chapter sixty-four
the return of electro

THE UNDERCROFT was not the easiest place to make their own, but the group of friends made do. Ned, MJ and Felicia all wandered around the basement room, checking out bits and pieces and putting together a workstation with everything they could possibly need. As Ned tried to find a table to set up his laptop, Felicia swiped through her Tiktok to try and find anything that could be related to a flying green elf. Though, all she got close to were elf cosplays and some strange thirst traps. MJ found a goatee template that was important enough to forget about Tiktok as they snickered, realising Dr. Strange's goatee was fake. The loud crash made them both glance over. The Black Cat and MJ shared a frustrated sigh to see Ned standing in the middle of a pile of books, his hands hovering by the desk he had been trying to move.

After cleaning up Ned's mess, they dusted off the remaining Christmas ornaments and MJ found a working lamp to set up on the edge. Felicia squeezed her shoulders in passing and her girlfriend smiled. Until they watched Ned snatch the back of a camp chair out from under a small, round table▬and crash! went everything off that surface, too.

Felicia dared MJ to try out the pilates machine as Ned set his laptop up on the dusty table. He flipped it in his fingers and placed it down with a smug grin.

The girls gazed at a few bobbleheads that they swore for a moment had moved their eyes to follow them. MJ frowned over Felicia's shoulder, reaching out to poke one▬

Behind them, an entire aisle of boxes, buckets, old lamps▬and whatever else they had hoarded in this place▬tumbled down onto the floor. They turned around and once again, there Ned stood, holding a chord extension sheepishly in his hand.

From the crypt, even the malicious Doc Ock sighed in his disappointment.

Finally, after everything was cleaned up and they were sure there would be no chance Ned could destroy anything else, they had their workstation prepared and ready.

Felicia spilled out her bag of candy and potato chip packets onto the table in front of Ned's computer. He gave her a thumbs up in his appreciation▬there was no way Felicia would let any of them get hungry during this mission. She grabbed the packet of sour patch worms, already digging into it when MJ said: "Hey, come look at his▬"

She waved her over towards what looked like a dollhouse. As Cia got closer, she saw that it was a miniature design of the Sanctum Sanctorum▬to the very exact, right down to the mysterious globe at the very top. Felicia shuffled in beside MJ, briefly glancing at her profile with a gentle smile until focusing on what her girlfriend wanted to show her.

There was a silhouette in the glowing eye of the Sanctorum. Cia frowned, thinking that there was nothing really abnormal until the shadow moved. It disappeared behind the glowing light and she gapped, shocked.

A voice whispered behind them: "What are you looking at?"

Both girls jumped only to sigh and scowl when they realised it was just Ned.

But while the three friends all chuckled and joked as they worked together, there was a storm cloud that hovered over their heads▬leering and looming out of the shadows of the undercroft. In the side room where a small laundry cupboard had been hidden, Nina Hart couldn't meet Peter Parker's eyes. She hugged her Spider Plush to her chest, sitting up on the bench with her heart pounding, her cheeks red from her tears, and feeling as though she lost every ability to speak.

She felt like she was lost in that river▬always drifting; drifting away from a reality that now she was so detached from. For so long, she was able to tell herself that no matter what she saw or what she dreamt, she would always wake up to this world here. They had just been dreams, but this had been real ... but now, she has learnt that they were all real. All of those dreams where she had scoffed at her imagination to try and hide how much they scared her ... was not her imagination. She didn't know how, she didn't know why, she couldn't even begin to comprehend those questions past her realisation▬that was too terrifying.

All of those dreams, all of those monsters, all of those Peter Parkers▬and each one that she watched try to reach her; racing against time before she hit the ground ... and she died.

They had been real. The same story; a loop, over and over and over again ...

And this was the same loop once again. What if this was just another one she was living? And once she died, here, she would wake up to face another▬confused and startled and so, so, so very lost.

At the way Peter was watching her, hesitant and careful, Nina had a feeling that she was right. Somehow, he knew the truth, too▬he knew what her story will always be.

His suit was thrown to soak in the laundry tap basin, smothered in soaps and washing liquid to try and get the green slime off the fabric. Now, it lay forgotten as Peter Parker and Nina Hart hung onto the moment before a conversation they knew they needed to have, but both were too scared to initiate.

