"Put down the Time Slate!"
Felicia's voice trembled with urgency as she stared at Kingpin, her face pale. The Time Slate was her only hope of saving her father.
"Spider-Man, you promised me," she pleaded, turning toward Charlie.
Charlie sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Lady, you just told Kingpin how important the Time Slate is to you."
Sure enough, Kingpin's calculating gaze shifted between the two of them, his smile growing more confident.
"With the Time Slate in my hands, your options are limited to just one."
Charlie shook his head.
"No, I think we have more than one option."
"What?" Kingpin frowned.
Charlie raised a hand and began counting down.
"One… two…"
BOOM!
The rubble exploded without warning, and the crazed Dr. Connors burst forth.
"I'm going to devour Spider-Man!!"
Driven mad by the regenerative serum coursing through his body, Connors could no longer distinguish friend from foe. He lunged at anything alive, desperate to quell his unrelenting pain.
"What?!"
"No!!"
Kingpin's scream echoed as Connors tackled him to the ground. The Time Slate tumbled from his grip, only to be snatched by a webline and pulled into Charlie's hand.
"Sorry, I only count to two," Charlie quipped, offering Kingpin a mock apology before landing next to Felicia.
"You're hurt pretty bad," he said, glancing at her bloodied legs. Then his gaze shifted to the corner of the room.
"Hey, you two Spider-Men, could you—"
He paused mid-sentence, his spider-sense tingling. Something about Uncle Ben and Aunt May seemed… off. Uncle Ben's posture was straighter, and Aunt May's figure—
"Spider-Man, do you want us to help this woman?" Aunt May's voice was youthful and vibrant, entirely different from the raspy tone Charlie was used to.
Charlie blinked.
"…Aunt May? You sound…"
He looked between the two of them and the Time Slate in his hand.
"Oh. I get it now."
Aunt May shrugged.
"Spider-Man, you guessed it. This weird slate made us young again."
"What?!" Felicia gasped, her expression shifting to surprise and then hope.
"You know how to use the Time Slate?"
"Yes," Uncle Ben confirmed, pointing to the ceiling.
"All you need to do is sincerely pray to the Sun God. It's that simple."
Felicia: "????"
"Just… pray?"
"Yes, that's all." Uncle Ben's words were cut off by Kingpin's furious roar.
"Get off me!"
BOOM!
With a powerful punch, Kingpin sent Connors flying into the wall. Bloody but unbroken, Kingpin staggered toward the Time Slate.
"That's mine!!"
As he stepped forward, the ceiling's Sun Totem cast a faint golden light through its cracks, dim but still enough to reflect off the stone statue and onto the Time Slate.
HUMMM!
The Time Slate glowed brightly, its mysterious energy enveloping Charlie. The sunlight, now an unbreakable cage, paralyzed him.
"Damn, I'm about to become the 'Friendly Neighborhood Kid,'" Charlie thought, cursing internally.
But before the Slate's power could fully take hold, the Spider Totem on his chest flared, momentarily halting its effects.
As Kingpin stepped into the light, the Time Slate's energy shifted to him instead.
"No… my body!" Kingpin screamed as his massive frame rapidly shrank. His burly, menacing features softened into something unnervingly childlike.
"I'll devour Spider-Man!!"
Connors, who had recovered, charged into the light.
HUMMM!
A green glow spread across Connors' forehead, taking the form of a Lizard Totem. Charlie's expression darkened.
"Wait… there's a Lizard Totem in this universe? Since when?"
Confusion gave way to shock as Connors, now trapped in the sunlight's power, unleashed his Lizard Totem. The green, spectral lizard lunged toward Charlie.
HISS!
In response, the Spider Totem on Charlie's chest counterattacked. Five spectral red-and-blue spiders erupted from his chest, each moving to intercept the Lizard Totem.
The fight was swift and brutal. The spectral spiders overwhelmed the Lizard Totem, battering it mercilessly. The green lizard struggled but couldn't escape their combined assault.
Eventually, realizing it was outmatched, the Lizard Totem attempted to retreat to Connors. But the spiders weren't done.
THWIP!
Webs of glowing energy bound the Lizard Totem in place. The spiders spun their webs tighter until the lizard shattered into fragments of green light.
CRACKLE!
The victorious spiders returned to Charlie's chest, merging back into his Spider Totem. A faint burp echoed through the chamber.
