Chapter 8: The Time-Space Tunnel
The black-suited Spider-Man walked toward the Iron Spider Armor.
Just as he reached for it, Spider-Man's weak voice echoed behind him.
"Don't go. Our fight isn't over yet," Peter murmured, struggling to stay upright.
Spider-Man knew Black Spider-Man's terrifying nature better than anyone. He was ruthless, unbound by any moral code against killing, and a more formidable opponent than any Spider-Man had ever faced.
"I know this sounds full of myself, but I'll say it anyway. If you walk out of here… my teammates won't stand a chance against you," Peter continued. "Stay here. Don't become New York's next nightmare."
"Nightmare? New York will be better with me than with you. I'm the one who truly cares about the people of this city," the black-suited Spider-Man replied with a sharp, righteous edge.
"What New Yorkers need is a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, not a tyrant," Peter countered.
"A friendly neighbor can't change anything. A tyrant can make New York better."
"I'll stop you." Peter leaned forward, gathering what strength he had left.
"Stop me? Look at yourself. You're covered in injuries. Admit it. You can't beat me, and you can't stop me," Black Spider-Man sneered.
"I will."
Even if it costs my life.
Peter kept the second half of that sentence buried in his thoughts. He had already figured out how to defeat the black-suited version.
His eyes flicked toward the hole in the ice—the one his head had smashed open earlier.
If the black-suited Spider-Man was his copy, he shared Peter's weaknesses.
Peter knew he couldn't win, but he could drag his dark self into the sea with him.
He had made up his mind. For the sake of New York, he would do whatever it took to keep this version of himself from returning.
"I didn't want to do this, but your stubbornness has pushed me past my limit," the dark Spider-Man said. "It'll be better for this universe if you disappear."
Peter's persistence had finally exhausted his patience.
Unlike Peter, who still didn't understand the full rules, the dark version knew: if Spider-Man died, his darker half would vanish as well.
That was the only reason he had held back earlier.
But now he realized… unless he got rid of Peter, he would never bring the world under control.
Peter charged forward. The dark version didn't even move.
Something felt wrong. Peter's spider-sense blared louder than ever, but he couldn't see any threat.
"Where…?" He darted his eyes around, searching frantically.
"You feel it, don't you?" his dark counterpart sneered.
The black-suited Spider-Man raised his hands. A swirling black wormhole opened above Peter in an instant.
"Above—!" Peter's head snapped up, but the deep wormhole swallowed him whole before he could react.
"You brought this on yourself," the black-suited Spider-Man exhaled, breath unsteady.
The move drained a tremendous amount of power from the Hameno Stone. He never wanted to use it on Spider-Man unless forced.
"But it was worth it. Without you, who's left to stop me?" He lifted the Iron Spider Armor.
Just as he relaxed, basking in victory, a single strand of web shot out from the still-fading wormhole behind him.
It snapped onto his back with perfect precision.
"What—?" he blurted, startled.
Before he could react, the web yanked hard. Caught off guard, he was pulled straight into the wormhole.
The moment he vanished inside, the opening sealed shut without leaving a trace.
Inside the wormhole lay the time-space tunnel.
Its "walls" weren't walls at all, only swirling streams of shifting colors and light, like a living kaleidoscope.
Spider-Man could see countless fragments of his own memories, scenes from different timelines, and even glimpses of Spider-Men from other parallel universes flashing by.
He felt weightless, dizzy, and disoriented. His head swam, and the usual sense of up or down dissolved.
Here, time and space had no meaning.
"Here again… he actually has the ability to open a time-space tunnel." Peter murmured.
He fought to steady himself. He'd traveled through time before, so muscle memory kicked in. Within seconds, he regained balance.
He lifted his head toward the wormhole that had dragged him inside.
In this tunnel, he couldn't move freely. A powerful current pulled him forward, tumbling him through its flow.
"I can't go back… but I can drag him in with me."
Acting on instinct, he fired a web. The strand shot through the wormhole like an arrow and stuck right onto the dark Spider-Man's back.
"Got you."
Feeling the line go taut, Peter braced himself and pulled hard. The dark Spider-Man was dragged inside just as the wormhole snapped shut behind him.
"Hey, buddy. Door's closed now. Any chance you can open it again so we can both get out?" Peter called out.
"Spider-Man… you have no idea what you've done," the dark version growled once he forced his balance back.
"So that's a no," Peter muttered.
"I'm trying to make New York better, and you keep getting in my way," the dark one snapped.
"Better? That reminds me of someone… right, Fisk. You're sounding just like him. Both of you want to crown yourselves king of New York and rewrite its rules."
Peter let out a low whistle. "I just realized how much you resemble Fisk. That's terrible. My dark side is Fisk? Then could Fisk's bright side be me? That's truly frightening."
"Don't compare me to that bastard!" Rage flared in the dark Spider-Man's eyes as he surged upward along the web.
To him, being likened to a criminal was a personal insult.
"You sure hate criminals, but look at what you're doing. How's it any different?" Spider-Man twisted aside, letting Black Spider-Man's strike sweep past.
"I'm nothing like them!"
The dark version lashed out with brutal precision, every blow aimed to incapacitate.
"You're slowing down. Getting weaker. The wormhole drained a lot out of you, didn't it?" Spider-Man said while dodging.
"Shut up!" the dark Spider-Man roared.
"Not a fan of my jokes? That's new. We really do have more differences than I thought."
"Quiet!"
His dark counterpart's fury made his movements sloppy. Openings appeared between attacks.
Spider-Man seized the opportunity, wrapping his arms around Black Spider-Man from behind.
"Let go of me!"
The dark Spider-Man drove his elbow back hard, striking Peter in the stomach.