But in the end, it was Nina that spoke first▬and it surprised her. She hugged her Spider-Plush closer to her chest and brought her knees up. Her shoes hung half off the counter as she curled up against the brick wall. "I ... I didn't think they were real," she mumbled, meeting Peter's gaze finally. "I just ... I just thought they were dreams. That's why I never told you. I didn't ... I didn't want you to think I was crazy or..."

"I wouldn't have," Peter managed, his voice in a very similar-sounding mumble. "I wouldn't▬"

"I just didn't want you to worry," Nina sniffled. She looked down at her feet. "I didn't think they were worth anything to worry about."

They fell silent once again. Peter walked up closer to the bench until he leaned against it next to her. His fingers tapped on the edge and there was a lump in his throat when he asked: "How ... how long...?"

Nina shrugged. "I don't remember not ever having them. But ... but it just started out small. Like▬like memories or snippets; just normal dreams until ..."

"Until what?"

She pursed her lips and fiddled with Spider-Plush's arms. "Until that science trip in our Freshman Year ... When you got bit by that spider ... they seemed to get more vivid after that. Longer ... more real... scarier... But then you got back from Berlin and that was when you started to show up in them. Or▬or as Spider-Man. But ... but it wasn't you ... not▬not exactly ... I guess they're variants of Peter Parker in other universes▬" Nina cut herself off and slumped forward, her head falling into her hands. "God, I can't believe I'm talking about this like ..." Like they were real.

But if Doc Ock and the Lizard were real. If out there, the Green Goblin was terrorising New York, then that must mean that those Peters she saw were real, too▬and everything she went through with them had been real. Maybe not to her personally; those lives belonged to a variant of hers, but she had relived them. They had become personal, and there was a bit of guilt Nina felt when she glanced shyly at her boyfriend right now.

Peter was frowning. He looked troubled and she knew he was terrified▬even if he was good at hiding it, she knew. He was trying not to be hurt by these secrets she kept, but she didn't have any energy to be angry at him if he was. "You've ... You've had these dreams the whole time? The whole time we've known each other? Nina ... we've known each other forever and ... and you never wanted to tell me?"

Nina took a deep breath to stop herself from crying again. She noticed Peter sigh and look down, setting his jaw. She knew what he was thinking. They had made a promise to stop lying to each other, and here they were again ... and again ... and again.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered softly into her hands. "I'm sorry."

Hearing her, Peter Parker's gaze softened. "Hey, hey▬" all frustration he had went away with ease, immediately stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her. Nina's sobs hitched into his shirt as her legs relaxed, letting herself be pulled in tight to his chest. She heard his voice break when he said. "I▬Don't be sorry, I didn't mean to make you▬" He held her tight, his arms wrapped around her shoulders and she felt them tremble with fear. "We're▬we're gonna figure this out, okay?"

"I should have said something," Nina's words were muffled against his chest. "I think ... I think I was scared that ... that they would be real."

Haunting her still, the chilling laugh of the Green Goblin from her memories seemed to echo from the shadows▬taunting her.

Peter didn't say anything for a little while, just holding her▬almost smothered▬into his embrace. He seemed scared to ask his next question: "What ... what happens in them? Your dreams?"

Nina chewed on the inside of her cheek. Her heart sped and hitched into her throat. In barely a whisper, she answered: "I ... I think you know..."

She didn't think it was possible, but Peter's embrace tightened. She heard his breath hitch, shaking. He did know.

"That other guy on the bridge," her voice didn't sound like her own. "He ... the Green Goblin. I▬I see him. In ... in every dream. It's him or▬or a version of him and every time he▬" her voice cut off, but Peter knew. He realised.

He pulled away and held her by her shoulders gently, but his grip was rigid. Peter Parker took another shaky breath and met her tearful, terrified gaze. "This ... that guy on the bridge. Is that version of him in...?"

Nina shook her head. "He is, but ... but he never got the chance to..." her eyes widened and a horrible realisation struck her. Peter watched it, and the way his grip faltered told her that he understood, too. "But ... but he's here, now. He's here." Terrified tears fell down her cheeks. "P▬Pete, he's going to be this world's ... He never got the chance in his world but what if that's because he's meant to..."

Peter shook his head and quickly cupped her cheeks. "No," he told her, and though his words were trembling, he sounded determined. "Nina, that's not gonna happen. Nothing's gonna happen to you."

"How can you say that?" she hitched back tears. "Peter in every single dream I've had▬every single universe, I die!"

