks like Charles Xavier's head, but not him, the other is deformed and ugly looking.

"First, clarify if this human is the one you both deemed worthy to be bestowed the title of Spider-Man."

Huh? His superhero name is a title? Since when?

Both giant heads nod (he thinks?) in affirmation and Master Order says, "He is."

"Why did you choose him?"

Master Order answers again, "We believed him to be worthy. He has proven time and again that he can bear the mantle and the burden that goes with it."

"Wait, what?' Spider-Man couldn't help but ask.

Mephisto smiles a little and looks back to the two big heads, "May you please elaborate?"

This time Lord Chaos speaks, "The mantle of Spider-Man is given to the chosen avatar of the web of life and destiny. He who bears the mantle is also one held with certain expectations."

"Such as?"

Order answers, "To be a protector."

Spidey puffs his chest a little and proudly comments, "Then I guess I've been doing my job right."

The devil smirks smugly and asks, "Are there any other expectations the mantle holds?"

"Yes," this time Chaos answers, "one other expectation is that he is to be a great hunter."

Mephisto looks back at him all smug and then asks, "And has he accomplished this?"

Both say, "No."

The air deflated from his chest. Crap.

Mephisto looks back to the two and says, "May you please explain."

Order does so, "While he has been a protector, he has also ignored the most crucial part of being a spider."

Oh, that doesn't sound good.

He asks them, "And that would be?

"A spider always finishes it's captured prey." Chaos answers.

He raises his hands immediately, "Whoa, hold on a second," he says to them alarmed and serious now, "I am not about to start killing people just because two big heads tell me I'm supposed to. No offense."

By the look they're giving him, he can assume that they are offended.

"Even when ending one life can save hundreds more."

He pauses for a quick second to think about how right that statement tended to be. He shakes his head hard at that and stubbornly says, "Look I don't care what you say, I will not kill anybody."

Order responds, "And we respected your choice in the matter. However, because of this, we have had to intervene."

"What does that mean?"

Mephistopheles steps forward with a smile on his face, "I believe I can answer this for you," he turns around to look at the two big heads, "if it is alright with Order and Chaos," they nod and he turns back to him, "Tell me Spider-Man, you've noticed how unfortunate events occur around you, yes? For example, when you've defeated your enemies, you were unable to fix a disruptive point in your life."

He raises an eyebrow at the question and answers "Yeah?"

Somehow his smug smirk became even more so, "Essentially, you were unable to bring Order into your Chaotic life."

Peter pauses for a moment as he thinks about the devil's words. Especially the two he enunciated.

Two seconds later it clicks in his head, "Wait, are saying that-?" He snaps his gazes to the two big head and looks at them sharply, "You two are the reason my life goes to hell whenever I try to do the right thing?!"

Chaos responds, "We are merely influences in the universe. We keep the balance."

He asks angrily, "What balance?"

"Order and chaos," Order answers, "For every life that you save is an establishment of order. Alas, that also weakens you, for you see chaos is what gives you strength."

"Huh?"

That one got to him. How in the world is having a chaotic life, or more accurately a life where everything goes down the toilet and everyone spat on him and belittled him, give him strength?

"You have two sources of power that you draw upon to give you more strength," Chaos tells him, One of those is Chaos Energy, similar to what Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, wields."

Huh, so that's where Wanda's powers come from. He always figured it was some internal energy type thing. Like how she just makes the energy on her own. So its an outside source and apparently he also has access to that stuff. He is now imagining himself floating around in a red leotard for some reason.

He shakes his head of that thought and asks, "And how would I get this chaos energy?"