Because I know people will ask me this eventually: So apparently there's a huge shakeup going on at Marvel. They got a new editor in chief, Brian Michael Bendis jumped ship to DC and Dan Slott will finally be off Amazing Spider Man. On the whole Bendis thing, I'm really excited for what he brings to the table for the DC universe. Don't know how I feel about him writing Superman though, mainly because I really like what Dan Jurgens and Peter J. Tomasi are doing currently. I was kinda hoping he writes Justice League and add some of that "New Avengers" magic to it, because lord knows that book really needs it. I also thought Green Arrow would've been a good fit for him, he could just do his Daredevil run but with Green Arrow. Now I know Bendis isn't everyone's favorite comic book writer, especially after the last couple of years, but maybe him coming to DC will be a good move for him. Maybe he will have some fresh new ideas. There was a time when Bendis was a damn good writer. Hell, what Ultimate Spider Man did for me was what the New 52 did for today's generation of comic readers. It would be nice to have that man back.

As for Slott leaving Amazing Spider Man. Look, I'm probably part of that small camp that don't actually hate the dude (Maybe because I don't follow him on social media. I hear he's a hoot on Twitter.), but I do agree with everyone else when they say he's been on the book five years too long. Honestly, I think he should have stopped when Superior Spider Man concluded. But, it seems like Marvel finally listen to our prayers and they're finally letting some fresh blood take a crack at the Wall Crawler. I hear Slott's gonna be writing Iron Man, while I'm not a huge Iron Man fan I'm curious to see what he brings to the table.

Anyway, with all of that out of the way let's get on to the story.

Last chapter ended in pure chaos. Power Girl, Supergirl and The Superior Spider Man have found Ultraman, the rest of Earth's heroes are fighting the Crime Syndicate and, more importantly, our favorite web slinger has finally come face to face with Morlun, the mysterious figure who has been stalking him for a while...

Chapter 21

Daily Bugle, Manhattan, NY

"So, you wanna be a reporter huh?" J. Jonah Jameson asks, as he chews on his cigar.

Sitting in front of his desk was a young girl, who looks like she is in her late teens. She has short blonde hair, with a small pink barrette holding back her bangs. She wears a pink blouse, with brown, khaki, capris pants and plaid, slip on platform shoes.

The girl nods, "Yes sir, ever since I worked at my high school newspaper, it has always been my dream to become a reporter. Journalism is pretty much in my blood."

Robbie Robertson vouches for her, "The kid write's a pretty mean blog Jonah, she was able to snag an interview with Guy Gardner, one of the Green Lanterns, when those "Yellow Lantern" guys invaded Earth. The girl has skill."

Jameson makes a small grunt, "Alright fine, you want this job? You got it. But I'm warning you kid, it's not gonna be easy. You need to be at the top of your game if you're gonna work here. Think you can handle that?"

The girl nods, "Absolutely."

The editor in chief takes out his hand, "Well then, welcome to the Daily Bugle Ms…"

"Winters," the girl responds as she shakes Jameson's hand. "Norah Winters. So, when do I start?"

Suddenly, Spider Man and Morlun come crashing through the window. Robbie, Norah and Jameson all move out of the way.

"JESUS," Jameson shouts. "TAKE THIS FIGHT SOMEWHERE ELSE YOU WALL CRAWLING FREAK, OR YOU'LL WRECK MY ENTIRE OFFICE."

"That's a good idea brushtop," Spider Man replies. "Can't let any innocents get hurt."

Just as he leaps for the window, Morlun grabs the spider hero by the leg and hurls him out of the office and into the main workstation. Bugle employees stop what they were doing and are now watching the big fight that is going down.

"Ugh, don't mind me folks," Spider Man quips. "I'm just here getting my butt kicked by Steven Seagal over here…and now my sides are aching, perfect."