"You're not going to die." Peter Parker told Nina Hart and she swallowed a lump in her throat. He cradled her head in his hands so she couldn't look away. "Nina, I won't let him hurt you. He's not gonna hurt you. I'm gonna find him, and I'm gonna send him back. I made a promise, okay? I don't care what Dr. Strange has said or what has happened before. This is gonna end up differently. I won't let you fall, okay?"

Nina felt his thumbs wipe away her tears, but she couldn't stop herself from murmuring: "That's what you always say ... every time."

"It'll be different this time," Peter refused to believe otherwise. He brushed her hair back off her face and nodded, determined. "It's gonna be different, okay? We're gonna find these guys, and we're gonna send them back, and everything will go back to the way it was. I'm not gonna lose you."

Nina sniffled, but she started to nod. She started to believe him. Maybe this was going to be different. This time, they knew the truth. If they knew what was going to happen, then maybe that meant they had the power to change it. Once these guys were gone, and they fixed the problem this spell has made, perhaps they will stop the circle▬stop the loop.

She nodded again and leaned in until their foreheads met. She sighed and closed her eyes, taking a moment to just focus on Peter and nothing else.

He closed his eyes, too, still cupping her cheeks. Peter Parker had a flash of memory▬a moment where Mysterio had tricked him into thinking that he had taken Nina. He had suspended her off the side of the Eiffel Tower and Peter remembered her scream when he dropped her▬and he couldn't catch her in time. That had been an illusion but this was very much real. Peter Parker was racing against the Universe and this time he could not lose.

He pulled away to press a fierce kiss on her forehead. "I got you," he promised. "I got you, okay? Everything's going to be okay..."

Nina sighed again, her eyes fluttering open. They met his gaze for a soft exchange until they found his dirty suit soaking in the sink. A thought occurred to her. "What if you were to turn it inside out?"

Before Peter could respond to her idea, Ned's voice called out through the ajar door. "I got one!"

Nina felt her breath hitch, her heart skipping a fearful beat. Peter noticed and quickly took her hand, squeezing it with a look that said: I'm here. Nothing will happen to you.

She nodded and held his hand tight as they left the laundry room. Stepping back out into the undercroft, they found their friends hovering around Ned's computer. They quickly made their way over.

Seeing them, Ned held up his hands and sat back in his chair with a proud look. "I mean, you can take the guy out of the chair, but you can't take the chair out of the guy."

"That's not as cool as you think it is," muttered Felicia.

"What did you find?" Peter asked as they joined them at the table. Nina felt his breath hover by her cheek as he looked over her shoulder. She appreciated that he had not let go of her, resting a hand on the small of her back▬a reminder that he was there even though those villains were just a metre away in the crypt. A reminder that she wasn't alone.

They narrowed their eyes down at the laptop screen, huddled close.

"There's a..." Ned glanced at each of them briefly. "A disturbance near a military research facility outside the city, and witnesses say that they saw a monster flying through the air."

A troubled silence settled between them. Nina and Peter shared a look. His hand moved from the small of her back to squeeze her waist. Spider-Man set his jaw and turned back to their friends. "It's gotta be the guy I saw on the bridge."

"That's impossible."

They all glanced up and down into the dark crypt. Nina tensed at Doc Ock's voice. Peter squeezed her waist once more before stepping around her. He took a few steps forward, narrowing his stare onto Doctor Octavius who frowned at the shadows in his cage. "You know him, don't you? On the bridge, you said his name."

The formidable Doc Ock didn't look so formidable anymore. His voice was distant as he murmured. "Norman Osborn. Brilliant scientist. Military research. But he was greedy, misguided."

Nina could feel Ned, MJ and Felicia's stares. They had been filled in on the damning prophecy of her life across the Multiverse and the dreams Nina has had all her life, but none of them had the chance to speak about it. She knew they had questions and worries▬they knew there was a link between Nina and these people they were trying to catch, and they watched her reaction with concern hovering on their tongues; bated with apprehension. Truth was, they were scared, just like she was. They were scared of what all of this meant▬of what will happen.

Peter set his jaw. "What happened to him▬?"

"We tire of your questions, boy!" Nina couldn't hide the flinch she made when Doc Ock raised his voice, shouting across the crypt. She felt Felicia not hesitate in taking Nina's hand, squeezing it.

