Chapter 47: Farewell
"Well, I guess I'll head out first," Spider-Ham said with a casual clap of his hands.
Just as he was about to leap off the edge, he turned back, walked over to Peter, and pulled a familiar small wooden mallet out of his pocket. "Here, take this as a keepsake."
Peter accepted the mallet, vividly recalling how Spider-Ham had transformed it into a giant hammer earlier and used it to knock the Ultimate Green Goblin flat.
"Can I make it big to smash things too?" Peter asked.
"Uh, probably not. It's just a souvenir." Spider-Ham shrugged and jumped into the particle stream.
Shadow-Spider was the next to approach Peter. He placed a hand on Peter's shoulder and said, "Good luck, Peter. There's something different about you, something none of us have. Your future holds endless possibilities."
"Different?" Peter asked, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure. It's just a feeling—Spider-Detective's intuition," Shadow-Spider replied, tapping his temple.
With that, he too leaped into the particle stream.
Peni walked up next, pulling out a handful of candies of all kinds. "Peter-oniisan, remember to think of Peni, okay~?"
Peter nodded, gently ruffling her hair, then patting her spider mech. "I'll miss you all."
Spider Mech: ^▽^
After Peni left, older Peter Parker stepped forward and embraced Peter. "Say goodbye to Miles for me."
"I will," Peter nodded. "Mr. Parker, when you get back, consider reconnecting with Mary Jane. I think she's been waiting for you."
"Thank you. I'll do that," older Peter said with a smile. "Honestly, after seeing Miles and Peni, I'm starting to think having a kid might not be so bad. It could be pretty great, actually."
Peter laughed. "Well, I hope your kid has a brain as brilliant as Peni's."
Finally, only Gwen-Spider remained.
She took a few steps toward Peter but didn't say anything, as though struggling to find the right words.
Peter extended his hand first, his expression earnest. "Gwen, I promised you I'd show you the true beauty of this world and help you make lots of friends. I'll find a way to cross time and space and come to your world to see you!"
"I believe you!" Gwen said, stepping forward and hugging Peter tightly.
Peter froze for a moment, then returned the embrace.
After a few seconds, they let go.
"Alright, Gwen, you should head back now," Peter said softly. "Remember, in your world, I'll always be with you."
Gwen nodded firmly.
Her world had once been shrouded in darkness, but now, a beam of light had illuminated it.
Just as she was about to leap off the edge, Gwen suddenly turned back, gave Peter a quick, feather-light kiss on the cheek, and disappeared into the particle stream.
"Gwen!" Peter stood there in stunned silence, finally realizing what had just happened.
He quickly stepped to the edge and looked down, but Gwen's figure was already fading into the swirling particle stream.
Touching the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him, Peter could still feel the lingering warmth of that fleeting moment.
Peter wished he could leap into the particle stream immediately, throwing caution to the wind, and follow Gwen to her world.
He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.
"Gwen, I'll find you. Wait for me," Peter murmured.
A powerful surge of his spider-sense pointed him toward a specific direction, and to his surprise, his physical abilities were also rapidly increasing.
He couldn't tell if this was a temporary buff or a permanent upgrade.
Right now, it didn't matter.
At this moment, his mind was consumed by a single thought:
Find the safety switch, end all of this, and discover a way to traverse time and space to Gwen's world!
No, if he could resolve everything here quickly enough, he might even enter the collider before it was destroyed and follow Gwen directly to her dimension!
The next moment, a web shot out, and Peter's figure darted through the chaotic time-space currents with incredible speed.
It wasn't long before he spotted Miles amidst the tangled streams of energy.
However, Miles wasn't near the safety switch. Instead, he was locked in battle with a figure as broad and imposing as a double-door refrigerator.
Kingpin!
It was him again!
Peter hadn't seen Kingpin during the earlier battles and assumed, like Doctor Octopus, he'd been scared off by the chaotic time-space distortions.
But here he was—still present and actively blocking Miles from reaching the safety switch to end this madness!
"You idiot! Do you want all these worlds to be destroyed?" Peter roared, his frustration boiling over from the earlier farewells with his teammates.
In his anger, Peter shot forward like a lightning bolt, his figure a blur of motion.
Unlike Peter, Kingpin lacked spider-sense.
While fighting Miles, Kingpin had been holding his own with relative ease.
Miles was still inexperienced, both in honing his powers and in combat skills, and Kingpin had been thoroughly dominating him.
This, in turn, had boosted Kingpin's confidence significantly.
But that sudden roar caused Kingpin to involuntarily recall the fear of being dominated by fists the size of sandbags.
"You—"
BAM!
Before he could even finish the word, Peter landed a punch that sent Kingpin sprawling backward.
His massive body didn't soar into the air but instead rolled along the ground for several meters before coming to a stop.
"Thanks, Peter. You've saved me again," Miles said, getting up from the ground.
When Peter arrived, Miles had been pinned to the ground, Kingpin's massive hand gripping his throat while the other rained relentless punches onto his face.
The brutal attack had rattled Miles so much that he'd forgotten his own strength—breaking free from Kingpin's hold wouldn't have been too difficult for him.
"Did you find the safety switch?" Peter asked.
Miles pointed to a spot in the distance. "It's over there, but Kingpin stopped me before I could reach it."
"Let's go now," Peter said, ready to move.
Kingpin, having been smashed into the ground with a punch worthy of a superhero, was no longer an obstacle.
"No, Peter, you should leave now," Miles said, shaking his head.
Peter turned to look at him.
Miles spoke earnestly, "Thank you for everything you've done for this world, but I'm the one who belongs here. It's time for me to finish this. Honestly, I've been waiting for you to leave before pressing the button."
"Alright. Goodbye, Miles," Peter said with a nod, embracing him briefly. "By the way, Mr. Parker and the others asked me to say goodbye to you for them as well."
"Goodbye, Peter. Thank you," Miles said, moved.
Peter released him, shot a web, and swung toward the particle stream in the distance.
Behind him, Miles suddenly called out, "Before you go, I need to ask—what exactly do you do? You seem to know some pretty mind-blowing stuff!"
He was referring to Peter's earlier remarks about the "space-time continuum" and such.
Peter chuckled. Truthfully, much of what he'd said had been guesswork, though it wasn't far from the truth.
"Me? I'm just a science fiction writer!"
(End of Chapter)
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