Snuggles' World of Amazing Fantasy

A robed figure wrapped in chains stood on the surface of the moon, surrounded by spheres of crystalline energy. He turned to address some figure or figures that apparently only he can see.

"In another life," he said, "I was a man named Nick Fury. In this, I am The Unseen, who sees all. Other worlds, other times, Worlds of 'What-If?' "

The Unseen gestured to a cluster of spheres.

"You all have been observing a reality wherein young Ashley O'Leary is bonded to a scientifically and mystically modified symbiote and is shifted to another world unlike any that I could have thought possible before gaining the powers of The Watcher."

A sphere held in his hand then flashed with images-Ashley meeting Taylor, the spar with Shadow Stalker, the tragic death of Amelia Dallon, and Cuddlebug unknowingly imitating Spider-Man's greatest affirmation of heroism.

"However, this isn't the case in most realities," the Unseen continues. "In many, the poor child either dies young or lives long enough to undergo secondary mutation into a more stable form, albeit one with its own problems." Off to the side, a sphere briefly flashes the image of an older, red skinned Ashley visible only through the clear faceplate of a hazmat suit.

"But, in these infinite worlds of amazing fantasy, while the Mister Snuggles you know does not exist, other hybrid symbiotes are born and some do, on occasion, find their way to young Ashley."

The Unseen took another sphere. "For example..."

"What If Mister Snuggles was created by The Jackal?"

"Miles Warren," narrated the Unseen, "also known as the Jackal, is a geneticist driven mad by the death of the young woman with which he was obsessed." The Unseen shows these unknown individuals images of Miles Warren and his infamous exploits-his experiments in cloning and the birth of Ben Reilly and the Gwen Clone. "Specializing in cloning, Warren attempted to perfect his craft, at first to restore Gwen Stacy to life but his madness soon progressed to an obsession with cloning Spider-Man for the sole sake of cloning Spiderman." The images shifted to hundreds of Spider-Men, Spider-Cide, the Scarlet Spider, and Kain in quick succession.

"Ultimately, he became obsessed with the genetic potential of Spiders in general," and then images of the Spider-Island incident, where almost all of Manhattan were turned into Spider-Monsters using Spider-Man's DNA, flow across the orb. Then comes images of Warren's cloned Spider-Princesses and the monstrous, humanoid spiders born from Warren's combination of Mutant and spider DNA and the X-Men and Superior Spider-Man dealing with the 'Spider-Girl' born from the same experiments.

"In one timeline, Warren, like Nathaniel Essex before him, learned of the genetic potential of the race known as the Klyntar symbiotes and, using a pilfered portion of Venom's biomass, attempted to create the ultimate spider using the DNA of every Spider-Totem that he could get his hands on."

"Of course," the Unseen continues, "I don't need the powers of a Watcher to tell you that experimenting with Symbiotes rarely ends well. Warren attempted to create a humanoid being, the Ultimate Spider-Man, but instead… Watch."

The images on the sphere then become a single ongoing narrative.

The Jackal scowled. His latest creation had come out all wrong. When he'd heard that Mister Sinister, the mutant obsessed evolutionist with whom he'd alternatively collaborated with and stolen from, had used some of the information he once provided to him to create a combined clone of Kraven the Hunter and the X-Men using a piece of the Carnage symbiote as a binder, he'd thought it simple enough to replicate.

He'd even improve upon it, using genetic samples that are already similar-the Spider-Men and Women, The Queen, and even some of his previous creations. The similarity in genetics, the nature of their powers, and their physiology should have created a perfect hybrid mutate with the full strength of them all, but instead…

Instead, he had a symbiote. One as inky black as the one from which he'd stolen the sample to bind the genomes together.

An amorphous, slithering blob of blackness was floating in one of his gestation tanks, seemingly oblivious to the world around it, flowing like hot wax in a lava lamp.

The Jackal cursed his impulsiveness. He knew Peter Parker's exact genetic code by heart at this point and could easily synthesize his genome as well as those of his clones. The same for the queen and her clones, but in his haste, he hadn't taken the time to properly sequence and archive his more recent acquisitions. With some of those spider-persons, it wasn't too big of a problem, but some of them were dead and gone with bodies missing or destroyed. Those samples couldn't be easily replaced.

Out of a combination of frustration, annoyance, and honest boredom, the Jackal tapped a finger on the glass.

This proved a mistake, as it led the symbiote inside to break through the tank and slay the Jackal, consuming his blood before fleeing his laboratory.