Peter took a sharp breath, startled and shaken. "Okay ..." He said after a short pause. He turned back to them. "I gotta go. Where am I going?"

"It can't be him," said Doctor Octavius, seeming to have changed his mind.

They glanced over again.

"Why?" frowned MJ.

Doc Ock finally faced them. "Because Norman Osborn died years ago. So either we saw someone else ... or you're flying out into the darkness to fight a ghost."

*ೃ༄

THE SUN was setting when Peter finally made it close to the military research facility. He swung past powerlines and through dense woodland as he left Upstate New York. Nina, Felicia, MJ and Ned watched his journey through the FaceTime that had been going on for the past hour and a half. Since Peter's suit was stained with green slime, he had taken Nina's idea and pulled it inside out. What it revealed was a dark, midnight-black suit with intricate gold outlines that encased each circuit. His suit looked almost like the night sky if the constellations were linked with gold string. They had taped his phone to his chest and now had the perfect view of blurring woodland under the gaze of a setting sun. And even though they weren't really with Peter, they all still had the queasiness as if they were.

They snacked on Felicia's food that she had brought. Though it didn't take them long to eat all of it, so Ned went looking for anything that could be food inside the fridge that stood nearby. He quickly abandoned that idea the moment he saw the many different things moving in jars.

Nina was glued to her seat, her eyes fixed on Ned's computer. She had been holding her breath it felt like the entire time▬and now it became hitched the closer Peter was getting to the location. If he was going out to fight the Green Goblin, it only made her fear and her worry greater. He was a monster▬a nightmare; the nightmare ... Nina was terrified that the monster under her bed will hurt Peter ... or something worse; way worse.

"Peter," she whispered even though everyone could hear her all the same.

"Yeah?" came his breathless reply and the camera blurred as he launched upwards in another arc.

Nina's fingers tapped anxiously on the edge of the table. Her leg bounced. "Just ... Just keep an eye out on the trees, okay? We don't know where this guy is. And he's green, so..."

She couldn't help the way her gaze flickered up over to the crypt. When she saw Doctor Octavius watching her, she swallowed the bile in her throat and looked back down at the computer as Ned sat down beside her.

Meanwhile, MJ made a face and muttered: "I genuinely don't know how you do this without throwing up."

"Imagine a V.R. Spider-Man game..." murmured Felicia and then groaned with the rest of them at the thought.

"I am definitely going to throw up, now..."

At last, Peter landed down on his feet. He let out a breath, glancing around at the dark woodland and all they saw back in the Undercroft was barely anything. There was little to no light▬Peter was surrounded by darkness. Every now and then they caught glimpses of silhouettes. What could be security gates and buildings in the distance, but they were more like shadows than something actually real. Nina held her breath in anticipation, her heart thundering with a hitched fear at the thought of something leaping out of the shadows to attack.

"Okay," whispered Peter in a very soft voice as he took a few tentative steps on the fallen leaves. "Nina ... Is there anything else I should know about this guy?"

"Uh..." Nina took a deep breath herself and tried to keep her fingers still. Her friends watched, still quite bewildered by all of this. Nina was too, and she was the one who had the dreams. "Not much other than he's green, he flies on a glider, he has these bombs▬they look like miniature metal pumpkins and ... and he has this terrifying laugh. He always laughs, and it's high-pitched and ..."

"And freaky," muttered Peter, his voice sounding very breathy. "Got it."

Nina tapped the pen she had with her against her cheek, feeling something more than anxiety. Felicia frowned at her, looking very worried, but she didn't say anything.

After a few more steps, Peter seemed to hear something to his right and he glanced over. His breath hitched. "Did you see that?"

The four of them squinted their eyes through the camera into the endless shadows of the forest. They shared a glance.

"Um ... No," said MJ eventually.

"I see trees," muttered Felicia.

"It's really dark," added Ned.

Peter stood on end and he jolted▬he swivelled around on his feet to look the opposite way and Nina could hear his quick breaths through the phone's microphone. Her eyes widened and she shuffled forward. None of them said a word as they watched, on the edges of their seats with anticipation at the way Peter slowly turned around on the spot. "Okay," he muttered and Nina had a feeling something wasn't right, "okay, okay..."

And then he froze once again. He did not move, and all they could see was the dark forest in front of him. Even Peter Parker's breath seemed to stop.

Ned grew excited. "What's happening?!" he asked in a hushed whisper.

