Chapter 84

"Another Peter?" Doctor Octopus frowned deeply, his eyes shifting back and forth between Spider-Tom and Mark, filled with confusion.

Mark approached Spider-Tom and extended his hand for a friendly handshake. "Nice to meet you, Peter."

"Oh, the whole world now knows who I am." Spider-Tom shrugged in resignation. "But who are you? Another Spider-Man? A wild, new Spider-Man?"

"What do you mean by 'wild'? Are you being polite?" Mark rolled his eyes. "I'm a legitimate, home-grown Spider-Man."

But he didn't stop walking and continued toward Doctor Octopus.

Doctor Octopus kept watching Mark as he approached, refraining from launching an attack when he came within three or four meters.

"Do you really not recognize me?" Mark asked in confusion.

Doctor Octopus removed his sunglasses and looked at Mark, furrowing his brow. "Judging by your appearance, I seem to know you?"

"Of course, Otto Octavius, in another world," Mark said, "you were even my employee!"

Doctor Octopus: "Huh?"

What nonsense is this guy talking about? But he really knows my name! But his voice doesn't sound like Peter Parker's! What's going on?

Spider-Tom: "???"

Rushed and not entirely trusting of a Spider-Man who associates with this villain, Spider-Tom had a hint of caution toward strangers after the events with Mysterio. 

Of course, it was just a tiny bit of caution.

Otherwise, in the original plot, he wouldn't have shown such kindness, bringing several villains to his safe house and indirectly causing Aunt May's death.

So, Spider-Tom interrupted, "Hold on, you two. Could you please introduce yourselves? Because right now, I'm feeling a bit lost!"

After reevaluating, Mark shrugged.

From Doctor Octopus's reaction, he had already deduced that this Doctor Octopus had been pulled from a parallel universe within the same "movie dimension," not the world he had visited.

This was getting interesting.

From the feedback of the forces of destiny, Mark could sense that he had indeed altered the fate of the Doctor Octopus from Tobey's Spider-Verse. However, since Doctor Octopus himself was not on the "Web of Destiny," he had not received the feedback and, therefore, could not enhance his powers.

In Tobey's case, whether Doctor Octopus lived or died had a relatively minor impact on his life in the short term, so it didn't provide Mark with much feedback.

But destiny couldn't be faked.

'So, after I changed the official history, did it inexplicably spawn a parallel universe that hasn't had its history altered?' Mark wasn't entirely sure whether it was because the "main universe" Spider-Tom inhabited was so powerful that it forcibly created this parallel world or if it had existed independently.

Despite having some control over the forces of destiny, he wasn't a master weaver or an abstract entity like Eternity and Infinity. He was still relatively inexperienced in using the power of destiny, mainly relying on it passively.

"If you recognize me, and he doesn't, does that mean you're Peter?" Doctor Octopus coldly eyed Mark as he pondered, while his mechanical tentacles darted towards him.

Spider-Tom rushed over quickly. Although he suspected that this new Spider-Man and the man with mechanical tentacles were working together, the new Spider-Man had just saved someone, so he couldn't stand by idly while he was attacked.

However, Spider-Tom was fast, but Mark was faster.

Even before gaining enhanced abilities, Mark already had the strength to overpower Doctor Octopus, let alone now.

The mechanical tentacles were halfway to their target when they became powerless.

Mark reached out and grabbed one of the mechanical tentacles, effortlessly pulling it towards him. Doctor Octopus tried to resist with the other two tentacles, each exerting a force of around 8 tons.

However, Mark's strength was overwhelming, and there was no resistance. He pulled Doctor Octopus towards him, along with the tentacle, leaving the scientist in a state of panic.

Bang! Mark delivered a punch to Doctor Octopus' head and then skillfully used his strength to combine several of the mechanical tentacles, coiling them around him like a bundle of sushis. He added a few strands of webbing to secure the bonds.

With that, everything was done.

Spider-Tom stood nearby, still in the stance of preparing to charge, but he realized the battle had already ended.

For a moment, he was left dumbfounded.

"Is it over just like that?"

Mark casually tossed Doctor Octopus' bundled package aside and turned to smile. "Why not? Must we always go back and forth with our opponents?"

"But, this...," Spider-Tom was still somewhat incredulous. His past experiences involved prolonged battles, searching for weaknesses, or using taunts to disrupt the enemy's focus before finishing the fight.

"Exactly," Mark shrugged. "Why waste time if you can finish it with one blow?"

"Well, when you put it that way," Spider-Tom nodded thoughtfully. "But, just to be clear, you're really not working with him?"

"Of course not. How can Spider-Man team up with a villain? Well, at least most Spider-Men wouldn't," Mark replied.

He suddenly remembered from his recent readings that in some alternate dimensions, there were Spider-Men who were villains or even more villainous than the villains themselves.

For example, in Earth-11638, before becoming the Ghost-Spider, the Spider-Man of that world was a maniac who enjoyed conducting experiments on small animals and was a voyeur, often peeping on his neighbor, Sarah Jane (MJ), while she changed clothes.

His guardian, Uncle Ben, despised him, and their interactions usually ended with Uncle Ben shouting at him or even physically scolding him.

During a field trip to Alchemax, he was bitten by a radioactive spider and gained superhuman abilities, similar to other Spider-Men. However, due to his upbringing and his twisted nature, he didn't become a heroic Spider-Man but rather a monstrous Spider-Man.

First, he ate live mice, then he devoured Sarah Jane's cat, and later, he even consumed Uncle Ben. He bullied his classmate, Flash Thompson, and tricked Sarah Jane into coming to his home, attempting to force her to give birth to little spiderlings.

In his case, "With great power comes great responsibility" became "With great power comes a bigger appetite!"

It was a terrifying world.

Honestly, when Mark saw these outliers among Spider-Men, he felt fortunate that he hadn't encountered such individuals during his initial traverses. Otherwise, his initial fondness for the Spider-Man identity might have led him astray.

Indeed, there are dark sides to being a Spider, so traversing between universes requires caution!

°°°

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