Marvel’s Spider-Man: Across the Multiverse

"This world... it seems to be exuding a sense of sorrow?"

The Extraordinary Mutated Universe, or rather, Extraordinary Universe-2.

New York City, Queens, atop a certain building.

Peter and Gwen stood side by side.

However, neither of them was in high spirits.

It wasn't that they were in a bad mood; rather, the moment they entered this world, an inexplicable gloom settled over them.

Especially for Peter.

He could feel it—this world seemed to be undergoing something akin to human aging.

But how could that be possible?

A world wasn't a living being—how could it experience birth, aging, sickness, and death?

Moreover, as the "twin brother" of the Extraordinary Universe, Extraordinary Universe-2 should have been just as vibrant as its counterpart.

Yet, the reality was undeniable—this world was aging at an alarming rate!

"What happened to this world? Why has it become like this?" Gwen's mood was somewhat affected as well, but not as deeply as Peter's.

After taking a moment to adjust herself, she was the first to recover. Stepping to the edge of the building, she looked down below.

What she saw left her, someone who had already experienced multiple worlds, utterly shocked.

The once-bustling streets were now scorched wastelands.

Several buildings had partially collapsed, with skeletal remains faintly visible within.

Others had been reduced to complete ruins, leaving only piles of rubble and twisted steel.

Smoke lingered in the air, the scent of destruction heavy. Charred bullet holes scarred the remnants of broken walls and shattered structures.

If not for a few still-standing landmark buildings confirming their location, Peter would have believed they had landed in the Middle East rather than New York!

By now, Peter had managed to suppress the overwhelming sorrow that had been seeping into his heart. He walked over to Gwen's side.

The scene before him immediately reminded him of the world from the Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994), where Carnage Spider-Man and Ben Reilly once existed.

The resemblance between the two worlds was uncanny.

In both cases, Carnage had been the catalyst for destruction—one due to cloning, the other due to the injustices of the world.

But regardless of the cause, both paths had led to the same outcome: annihilation.

Boom!

A sudden explosion echoed from a distant street.

Moments later, a towering skyscraper slowly began to collapse before Peter and Gwen's eyes.

"What's happening over there? Gwen, let's go check it out!" Peter called out as he pressed the button on his Spider-Black Panther emblem.

In an instant, his nanotech Vibranium Spider Suit fully materialized around him.

"Alright!" Gwen nodded, and at once, a black substance crawled out from her wristwatch, covering her entire body before morphing into a white-and-red Phantom Suit through its adaptive abilities.

Whoosh—

Whoosh—

With their suits now fully equipped, the two of them took off, one after the other, rushing toward the scene of the incident.

Meanwhile...

A few streets away.

The area remained a desolate, rundown district.

The streets had been barricaded with makeshift barriers, seemingly meant to separate them from the surrounding neighborhoods.

But now, those barriers had already been smashed apart.

Humanoid creatures with green, bumpy skin and long tails dragging behind them—lizardmen—were rampaging through the streets.

Some had climbed up the nearby residential buildings, smashing through walls and bursting into homes.

Within moments, angry shouts, screams, and cries of resistance echoed from inside.

Severed limbs were flung out, and fresh blood gradually spread across the streets.

However, the native inhabitants weren't entirely defenseless.

A group of uniformed individuals, wielding rifles, pistols, and various firearms, were fighting back with all their might.

But the lizardmen were not only incredibly fast and immensely strong, but their regenerative abilities were astonishing.

Unless they were riddled with bullets all at once, taking them down was nearly impossible.

"Damn it! These lizard monsters are a nightmare!"

"Where's Dillon? Hasn't he come back yet?" A burly man with a thick beard shouted.

"Leader Dillon went to get medicine for Old Jack, but he must've seen what's happening here—he should be back soon, right?" another person replied.

The bearded man cursed, "That idiot! It's just an old man—if he dies, he dies! Why bother getting medicine? Doesn't he know that those Lizard Gang bastards have been watching him? The moment he left, of course they'd strike! Damn those lizard freaks! Damn Dillon!"

"But..." The subordinate hesitated.

"Shut up! Hold the line here—we have to last until Dillon gets back!" the bearded man roared.

Rat-a-tat-tat—

His firearm roared once again, sending bullets flying toward the advancing enemies.

Not far from their defensive line, atop the rubble of a recently collapsed skyscraper, stood a towering figure.

He bore a striking resemblance to the Lizard Doctor from the Extraordinary Universe, yet he was even taller and more muscular!

Standing at nearly three meters, his body was proportionally enlarged in every aspect!

But what was even more shocking were the black stripes intertwined with his green scales.

At that moment, he stood atop the ruins, coldly observing the defensive line below.

Beside him stood an old man wearing thick, bottle-bottom glasses.

"Dr. Mendel, is everything ready?" the Mutated Lizard Doctor asked.

The old man, Dr. Mendel, responded, "Everything is prepared. There's a high chance we'll be able to capture him this time."

"A high chance?"

The Mutated Lizard Doctor suddenly grabbed Dr. Mendel by the throat, lifting him into the air and pulling him close.

"I don't want a 'high chance'—I want a guarantee!"

"Ugh... ugh...!"

Dr. Mendel's eyes widened in terror as his legs kicked frantically in the air, struggling for breath.

Thud!

The Mutated Lizard Doctor casually flung him to the ground.

"Y-yes, I understand," Dr. Mendel stammered, kneeling in the dust without a hint of protest.

A deep sense of despair welled up in his heart.

He had once been a renowned biologist in England's scientific community. When the original Lizard Doctor transformed into his reptilian form due to a laboratory accident, Mendel had been invited to join the Oscorp Group as their chief biological researcher.

He had gone on to develop both bioelectricity technology and the Super Soldier Serum (not the one from Captain America).

But these two achievements, which he had once taken great pride in, ultimately became his downfall.

The bioelectricity technology had briefly revived Oscorp Group, but an accident during its development had created a new enemy—Electro, Max Dillon.

Meanwhile, the Super Soldier Serum had been used by Oscorp's second-generation leader, Harry Osborn, turning him into the Green Goblin.

The Green Goblin died at the hands of Spider-Man. And Spider-Man... became the monster known as Carnage.

When Dr. Mendel heard rumors about this, he feared that Carnage would come after him. So he went into hiding—only to fall into the hands of another monster.

That monster... was the Lizard Doctor.

(End of Chapter)

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