The onlookers blinked, stunned.
"What… just happened?" Uncle Ben scratched his head.
"I think I watched a cartoon," Aunt May mused, folding her arms.
"No! My body!!"
Kingpin's wails drew their attention. His once-massive form had now regressed into that of a wailing infant, his voice high-pitched and helpless.
Connors, meanwhile, had reverted to his human form. His green scales faded, though a few patches remained on his forehead. The Lizard's claws shrank into human hands, and his unconscious body began to shrink as well.
Uncle Ben wasted no time, webbing Connors out of the sunlight before the regression could worsen.
"It's Curt Connors… Richard's friend?" he muttered, disbelief in his voice.
"Wait, that monster was him?" Aunt May gasped. "He was there when Charlie was born. I can't believe it."
Richard Parker—Charlie's father. Curt Connors had once been his closest friend.
"Oh, look, a baby!"
Aunt May turned her attention to the infant Kingpin, who had been wrapped in webbing and left crying on the ground.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
Aunt May's maternal instincts kicked in, and she cradled him.
"He's kind of cute, isn't he?"
Uncle Ben frowned.
"He still has his memories. We should get rid of him."
"Oh, come on," Aunt May said, letting the baby gnaw harmlessly on her finger.
"Look at him. He can't hurt anyone like this."
Uncle Ben hesitated.
"He kidnapped Charlie. That's a fact."
Aunt May thought for a moment.
"Fine. We'll raise him, and then send him to prison."
Kingpin: "…"
The baby's only response was an indignant wail.
Meanwhile, Charlie was still trapped in the sunlight, watching the absurd scene unfold.
"Hey! Are you guys done chatting? I'm still stuck here!" he yelled.
Uncle Ben and Aunt May snapped out of their discussion.
"Oh, right! Sorry! We'll get you out."
"Get me out? That sounds… weird," Charlie muttered.
They shot webs at his waist and began pulling.
"Harder!"
"I'm trying!"
"He's not budging!"
Their banter grew increasingly ridiculous until Charlie interrupted.
"Try breaking the Sun Totem above me. It should stop the light."
The two exchanged a glance.
"Great idea!"
As they prepared to smash the totem, Felicia shot a grappling hook to stop them.
"No! If you destroy it, my father will die!" she cried, tears streaming down her face.
"Spider-Man, there must be another way, right?" she pleaded.
Charlie glanced at his chest. The five Spider Totems were holding strong.
"Uh… maybe, but…"
Before he could finish, Carter arrived, shield in hand. Taking stock of the situation, she positioned her shield to block the sunlight. The beam dimmed, and Charlie felt the pressure lift.
"It worked!" Carter grinned.
Charlie exhaled in relief.
"Finally."
But before he could relax, Carter's eyes narrowed toward the Spider-Slayer. Its eyes glowed red, its systems whirring ominously.
"Uh-oh," Charlie muttered. "It's not over."
In a split second, he shot webs to pull Uncle Ben, Aunt May, and Felicia to safety.
"GO!"
The Spider-Slayer detonated. The explosion obliterated the pyramid and sent debris cascading down the mountain.
Charlie awoke to darkness. His hands trembled as they held up a collapsing statue, shielding Felicia and Carter. Black liquid oozed from his wounds, but a strange energy prevented him from healing.
"Spider-Man…" Felicia's voice broke through the silence.
"It's… genetic destabilizer," Charlie rasped. "Kingpin used Vibranium shards. They tore me apart."
"Can't you regenerate?" Carter asked, inspecting the wounds.
"No," Charlie muttered. "It's destroying my abilities. I won't make it."
"Then why hide your identity?" Felicia shouted, tears streaming down her face. "You're dying! What does it matter?!"
Charlie forced a weak grin.
"It matters… because Spider-Man is more than me. He's… hope."
Carter nodded, reaching for the shards embedded in his body.
"I'll make sure they never find out."
As she worked, the darkness swallowed them whole.
...
Beneath the Rubble.
The pitch-black silence of the collapsed ruins was interrupted by the faint glimmer of light, flickering weakly before growing bright.
"Zzzz..."
The light illuminated a cramped, makeshift cavern. A tilted pharaoh statue supported the weight of the rubble above, providing a fragile sanctuary for three figures.