He then picks up a desk and hits Morlun with it, then he takes a computer and hits his new enemy in the back of his head. After seeing that Morlun is a bit winded by the recent assault, Spider Man uses it as an opportunity to leap out the window, praying to God that Morlun follows him.

Once the two superpowered beings were gone, Jameson looks over at his employees, "Well, there's your scoop, GET TO WORK." He looks over at Norah. "And as for you, you can start today." The young girl grins widely, "I think I'm gonna like it here."

The wall crawler shoots a web line to save himself and he sees Morlun not too far behind.

"I'll give you this bright eyes, you don't know when to quit," he says. "Though I think you've got something on your eyes."

Spider Man shoots out a web that covers his new foe's entire face. He then takes the web line, uses Morlun's momentum against him and sends him hurtling towards the ground. The impact of the drop creates a hole on the sidewalk. Some onlookers who were walking by walk towards the hole and begins to look down below.

Spider Man scoffs at this, "Gotta love New Yorkers, always wanting to take a look at something no matter how dangerous it is…Let me guess, that awesome move I just did didn't work."

He then sees Morlun emerge from the hole and leaping towards him.

"*sigh* Of course it didn't. I gotta take this elsewhere, it's one thing for Karen to break up with me because I broke my promise to her, I don't want "causing some collateral damage" to be another reason."

Spider Man shoots another web line and begins to swing to a more isolated location. He eventually makes it to Empire State University. He crashes through the window of the science center.

"No civilians, big enough for me to move around, perfect. Ah, science, you've created me, and now you're probably gonna be the death of me. The irony."

The web head looks down below and sees Morlun climbing up the pillar he is currently latched to.

"Dude, I didn't even need my spider sense to know you were coming. You're cologne was a dead giveaway." He dodges a punch thrown by his enemy, then he fires a web line and kicks Morlun off the pillar and onto the ground, to which he pounces on him for good measure. "I mean, I wore that exact cologne on one of my dates and my girlfriend told me to never put it on again…She even took the cologne and threw it into the sun."

Spider Man's spider sense starts blaring again, and suddenly, Morlun grabs his leg once again and hurls him through a wall, right through a window and into another room.

As Spider Man is laying on his back, he says to himself, "Now I regret forgetting to bring my communicator…and my cell, could REALLY use the JSA's help right about now. Shouldn't Karen be back from…whatever Justice League mission she was sent on? Maybe she's watching from the sidelines and just isn't stepping in to simply teach me a lesson. No…even she's not that cruel."

Morlun emerges from the broken window.

"So, you say you're here to kill me," Spider Man begins to say. "Mind telling me why? Was it because I said "Hard to Kill" was a crap movie?"

"Trust me when I say this totem, it's nothing personal."

"There you go again with the totem thing. There's clearly something you're not telling me."

Spider Man fires two more web lines at Morlun, but the mysterious man grabs both of them with one hand. He somehow manages to overpower the spider hero's strength and yanks him at his direction. Morlun delivers another hard punch to Spider Man and knocks him into another wall. The wall crawler tries to get up but starts to feel a sharp pain in his torso.

"I…I think he broke three of my ribs," he thought.

Morlun knocks Spider Man through yet another wall, sending him out of the building. The spider hero once again gets up, in even more pain then before, parts of his costume, save his mask, are in tatters.

"I don't think I've ever been hit that hard," he says to himself. "And I got decked by a mind controlled Power Girl."

Spider Man sees Morlun push some cars to the side and is slowly walking towards him. Thinking quickly, he sees a large garbage bin, picks it up despite being in a lot of pain, and throws it at him. Morlun nonchalantly backhands the bin to the side. For the first time in the wall crawler's life, he was utterly speechless. Never in his life had he fought an enemy who was this unstoppable…at least not on his own. He's in the worse shape, he's doesn't have any more quips, he is legitimately fearing for his life.