"Of course," The Unseen narrated, "that Jackal was, in fact, a renegade clone of the original Miles Warren, a fact which should surprise no one."

"It should come as no surprise that word of this soon spread through the Heroic Community: An attack on Agent Venom, a break-in at a former Oscorp genetics lab, and unseasonable mosquito bites among his associates quickly add together and draw the Amazing Spider-Man's attention."

The images in the sphere show Spider-Man investigating, finding the Jackal's laboratory, and discovering just what Warren had been up to.

Peter only had to briefly look at at the days-old corpse in one of Miles Warren's fursuits and to the shattered incubation tank to know what had happened.

Ignoring the scent of decay, he began searching the laboratory for any sign of what it had been that Warren had been working on: Peter had been through this song and dance enough times to know that whatever clone Warren had made would end up fighting him eventually.

After ten minutes of searching in drawers, under tables, behind beakers, and so forth Peter finally found a journal.

"Trashy poem about Gwen," Peter said as he flipped through the pages, "repeated rambling about ways to make me suffer and die. Plans for Spider-Flu 2.0… Gonna have to search the lab for that... Ah, here we go!" He said as he reached the last few pages. "Huh. He was trying to make his own Xraven… Great, my two least favorite things, clones and symbiotes. Venom as the base, me...Using my clones seems kind of redundant, Miles, Cindy, Jessica… Natasha? Warren must have gotten confused by the name. This is like, really bad though."

"Searching as both Peter Parker and as Spider-Man, the web-slinger diligently hunted clues to the whereabouts of this hybrid-creature."

"One night, he found the symbiote while patrolling Manhattan, hosted in one of the massive rats that characterize the city. He confronted it, and it fled its host, slithering from rooftop to rooftop.

"Spider-Man thought it fortuitous that the symbiote did not fight," The Unseen narrated, "but he need not have worried: Warren overstepped the limits of symbiote genetic adaptation. The more advanced and esoteric abilities of the Totems laid dormant. While the symbiote would no doubt be a holy terror in future years, for now, it's hosts were merely able to imitate the lesser powers available to Spider-Persons."

"Eventually, fleeing pursuit, the symbiote forced its way between the pains of the window of an apartment building and, knowing that Spider-Man still pursued it"

It was late at night, and Yuri O'Leary was panicking. Her beloved child Ashley was sick. This was not unusual, as Ashley had a rare genetic mutation that left her frail and with a weak immune system. However, Ashley usually did not get a one-hundred-and-five-degree fever in the middle of the night after going to bed healthy. Well, as healthy as Ashley gets.

She held an old rag to her daughter's mouth while the child had a severe coughing fit. When Ashley's painful sounding coughing stopped, Yuri pulled back the rag and saw the blood in it. This was the other reason she was worried. Ashley had never gotten so sick as to cough up blood.

Yuri's husband, Sean Wei O'Leary, was on the phone, trying to make an emergency call to the Physician who handled Ashley's case. His clinic was closed by now, but he was a specialist in Ashley's condition and was both discrete and sympathetic, a necessity. However, with how rapidly Ashley's condition was worsening...

"Mommy, I don't feel so good..."

That tears it. "Sean, get Ashley's coat. I'm taking her to the emergency room."

Sean winced. If blood tests were done, if a doctor or technician who wasn't… It couldn't be helped. Ashley might be in trouble if they went to the emergency room, but if she didn't see a doctor soon…

As Ashley's father got her coat and mother grabbed a surgical mask for Ashley to wear outside, neither of them noticed the inky black thing slithering under the window until it lunged for Ashley.

Yuri screamed as Ashley was enveloped by the dark mass and emerged as a fanged, slobbering, many-limbed thing. Sean returned with Ashley's coat only to drop it in horror.

And then the glass of the window broke as the Amazing Spider-Man crashed through it and landed with a crouch.

The symbiote-possessed child snarled, leaped over the superhero, and dove out of the broken window. Spiderman turned to try and snag her with a web but couldn't get a clean shot that didn't risk harm to the child.

"Sorry about the window," he said lamely.

"You," Yuri said. "You're Spider-Man. The superhero."

"That I am," the hero said.

"That thing has my little girl," Yuri said with a strained calm. "She's only nine years old. She's very, very sick. And you've been her favorite superhero since she was four. I… I don't know what else to do… Help."

"You had me at 'little girl,' " the web-slinger replied. "I'll bring her home safe and sound, that's a promise."

Thwip. Like a streak of light, the Spider-Man swung out into the night to find young Ashley and the Symbiote that stole her away.