Nina frowned at the way the dark shadows seemed to reflect a golden, yellow light▬as if someone had lit a dim bulb and it glowed, flickering in the night. "Peter?" she whispered, her heart skipping a beat.

"What is it?" muttered Felicia, frowning at the camera. "What's going on?"

The forest around Peter slowly seemed to get brighter and brighter, as if the sun forgot it was nighttime and decided it wanted to rise back up into the sky. They heard the sound of his new enchanted web shooters spark to life and Spider-man raised his arm.

He did not answer them and the teens all shared another anxious look.

MJ shuffled forward. "A▬are you getting the▬like▬the tingle thing? Is the tingle thing happening? Is your tingle tingling?"

Peter spun around and they all hitched back gasps. Nina's eyes widened at the burst of golden light and when it dimmed, there hovered a ghostly figure. He floated in the middle of the powerlines▬and he didn't exactly seem formed. His image flickered and shimmered ... it sparked and convulsed; it was irregular and chaotic. Like a lightning storm confined in a single space and that was when Nina realised it was because he was made of lightning, it would seem. Made up of so much energy that he was enveloped by it. And the ghost drew more; yellow lightning reached out from the powerlines and attached to his body, lifting him up further into the sky above.

"Are you guys seeing this?" asked Peter.

"Yeah," murmured MJ.

"Osborn?" whispered Ned but Nina shook her head.

"That's not the Green Goblin," whispered Nina, her eyes wide.

"No shit," let out Felicia. "Who is that? What is that?"

Nina narrowed her eyes, her breath laboured as she tried to see amongst the blinding light. There was something about this ghostly figure that was hauntingly familiar▬and she tried to pinpoint where she had seen it before.

"Nina..." Peter whispered, very on edge, "... do you know this guy?"

She didn't answer, her gaze fixed on the being that sparked and shifted in the night, suspended in a lightning web of his own making. Then, Nina let out a breath of realisation. "Wait..." her tongue went dry. "No ... but that can't be right ..."

When she didn't continue, Peter decided to speak up. He waved nervously at the figure hovering in the sky. "Uh ... You wouldn't happen to be from another universe, would you?"

The ghostly being did not reply. The four friends back at the Sanctorum huddled together▬shoulder-to-shoulder as they watched the scene unfold.

"What's he doing?" whispered Michelle.

"I don't know," answered Peter. "It looks like he's charging."

Nina tapped the table anxiously. "Peter," she let out, realising who it was with a fearful jolt in the pit of her stomach. "Peter, web him. Just web him▬now▬"

Peter listened to her without hesitation. He threw his arm forward and a rope of bright golden light shot forwards; it arced high towards the villain in the sky. Nina had chills the moment the webbing passed right through him. It soared down and struck a tree. The group of them all jumped when it appeared in one of the cells, cracking and splintering in on itself to fit.

That was when Electro attacked.

Nina gasped when all they saw was a flash of bright lightning; an explosion of gold and yellow as Peter dodged. He flipped over backwards amongst dirt and flying sparks. He landed on a nearby shed as the entire sky lit up a lightning storm.

Nina and her friends swarmed Ned's laptop, shouting desperate directions▬hoping to help Peter out-race the pulsing ropes of Electro's electric power. Though, they didn't really agree on which way he should go.

As Spider-Man swung to and fro, his friends back in the Undercroft all shouted:

"Go left! Left, dude, left▬!"

"▬No! No, go up. Up▬up▬!"

"▬Wait, no! Down! Down, down, down, down▬" They all audibly winced when Peter barely missed swinging straight into a tree and the entire plant burst into yellow sparks and flames.

"▬Left! Left! Go, go, go, go, go▬!"

"▬What are you talking about?! Right! Go to the right! Right▬RIGHT▬!"

"▬No, no, agh▬!" Ned squealed when the shed exploded.

"▬Guys▬!" Peter tried to cut them off.

"▬Don't listen to them!" MJ was telling him. "Do listen to them, they mean right▬!"

"▬No! Up▬wait, no, sideways▬!" Nina flung her arms the way she meant to prove her point until she realised Peter couldn't see her.

"▬Guys▬!" Peter swung an arc around the trunk of a tall tree, "▬Stop! This is not helping▬!"

Too focused on them, he didn't see Electro until he hovered right in front of him and the last thing they heard of Peter was his strangled cry as he hit an electric blast head on▬and then Ned's camera went black.