Meanwhile at the Hall of Justice…

The Crime Syndicate has finally made their way to this Earth, and they are now being intercepted by every superhero under the sun, as well as Spider Ock's task force. Evil versions of heroes such as the Elongated Man, Vixen and Black Lightning have just joined the fray and a massive superhero battle is taking place. The Flash stops for a moment and looks over at Miles Morales, who had just taken down a random Crime Syndicate member wearing a yellow and black jumpsuit.

"Hey Spidey," the Scarlet Speedster says to the young spider hero. "Did the other one make it here with the rest of the JSA?"

Miles shakes his head, "For some reason he didn't answer his communicator. He's probably back in New York."

"Huh, that's weird. Well he's missing out on all the fun."

While fighting Superwoman, Wonder Woman says to Superman, "I pray to Athena that Power Girl, Supergirl and the alternate Spider Man are successful in retrieving Ultraman."

"I have faith in them," says the Man of Steel.

Kandor

Spider Ock and Basquatin's plan went off without a hitch. While the wall crawler from another universe and the rest of the resistance are raiding the prison camp, they were able to free the prisoners and cause so much of a ruckus that reinforcements began to appear…that includes Ultraman himself. Once the evil version of Superman arrived, he was ready to lay waste to the resistance soldiers, only to be intercepted by Power Girl and Supergirl. The two blondes are now standing face to face with him.

"Hey "Kal", long time no see," Power Girl says as she cracks her knuckles. "Where's "mommy"?"

"The Queen is inside the palace, where she is safe," answers Ultraman.

"Aw, that's a shame, I've been looking to get some payback from my last visit. But I guess I'll have to settle for you instead."

"Let's finish what we've started here," says Supergirl.

"Agreed," says Power Girl. She then looks over at her younger counterpart. "You're not gonna make out with him mid-battle again are you?"

Supergirl looks back with a deadpan look, "First of all, ew, second of all, that was Saturn Queen manipulating me and third…ew."

"Okay good, because if I wanted to watch Game of Thrones I can just turn to my DVR."

The two heroines engage Ultraman and the three Kryptonians fight it out in the skies above. Ultraman was being bombarded by punches thrown by the two Karas. He eventually ducks to avoid a punch by Supergirl, then he grabs her cape and starts to swing her around, using her as a wrecking ball and hitting Power Girl. Power Girl was sent flying into the palace, then Ultraman lets Supergirl go and she is sent flying into a nearby building. While his back was turned, the evil Superman was suddenly hit in the back by heat vision. He yells out in pain and turns around to see Power Girl flying towards him. Ultraman fires his own heat vison, which led to a beam struggle between him and older blonde.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, Spider Ock is leading the resistance and is attacking Ultraman's soldiers. He uses his spider-like agility to dodge gunfire, fires multiple web lines to relieve five of the soldiers of their guns and takes each and every one of them down quickly.

"Imbeciles," he says to them.

Then the alternate spider hero hears the sound of hands clapping. He turns around and sees a woman standing behind him. She had long red hair that flows down her back and dark blue eyes. She wears a blue gown with the planet Saturn displayed on her chest.

"My, my," says the mysterious woman. "Such efficiency. You seem like the type of person who will do what's necessary to achieve your goals."

"…You must be the Saturn Queen. We meet at last," says Spider Ock.

"That I am," says Saturn Queen. "And I think I just found a worthy suitor to my throne."

"I'm flattered, but trying to rule the world is a thing of the past for me, I'm actually trying to save mine. The Kryptonian you have under your control needs to come back to the universe from which he came from, and if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way."

Saturn Queen grins, "Ooh, I love a man who is ruthless. As for you rejecting my offer to rule by my side, I don't think you have much of a choice."

Suddenly there was some silence between the two.

Saturn Queen's smug smile eventually falls, "I don't understand…"

"Let me guess, you're a telepath," Spider Ock begins to say. "You were trying to sway me using mind control. Well, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you." He then points to his head. "You see this mask I'm wearing? It was made specifically for people just like you. Let's just say the last thing I want is anyone getting inside my head." Spider Ock begins to walk slowly towards Saturn Queen.