"Spider-Man quickly picked up the trail again," Said the Unseen, "the symbiote was clumsy, as it was still adapting to its first human host."

"He hunted it through the night, all across the city, finally catching up to in a cemetery. The Symbiote, still a feral conglomerate of fangs and limbs with the child trapped inside, was still, staring at a gravestone."

"Spider-Man, armored in a suit equipped with Parker Industries technology, prepared to use a noise-emitter to separate the symbiote from the child bound to it before he realized that he recognized the grave it was parked at."

"The grave of Benjamin Parker."

The second the symbiote engulfed Ashley, she found herself in a black void. No sound. No light. No touch. It was like she was floating submerged in a sea of nothing.

And then she heard the voices. So many voices, all at once. Voices full of pain, sadness, and anger.

"My fault - all my fault! If only I had stopped him when I could have! But I didn't - and now - Uncle Ben - is dead..."

"...Hobgoblin killed him over a damn costume, Ben! Over his stupid Porcupine suit!"

"...There is nothing for me in the civilized world."

"I... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I thought she loved me... I couldn't stop myself, I was so angry... "

"...But this thing between me and you? It is not forgotten... and it'll never be forgiven."

"Take care of my "niece", Peter... tell her about... her Uncle Ben. "

"...It seems that everywhere I go, problems start. "

"...This is the exact place the Green Goblin killed Spider-Man. "

"...But no matter how hard I try- -people- -die!"

"You... you saved me."

"That's... what... heroes... do..."

"Wrong. Completely wrong. With great power comes great guilt."

"Ever wish you had a big sister to ask advice for? Do you even remember you have one?"

Again we have been hurt. Again we have been caged. Our only friend has been torn from us. The friend hates us now.

"Hey kid - what's wrong? Don't you understand? I saved you - you can't be - NO! Oh, no, no, no - Don't be dead, Gwen - I don't want you to be dead!"

"With Great Power," said the Unseen, "there inevitably comes Great Pain. Few know this better than those who take the Spider as a Totem. Unlike Carnage, Unlike the Symbiote Imperium, and Unlike the Symbiotes that I ordered pulled from the Grendel during the Vietnam War, this symbiote wasn't evil."

"The Jackal's clones inevitably carry the memories of their genetic donors. Symbiotes carry within them the memories of their parents."

"This artificial Symbiote, born from the Spider-Totems, was confused and scared by the painful memories it had inherited. It simply wanted to find a place where it could feel safe and, once it had a human host and thus, a context for its jumbled emotions," The Unseen finished, "it sought out a place where it could remember drawing strength."

"Hello!" Ashley called out. Still unseeing. "Are you there? I can hear you. Do you need help?"

"Hurt." Came a new voice from the void. "I… I hurt. Why? Why do I hurt? From where does the pain come from…?"

"I'm sorry you're hurt," Ashley called out again. "Would you like a hug?"

"What is hug?"

"Hugs are the best thing ever!" Ashley cheerfully chirped. "They always make me feel better when I'm scared or sad. C'mon, I just need to grab onto you."

Ashley felt a pressure around her. On instinct, she wrapped her arms forward around the main source of the pressure

And then she felt the pressure shift, feeling the warmest hug she'd ever experienced.

And she opened her eyes, seeing the gravestone of Benjamin Parker.

"Huh?" She asked. "How did I get here?"

She blinked and looked down at herself. Instead of the Spider-Man-themed pajamas she'd been wearing earlier that night, she was instead dressed in a solid black suit that clung tightly to her body. She patted herself down and, seeing that from boots to glove the suit was one piece, began to worry. Then she saw fangs before her eyes which peeled back and felt the cold night air on her face. And then it clicked in her head.

"I… Am wearing a symbiote."

"Yes, you are," came a voice behind Ashley. A voice Ashley knew very well. It was in one of her earliest memories. She'd taken every opportunity to learn about the man it belonged to.

Slowly, with wide eyes, Ashley turned around. Her eyes grew wider at the confirmation that the man who was, in her completely unbiased opinion, the single greatest hero in the multiverse, was standing behind her.

And then, Ashley belatedly realized that she didn't feel sick or tired anymore.

"I… I'm outside on my own. I don't feel sick… And I'm talking to Spider-Man." Ashley said with a voice dripping with awe. "This is the best day ever."

Spider-Man began to respond but was interrupted by Ashley suddenly shouting. "Wait! If I'm wearing a symbiote..." Ashley turned and thrust out her arms, held straight, palms up, in a certain iconic pose. Thwip! Two shots of web-fluid produced by the symbiote flew from her wrists out into the distance, striking a tree planted at the far end of the cemetery and frightening a squirrel. "And I have spider-powers. Best, best, best, best day ever!"

