[The two crashed back down to the solid ground with heavy thuds, their bodies aching from the mystical chaos they had just endured. Spider-Man struggled to his feet and looked at the Oblivion Spell that Strange had successfully sealed within the glowing hexagonal crystal. "Did it work? Did the spell actually accomplish what we wanted?"]
["NO!!! You changed the fundamental parameters of the spell six different times!!!" Strange shouted, his voice echoing through the underground chamber with barely contained fury.]
[Spider-Man, still not fully grasping the enormity of his mistake, even had the audacity to try correcting Strange's count. "Actually, it was only five times!" he said with misplaced confidence.]
[Strange didn't care about the exact number at this point. He turned to glare at Spider-Man with an expression that could have melted steel, his entire body radiating mystical energy fueled by pure annoyance.]
["You fundamentally altered my carefully constructed spell! You should never have done that! I explicitly told you not to interrupt the casting process! That's exactly why the entire thing failed catastrophically!!!"]
["The spell is now completely out of control and unstable! If I hadn't managed to contain it at the last possible second, it would have torn holes between dimensions and created an interdimensional crisis that could have destroyed reality itself!"]
[Spider-Man looked at him with genuine remorse, his mask unable to hide the guilt in his posture. "Stephen, I'm so incredibly sorry! I never meant for this to happen! I..."]
[Before he could finish his heartfelt apology, Strange interrupted him with cold formality, "Call me Sir!" The friendly first-name basis had clearly been revoked.]
[Spider-Man immediately recognized that he had made Strange absolutely livid. He swallowed nervously and said with proper deference, "Sorry, Sir! I truly am sorry!"]
[Strange shook his head in exasperation and muttered to himself, his voice filled with weary realization: "After everything you've been through, all the battles you've fought, I keep forgetting that you're still just a teenager! A kid who makes impulsive decisions!"]
["Parker! Listen to me carefully - the key issue in your life right now isn't Mysterio or his lies! It's that you're attempting to live a double life as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man! The longer this continues, the more dangerous it becomes for everyone around you! Trust me on this - I've seen what happens to heroes who try to maintain secret identities indefinitely!"]
["I'm genuinely sorry to hear that you and your friends were rejected from college, but if you're denied admission by a school, the logical first step is to try convincing the school administration to reconsider your applications! There are proper, non-magical ways to handle these situations!"]
[Strange looked at Spider-Man with complete seriousness, but Spider-Man's eyes widened behind his mask as if this was the first time he'd ever heard such a concept. He had clearly never considered this approach before.]
["When you say 'convince them,' do you mean I can actually call the school directly? Like, on the phone?"]
[Strange nodded with growing bewilderment at Spider-Man's apparent ignorance of basic problem-solving. "Yes! Of course you can!"]
[Spider-Man sounded genuinely incredulous, as if Strange had just revealed some incredible secret. "I can actually do that? That's allowed?"]
[Strange's expression became even more confused and concerned. He stared at Spider-Man in disbelief and asked slowly, "You mean you haven't even tried to fight this decision yet...?"]
[Spider-Man said with embarrassed admission: "After I received the rejection letter from MIT, I just assumed that was final and there was nothing I could do about it..."]
[Strange moved the floating stone platform that had been between them aside with an aggressive gesture, walked directly in front of Spider-Man, and asked with barely suppressed rage building in his voice: "Excuse me, are you actually telling me that you haven't even bothered to file a single complaint or appeal with the university about this obviously unfair decision! And instead of trying any normal solutions, you came here and asked me to brainwash every single person on planet Earth?!!"]
[Spider-Man looked at Strange's increasingly furious expression, raised his shoulders defensively, and said weakly, "Well! When you put it like that, it does sound pretty unreasonable..."]
[The scene abruptly changes, and Spider-Man appears standing outside the front door of the Sanctum Sanctorum. The heavy wooden door slams shut behind him with a resounding "BANG!" that echoes down the street. Spider-Man visibly flinches at the violent sound, and it's painfully obvious that he has just been angrily thrown out by an absolutely furious Doctor Strange.]
Tony Stark shook his head with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. "I told everyone that magic is fundamentally unreliable and unpredictable! It would have been much safer and more effective to appeal directly to the school administration or ask Pepper to use her connections in the academic world than to find a wizard and ask him to brainwash the entire human population!"
"Well, maybe you should have taught Peter how to properly use social and professional connections before you died!" Rhodes glanced pointedly at Tony. He felt that Spider-Man had sought out Strange's magical solution precisely because Tony hadn't properly prepared him for navigating real-world problems through conventional means.
"Hey, it's totally my fault that I died too early and left him without proper guidance!" Tony put down his whiskey glass, spread his hands in mock surrender, and looked at Rhodes with dark humor.
"It's all that lying manipulator's fault! I should have beaten him several more times when I had the chance!" Mysterio, who had already vented most of his anger earlier, walked back into the viewing area and became furious all over again upon hearing this conversation.