Nina's stomach dropped. Her eyes widened. "Oh, no, no, no▬" she pushed in front of Ned and frantically started to tap at his keyboard, trying to get the camera to work again. Her heart was racing. "No, no, no. What happened? Peter?" she desperately cried out. She didn't receive an answer. "Peter!"

There was nothing. No sound, no visual▬nothing. Nina slumped back in the seat, her breath hitching.

Noticing the way her breath shook and her head fell into her hands, Nina's friends all shared a glance. A silent understanding crossed between them▬a realisation of just how scared Nina was. It dawned on them; the fact that the knowledge of their friend's dreams were actually reality, and that none of them have ended well made them each purse their lips and hold a breath of fear themselves.

Felicia glanced at Ned and MJ before moving to crouch down right beside her best friend. She squeezed her arm. "Hey, Peter's gonna be all right, okay?" When Nina didn't look up, she added: "Everything's gonna be all right. You have all of us, Nina▬and together, we're not gonna let anything happen, to anyone."

The sudden burst of light behind them made them glance over. Nina's gasp was stuck in the back of her throat, her hands still hovering my her cheeks. She watched as the figure of Electro materialised inside his cell▬and she was surprised to see the man he was before. Max Dillon. A shy, lonesome electric engineer at OSCORP whose entire life was changed. Except he was without the glasses, and his hair was different▬somehow, he managed to receive an entire makeover.

He walked straight into the invisible barrier and stumbled backwards. Around them, the lights of the Undercroft flickered. Max spun around, very confused and caught eyes with Doc Ock, who waved with a look of mirth.

Nina anxiously stood up, holding a bated breath of hesitation. Felicia, Ned and MJ stood up as well, eyeing Electro with wary eyes.

"What's he called?" Cia asked Nina under her breath. "You know, in his universe?"

"Electro," whispered Nina.

Felicia nodded. "Cool," she swallowed harshly. "Because of the electric powers ... original."

"You called yourself Black Cat," Ned couldn't help but point out.

"Shut up."

Hearing their whispers, Electro glanced over. Nina clenched her hands when his eyes landed on her and Max frowned. He tilted his head, watching Nina Hart intently and his eyes widened in recognition.

"You..." Electro went to take a step forward only to remember he couldn't. He decided to point at Nina instead. "I know you." He narrowed his eyes with a breath of distaste. "You're that intern▬you interned at OSCORP."

Nina's friends stared at her, surprised. She found the courage to murmur: "N▬Not me. Uh ... a version of me." She took a deep breath. "You're ... you're Max, aren't you? Max Dillon?"

His narrowed stare widened again slightly. "You remembered my name..." Electro's brows then furrowed back into a scowl and Nina took an anxious step back. "You also hit me with a police car."

Nina's breath grew shaky. Electro saying those words only proved everything she feared▬that all of her dreams had been real. Especially the dream that moments after she did hit Electro with that police car, that universe's Green Goblin took her and ... and she fell down that clock tower to her death.

There was another crash and another burst of orange light. Nina gasped and stumbled back towards her friends when just seconds later, a fourth multiverse trespasser materialised into view behind another cell. When he hit the barrier, he seemed to crumble like sand ... until Nina realised he was made of sand. From head to toe, the man was made up of millions and millions of tiny grains pieced together to form a broard figure with a square face. Whenever he moved, sand sifted down at his feet.

Nina stared, shocked▬she doesn't know him. He doesn't spark any memory of any dream. Nina has never seen this villian once.

"What is this?" he demanded in a gruff voice, slamming his hands against the invisible barrier once again.

Electro recognised him and sneered across the crypt: "You picked the wrong side."

For the first time since they have been here, a sound broke through from the cell of the Lizard; a manicle laughter that echoed throughout the crypt. Nina's friends stared, shocked at the sight▬to see a giant lizard speak. Nina was yet to tell them that that giant lizard had once been a man.

Electro recognised him, too. He spun around and narrowed his eyes through the dark until he noticed the slimy green scales and his eyes widened. "Connors?"

As the Lizard got to his feet, hunched over with his tail brushing around his ankles and his tongue slithering out between his teeth, Doc Ock frowned at Electro. "Wait. You know this creature?"

"No, no, no," Electro shook his head. "Not a creature. A man."