But the statue alone wasn't enough to hold back the crushing debris.
Charlie stood beneath it, his hands trembling as they pressed against the unstable stone. His abdomen was a mess—black blood oozed from a deep wound, the dark liquid writhing in an attempt to seal the injury, only to be rapidly broken down by an unknown force. The wound refused to heal.
Beneath him, Felicia and Carter stirred, regaining consciousness. Their eyes opened to the sight of the young man holding back the collapse.
"Spider-Man, you..." Felicia's voice faltered, her expression a mix of shock and concern.
She surveyed their tiny prison, realizing the truth: they had been buried alive. And this man had bought them a few precious moments of survival.
Carter's sharp gaze locked onto the wound in Charlie's abdomen. Her brow furrowed.
"Something's not right. What could tear through your skin and stop you from healing?"
"The wound's still festering," Felicia murmured, panic creeping into her voice.
Charlie gritted his teeth, his body shuddering under the strain.
"If I had to guess… it's a gene disruptor."
He grimaced, recalling how Kingpin had likely collaborated with Bucky Barnes to obtain such a weapon. What he hadn't anticipated was the addition of vibranium shards to the Spider-Slayer.
The self-destruction of the machine had propelled the shards deep into his flesh, bypassing his enhanced durability and allowing the gene disruptor to wreak havoc on his genetic makeup.
For the first time, the invincible Spider-Man had been brought down by the same weapon.
Though Charlie's Titan-infused body prevented him from dying immediately, his powers were rapidly fading. And when they vanished completely, the rubble above would crush them all.
This wasn't the first time his mutated spider genes had led to catastrophe. If he couldn't fully rid himself of the spider's curse, it wouldn't be the last.
His body had no defense against the gene disruptor.
But before the end, there was one final matter to address.
"Carter, we're about to die. I need—"
"Love you," Carter interrupted, deadpan.
Charlie: "…"
Felicia's jaw dropped.
"Excuse me, what?"
Realizing her slip, Carter's face turned slightly red.
"Sorry, I've been watching too many movies lately. It just slipped out."
Charlie's expression darkened.
"I told you to stop watching those cheesy dramas. They're rotting your brain."
"Fine, fine," Carter relented. "What do you need me to do?"
Feeling the rubble pressing down with increasing force, Charlie spoke through labored breaths.
"I need you to make sure they don't discover my identity when I'm gone."
The spider-sense had given him just enough instinctive reaction to avoid instant death, but he could feel his powers slipping. His survival was no longer possible.
And Carter… Carter wouldn't make it either.
Without her to clean up afterward, Charlie wasn't willing to risk exposure.
Carter glanced at his wound again before nodding firmly.
"There's a way. The gene disruptor will completely disassemble your body. It'll leave nothing for anyone to identify."
"Do it." Charlie clenched his fists.
"Make it quick."
"Got it."
Felicia's horrified expression turned into outright disbelief as she watched Carter draw a vibranium shard from Charlie's wound.
"Wait! Are you insane? You're still worried about keeping secrets when we should be finding a way out of here?"
Carter remained calm, brushing Felicia's hand aside.
"There's nothing to save. We're not getting out of this."
"No! I can't die here. My father needs me!" Felicia's voice cracked as tears began to fall.
"You not wanting to die won't stop it from happening," Carter replied coldly. "He's already dying. I'm not a miracle worker."
"Madness! You're all mad!" Felicia broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
Ignoring her, Carter used the vibranium shard to trace fresh cuts across Charlie's skin, spreading the black blood over the wounds.
"Yeah, right there. More, that's working."
"Try the other side. Yeah, like that. Perfect."
"Wait—don't touch that spot. That's just weird." Charlie's breath hitched as he tried to maintain composure.
Carter remained unfazed, adjusting her movements.
"You're embarrassed? Relax, kid. I'm old enough to be your babysitter. No funny business."
"…Not helping," Charlie muttered.
"You've got great form for a dying superhero," Carter quipped, ignoring him. "Want me to double-check the—"
Before she could finish, Charlie's fading strength gave out. The pharaoh statue collapsed.
BOOM!
The cavern shook violently as the debris caved in. Dust and darkness swallowed them whole.
Just before his vision went black, Charlie's mind latched onto a final thought.
Wait… that spot wasn't even injured!
Carter, you absolute troll!!