[Western Crossover] She Who Was Bound by Spiderwebs

[Author's Weibo: @PleaseJustWriteAlready] [Manual content warnings!! Please make sure to read this! You really must read it!] 1. I recommend buying one chapter at a time, so you can drop the story whenever you like. 2. This story combines the world of Stranger Things with the Spider-Man universe. The Mind Flayer from the Upside Down in Stranger Things is Lovecraftian, and this story follows the original: the Mind Flayer maintains a powerful sense of menace throughout, and the characters can't beat it in a direct fight. This is not a power-up wish-fulfillment story, so don't read it if that bothers you. 3. The blurb's events are properly addressed in Chapter 83. The early chapters focus almost entirely on the details and process of the male lead's corruption. Don't read this story if you can't accept that. I personally feel that making a good-hearted superhero like Spider-Man turn evil as described in the blurb requires a detailed, lengthy process to keep it from feeling jarring. In the end, his own inner demons and spider instincts only twist him as much as they can; he doesn't become evil without limits, and he still has principles and a conscience. Don't read this story if you can't accept that. The story's world combines the Spider-Man universe with Stranger Things and Tales from the Loop. You don't need to have watched the shows to follow along. All relevant settings and details will be explained, and I've added plenty of my own material and headcanons. For example, the idea that the Mind Flayer has no independent consciousness is my own headcanon, created to make the story work. Don't mistake it for canon. [Blurb · Side A] New York City is a wonderful place, brimming with talent and good fortune. At least, that's what Bernadette thought. Before coming here, she'd thought the strangest thing in the world was that she could talk to shadows. But times had changed. Little by little, she discovered that her childhood friend, who had always been a good-for-nothing at sports, was actually a superhero known as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man; that the Osborn family business, owned by a friend from her youth, was secretly a supervillain training center; that the new friend she'd made in high school was a test subject who'd escaped from Hawkins National Laboratory and had psychic powers that gave her premonitions; and that their city was the entrance connecting the Upside Down to the real world. After all that, she suddenly felt that her own little quirk was nothing special. New York really was a wonderful place, brimming with talent. You needed a few abnormal things to help you fit in with everything normal here. But just as she'd finally managed to shut the accursed portal to the Upside Down, the source of all their troubles, and thought everything was over, she still hadn't grasped how serious things were. She only felt that her childhood friend of ten years had become a little strangely different after coming back from the Upside Down. For instance, he started researching how a tarantula hunts baby birds, spins a web, waits for its prey to blunder into it, then wraps them in cocoons and hides them away. “Are you researching this so you'll be able to tie up criminals more professionally next time?” Bernadette asked. “No.” He looked right at her and answered very seriously, his smile soft and warm. “I want to catch a swan.” Bernadette froze. “Is this for a new biology project?” “Not that either.” Peter continued to look at her, his tone as lighthearted as ever. “It's just a personal hobby.” His answer instantly gave her goosebumps. Looking more closely at the boy she knew better than anyone, Bernadette suddenly had a chilling thought: She knew there was also a Peter in the Upside Down. But just as everything in the Upside Down was the opposite of the real world, that Peter had almost nothing in common with the childhood friend she knew, aside from their appearance and superpowers. One was a pure-hearted, kind superhero, a friendly and shy boy next door, and a brilliant little menace in the sciences. The other, from the Upside Down, was pure evil. If they had anything in common, perhaps it was... She studied the boy in front of her again. He was looking just as intently at her, but she was starting to feel unsure which Peter he really was. … Times really had changed. Bernadette never imagined she would one day find herself begging a group of supervillains for help. “Um, would any of you supervillains be willing to come rescue me?” Doctor Octopus, who wished to remain anonymous: “I'm busy, and expensive. This is a high-difficulty job, so double the price.” The Lizard, generously offering free information: “Fun fact: spiders don't spit out bones when they eat.” Seeing that this wasn't working, Bernadette had no choice but to turn to the all-powerful internet. After all, this superhero had come from the people, so to solve this problem, she apparently had to ask the people. So she posted a plea for help, something along the lines of: “About my good buddy, who's slept in the bunk above me for ten years: after I got back from my latest unexpected business trip, he suddenly started acting completely differently and even wanted to climb down and sleep in my bed. What should I do? Please respond, it's urgent.” Top comment: Is the “do” in “what should I do” the kind of “do” I think it is? Second-most popular comment: Could it be that he hasn't changed at all, and has just finally shown his true colors? [Blurb · Side B] Later, Peter remembered that Uncle Ben had taught him more than power and responsibility. He'd also taught him that one lie often needed countless others to cover it up, and that living that way would make you lose your true self. So never lie to the people who love you and the people you love. But to Peter, his secret identity was a lie he had to maintain at tremendous cost. Neither half of his divided life was entirely real, except when he was with Bernadette. They were childhood friends who had spent ten years together, inseparable, and had shared their deepest secrets. They depended on each other without holding anything back. So much so that he wanted to hide her in a web. “You know Osborn has a professional treatment program for people who become overly dependent on something, right?” Harry teased him half-jokingly. “You look like you could really use it.” “But...” Peter looked up and corrected him with a serious expression. “From a purely psychological perspective, dependency can't be cured. You only think you've gotten better.” “Or you just make other people think you're better.” Please note: 1. The blurb was created on January 14, 2022, at 4 p.m. I have screenshots to prove it and won't accept any claims that I copied someone. 2. For more, see the author's note in Chapter One. Theme: There will always be light in the future, always something worth pursuing.