The telepath begins to slowly move backwards. "S…Stay back, I'm warning you. My son…"

"Has his hands full with two other Kryptonians. Tell me, how does it feel to no longer have control of the situation, knowing that you are about to lose? It's frustrating isn't it?" He is finally in close proximity of the redheaded telepath. "Believe me, I know EXACTLY how you feel."

Spider Ock delivers a right hook to Saturn Queen, knocking her unconscious.

Meanwhile back in the sky, Power Girl and Supergirl noticed something happening to Ultraman. He starts holding his head and wincing in pain, only to recover soon after.

"What the…" he begins to say. "W…What is this? Where the hell am I?"

The two Karas both blink in confusion. They then look down below and see Saturn Queen lying on the ground. It seems that with the telepath out of commission, Ultraman is free from her mind control. Taking advantage of the evil Superman's sudden confusion, Power Girl and Supergirl both deliver a massive knockout punch to Ultraman.

Moments later, the two blondes land next to Spider Ock with Power Girl holding Ultraman bridal style.

"If you ask me, I say mission accomplished," Power Girl comments.

"Indeed," says Spider Ock. The alternate spider hero then turns to the resistance soldiers. "People of Kandor, we have vanquished your tyrants. You are all free now."

With that, the resistance soldiers start to cheer.

Power Girl looks over at Spider Ock with a smug smirk, "Anything to get attention, huh Ock?"

Spider Ock looks over at the blonde, "Silence woman, let me savor this."

Supergirl lets out a suppressed giggle at the exchange.

Back on Earth…

The three heroes arrive back at the Hall of Justice and sees that the entire Crime Syndicate have been taken down and are now cuffed.

Miles sees Spider Ock arrive with Power Girl and Supergirl, "There you are, we've been wondering where you were. You missed out on one of the craziest fights ever. What's with the new costume?"

"Hold your horses kid," Power Girl steps in. "This isn't our Spidey." She points over to Superwoman and Owlman. "He's from where these guys came from."

Superwoman looks up and sees her husband, "Ultraman?"

"Superwoman," the evil Superman greets.

"Where have you been?"

Ultraman looks over at Saturn Queen with a murderous glare, "This bitch mind controlled me and made me her slave for God knows how long. If I wasn't wearing the White Dwarf Star emitters that Spider Man have cuffed me with, I would rip her apart with my bare hands."

"Enough," Spider Ock commands. "Now that I have each and every one of you hooligans contained, we are heading back to our Earth. Once we get there, you are to destroy the device you used to travel to this Earth and hand over the blueprints you stole from Parker Industries."

"Wait, Parker Industries?" Power Girl mentally asks herself. "Doc Ock has his own company? I mean, granted he had to use Peter's name but still…"

"And if we refuse?" asks Owlman.

Spider Ock grins underneath his mask, "I'm glad you asked Owlman. Let me ask Ultraman and Superwoman a question. If both of them are here, who's watching over their son back on our Earth?"

He then presses a button on one of his wrist gauntlets, bringing up a holographic screen showing an infant being held captive in a dark room. The baby is sleeping soundly in his crib. Everyone who was present, hero and villain, all have shocked looks on their faces.

Superwoman tries to lunge at Spider Ock but the power nullifying cuffs, as well as the alternate spider hero's men, were holding her back, "YOU BASTARD."

Ultraman glares at Spider Ock, "When I get out of these cuffs you are a dead bug."

"Oh, let's not do anything stupid," says Spider Ock. "If you kill me, your son dies." He then looks at Owlman. "And if you refuse to do what I tell you, then he also dies…You wouldn't want anything to happen to "Ultraman" and Superwoman's son…do you?"

Spider Ock is well aware of the secret love affair between Owlman and Superwoman, and he knows there is a possibility that the baby may not even be Ultraman's.