"Living a double life really is incredibly dangerous and exhausting!" 1st Gen Spider-Man reflected on his own experiences shown in previous screen footage. His entire life had been a chaotic mess because he constantly had to balance being Spider-Man with maintaining his Peter Parker identity and relationships.
In the end, he had been forced to give up his Spider-Man identity and abilities entirely in order to return to some semblance of a normal, peaceful life with the people he loved.
1st Gen Gwen grabbed 1st Gen Spider-Man's hand and smiled warmly at him. "Although our secret identities have been completely exposed to the world, isn't this actually a good thing for us in the long run?"
1st Gen Spider-Man thought about his current life situation and nodded in agreement. He was significantly better off now than when he had been struggling financially and emotionally during the events shown on the screen.
Even the criminal elements in New York now knew of both his and Gwen's existence and were genuinely afraid to act recklessly in their city, so the overall crime rate in New York had continued to hit new record lows.
[Spider-Man, who had just been unceremoniously kicked out of the Sanctum, didn't have time to dwell on his embarrassment. He immediately pulled out his cell phone, scrolled through his contacts to find a specific number, and dialed it urgently. "Come on! Pick up the phone! Answer it quickly..."]
[Flash Thompson, who was currently attending some kind of social gathering at MIT, answered his phone with obvious annoyance. "Yo! What do you want, Parker? I'm kind of busy here with important college stuff!"]
[Spider-Man got straight to the point without any pleasantries: "Flash! I need to know - where exactly is the MIT admission office? Or better yet, where can I find someone from the admissions committee?"]
["Why are you asking me about this? What's your angle here?"]
["I need to talk to someone in authority! I want to get another chance for MJ and Ned to be reconsidered for enrollment! They deserve to be here!"]
["What's in it for me? Just talking to you on the phone is a huge social risk for my reputation here!"]
[Spider-Man knew exactly what Flash wanted - the same thing he'd always wanted. He thought for a moment about what he was willing to sacrifice and said reluctantly, "Okay! I... I'll swing you to school every day for a week! How does that sound?"]
[Flash immediately tried to negotiate for better terms, sensing Spider-Man's desperation. "Make it one month!"]
[Spider-Man tried to hold his ground: "Just one week! That's my final offer!"]
[Flash continued pushing for more: "Two weeks! Come on, that's totally reasonable!"]
[Spider-Man felt his resolve weakening under the pressure and pleaded desperately, "Flash! Please! I'm begging you here! Please help me!"]
["You know exactly what I really want from you, Parker!"]
[Spider-Man closed his eyes in defeat and could only bring himself to say the words Flash had always longed to hear: "Okay! Fine! I will publicly tell everyone that you're my best friend! Flash Thompson is Spider-Man's best friend! Are you happy now? Please help me!"]
[Flash's face broke into a triumphant smile as he finally got the social recognition he had always craved. "Alright, alright! There's this lady you need to talk to! She's the vice-principal of admissions! You can file your appeal directly with her!"]
[Spider-Man's eyes lit up with the first real hope he'd felt all day, and he immediately pressed for more details: "That's perfect! Where can I find her right now?"]
["She just left the campus about ten minutes ago!"]
["Where did she go? I can probably catch up to her!"]
["The airport! She's flying somewhere for a conference!"]
"Flash really would take advantage of someone when they're desperate?" 2nd Gen Spider-Man smiled with recognition. He remembered that Flash in his own universe had also been an obsessive Spider-Man fanatic.
However, Flash wasn't in the same school district as 2nd Gen Spider-Man and his friends, so Peter didn't know what the other version was doing with his life now. He wondered if Flash was still bullying other students or if he had grown out of that behavior.
Actually, he suspected the opposite was probably true. After all, following the lessons learned from the screen revelations and 2nd Gen Spider-Man's personal conversations with him, Flash in their reality had behaved quite well during the final stages of high school.
Besides, Flash had also offered genuine comfort to 2nd Gen Spider-Man when he was grieving the loss of Uncle Ben, so he could definitely be considered a person with a functional conscience.
[On a busy highway overpass, Spider-Man activated his advanced Iron Spider Suit Mark 17A, spread the mechanical wing membranes, and launched himself through the air toward the road that led to the airport.]
[He landed gracefully on top of a large traffic sign that hung over the busy highway and began scanning the vehicles below to identify which car might contain his target.]
[But unfortunately, after the devastating Quentin Beck incident and the worldwide exposure of his identity, Spider-Man's access permissions to all Stark Industries technology had been completely revoked as a security measure. He could no longer connect to the extensive Stark surveillance network, and the advanced facial recognition function that had been so useful was now completely disabled.]
[Just then, Spider-Man noticed a news helicopter flying uncomfortably close to his position, obviously filming him for a story. He sighed heavily and waved sarcastically at the aircraft. "Hi there! Yeah! I can definitely see you! Thanks for the privacy!"]