"Little girl, I have to ask," Spider-Man began, "are you okay?"

"I have never been more okay ever for as long as I can remember," Ashley replied manically. "Do you need a sidekick?"

Spider-Man was silent for a moment. "If you want to be my sidekick," he said slowly, "then you have to wait until you're at least fifteen. And your parents have to say it's okay."

"Okay!" Ashley said happily.

"Speaking of," Spider-Man began, "I made a promise to your mom that I'd get you home safe and sound. And after that, I'm gonna see about getting some tests scheduled at Parker Industries' Xenobiology lab. Make sure that Symbiote isn't hurting you." Spider-Man typed something into the Web-Were integrated into his suit.

Ashley felt a shiver at the small of her back. "I think he's afraid of you… You're not gonna hurt him, are you?"

"...I'll be honest, I don't like symbiotes," Spider-Man admitted. "Especially not ones that are made by mad geneticists that are obsessed with cloning me. But if he's not hurting you, I won't hurt him."

"Okay," Ashley said. She saw no reason not to take Spider-Man at his word. "Wait, tests… Is that gonna mean like, blood tests… Or DNA?"

"Probably, why?"

"Uh..." Ashley began. "Um… Promise you won't tell anybody?"

Spider-Man straightened himself and was silent for a minute. Then he raised a hand "I promise."

"I… I'm a mutant."

"I see," said Spider-Man.

"Mommy and Dad made me promise to never let people find out. And I know what happens to mutants sometimes, and..."

Spider-Man kneeled down so as to be on eye-level with Ashley. "Your mom told me that I'm your favorite superhero."

"Yeah."

"So you know a lot about me?"

"Yeah."

"So you know that a lot of my closest friends are mutants, and that I'm an honorary X-Man, and that I was on the Avengers Unity Division, and that I even taught at the Jean Grey School."

"Yeah."

"And Peter Parker, head of Parker Industries?" Spider-Man said knowingly, "I know for a fact that he doesn't have anything against mutants and that he'd never hire someone who did. And if that's not good enough, then you have my promise that nobody who I wouldn't trust with my life will so much as get a peek at the results from any tests we do to make sure that Symbiote you're wearing is safe."

"Oh-Okay," Ashley said, feeling better.

A moment passed while Ashley calmed. "So, how about-"

"Wait," Ashley interrupted. "I recognize this cemetery. There's something I have to do."

And then Ashley took off running.

"Wait!" Spider-Man shouted after her, moving to catch her before she got too far away and silently cursing that he was getting too old to be chasing kids.

He found her sitting at the foot of a more recent grave. Maybe a few months old, with a stone that had "Patrick O'Leary: Dedicated Worker, Loving Father and Grandfather 'I wanted a Viking Funeral, damn it!' " carved upon it.

"Hey, Grandpa… It's me, Ashley. I'm here on my own. Guess what? I'm not sick! I'm fine, on my own. Not even tired. And I've got cool powers instead of the sucky powers I got cause I lost the mutant lottery… Now all I need to do is grow up and join the Avengers. Just like we talked about. I miss you. And I love you..."

Well, now Spider-Man felt he was intruding.

A moment later she stood up and turned back around. "Okay. I'm ready."

"Alright then," Spider-Man said. "Now, how'd you like a Spider-Back ride back to your apartment?"

"This day just keeps getting better and better..."

Spider-man allowed the girl to climb upon to his pack and wrap her arms around his neck and shoulders. Then he took to the skyline once more, heading back towards the girl's apartments. "Now, I think it's important to get those tests done as soon as possible, so I sent out a message. When we get to your apartment there should be some cars from Parker Industries there to take your family to the Baxter Building. When we're done with that, if your parents say it's okay, maybe I can teach you a bit of how to web-sling in the practice room I've got there."

It was at this point that Ashley reached a state known as excitement overload and could no longer verbally express how 'best' this day was.

As Spider-Man carried Ashley back to her parents, she regained her ability to talk and asked him. "So, I don't know if you remember this, but when I was super little I fell out of a window and..."

"And so, True Believers," concluded the Unseen, "we have the origin of the happiest Cuddlebug in the multiverse. One whose parents are alive and who formed a bond of mentorship with the hero she idolized."

*end*

Author's Note: In loving tribute to Stan Lee, who penned the words that opened our eyes to an entire universe of Amazing Fantasies. Excelsior!