The Watch-Victoria “A Spider-Man’s tale”

[Enchantress]

I’ve stood by and watched this go on for far too long. When I returned to Victoria’s apartment, she was gone. But the book, it was still on the table where we had left it. Still laying there untouched.
I couldn’t help myself. Something, maybe my spider sense, told me to pick it up and start reading.
I must have sat there for an hour trying to figure it all out. The convoluted mess that was Mr. Sinister’s Diary.
The book lay silent on the table as daylight spilled into the tiny room. I sat there staring at the evil thing, wishing beyond all things that I’d never read it. But it was too late. I knew what was happening to Victoria, and if I was lucky, I may be able to help stop it.
Snatching it up off the table, I leapt off the balcony and swung through the city as dawn broke across New York. There were very few people who could help me or even understand all this. But I knew one who’d be up at this hour, he never slept.

Reed Richards sat with his head in his hands, sleeping as I perched on the glass of the top story of the Baxter Building. Reed never changed. Even as Franklin and I had grown up together, we would always find him in here, working away at something and falling asleep mid process.

“Uh, Dr. Richards...” I pushed the window open and climbed in as he sat upright, rubbed his eyes and shook off the fog of sleep.
“Peter...err..Spider-Man...”...he was one of the few people who knew who I really was. He looked at the skyline, then at his watch. “It’s early?”
“Yeah, but I had something I had to talk to you about.” I laid the journal on the table next to him. I knew his curiosity would get the better of him as he picked it up and opened the cover.
“Where...” he started, I finished
“Did I get this? Victoria and I went on a hunting expedition. Look...” I rubbed the back of my neck, almost anxious to say what I was going to say... “I know there’s been some bad feelings, but none of it was Victoria’s fault. Read...you’ll understand.”

Two hours later, Reed and Sue Richards closed the cover of Sinister’s journal and looked up at me. I know I had been pacing, I could feel my costume constricting on my feet from walking the same path over and over.
“We all knew it was never her fault. But after we lost Ben, to find out she was his daughter, it was all a little too much for Franklin.” Sue looked down at Reed who finally looked up at me.
“We have work to do. I’ll contact Dr. Strange. If we’re going to save her, we’ll need his help. I can deal with the scientific, he can deal with the magic...not my field, you know.”
“I don’t think that’s a worry, she’s handled it herself already.” I quickly filled them in on what Victoria was doing now, working for Dr. Strange’s secret society of reality hoppers and of all the things she had told me.
“She’s actually in love with an alternate reality version of The Beast. Can you believe that?” I tried to laugh, but Sue saw through that.
“Peter...you never gave up, did you?” she placed her hand on my shoulder and I smiled slightly behind the mask.
“Nope, you know me, Never give up, Never Surrender!” I let off a bit of a laugh, just as Valeria walked into the room.
“Mom, Dad...woah!” she saw me and her eyes got wide. Valeria was only a kid, she never knew my deep dark secret.
“Valeria, Spider-Man is working on something with me and mom, you’ll have to excuse us for a while.” Reed stood up, gave her a peck on her forehead and sent her off, but not before she called out “Get his autograph for me Dad!”


He saw me before I even landed on his window ledge.
“Come in Spider-Man.” Stephen Strange stood with his back to me, facing the fireplace in his study.
“I know why you’ve come and it’s all under control.” he spoke so assuredly, but I couldn’t help myself, this was Victoria’s life at stake.
“What’s going to happen to her Dr. Strange? I have to know.” I crouched on the windowsill and watched as he turned to look at me.
“She’ll fight him and she’ll lose. Victoria is, as I’ve found out, too strong willed to ask for help. She’ll learn to control it all in her own time, but we must be vigilant and not let her succumb to the darker side of her powers.”
“Can you fight him? Do we have any hope of keeping this N’asthir at bay?” He made it all sound so hopeless, and I couldn’t give up. Victoria’s life and sanity were at stake.
“We can try. But if he’s going to take her as his Goblin Queen, we’ll have battle on our hands. We can only hope he hasn’t already begun his seduction.” Dr. Strange turned back to the fireplace and I knew that was my cue to leave.

I swung through the city with that book under my arm. I kept going over everything in my mind. Everything Victoria had told me, all the things Reed and Sue had helped me prepare for, and Dr. Strange’s cryptic and foreboding messages.
Landing back on Victoria’s balcony, I let myself in. She had been gone for 3 weeks now and I had no idea when she’d return. I put the book back in it’s place and stripped out of my uniform and into my street clothes. Collapsing on the sofa, I felt my eyes get heavy and gave in. If she returned home anytime soon, I’d be here to help keep the monsters at bay.