Chapter 9

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Peter struggled to adjust to whatever was happening; all he knew was that he was flying through spacetime, lights passing by him so fast that he almost felt like the Millenium Falcon any time it went into light speed. His last trip across the multiverse had been much smoother; he'd simply been going about his business in his world one moment before ending up on another earth almost instantaneously. Really, he was lucky that web swinging had taught him how to handle great speeds, or he probably would have thrown up in his mask already.

Glancing around, Peter realized that he wasn't alone: not only was Doc Ock being transported with him, but so were Gwen and her Doc Ock. Also nearby was the perilous itself, the lines within its design still glowing with a bright white and blue energy. Peter shot a web towards it, managing to stick it to the device. However, his opponent was clearly determined not to be outdone, latching onto it again with one of his tentacles. He yanked it to himself, propelling Peter forward as well. He grabbed onto it with both hands, struggling against his opponent with it as he tried to fight off the other mechanical appendages from assisting.

He noticed Olivia trying to enter the fray, only for Gwen to kick against her, sending her colliding with Otto while also launching her momentum. The man's extra arm relinquished its grip on the device at hand, and Gwen floated forward, grabbing onto the device as well.

"I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to get this thing to stop, do you!?" Peter shouted.

"Nope, not really!" Gwen confessed.

Suddenly, their spider senses went off, alerting them to the lunging mechanical arms of Otto and Olivia. Unable to web onto anything, Peter and Gwen tried to swat or flip out of the way, but there were too many mechanical appendages to avoid as they fought against their momentum, barreling full speed ahead towards who-knew-where. The Ocks grabbed at the Perilous as Peter and Gwen struggled to hold onto the device, which soon started glowing more intensely.

"No," Gwen muttered, "not again."

Before Peter could inquire as to what she meant, a bright light emitted from the device before it split back into four pieces once again. Immediately, the four of them crashed through a glass-like barrier, descending into a new world. Clutching one of the shards of the perilous, he shot a web onto a nearby building, performing a long, high swing before landing on top of a building. Gwen landed next to him a couple seconds later, also clutching a piece of the perilous.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"I think so," Peter said, "but wow, that was a lot more intense than my last trip across the multiverse!"

"Speaking of that, where are we anyway?" Gwen pondered. The two of them then walked out to the ledge of the building, looking out over what once was probably this world's New York City. What had been a lively, festive place back on the world they'd just come from was now nothing but a desolate, empty wasteland, with destruction and debris everywhere. Even the buildings that were standing were falling apart, possibly for quite some time.

"Man," Peter muttered. "What happened here?"

"I...I'm not sure," Gwen stammered in response. "We must be on some world where there was a third world war, or a nuclear holocaust or something. It looks..."

"Deserted," Peter finished for her. He then turned and surveyed the surrounding area. "I don't see any sign of our friends."

"I lost them too," Gwen added. "They'll find us though. We each have one shard, which means that they likely have the other two, and something tells me that they'll be looking to complete the set."

"One of us needs to," Peter said, glancing down at the shard in his hand. "It's probably our only way back."

"Yeah, well, something tells me that it would be better if we were the ones to do that and not them," Gwen interjected.

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