Owlman glares at the alternate wall crawler, "Fine, I'll do what you say."

"Thank you for your cooperation."

Moments later, Spider Ock takes out a small device and uses it to open up a portal. The task force begins to escort the Crime Syndicate through said portal. Once everyone made it through, the alternate wall crawler felt it was appropriate to bid the heroes of this Earth farewell and thank them for their assistance. Spider Ock is now in the Justice League conference room with Superman, Supergirl and Power Girl.

He approaches Power Girl who was front in center and takes out his hand, "Well then, I guess this is good bye."

The blonde heroine, with a deep scowl on her face, looks down at the hand, then back at Spider Ock and she crosses her arms, "Um, yeah, you just threatened to kill a baby. For that you get no handshakes from me."

Spider Ock draws his hand back, "I did what I had to do in order to keep both of our world's safe. They wouldn't have fallen back had I not resort to that tactic. Don't tell me you share some of Parker's weaknesses as well."

"MY Peter would like to think he's above things like that. Threatening a life, innocent or otherwise, would make him no better than the very thing he tries to protect the world from. No matter what, he values all life. If you can't seem to comprehend that, then you have absolutely no business calling yourself Spider Man."

"HOW DARE YOU," Spider Ock exclaims. "I have you know that I am a better Spider Man than Peter Parker will EVER be. I am willing to do what is necessary to get the job done, and I will not hesitate to go to the lengths that he wouldn't even DARE to reach. If YOU can't seem to comprehend that, then you have no business being a hero."

As Spider Ock makes his way to the portal, he stops when he hears Power Girl speak once again.

"You said that your Peter's subconscious tried to fight to get his body back, but you managed to suppress him, right?"

Spider Ock stops for a moment and looks over his shoulder, "That is correct."

"Well…if your Peter Parker is anything like mine, then I know for a fact that he's not the kind of guy who gives up that easily. You can beat him down as many times as you want, but he will ALWAYS get back up."

"…Are you saying there's a chance his subconscious will reemerge and will make another attempt at taking this body back?"

"Wouldn't put it past him. You underestimate just how strong Peter actually is."

"…He can try. I defeated him twice before, I can do it a third time." With that, Spider Ock finally goes through the portal and the portal closes.

Power Girl and Supergirl walk side by side out of the conference room to meet up with the other heroes. Supergirl looks over at her older counterpart with a smile,

"You know, for someone who is pissed off at her boyfriend, you sure did stick up for him back there."

Power Girl softly smiles, "I meant what I said. Peter can make some dumbass decisions sometimes, but his heart's in the right place. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pissed that he broke his promise to me, and we're gonna have a long talk about his trust issues, but I'm not about to abandon him when he needs me the most. I'm going to help him find a cure for his illness, and if I have to get the entire Starrware staff to get on that, so be it."

The two blondes finally make it to the main room where all the heroes are, and they see them huddled together on the main computer monitor.

This confuses Power Girl, "Hey, why is everyone looking at the monitor? Is there a big game on?"

The heroes look over at the blonde with haunted looks on their faces.

Now Power Girl is even more confused, "What's with the scared looks? You guys are acting like the Anti Monitor just came back from the dead and he's about to…"

She finally stops talking when she looks up at the screen and the look on her face went from confused to absolutely horrified. On the large TV monitor was a news broadcast. Footage show police officers holding back a crowd of people circling a small crater that is bathed in blood. However, that's not what made Power Girl's face turn pale. It was the headline that was displayed at the bottom of the screen.

SPIDER MAN IN CRITICAL CONDITION.

Upon reading that, Power Girl rockets through the ceiling of the Hall of Justice and flies as fast as she possibly could to New York.

One problem has been resolved and another emerges. I think I've made you guys wait long enough, we are FINALLY about to step into "Other" territory. What happens next? Find out in the next chapter.

Be sure to leave a comment with your thoughts on the story so far, and feel free to theorize what you think is gonna happen next.

Until next time...