Issue #18

Last Stand of the Shadow Spider

ARC EIGHT · SECRET WARS, FINALE. One Spider. One suit. One God Emperor. And the choice between staying the Shadow forever — or letting Brooklyn have Zachary back.

Shadow Spider crossing patchwork terrain toward a distant black castle — EIGHT DAYS OF BATTLEWORLD. EIGHT DEAD CLIMATES. ONE RELIC IN A LEAD BOX ON HIS BACK.

// NARRATION

The suit kept him warm in the ice-Earth. Cool in the lava-Earth. Breathing in the no-air-Earth. By the time the black castle was on the horizon, Zachary and the symbiote weren't arguing anymore. They were just — walking. Together.

The Shadow Spider walking toward a massive dark castle on the horizon — THE CASTLE THAT USED TO BE MANHATTAN. AND ON THE THRONE — A GOD WITH A FAMILIAR FACE.

// DOOM

"The little black insect. You walked all of MY world to reach MY throne. Doom is — almost flattered."

// ZACHARY

"I didn't come to fight you, Doom. I came to give the universe back its seams."

Shadow Spider unleashes the relic in a blaze of white light against Doom on his throne — HE OPENED THE BOX. THE BEYONDER'S LIGHT POURED OUT. AND DOOM — FINALLY — STOOD UP.

KRRRA-KOOOM!

// NARRATION

They fought across six folded continents. The Shadow Spider took hits that would have killed three Avengers. The suit drank the kinetic energy and gave it back twice. Doom's armor cracked. Doom's crown cracked. And finally — Doom kneeled.

// DR. STRANGE (in his ear)

"Shadow Spider. The seam is open. I can rebuild the multiverse. But — Zachary. The suit can't cross back. Symbiotes aren't in the original weave. If you go home wearing it — there is no home."

Shadow Spider sitting alone in rubble, the black suit beginning to peel from his shoulder — HE SAT WITH IT. A LONG MINUTE. ON THE STEPS OF A CASTLE THAT USED TO BE HIS CITY.

// ZACHARY

"Hey. Hey, you. We did good. We carried the box. We held the line. But the line goes back to Brooklyn. And you can't come."

// THE SUIT

"ssssilva. we know. we always knew. go. be the red one. be the kid one. we — were proud to be the shadow one."

The black symbiote slides off Zachary's shoulders and pools at his feet under a white light — IT CAME OFF QUIETLY THIS TIME. NO SCREAMING. JUST A PURR THAT GOT FAINTER, AND FAINTER.

// NARRATION

Dr. Strange wove the seams. Battleworld unfolded into the universes it had been. Doom slept in his rebuilt Latveria. The Avengers woke up in their Earth. And Zachary Silva woke up on his stoop.

// ABUELA

"Mijo. You were gone so LONG. Get in here. The pernil is cold."

// ZACHARY

"Yeah, ma. I'm home. I'm all the way home."

// NARRATION

Somewhere across town, a kid in a red and black hoodie webbed up a purse-snatcher. The news called him the Amazing Spider. Only Zachary, and the wind off the East River, ever called him the Shadow.

// NARRATION

END OF VOLUME TWO. ZACHARY SILVA — THE AMAZING SPIDER, THE SHADOW SPIDER — WILL RETURN.

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