Ned gasped with excitement. "The same universes." MJ and Felicia shot him equal disapproving looks. He swallowed his giddiness back down for Nina's sake.

"Dr. Curt Connors," explained Electro, his eyes narrowed at the Lizard. "He was a scientist at OSCORP when I worked there. A brilliant scientist. Until he turned himself into a lizard. Then he tried to turn the whole city into lizards. It was crazy."

"It wasn't crazy, Max," said the Lizard and his voice slithered a smooth path. "It was the next step into human evolution."

Ned gasped again and whispered: "The dinosaur can talk?"

"Lizard," MJ corrected under her breath.

"Right."

"Speaking of which," went on the Lizard as he narrowed his reptile eyes back at Electro, "what happened to you? Last I recall, you had bad teeth, glasses and a comb-over. Did you get a makeover?" The Lizard then sneered. "You know, I can give you a real makeover."

Max's face went dead-panned. "Let me guess, into a lizard?"

"Exactly."

"Would you two just shut up?" grumbled the man made out of sand▬Sandman (Nina came up with a name already). "Where are we?"

"It's complicated▬"

"A wizard's dungeon," MJ blurted out, cutting Ned off.

"Wizard's ... A wizard's dungeon?" frowned Electro.

Michelle just shrugged. "There's no real way to sugarcoat that. It's literally the dunegon of a wizard."

"Look, you can keep your magic." Electro then held up his hands with a slight, crazed grin. Nina took another wary step backwards at the sight of it. "I want a taste of that new enegry I just felt." Golden sparks danced across his fingertips and the lights in the Undercroft flickered once more.

When Nina heard her phone ring, she nearly cried in relief. Though, it was very awkward in the silence when it was suddenly broken by a: Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider▬

"Peter," breathed Nina as soon as she answered, turning away from the crypt. "Oh, thank God. Are you okay?"

She smiled to herself despite the situation when she heard his voice. "Hey▬Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Did those guys come through yet? There should be an electric guy and a sand guy."

"Oh, yeah," Nina nodded. "Electro and Sandman are here."

She heard him pause at her names. "Oh, okay. You know them, too?"

"Just the electric guy," murmured Nina, briefly glancing over her shoulder. "He's from the same universe as the lizard guy."

"Oh, cool?"

"But that sand guy, I've never seen him before. But I sorta named him Sandman. Because he's made out of sand."

"Oh, okay," Peter sounded very calm despite having just subdued two supervillains. Somehow, that seemed to make Nina feel better. "Cool name. Uh ... Do you think that there could be a reason you haven't seen him before?"

Nina shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted, her voice soft as she walked away slightly to talk to him. "Maybe I just haven't had that dream yet?" She didn't know, and deep down, it was starting to bother her. If she existed in every universe, and she has dreamt all of those universes, she started to wonder why she has never seen the Sandman in any of them. It didn't settle well with her.

"Maybe," Peter sounded just as unsure, but he moved on quickly. "Look, I'm gonna just stay here for a bit and try and fix some of this damage, so they don't blame it on me again."

She nodded. Admittedly, Nina wished he would come back straight away, but she didn't say that. "Okay."

"But, hey, I ... uh ..." Peter paused for a moment before saying: "I couldn't do any of this without you, so ... thank you."

"Of course," said Nina quickly, smiling to herself slightly.

"I know this is scary, especially for you, but ... I'm glad you're here."

Nina bit at the inside of her cheek, her heart growing warm. "Yeah, well, of course I'd be here. Where you go, I go, remember?"

She heard Peter's smile: "Yeah. Where you go, I go."

The moment between them was sweet until Ned awkwardly spoke up, making Nina glance over. "Hey, ask him if this is like▬" he pointed to the snapped and broken tree in one of the cells, "▬a tree monster or like a scientist that turned into a tree."

Electro overheard him. "It's just a tree, man." Ned glanced over, surprised. Max shrugged, not impressed. "Just a tree."

*ೃ༄

a/n: ned stop interrupting peter and nina's cute moments!

i have been in a religious sims 4 phase again lol. i've been using it to wind down from the hecticness that is uni and assignments.

also i can't believe this book has hit just over 600K reads that's wild! thank you all so much xxxx

i just love this scene cos like even other villains find each other's villainous adventures weird and concerning.

nina is a taylor swift song, we all know this. but i just need to state that when emma falls in love is like listening to nina's existence in a song like <3

when 'nina' falls in love should be the title.